Bobotie

 During our last time in York, we stumbled on arestaurant called Karoo. A South African restaurant. As my wife is half South African from her father's side, we thought we had to try it. I also love to try new sorts of food. I ordered a bobotie and fell in love wiht it. It's a sort of pie with spiced mince meat as a base and an egg topping. You have it with rice on the side and chutney for seasoning. It tastes delicious, the kind of simple, hearty food that fills you up, but make you wish you had enough appetite for more. It is seriously good. Enough so I want to try baking a vegetarian verison that my wife can enjoy. I told my father-in-law that I discovered one of his national dishes. Surprisingly, he was not particularly impressed. His words: "I never liked bobotie much as a child." Oh well, I reckon he never washed it down with beer.

Apple chutney

Two years ago, my mother-in-law decided to do chutney. I don't know if she makes them still, but anyway, she decided to prepare two jars of chutney for us, one was tomato, onion and something, I think grapes or raisin, the other was an apple chutney, which tasted just as good as it looked and I was so impressed that I took a picture of the apple one, thinking to blog about it later. It took me two years and a Facebook Memory to remind me that I had not done it yet. I felt really spoiled. Not that I am a particular fan of chutney, but I do like it sometimes with a roast or with cheese, and this one was really, really good. And home made. I just find admirable all the craft and patience needed to do anything homemade and touching that she thought of spoiling us like that. For all these reasons, this chutney deserved a post. It was long overdue.

The Welsh Rarebit from Madame Fromage

During our time in Cardiff two months ago, we had to try an authentic Welsh rarebit. They were actually not that easy to find and we only had it once. But it was one hell of a Welsh rarebit, as you can see on the picture. With a little pot of chutney to make it more filling and tastier, but I think it tasted even better without the chutney. we ate it at Madame Fromage (a very Welsh name). It was really tasty and properly filling like a proper Welsh rarebit should be.

Craving a ploughman's sandwich

There is one delicious thing I discovered in England which I think I have not blogged about yet: the ploughman's lunch, which I usually eat in sandwich form. I have been craving ploughman's sandwich recently. I had some today, but it was one of the cheap brands you find in convenient stores and petrol stations. I love a ploughman's sandwich with quality ingredients to maximize taste: an old cheddar, top quality chutney to go with it and of course good bread. Hand made ideally, or least industrialized as possible. I bought the one you see on this picture a few weeks ago during one of our visits to the hospital. There was beer in the chutney. It was the best ploughman's sandwich I had in ages. Sadly, I did not take note of the brand.

The grilled cheese of Fat Lemons in Totnes

Well, as I am back from the holidays, I thought I would start plugging the food of one of the many restaurants, pubs and cafés I have been to during my stay in Devon. It is Saturday, after all, and plugging something from the menu of a place I loved is a weekend tradition on Vraie Fiction. It was not an easy choice to start with, because there were so many great places. But in the end, I decided to go for something from the menu of Fat Lemons, a vegetarian/vegan café that was maybe my gastronomical discovery. We went there twice, and twice it was nothing short of amazing. The first time, I ordered the simplest option one can order in a restaurant: a grilled cheese sandwich and a carrot soup. It was maybe the best grilled cheese sandwich I ever had: old, mature Devon cheddar and chutney for the filling, perfect grilled, not too melted but warm cheese and the soup just made it perfect. Perfectly simple, perfectly filling, perfectly delicious, perfect comfort food.

A Pinewood Studios anecdote

I don't know why, but I thought today about my personal experience with Pinewood Studios. I say experience, it was not exactly an epiphany, although it was a bit of an officious a pilgrimage, as it is an institution of British movie making. I did not stay very long, but here it is.

So a few years ago, in early May, I went to an interview in Pinewood Studios. I was very excited, not so much because of the job, which was temping, but because I was going to be where James Bond movies were shot, and maybe even work there, although obviously it was not for something nearly as glamorous as a James Bond movie, the series was in hiatus at the time anyway. It was quite moving walking around the place. I took a few snapshots with my old phone, which are now sadly lost. After my interview, which had gone very well, I was famished and I had my lunch in one of cafeterias there. It was a clean, glamorous place, especially for a simple cafeteria. The food however was pricey. And it is there that I had by far the best chicken sandwich I ever ate. It had chutney for condiment instead of mayonnaise. The meat was carved on the place, right in front of me. Two thick slices of multigrain bread held the filling. The sandwich as far as I remember, cost the price of a whole lunch. But it was worth every penny.

I did not take the job because it was conflicting with a job I still had and I had already found better opportunities. The people doing the interview were gracious when I refused it, which almost made me regret it. I do wonder sometimes about it, if I would have enjoyed it there just because of the settings. I do also find it strange that my most vivid memory of Pinewood Studios is the chicken and chutney sandwich.

Au moins il y a les atocas

Bon, je n'ai pas eu de Noël blanc, je n'ai pas mangé de dinde, je n'ai pas eu de réveillon non plus, la bûche de Noël n'était pas maison, mais j'ai quand même, au moins, réussi à faire des atocas cette année. Pas assez pour nourrir une armée, mais assez pour que je puisse me sustenter. C'est quand même une particularité nord-américaine, avec la dinde notre apport aux réjouissantes des Fêtes. Je dis "notre", même si c'est une invention américaine. Sauf qu'on produit des atocas au Québec, qu'on utilise ce nom, que la recette que j'utilise, vraiment simple, est la recette familiale. J'en ai mangé encore ce soir avec des papates et de du Brie. J'ai déjà vu ici des sandwiches Brie et "cranberry sauce" ici, ce qui m'a donné l'idée.

Parlant de mélanges inusités et d'atocas, j'ai récemment mangé un sandwich dinde, bacon et chutney d'atocas de chez Marks & Spencer. C'était délicieux. J,espère un jour trouver une recette de chutney d'atocas. Autre anecdote à propos des mélanges inusités: j'ai mangé des atocas comme à côté avec des restes de viande de fondue chinoise (du boeuf). Boeuf émincé, frites, mayonnaise au curry et frites. Un repas d'après Fêtes improvisé que mon frère et moi avions fait un soir de semaine à Montréal. Revenu du travail aujourd'hui, je suis déjà en mode "deuil des Fêtes". Elles ont été particulièrement courtes, le choc a été brut, je me console comme je peux.