The other day, my father, who is almost 86 years of age, asked me an out of the blue question. His mind is still alert and can express opinions, remember if he's seen an episode of Poirot - his favourite TV detective , and laugh at a joke, so the question had to be taken seriously. It was not the rambling of a failing brain.
The question was not easy to answer. In fact, I couldn't answer it clearly or precisely. It wasn't whether God exists, or is there an afterlife but simply what does spaghetti taste like. He'd seen it being eaten by people on TV and was quite curious about the stuff. He had gathered it was soft, as he reassured me that spaghetti was the stuff seen hanging from a fork prior to being twirled around and placed in to the mouth.
He'd not even had the tinned variety and this was not the spaghetti he was referring to. It was the real thing which had been boiled until edible. I explained some of the ways it was eaten - mixed with other ingredients or a meat or cheese sauce. I described my favourite and, perhaps, the simplest method of preparing it- ie spaghetti with garlic and olive oil. Boil the spaghetti until soft. Take good olive oil, heat gently and add four or five crushed cloves of garlic. Fry gently and do not burn the garlic, and then mix with the drained, softened spaghetti. Place on a warmed bowl and add shavings of good parmesan and there you have it. Its just good, tasty, fast food. I think he would like to try spaghetti.
What amuses me about the enquiry is that my dad ate a most limited diet built around fried eggs and bacon, pork pies and tomatoes. He ate fish, fried of course. and loved a traditional Sunday roast. Except traditional meant that the vegetables, which at one time he grew himself, had to be boiled to a virtual puree, and to whatever he was eating was added salt and ground white pepper and, to add a dash of flavour to carrots, some Worcester sauce.
His unique contribution to the world's dishes was sticks of celery eaten with Hula Hoops placed along the length of the stalk. He couldn't get over the texture and the right saltiness this creation gave him.
His single culinary art developed a delightful way of frying an egg, which involved my dad stooping at the hob with the frying pan handle lodged around his belt buckle and him bending at the knee so that the lard, never, ever oil, would form a deep pool at the edge of the pan. Into this, he would break an egg, knowing instinctively the right level of sizzle as the egg sunk into the deep fat. This gymnastic approach ensured that the egg white remained compact and did not spread into a layer across the pan and also there was sufficient oil to baste the yolk, the final flourish, before lifting it out and onto a plate. He never cooked more than one egg at a time, so breakfast took time to cook, after he had ascertained how many eggs each person needed.
And now spaghetti. What shall I do? Well, the answer is easy. I must make some for him. I wonder if fried egg and bacon spaghetti can be done. Carbonara without the cream. I'll have a go. All I need is a hot food carrier..........
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
Monday, 7 September 2009
Fringe shows 2009
A quick run through the shows of 2009 which we saw. The only order they appear in are the order in which we saw them. A great full paced opener and a dramatic clever ender with some delightful whimsical performances in between.
Morecambe.
A strong, one man show which told the life of Eric Morecambe up to and including his death. A show that was joyous and which captured the life of a man who took seriously the art of making people around him laugh. Its always good to start the Fringe visit with a lift and this was it.
Hugh Hughes.....360
I am a fan of Shon Dale-Jones who as Hugh Hughes uses whimsy and and charm to tell tales of imagination and of an apparent biographical nature. His story telling is very endearing and in this, his latest, has moved almost towards a stand up routine.
Mickey Flanagan
The east end boy moves to middle class lifestyle, but you can take the boy out of the East End but.... I like his quiet honesty and his warm tone. His routine about dealing with neighbours - meeting them, avoiding them and peeping at them was delightful.
Stefan Golaszeski is s widower
A strong one man play set in the future about a man looking back on his life and death of his wife. It sounds grim, but as the teller of the tail, he was not a truly likable man, so his pain felt almost like a comep-uppance to him. The play was sprinkled with clever references to how life changes and yet remains the same. Men still followed football, but its Yeovil Town who in 50 years time are the new Manchester United.
Marcus Brigstocke - God Collar
I like this man and after his show, I still do. He hits his targets hard and is not afraid to cause a gasp in and a bit of shock to his audience. Religion is a ripe area and no one area was safe, not even the atheists, so he was fair.
