Camra have done themselves, ney the whole country proud with it’s new quartlerly Beer magazine. You have to be member to get a copy, but it’s a very worthy and worthwhile organisation to be part of.
There is a good review of it at Southportbooze. Well I agree with what has been posted.
The Camra website is useful too. Okeh plugs over. Remember just buy the real deal – it tastes better.
kopparberg
Now to the pear which has always made an excellent drink called perry. The real deal is far stronger, tastier and purer than the fizzy commercial output. But now the marketing fashion is to call it ‘pear cider’. Obviously hoping the cider boom will transfer from the apple to the pear.
So what’s wrong with the word perry? It’s a simple five letter word that names an alcoholic drink made from pears.
Put this in your browser – The London Bananas Project – loads of discarded banana skins across the capital of the UK. Some Fairtrade ones in those pages.
Giving up new plastic for a month is going to be an interesting story. It’s a blog throughout August by Chris Jeavans, a BBC journalist.
Read it here.
Thought about how I would do it. No plastic bags, buying fruit and vegetables in paper only, even unwrapped bread all no problem if you avoid supermarkets. I’d be stuck when it comes to buying the staples of tofu, pasta, and shampoo.
There are thousands of bales of plastic wrap thrown away everyday just to get your groceries on the shelf. Tons of the stuff the customer never sees. Outers of six and twelve broken down so the individual item can be displayed. It’s not as simple as just banning plastic packaging. The logistics of shelf life, transport and warehousing make the whole food chain happen and that needs secure, hygenic wrapping…It could be done with a lot less plastic though.
Besides food my other interest is football . So when both appear in the same story it’s worth a posting.
First there is the Wayne Rooney ‘Hovis Advert Deal’. Gets paid lots of money, filmed in Liverpool with a big cast of extras. At least he’s put his name to something fairly healthy, an iconic bread rather than some saturated burgers that would never be allowed in an athlete’s diet.
Then there is ‘Goodbye pasties, hello parsnip crisps‘ – “Match day cuisine is leaping into a new league as a food revolution sweeps the football terraces, reports Alex James”.
Food at football grounds might have improved a little over the years, and is maybe alright for the corporates. But the day I can buy a decent cup of coffee at Old Trafford – not weak hot mud, and a falafel in warm pitta with a choice of dressings I’ll know it’s arrived.
Baked Beans, Nuttolene, Ketchup, Tomatoes...
It’s always some declared National day, month, year – National Ice Cream Month, National Year of the Potato – just a harmless way to get into the crowded media.
Responded to an email for a contribution of a baked bean dinner picture, apparently it’s still National Baked Bean Month. Well in North America at least, here we just buy tins of them to heat and serve.
At least somebody is trawling the web and spotting something you’ve snapped and likes it.
Got a little project going – ‘the best uses for old bread’. Real bread goes stale, unlike the supermarket loaves which last for weeks with the miracle of chemical additives. You have to be concerned about any food that doesn’t go off – it’s definately not natural.
Notes so far
a) loaf is past its peak, you can slice it and throw it in the freezer for up to three months – future toast.
b) process into bread crumbs and store them for a week in the fridge.
c) micowave day old bread for about 20 seconds it makes it fresh enough to make sandwiches.
d) don’t eat bread that is mouldy
Alternatively transform into a new dinner – soups, salads, desserts, sauces…. I’m going to try all of these in the kitchen, and find some more to come up with the best dozen. Different recipes require different types of bread, there is even one for rye bread in there.
1. Panzanella (salad)
2. Bread Pudding
3. Bread & Butter Pudding
4. Canederli
5. Seupa Vapellenentse
6. Ribollita
7. Pappa al pomodoro
8. Croutons
9. Fattoush
10. Romesco (sauce)
11. pain perdu (French Bread)
12. Bread Sauce
Lots of stories now about the rising prices of food. Lots more stories to come as commodity prices work their way into industrial food production – breads, pasta, and animal feeds. Add in fuel price increases and lower exchange rates for sterling then the trend is up and up. My only suprise is the price rises arn’t higher and haven’t come sooner.
Food has been too cheap for years. The country isn’t starving. Just the opposite it’s getting obese. Eating too much and wasting too much.
The question – will there be changes in production and consumption? If this is a long term trend then demographics along those old supply and demand economics will kick in. It probably is a long term trend but the market reacts on short term information. Good harvests, fuel prices fall temporarily and it appears as though nothing has happened. Prepare for the long term.
Does the world need another pea soup recipe? No, if you are reading this you can find a thousand. But after reading a dozen I went for this one at 101 cookbooks.
The addition of smoked paprika and lemon zest makes it a delight. As usual I went off message and added some potatoes, and boiled the peas seperately so as not to pulp the fried onions. Personally I like to find bits and chunks in my soup.
This makes interesting reading. It’s a grim prediction of forthcoming food shortages, riots and starvation (that bit only happens to poor people and there are lot of them in the world). Action could be taken and in fact should be taken but somehow you feel politics will bury this bad news until a disaster strikes.
The World Food Situation :New Driving Forces and Required Actions
by Joachim von Braun from the International Food Policy Research Institute
http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/agm07/jvbagm2007.asp
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