Rog T Food blog - In praise of Rabbi Blue, his recipies and his approach to life

Why did I start this food feature? Let me tell you a little story. Back in January 1987, my Dad passed away suddenly. The family was in bits. My Mum was devastated. They had been married for 43 years and it had never really occurred to my mother that she'd be alone. Years later she told me she'd believed they'd both die in a horrific car crash, as the result of my Dad's maniacally reckless driving. Neither did. 

Later that year, I bought the family home from my mum. She had a small flat up the road. In 1989, she was still in a very depressed and down state. The Easter weather looked fine. I decided to do something to try and 'snap her out of it'. She had chronic back problems caused by osteoperosis and was in constant pain. She was angry with me for all sorts of reasons, none of which I thought were particularly rational. I'd nip in to see her and have a Guinness and it would always end up in an massive argument. I now see that we were quite similar and not particularly good at conceding ground in arguments. But I realised that something had to change. So I came up with a cunning plan. Have an Easter barbeque in the garden and ask all of the family. I told Mum and she was not impressed "I don't like barbeques". I said "Well come down and just have a Guinness, all of the family are coming". She said "I'll see how I feel". I took this to be a no. My plan was to despatch my sisters on the day and drag her down. The next time I saw her, she said "Who is coming to the barbeque?". I told her I'd just asked family, brothers, sisters and their kids, and they'd all said they were coming, even my sister Val, who lived in Florida. She snarled, well I suppose I'll have to make an appearance. For the next week, she didn;t mention it. The Thursday, two days before, to my surprise, she said "I am looking forward to the barbeque, what shall I bring?". I was gobsmacked. I said "Surprise me, bring something nice". She said "What about a salad?". I said "A salad would be lovely". 

On the appointed day, she appeared, proudly clutching a bean salad. I've never eaten anything, before or since with so much garlic. To my amazement, she was on sparkling form, was the last to go, scoffing down sausages and burgers and getting rather bladdered. Everyone complimented her on her bean salad, which we all agreed was the highlight. After that, she made a bean salad for every barbeque. It made me realise the power of communal eating. It is no coincidence that the central point of christian worship, is a ceremonial meal of bread and wine. Sharing a meal is a great way to build bridges. 

Mum passed away in 2008. About six months ago, I was discussing Mum's bean salad with my sister Caroline. She said "Oh, you mean Rabbi Blue's bean salad. Mum got the recipe from The Universe". For those of you who don't know it, the Universe is a Roman Catholic weekly publication. I've never read it. I always assumed it was full of ecclesiastical appointments and nuns visiting the Pope. Not the sort of stuff that interests me. I was surprised it had a cooking column. I assumed that they simply syndicated a column to fill space, as a sop to all of the old Irish ladies who read it out of religious duty. But I wanted to get hold of the recipe for Mums bean salad, so I googled Rabbi Blue.

I found one of his cookery books on Amazon and bought it. Ironically, it didn't have the recipe in it. In the forward, I was shocked to read this line after his lsy of thanks "I have to put my friend Rowanne at the head of the list because it was she who 'discovered' me. When Rowanne came to The Universe she asked me to fill in for the family page for a couple of weeks. Well I've been filling in for years now."

I started reading the book. It is a recipe book with a difference. Every recipe has a story and a little bit of a reflection that, if you bother to read it, will impart a deeper wisdom. As I found with the barbeque, food brings us together.  In one chapter, Rabbi Blue asks "How do you learn to love? You can't take an evening course in lovong or get a BSc in tolerance. It is something which has to grow in you like a seed and tact is a good way to begin." This is part of the pre-amble to a recipe for vegetarian Yorkshire pudding! 

Some thoughts from Rabbi Blue

Rabbi Blue passed away years ago. Had it not been for that chance conversation, I wouldn't have even known of him. His book is brilliant and I am already starting to use and adapt some of his recipes and ideas. Reading his book has solidified a feeling that I've had for a long time that most cookery programmes fail to miss the central point of food. Up until my generation was born, food was something that families shared. The dining table was a place where we got together, ate, drank and shared our lives. Now we get a plate of slop and sit in front of the telly, too distracted to enjoy the flavours and the tastes or even to listen to those with us. It is no surprise that so many of us have mental health issues. Rabbi Blue, in a quiet, gentle way showed us the path. It may seem odd that a Rabbi was the star cookery writer of a Roman Catholic publication. In truth, it shows a deeper more important truth. Food is something that can bring us together. When I used to volunteer at The Passage day centre for homeless people, I'd often share a cup of tea and a chat with one of the clients, often over a bacon sandwich, in our short break. When you share a meal and a conversation with someone, you develop a bond, often only for that short moment, but you are both doing something essential to the human existence. 

I do not believe we can medicate ourselves out of the mental health crisis that faces us. I do not believe that we can fix it through therapy. I believe that the seeds of the answer is to communicate with each other and this is best done over a shared meal. I bought Rabbi Blue's book to find out how to make a bean salad. I didn't find that, but I think I may well have stumbled on a deeper truth. And the good news is that delicious food is at the heart of it. It reminds me that we are long overdue a family barbeque as well. If you have Rabbi Blue's recipe for Bean Salad, please let me know!

Rog T's food blog - Bone!

 I had a wonderful evening on Saturday night. A good friend of mine asked me around for a barbeque. This is probably my favourite way of eating on a Saturday night. We have a long standing in joke about Nigerian Guinness and Jerk Chicken. We have often  joked that if ever The Bridge Tavern in Mill Hill closes, we'll reopen it as a Nigerian Guinness and Jerk chicken bar. I shared my Jerk Chicken sauce recipe with him and it was excellent. In the course of the evening I got talking to one of his friends. We were discussing food. I expressed an opinion that if you don't know how to cook, you never really know if something tastes good. When I cook I am a serial expermineter. Like my friend, I am always keen to try new recipes. I was explaing to the guy I was chatting to that for me, a real eureka moment was chatting to a friend, who happens to be and elderly academic of Palestinian heritage. He told me that when he first arrived in the UK, the food always tasted very bland to him. He'd go to top restaurants, get the finest cuts of meat, but there was no flavour. Then he went around to his Palestinian mates for a barbeque and found the food was far more delicious than the top London fancy restaurants.

He realised that this was because they always cooked the food on the bone. The English have an aversion to bones in food. We'd happily eat something bland and tasteless, if it had no bones. This is why we are so keen on chicken nuggets. Te coating makes up for the flavour we remove by taking the bones out. The same is true for fish. This is a major cause of consternation in my house, as my wife hates fish with bones. If I cook fish, I have to fillet it for her. Invariably miss a bone and she berates me. Much to my wife's irritation, I also do not share her obsession with knives and forks, a very English foible. I am happy to pick up a chop and knaw the meat off it. She thinks this makes me an ignorant savage and suggests that I am  akin to Fred Flintstone. I am somehow not upset by such comparisions. Of all the figures in modern TV and Film, I think Fred Flintstone is one of the happiest and there is much to admire about him.

