UKCruiseJeff

I also remember telling my aunt that I thought the castle on her head was very pretty.

My worst faux pas was when I visited my relations in Paris and stated in “French” that I needed to go out and get my hair cut and they all roared out laughing and told me that I had said I was going out to get my horse cut. 🙂

As no-one could pronounce it I simply pragmatically did as commanded by the Christmas Carol. Noel Noel. Now it is pronounceable. Jeff

They all had something in common. They were all Prats. 👍 Jeff

In that case ….. 😊 I really have something to be happy about today …. apart from being praised by The Boss for my potatoes. My coffee blend was roasted and delivered today by Peaberry who is just a a couple of miles away and I so love the smell - and taste - of freshly roasted coffee. This is how much extremely fresh coffee affects crema … I FILMED IT! Sadly we lost Gerald a few months ago and the last time we spoke we’d agreed a summer Pizza with us with some cheap red wine and him bringing some of his experimental blends, but sadly now not. Here’s a lovely picture of Gerald doing his stuff and a feature film of my Crema. I will miss him and would like to think of him roasting for those he is with. Jeff IMG_5497.mov

Very Dry Dr Ron! 😄

Hi, I'm afraid I'm a bloke with very little imagination and apart from stuff like bernaise, hollondaise, green peppercorn sauce etc etc which I make quite a lot, then the two sauces I make most starts with either Noily (you're right - it's vermouth ...) or Rosso. I'm surprised I don't see any or many others use it. I drink neither but use both all the time for sauces. Noily for fish and chicken sauces and Rosso for meat gravy and sauces. I also use a small splash in the previously mentioned dressings. They have such complex aromatics they are wonderful and really give a lift. Other vermouths don't seem as good. In terms of other meanings, when I make a sauce with Noily the tradition is for me to tell her "I've made you some oily prat". Try it. 🙂 Jeff edited! My boss has corrected me and reminded me I do drink it as I always specify Noily rather than Dry Martini Vermouth when I have a dry martini because it is great in one - but to be honest I like my dry martinis so dry if you get my drift - it's just really a whiff! In fact in the bar at the Negresco in Nice the Barman use to greet me with "Hello Mr Noily" because evidently I was the only one he said that insisted on it!

Fletch, Your blog has been absorbing, captivating and certainly great fun to read .. so thanks for taking the trouble! 🙂 And they were “right justified”! Us ex-Times / Thomsons’ people understand and appreciate these things! 😉 Have a sweet journey home. Jeff

Good Afternoon Coolers from an overcast dining table. Luckily I received my instructions early in the day which was predominantly to provide some decent comforting carbs with the roast chicken I planned. So it was Boulanger potatoes and onions made with some decent chicken and vegetable stock with a slug of house white and that cooked slowly for a couple of hours and served with some nice chicken with a Noily and Dijon mustard buttery sauce and PEAS! There was supposed to be some Boulanger to be warmed slowly tomorrow but she was quite enthusiastic and told me I’d done well and scoffed most of it. Later will be the Espresso and Orange and Almond cake. We’re not bored with it yet! Have a great afternoon Coolers. Jeff

The officer may have simply made a mistake. But he did try to be helpful and may not be a liar. And what of the new neighbours of where you would have liked them moved to? They would now have your noisy neighbour. Is that fair? The officer’s offer was sensible and helpful and would have left your room empty and thus avoid annoying anyone else. I fear that you might have simply done much better if you had simply shrugged, had a glass of wine, and perhaps been a touch more pragmatic and moved suite when you were offered. Your suite would then have been empty and no one else suffers. You would also now be a happier bunny. All the best Jeff

An unintended consequence of mass computerisation is that humans have become increasingly emasculated and their genuine value reduced because increasingly they told exactly what to do because the “computer says no”. How often do you now have to listen to humans reading what is on the screen to you. How often do they say “no” rather than “yes”. In this scenario when humans are adding decreasing levels of value you might be surprised to find how rapidly virtually all of these jobs in the call centers will be replaced by AI and they will probably do a much better job most of the time and answer the phone more quickly without you waiting and listening to all of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. This will “release” humans in smaller numbers to only being used where flexibility trumps algorithms. The rest will have to think of something new to do. The consequences of these changes for many will be tough.

