A Greek Tragedy

The sight of a new restaurant popping up always brings a certain amount of excitement to our house. Finsbury Park is already a culinary melting pot with cuisine from various parts of the globe; Caribbean, Indian, Turkish, Chinese, Columbian, Thai, good ol' fish and chips and even an Ethiopian which we're yet to try. As yesterday was pay day, I thought I'd treat us to a takeaway from the new Greek place down the road. We spent ages poring over the menu, in stitches over the ridiculous typos and descriptions. Some of the menu gaffes were as follows:

Green Olives Special crack, tsakkistes
Lamb Kleftiko Slow cooked beef in the oven
Dolmades Vine leaves staffed with mince pork
Tavas Traditional Cyprus dish consisted of meat cubes, chopped potatoes, onionomatoes, and onions

We thought we'd phone ahead and order but after finding the number constantly engaged for more than fifteen minutes (I joked that one of the chefs would be on the phone to one of their relatives in Greece), I decided to walk down there myself. The first thing I noticed as I walked into the restaurant was that it was empty, bar one table which I realised was occupied by the staff. When I mentioned the phone being engaged, guilty looks were exchanged - turns out I was right after all. I ordered Lamb Kleftiko with roast potatoes for Mike and Lamb Souvla for me which they didn't have, so I had to settle for Lamb Cutlets instead. They told me it would take half an hour which made me wonder who long it would take if the restaurant was busy.


I went back half an hour later to find the restarant still empty of customers, while all five staff attended to our food. I got home and left Mike to open the boxes of food while I washed my hands. I heard a loud gasp coming from the kitchen so I shouted "what's it like?" Silence. I shouted the same question again to which Mike replied "Oh my God". I hurried to the kitchen where two polystyrene boxes lay open containing something which was supposed to be food. Mine was three scraggy bits of lamb with a few soggy chips and Mike's was two scraggy bits of lamb with four boiled potatoes. I'd paid £14.50 for this!? I immediately put my coat back on and trudged back to the restaurant a third time while Mike went to get pizza. I refused to let him come with me, my track record of receiving refunds about 100% so I was feeling confident.

What happened next was a bit of a blur. To put it mildly, my request for a refund did not go down well. When I told them that the potatoes were not roasted but boiled, it went down even less well. Arguments ensued, insults exchanged. "Are you a chef?" one of them asked me. "Are you Greek?". I certainly am neither, but could give their overpriced tat a run for it's money. At one point, the 'chef' threatened to call the police and screamed "I been a chef for twelve years" as she hysterically punched random numbers into the phone. I phoned Mike to tell him what was going on and when I'd finished speaking to him one of them asked me "Who sent you?". I didn't know what to say to this ridiculous question. I told them I wasn't surprised that their restaurant was empty on a Friday night and that this was no way to treat a customer. I left with a bruised ego and an empty wallet. Mike spotted the steam coming out of my ears down the end of road before he saw me. I threatened to take the 'roast potato' to Trading Standards.

Do those potatoes look roasted to you?

The next day is a different story - I've learnt my lesson. I should have recognised that the poor attention to detail on the menu would extend itself to the food. If a restaurant can't be bothered to make an effort with the minor details then they just can't be bothered. I've realised that their hysterical reaction was because they knew they were a sinking ship. Looking back, the whole episode was actually quite funny and I can console myself with the fact that in a few months time, the "Greek Restaurant" sign will probably be replaced with a "To Let".

Romios Magirion - 21 Crouch Hill, London N4 4AP
Rating: 0/10

What's Cookin'?

Head on over to the Beggar's Banquet to find out.

Tales from Lisbon # 1 - Back in the Saddle

Welcome to part one of three in my short series of holiday tales.

After my fishbone nightmare, I couldn't even look at a fish the same way for about a month - I felt betrayed. I'd always considered myself a foodie; experimental and daring in my quest for the ultimate food hit. So to be put off by a mere fishbone stuck in the throat was more than I could take. If only I could have said I'd had a near death experience after eating Fogu, the notorious Japanese Blowfish. Instead, I forlornly had to explain to friends and colleagues that it had resulted from eating boring old fish and chips in a mediocre pub. So I wasn't going to let it beat me.

As soon as we arrived in Lisbon, we dropped off our bags at the hotel and began the first of many searches to find a good restaurant. We had decided to try a recommended local neighbourhood restaurant and I was really looking forward to my first foray with fish again. The menu was in Portuguese so we struggled to work out what everything was and eventually beaten by hunger, decided to take our chances and order the famous baccalaut. My plate arrived with a piece of salt cod swimming in a sauce adorned with rings of onions and slices of egg. I smiled politely at the waitress. I wasn't going to be put off. After all, looks aren't everything are they? I cut off a piece and put it in my mouth. "What's it like?" Mike asked me. "A bit salty" I replied. A bit salty!! I felt as though I'd just swallowed a bucket of seawater. I didn't want to put a dampner on our first day so I played it down. Afterwards we both admitted it was pretty grim.