One key feature of proper Palestinian cooking is that they use a firepit (known as a Zarb oven) to cook in. As I understand it, you dig a hole, line it with rocks, then fill it with charcoal and lit. The vegetables, juices and meat are all put in and the food cooks slowly. I need to try this. I quite like the concept of cooking a whole chicken in a firepit, it is one sort of cooking that London doesn't seem to be blessed with a huge selection of restaurants who do this. In principle, I love the idea of simply putting the food in a hole, going off for the day and coming back and it's cooked to perfection and delcious, but clearly there is more to it than that. Anyway, this is my big plan for the summer. To do this and get it right. 

I will report back!

Rog T's Food Blog - The best dish I ever tasted and will I ever taste such delights again

Copyright Roger Tichborne 2025

What was the best food you ever tasted? Is there a foodie moment that stands out? For me, that is easy. I can even tell you the date. It was on the 7th June 1977. It was the day of the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and we had a street party in our street (Millway, NW7). The road was closed between Newcombe Park and Russell Grove as a I recall. Punting was put up and it seemed that everyone got into the spirit of the fun. 

The organisers suggested that every family brought out a dish or two and we had a giant buffet, that seemed to go all the way up the street!

Copyright Roger Tichborne 2025

The UK, London and Millway was a very different place back then. If you look at these pictures, you will see a very different demographic mix of people to London and Millway today. The UK was not the foodie capital that it is today. Such events were usually sandwiches and sausage rolls. If you were lucky, you got a mushroom vol au vent, which were seen as very fancy. People made a huge effort, but they weren't terribly adventurous or creative when they made food. As we knew nothing else and seemed always to be hungry, we didn't mind. 

At the time, the most exotic thing I'd ever had was "Chinese Nosh" from the New China Garden in Station Road. We usually had sweetcorn and chicken soup, pancake rolls to start, along with sweet and sour pork, special fried rice and prawn balls, with lychees and ice cream to follow. It seemed very fancy. Exotic dishes were typically described as "foreign muck". Garlic was derided as something French people ate. 

I was lucky. My Dad had been a pilot and travelled the world. He loved world cuisine and would try things. He liked spices and derided the closed minds of many of his peers and friends. When the Mill Hill Tandoori opened, he was delighted, he loved curries. I'd not sampled them at this stage, Mum was more conservative and I was a kid, so I'd not developmed my beer and curry fascination.

Anyway back to the street party. Dad suggested we make our way up and try a few of the different cuisines. The only problem was that everyone had made the same thing! Then Dad spotted at the end of the road avery colourful lady, with a massive pot next to her. As was Dad's want, he made a bee line for her table. She was Nigerian and her and her family had just moved in. She'd made spare ribs in a sauce. I've never seen ribs as big before or since. The sauce was something to behold, both sweet and savoury at the same time. The meat fell off the bones. She said she'd spent two days preparing it. Dad was fascinated. Even with his extensive travelling, this was new to him. Dad was always fascinated by new people. The husband worked in the oil industry. Dad had also worked in the industry and they had a long chat. Dad insisted I try some of the ribs. The first thing I noticed was the smell. It smelled great, even as you approached. It was rare for anything other than chip shops to smell back then! 

My mum actually got quite grumpy with him. Dad was like me. He was greedy and Mum knew he was rather smitten by this lady and her pot of spare ribs. She didn't like women she couldn't compete with successfully and this lady's ribs were simply out of this world. Mum then saw her sister and huffed off. Dad turned around to me and said "Son, there's a lesson here. I'll tell your mum they were horrible later, and I was just being polite" as he tucked into another helping. 

I can honestly say that I've never had anything as good since. I suspect they were beef ribs. I have no idea what the sauce was. If I ever taste such a thing again before I shuffle off this mortal coil, I will die in food heaven. If there is anyone out there with the recipe for Nigerian spare ribs, let me know. I will forever be in your debt and I'll give you a free pot noodle in return!

When small minded people talk about how things would be better withoput immigrants, I always recall those spare ribs. They are fools!

Rog T's Food Blog - When I eat out, where do I go?

 At the weekend, I was asked what my favourite cuisine and my favourite restaurant is. I thought about it for a few moments and said "Can I get back to you on that?" I have my favourites, but it is horses for courses. I would choose a different restaurant and cuisine for a romantic dinner with my wonderful wife, to a night out with the boys. So here are my choices.

1. Romantic dinner with Clare

My go to place of choice would have to be The Bleeding Heart near Farringdon. Not cheap, but the food and wine are excellent and it is somewhere you can relax and have a nice evening. The restaurant changes and there are cheaper set meal options, which you generally have to ask for. We've probably been going for the best part of 20 years and never been disappointed. Sadly it's mostly birthdays and anniversaries. As I've not won the lottery yet!

2. Dinner with friends which won't break the bank

If we want something nice, but not overly expensive, we go to the Wet Fish cafe in West Hampstead. It is only ten minutes down the Thameslink line. They have very reasonable early bird deals. Check for the details as it does change. As the name implies, they are very good at fish and the meals are well cooked and the contents fresh.

3. Lunch on my own.

I love a nice Pie and Mash. I am making my way around London trying to visit as many as possible, when I have spare time. Sadly I am not making the progress I hoped. I've blogged about my love of a greta pie and mash. My personal favourite is Castle's in Camden and that  isn't just loyalty to North London. Pie and mash is very niche, it ain't posh. I like places where you can pretend the last 40 years never happened, if only for five minutes. Be warned, they only take cash.

4. Dinner out with my mates.

This will surprise no one. It has to be The Mill Hill Tandoori. It isn't posh, there are better Indian dining experiences, but it is unsurpassed for a night out with your mates for beer and curry. If you are a bit noisy, no one gives you a skunk eye. And a few of the dishes are actually as good as you'll have anywhere, notably, the Tandoori Salmon and the Tarka Dal. The Naan's are pretty good as well.

5. Family meal out with the kids.

This has to be The Good Earth in Mill Hill. It is expensive, but the food is as good as anything I've had. It is one of the few restaurants that always seems to be busy. I love their duck and the Kung Po Prawns. It has been the restaurant of choice since the 1980's for family do's. The old boss witnessed my Dad being robbed at Lloyds Bank in Mill Hill in 1984. His testamony saw the assailants arrested and sent to prison. Sadly, him, Dad and Lloyds are all long gone!

