I am something of a creature of habit I will admit and I rarely go to any restaurant other than Café St Honore when up in Edinburgh with an analyst or a company. And sure enough there I was yet again at lunch earlier this week ready to enjoy some excellent locally sourced Scottish produce, but it was a first for me when the Chinese analyst in tow looked quizzically at the menu, an extract of which I copy below. I thought perhaps I was going to have to explain to him what crowdie was or phantassie kale and fair enough. However, and I promise I’m not making this up, he chewed his lip a little before asking in all seriousness, “Do I have to wait till 5.50 before the duck is ready?”
Talking of getting your budget as well as your timings wrong Bob and his gang decided that although they were determined to get to Macchu Pichu they could not afford the exorbitant train fare from Ollantaytanbo to the staging point village of Aguas Carrientes. Someone had told them however about the possibility of walking along the rail-track which, whilst probably illegal and certainly dangerous ( it involves passing through eight tunnels ), would save them over $100 each.
Not to be sniffed it, except that it seems they didn’t much consider quite how far it was or how long it might take them, nor that they would end up paying for a train ticket anyway on the return leg. But they set off optimistically enough, carrying the bare necessities, at 9.00am.
To cut a long story short they got to their destination at 10.30pm. 13.5 hours! It transpired they had walked 26 miles and so whilst this goes down as the slowest marathon ever, it is worth bearing in mind they were at 9,000 feet above sea-level, had to cope with fact that some 30 trains passed them during the course of their trek, and that they had to cover the last 6 miles in the pitch black with only the occasional burst of light from a mobile phone, not exactly showing them the way, but reassuring them that the pack of wild dogs that had been trailing them for hours was not getting any bolder or closer. They were blistered and exhausted and there were a few tears shed apparently, but it was fine, Bob told me. When they got to their hostel in Aguas they had the best beef-burger ever dripping with blue cheese. At 10.50 presumably.
Given this week’s foodie theme, never let it be said I don’t come up with useful ideas in this email. If not stock recommendations this is a good one, at least for those of you approaching the end of Lent who might have given up Chocolate for the period. You can very easily make your own with some cacao butter obtainable from:
https://www.indigo-herbs.co.uk/shop/buy/organic-cacao-butter
you will also need to order:
Cacao powder
Vanilla powder
Agave Syrup
My preferred mixture would include a handful each of roughly chopped roasted Pistachios and some chopped dried cranberries
And finally, you’ll want a mould. I’ve got one that punches out in the shape of little hearts, but really the one below is much the more sensible proposition:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008DV4VOE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Good luck and let me know.
Talking of which, I heard a sad story this week from a friend of mine whose mother, sadly, suffers from dementia. My friend received a general email sent to all relatives of the residents of the home her mother is in requesting that in future flowers should not be sent there. We suspect there had been an influx over Mothers Day, but anyway, apparently the old dears had taken to eating the arrangements. It reminded me of when Sophie was taken aside by the Deputy Headmistress of Bob’s prep school. “Your son Bob has started an unacceptable craze which I would appreciate your help in bringing to a stop Mrs Sandison” she was told. “He discovered an ant nest at the foot of Big Tree, demonstrated how to pop ants into your mouth without getting bitten yourself and claimed they tasted of chocolate. Now half the school queues up at break-time to give it a go.”
PS Harvested my first crop ( well four spears ) of asparagus last night. This is almost a month earlier than last year. Freaky times we live in.
No comments:
Post a Comment