So my first experience with fish in Portugal wasn't the best, although it did get better. Over the next seven days we tried prawns, lobster, cockles, mussels, sardines. Boar, rabbit, prawns, pork, spit roasted chicken and chips, chips, chips, chips and chips. On some evenings we had rice on the plate with chips. That made a nice change.

The Sardines were delicious but a bit of an ordeal.

We ordered them overlooking the sea in the lovely coastal town of Estorill. They arrived whole and we had to chop the heads off and remove the bones and guts of twelve of them. At this point I was feeling very nervous......It took lots of chewing and lots of beer to wash it down but we got there in the end.

Before

After

Our favourite area of Lisbon was the Barrio Alto. Packed full of restaurants and cool bars, it's far the best area to go out in the evening. We went there in the daytime and only had a few scrawny cats for company. But in the evening it was completely unrecognisable. It looked as though the residents had their doors wide open, until we looked inside and saw yet another funky little bar. We sipped Caipirinhas and wandered through the packed streets listening to soulful Portuguese Fado music drift through the windows.

Caipirinha, the traditional Brazilian drink prepared with cachaça our favourite cocktail. We never paid more than €5 and we even found a bar that did it for €2, so we drank as much as we could knowing how much it costs back home. If you can get hold of a bottle of cachaça, it's worth making at home.

INGREDIENTS
1 lime quartered
1 tablespoon of sugar
A liberal slug of cachaça
1 Cup of ice cubes

PREPARE:
Place the lime and sugar in the bottom of a glass.
Using a rolling pin , crush and mash the limes until all the juice has been extracted.
If you have an ice-crushing machine, consider yourself lucky. Otherwise, put the ice cubes in a plastic bag and bash with a hammer until crushed. Pour the cachaça over the ice. Stir well.

Diagnosis: Fishbone

Thanks to all the people who have been asking where I was. I haven't been on holiday, just taking a short break from blogging to concentrate on writing short stories as blogging has been dominating my life of late. Monday was such an eventful day however, I just couldn't resist writing about it.

We both had the day off, so decided to spend a day at the seaside in Whistable, Kent. We started the day with a lovely walk along the beach followed by a visit to Wheelers Oyster Bar where we sampled 1/2 dozen Whistable oysters followed by 1/2 dozen Scottish oysters. By the time we left, the rain had started to come down heavily, so we retreated into the nearest pub and read the papers over a pint. Feeling hungry again, we found a pub which did fish and chips. Our food arrived and I discarded a couple of bones towards the end. I sighed with satisfaction and contemplated my final mouthful of fish when I felt a bone stuck in the back of my throat. I leapt off my stool almost knocking a man over who was standing at the games machine behind me. I spent the next 15 minutes heaving and retching in the toilets trying to get the damn thing out of my throat, but it wasn't budging. We decided to find the nearest Boots and ask their advice. Mike eventually went to the counter on his own as I refused to go with him - I felt mortally embarrassed about saying that I had a fishbone stuck in my throat. The idea seemed comical and tantamount to saying "I slipped on a banana skin". I told him I'd wait nearby and he said "what do you want me to tell them, that my girlfriend is standing by the Rimmel?". It was a fair point and I started to laugh and then almost immediately ran outside and demanded that he go in by himself. I was hysterical and started crying.

They pointed us in the direction of the health clinic which was ten minutes away. We must have looked ridiculous walking down the street, me red-eyed, gulping water, Mike slapping my back. We arrived at the clinic and they saw me straight away. The nurse looked in my throat, said she couldn't see it, told me to eat some bread and sent me away. I was relieved to know I was out of danger. I slept most of the way home, exhausted from coughing. When we arrived home, I looked in the mirror and noticed the offending bone sticking out to the right of my tonsil. Panic struck and we decided to go the hospital to have it removed. I only had to wait half an hour and didn't even open the book I had sitting on my lap. The entertainment came in the form of a certain 'celebrity' with a busted nose who was waiting to be seen and it wasn't the first time his nose had got him into trouble. I was seen by a doctor who attempted to remove the bone with long tweezers. Just as he was about to grab it, I gagged and the bone was lost. I waited for him while he went to get a second opinion - I was thinking about getting home in time to watch my favourite Australian comedy, Kath and Kim. It wasn't to be. They told me I had to go to the ear, nose and throat hospital and this is where the real horror began.