6. Breakfast.

I love a good full English. Sadly many of my favourite cafe's have gone. I will actually give you two as I can't make mind up. Until recently I'd have just said "Cafe Anglais in Colindale". There's not much to say about a proper full English and they do it! Recently, I've also had a few tasty breakfasts at The Little Portland Cafe, on Little Portland St. Again it's excellent. A word of advice, if you buy a cheaper breakfast and add items it can work out better value. Most enjoyable.

7. Great value Italian.

I'd thoroughly recommend Rosella in Kentish Town. It is just down the road from my favourite pub, The Southampton Arms. The food is fresh and reasonably priced. 

All this talk of grub has made me feel hungry!

 

Rog T's Food Blog #12 - Whatever happened to cheap dine outs?

 I was walking down Mill Hill Broadway recently and I happened to notice that one of the cafe's was charging £12.50 for a sausage sandwich. I was gobsmacked. I was even more surprised to see that the cafe was reasonably busy. Now of course, people are perfectly entitled to spend their money on what they want and maybe it is the best sausage butty in the world, but it really isn't for me. In Mill Hill recently, there was a kefuffle about a proposed McDonalds. One of the big objections by certain snobbier residents was that it would 'encourage young people to eat junk food'. You've really got to wonder about people who are fine with a £12.50 sausage sandwich, but not a £2.99 Big Mac! Now I don't mind spending a decent amount of cash on great food. Myself and 'er indoors regularly eat out. What we've noticed is that since lockdown, the price has gone through the roof. We've also noticed that restaurants we've frequented for years are getting less and less busy. It must be pointed out we still have a decent little cafe that you do not require a bank loan to frequent. Each to their own, but to me a sausage butty is best when it is done plain and simple. A fancy description does not warrant an £8 surcharge!

The fact that we are not billionaires means that we've become more and more choosy about the price of where we book. We are eating out a lot more in restaurants like Rossella in Kentish Town, which are reasonably priced. A Brushcetta and Penne Arrabiata are less than £20. As an OAP I can jump on a train there for free, and it is almost next door to the Southampton Arms, which is one of my favourite pubs. It fits my definition of a good noght out for dinner. There are quite a few places that also offer good deals if you arrive early. In West Hampstead, the Wet Fish Cafe offers a 20% discount on the bill if you arrive before 6pm. The food is wonderful and so is well worth checking out. There are always bargains to be had, many restaurants near theatres have great set meal deals, which seem to constantly change. Usually you have to be in and out early, but it is worth the effort. 

What is getting ever harder to find are decent cheap cafe's that do a lunch. You can still find reasonable places. The Little Portland Cafe on Little Portland St, around the corner from Oxford St, does a fine full English for around the price of a Mill Hill sausage butty. Sadly such establishments get ever harder to find. 

I was talking to the owner of one such establishment and it seems the answer has much to do with the pandemic and Brexit. It is getting ever harder for cafe's to find the staff. There used to be an unending supply of cheap labour for cafe's from Europe. 

That has long gone and it has translated into higher costs. Many establishments took a battering during lockdown and regular customers got out of the habit of going out for breakfast and lunch. My advice is that if you are lucky enough to have a local, family run cafe or restaurant, that does good value food and doesn't charge an arm and a leg, cherish it and spend your cash there. The one restaurant in Mill Hill, that for me is always great value is the Mill Hill Tandoori. I eat out there more than is probably good for me, simply because if you don't use it, you lose it. 

Rog T's Food Blog #11 - I simply love ham and pineapple pizzas! What of it?

 One of my very best food memories was coming out of The Beehive pub in Edgware, with a rather attractive Italian Au Pair I'd just met, when I was about 18. We were both hungry and I offered to treat her to a Pizza from the Perfect Pizza takeaway which was around the corner, opposite the Police station. Now bear in mind, it was 1980 and Pizza's were still seen as a bit new and exotic. As I recall, The Perfect Pizza had just opened and the consensus was that it was the best!

Not being that familiar with Pizza's, I sought guidance. She said "Try the Hawaiian, it's ham and pineapple and it is delicious". I asked if that was what she ate in Italy, she laughed and said she'd never heard of it until she came to Edgware but it was wonderful. And guess what? It was, it was delicious. I never really thought too much more about it. My tastes changed and I tended to prefer a hot spicy pizza with chorizo and a biug lashing of chilli oil, but once in a while, I'd have the Hawian when the mood took me. In truth, like many of my favourite experiences in life, I'm not quite sure it ever really lived up to the first bite on that cold November night in 1980, but I've retained a fondness for them. 

Over the last few years, I've noticed that there is a bit of a hate campaign against pineapple on pizza, with a general snobby view that it is 'not Italian'. This rather amuses me, as my experience of pizzas in Italy is markedly different to what you get in the UK. Firstly the bases tend to be thinner and crispier. The the tomato sauce generally tastes far better, fresher and with a tang and the cheese is also far better quality. So it is a bit ironic that people snobbily say "Italians would not stand for a Hawaiian!". In truth, I doubt they'd be too happy with any of the main UK pizza delivery services. The Perfect Pizza didn't last to long. As I later realised, it's Pizza's were just to authentic for the tastes of the British.

BTW, to me the one sure way to tell that a pizza will be a bit bland is if the edge is thick dough. My daughter bought a pizza oven and makes authentic pizzas with fresh ingredients. The edges are thin and slightly burned and are delicious. Thats how they tend to be in proper italian restaurants.

There is nothing that irritates me more than food snobbery, especially when  it is ill informed. If you don't like pineapple on pizza, that's fine. Don't eat it, but what you do or don't like is irrelevant to the rest of humanity. There are things that I quite enjoy that I avoid, but this is usually because I think that the farming methods etc are not to my liking and are bad for the planet. So if someone says to me that hormone injected beef from the USA is not a good way to farm beef, I will investigate and take on board if the arguments are convincing. If, however, someone tells me that I shouldn't put ketchup on my sausage sandwich, or pineapple on my pizza, because they don't like it, I'd be a moron if I took it on board. 

It always makes me chuckle that I was introduced to the Hawaiian pizza by an Italian, however if it had been my mate from Burnt Oak and I'd enjoyed it, then my opinion would be the same. In my experience, people who are influenced by food snobbery, or even worse, who expound it, are the most silly and miserable souls on the planet. If I thought a black pudding, mushroom and gherkin pizza was tasty, I'd have it and stuff what the rest of you think!

Rog T's food blog #10 - How woke is your dinner?

 When I came up with the concept of my food blog, I never dreamed that I'd be writing blogs about the relative wokeness of what is on your dinner plate, but then I never dreamed (30p) Lee Anderson, who seems to me to have a very unhealthy relationship with food, would be stupid enough to tweet this.

