It's the cook's day off. Either that, or someone's left a huge chicken in the kitchen, ready to be eaten up. So... a few steamed vegetables (baby carrots, peas, broccolli stalks) later, I can confirm that the chicken is just a delicious cold as it is hot. And the herby-buttery sauce is still to die for. Usually I'm the one stealing vegetables in the kitchen after supper; today, I'm picking bits off the underside of the chicken just to get a bit more of this taste. I guess this Simon person really has something in the cooking recipe stakes. And yes, there are other types of recipe, but you really really really don't want to go there: I showed my flatmate the commercial firework that nearly killed/maimed me earlier, and suddenly realised just how stupid setting off very large quantities of explosives next to me -for fun- was. Fun, but not a game for the long-lived.
So in the absence of any cooking, I'll talk about the beer that I'm drinking with my meal. It's a Maitre Kanter La Reserve blonde that I have to drink up because it's only 2 months off its sell-by date. Honest. It's a robust French beer; peppery and malty and smooth all at the same time. And I have 75cl if it, oh yes. Maitre Kanter isn't just a beer: it's a chain of Alsatian restaurants across the northeast of france (mainly Brittany). I used to work in Brest a lot, and the very first place I ate there was Maitre Kanter in the town centre. I fell instantly in love. With the fishtanks up the stairs (look and eat), the huge high ceilings, the proper peasanty food (imagine German food that a good French chef has corrupted with sauces and taste: that's Alsatian...), the totally laid-back atmosphere. Of course it had to be a laid-back atmosphere because I managed to order a plate of Choucroute (saurkraut but tastier) for starters and main course and it took me most of that afternoon to finish, but there I was, totally in foodie love. And there I went almost every time I worked in Brest. I'm considering suggesting a weekend roadtrip there to Hwsgo, but I'd probably have to sweeten it with an accompanying trip to the proper French resto round the corner... somehow, I can't see him having quite the same reaction to Saurkraut, even if it is French... and no, I have no idea why there are so many Alsatians in Brittany (there are), and neither, having asked them, do they. It's just nice that they're there, and cooking choucroute.
Today's weight is holding at 167.6lb. Foodwise it's been a bit of a disaster til this evening; I got stuck at the Post Office and didn't even have time to collect something for lunch, so the tally is 1 bowl SpecialK and milk, two machine hotchocolates, two bags baked crisps, 3 SpecialK bars, two coffees and 3 pints of water. I considered a chocolate bar from the machine, but managed to resist long enough to get home to the real stuff.
2 comments:
My information of the day is (1) sushi in any town that does not have a large japanese community is likely not to be good and (2) any nation that refuses to eat until at least 9pm is likely to have a cuisine that is more suitable for exhausted palates than the gastronome...
I'd also be wary of eating fish in any town a) physically a long way from the sea, and b) without good enough transport links to get fresh fish delivered from the coast quickly. I'd add c) and hot, but that's not really a problem with winter and refrigerated trucks.
And as for eating late: I get very very hot at night when I do that; is the late hour a primitive form of central heating?
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