We walked through the doors of the hospital and went to reception. The first thing I noticed was a 1960s style digital date/ clock on the wall. The furniture was hideously dated. We went up in a creaky lift, through dark corridors to Ward B where we were greeted by a very strange doctor. He had a maniacal look about him and when he spoke, he sounded like he had inhaled helium. As he examined my notes, I looked out of the corner of my eye to see an elderly person's 'tube' being emptied into a plastic cup. I tried to ignore the groans and ruffles of knees rubbing against starched sheets but I couldn't and it was making me feel more and more uncomfortable.

The doctor who was accompanied by a nurse escorted me in the staff lift to the next floor and Mike was told sternly to take the stairs. As I rode up in the creaky lift, I had images of the doors opening onto a deserted corridor and being escorted to an abandoned operating theatre and subjected to hours of horrific medical experiments. I was told to sit in a dentist type chair whilst I watched the doctor strap a ridiculously large circle shaped mirror to his head. His eye peered at me through a hole in the middle - he looked like a demented Cyclops. I opened my mouth and stuck my tongue out whilst he prodded it with an L-shaped metal instrument. I flinched from the pain but the doctor ignored it and continued to prod. The fishbone was nowhere to be seen. Puzzled as to the whereabouts of the bone, the doctor told me he would like to inspect more closely with a camera which would involve sticking a tube up my nose which - in his words - 'isn't very nice'. I felt sick and broke out in a cold sweat. I protested and told them that I'd really rather not. The doctor said that it would be a shame not too, seeing as I'd gone all that way. I couldn't help feeling that he wanted to do it for the sake of it. I was thinking that it couldn't have been that important if the nurse in the clinic had sent me home earlier on. He warned me that if the bone got stuck in my throat, it could cause an abscess. I was starting to consider it more seriously now, so I asked him what the camera felt like, to which he replied in the most ridiculous feminine voice, 'I don't know, I've never had it done'. That decided it for me if nothing else had. I'm sure a caveman would have had more people skills. I offered a compromise by saying that if I felt the slightest pain I would go back and have it done the next day. We left at 11.00 in the evening, the fishbone mystery unsolved and my nostrils still intact. Thankfully my throat has felt fine since.

This couldn't have happened at a worse time. I have exactly one month to go before visiting Lisbon, one of the seafood capitals of Europe. At the moment, the thought of sardines and baccalau makes me shiver and I don't think I ever want to see cod again. I did have food poisoning once from eating salmon and that didn't put me off for life, so hopefully I'll be over it soon. There is however, a valuable lesson to be learned out of all of this - if you get a fishbone stuck in your throat, don't bother going to hospital.

Five Things.....

Tag, I'm it! Compliments of Susan in Italy

Five Things in my Freezer

1. A jar of freshly frozen basil
2. Half a baguette
3. Soft scoop ice-cream
4. Frozen peas
5. Ice cubes of course

Five Things in my Closet

1. 5 pairs of flip flops
2. Tiger - my scraggy old toy that I've had since I was 4
3. A photo album of Australia
4. My massive winter parka that takes up half of the wardrobe
5. Football shirts - Italy/Arsenal

Five Things in my Car

I don't have one, hurrah!

Five Things in my Purse (I think this means handbag - if a purse is a handbag in the US, then what's a purse?)

1. Foldable hairbrush
2. Lip gloss
3. Keys
4. Random bits of useless paper/receipts
5. My purse (Susan has a purse within a purse)

And the Lucky Five .........

1. * (Asterisk) at A Blog about Nowt
2. Hang the DJ at oohisay
3. Martha at Notions on Being
4. Red at Red-Letter Day
5. Spangly Princess at er, Spangly Princess

'You're invited to the party of the decade....'

....and it was the best party I've been to in some time. If you've never heard of Dave Chappelle (as I hadn't) he's one of the funniest and apparently, richest comedians in the US. Dave Chappelle's Bloc Party, directed by Michel Gondry of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, follows the comedian around his home town of Ohio and New York as he organises a free concert in Brooklyn. He invites just about everyone he sees managing to persuade a black college marching band, white people, old people and middle aged women who all find it very difficult to resist his charm. The concert was free and all concert goers were told to meet at a secret location in Chinatown, where they were taken by bus to the concert location in Brooklyn, which was also a secret.

The music is amazing and I think it's a winner even if you don't like hip hop, with performances from Kanye West, Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Common, The Roots and Jill Scott amongst others. Hip Hop somehow sounds ten times better when it's live and accompanied by live instruments. The aggressiveness is somehow toned down by the live music.

One of the best moments for me was during a performance by Erykah Badu when her huge afro threatens to blow off in the wind and she rips it off leaving her looking vulnerable and almost a different person in her short cropped hair. It contradicted the image of her as a (sometimes too) serious performer. The highlight however was when The Roots performed 'You Got Me' accompanied by Jill Scott and Erykah Badu, two of the best female voices around.