It seems Lee has a problem with Avocado pears. They are far too woke for him. Fish and chips clearly is OK, although I am not entirely sure what his objections to tomato sauce are. My first thought was "How pathetic". Then I thought "every time any member of Reform UK now eats in public, they will have to ensure no Avocado or any other dish that may be deemed 'woke', or they will be snapped and lampooned. Sarah Pochin is now doomed to a life of eating only food which may be deemed sensible by Lee. What this will do for her cholesterol, heaven only knows. 

Oddly, over the last few years, I've been unlucky enough to be in the same restaurant as a fair few right wing Brexity types. It has not been pleasant. I saw Nigel Farage having dinner with former UKIP chair Andrew Reid, who is a MillHill Resident in one of our local pubs. I was happy to leave him to it. I didn't see what he was having, but nothing is particularly cheap or 'English'. However the last thing I'd do is bother someone if they are having dinner. Having said that Nigel seemed quite happy to pose for selfies. As I recall, he had a nice jug of beer at hand, but seemed far keener on the plonk they were quaffing, although the beer was featured in the pictures. Being fair, he wasn't giving it the big "I am" and left me alone. When I saw Lee's tweet I did wonder whether I'd be tempted to get a crafty snap of his dinner for some fun, if I saw him there again, but generally I prefer not to bother people when they are off duty.

I also saw Neil Oliver and Laurence Fox in the Darcie & May restaurant boat near Paddington a few years back. I didn't check their dinner either, but both had a fair few bottles of plonk and were loud and annoying (in a way Farage wasn't). They seemed as if they wanted attention, it was a very 'look at us' vibe emanating from them. As we were at the next table, ignoring them was hard, but seemed the best policy. It's a lovely place for dinner, but we've not been back since. Once with those two was enough.

So anyway, I thought I'd look at my food log since the weekend and see how I'd fare with Lee's sensible dining measure. I've marked all of my meals out of 10. Ten is very sensible in a Brexity sort of way. Zero is super woke. So Fish and Chips is a ten and Avocado and Quinoir is zero.

Tuesday Lunch

Greggs Sausage Roll - 10

Tinned Mackerel salad - 3 (Not sure if tinned Mackerel is woke, but Salad must be)

Pear & Banana - 2 (fresh fruit must be woke!)

Tuesday Breakfast
Porridge with Fruit - 4 (Porridge is probably Brexity, but I ruined it with fruit)

Monday Dinner

Cheese sandwich and pickled onion 9 - I think Lee would approve but probably demand chips for a 10.

Monday Lunch

Steak & Kidney Pie, Chips and Beans 10. I think this would be fine with Lee

Monday Breakfast
Porridge with Fruit - 4

Sunday Dinner

Barbeque inc Steak, Sausages, Chicken and Ribs 6 - (I suspect Lee would get the hump as I get my meat at Bucherie Gerard. It's all free range and high quality. I reckon Lee likes Walls bangers on the grill)

Sunday Brunch

Full English Fry up at a cafe in Apsley 8. I suspect the food would get 10 but it was a rather fancy cafe and they included Haloumi. I don't think Lee would approve of the term 'Brunch'

Saturday

Dinner

Italian Meal in Kentish Town 0  - Foreign muck in Lee's eyes.

Lunch

Sausage roll at Wembley 10 - Lee would approve.

Breakfast

Cheese, Mushroom and Spinach Omlette 2  - I think Lee would be fine with an omelette, but the Spinach wokifies it.

Friday 

Dinner

Italian food at Carluccios 0 - Woke foreign muck

Breakfast

Porridge with Fruit - 4

To my surprise, my average score is 5/10. I'm right in the middle betweet Woke and Sensible when it comes to food. I suspect that I got a far more sensible score than usual, with football and Darren (my manager) getting me a sausage roll to cheer me up. 

I have to say that the idea of food being sensible is actually the most stupid idea I've ever heard of. Now my missus is always imploring me to eat sensibly ( and failing as you can see above). Her idea of sensible food is tiny portions, generally of such things as sushi and mung beans. I suspect Lee would not deem my missus sensible, but I have to say I'd trust her judgement over his any day. Food should be enjoyed. When politicians start pontificating like Lee, we are on a rocky road. I love fish and chips (with proper mushy peas that his friend didn't have). However, it is far more sensible to include a pickled onion and a wally. I'd never judge anyone by whats on their plate, but I do judge people if they post idiotic tweets. I also suspect that if Sarah Pochin ever does emulate "The Iron Lady" and become Prime Minister, she won't give old 30p a job.

Rog T's Food Blog #9 - The perfect pub sandwich

 Here's a business idea for anyone with a few million quid burning a hole in your pocket. Give me your dosh and I'll set up the perfect pub chain for you. Now I won't give you all of my ideas here, you'll have to pay for those, but I will explain a key aspect of the menu. The sandwiches that will be on sale. Now I'm someone who has been going into pubs for a very long time. In that time, I've had a lot of sandwiches and what amazes me is that the quality has simply got worse every year year for about 40 years. I suspect that the pinnacle of pub sandwiches on London was probably around 1985. This is a purely subjetive view, based on the pubs I frequented, but all of the best sandwiches I had were made then.

So lets start with a few rules. A decent sandwich has to be made on the spot, with fresh bread. If it is unsliced bread, even better. In our family, we called such sandwiches doorstops. They were never cut into triangles. The bread was white and crusty and delicious. The next element is the butter. This must be proper butter. I like Lurpack unsalted personallty, but there are plenty of other brands that are good, or at least acceptible. Any pub that went to the trouble of getting that right, rarely went wrong. The next element is the filling. I loath gunge in a sandwich, which makes it soggy. I far prefer sandwiches that do not have mayonaise on them. So what is acceptable?

Mature cheddar cheese, I can accept it with pickle, but if the cheese is proper it doesn't need it.

Thick cut ham with English or at a stretch Dijon Mustard. Thin, watery supermarket ham is not acceptable.

Sausage. This can be served with HP sauce or Dijon Mustard. The sausage must be freshly cut and hot.

Bacon. I don't think a good bacon sandwich needs anything. It must be hot bacon.

Falafel with tomato, onion and garlic sauce. The falafels must be hot and I will break my no gunge rule.

Smoked Salmon, with a dash of lemon and pepper.

That is really it. I am not a fan of wraps. Why put good food in something that tastes like cardboard? As for french sticks, generally I find them to be a bit stale. The Three Horseshoes in Letchmore Heath used to do amazing sausages in French bread back in the 1980's. We went their specially for them. They were massive Cumberlands that sat in a sausage oven staring at you. They also had all of the above options, apart from the Falafels, which I only had once at a pub in town. It was the best sandwich I had there. It was delicious, but it went when the Landlord went.

