tomweir

You could add 160 from my shelves. I am going to bring some of these numbers to my wife's attention...

Well, it's the Mirror, which is kind of like the Post (as in NY rather than Washington). And these shows thrive on things such as that. Monster chef indeed... What's the odds Edwina gets fired by Gordon? She looks like the front runner for the axe after last nights risotto and the incident the previous evening, the opportunity for John Major digs notwithstanding. Gordon and Angela were pretty nice to James on the hotplate, but I guess everyone likes James. Damn, how did I get hooked on this?

Bertie, spill all please... On the mentor turned verbal... to me it's very consistent, the verbals come when he perceives someone not taking it seriously. He takes it all very seriously, and he really does want to bring people along in terms of skills, he has that mentor in him definitely. But when he senses any shift or deviation in others from being in the right space, he turns up the volume.

His current level of exposure is an indicator of the real money you can make when you are a national figure on tv, as opposed to Britain's top classical chef. Can't blame him, make it when you can. The show is pretty dreadful (but I hate BB and all that it has spawned), you can tell Angus Deaton is hating every minute of this. Usually a good indicator of a programme which has experienced a lot of trouble is the amount of producers involved. As the credits roll count the producers, including producer categories I never heard of, Story Producers and Gallery Producers. >Which is all you need to know about what C4 has turned into. Amen to that.

Oh, it's not that bad... Just a pain in the ass in the land of the lunchtime sandwich. This is quite flexible, I think it is Madhur's (it's been a while, I do it on autopilot) Good with guacamole, chopped fresh tomatoes, creme friache. Combine with whatever you are permitted, corn tortillas, spuds, rice, it might even mask some of that buckwheat pasta... You should find the chipotles (in tins) in Mexican supply stores (or ask nicely in your local Mexican). The contents keep well in tupperware in the fridge. Veggie Chili 3 tbs olive oil 2 onions, peeled and finely chopped 4 garlic cloves, minced 1 pepper, green or red, finely chopped 2 chipotle peppers, minced (or red serranos, whatever you can get) 1 tin chopped tomatoes 1 cup (8 fl oz) brown lentils 1 litre water or stock 1 tsp salt 1 tsp each sage, thyme, oregano 2 tsp paprika, sweet pinch of cayenne bunch of coriander, chopped Cornmeal, 1-2 tbs - Heat the oil - Fry the onions - Add the garlic - Add the peppers - Add the chipotles - Add the herbs and paprika and cayenne - stir gently for a minute - Add the lentils, coat them - Add the water, tomatoes, salt - Bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes - sprinkle the cornmeal, stir in thoroughly, simmer for 10 mins. - Add the coriander - Serve

One thing to note about Green & Black is that their only Fair Trade chocolate is their Maya Gold. I found the Cherry to be good in small doses and it only comes in 100g bars. Far too strident (I think someone said) for that amount. I buy their stuff but I wish they did a more silky or finer chocolate, something you could expect from Vahlrona or Godiva or Callebaut. But i can only get them when I am on the road, not sold around where I live.

>Nonetheless a proper dishwasher setup, like a washing machine that takes less than an hour, is one of those things I miss from the U. S. of A. Amen. And a dryer that dries. Our dryer here takes TWO hours and clothes come out dry and quite lukewarm. I long for the 30 minute dry and piping hot clothes. I read a Wired article about how more eco things are here in the good ol' EU in this area and how clothes (and probably dishes) fare better under the kinder gentler model at work. But dammit... I always do a hot-water rinse post scrub but i think I am on the minority side of things in Ireland. I fill the sink twice and follow the following running order. 1. Glassware 2. Cups 3. saucers 4. plates 5. empty and refill the sink with hot sudsy water. 6. Cutlery 7. Pots and pans. My French friends have the following method. Empty sink, nothing in it, very sudsy scrubber, scrub everything and load them into the sink. THEN fill sink with boiling water. Drain and rinse everything off under a running hot water tap.

GR was on a chat show over here last Friday and said that next week's restaurant was worse. He also said that Tim was a knobhead and no more but the next guy asked him outside...

