eG Foodblog: Andy Lynes - Brighton Rock and Rolls

[Andy Lynes]

My name is Andy Lynes and I am a Site Manager for eGullet. I live in the village of Patcham, just outside of the seaside resort of Brighton and Hove on the South Coast of England. I'm 39 years old and married to Gill.

We have two kids, George (11) and Alice (7)

and a German Shorthaired Pointer named Lulu.

My entire life revolves around food. Apart from my duties here on eGullet, I write about it for a living, I cook most days at home, I eat out a great deal and I read everything I can lay my hands on that is food, drink and restaurant related. My interest in just about anything else (apart from music and Uma Thurman) is limited, which can make me tiresome company for the non-food obsessed people in my life.

However, I think we're all on the same page here, so this week I'll be documenting everything I cook and pretty much everything I eat. I won't pretend that its going to be a normal week in the Lynes household, I'll be making a special effort in order to make the blog at least readable. So I'll be visiting my local butchers, fish mongers, markets and supermarkets to give you a flavour of what its like to live and cook where I am.

I'll be sharing recipes, techniques and general food-musings with you and I'll document the soundtrack to my cooking (there's always music or the radio playing when I'm preparing a meal). I'll tell you how I'm feeling in order to judge if mood can affect what I cook and how well I cook it. I'll be exploring what food means to me and who and what has influenced the way I cook.

This week is a particularly interesting one as it will include a visit to Bray to chat with Heston Blumental and a gathering of UK eGullet members for a winter feast in London. I'm looking forward to it.

[Andy Lynes]

Friday 14 January: Breakfast

Cup of instant coffee, homemade flapjack

Generally speaking, breakfast is not a big deal for me. I don't get hungry until later on in the day, so I just have my caffine top up and some cereal or toast. Today I grabbed the last of my wife's homemade flapjacks made with various seeds and dried fruits (including some rather nice figs given to me by eGullet member Che Guevara, thanks Che.) I don't like instant coffee very much at all. Its tasteless muck, but a habit of 25 years or so is hard to break. I'll make some proper stuff later, I promise.

I'm working at home this morning and then heading off to the office this afternoon, stopping off at the health food store to get the ingredients for a rather special granola which I'll be preparing for tomorrow's breakfast. I've also got to decide what my wife and I will be eating this evening. The kids will have had a meal at school (poor things) and will have eaten again before I get home, so its just for the two of us. We have a ton of vegetables in the fridge and a store cupboard busting with rice, lentils etc, so maybe I'll just use what is to hand.

[cakewench]

hey ho, another blog close to my time zone. I love reading these things real-time.

And so let me be the first to say: wow, those flapjacks look nothing like American flapjacks. Not that there is anything wrong with that. They look awesome.

Carry on.

*edited* to add that I covet your mug, if not its instant contents.

Edited January 14, 2005 by cakewench (log)

[Safran]

Good morning from Canada, Andy. I've been eyeing that mug too! Looking forward to your blog!!

[Andy Lynes]

Lets hope my mug doesn't turn out to be the most interesting thing about this blog! It is nice though isn't it? It was a Christmas present from my kids. The mugs are quite widely available in the UK, but I'm still looking for a "The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett" version.

[bleudauvergne]

Andy, that home made flapjack does look absolutely delicious. I had to google flapjack as I too have a different mental reference for flapjacks.

Here's a recipe

[Pan]

It's cool that you're blogging, Andy, and I'll look forward to what I'm sure will be an interesting week with you.

[Andy Lynes]

The flapjacks are made in the traditional way (i.e. melting the butter, sugar and syrup together then adding the dry ingredients) , but I think its the addition of pumpkin seeds, sesame seends, raisins, currents and figs that has made the result look a little different. There's also some peanut butter in there as well. It's my wife's take on this recipe.

[Ondine]

I always thought flapjacks were another name for pancakes.

These look like home-made muesli or granola bars.

Is this a particularly English term or confection?

[Mottmott]

Friday 14 January: Breakfast

Cup of instant coffee, homemade flapjack

Generally speaking, breakfast is not a big deal for me. I don't get hungry until later on in the day, so I just have my caffine top up and some cereal or toast. Today I grabbed the last of my wife's homemade flapjacks made with various seeds and dried fruits (including some rather nice figs given to me by eGullet member Che Guevara, thanks Che.) I don't like instant coffee very much at all. Its tasteless muck, but a habit of 25 years or so is hard to break. I'll make some proper stuff later, I promise.