The film would have done well to finish at that point, as the disappointment for me came with an appearance from a reunion of The Fugees singing together for the first time in seven years. Lauren Hill singing 'Killing me Softly' was indeed heart-rendering, but I just felt that the concert was slightly tarnished by ending with a hugely commercial band.

Overall, it's a perfect mix of visual delight, great music, backstage interviews and brilliant humour. It reminded me of Spike Lee's 'Do the Right Thing' whilst making me want to go to New York there and then. Jamie Bernard from New York Daily News sums it up perfectly: "Once in a great while there's a movie that's so funny, infectious and welcoming - a movie that makes you feel so good about America and the people in it - you just want to climb inside the screen and live there."

Recipe of the week # 8 - Spaghetti Aglio Olio e Pepperoncino con cipolla

Spaghetti with garlic, oil, chilli and onions

We arrived back late on Sunday night hungry and tired after visiting my parents in Leicester. The coach was delayed so by the time we got back it was too late to cook anything elaborate so this was the obvious choice; spaghetti, chili and olive oil is something we always have in the house. It's the quickest pasta dish to make, rarely found on a restaurant menu for its simplicity and one of my favourites as pasta is the main ingredient. It's great comfort food, great after a night out, wel,l great anytime really.
The sauce is delicate and complements the spaghetti - I hate it when pasta is served drowned in a sauce. I think this is something that people often don't understand.

Although it's not part of the traditional recipe, I use an onion which works really well and gives extra flavour. The use of Parmesan cheese has sometimes been a bone of contention in our family as I like it, whereas my Italian family say it doesn't go. I can't see why it doesn't, it's not fish is it?





Despite this dishes simplicity, it can be quite easy to get wrong. The pasta should be good quality, preferably De Cecco or Barilla which is my personal favourite as it's the pasta my Nonna always used. It should be served al dente and the garlic shouldn't be burnt or it will give it a bitter taste. The final result is pasta heaven; every spaghetti strand will be coated with delicious flavoured oil. Here's my version:

What you need:

Spaghetti
1 x finely sliced onion
Olive oil
1 x finely chopped fresh red chilli (you can also use dried)
2 x finely sliced cloves garlic

Cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water. Meanwhile fry the onion and garlic until slightly browned along with the chili in about half a cup of olive oil (I don't know the exact measurement but the oil should be enough to generously coat the spaghetti). Drain the pasta and mix with the sauce. The more you cook this, you'll probably come up with your own modifications depending on your taste.

30 years on and still a classic....

Today marks the 30th anniversary re-release of director Martin Scorsese's cult classic Taxi Driver. It explores the mentally unstable, lonely, Vietnam war Veteran cab driver Travis Bickle (De Niro) as he becomes obsessed with office worker (Cybill Shepherd) and tries to rescue 12-year old prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster) from her pimp (Harvey Keitel). Foster who had previously worked for Scorsese on Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), underwent psychological tests to see if she could cope with being in the film. The film is accompanied by a memorable sleazy saxophone score by Bernard Herrmann who also provided the music for Kill Bill Vol 1, Psycho and Vertigo which stays in my mind for days after I've watched it.

Paul Schrader the scriptwriter was interviewed in London recently and talked about how he was 26 and penniless when he wrote the script. "At the time I wrote it, I was in a rather low and bad place," Schrader says. "I had broken with Pauline [Kael], I had broken with my wife, I had broken with the woman I left my wife for, I had broken with the American Film Institute and I was in debt." Amazing how out of such a depressed mind, came something so brilliant, so genius.





The film caused controversy when on March 30 1981, John Hinckley Jr, who had become obsessed with the film and had been stalking Foster, attempted to assassinate US president Ronald Reagan in a bid to impress her. The day Reagan was actually shot, Schrader, Scorsese and De Niro were questioned by the FBI. Schrader admits to lying to them as he had asked his secretary to throw away a letter he had previously received from Hinkley asking if he could meet Foster.

Although the film was nominated for four Academy Awards nominations (without recognition for director Scorsese, screenwriter Paul Schrader, or cinematographer Michael Chapman), Best Picture, Best Actor (Robert De Niro), Best Supporting Actress (Jodie Foster), and Best Original Score (Bernard Herrmann) - all were unrewarded. Even if it didn't impress the judges, it will always be an Oscar winner in my mind.

Recipe of the week # 7 - Roast Sea Bass with Capers and Lemon

As I've mentioned before, we've been having a lot of fish recently as the fishmonger is only a few steps away. Everytime I walk past, I stare through the window and watch the glassy eyes staring back at me as I contemplate which fish to try next. Fish is so summery, it reminds me of Italian holidays where we'd watch my Uncle's brother from the beach as he'd catch grey mullet from the pier and eat his catches that same day, and Thailand where delicious big red snappers were grilled on an open barbecue.

