Dumplings

[Weyland]

Oct 31, 2010 16:19:32 GMT jean said:

Strange that since the dumplings acquired their own thread, they have not made a single contribution! There's gratitude for you.

If a man apologises in the forest, and nobody's listening, is he still in the wrong?

[Weyland]

OK. I'll come clean . . .

1. I got distracted by an unexpected visitor.

2. I discovered that I don't have any beef in the freezer except mince. Or indeed any other stew-worthy meat. Only chicken.

3. I ate the last frankfurters at least two weeks ago. (Yes -- they do figure in the recipe.)

4. I have no marjoram.

5. I'm not that hungry.

6. And finally, most importantly, the bread isn't quite stale enough yet. Spoil the ship, etc.

I promise I'll make the dish tomorrow.

[Patrick]

I was intrigued by the use of Chorizo to add a little extra to a beef stew. It was on the Food programme (What goes in your basket), on Channel Four the other week. Nice touch, with a couple of chunks of beef shin slow cooked for five hours or so.

[everso]

Oct 31, 2010 18:23:38 GMT Patrick said:

I was intrigued by the use of Chorizo to add a little extra to a beef stew. It was on the Food programme (What goes in your basket), on Channel Four the other week. Nice touch, with a couple of chunks of beef shin slow cooked for five hours or so.

Mmm, chorizo. I cook it with chicken and tomatoes, too.

BTW, how does everyone pronounce chorizo? They always seem to say "cho-ri-tzo" on t.v., but I used to work with a Spanish girl who called it "chor-eeth-o". She was from Madrid so I would imagine she had it right.

[Weyland]

Oct 31, 2010 20:05:20 GMT everso said:

BTW, how does everyone pronounce chorizo? They always seem to say "cho-ri-tzo" on t.v., but I used to work with a Spanish girl who called it "chor-eeth-o". She was from Madrid so I would imagine she had it right.

I've often wondered about that. It's pig-ignorance. It's not as if they're mistaking it for German, even if they had any idea at all how to pronounce German. After all, most of them have more than enough trouble pronouncing English as it is.

Pig-ignorance. Worse than "Eyebeeza". I've even heard "Eyebeetsa" and "Eyebyeza". Forgodsake!

[everso]

I worked for a South American bank years ago, although some of the employees in my department were Spanish. So, despite the fact that I can't really speak Spanish, I do know how to pronounce it. I spent about two years at evening classes and for a while could hold a (simple) conversation in Spanish, so long as it was spoken really really slowly; now I'm afraid I've forgotten most of it.

[aubrey]

You could end up like Peggy Hill, pronouncing English words (with a Spanish source) very Spanish - "Mehico." (She's a substitute Spanish teacher, who doesn't really know all that much Spanish.)

[Weyland]

Nov 1, 2010 9:27:57 GMT aubrey said:

You could end up like Peggy Hill, pronouncing English words (with a Spanish source) very Spanish - "Mehico." (She's a substitute Spanish teacher, who doesn't really know all that much Spanish.)

I can understand anyone (mis)pronouncing foreign words as if they were English. What gets me is mispronouncing Spanish words as if they were German. Donner und Caramba! how did that come to pass?

And while I'm here, how did "lingerie" get so hopelessly mangled?

[Weyland]

To Wrexham, just for a change of scene.

Encountered the biggest Asda I've ever seen -- clouds forming up near the ceiling, shelf stackers using those little Lambretta trucks you see in Milan, GPS units on every trolley.

Guess what -- still no semolina.

Even worse -- I asked for chorizo at the deli counter, but they'd run out! The lady said there was probably some in packets in the coolers, and took me there, as they do. And she very deliberately said chorITSo, as if I was some lower form of life. [insert joke here]. I almost demanded to see the manager.

Worser yet -- I checked the receipt and didn't get the discount on the 3-for-£5 beer offer. Went to the service desk. Lady checked in the computer and said it was because one of the bottles was cider, not beer. I pointed out that the said bottle, clearly labeled Kingfisher Lager, brewed in India, was not in fact cider, but she insisted.

Dragged me to the shelves to prove it, and remonstrated with a colleague, name of Jimmy, when she discovered that the stackers had really really put the Indian "cider" in the beer aisle. Jimmy looked at me pityingly, and dragged us back to the computer for further investigations. There was a fair bit of muttered dissatisfaction, and not from me.

Sorted. Eventually. I offered to reprogram their system, but she didn't have the faintest idea what I was talking about.

Meanwhile, I thought I had detected the faintest of Mackem accents in Jimmy's diction -- remembering that yesterday's extravaganza at St James's Park had ended Newcastle United 5 - 1 Sunderland.

But it turned out that he came from South Shields, where they can swing either way, and he turned out to be not of the Dark Side, and would have been carrying his black'n'white Light Sabre if only he hadn't been on duty. So we enjoyed a moment of intense pleasure together, discussing the goals.