I don't really like garnish with sandwiches. Just a plate with the sarnie on it. The modern trend is to put masses of different fillings in, which generally don't compliment each other. If you use good ingredients, you don't need lots of other stuff in there. 

I think that a pub that sold proper, decent, filling, fresh sandwiches would do well, especially at lunch times. If I am in a rush, I want a tasty, filling meal that I don't have to mess around with. A good sandwich goes very well with a pint, but for reasons I don't understand, the numpties that run pubs simply don't get this. Our local pubs in Mill Hill don't even seem capable of making a basic sandwich. What is wrong with them?

Rog T's Food blog #8 - Fish and Chips!

 As a citizen of the London Borough of Barnet, there is one culinary delight that I can honestly say we are spoiled for. Even better, it is one which I absolutely love. I am talking about Fish and Chips. When we talk about proper British cuisine, we think of three things. A Sunday Roast, A full English Brekkie and Fish and Chips. In my house, growing up as a Roman Catholic, Friday was fish and chips day. My fish of choice was Plaice. In our bit of London, we didn't have mushy peas, that was a northern thing. We'd have pickled onions and gherkins. Dad would buy it, so he'd always ensure the portions were massive. Mum was always more frugal with her portions, and fish and chips meant it was the weekend, so I loved every aspect of the dish. Back in those days, there were three chippies we'd use. The King Neptune at The Green Man, Salcolme Gardens (Now called Frydays and locally known as Nicks) and the one on Deansbrook parade. Dad would go through spells of each. All were customers of his, but his preferred one was The Neptune, which later became The King Neptune. He liked this as he'd put his order in, nip over the road to the pub, have a beer and then collect dinner. He'd tell them not to rush. Mum would always moan about how long it took, Dad would blame their 'terrible service'. On occasion, he'd have two or three pints and forget, and the food would be cold. Mum would be outraged and insist that he used another one for a few weeks. I always assumed that Mum didn't know what Dad was up to as a kid. Now I realise she knew full well, but it was all part of that game we call marriage. If I was lucky, Dad would take me, he'd buy me a lemonade and we'd sit in the garden of The Railway Tavern. Sometimes, I'd sit there on my own, whilst he chatted inside to a mate. I didn't mind. I was always warned "Don't tell your mother".

Fish and chips was the one food that I always associated with takeaways. It also was a food I assciated with fun. We'd go to the seaside and have fish and chips. Sitting on the beach, with  fish and chips and a bag of pop was one of my best childhood memories. It didn't really ever occur to me that you'd eat fish and chips in a restaurant. Of course, fish and chips became a staple of pub food, but it wasn't 'proper'. The fish was always a bit dry, the chips not properly cooked and some don't even have malt vinegar. How hard is it. In the 1980's a wonderful fish and chip restaurant opened in Mill Hill Broadway. It was called La Carp D'ora. It immediately became my mum's favourite restaurant, where we'd eat out when she wanted 'dinner out'. They even got a supply of Guinness in for her. It was the best fish and chips I'd ever had. One of my best mate's girlfriends worked there, which was even better. We got star treatment. 

It closed around twenty years ago. Several restaurants have come and gone. It is currently a Pizza place. It is a shame. I've rarely eaten fish and chips out since. Last Saturday, we were going to a gig in Barnet, so we went for fish and chips at Fresh Fry in Barnet, by the Everyman cinema. It was wonderful. Excellent fish and chips, massive portions and reasonably priced drinks. I'd highly recommend it. We usually have a fish and chips takeaway once or twice a month. Frydays (Nicks) are currently our choice, although this is as much because I pass it on the way back from the gym at Mill Hill East (yes I know....). We also regulalrly use Booba's and The King Neptune, when it is convenient. Both are good. I will be visiting the Neptune soon, but this is to try their new range of pie and mash!

On our visit to Fresh Fry, I actually realised that it is nice to eat fish and chips in a restaurant. Not only that, but at £25 for dinner inc a glass or two of wine, it is great value. I think it needs to be done far more regularly. Any suggestions......

Rog T's Food Blog #7 - Crisps, calories and conning the public

 Ok so time for a rant. I love crisps. This dates back to when I was a kid. Crisps were the go to treat if you were hungry. Back in the day, Smiths were the big crisps company. The popular flavours were cheese and onion and salt and vinegar. Every so often they'd launch new varieties. I wasn't keen on roast chicken, to me, these tasted of snot. There was much excitement when tomato ketchup crisps came out. Even better when prawn cocktail crisps were  launched. Some I liked, but I was in the minority, such as Worcester sauce flavour. Some I didn't get, such as the crisps with the salt in the blue bag. Seemed a bit pointless to me. I can recall going down with my pals from next door, Ricky and Luke, and buying a bag of crisps each, different flavours, so we could share and no one miss out. As I think you can guess, I used to be really fond of crisps. 

As I grew up, my love affair waned. Smiths crisps disappeared  and Walkers took over (and needlessly mucked up the colour coding of crisps bags). For some strange reason, I never really took to these. I few years ago, I was chatting to a barman in a hostelry and we got onto the subject of crisps. I said I no longer really enjoyed them. He said "Try some of these" and handed me a bag of Burts Salt and Vinegar crisps, he said "If you don't like them you can have them for free". They were delicious. He explained that Walkers use citric acid, for the vinegar flavour. This is very sharp and doesn't really taste of vinegar (they've started adding malic acid, but they aren't much better). Burts use acetic acid, which is real vinegar. This got me thinking, should they be allowed to call the crisps salt and vinegar, if they don't contain vinegar? This has annoyed me ever since. Today I found a new thing to be irked by crisps about. I'm on a diet and counting my calories. I fancied a bag of McCoys Ridge cut flame grilled crisps. I thought I'd just check the calories to make sure I was within my lunchtime allowance. The crisps come in a 65g bag. I checked the nutritional information on the packet. It gives you the calories for 30g (157kcal)  and 100g (524kcal). Irritatingly, I had set a limit of 350kcals on my snack. With salad & fruit, that would be just under 750kcal (my lunch target). Here's the embarrassing bit. As the pack was 65g, I tried to do a quick calculation in my head as to whether that was undwer the 350kcal, but I am too bad at mental arithmatic to be sure (it is 340kcal). In truth, I was irritated that they hadn't put the pack value. 

Why have two other values? The 30g is allegedly 2-3 servings. I don't know many people who share bags of crisps or save them for later. It is ridiculous. When I thought about it further I realised just how misleading the packaging is. If I hadn't looked carefully, I'd have assumed that a serving was the bag, not 45% of a bag. Like so much 'nutritional advice', you need to be Sherlock Holmes and have a degree in nutrition to decode it. 