I think as a first show, they put this out for laughs, really. Pull up the numbers stuff. I think GR was quite gentle and probably appropriately so, given the level both the owner and chef were at. They didn't even know how off they were. It will be more interesting when he gets a good chef who could be better. I hope we see one at some point, though the programme title kind of sets it up differently.

You're presuming Englishmen wash up...

Well, there's bound to be a seed savers association in the UK. The Irish one is http://www.irishseedsavers.ie/ and they are particularly interested in apples, incidentally. They have a side business where you can order heirloom varieties and they will ship seedlings. All sorts of interesting types, just waiting on my house to get ready before I can think about the garden though...

Certainly your MPs. There's a time to be a letter writer.

I like ginger biscuits for tea. Yeah, ginger nuts but fancy ones too. If they ever release chocolate covered ginger nuts, i am in trouble. Coffee needs no dunking at all but a pastry on the side.

No, it doesn't rain all the time. It can rain a fair bit of the time though but it never lasts for long. Half the country is thrilled, the other half are smokers and publicans. Here's hoping they use this to raise the level of food in pubs here.

John That's very similar to mine. I have a problem I think with my hob. Getting that rolling boil going...

Ethel's actually (she's a small scale producer in County Mayo in the west of Ireland, so hardly widely available). Just oranges, lemons, and sugar and the right level of bitterness. I make my own, when I come across organic Sevilles, I keep my eyes peeled each january. I am never happy with it, but it does fine. I want it dark and bitter but I can never seem to get the sugar balance right. The most interesting version was made with orange juice instead of water. Packed quite a flavour punch but somehow it wasn't...marmalade. A lot of delis here have locally produced marmalade on their shelves, I don't really like the big brands that much.

That's a shame... We had Thanksgiving dinner there once. And enjoyed it. It was a mad late afternoon sitting, jampacked and all go, with a great decor and atmosphere, so-so food (well....) and we had grannies and grandchildren and plenty of chaos to add ourselves so I suspect not a typical dinner at G & T. I did want to go back for a quiet dinner with my wife. The location wasn't great, a pretty downmarket shopping strip had arrived in the eighties and the street wasn't pretty. But the interior sure was.

>a marvelous dazzling menu, full of utterly delightful surprises and sensual thrills... You would be close to Patria on Park and 21 (I think its 21, I never remember the cross street...). It would certainly cover the above requirements. Does he eat fish? As a fish and vegetables guy i adored Patria. I bet they have a straight vegetarian option also...Worth giving a call to.

That's exactly what's called for.... your post and the Eisenberg recommendation (which I second - old New York still survives...) will stick with me. A list of names without why doesn't.

Don't forget the taxman and the bank charges and any other professional fees that you will be paying off the first year or so... My first job was with a trucker and he looked at me the first day we worked together and he said, as he prepared the invoice for that day, as he jotted down a list of figures on the back of a envelope. I need to earn this amount. I need to pay you that amount. I spent this amount running the truck today. I need to save a bit for a new truck. I need to give the taxman something. I need to make some profit. So there's my total.

Amen to that, a very interesting thread. Having worked as one small part of the design team for a restaurant on Park Avenue South, I can only commend your courage, the level of detail and the sheer amount of things the principals have to juggle and decide is quite something. They did a 2-3M restaurant and the core team was three players and they worked on nothing else between them flat out for well over a year just to get open. Would you think of other partners?

Izabel, your taste in food matches mine (you are not alone...) a great list, thanks, I popped most of this thread on my Palm but yours I copied to the top, not least the fact that Soho is where work takes me when I visit London.

The tortilla press is a good idea. I am sure you can get masa harina in London. You can in Dublin, so...

>You must have it to make queso! Or queasy... Tell her to buy Calvita (if they still make it...) It is pretty well the same thing, bland, rubbery, chemically-induced cheeselike stuff which no one eats any more, right? If she wants to make some kind of dish involving a Mexican style cheese (queso al papa), which is a drier, more crumbly, white salty cheese, the best option is feta.

Nahm at the Halkin Hotel. David Thompson is a world leader on Thai food... +44.207.333.1234 Lunch M-F 12:30-2:30 Dinner 7-11 Set meals £23. Fort in the Guardian gave it 18.5/20