The Strangest Pizza

During our time in Brighton, we went to a pizza place called Pinocchio. A family place with a typical Italian restaurant menu, nothing fancy, but honest food. That said, their trademark pizza, named (of course) Pinocchio Pizza, might have had the strangest mix of ingredients. It had mushrooms, olives, sweet peppers, prawns, anchovies, sausage and artichokes. So it was like a combination of two or three different pizzas. Of course, I had to try it. Quite an experience. Surprisingly, Wolfie wanted to try it, so I had to share a few bites. And he liked it too. Moral of the story: you can get creative with a pizza.

"Crevettes sauce mangue gingembre"

 Des fois, mon père m'envoie des photos du souper qu'il a cuisiné avec ma mère, rien que pour m'envoyer des photos. Ce qui me rappelle que je suis médiocre chef. Mais enfin bref, mes parents ont cuisiné hier des crevettes sauce mangue et gingembre. Sur un lit de riz. C'est juste ce qu'il faut d'exotique, je dois dire. Ils en font assez souvent ces temps-ci parce qu'ils ont des stocks de crevettes. Bon, enfin bref, voici la photo.

Riz aux crevettes

 Petit billet food porn que je voulais faire depuis longtemps, désolé de ma longue absence, j'étais en vacances. Enfin bref, mes parents fait il y a quelques semaines ceci, un riz aux crevettes. À mes yeux, la meilleure sorte de riz qui soit. C'est pas mal meilleur que les risotto aux champignons que l'on impose à ma femme végétarienne dans les grandes occasions comme les mariages.

Another pub classic

Two years ago, after we moved in our new house, we had quite a few evening meals in the local pubs, as we had no fridge to keep fresh food. This is where I had this: a deep fried scampi (or prawns?) and chips with tartar sauce. It is not nearly as famous as fish and chips, bangers and mash and other pub classics, but I really enjoy it from time to time as an alternative to fish and chips. I usually order it when I want something that is in essence a fancier variation on fish and chips. You eat this, you are in a familiar territory, yet not a very common one. Seafood always has a veneer of exoticism, even in a pub.

The menu at the Old Post Office in Wallingford

I have been blogging a good deal about Wallingford recently, so I hope it does not come as a surprise ifthe new restaurant/pub I plug in my traditional weekend post is from there. I am talking about the Old Post Office, or OPO, which ironically is not supposed to be the best one in Wallingford (not according to TripAdvisor anyway), but so far it is the only one I have been to and every time I went there I was happy about the food. I usually have fish there, which is now my food of predilection when I go out, but this time it was linguine with prawns and crab. Drowned in a lot of Parmesan, as you can see on the picture. You can see it on the daytime menu here. So far I only had lunch there, so I am plugging the OPO out of a very limited, very partial experience.

I do not find the food outstanding as much as good, but good food is good enough when you are hungry and eating there is in itself pleasant. It is mid-way between a gastropub and a full fledged restaurant, not quite the traditional pub I would naturally go to for the atmosphere, but the setting is nice and in the heart of Wallingford. It is clean, there are always tables available, it is spacious... and then you can have a walk in town, a lovely English town, maybe the most quintessential English town I have seen, at least down south.

Ah, le poisson du Carême!

Bon, ce n'est pas que j'aie fait mon adieu à la viande pour quarante jours, ni même que j'en mange vraiment plus que d'habitude, mais ça m'est venu à l'esprit: un régime de poisson, ce n'est pas vraiment un gros sacrifice, de nos jours.Prenez ce plat à votre gauche, que j'ai mangé dans un restaurant italien pas loin d'ici. Un poisson, je ne me rappelle plus lequel, avec des moules et des crevettes dans une sauce aux tomates. Bon, je ne l'ai pas mangé durant le Carême, ni même un vendredi, mais bon, ça se prêtait bien au sujet. Le poisson a longtemps été la nourriture du pauvre. Ce n'est plus le cas aujourd'hui. Je me rends compte qu'en fait, pour moi, le Carême dure l'année longue, puisque je le préfère aux autres nourritures. Et je songe même à en manger à Pâques.

Getting tired of Friday treats

There I said it. I just don't enjoy my sandwich as much. I didn't enjoy it today anyway. I had almost the usual: smoked salmon baguette with horseradish sauce, Coca Cola and cashew on the side. Except that there was not enough smoked salmon so I got my baguette filled with what was left of shrimps, or prawns as they call it here. So Smoked salmon, prawns, horseradish sauce, red onion, tomatoes, salad... And it did nothing to me. I mean yes, I enjoyed it, but it barely registered. And I don't feel like a special customer anymore and I don't feel like it is special either. So I need to change my treats, maybe even change my Friday blog posts topics altogether.