<we now return you to your regular programmes>

[Patrick]

Years ago, visiting an Asda near Nottingham, I was fairly impressed, but our local one here - huge as it is, is a cultural wasteland where foodstuffs are concerned - for instance - Sainsburys fills half an aisle with it's range of ground fresh coffee, Asda has troube filling three feet of shelf space. The only thing that they aren't bad on is Organic Cereals - but along with crisps and biscuits and pot noodles it's obviously fits better into their remit.

Perhaps in order to get the populace eating more healthily the government should come over more big brother than it already is and insist on the proportion of snack foods that a shop can sell. My Spar up the road for instance has a whole shop front covered in crisp racks. Years ago my local "Mace" village shop utilised the same amount of space for vegetables. similarly where the Spar has an area dedicated to drinks, fizzy and alcoholic, chilled and freestanding, the Mace of forty years ago had a cheese counter and delicatessen. We are supposed to like gourmet food more than ever - or we certainly like watching chefs doing it as a glance at any TV schedule will tell. We obviously don't like actually doing it ourselves.

[everso]

I went to our Asda recently. It's a good shop, except that there were a lot of fat chavs walking around. However, I'm prepared to put up with them.

[Weyland]

Oct 31, 2010 17:16:06 GMT Weyland said:

I promise I'll make the dish tomorrow.

I now have all the ingredients, including fresh thyme and parsley, but I was delayed by Patrick and Everso recommending chorizo instead of frankfurter, so I had to fearlessly sally forth into North Wales and wrest some from the grasp of a giant Asda cooler lurking in the Realm of Wrecsam*.

But the promise above still stands.
________
* Home of the National Eisteddfod.

[philippa]

any joy, Weyland, or is it a bit early to ask? at £1 a box, smashing up matzos (flat breads) to make the dumplings could prove to be a pricey option. i've thought of making the matzos from scratch but it turns out from recipes i've seen that you need matzo meal to make them, catch 22!

i used to be able to buy Rakusens matzo meal easily enough in brighton supermarkets but here its a totally different experience trying to locate anything locally. i've tried ordering it, many times, via the local supermarket however in these parts we live by a law called 'the pembrokeshire promise' .

[Weyland]

Nov 2, 2010 11:53:52 GMT @philippa said:

any joy, Weyland, or is it a bit early to ask?

Progress has been made, Pippa. The Pražský Guláš is simmering gently in the slow cooker right now, and it smells divine.

I'll make the Houskové Knedlíky later, fresh to eat. You're supposed to cut them into slices with a thread. I'll give it a go.

Photos will be available for the dumpling anoraks among us.

[Talking of Pembroke, Powys, Wrecsam, etc., I got a Council Tax bill this morning from Powys County Council. It is correctly addressed except for the county. They've put Shropshire. For the uninitiated, Shropshire is not Powys and has its very own Council Tax, and it isn't even in Wales. Dumb-bells.]

[Weyland]

I think it's the Masterchef final this evening, BBC2 19:30. No doubt I'll be on there next year. I'm tipping David. Or possibly Claire. But all three are pretty good, according to the powers that be.

One thing's for sure: I won't be visiting that restaurant they were cooking in yesterday -- Noma in Copenhagen, said to be the best in the world -- even if I could afford it. Pretentious pretension with knobs on. And the presentation style is laughable -- reminiscent of a dinner party at OCD Anonymous, or possibly a particularly mindless candidate for the Turner Prize. As the judges often say, "I'd send that back".

[Deleted]

i think it will be David, going on last nights efforts. the judges seemed just that teeeensy bit more impressed with him, i thought.

[everso]

I like the one with the shaky hands who looks a leedle bit like Costal.

In fact, I've almost been persuaded it IS Costal.

Costal, do you have shaky hands?

Don't answer that.

[everso]

I shall have Mr. E. in shortly, wanting his tea, ready to sit down and watch Masterchef and pretending he's eating fane daning food whilst, in fact, eating a beef casserole.

However, I have concocted a banana flambé with double cream for afters.

[Deleted]

Nov 2, 2010 19:16:50 GMT everso said:

I like the one with the shaky hands who looks a leedle bit like Costal.

In fact, I've almost been persuaded it IS Costal.

Costal, do you have shaky hands?

Don't answer that.

only when kookin, Everso.. never when its the important stuff.

if he looks like me, by the way, its a tubby version.

[everso]

Nov 2, 2010 19:27:44 GMT @costal said:

Nov 2, 2010 19:16:50 GMT everso said:

I like the one with the shaky hands who looks a leedle bit like Costal.

In fact, I've almost been persuaded it IS Costal.

Costal, do you have shaky hands?

Don't answer that.

only when kookin, Everso.. never when its the important stuff.

if he looks like me, by the way, its a tubby version.

I hope he wins. He seems a nice bloke. I feel so sorry for him when they keep telling him to stop shaking. I mean, what's wrong with them? I think they are harping on about it too much, making it worse for him.

My hands would be shaking if I was trying to ponce around arranging raw meat on plates (why the hell don't they cook it properly? I swear they'll all get worms) while some bloke keeps telling me not to be nervous.

Twats!