Soundman

You're right Pam, I was teasing slightly with my last post, I will write about my meals at Cafe Fish sooner or later though, it makes Mull the food venue it's always has the potential to be.

I had dinner at Cafe Fish in Tobermory last night, a round trip of 626 miles from Chez Soundman! And David, if the main car is too precious to drive, get rid of it and buy something dull enough to put miles on

The idea of using a camera flash in a restaurant seems so rude and intrusive I can't imagine anyone would actually do it! I'd certainly complain both to the camera user and the establishment if it happened while I were dining.

We had the five course menu at Northcote on Saturday and didn't even know Lisa had won, the meal was excellent throughout, Northcote has become our favourite place locally. We were offered a tour of the kitchens and a chat with Lisa afterwards, but too much tawny Port had been consumed to make that worthwhile!

We have friends who live nearby and visit the Pot Kiln everytime we see them, funnily enough, I'm always quite keen to see them now I know where they live! I love the Pot Kiln, Mike is a good bloke and the venison is without doubt, the best I've had.

Getting married there in less than a month, makes it all more exciting if there might be bits of chef in the soup. Your initial sentence is a little contradictory David, until anything is proved, they're just allegations, and neither stunning nor revelatory!

They're all good books, I think I use Real Food the most, but they all have good, well written recipes.

It's up to you, I'd go for long grain for arroz con pollo, but that's personal preference, no rights or wrongs Cooking time won't be much different with either rice. Risotto rice will give you a very different dish, assuming you cook it like a risotto and stir it a lot, in which case you're not making arroz con pollo, you're making chicken risotto

Google for Bath Chap instead, I've never known them called pork chaps before. http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2008/02/28/319232/bath-chaps-a-masterclass.htm Was the first hit for me, not a bad place to start.

Just use the leaves of wild garlic, leave the bulbs to continue growing. And don't worry, flowering doesn't stop you using it

Same thing happened to me on Friday John, went to Sainsbury and it was half price and grown about 20 miles away! Pam, I've been to Aldi and I don't like it, the customer experience is bad, the shops are grotty, the choice is poor. The prices may be competitive, but that doesn't make up for the other negatives. I prefer to support retailers who give me a good experience and sell me what I want to buy, rather than chase the absolute lowest price. However, if you like it there I'm delighted for you, and if I don't shop there, there's more left for you

Use your eyes and nose, and trust what they tell you

Perfect for Thai Green Curry or just about any other Asian dish calling for chicken

Even cheap asparagus wouldn't get me in Aldi! I have two Waitroses nearby, they'll do me just fine thank you

In my local Waitrose they have three differently labelled 'Hampshire' asparaguses, all looking identical, all different prices per kilo, all next to Peruvian and Thai stuff, again at different prices.

Our first local asparagus arrived this week, from Knaresborough, almost twice the price of Waitrose stuff, but so much better, had it for breakfast this morning and it cheered me right up!

International Kidney! That's a new one on me!

A new potato. http://www.jerseyroyals.co.uk/

Waitrose have had Hampshire asparagus in for a week or so, none of my local farm shops have it yet, so I'm guessing the sun hasn't come far enough north yet.

Interesting read John, it's always had a great reputation locally, but I haven't been for years.

I found Aiden the same last time, particularly with regard to talking about him self in the third person. I'm not sure why people try and portray that kind of persona, hardly good for business. Though I did hear some colleagues talking about the concept of him as a brand, he's been taken under Pat Llewellyns wing (or had, not sure if he's still nestling there) to be our next big TV face, clearly it's not working.

Started watching this the other night, after Masterchef finally ground to a halt. Christ it's tedious, after watching the first Scottish episode and half the second, we decided to cut straight to the Friday show, as John suggested he might do, and that's what we'll do most weeks I think. I know the chefs in the first week weren't exactly scintillating viewing, but the format is awful now, absolutely awful.

Szechuan green beans are wrinkly and crispy because they've been fried. Though salting might make them wrinklier and crisper, there's only one way to find out!

A deba is a good choice, but if you're new to filleting, a standard western flexible knife is hard to beat, I have a Global, one of the few remaining Globals in my collection and it's good.

Thanks for that John, interesting to hear an opinion I trust on Gaucho as there's one opening near us soon, and I've never eaten at one.