J.! Thanks for your nice words about my cake! But no butter or even flour! Just oranges, almonds, sugar, eggs Cointreau and Amaretto.. And I used the microwave for the oranges. 😧 So it really is very simple. I have always believed in letting the ingredients speak for themselves so I have no idea about or have any interest in presentation. I just like white plate simplicity. I only make cake because I just don’t ever find adequate quality in bought stuff. I can taste what I want in my head and simply try and make it. The profit motive for bought in always compromises the ingredients etc so needs - must! 😊 It’s lovely that you are in Gelatoland for a few weeks, I’m envious. Do enjoy what you have left. Jeff

Good Afternoon Coolers on a gorgeous day! Three Orange and Almond cakes made today … as we’re hoping to decamp to Balcony@Seaside sometime in the next week or so and they will go well down there. But don’t know when! Have a really great afternoon all. 👍 Jeff

Good Afternoon Coolers, This post has been doing the rounds a bit on the interweb and to me it seemed like a great response to how us people of experience and years have been held responsible for global warming etc. It is sort of the type of thing we’d like to say to Greta Embryo and the extreme global warming gang. It’s long but I hope worthwhile and hope it is enjoyed. 🙂 Jeff A young cashier told an older woman that she should bring her grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized, "We didn't have this green thing back in my day." The young clerk said, "Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." She gave him a firm stare and a hard grin and said “Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles, and beer bottles. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over. They were recycled. Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, which we reused for numerous things. We walked upstairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power did dry our clothes back in our day. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. The TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded-up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades with a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. Back then, people took a bus and kids rode their bikes instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles in space to find the nearest burger joint. But the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing.” The cashier stood there still and quiet as the old lady found her wallet to pay. Then lady turned to leave but stepped back and turned toward the cashier. She said “You have a world of knowledge in that little device in your hand. Pity you just use it to gossip, take pictures, and waste time. It would do you good to search a bit of history before you embarrass yourself like this again. Forward this to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart-ass young person.

There are/were a lot of fabric shops in brick Lane but by the 90”s I think most of them were by then Asian owned many selling saris. There are still loads of Indian/Bengali Curry shops in Brick Lane last year …. I haven't been able to paste the link but Time Out did their top 12 places including curries around a year ago. Google will bring it up. Google says that there is 23 curry places in Brick Lane. The misspelled Beigel Bake in Brick Lane is actually relatively new but they trade on it being old. When I was running the club in D’Arblay Street we use to close and take a cab down to Vallance Road where the best bagel place was open all night with a string of taxi drivers queuing and getting their nightly supply. The big draw was it was a wood fire oven and I could request charred bagels and my very favourite onion platzels which you may recall I’ve now been forced to bake myself because Brick Lane is too far to travel. The deciding factor on me deciding I had to make my own bagels and platzels was I was once so desperate that I drove from where we are in Hampshire to Brick Lane for a dozen bagels. Just plain unbuttered bagels or beigels if you must. As you know you always get them freshly baked and the smell in the car was simply playing with my affections and driving me to distraction and so I opened that bag took one out and chewed on it as I drove the 85 miles home. Well it transpires that the journey round trip was about four hours and you will probably now have guessed by the time I got home I’d only saved her a single bagel. I felt so bad and there was no excuse but in mitigation your honour it was a crime of passion. Since then I make bagels and they are better than Brick Lane bagels. Jeff

That’d a lovely idea. The great thing about change is that if you are patient enough and hang around for long enough you don’t have to travel far because everything around you changes and you can simply change your diet from chicken soup and chopped liver to curry and wonder where all your friends have gone. I have many bad memories of trying to find decent Indian food in many places in the US, although to be fair to your great country - that was some time ago. In fact way into the last century. I guess it has probably progressed since then, though from what I see on YouTube of US cuisine I am likely to be offered Tandoori Chicken Masala with a grilled cheese topping and fries. 😄 (Humour alert! 😀) Jeff

Software driven!? In my hands, what could possibly go wrong? 😀

It's weird that Brick Lane was pretty much where I was brought up and I went to school a few streets away from Brick Lane. It was then a very poor Jewish immigrant neighborhood. Jews would have originally got off the boats walk a few yards and unpack their machines and start tailoring or making furniture or jewellery in single rooms. They remained there for a generation or two and then mostly moved to North London. In less than a lifetime it has now become almost 100% Bangladeshi and Asian with street signs often in at least two languages. Who knows what cuisine we'll find in 20 years from now .... it's lovely to see change. Jeff

Your most welcome. I should have mentioned that a reason for suggesting Brick Lane is that it has over 20 Indian restaurants. So I’d head down there not too late and do a reccy of them. They are all next door to each other and most are small and you could figure out which looks the busiest and best and which to avoid that look empty. I’d not make a reservation if you did this. Enjoy your visit.