The Origin of Species...
The longest title in the programme. This is not the best rule of thumb by which to plan a programme, but this was delightful. Clever comedy songs and a great one man performance as Darwin and his family, friends and sponsors were brought to life in the shape of he performer.
The Doubtful Guest
Based on a story by Edward Gorey, this was absolute magic and has lived with me for over week now. Shon Dale-Jones wrote and directed it. It had the man's touch alright.
The actors played a family whose lives had been overturned by a strange poltergeist like visitor. The family had decided to present their experiences in a theatre and so they did as best the family could - awkwardly, embarrassingly and using theatrical devices that they thought were appropriate. And that what was so funny. Oh and the music was hauntingly fitting.
Sarah Millican
Bright and sharp, Sarah swings from a weak vulnerable woman to a side that shocks and pulls no punches. She builds her act cleverly, targetting men and women equally. Extremely funny to extremely painful, there were moments where I felt uncomfortable - but that is when Ms Millican might have said in her beautiful Geordie lilt, "Well, you deal with it, I have no problem."
Barbarshoper II
Fast paced musical fun that told the story of a Spanish bullfighter who inherits a barbers in an East Anglian coastal town but not without the attention of the resident hairdresser whose trichological empire building are now thwarted. Sheer energy and great amusement and all in four part harmony.
Sociable Plover
Yes, it is a bird and this attention holding short drama was a great finale before the train home.
A plot that settled in to one groove before the play's built-up stereotypes were dramatically overturned in a most surprising manner.
Those were the shows and there will be more, I hope, next year.
Morecambe.
A strong, one man show which told the life of Eric Morecambe up to and including his death. A show that was joyous and which captured the life of a man who took seriously the art of making people around him laugh. Its always good to start the Fringe visit with a lift and this was it.
Hugh Hughes.....360
I am a fan of Shon Dale-Jones who as Hugh Hughes uses whimsy and and charm to tell tales of imagination and of an apparent biographical nature. His story telling is very endearing and in this, his latest, has moved almost towards a stand up routine.
Mickey Flanagan
The east end boy moves to middle class lifestyle, but you can take the boy out of the East End but.... I like his quiet honesty and his warm tone. His routine about dealing with neighbours - meeting them, avoiding them and peeping at them was delightful.
Stefan Golaszeski is s widower
A strong one man play set in the future about a man looking back on his life and death of his wife. It sounds grim, but as the teller of the tail, he was not a truly likable man, so his pain felt almost like a comep-uppance to him. The play was sprinkled with clever references to how life changes and yet remains the same. Men still followed football, but its Yeovil Town who in 50 years time are the new Manchester United.
Marcus Brigstocke - God Collar
I like this man and after his show, I still do. He hits his targets hard and is not afraid to cause a gasp in and a bit of shock to his audience. Religion is a ripe area and no one area was safe, not even the atheists, so he was fair.
The Origin of Species...
The longest title in the programme. This is not the best rule of thumb by which to plan a programme, but this was delightful. Clever comedy songs and a great one man performance as Darwin and his family, friends and sponsors were brought to life in the shape of he performer.
The Doubtful Guest
Based on a story by Edward Gorey, this was absolute magic and has lived with me for over week now. Shon Dale-Jones wrote and directed it. It had the man's touch alright.
The actors played a family whose lives had been overturned by a strange poltergeist like visitor. The family had decided to present their experiences in a theatre and so they did as best the family could - awkwardly, embarrassingly and using theatrical devices that they thought were appropriate. And that what was so funny. Oh and the music was hauntingly fitting.
Sarah Millican
Bright and sharp, Sarah swings from a weak vulnerable woman to a side that shocks and pulls no punches. She builds her act cleverly, targetting men and women equally. Extremely funny to extremely painful, there were moments where I felt uncomfortable - but that is when Ms Millican might have said in her beautiful Geordie lilt, "Well, you deal with it, I have no problem."
Barbarshoper II
Fast paced musical fun that told the story of a Spanish bullfighter who inherits a barbers in an East Anglian coastal town but not without the attention of the resident hairdresser whose trichological empire building are now thwarted. Sheer energy and great amusement and all in four part harmony.
