Some of my favourite things: cooking, chocolate and home
I made the best chicken casserole tonight. I took a recipe from the cupboard and re-hashed it to my liking, and damn it was good. Along with the garlic and bay leaves and tomato puree went half a bottle of red. I may not be able to drink while working, but it doesn’t count when it’s in the food! And the baby potatoes and carrots came out so deliciously soft and the chicken breast just slipped off the bone.
I know certain people compare me to Monica in Friends, but I hope I never regress to her initial chef stature, even though the taste test is the most important part in getting the flavour right. I think the satisfying thing about a casserole, is that as soon as I walked out of the lounge room into the hall, these beautiful smells were wafting from the kitchen, and all I thought was wow, I did that.
My grans all enjoy a good tipple with their supper, for over here lunch is dinner, and dinner is supper. Lunch is the larger meal, and supper often doesn’t happen when a Sunday roast is in the oven. Red or white, each time I present supper on the table it’s followed by the question, ‘Shall we have a glass of wine with dinner?’, which is more rhetorical than anything else.
I have been working a late shift from 9-10pm each night, although Britain seems to run more smoothly on a 24-hour clock – must have something to do with the war time – so my shift is really 21.00-22.00. It feels so much later as that. But the point is, even if I wanted a glass of wine with dinner, I can’t because I have to make sure I can get to the next place and then back home without swaying.
Unfortunately it’s not as easy to say ‘no, thankyou’ to the constant offers of chocolate. ‘Have an After Eight, dear’, ‘there’s dark in the fridge, oh but do try the one with almonds’. And then today on our outing, we went for a long walk through the park and past the shops, and I insisted on stopping at this one specialty chocolate shop in Chelsea and sniffing the air a bit.
Well we were both in heaven, but when I got dragged into the shop, I was glad we had no money on us – otherwise someone would have bought the whole shop. Not me! Can you blame? The front window had strawberries and bananas on skewers drizzled with chocolate. I’m glad you can’t see my keyboard because the drool is getting out of control!
So to my real grandmothers, please don’t worry that I’m not being treated and looked after. I honestly don’t know who’s looking after who, but I am patient because I know when I get to that stage I’m going to be a stubborn pain in the arse. I’m told it runs in the family.
My new charges have so far all been to the west or south of London, those areas known for ‘old money’ and ‘celebrity status’. I can travel for up to an hour to reach this other part of London, on old rickety trains with rails that have constant signal problems, or having to change several lines to get from starting point to destination. On Monday my train was stopped because the one in front was being inspected at the next station for a suspicious package – first time I’ve heard that one, but not unusual.
On Wednesday I had some errands to run, and it took about 5 trains to get home from St John’s Wood, my nightly hour of work. I took the Jubilee line from SJ’s W to Bond St, changed for the Central line to Liverpool St, got off and went to the shops, hopped on the Hammersmith line to Aldgate East and changed there for the District which finally got me back to Bromley-by-Bow. Phew!
The station is literally at the back of the building opposite us, but you have to walk around to get there, which is fine because I need to be at that end to get off at Notting Hill Gate. The Tescos across the highway (we use the underpass) is open till midnight on weeknights, in Britain most supermarkets close by 4pm, sorry 16.00 every Sunday – they haven’t heard of 24/7 shopping over here.
The library is a good 15 minute walk, or one stop on the DLR (district light rail) if you’re lazy or coming home late, at a place called Chrisp St, where there is also a big market in between the shops. But I can get wireless internet for free there. I don’t use it much because I’m on the net enough for work.
Lija bought a TV off one of our friends who’s going (coming) home to Oz, and I figured out last night we can get the channels through the video/DVD player. Well, I tuned it then took my tea up to my room to continue with a great book I’m reading. Lija came up an hour later and just laughed saying she didn’t believe how much crap was on. I honestly haven’t watched TV for two months straight, and apart from the news, which I’ve been getting from some of London’s more decent newspapers such as The Times, I really haven’t missed it that much. Granted I have my laptop and watch movies on it, but that is chosen viewing, not forced.
