Tag: food

Aubergine – Bangladeshi & Indian Cuisine Restaurant


Last evening we popped down to see how my daughter and her husbands new venture was progressing. They have just opened Glam & Glitz Boutique in Albert Road, Southsea. Since it was near closing time we all decided to go out for a meal. Albert Road is a great place to go if you are hungry. There are eateries catering for just about every taste imaginable.

We chose to try Aubergine, a small Bangladeshi and Indian Cuisine restaurant. aubergineWhat a good decision that was. There were six of us and we hadn’t booked. This didn’t phase them and very quickly they shuffled some tables and chairs and we were quickly seated.

I ordered a starter, “Luck Now Ke Seek Kebab” described as “Minced lamb with chefs own spices, coriander, cheese, moulded on to skewers” which was quite tasty. This I followed with “Juicy Gosht” which was effectively a lamb shank in a spicy sauce. My description is probably doing it a disservice but it is not on the internet version of their menu so I couldn’t plagiarise their description. However, it really was juicy and the meat was oh so tender. This was the star of the evening, and, ably supported by  Pilau Rice and Bhindi Bhajee was a meal fit for a king.

Two of our family group kicked off with the the mandatory “Onion Bhajee” and two more decided to try the “Tandoori Champan”, which comprised “Tender of lamb chops marinated with fresh garlic, ginger and other spices”. For their mains two brave souls, including my wife, went for the Lamb Jalfrazi.

All agreed that the service was good, the staff friendly despite my introducing confusion by ordering a refill beer brand that they didn’t sell.

I would say that Aubergine stands out as one of the good restaurants in the area and I heartily recommend a visit. I for one will certainly be going back.

Cams Mill – Fareham


Had a super meal, last evening, at Cams Mill, just outside of Fareham. We met up with some friends there after a big recommendation.
Cams-Mill-1
This is a brand new building, constructed in the style of the original tidal mill that stood nearby, around a century ago. I think they have struck the right balance. This place has old, rustic appeal and a friendly atmosphere. Definitely not one of your ultra modern, noisy, plastic pubs. This is a place to meet and enjoy the  social event, have a conversation without having to shout. Top it off with good food and drink.

Our small group started with Crispy Hampshire Hog (Breaded pork belly)with Cox’s Apple purée, London Porter Smoked Salmon Terrine with Cucumber, Quail’s Egg and Tomato Bread. For the mains we tried the Steamed Mussels In Seafarers & Lemon Sauce & Fries, Steak & Ale Pie with Mashed Potatoes, Winter Greens & Gravy, Pan-fried Calves’ Liver & Smoked Bacon served with Mustard Mash, Roasted Carrots in a Forest Mushroom Sauce and, finally, a Lamb Rump Steak served with New Boiled Potatoes and Minted  Peas.

The food  was well cooked, well presented and really tasty. All in our party commented on how tasty it was.  Portion sizes were about right, especially for me, since I am on a diet. If it hadn’t been for that “Vintage Ale & Molasses Sticky Toffee Pudding ” I would have met my daily target. Ah well !! As they say, you can’t have your cake and eat it.

The staff at the Mill are friendly and attentive without becoming obtrusive. Once we had finished our meal they left us to chat at our table with no pressure to move on. This was a Saturday night. When asked they delivered the bill promptly.

All in all a very nice experience. Not bad for £90 including the drinks.

Elizabethan Village Pub & Serpentine Falls


Have taken it easy today. Just a gentle drive up to the Elizabethan Village Pub for lunch followed by a trip up to Serpentine Falls.

Elizabethan Village Pub is the nearest thing I have seen to an English pub in terms of appearance and atmosphere.The food was delicious. My wife and I both had Black Angus Sirloin Steak while my daughter and her husband both had Grilled Barramundi Fillets topped with Creamy Garlic Prawns. Top grub.

The pub is also home to the Last Drop brewery and we sampled their Thunderstorm brew, an unfiltered pilsner. They have other brews too, however as I was driving I couldn’t sample them. They all appear to be around 4.8% ABV. We’ll just have to go back again when someone else is in the driving seat.

As I said we also took a run up to Serpentine Falls.

Serpentine Falls, W.A.
Serpentine Falls, W.A.