Sociable Plover
Yes, it is a bird and this attention holding short drama was a great finale before the train home.
A plot that settled in to one groove before the play's built-up stereotypes were dramatically overturned in a most surprising manner.
Those were the shows and there will be more, I hope, next year.
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Edinburgh once more
Just returned from our fourth jaunt to the Fringe festival in Edinburgh. This time not a full week. We spent a few days from Thursday until Sunday.
The Fringe is a learning curve unless you know exactly what you are looking for. Our first jaunt merely taught us the geography of the venues, many of which are close to each other as in the Pleasance's dozens of performance areas and the Assembly but, which, to the untrained, can be quite spread out.
The word performance area is chosen carefully, because as some can be called theatres, with stage, raked seating and with room for hundreds, many are quite tiny, little larger than a Maersk container which are seen on the trailers of lorries up nd down the motorways.
Having mastered the geography allows us some planning which minimises the distance each day to get around. There is no requirement to see lots of shows, but it seems right to pack some in in the time you are there. This year we pre-booked nine shows which included some stand up, some drama and a small amount of music. Whilst there, we added two more, one on the recommendation of a friend who was with us and without whom the whole Fringe experience might never have entered our lives and without whose planning would add stress of finding accommodation and of getting there.
We still make mistakes. With just over 2000 shows being presented at 369 venues, picking winners is a difficult task. We went on Thursday and came back on Sunday and had booked to see just ten shows, which, as can be seen, is a small ripple in a big pond.
But of the shows, we were disappointed really only once. And its a mistake we have made before.
Comedians, who seem quick and entertaining when on television, all too often descend, and, in my, it's a descent, into crude and frankly tedious areas. I avoid people when they sound off on basic comments and easy targets and subjects, usually in pubs. And thus it was with one act we saw.
The rest however were, in the main, theatrical experiences. A good narrative, a piece of whimsy or musical nonsense. Shows which would not be found anywhere else but at the Fringe.
So, all in all, a good few days, supported by eating at some splendid and affordable places, notably the Steak and Mussel bar in the Grassmarket.
Have I learnt anything for next time? Yes. Having mastered the geography, I need to plan the timings better. Group shows for each day closer together in time - an afternoon one day and evening together - and look for the producers who pleased us before.
I am rubbing my hands already.
The Fringe is a learning curve unless you know exactly what you are looking for. Our first jaunt merely taught us the geography of the venues, many of which are close to each other as in the Pleasance's dozens of performance areas and the Assembly but, which, to the untrained, can be quite spread out.
The word performance area is chosen carefully, because as some can be called theatres, with stage, raked seating and with room for hundreds, many are quite tiny, little larger than a Maersk container which are seen on the trailers of lorries up nd down the motorways.
Having mastered the geography allows us some planning which minimises the distance each day to get around. There is no requirement to see lots of shows, but it seems right to pack some in in the time you are there. This year we pre-booked nine shows which included some stand up, some drama and a small amount of music. Whilst there, we added two more, one on the recommendation of a friend who was with us and without whom the whole Fringe experience might never have entered our lives and without whose planning would add stress of finding accommodation and of getting there.
We still make mistakes. With just over 2000 shows being presented at 369 venues, picking winners is a difficult task. We went on Thursday and came back on Sunday and had booked to see just ten shows, which, as can be seen, is a small ripple in a big pond.
But of the shows, we were disappointed really only once. And its a mistake we have made before.
Comedians, who seem quick and entertaining when on television, all too often descend, and, in my, it's a descent, into crude and frankly tedious areas. I avoid people when they sound off on basic comments and easy targets and subjects, usually in pubs. And thus it was with one act we saw.
The rest however were, in the main, theatrical experiences. A good narrative, a piece of whimsy or musical nonsense. Shows which would not be found anywhere else but at the Fringe.
So, all in all, a good few days, supported by eating at some splendid and affordable places, notably the Steak and Mussel bar in the Grassmarket.
Have I learnt anything for next time? Yes. Having mastered the geography, I need to plan the timings better. Group shows for each day closer together in time - an afternoon one day and evening together - and look for the producers who pleased us before.
I am rubbing my hands already.
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