Veeraswamy is claimed to be the original Indian restaurant. If you decide to take it easy on your first night you might like to consider Nipa Thai in your hotel. It has a good reputation although I haven’t eaten there - but I want to. That would be a consideration/temptation after a long day. One of the best established Chinese restaurants to take a look at is a taxi ride away is The Royal Club on Baker Street. Many seeking Indian food now head to Brick Lane in the east end, although it can get a bit busy but which also has the advantage that you could also pick up a couple of beigels in the beigel bake in Brick Lane to take back. I’d be tempted to rely on the concierge for a more local one that he/she knows. Jeff

Hi, Any particular yearnings/tastes or cuisines etc? Jeff

Good Afternoon Coolers, Today’s traditional British Brunch was Scottish oakwood smoked kippers, with Sarsons, Hovis and London Pride. Have a Great Sunday all ……. Jeff

Thanks, It would take much more than admitting to decaf to disgust me! 😄 In rereading my reply I fear that in my enthusiasm and desire to help I’d over-engineered and over complicated my reply. This was because my presumption was that when choosing replacement machines one tends to buy the same model when one has been pretty happy with the coffee on the old one and tend to only change when looking for an improvement. I’m presuming - rightly or wrongly- that you have a burr grinder which once used one tends never to look elsewhere. Non-burr grinders assassinate coffee beans. I also started with traditional Gaggia Classics along with good burr grinders and also bought and experimented with roasting and blended green beans to try and get exactly what I wanted. However every cup was obviously a little different and that’s OK but it was a great hobby but wasn’t consistent and didn’t offer the right level of advantage compared with the palaver. So I stopped. Now that bean to cup machines have improved so much to the current level, it provides taking all of the multi-stage hassle and palaver out and not just a consistent well ground and accurate measure and cup but also other things like great silky frothed milk and the opportunity to do things like sublime hot-choc. Also machines in the US normally have cup warmers, whereas the EU/UK equivalents on the identical machine seem to have this feature deleted. So as a package they make sense for an easier life without compromising what’s in the cup. With respect to the compromising of your taste buds, you might experiment with looking for a more robusta rich blend rather than pure arabica. Perhaps even a slightly darker roast. This might accentuate the taste to recreate what you are missing. That will give a bit of a taste explosion like turning the the taste volume control up although might be a touch too high in caffeine. I’m sorry I went a bit over-board and I might have done it again in this post …… 🙂 Good luck with the choice. Jeff

Good afternoon Emts. To talk coffee first. My route has been filled with pain and disappointments but now I think I'm there! To cut to the chase of gone though so much Gaggia I cold fill a warehouse. I am a painfully slow learner but this is what I have learned. And it is a series of very small things that all conspire together that makes the elusive perfect coffee that has always bugged me and now achieve. The fundamental of it all is the production of an extraordinary simple double or single espresso from which all other coffee drinks emerge. The nub of where I am now is I have a Sage Oracle Touch Fully Automatic Bean-to-Cup Coffee Machine which I have one both here at Jeff HQ and at Seaside for coffee on the balcony. They are completely programmable and adjustable to replicate what you like for future shots. So once you work it out they will always be the same. It's a dual boiler machine so steam and milk are available instantly at the same time. But I'd say that without a good machine you'd obviously not get good coffee. But even if you spent $1m on a machine it's impossible if you do what I think most do and that is not understand that the machine is simply the vehicle but it's water and bean that makes all of the difference. We have found using Zero Water is perfect and a well worthwhile palaver. Now The Bean! I am fortunate enough to have had a local roaster (Gerald! - since left us but now his family) who is obsessed with the bean. He use to travel the world with his son visiting and supporting small growers, roasts daily and delivers to our door personally. I cannot believe how lucky we are. So my first thing is find a really great local roaster and describe the taste and let him blend and roast for you. You will never ever get great coffee from supermarket or shop blends. But you won’t know this until you get freshly roasted coffee from an artisan and use it quickly whilst storing it for a week or two at most in vacuum jar. Our Blend Content 1/3 Nicaragua 3rd Honduras depending on procurement 1/3 India Plantation 'B' 1/3 Brazil Eldorado https://peaberrycoffee.co.uk/collections/signature-blends/products/peace-and-hope-blend https://peaberrycoffee.co.uk/ The machine is: More importantly, I'd love to hear about the family publishing memories if you'd like to. The more the better. Indulge me. 🙂 Bestest Jeff

Afternoon Orange and Almond with a double espresso. Have a great afternoon all. 🙂 Jeff