Written by Diurnalist on 22 January 2010
Great atmosphere, good food, not exceptional
I went for lunch at Smiths today. It’s a big, bustling place on Smithfield in London. The ground floor is an informal bar/cafe style eatery – think long, wooden benches, comfy leather sofa’s and superb bacon butties.
The restaurant is upstairs, and has full height windows for the entire length, leading onto an outdoors dining area – too chilly in mid January, but lovely in the summer. I ordered a rare steak with fries and a salad; the service was friendly and unobtrusive. My steak arrived and was grilled to a nice temperature (though perhaps a little beyond “rare”), and had a lovely flavour. The fries were uninspiring – thin, more MacDonalds than haute cuisine. The salad was good – the tomato had a strong fresh flavour, and the dressing was a perfect balance between fruity olive oil and tangy lemon.
I enjoyed the meal – the atmosphere is relaxed but efficient, and the food was enjoyable. It was not particularly good value for money though….
My rating: 3.5 stars
Written by Diurnalist on 22 January 2010
On my way from a jaunt to the chilly North, I stopped by the Spalding Farm Shop to pick up ingredients for dinner.
The shop is fairly small, but the selection is well balanced. I picked up Lincolnshire sausages, a “stew selection” of vegetables, and some ground coffee, as well as a frozen gooseberry crumble. I also picked up some “Lincolnshire Poacher” cheese.
The quality is excellent – the sausages were lovely and meaty, and with a flavour that wasn’t exclusively due to the seasoning. The vegetables were fresh, and well presented.
The shop isn’t particularly cheap – but you definitely get value for money!
Written by Diurnalist on 17 January 2010
I read about this game in Wired, about a year ago, and bought the game at the marvellous Compendia store in Greenwich. The kids and I played it when we bought it, but ran out of time – we never finished that first game.
This weekend was so rainy, I was desperate to find something for them to do, so I got the game off the shelf, and sat them down to play. It started slowly – the “set-up” phase took us a while, but once we started rolling the dice, they quickly got the hang of it all. The great thing about the Catan game is that it’s designed to be auto-adjusting – as soon as you build up a stockpile, the “robber” evens it all out again. An inexperienced player can hold a grandmaster to ransom – but skill does eventually pay off.
For a family, it’s the perfect game – kids from around 8 should get the rules, it takes between 60 and 90 minutes to play, and there aren’t millions of fiddly little bits to lose.
Written by Diurnalist on 15 January 2010
Recipe: Meatball pasta with cheesy topping
Summary: Made this for the kids, they loved it – and it was pure comfort food joy for the grown-up too!
Ingredients
- 2 or 3 cloves of garlic
- An onion
- Meatballs – 16
- Passata sauce
- Tinned tomato
- Vegetable stock
- Balsamic vinegar
- Mushrooms, finely chopped
- A pack of pasta
- Butter
- Olive oil
- Nutmeg
- White flour
- Milk
- Grated cheese
Instructions
- Put a large pan of salted water on a high heat
- Slice the onion and garlic, and fry lightly in the olive oil, in a large, heavy bottomed pan
- Once the onion has started to soften, add the meatballs, and brown over a medium-high heat; sprinkle over some oregano if you are that way inclined.
- Add the balsamic vinegar, and leave to evaporate
- Add the stock, and also leave to evaporate
- You should get a lovely, meaty, sauce – stir in the chopped mushrooms, and once they have absorbed the juice, add the passata and tinned tomatos, turn the heat down, and leave to simmer.
- By this time, the pot of water should be boiling – add the pasta, and let it return to the boil; once it’s boiling, turn the heat down slightly to keep at a steady rolling boil.
- Heat the butter in a sauce pan, add some olive oil, and – once it’s melted – stir in flour and nutmeg.
- You should get a crumbly effect – the flour clotting into clumps.
- Add the milk, and stir continuously this should give you a “roux” sauce.
- The sauce should be quite runny, as you will add the cheese in a minute which will turn it more sticky.
- Once your roux has settled down – no lumps! – add the grated cheese.
- Now drain the pasta, and spread into an ovenproof dish; add the tomato sauce, stir together, and top with the cheese sauce.
- Spread some more cheese over the top, pop in an oven or under the grill for around 10 minutes.
Quick Notes
Serves 4 -6; you can add red peppers, carrots, peas, or bacon. I used grated cheddar, but you can use mature gouda, or mozzarela and parmesan if you want.
Cooking time (duration): 45
Number of servings (yield): 6
Meal type: dinner
Culinary tradition: Italian
My rating: 4 stars:
Written by Diurnalist on 14 January 2010
Near-future sci-fi with more ideas per page than I care to count
Cory Doctorow is one of the writers for boingboinb.net, and has a number of consistent themes in his writing. My oldest son loved his last book, “Little brother”, and while the writing is not “literary”, and the characters are a little one-dimensional, the books always engage – lots of ideas, lots of good dialogue, and believable characters. “Makers” is basically a book about the desire of “creative” people – including engineers – to do what they are good at, without having to worry about “suits”. Of course, you can’t ignore the suits, and the book is all about the clash between suits and makers. There may be a bit of intentional literary shenanigans – at some stage, the author talks about the Greek “Deus ex machina” solution to plot problems, and to an extent, the way the story resolves itself relies on a legalistic “Deus ex machina” – but that might just be me reading something into the book that simply ain’t there. Lots of fun to read, and the story is engaging – you want to find out what happens, the secondary characters are fun, and there are some laugh-out-loud moments. Worth it!