I'm working at home this morning and then heading off to the office this afternoon, stopping off at the health food store to get the ingredients for a rather special granola which I'll be preparing for tomorrow's breakfast. I've also got to decide what my wife and I will be eating this evening. The kids will have had a meal at school (poor things) and will have eaten again before I get home, so its just for the two of us. We have a ton of vegetables in the fridge and a store cupboard busting with rice, lentils etc, so maybe I'll just use what is to hand.

←

Will you be, perhaps, treating us to something from Venus in the Kitchen? Or is you attachment to it only for sentiment, not the author?

I look forward to this week. I'm glad I caught it in real time. Alas I mostly catch up on these blogs when they're well over.

Edited January 14, 2005 by Mottmott (log)

[Jinmyo]

Oh, this will be interesting. Good for you, Andy, and thanks.

[PoppySeedBagel]

So is the addition of peanut butter to Flapjacks A Good Thing Andy - I saw that recipe in the Waitrose magazine too and wondered...

[Carlovski]

Hope you'll be having the Full English at least once - educate our foreign brethren.

[Andy Lynes]

I always thought flapjacks were another name for pancakes.

These look like home-made muesli or granola bars.

Is this a particularly English term or confection?

←

I've been labouring under the impression that flapjacks were something we'd got from the US. I'm almost certain that it was the Sainted Delia (Smith) who popularised them in the UK back in the 70's.

[johnnyd]

I 'n I expectin' a righteous soundtrack wit I-ficially crucial riddims, seen?

I'll be sharing recipes, techniques and general food-musings with you and I'll document the soundtrack to my cooking (there's always music or the radio playing when I'm preparing a meal).

Edited January 14, 2005 by johnnyd (log)

[Andy Lynes]

Linton Kwesi Johnson could well get some airtime this week.

[Basildog]

Your bl9g is a hit already in this household.Becky saw the photo and shouted "OOOO look Daddy, yummy yummy dinner"

Keep up the good work

[SobaAddict70]

Some questions...

1. Who is Delia Smith? I feel like I have to know her.

2. And Linton Kwesi Johnson? I'm not up on my Brit pop culture.

That's it for now, I think.

Soba

[Andy Lynes]

Further info on the mugs from Art Meets Matter.

Further info on Britians best known cookery writer and broadcaster (now retired) at Delia Online.

More on the great LKJ here.

(Obviously any discussion of music must be in direct relation to the activity of cooking and its not my intention to encourage off topic chat. I believe that my mood has a great impact on how well I cook and my mood can be influenced by music. I think it will be interesting to assess over the coming few days if that is in fact true.)

[Andy Lynes]

Hope you'll be having the Full English at least once - educate our foreign brethren.

←

An excellent idea. Sunday morning I think.

[cakewench]

Thanks for posting the mug info. I was pondering whether or not I should ask, especially after you said you hoped the mug wouldn't get more attention than the food in the blog.

[Radio7]

(apart from music and Uma Thurman) is limited, which can make me tiresome company for the non-food obsessed people in my life.

Woohoo, another Uma Thurman fan!!

I look forward to following your thread through the week, I was living in england a few years ago. I miss the seafood.

[VeryApe77]

I always thought flapjacks were another name for pancakes.

These look like home-made muesli or granola bars.

Is this a particularly English term or confection?

←

I've been labouring under the impression that flapjacks were something we'd got from the US. I'm almost certain that it was the Sainted Delia (Smith) who popularised them in the UK back in the 70's.

←

As a brit living in the states, I think I can safely say that they are two different things. Of course, originally they might have meant the same thing, but now -

In America, flapjacks are basically pancakes. Only, not pancakes in the English sense (i.e. crepes) but American-style pancakes. Confusing innit?

Whereas English style flapjacks are (obviously) those things in your picture. My mum makes about 40 of them a week. No idea if the names are connected somehow, but they are certainly two different dishes.

[Andy Lynes]

I miss the seafood.

←

I'm planning to visit the retail outlet of a rather good wet fish supplier tomorrow morning so at least I can share some pictures and a recipe or two with you if not the flavours.

[Carlovski]

Hope you'll be having the Full English at least once - educate our foreign brethren.

←

An excellent idea. Sunday morning I think.

←

Be sure to acquire a decent hangover to fully appreciate it.