We thought, given the amount of rain Perth has experienced recently, that the falls would be running quite high and hard. I have been there before and the flow didn’t seem any higher than our previous visit. I’m guessing that the dam, upstream, is retaining as much water as possible since W.A. does have a water problem and they like to retain as much as possible.

On the entrance road to the falls there is a picnic area and we noticed a number of Kangaroos. Each and every one of them appeared to be carrying a joey. Most appeared to have clambered into mums pouch head fist and had their hind legs hanging out. All barring one, who had his head out and was feeding himself from the comfort of mums pouch. Sorry I have no pictures as I didn’t feel it was right to intrude so we just kept the car rolling.

After the fresh air and nature watch the girls felt in the need for some retail therapy so we headed into Armadale where the girls perused the various clothes stores. Following a cup of tea we headed home to relax for the rest of the evening.

Needless to say, after a very filling lunch, none of us was up for anything to eat for tea so relaxed with a beer and some nibbles.

They Are At It Again


Yes, those despicable food suppliers are at it again. Deceiving Joe Public the most gullible of shoppers.

Just recently we have had the shock horror of discovering horse in those cheap supermarket own brand beefburgers. God only knows what else is in those burgers, but now we KNOW there is horse.  This was followed with the amazing disclosure that Findus have near 100% horse-flesh content in their lasagna. It’s obviously not a bad thing as presumably Joe Public was happily buying and consuming this product. Joe’s sensitive and discerning palate didn’t notice a change in flavour or texture, perhaps because there was none.

Joe Public is obviously getting bored with the horsey story which, after all,  has been running for a couple of weeks. Bit like all the horses I’ve ever backed.  Anyway, in their rush to keep the ball rolling the Daily Mail is now initiating a belated crusade to alert us to the underhand tricks that food manufacturers employ to hide the real content of their products.

For instance, did you know that well-known brands Ferrero Rocher and Lindt are high in sugar and fat ?

I mean, come on ! Is there a single dumb idiot on this planet that doesn’t know that sweets and chocolates all contain vast amounts of substances that are bad for your health. That those sweet canned drinks rot your teeth. The point is they don’t care. They buy them because they like them and the products make them feel good.

Furthermore, the Daily Mail would have you believe that  those nefarious food manufacturers are deliberately hiding ingredient information behind peel back labels. The implication being that Joe Public is too lazy to peel back the label, too lazy to read the ingredient information. In this I sympathise with the manufacturer.

On the one hand they are jockeying for brand position on the supermarket shelves. They are desperate to get their brand in the most prominent eye-catching position. On the other they are having to meet the ever-increasing and ever-changing regulations. Regulations which vary from country to country and in some countries from state to state. These regulations require more and more information to be displayed and declared while at the same time the available label space is either unchanged or in some cases is actually reducing as Joe Public and the legislators declare war on waste. So in this the manufacturers are between the rock and the proverbial hard place.  There is a real likely hood of the brand name being forced off the product just to show the regulatory information. Won’t that look pretty.

In addition the Daily Mail, further casts aspersions about Joe Public and his IQ. Claiming that the food manufacturers are trying to confuse poor old Joe by hiding behind the true chemical names of substances found in our food. Has the Daily Mail forgotten that Joe attended school where, certainly in my day, they taught such things. i.e. Sodium / Salt, Sugar /Carbohydrate. Perhaps the Daily Mail should be lining up for another attack on the educational standards of our schools.

Or perhaps they should run a campaign to get the supermarkets put up handy conversion guide over their shelves to help us poor thick shoppers.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2273841/Named-shamed-The-big-brands-STILL-refuse-high-salt-sugar-saturated-fat-packaging.html#axzz2KUej59q0

At Long Last – Arctic Medal campaign is won


HMS Scylla

Long over due, the British Government finally see sense. Now we all hope that they and their bureaucrats get their collective digits out and make sure the medals are available while there are still some deserving recipients alive to make all this worthwhile.

It would also be right to award the medals posthumously to those who couldn’t hang around while this country had its governmental knickers in a twist.

So in this sudden period of enlightenment do you suppose there is any chance that this government might also allow the Russians to present the Ushakov medal.

Arctic Medal campaign is won – Defence – Portsmouth News.

Russian ambassador’s regret over medal row – Britains Shame


Britain’s Shame !!!