This recipe by Giorgio Locatelli is one of the best fish dishes I've ever had. It's so fragrant with the amazing flavours of bay leaf and lemon accompanied by capers.

I couldn't stand the site of capers until recently, but now I love them. I didn't mind them in salsa tonnata (tuna sauce usually an accompaniment to veal) where they're whizzed up into a sauce and you can't see them, but these little green things on their own made me feel rather queasy. I tried them again recently in a Puttanesca Sauce and now I love them.

I was dying to try sea bass after seeing Gordon Ramsey hold one aloft on The F-Word, declaring it a delicacy, extraordinary, robust and delicate. I wasn't disappointed, it really was all of those things.

A.C.T has just finished reading....

Will Self must have been on drugs when he wrote this brilliantly bizarre collection of short stories. I spent the whole time trying to read this book on the tube with it on my lap or with my hand over the cover so as not to invite strange looks from my fellow commuters.

The cover is taken from a piece of art called Little Death (Castrated) currently at the Tate Modern where a pink dildo, connected to a brain by a white tube, balances precariously on a piece of wood. The book cover has since changed to a more disappointing sober design with a car and a beach. I definitely prefer this one, despite it making for uncomfortable reading.

"Story for Europe", about a two year old toddler from London who speaks only business German, and "Flytopia" about a man that rejects his wife for a group of insects are just a couple of examples of the absurdly hilarious stories in this book.

He goes against all the rules of contemporary writing; his stories are splattered with adverbs, and repetiton. His use of metaphors and imagery are sometimes over the top, but it doesn't matter because it works. He also seems to have a penchant for certain words like 'myriad' and uses different characters called Dave throughout. Absurdly , several of the characters also seem to enjoy lounging around in 'terry-toweling' .

My favourite story is "caring, sharing", set in future New York where adults' emotional needs are met by placid, childlike giants called 'Emotos', although there are not what they seem. The final story "The Nonce Prize", a follow on from the opening story, is a chilling tale about a black crack dealer framed for the murder of a child, the victim of pederasts. The scene where the child is found dismembered, dressed only in a Toy Story T-shirt is both brutal and shocking. If you still have the stomach to carry on reading, the main character's struggle to win a short story prize is moving and at times very funny. The final twist is totally unexpected and will leave you wanting to read more.

Recipe of the week # 6 - Mike's homemade burgers

I'm not exaggerating when I say that these burgers are ten times better than the disgusting ones get in a supermarket. Unhealthy and stuffed full of every ingredient other than meat, when you cook them it leaves you and your kitchen stinking like a roadside cafe`. If everyone knew how simple they were to make, I'm sure they would never buy another value burger again.

How to make them:

500 g beef mince
1/2 Onion
1 egg
a handful of breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients together with your hands in a bowl and make into flat burger shapes. If the consistency is too wet, add a few more breadcrumbs. The mixture should stick together easily without falling apart. If you don't have a George Foreman grill already, you should definitely get one as they take literally 5 minutes. If you haven't, then grill them under a normal grill. That's all there is to it.

A.C.T has just finished reading....

The Blue-Eyed Salaryman, an engaging account of an Irish man's experiences in a Japanese company has only fuelled my fascination with this strange and intriguing country. Subservise films such as Visitor Q and Ichi The Killer portray the Japanese as a violent, weird and subversive race, but these films only sctratch the surface.

Niall Murtagh spent years travelling around the world, sleeping in parks and travelling from Casablanca to Martinique for four months on a cement yacht. When he got the opportunity to study on a foreign student programme, he went back to Japan and then studied for a phD at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. After that, he went to work for Mistubishi, one of the oldest and most traditional corporations in Japan.

Salaryman is a Japanese term for white-collar worker and is associated with long working hours, low prestige in the corporate hierachy and sometimes even death from overwork. It has obvious negative connotations; one of my Japanese students who is a lawyer recently sneered at the idea of being a salaryman. The female equivalent is an OL (Office Lady).

When Murtagh started work, he was amazed by the huge rule book that he, and every new Mistubishi employee had to read. He learnt amongst other things, that good employees do not walk around with their hands in their pockets and each employee, man or woman, has a 'man-number' which should be worn at all times.

Murtagh who is called 'Murata' by his Japanese colleagues, struggled at first to get used to the bizarre rules when he was told he couldn't cycle to work unless he had a permit and then was reprimanded when he was spotted by a security guard leaving it round the corner of the building. Music marks the end of the working day, with another song marking the beginning of overtime. He was once even told off for sitting in the wrong place on a business lunch as the youngest or lowest in command should always sit nearest to the door.