My rating: 4.0 stars
Written by Diurnalist on 12 January 2010
Recipe: Oven eggs
Summary: Breakfast magic – the combination of eggs, cream and cheese makes toast into magic
Ingredients
- One egg (per person)
- a dollop of fresh double cream (or creme fraiche, if you must)
- Grated cheese – I used old Gouda
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to around 180
- Crack the egg into a ramekin
- Spoon enough cream onto the top of the egg to cover it (thinly)
- Season with salt & pepper
- Layer the grated cheese on top of the cream
- Pop into the oven for around 10 minutes
Quick Notes
Eat with toast – generously buttered!
Variations
This is just the start – you can add spinach, ham, herbs (chives, basil, dill), even crispy bacon. Experiment with different cheeses – rich, mature gouda is lovely, but you could also use soft, creamy brie, or the glamour of pecorino
Cooking time (duration): 12
Number of servings (yield): 1
Meal type: breakfast
My rating: 4 stars: ?????
Written by Diurnalist on 09 January 2010
The best fillet steak I can remember having
We had dinner at the Zetter restaurant, on Clerkenwell Road in London. The restaurant/bar area are airy, and the atmosphere was very relaxed – we’d turned up half an hour early, but were shown to a table with a minimum of fuss, and presented with our menus.
It was a treat, sitting by the floor to ceiling windows, looking out over snowy London, deciding what to have for dinner… For my starter, I had the beef carpaccio – it was almost perfect, the sweet, wafer-thin beef covered with a fruity olive oil, offset by the parmesan cheese and mustard. My companion had Joselito ham with figs and goats cheese – a perfect combination, and the flavours were clear, strong but not overwhelming.
My main course is the reason for the 5 stars, though – ir was advertised as a ribeye steak, but the waiter informed us it would be a fillet instead. The meat was cut in “the Italian style” – more about that later! The steak was perfectly done – grilled on the outside, rare on the inside (as per my request, obviously), juicy, and full of flavour. The accompanying herby butter and rocket salad were simple and tasty, and the homemade chips did them proud. My companion had sea grillled bream with salsa verde and polenta – my fish allergy (and obsession with my steak) prevented me from tasting it, but she reliably informs me it was of the highest quality.
The wine list was comprehensive, and we both declined desert in favour of a coffee – the capucino was a treat, rich crema, the milk not to hot of frothy.
So, about the “Italian cut” for fillet steak – this is something I inted to try out for myself, but the waiter told me you stand the fillet on its end – as a cylinder, almost – and insert the knife into the centre; then you turn the knife to form a “peel” of meat. He claimed this cuts with the direction of the fibre of the meat, and improves succulence. I’m inclined to believe him!
My rating: 5.0 stars
Written by Diurnalist on 05 January 2010
I spent the day on my bicycle, touring the tow paths of East London. Eventually, I ended up in Victoria Park, an East London treasure. The park is large, and the village feel of the surrounding area makes it possible to forget you’re in gritty urban London (though the traffic is a pretty constant reminder). There are a few boutique style shops – including “Bottle Apostle”, a rather good wine store – and cafes, pubs and restaurants.
I had lunch in the park pavillion – the sunny weather had attracted a decent crowd to this park cafe, and I ended up sitting outside enjoying my capuccino and cheese & chutney sandwich. The place is not cheap – £6.- for a coffee and a sandwich is a little on the steep side – but the quality was amazing. My coffee was simply first class, and the sandwich was a glorious combination of tangy cheese and spicy, sweet chutney.
Lovely, rich, velvety cappucino from the Victoria Park Pavillion Cafe
I cycled home past the Olympic building site, in the bright, wintery sun – and everyone I met smiled. Just one of those days…
Written by Diurnalist on 04 January 2010
Went for a walk in Wanstead Park, just a short drive away from Diurnalist Towers. The recent snow and frost in London had turned the park into a bit of an obstacle course, but it turns out the park is huge – with a couple of ponds, forested bits, grassland, heathland – all sorts!
We stumbled across an old building in the middle of the park, called the Temple; it’s a grade II listed building, and one of the few remains of Wanstead House, a palladian villa that once graced this park. The Temple has an exhibition outlining the history of the house – including rather gothic pictures of the grottos (yes, they had 2, specially made, grottos. Who wouldn’t, if they had the space?), and a small shop.
Wanstead Park is going on the “todo” list for the summer – it feels like Hampstead Heath, but without all the people!
Written by Diurnalist on 03 January 2010
Classic British grub, informal setting, great beer
So, it was the Saturday after New Year’s Eve, and we didn’t fancy eating in – so we scoured Time Out for a recommendation, and set off to a number of highly recommended eateries; they were all closed. So we ended up in the rather soulless tourist trap that is Spitalfields, near Liverpool Street station in London. We settled on eating at Canteen, and this proved to be a great decision.
I started with a pint of Meantime Pale Ale – served at the perfect temperature, not too cold, with afruity tang. For my main course, I had steak & kidney pie, mash and greens – just like my grandmother used to make. The pie’s crust was firm and golden, the gravy was rich and fragrant, the kidneys soft and tender. The mash was a little anonymous, but the gravy made up for that – and the greens were perfect.
For desert, we had apple crumble and custard – again, perfectly done. The apples were pleasingly sweet, but not cloying. The crumble was soft and crunchy at the same time.
The service was efficient but not intrusive – though our initial seat, by the door, was a little arctic, our request for a different table was met with good humour.
In short, recommended!
My rating: 4.0 stars