Is it really too much to ask for the name of the flavour to reflect the flavour and the health  information to reflect the contents of the pack? 

Rog T's Food Blog #6 - The perfect home cooked full English breakfast!

My working life has involved a lot of travel, staying in hotels and as a result, eating a lot of hotel breakfasts. These have evolved since I started and not for the best. The first time I had a full English Breafast was in a guest house. A little old lady brought out a perfect plate of food. What did I have (BTW there was no choice)?

2 Pork Sausages

2 Slices of bacon

2 Fried eggs

2 Slices of Black pudding

Some tinned tomatoes

Some baked beans

2 Slices of fried bread, made with proper beef dripping

and a rack of buttered white toast.

I had been drinking the night before and the sight of this was a wonder to behold. I was given the choice of HP Sauce or Heinz tomato sauce. A mug of builders strength tea accompanied it. It was freshly cooked, hadn't spent half an hour drying out in a metal tin, as most modern buffet breakfasts do. In short, it was perfect. It didn't have, hash browns, muffins, tomatoes with stalks, chips, scrambled eggs, beans in pots. As a result, to me, all of these are interlopers on the plate. 

Sadly, over the years, the dripping fried bread has almost disappeared, the recipe for Heinz beans has changed and they taste disgusting (the M&S cheap beans are the best altenative I've found) and tinned tomatoes have made way for fresh ones. I don't mind the fresh tomatoes, but used to enjoy mopping up the tomato juice with the toast, so it is a downgrade. Both my wife and my doctor constantly nag me to disavow such delights, but I still make myself a full English as a special treat. I usually get an earful and told I'll die, but some things are worth it. If you want to have a cafe cooked full English in the London Borough of Barnet, the best place I know of is Cafe Anglais in Colindale. The food is freshly cooked and hasn't spent time drying out and going cold on a hotplate. Such hotel buffets are always a bit of a let down. 

For me, preparation of  a good full English is a bit of a ritual. I always source the meat from a good butcher. In Mill Hill, we are lucky enough to have Boucherie Gerard. They do great meat. For a full English, it has to be Gerard's Cumberland sausages, his smked back bacon and his large free range eggs. On Sunday, I stupidly forgot the Black pudding and had to make do with a fresh fried tomato, as we'd used the last tin of tomatoes in a soup. As Mrs T won't buy cheap white bread, which is essential, I had to make do with poncy Gail's sourdough, which it would be sacrelige to use for fried bread.  I am a believer that you should use large sliced mushrooms. I don't really like it when you get whole big mushrooms that are grilled and a bit slimy. They are best with a bit of pepper. At home, I always flip eggs, so they don't have a big yellow yolk on view. I am paranoid about salmonella after my Dad nearly died of it in 1977. Oddly, it doesn't bother me in cafe's. My son had eaten all of the beans, so they were missing. When I do beans, I do like a bit of Lea and Perrins sauce on them.

I have two main problems with eating a full English at home. The first is that our dogs groak me, as they know there are sausages on the plate. The second is that my wife's misplaced belief that being healthy makes you happier, means that every aspect of the meal is criticised. Sausages and bacon are processed, mushrooms and tomatoes should be grilled, boiled eggs are more healthy than fried eggs. Lard is too unhealthy to fry things in. White bread is processed. The beans I like are too high in salt. The list goes on. I doubt that eating the breakfast pictured (from Sunday) will harm me as I eat it only once or twice a month. What I do know, without a shadow of a doubt, is that if I did't have such treats occasionally, life would not be worth living. 

The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus said "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die". Given the current situation in the world, I suspect he's not wrong!

Rog T's Food Blog #5 - Why I hate Deliveroo (* Other delivery services are also hated)

 The reason I write this blog is because of my love of food. I'm not snobby about food, I prefer the burgers at Burger King to most of the 'posh' chains. My idea of heaven is lunch in the Pie and Mash shop. Having said that, I also love top quailty restaurants, who serve food that is creatively prepared and have a wow factor. Another key ingredient is that the ambience should be comfortable and non intrusive. I hate loud restaurants were noise echoes around and you can't hear what your companions are saying. I also love cooking at home, experimenting and finding new tastes.

You may think I'd have been delighted with the rise of Deliveroo and all of the other delivery services. What could be better than eating delicious, restaurant prepared food in the comfort of your own front room? Well, in my book, everything. Firstly, the idea of delicious food turning up in plastic conatiners repulses me. The second is that it is invariably slightly cold and soggy. When it comes from a kitchen, to your table, it takes about 20 seconds. When it has to be slung in a plastic container, transported on a bike to your house, the decanted onto a plate, it is about 20 minutes. If you got tepid, soggy food in a restaurant, you'd send it back. When it comes from a delivery service you just scoff it down and ignore the fact that it is mildly revolting. 

There are some foods that seem to just about cope with being delivered. Pizza's seem to work. Fish and Chips as well. But when it comes to decent restaurant food, for me, the slopification of the food is something beyond my comprehension. Even things such as McDonalds get ruined, as the chips become soggy, as does the bun. In some cuisines, some dishes survive contact with the plastic box. In Indian food, curries and rice just about manage, but most grilled meats, starters etc go soggy, The same with Chinese food. 

Then there is the effect these delivery services have on the restaurants they procure food from. I find the hordes of delivery drivers constantly coming in and out highly irritating if I am eating and it also irks me when my dinner is late and a stream of deliveries are going out. I get why restaurants feel they need to top up their turnover with deliveries, but when it detracts from the core business, I feel it is a bad move. The reason we pay silly amounts of money for food at nice restaurants, is because it makes us feel a bit special. When it comes out of plastic containers, it is anything but, and it gets us out of the habit of eating out. As a business owner, I am always wary of making moves that make our business cannabalise itself. When the dodgy plastic containers go out of the door, so does all of the profit on drinks and the notion that the restaurant is special. 

Just my point of view, biut if you want slop from a plastic container, just buy a microwave meal from M&S or Tesco's and save yourself a fortune. 