I did see my first episode of Home and Away last Friday while working and it sent me into a tizzy. I almost had to choke back tears of homesickness when I heard Alf walk in and say ‘Flame the bloomin’ crows!’. Yes, sad, I know. I can’t live without my vegemite and I have been interrupting the others at work laughing out loud to podcasts of Will and Lehmo on Triple M through my headphones. I also laughed and cried along with the last ever podcast of Triple M’s best ever breakfast show The Cage, a show I listened to every morning for the last three years during uni on the train into the city, and will be laughs sadly missed. A red card to the idiot who canned it!
We’re also preparing for Christmas, and although Lija and I are away over the festive week, we bought a mini fibre–optic battery-operated Christmas tree for our dining room table, and Lija got some decos for the doors, and I bought us advent calendars. Lija got the Transformers one, in aid of the movie which we wanted to see but never got the chance because we were too busy travelling at the time. And I got the Pirates of the Caribbean for myself, who wouldn’t want to eat chocolate and look at Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom at the same time – double droolidge! (I realise droolidge isn’t a word but spell check will get over it soon.)
Speaking of that book I’m currently reading, yes it is chick lit, but come on – it’s called The Chocolate Lover’s Club, so I couldn’t help but borrow it. I’ve also found a chocolate tour of London that Lija and I are planning on doing in Jan/Feb. Mmm.
Don’t despair, chocolate is only a small part of my current diet, not to mention I walk EVERYWHERE all the time. There’s always a ten-minute walk from the station to wherever I need to go (I even ran tonight so I wouldn’t be late from one shift to the next – what a looney!) I even take some pleasure and enjoyment from pushing past those lazy people that stand on the stairs and try and move as little as possible, okay lot’s of pleasure, while my glutes are pulsating from the rush of walking up a minimum of six flights of stairs or escalators in the major stations.
My impatient nature constantly leads me to new paths and roads and side streets. Last week I walked from South Kensington (home of Harrods da-arling) through Hyde Park, along to Picadilly Circus, Leicester Square, up Charing Cross (THE road of bookstores, a personal favourite) and caught the tube home from Tottenham Crt Rd. Try plotting that on a Googlemap.
We don’t have a microwave at this place either, it basically came empty but for beds and cupboards, and so between the four of us we’ve bought pots, pans, plates, cutlery, cooking utensils (had to get away with my swissy for a while as a can opener!), tea towels and plastic containers for leftovers or extras. Probably only worked out to 5/10 pounds each because you can get things really cheap over here despite the high cost of living.
So I love cooking on the hob and sticking things in the oven. I heat my milk in a saucepan to make a real hot chocolate with my cocoa from Switzerland, I make my porridge in a pot each morning – the only thing that would be easier is how Clare taught me to do baked potatoes. To microwave them for ten minutes until soft and then they only need another ten in the oven to brown. But Lija and I are more adventurous than baked potatoes.
Our new cookbook that I found in Borders is specifically for students, so it not only has some great recipes that are flavoursome or adaptable but it also has smoothies, cocktails and hangover drinks hehe, although we surely won’t need the latter!
I have to include this thought – we bought curry paste the other day for one of our meals this week, and I spread some on my fajita the other night. Of course, for those who don’t know, the Patak’s curry paste is a favourite of my girl Olivia. She would take the jar out of the fridge along with the cheese which I would have to slice and spread the paste over, with the biggest grin she would take it from the plate as soon as I had lifted the knife. So sitting on the train going to my night work I scratched my nose and found the over powering curry flavour bringing me all these memories of Liv. Cheeky bugger.
Last week we got down to -5’C. And it’s still not winter. I’m actually over the whole winter and lack of sunlight after 3pm thing. In a sea of black on the tube the other day, I was so hot I removed my jacket revealing my pink long-sleeved shirt and standing out from absolutely everyone. I do my best.
I need to tell you about my tea fetish. England is converting me, or old England more like it. As I told David my story the other day my hands clapped together suddenly expressing my delight and he instantly recognised the importance of this new finding. Tea pots. Okay, so I never really understood them, why they were needed, what purpose they served. But after the insistence that one tea pot should be used for the morning cup of peppermint, while the larger pot is used for afternoon tea and cake with Chinese tea where the leaves are big enough they don’t need to be drained, and how cosies really do keep the pot warm. My discoveries are only beginning in the world of tea pots, but I can tell this is an appreciation I’d like to continue exploring.
Can you tell I have a lot going through my head at the moment?!
Glad to share it, enjoy!
Tags: Travel
marzipan_mad
Leave a Reply