Tag: Dish of the Day

Shopping

I took a short walk, just over a mile each way, to the village shop this morning.  I reserved a copy of The Independent for next Tuesday 27th, which is a Mordred (see 12th July) day.  I also picked up a couple of credit card sized cards displaying the New Forest Animal Emergency Hotlines.  ‘It is the law’ that you must report not only accidents to, but also sightings of sick or injured ponies, cows, donkeys, dogs, pigs or sheep.  ‘Forest animals have no road sense and have right of way’.

Rain was steady, and persisted throughout the day.  Pools in the forest were larger.  Water ran down Running Hill, which we have learned is the name of the road that abuts our Lower Drive.  There were sections it was best to avoid when cars, even with the drivers slowing their vehicles down, were passing.  Apparently the winds I experienced two days ago on Westminster Bridge reached force 10 in the Solent that night.  Another shop customer told me her shed had blown down. I remembered that yesterday’s Gardeners’ Question Time on BBC Radio 4 featured questions about the effects , both positive and negative, on plants of the weather in this exceedingly wet year.  Apparently mulch is rich and delicious, and shrubs that like water are flourishing.

We visited Elizabeth this afternoon and accompanied her to two shops in Portswood. On the way we returned to the village shop and bought some New Forest Blue cheese for her.  The first of the two shops we visited together was for her to investigate some possible furniture in Amber Antiques; the second for us to investigate International Stores as a source of spices for my curries.  The outcome was not quite as expected.  Elizabeth left Amber Antiques empty handed, and we bought a dining table and six chairs, a 1930s repro from an earlier age.  Those were the days when reproduction furniture was as well made as the originals.  Not normally being emotionally equipped for haggling, I managed to impress Jackie by getting 10% off the cost and free delivery.  The name Amber Antiques made me think of Acorn Antiques and Mrs. Overall.  The so named shop was the situation of a Victoria Wood mini-series.  Mrs.Overall was the cleaner beautifully played by Julie Walters.  ‘Dish of the Day’, the play we had watched in Minstead Hall a week ago featured a ‘waitress’ who I had whispered to Jackie reminded me of Mrs. Overall.  The key comic plot of the play was that this character, who was in fact running the restaurant, being the only staff member there, was in reality the cleaner.  The amateur actress had done a marvellous job of modelling herself on one of our most popular actresses.  I first became aware of Julie Walters opposite Michael Caine in the excellent film ‘Educating Rita’.  Incidentally, I believe the only time Maurice Micklewhite ever said ‘not a lot of people know that’, was in a drunken scene from that film.  Given that that is the catch-phrase of almost anyone who tries to impersonate him, I do hope it was an ad-lib.

I was delighted last year in Issigeac in the Dordogne, to see my friend Andie Kendrick in the role of Rita in MADS production of ‘Educating Rita’.  Andie was made for the part and the part made for Andie.  It was hard to believe she was so comparatively new to amateur dramatics.  Roger Munns did a good job with the lighting, and Judith of directing.

Back to the shopping trip.  International Stores turned out to be just the job.  Everything needed for a curry was there.  Indeed, almost every nationality is represented in this vast emporium.  This is so different from the International Stores of the 1970s, the last incarnation of which was Somerfield.  Somerfield in Edgware Road two or three years ago did, however, have an ‘ethnic aisle’.  It was Elizabeth who did more of the shopping this time, as I am wary of buying spices too far in advance of their use because they tend to lose their flavour if you do.  Mind you, I do have some dried fenugreek leaves which refuse to free the spice rack from their aroma after at least five years.  And it may be some time before I make another curry.  Jackie, you see, has laid claim to the kitchen.  Well, there is always the Boxing Day turkey.

Tonight Jackie drank Montpierre Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2011 whist I imbibed Piccini Chianti Reserva 2009.  We also ate her excellent chilli con carne (recipe) and delicious bread and butter pudding.

Deceptive Appearances

Orlaith Beth came in at 9lb 5oz.  She is expected home with her Mum today.

This morning I walked along Seamans Lane and through London Minstead to Shave Wood, turning right there and back to Minstead, emerging at Football Green whence I walked back home via the Village Shop where I bought tickets for tonight’s play at Minstead Hall.

Although there is still much colour in the forest, many deciduous trees are now almost devoid of leaves.  Their branches fan out, one, for example, tracing the outline of a Spanish senorita’s fully extended cooling accessory.

Driving along this route a couple of days ago our way had been blocked by six cattle, four of whom had their front halves buried in hedges, in the manner of the one pictured on 12th November.  Today I think I spotted the reason for the fascination of hedges.  Much of the land on the far sides of these hedges lies at a higher level, and the lazy cows don’t have to bend down for their fodder.  I assume the tag on the pictured animal’s ear indicates to which verderer this protected wanderer belongs.

Further on, Jackie had pointed out another primeval creature she had seen the day before.  The pony which had been grazing alongside this relic of pre-history seemed to have crossed the road and was now consorting with a giant Galapagos tortoise.

Leaving Minstead behind as I approached Castle Malwood Lodge I met the man I am due to impersonate on 1st December.  He was in civvies, of course.  He encouraged me to persevere with my less prolific growth and suggested I gave his picture the caption: ‘This is what I aspire to be’.

Early this evening the bed we bought yesterday was delivered by IKEA.  A next day delivery as promised went some way towards improving our feeling about the company.  All we have to do is assemble it.  Coincidentally, we learned from Becky that the wardrobe we left behind for her in Links Avenue has been collected by Mat and Ian.  Jackie and I had assembled that when we moved in there eighteen months ago.

It was touch and go whether we would be able to attend the performance of ‘Dish of The Day’ by Christine Woodhead, for which I had purchased tickets this morning, because we had to wait in for the deliverymen.  But we made it, after Jackie had produced a meal of omelettes and baked beans.  We finished the wines begun two days ago.

The performance was an hilarious one by the local Minstead Players.  The piece was well written, set in an Italian restaurant run solely by a woman clearly modelled on Julie Walters’ Mrs. Overall who did, indeed, turn out to be the cleaner.  The three tables were occupied by a couple with an elderly mother, three young women on a hen night, and a dating agency rendezvous.  One rather clever moment was when one person from each table simultaneously  received a call on their mobile phone, and the individual conversations fitted together as if they were all three speaking to each other.