Rog T's Food Blog #4 - Where we buy our food from and why we should pay for quality

 Two food blogs in a week. Yesterdays ode to pie and mash was a huge labour of love. Todays, we take a bit of a different stance. Today we look at where we buy our food. I've often stated that I buy my meat from Boucherie Gerard. It is a specialist butcher and provides the best meat in town. You pay a small premium for the produce, but it tastes amazing. Recently we had my nephew and his fiance around for Sunday lunch. She is Portuguese and I don't know if she'd had too many Sunday Roast dinners. Afterwards she said "I don't normally like beef, but that was amazing". She works as a Sommelier and I explained that meat is like wine, the more you pay the better you get. I'd bought a sirloin joint. It wasn't cheap but it was delicious. I gave up eating meat completely between 1984 and 2000, due to health issues and concern for the planet. In 2000, I started eating meat again, but I made a decision that I'd try and stick to free range meats and only eat it as a treat. I had developed a vitamin deficiency and a liver and bacon was the quick fix recommended by the Doctor. It worked instantly, so I built a new set of rules, based around only eating good meat dishes that I really enjoy. So when I eat my sirloin roast, it is not just another day of meat and two veg. Gerard also does the best bacon and sausages, as well as delicous Turkeys. I am not sure if it is because I'm a good cook or we don't use rubbish meat, but I've never had a dry, chewy turkey on Xmas day. I suspect it is a bit of both. The point is that if you want to enjoy your food, get good ingredients.

When it comes to the days I don't eat treats, we eat a lot of pasta dishes and soups. With soup, I tend to prefer fresh ingredients, although we have a stack of frozen veg as they last better. In Mill Hill we have four main places we buy general groceries. I guess the one we use most is Marks and Spencer. Their fruit and veg is good quality and they have many decent high quality ingredients. Their Sourgough bread is also delicious (which is a key part of having soup for lunch). M&S is expensive though. If you are buying tins of beans and frozen prawns, it is not really worth it IMHO. We also have Iceland. As an over 60, I get 10% off on a Tuesday. We tend to buy frozen items there on that day. Usually spinach, frozen fruits and other bits and pieces. Things like Oxo cubes are also cheaper than M&S. We also occasionally get bits and pieces in Tescos. I am not a fan, but Clare has a club card and likes a few things, like their Hummus and Salad. Finally we have the Mill Hill Food Centre store next to Costa's. They are the best place for jars of olives and gherkins, etc. They also do good aubergenes and Oyster mushrooms. I also like their fresh chillies.

Recently, we've also taken to going to Borehamwood Lidl or Aldi for big grocery shops. Things like tinned Sardines are as low as 39p. The cheapest in Iceland are £1 on a deal fo 3. Things like potatoes, tomatoes, etc are also good. 

It got me thinking. Back in 2013, I published a recipe for my trademark Rocket Fuel Soup. I always cook this when I'm run down or have a cold/flu. I'm still alive so it must work! It is delicious. Anyway, I thought I'd look at the ingredients, where to buy them and what they cost where it is available on line)

Ingredients.

1 Tin Organic chopped tomatoes - (Lidl 75p/ M&S 1.25)
4 cloves of Garlic - (Mill Hill Food centre - price per weight)
2 large hot red chillies - (Mill Hill Food centre - price per weight)
2 medium sized potatoes - (Maris piper Lidl 79p/100g - M&S £1.20/100g)
1 medium sized onion - (Mill Hill Food centre - price per weight)
A handful of fresh chopped parsley -(Mill Hill Food centre - price per weight)
A tblspoon full of turmeric - (Mill Hill Food centre - price per weight)
A tblspoon full of fresh shaved ginger -(Mill Hill Food centre - price per weight)
A teaspoon of organic capers (M&S small jar £4.99)
2 organic stock vegetable cubes (Tesco - £1.90 for 8)
A lemon (Mill Hill Food centre - price per weight)
Half a lime (M&S £1.60 a bag of 5 ,  Iceland £1 a bag of 3)
450 ml Water
2 tblspoons of coconut oil (M&S £3.50 for 300g tub, LIDL £1.19 for a 300g tub)

The fresh items I procure from Mill Hill Food Store I've not priced. It's worth noting that on the items I could find an online for this, the difference in cost was £7.05 for the most expensive to  £4.44 for the least. What is the difference in quality?

Sometimes the answer is when will you be using them? I generally find M&S fruit and veg lasts longer. However, if you are buying a lime to use today, there is no difference. Organic chopped tomatoes? To be honest, I am genuinely not sure but for a soup, I doubt it. Coconut oil? Check the actual ingredients. I am often shocked how things are not what they say on the tin. I've not checked the label of either, but I would before purchasing. I have no doubt that you'll get the best meat in a quality butcher, the best fish from a proper fishmonger. If however, you are buying Oxo cubes, the cheapest is the same as the most expensive and shopping at a cheaper shop simply means that you've got more money for yourself. 

And as for me, it's Rocketfuel Soup for lunch today. I added a bit of beetroot, fresh coriander and some black olives. how does it look?

Rog T's Food Blog #2 - Pub Snacks - Tuesday is food day

Welcome to the second installment of my food blog. I promised that this blog would be different to most food blogs. Today we look at a topic that is a much overlooked genre of bar food, one we often don't even give a second thought to. The good old bar snack. As I've said on many occasions in this blog over the last seventeen years, one of my greatest pleasures in life is to sit on my own in a pub, with a pint of the finest ale, a bag of nuts and the Evening Standard.  Not a session, just a quick drink, a moment's quiet and a snack, before facing the journey home.  I've written a song about the joy of doing this, it didn't make the final cut of our album release, but it's a song I rather like. A demo version is still on our Soundcloud page (See the Bottom of the page)

Sadly, the Standard is no longer published. It has been superceded by people staring at their phones. There is a whole generation who doesn't know the serenity of a pint of warm beer, a pint and a paper. On Saturday, I had a pint and a bag of crisps in the Dublin Castle in Camden. I was passing through and had fifteen minutes to waste. Sadly no paper to read. Nonetheless the pleasure in just wasting fifteen minutes of my life was wonderful.

As often happens in such moments, I got to thinking about the blogs I had planned for the week. I got to thinking about the bag of crisps in front of me and my food blog series. I have no idea of the total value to the UK economy of bar snacks sold with pints etc, in pubs in the UK in a year. Whilst the pubco's that have embarked on a mission to ruin our pubs have decided that "food is the future of the pub industry", there are still some of us that actively avoid foodie pubs when meeting up for a drink. That doesn't mean we don't get a bit peckish. In Spain, they invented the concept of Tapas. These were small snacks, that you nibble as you drink. Originally, Tapas were things such as olives, small bits of tortilla and perhps fried potatoes with a chilli sauce (patatas Bravas). Now we have Tapas restaurants. The concept has been lost. The food is accompanied by the drink and they have full main courses. 

When I started going to pubs, often the snacks were free. You'd see little dishes of crisps and salted nuts on the bar. On a Sunday, it would be salty roast potatoes. These were salty snacks, given freely to make customers more thirsty and drink more beer. The Pubco's then cottoned on to the idea that they could charge customers to make themselves thirsty. Now we have to buy our own snacks.