When a colleague invited him for dinner, it was planned 10 weeks in advance with the following note:

Schedule for Murata-san's visit to my house
Date: 25 April
Time: 5.00pm
Meeting Place:Okurayama Station. Please wait at the central exit
If it is fine, we will walk for ten minutes to my house.
If it is raining, I will pick you up in my car.
Visiting time: 5.10 to 8.50
Return to station by 9.00
Catch 9.04 train.

However, they do enjoy themselves once in a while with an afterwork konpa where they apparently get absolutely sloshed, let off steam and talk about things they wouldn't normally dream of talking about at work. "You can say almost anything at a konpa because all will be forgotten the next morning".

My Japanese student always greets me with a stern "Hello (insert name here)" and a 'let's get down to business' attitude, but halfway through the lesson when he feels more relaxed, he opens up and starts talking animatedly about other things, usually football. I'm fascinated by this behaviour and find it endearing. It's almost English in a way, but a bit more exaggerated in the way that we can't seem to be honest without a few drinks down our necks.

Murtagh had only intended to work for Mistubishi for a short period but eventually he married a Japanese girl and ended up staying and working as a salaryman for 14 years. I'd love to visit Japan one day and spend months travelling around, although it'd be a real culture shock and would take me a while to get used to their ways. Bowing to people and not being able to blow my nose in public might be a bit strange, but I could certainly get used to slurping my noodles very loudly.

The Weasel Returns to the Wood

I've had a bit of a shock this morning. I turned on my computer and as usual, looked through my favourite blogs. It's always the first thing I do. To my surprise, Wrinkled Weasel has decided that due to lack of comments he has finished blogging for good. As his entry was written at 11.44pm, I'm hoping he'd had a few too many whiskys and will change his mind.

I am really disappointed. I enjoyed reading his posts which are funny, witty, on occasions even serious, but they always made me smile. And that's the whole point surely? I know that there are only a few of us that read it and comment but we certainly were not doing it out of charity, we were doing it because we liked his posts.
On the other hand, I do understand his point about comments making us feel wanted. Wrinkled Weasel was one of the first people to comment on my blog when I first started out and it gave me encouragement and made me feel that someone out there was reading me.

Serious stuff aside, the real reason why I'm so disappointed is that I still haven't received the album 'Cheesy Continental Hits' as I was the winner of the crisp competition back in April. However, due to WW making inappropriate comments about my undergarments, I declined the prize and so it went to somebody else. After it all blew over and we made friends again, WW promised me I could still have it. I'm still waiting.

Blogging isn't always necessarily about gaining readership however, it's about expressing yourself, your opinions, your thoughts. Weasel, if you're reading this, I urge you to come back. You will be missed.

Good Karma?

I wore my Italy shirt for the first time in the tournament yesterday and I was scared I'd brought them bad luck. As the end of the game neared, I really thought I'd jinxed them until Grosso won a penalty and I breathed a sigh of relief.

I love this shirt. It's by far the classiest design and it's the one the Azzurri wore in the world cup in 2002 when they lost unfairly to South Korea, then coached by Guus Hiddink.

Guus Hiddink is now the coach of Australia and according to him, "If you see the replay, there is no doubt (Grosso's fall) wasn't a penalty." Really?

Remember this?

What goes around, comes around.

Recipe of the Week # 5
Asparagus and Courgette Frittata

That's asparagus and zucchini to our American friends.
I've decided that we should eat vegetarian at least once a week as we eat far too much meat. It's not that I think meat is bad in any way, I just don't think it's necessary to have it every day. There are loads of delicious vegetarian things, once of my favourites being parmiggiana which I'll probably write about soon. We've also been eating a lot more fish recently as we can get great fresh squid amongst other fish from our local fishmonger. Mike beat me to the recipe of the week with a Brazilian Moqueca - a delicious fish stew, so this recipe of the week limps in at second place.

This frittata is great as it's so versatile. Sometimes I put mushrooms in, red peppers or spinach and if you fancy a bit of meat, bacon is great too.


Serves 2
What you need:

5 Eggs
1 Onion
1 Medium potato cut into small cubes
7 Asparagus
1 Courgette
Parmesan
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper


Cook the asparagus in boiling water and set aside to cool. In the meantime, gently fry the onions in olive oil then add the potato and courgette and fry until soft. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, salt and pepper and add a good handful of parmesan. Chop the asparagus into small pieces and add to the pan. Add the egg mixture and cook on a medium heat for a about 10 minutes. Add some more parmesan to the top and put the pan under the grill until slightly browned on top. Serve with a green salad.

"Just call me Dylan. Mister Dog sounds pretty stupid."

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and peered sheepishly over the pages to find what seemed like hundreds of pairs of eyes staring in my direction. A grown woman reading a comic? Had I have been in Italy of course, nobody would've batted an eyelid as I was reading Dylan Dog, one of the most popular comics in Italy.