The convoys kept Russia supplied to keep fighting the Nazis on Germany’s eastern front. But while the Ushakov medal has been handed to veterans from Australia, Canada and the United States for their role in the convoys, the British government is refusing to allow it to be given to British veterans.

When our stuffy government sticks by rules that are both antiquated and unfair then they should be ashamed and so should we as a nation.

There is no time limit on valour. There is no time limit on doing ones duty. There should be no time limit on recognising duty and valour.

The Russians clearly recognise this

In a letter seen by The News, Alexander Yakovenko told veterans the Russian Embassy in London has ‘profound regret’ that the British government will not allow them to be decorated.

‘Under the circumstances the embassy only has to express its profound regret that while the authorities of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA have granted permission to the veterans of the Arctic Convoys to be awarded the Ushakov Medal, we are not in a position to honour in the same way the courage and sacrifice of the British heroes of the Arctic Convoys.

The full Russian Embassy Press Release can be found here

This issue has been the subject of a motion put before the British parliament but to no avail and some are addressing the Russian Embassy directly to request that they ignore the British Governments appalling decision and go ahead and award the medal….. See here

The “five-year” criteria is a farce and has been waived by the British Government in recent times.

Next year, 2013, will be the Year Of The Convoy

Although I have posted on this subject before I think “Keith at Tregenna” states the issue very clearly so I’ll close with the following quotes from him.

The Foreign Office state that the rules of acceptance of foreign awards had to have taken place within the previous five years or that permission cannot be granted if they have received a UK award for the same services. This is somewhat contradictory to the award of the Pingat Jasa Malaysia Medal for those who served in operations in Malaya/Malaysia between August 1957 and August 1966. This medal was first struck in 2005 and in 2011 unrestricted permission was given by Her Majesty The Queen for the acceptance and wearing of this medal, even though those who served in this theatre had already received the British General Service Medal, with additional Malaya/Borneo Clasp.

the award of the Naval GSM and GSM with Suez Canal Zone Clasp which was awarded in 2003 to those who had served between 16th October 1951 and 19th October 1954. This award was also originally subject to the five-year rule and should not be considered, which was later changed and the Honours and Decorations Committee endorsed the recommendation.

It would seem rather ironic considering the Prime Ministers recent speech the other day on national television in regard to the millions of pounds, rightly so, the Government are going to put into the forthcoming 100th Anniversary of the start of WWI, as an act of remembrance to educate those at school and the sacrifice made by so many, but they are not willing to consider an award to those veterans of WWII still living by stating a rule that has been overturned with previous awards.

Another previous post on this subject
Russian ambassador’s regret over medal row – News – Portsmouth News.

Heroes barred from receiving Russian medal – Why ?


Between 1941 and 1945 British warships escorted 78 convoys carrying thousands of aircraft, anti-aircraft guns, trucks and tanks, fuel, food, tools and other vital supplies through the Barents Sea to the Russian ports of Murmansk and Archangel in a voyage Winston Churchill described as ‘the worst journey in the world.’

The Foreign Office has blocked plans by the Russian government to honour Arctic Convoy veterans with a medal for valour.

Commander Eddie Grenfell at The Royal Naval War Memorial on Southsea Common Picture: Malcolm Wells (112873-1909) Ref The News

The convoys kept Russia supplied to keep fighting the Nazis on Germany’s eastern front, and have been credited with ensuring Hitler did not triumph.

But while the Ushakov medal has been handed to veterans from Australia, Canada and the United States for their role in the convoys, the British government is refusing to allow it to be given to British veterans.

Ushakov Medal

Apparently “rules are rules”

Under UK law, citizens are allowed to receive foreign medals and awards only if the British government gives them permission, and only if the award relates to the recipient’s activities within past five years.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: ‘The rules on the acceptance of foreign awards state that for permission to be given for an award to be accepted, there has to have been specific service to the country concerned and that service should have taken place within the previous five years.

‘Additionally, permission cannot be granted if they have received, or are expected to receive, a UK award for the same services.

‘All British Veterans of the Convoys were eligible for the World War Two Atlantic Star. Additionally, a lapel badge (the Arctic Emblem) was introduced in 2006 and some 10,000 have been issued.’

This unbelievable, bureaucracy gone mad and it is a slap in the face for the veterans.

It is time that the faceless civil servants in Whitehall woke up and its time that our government stopped dithering with regard to recognising the exploits of our servicemen.

