Sunday 15 November 2015

So I ended up making myself some ceviche today instead of taking the one hour trip from the West of London to a Peruvian restaurant in Soho which tends to be my weekly excursion. The commute is getting old, it would be better if the portions for the main courses after a ceviche appetiser was worth the trip, but sadly I can't in all honesty say that it is. So yes after buying the fish yesterday, which again involved another long trek - boy do I hate living out in the sticks, I made my own ceviche and I have to admit it was delicious. It was all I could do to not eat it all in one sitting. Its been quite a struggle to leave any for tomorrow, especially when my hands smell of ginger, garlic and coriander - I wouldn't mind having a new aftershave that smelt that good. Of course that would probably make me hungry.

Saturday 5 September 2015

Well thats another Summer in London gone! An initial five week temporary assignment at work turned into 3 - 4 months and just like that summer came and went and I'm like hey its September how come I never saw any of the Summer. Dates in the calender in June, July and August got lost in 15 hour days, crappy take away food and not enough sleep and before I knew it September slapped me in the face and all because someone who was supposedly having a life saving medical operation was talking complete bogus!

Do I not like selfish people at the moment!

Seriously need a holiday after all this. Mars looks good, maybe a one way trip would be best.

Actually I like this picture, it reminds me that I don't hate people. I do like to seeing people have fun. I need some fun in my life. 

Soapy bubbles anyone?


Listening to: Pedro Aznar - A Primera Vista

Sunday 14 June 2015

Summer Time Eating



Its starting to feel like summer here, well the temperatures are rising anyway, even if the clouds like to remind you that this is London still. With summer I seem to get even more lazy with cooking. Ideally I'd walk out of work and pick up some food being prepared in the street but I'm seriously fed up with the choices here, Indian though good is expensive, Chinese is just blah, if I have any more fish n chips or burgers my heart will probably go into reject mode, and though the Turkish Kebabs here are decent i've had them way too often on a saturday night. Choices exhausted I had to get inventive. What was I missing out on? I hate shopping when I'm hungry and have no ideas. Especially at the overpriced shop that pretends to be a supermarket in these parts. Begin at the veg aisle and just start throwing shit into the hand basket.

Tomatoes
Coriander
Radishes
Jalapeno
3 Limes
Red Onions
Pineapple
3 Granny Smith Apples
3 Oranges

Add some Cayanne Chilli Powder
Some Salsa
Some Mince
Some Tortillas
and don't forget the Irn Bru

Now the hand basket is overflowing its time to pay for it, go home and find a use for this mixture.

Dinner was easy fried off the mince with the red onion and salsa, threw that in with the cherry tomatoes, coriander, radishes into a tortilla making some tacos that reminded me of many a cheap night on the streets of Salt Lake.

Dessert was much harder work. But infinitely worth the extra effort. I love pineapple but I hate cutting one, but this fruit salad I had in mind called for the sweetness of the pineapple. The pineapple cut into one inch chunks, together with the oranges and finer sliced apple on its own would have been just like any other boring fruit salad, tasty perhaps but probably not worth all the energy expended. This is where it started to get interesting. I took the red onion that I hadn't used in the tacos, Finely sliced it, took the jalapeno and finely sliced the hell out of that too, threw it with the rest of the fruit, giving it all a good shake. Added a little salt. Took the 2 and half limes I hadn't used on the tacos, and squeezed every last drop of lime juice out on to the fruit salad. Took a spoonful of the cayanne pepper and distributed it around the fruit so that each piece became dotted with the dark powder. Ah fuck it! I like me some heat. I added another spoonful. Now to taste. Holy shit !!! I could sell this. The sweetness of the fruit, the refreshing combination of the lime and corander, merge with the heat of the jalapeno and chilli powder and your mouth is having a party unsure what the fuck is going on but loving every bite. I ended up adding another couple of spoonfuls of chilli powder because I loved the feeling of my mouth being on fire whilst the juice of the fruit refreshed it with each bite so by the time I ate two bowls of fruit salad I was in need of a glass or two of Irn Bru. But then again I did sip up all the firery leftover juice once I cleared the bowl of fruit.

If I had the time I might have been tempted to get myself a little market stall and sell this - then again I hate cutting up pineapple, screw it - this is one fruit salad I'll be keep for myself.

Listening to: Creo En Ti - Ana Tijoux & Juanito Ayala

Wednesday 29 April 2015

Feeling A Little Melancholic

The day I fell in love I wanted to give the world, the moon, the sun, the sky, the sea. Give the gift of flight. I didn't need to be a hero to no one, but I did want to protect my love from dawn to dusk. Then when it all turned sour I realised I needed all that as much for me as for my love. Without the one I love being my focus I grew weak, lost my strength and became directionless. With love I was powerful, exceptional, without - ordinary, and weak, rudderless  - all my apparent strengths swept away in one wave. Missing half of my being, my strength, my shelter, my compass, hours pass and tick away and I am not whole. All I thought I wanted to give away, I wasn't giving any more than my love had already given me just by being the map that showed me the way. Love it makes us strong, it makes us weak, it makes us selfless, it makes us needy, complete and so damn complicated.

Listening to: Franklin - Lullaby