Created by author and journalist
Tiziano Sclavi, the comic made its debut in October 1986 with ' L'alba dei morti viventi' (Dawn of the Living Dead). The stories are intelligent and funny, appealing to both adults and children. A cross between Magnum P.I. and the X-files, Dylan Dog is an 'investigator of nightmares' taking on cases of the inexplicable and paranormal, often having to deal with serial killers, werewolves, vampires, zombies and even pink killer bunnies. The first artist to work on him was Claudio Villa basing his looks on actor Rupert Everett and his name comes from Sclavi's passion for Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.

Dylan is a teetotal ex-cop and ladies man who always makes time for a romance during an investigation. He drives a Beetle, plays the clarinet and makes model ships at 7 Craven Road, London (homage to director Wes Craven) where he lives with his assistant Groucho. Dylan suffers from Claustrophobia, and vertigo and is afraid of flying. In every series, he wears the same red shirt, black jacket and blue jeans which he bought several sets of after his wife died.

Groucho was once a Groucho Marx impersonator and his character became his own personality. He makes the tea, reminds his boss when their finances are bad and always annoys Dylan (and his clients) with his bad jokes.

Another character who makes a regular appearance is Inspector Bloch, Dylan's boss when he worked for Scotland Yard. Bloch is like a Father figure to Dylan. They often work together on cases but Bloch being more rational than Dylan, often disregards his supernatural explanations.



My favourite issue is called Johnny Freak about a boy found abandoned with his limbs and organs missing. Dylan befriends the boy who is mute and can only communicate through drawings to try and solve the mystery. A story of absolute horror unfolds as Dylan discovers the truth. It's a really sad story, touching in many ways and I can read it over and over again.



In 1999, Dark Horse comics gave North Americans a rare treat by teaming up with Italian publisher Sergio Bonelli to translate and publish six issues of Dylan Dog (along with other titles Martin Mystere and Nathan Never, also popular in Italy.

"Dawn of the Living Dead" (No. 1, March 1999)
"Johnny Freak" (No. 2, April 1999)
"Memories From the Invisible World" (No. 3, May 1999)
"The Return of the Monster" (No. 4, June 1999)
"Morgana" (No. 5, July 1999)
"After Midnight" (No. 6, August 1999)

They're not the best as Groucho became 'Felix' and lost his moustache - they did this to make him look less like Groucho Marx; a shame, as that was part of his appeal. But it does give English speakers the opportunity to get lost in Dylan Dog's surreal world where policeman are still called bobbies. They're apparently really hard to get hold of, but if you can, give them a try. You won't regret it.

Thanks to The Thrilling Detective for info on UK issues.

Recipe of the Week # 4

Tandoori-style chicken with vegetable pullao rice

This dish is traditionally cooked in a tandoor (clay oven) popular in northern India and Pakistan. In case you haven't got around to installing one yet, the oven will do. I used this recipe from Madhur Jaffrey, the Delia Smith of Indian cooking. I really like her and find her comforting - she reminds me of my Mum. Sometimes you'll find tandoori chicken has a bright red colour which often comes from artificial food colouring. The chicken is marinated in yogurt and various spices. This recipe tells you to marinate it for 8 - 24 hours but a couple of hours is fine if you haven't got the time. It's so simple to make and perfect if you've got some chicken in the fridge and fancy something a bit different.
We've been cooking a lot more Indian food lately and it's surprisingly not as complicated as people think. Once you have all the spices in stock, it's fairly straight forward.

The pullao rice I made to accompany it is traditionally from Northern India and can also be spelt pulao, pilaf or pillaf. The great thing about this rice is you can use any vegetables you want.

Potato and Mushroom Pullao

One cup of basmati rice
Groundnut oil
1/2 tsp brown mustard seed
1 medium finely chopped potato
7 medium finely chopped mushrooms
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp very finely grated fresh root ginger
Salt
1/2 pint water

Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. As soon as they begin to pop add the onion and fry until translucent, then add the potato, mushrooms, turmeric, garam masala and ginger and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the rice and the salt. Cook the rice, stirring for 2 minutes. Add the water and bring to the boil. Cover the pan with a lid then turn the heat to very low and cook for 25 minutes.

Serve with the tandoori chicken and naan bread.

An Impossible Dream

I've come across this Visited Countries Map on various blogs, a great idea and amazing to see how little I've travelled (when I thought I'd travelled a lot). Ask most people what they would do if they won the lottery, the typical answer would usually be: buy a big house with a gym and pool, buy a new car etc. How boring is that? I can't think of anything better than leaving it all behind to travel the world. I'd love to be able to visit every country in the world before I die but, alas, I guess that's an impossibility unless I win the lottery tomorrow. I love visiting new countries. I can't think of anything more exciting than seeing new places, sampling new food and discovering new cultures.

