Another refreshing golden ale.........

So sayeth number two son when I sent the attached photo of the beer pump from which I partook tonight........do I need to be more descriptive in my eulogy to the great gods of beer? Maybe he has something though it has to be said that Saxon Gold brewed by the Battlefield Brewery of Shrewsbury is , well........  golden and refreshing 3.8%  in strength and the hops used happen to have the same name as a favourite band of mine-Magnum! 
Strange journey this morning as my satnav took me very close to Banbury and therefore Cropredy where we have enjoyed the Fairport Convention Festival for the past three years. We elected not to go this year as not only did the line up leave us unmoved but we really need some guaranteed sun on our backs so a trip to Spain later on in the year is instead of Cropredy. We will of course miss all the Cropredy Chaps  and all the fun we have there. Meanwhile read on.......
In Telford tonight, very bad planning as I wouldn't usually want to be the wrong side of Birmingham on a Friday but sometimes you just have to do it, sustained with a good meal of asparagus with a quail egg & bacon then  slow cooked beef ribs with mash & broccoli  and finally a very good cheese board  full of local Shropshire cheeses helped ease the pain. Dig coming up this weekend, stay  tuned!

    

An idiots guide to an Idiot: The joy of..........watching a rubbish film

An idiots guide to an Idiot: The joy of..........watching a rubbish film: The Memsahib & I had a hectic week last week. We both flopped onto the settee Wednesday evening & watched a very interesting progra...

The joy of..........watching a rubbish film

The Memsahib & I had a hectic week last week. We both flopped onto the settee Wednesday evening & watched a very interesting programme about sweet makers through the ages. They were at Blists Hill in Shropshire where we have been so made it all the more interesting.
I suppose we both just vegged out abit & were still sat sitting there for the next programme, a film called 'Man up.'
It was a rom-com I suppose. It was British which was different in itself and starred Simon Pegg, I've liked some other stuff he's been in, 'Hot Fuzz' for instance & 'Run fat boy run' which certainly passed the time, so I was prepared to give it a go.
It's basically a forty something bloke (Pegg) thinking his twenty something blind date is infact a thirtysomething bint (Lake Bell) who has, in a series of misunderstandings met him instead of the other girl (Ophelia Lovibond). They get on like a house on fire until she eventually owns up......so they don't get on for while, meet his soon to be ex-wife and one of her loony friends (superbly played by Rory Kinnear who seems good at playing slightly strange characters) who is still holding a candle for her.
After saying goodnight, he realises he's been a complete arse & tries to find her again, she is after all the love of his life. After a ridiculous  ride & run through South London ( I think) he finds her & of course, after a heartfelt speech they fall into each others arms, end up having bit of a grapple & on cue the credits roll......................A bigger load of old cobblers I haven't watched in along time but it was a pleasant load of old cobblers and whiled away our hectic day.

 
  

An idiots guide to an Idiot: Stir Fry.

An idiots guide to an Idiot: Stir Fry.: I like a stir fry but as usual its all fits and starts, that is to say we don't have one for ages, then I get all enthusiastic and we h...

Stir Fry.

I like a stir fry but as usual its all fits and starts, that is to say we don't have one for ages, then I get all enthusiastic and we have them non stop for a while!
As big headed as it sounds I think I nailed it with the stir fry I cooked last night. Nothing complicated which is probably the key, in the past I think I've probably just over cooked the veg and added too many sauces so it becomes a mass of mush. Having been one of Ken Homs minions at a couple of recent cooking demos he did, I tried to take notice of how the master of the stir fry did it.
Pre cooked cold rice is best for egg fried rice. Add frozen peas & spring onions ( though  last night I used red onion chopped small), cook all that for a while, it seems to dry the rice out abit. The eggs , I used two eggs as it was for two people, I beat up then added to the rice in one go. In the past I've added it little by little. KH say no! add the lot and stir like buggery! ( he didn't say that, that's my interpretation)    
I brought some frozen prawns thinking I'd got a bargain but they needed the shells taking off and de-veining which is a pain in the arse to be honest, I must look more carefully before I buy in future, I'm quite happy to spend abit more and not have the faff. Also now I only buy raw prawns and cook them myself as a while ago I stupidly used pre cooked prawns, heated them for our meal and then froze what was left, weeks later defrosted and reheated it with dire effects on the Memsahib! You bloody fool MM!
Anyway, the pain in the arse prawns were tossed in cornflour  and left on the side before cooking, just before I cooked them I added a little soy sauce. KH says not to add soy long before you cook as the soy sauce itself will start to cook whatever its added to if left for longer than 20 minutes.
For the veg I used onions, garlic, red peppers, courgette, mushrooms  and as we had it use up lettuce.
Get the wok to a thunderous heat before you start, hold your hand 10cm or so above the wok, if you can feel the heat  you're ready! Alittle oil and sling in the onions once they've started I bung in everything else and keep stirring. I didn't mix the sauces as I've done in the past either. I plumped for black bean sauce and added plenty of it, I think I've been abit meager with sauces previously, that's added quite close to the end as well so it stays a sauce and not a gravy, it just needs heating through really, in the wok I cooked the prawns after I'd done the veg. Sometimes I add them to the veg for cooking, not sure whether it makes any difference but this time I did them  separately.
Pour a large glass of red and you're ready to eat ( in fairness this is the second glass of red, its always good to ply the cook with drink I find!)
There you have it, a stir fry fit for a king and a cook fit for nothing! Enjoy!