Now when such snacks were free, I never thought about it. Now the quality of such snacks in most pubs irritates me. Now I am not calling for pubs to become Tapas bars. Sure I'd love small plates of chorizo and gambas with my pint for a couple of quid, but I'd settle for a little bit more imagination. Most pubs these days sell Walkers crisps. To me, these are horrible. The Salt and Vinegar crisps use acetic acid rather than viengar (citric acid), it is shrp and tangy but has no flavour. The less fat crisps have the flavour of cardboard. The cheese and onion crisps taste of sweaty feet, not cheese or onion. As for the nuts, they sell Nobbys nuts. These are all uniformly shaped. They are designed to please the eye, not the tastebuds. They taste of wood chips. If you get proper, old school nuts, such as KP, you notice that the nuts are odd shapes. They are different types of peanuts, the round ones have a different taste to the flat ones and are more expensive for the suppliers to buy. In short, the old school nuts are a better product. Next time you are in the pub, bet some KP nuts and contrast how the different shaped nuts taste. 

Some of the best bar snacks are rarely found. Pork Scratchings are rare, pickled eggs even rarer. I cannot recall the last time I had a free roast potato. Now for the pubco's this doesn't matter. They look at profit margins on products. They are run by bean counters, who do not understand the value of a premium brand. They are not interested in selling beer, they want the food sales and see snacks as potentially damaging this. People eating crisps are taking up the space that a customer spending ten times as much on a plate of substandard food might spend, or they would be if pubs were full....

However, it is rare that I've been in a full pub recently. The exception has tended to be in central London and generally the pubs are pubs that are wet pubs (focus on selling beer). I've noted that these tend to sell better quality crisps and nuts. They also appear to have staff who know what they are doing. Maybe it's just me, but when I am in a pub and the beer is good and I enjoy the bar snacks, I am far more likely to make a mental note to go back. Of all the foods, it occurs to me that bar snacks have the most subliminal effect. No one will concsiously ever go to the pub because they sell great crisps and nut, but if they do, you are likeley to feel happy and develop a liking for the pub. 

I'll end with a few of my favourite bar snacks.

Whelks with black pepper & vinegar. Not had them for years. Back in the day, you'd get blokes with trays doing the rounds of pubs. Whelks, Cockles and Prawns all on offer. I've not seen one for donkeys years.

Roast spuds. I've mentioned these a few times. Delicious with a pint of  best. There was a time when all the local pubs would put them out on a Sunday.

Picked Eggs with salt and pepper. An acquired taste. I especially liked one of these inthe pub after I played football on a freezing Saturday afternoon in January. It just seemed right.

Burts sea salt and malt vinegar crisps. Taste like proper crisps. There was a phase when these seemed to be everywhere, now hard to find, even in supermarkets. They actually taste of salt and vinegar.

KP Original salted peanuts. The best. Simple as that!

 

The False Dots · Intermission In The The Ship

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Rog T's Food Blog #1 - Let's kick off with a little chat about what makes great food - Tuesday is food day

 Welcome, Welcome to a brand new feature, which will appear on a Tuesday. I've long considered doing a food blog. I wasn't quite sure whether to set up a new blog specifically for food or as a subset of this blog. Being a lazy sod, I decided that Tuesday would be food day on this page. So what will it all be about? Well, as well as being a lazy sod, I am also a greedy git. I love food. I also love talking about it, cooking and sharing the good places I go. So this will feature reviews if I go to a great eating place, or a great place to get food. It will feature recipes, if I discover one that I like.  I will also be commenting occasionally on what other food writers and programmes are saying (one of the odd things is how rarely I actually see a recipe I'd bother cooking on cookery shows and how rarely I get a useful tip). I'll also, occasionally, be giving my views on healthy nutrition. These are a personal view and I am not medically trained, so don't take these as anything other than the ravings of a lunatic (but please remember that lunatics made Britain Great!).

And it will feature my opinions on food, something I have strong opinions on. Talking b@ll@cks on  my blog and eating are two of my passions, so it should be a marriage made in heaven. And finally, I will even be making the odd video of some of my cooking tips, when the mood takes me.  So where shall I start?

Well lets start with a few words about what I consider good food to be? If I eat a meal, there are three things I want. The first is, I want it to be tasty. The second is that I want it to be full after I've eaten. The third thing is I don't want to feel ill. For me, the feeling ill is a dealbreaker. I have a hiatus hernia and I nearly died of a stomach bleed in 1984, so I do watch my food. It is why I rarely eat pizza, even though I enjoy it. When I am starving hungry, sometimes the first and last criteria goes out of the window. The middle one is pretty much always important if I am having a meal. I like fresh, high quality ingredients. With these I rarely feel ill. I like spiced, flavoured food generally, although I also enjoy traditional British foods. We will be exploring both.

I sometimes watch food programmes for ideas. Most either cook food I don't like and wouldn't eat, don't do things the way I like them or are simply irritating. If I watch a programme, I want to learn things and be buzzing with inspiration. There is no point making food shows with ingredients you can't get in the UK or that you need to bury food for a week in the garden to make (a figure of speech). I'm not into baking at all, as I don't have a sweet tooth, so that rules out the most popular cooking show. I don't mond Masterchef too much as generally you will pick up a few tips. I really don't get the Nigella style shows as I've never been inspired to cook a single item they've made. 

Then there are food reviewers. Interestingly, Yummies in Mill Hill has a review from Giles Coren at The Times in the window. He loves the food there. It does good smoked salmon and great beigels, although I used to prefer the ones we'd get down in Aldgate when I worked down there. A Coren review alerted us to the excellent JM Oriental Kitchen in Colindale. Credit where credit is due, and I will be following up the odd recoommendation and giving my considered thoughts.

One of the inspirations for starting this series is the fact I'm on a pretty harsh diet at the moment. I have been since mid November. I've lost a stone in that time and feel far better. That is even with a pretty good Xmas in the middle. It has made me appreciate how many food adverts there are on telly. When you are only eating two meals a day, in a four hour window, you realise that you want to eat good food. It works for me. I am doing this three times a week and it was a real struggle at first. It is getting easier and I feel better. So I will be writing about this as well.

Then there are my recipes. I am toying with the idea of videoing some of these. The issue here is Mrs T detests me blogging and utterly refuses to take part, which makes it hard for me to really do the sort of video I'd like.

I will also be looking at where I get my food and why I go there. I think you may enjoy some of these bits, if I can do them how I want. 

And finally, I'll be sharing my food stories with you. Not all of these are what other food bloggers write about, but if you follow this blog, you probably knew that anyway. 

Anyway, I thought I'd start by just writing an introduction. I can't wait until next week to start (actually I have already)