Here are the countries I've visited:

Italy, France, Monaco, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Croatia, Slovenia, Poland,Thailand, Australia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Oman, The Vatican (the smallest independent state) and San Marino (the world's second smallest republic). Sixteen countries sounds pretty impressive I must admit, but it amounts to a mere tiny 6% of the world. I won't bore you with the details of every country so I'm going to outline a few trips which really stand out for me:

First trip abroad - Lyon, France
My first trip abroad was actually Italy but at 6 months old I was too young to remember so we'll turn to France's capital of gastronomy where I spent two weeks whilst studying for my A-Level. It was my first time away from my family for a long period and was a fantastic experience (apart from the distinct lack of hygiene from my host family). I worked as a waitress in a Pizzeria for a week which was superb and I'll never forget the chef's Creme Caramel which was to die for. I also experienced my first taste of Kronenbourg - I drank a mini keg on the ferry on the way home and remember feeling distinctly queasy.
By the time I came back I was fluent. Now I've forgotten most of it but can still remember the odd useful phrase like 'Quel pu!' and 'Ou est le sapone?'.


My favourite city - Siena, Italy
I was here on my ERASMUS year abroad for a year with my mate Toni. Two British students with a big appetite for drinking and socialising in the most beautiful city in the world - perfect! I think we attended about two lectures while we were there - most of the time the classrooms were spilling out into the corridors so we couldn't even get in - and all we had to do was a dissitation at the end about our experiences. We made loads of friends - Italians and English, and sampled all the bars, pizzerias and generally anywhere you could socialise. We went back in August for the famous Palio di Siena, the bareback horse race around the piazza which is probably one of the most amazing spectacles in Europe. Siena is even more special to me as my boyfriend Mike was also at the Palio at the same time, and this was before we even knew each other.

Country I most want to return to - Thailand
Maybe it was the culture shock with it being my first visit to a country outside of Europe, but the impact of the heat and humidity when I first went out of the air conditioned airport and the smell of Bangkok is something I'll never forget. I visited the temples of Bangkok, travelled north on the train and saw the bridge on the river Kwai, took a boat to a couple of the islands where I got my divers license. The sea was the most inviting blue I've ever seen, the vegetation luscious and green and in every city, the food was amazing.

Most special holiday - Poland
We went to Krakow and Warsaw for five days and was our first holiday together. Both cities are lovely in different ways. We spent our days walking around, exploring, visiting places including the Salt Mines of Krakow and always began our evenings the same way with a shot of Zubrowka before heading out for dinner to sample some hearty Polish food. Our trip is also memorable as we were there when the Pope died and witnessed a whole nation in mourning.

By the beginning of next year I'll be able to add Portugal to the list (as we are going in September) and hopefully Germany (with a trip to Berlin around Christmas time). Other countries I really want to visit are Japan and Brazil so I'd better start saving.

create your own visited countries map

Recipe of the Week # 3

Lamb Koftas with tabbouleh and tzatziki dip

The first time we had these koftas they were so good, we've had them almost every week since. They are a kind of meatball mixed with various spices, popular in Turkey and the middle east.
The word 'kofta' is derived from the Persian "koffteh", which means 'pounded meat' and can be found in various shapes and forms depending on the country. This combination of
middle eastern and mediterranean flavours makes for a perfect summer dinner.

Lamb koftas
500 g lamb mince
4 x wooden skewers
1/2 white onion
1 x tablespoon curry powder
1 x tablespoon cumin
1/2 tablespoon chili powder

Soak the skewers in cold water to prevent them from burning under the grill. Finely chop the onion and mix with the mince and spices. Shape them into cylinders and put the skewers through the centre. Grill them for about 15 minutes turning frequently.


Tabbouleh
1/4 packet bulgar wheat
1/4 red onion
1/4 cucumber
4 x cherry tomatoes
4 x sun dried tomatoes
1/2 lemon
Fresh mint
Fresh coriander
Olive oil
Salt

Soak the tabbouleh in boiling water for about 10 minutes or until soft and wait until cool. Chop the red onion, cucumber, tomatoes and sundried tomatoes and add to the bulgar wheat. Add the chopped herbs, olive oil and some oil from the sun dried tomatoes, salt and then mix it all together. Put it in the fridge to cool.

Tzatziki
200g tub greek/natural yogurt
1/4 cucumber
1 x clove garlic
1/4 lemon
Fresh mint
Salt

Peel and grate the cucumber, finely chop the garlic and the mint
and mix with the yogurt. Finally add the lemon juice and a bit of salt.

Serve it all with warm pitta or Turkish bread, a green salad and
or course, a glass of red wine.