  

An idiots guide to an Idiot: Olive bread balls.

An idiots guide to an Idiot: Olive bread balls.: As you know the Memsahib is not only vegetarian but also wheat intolerant, I well remember not long after we'd met that Tara used to ge...

Olive bread balls.

As you know the Memsahib is not only vegetarian but also wheat intolerant, I well remember not long after we'd met that Tara used to get strange stomachs for no apparent reason, on one occasion  doctor thinking it was a suspected appendicitis & a trip to hospital. Thirty four years later intolerances are only just having recognition they should from the quacks and soothsayers that make up the medical fraternity! 
Any hoo........Kathy's Daughter-in-law has a very interesting website called 'It's a plant based life.' (Follow this link to find out more, including the recipe for the following olive bread, its very good http://itsaplantbasedlife.com/2017/07/25/olive-bread/ )   which is all about not eating meat and the benefits thereof. I think we have enough experience to know that veggie doesn't have to mean bland or tasteless but this site takes it to another level of delicious plumpious-ness.
I'm not a fan of olives really but this bread is great. Tara made a wheat free version  just substituting wheatfree flour for  wheat flour though you do need to use abit more. These are traditional Greek Cypriot bread rolls containing olives,spring onions, dill & coriander an alternative to olives can be dried tomatoes they maybe could benefit from the addition of some cheese but then that's my answer to everything.  Below are the rolls the memsahib made, we had them with dinner oh, & I put butter on mine as well! Brilliant!

   

An idiots guide to an Idiot: Third Battle of Ypres or Passchendaele.

An idiots guide to an Idiot: Third Battle of Ypres or Passchendaele.: My Grandads battalion were certainly in the thick of the action during World War One. They were at a  in 1915, on the Somme in 1916 and now...

Third Battle of Ypres or Passchendaele.

My Grandads battalion were certainly in the thick of the action during World War One. They were at Neuve Chapelle  in 1915, on the Somme in 1916 and now at 3rd Ypres, better known as Passchendaele
in 1917. 
The following is from an article I had published in 'Medal News' about my Grandads army service and what happened around Passchendaele.

The diary states that July was spent in preparing & training for ‘forthcoming offensive ops including individual instruction in musketry, bombing, rifle bombing, Lewis gun, map reading, signalling etc as well as actual rehearsals of the attack over ground specially laid out with spitlocked & flagged trenches.’(Spitlocked trenches are marked out but not dug)

In actions that were to become known as the 3^rd Battle of Ypres the Battalion was once more in the thick of it from the end of July & into August. The 8^th Division was at this date part of II Corps, Lieut General Sir Hubert Gough’s 5^th Army.

Zero Hour on the 31^st July was 3.50am when the artillery barrage opened up. By 5am the 2/Middx had reached their first objective point, the Germans retreating on both flanks & in front. The battalion passed through other regiments who had captured Bellewarde Ridge & onto Westhoek Ridge which they captured. The diary states the enemy had ‘stopped running away & was opening fire with machine guns,’ snipers also coming up to do their worst. Tanks were due but the diary states that there was disappointment with their late arrival. Though the enemy counter attacked they were beaten off. There was also enemy aircraft overhead that dropped what is described as a ‘White light.’ This was followed by heavy shelling, and deterioration in the weather which changed from drizzle to heavy rain. They were at last relieved by the 8/South Lancs & the 11/Cheshires late on 1^st August. Losses were 4 Officers & 28 Other Ranks killed 8 Officers & 201 OR’s wounded & 38 missing. Better progress had been made further north of 8^th Div but there wasn’t the breakthrough that Gen Gough was pressing for.

An idiots guide to an Idiot: A room with a view!

An idiots guide to an Idiot: A room with a view!: A hotel with a sea view is where I stayed near Cromer last night........unfortunately it wasn't a sea view from my room though, more a ...