How can there ever be a time limit on recognising the sacrifices our servicemen make.

For once I am in complete agreement with Mike Hancock. He said

‘It is absolutely ridiculous and shameless. This country can’t even give them the medal but we can stop them from getting a medal from the people they went to help. It’s an absolute disgrace on his (Hague’s) part and it’s a slur on this country.

It seems that our government can waive this rule when it suits them which makes this decision much more of a slap in the face for the arctic veterans.

Veterans of a conflict in Malaysia in the 1960s were allowed to wear the Pingat Jasa Malaysia Medal, given to them by the Malaysian government in recognition of their service.

Not only was that conflict 50 years ago, but the veterans of it had also previously been given a medal from the British government.

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office accepted the rules had been waived once, but said that it had to treat all World War Two veterans the same or else be faced with thousands of medal requests.

Seems all the civil servants are worried about is a sudden increase in their workload.

Despicable.

It is time to get a sense of perspective and give these folks the medal they deserve.

Heroes barred from receiving Russian medal – Defence – Portsmouth News.

One rule for some and another for Arctic veterans – Defence – Portsmouth News

Bloated ?


Just over two weeks ago I set off to France on vacation.

Every time I go away I make several promises to myself. I’m not going to overeat, I’m going to eat lots of salads, I’m going to lay off the bread and I’m going to get some exercise.

Of course I jettison most of those within about two nano-seconds of arrival. Salads are easy and I’ll always eat plenty of salad stuff, box number one ticked. The exercise one is sort of easy too since we are going sight-seeing and maybe swimming so that’s tick number two in the boxes. So that leaves the overeating and the bread.

As it happens I find that I actually pick less, no meals between meals if you see what I mean and when I am sightseeing i.e. busy then I don’t get hungry. So the overeating box is lightly ticked as I will go for the full three courses at the main meal and of course I’ve probably had some kind of breakfast.

Which leads us neatly to box number four.

BREAD

How can one go to France and not eat bread ?

Every morning the ritual was to get up and head down to the nearest boulangerie, just three kilometers. The joy of walking into that shop with the fresh loaves displayed behind the counter and the smell, Wow !!

Getting the still warm loaf back to the gite, cup of tea or coffee and then slicing through that crust unleashing more fresh aromas. Slapping on the local charentaise butter and taste buds all jumping for joy.

I can taste it now.

Now, I failed this promise in a big way. Bread (toast) for breakfast, bread before and during meals. So many different styles of bread. Many times I started of the day full of bread. Full but never bloated.

So why is it that after just two slices of Hovis, I feel both full and bloated ?

I know the style of the bread is different and this Hovis stuff is effectively production line, factory bread. What do they put in it that has this bloating effect.

I am seriously thinking that I must take up bread making again even if I have to do it by hand. No Kenwood Chef and Dough Hook, No Kenwood Bread Maker.

I don’t like this bloated feeling.

A Secret Well Kept


A big thank you to all my friends and family who did such a great job of setting me up for a surprise meal to celebrate my birthday

A big thank you to my wife who arranged it all and managed to keep me in the dark until we arrived in the restaurant, even though she was getting stressed waiting for the taxi. And then, when he arrived, tried to make him take the long way to the restaurant to allow the other guests extra time to arrive.

A big thank you to my granddaughters and great granddaughters, who played a blinder by coming and visiting me just a couple of hours before, knowing they were going to see me later. I didn’t have a clue.

A big thank you to my granddaughter for making my birthday cake, cakes I should say as there were those lovely cup cakes to support the Camera Cake.

Camera Cake
Camera Cake – Baked at ISO 60 (ISO = I’m So Old)

A big thank you to all my friends, family, relatives, acquaintances, colleagues, indeed everyone that have wished me well via the many cards, phone calls, texts, Facebook messages.

You ALL made it a truly special day.

To all of you I say,

THANK YOU

I LOVE YOU ALL


Bangers & Mash


Had the best Bangers & Mash for dinner last night. Best for a long time.

And these are the little beauties responsible for this post. Direct from Waitrose

They smell, smoked bacon & garlic, just great straight from the packet and once they start to cook mmm mmm !!! Texture is nice and medium chunky with no shrinkage during cooking but best of all is the flavour. It’s full on, my taste buds thought it was their birthday.

They get my vote