The Chinese Elvis

Went out last night with the missus, minus the monkeys. Out to the local for a few drinks and then to the Argentinean steak restaurant also nearby, as you know, I'm a meat lover so it is one of my favourite places. We shared a platter of steak, cooked rare comprising of ribeye, sirloin, rump and fillet. It was amazing, sounds like a lot but they were small but finely cooked cuts.

Had a nice evening, chatted about life, the kids, Leeann's business, my work and career, especially my forthcoming trip to Seattle which is a bit of a fact finding missing also as our head office is located there, which equals opportunity. With the hustle and bustle or life and the kids, we don't often get time to just chat, something we are both aware of and making an effort to resolve.

Cooked the last of my bacon this morning, I gave a big pack of it to my neighbour, you can't really eat a whole slab yourself, probably die of a friggin heart attack.

Anyway, thing about homemade bacon, it just gets better and better as the weeks go by as it starts to dry out more. This is because the water content is so low. Supermarket stuff has much more water due to the fast curing and guess what, it adds to the weight, thus more profits, water is cheaper then meat, thus all the white stuff that oozes out of it when you cook it.

Went out tonight, bought a few drinks for the troops. We were all standing outside the pub having a drink and minding our own business. Then a guy came into the group asking for money, he looked like Ronaldinho, anyway, most people wisely decided to ignore him, including me, but then for some reason I fish out a pound from my pocket and gave it to him. However in exchange, I wanted to know what he intended to do with it, so I asked him.

God, did that open up a massive can of worms, I wasn't asking him to justify himself, I was just interested in what he was going to do with it. Drink, drugs, food, change his life, whatever, I was just interested. Anyway, he thought I was taking the piss and after 10 minutes of chatting about life, money, values, evolution and God, he squared up to me with his fist in my face, I had to just say to him, it's Friday night, I was glad to help, hope if makes a difference, but please leave me alone as I'm knackered and just want a drink. He eventually left after I escorted him from the group and had a few words, I though he was gonna do me, Christ, sometimes I'm such a stupid gobshite.

Anyway, got of the train, decided to walk towards home instead of the KFC and cook myself a lovely chicken, prawn and vegetable udon noodle. Tired now.... have a great weekend.

So, as you know I am in the process of writing a mini book on my love of food, here is a extract from it. I would love to know what you think and if a whole book like this, full of recipes, stories, hints and tips would be an interesting read.

This is a dish that always impresses the other half, especially on a lazy Sunday morning after a bit of how’s your father to build up an appetite. It might not be as classic as say a full English breakfast but it’s less obvious, twice as easy and the f**king dog’s bollocks, real brownie points stuff. First, you need decent smoked mackerel, because mackerel is such an abundant fish, it’s cheap and good quality, especially smoked. Most supermarkets do a decent smoked mackerel that you can get away with, otherwise, try a deli, farmers market of even online.

The dish, you need a decent griddle pan for this, mackerel is an oily fish, so the last thing you want to do fry it in even more oil, a griddle will let some of the oil run off. So, place the piece of smoked mackerel on a bloody hot griddle, hot as in Charlize Theron hot, start skin side down, it will crisp up within a minute, flip it over and another minute, set aside on a warm plate. Meanwhile, poach a large free range or organic egg, nothing less will do with this dish. Poaching an egg, firstly, don’t be worried, is easy, bring a deep saucepan of water to the boil, turn it down slightly, carefully crack an egg into the centre of the water. I’m not gonna tell you how you like your eggs, but solid white with a bright yellow runny yoke is where I want to be, about 2 minutes.

Get a nice large white plate, sit the glistening griddled mackerel in the centre, if you want, you can sit it on a small bed of rocket, if that takes your fancy. Then, lift out the perfectly poached egg with a slotted spoon, make sure there is no excess water and sit it on top of the fish. Sprinkle some Maldon sea salt, black pepper on the egg and a squeeze of fresh lemon (and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, if you used rocket) over the fish. Take it upstairs to your love one with a steaming mug of coffee, slices of toast, fresh orange juice and an extremely smug look on your face.

Cut into the runny poached egg and watch the yoke ooze over the fish, mate, you’ll be on round two after that.

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Took me a week to film as the process of making bacon takes that long, I edited out a lot of the waffle as I didn't script it or anything, just filmed as I went along, so it's a bit rough round the edges. Hope you enjoy it and helps you try this at home.

Leeann's friend came round this evening with a bottle of Champagne to start their evening with. Thing is, its a marathon not a sprint and they didn't want to get sloshed before the evening starts, so they both had a glass and left the bottle for me to finish off!.

Anyway, Leeann's all dressed and has left the building, I'm writing on my laptop and enjoying my Champagne, all of it. Nice!

Bought these raspberry plants last year, they were about 10 inches high, look at them now, in the background, it's a 4 foot bush now. Every week we get a massive bowl of raspberries. Lola loves picking them and occasionally sneaks one into her gob. My other plants aren't doing too well though, but the seedlings in the portable greenhouse are ready to be planted, I'm hoping they will fair better.

Had a busy day morning, the school fair was on and I volunteered to cook something for the world food stand. Decided to make a Spanish Paella, made 2 in the end, took a few hours this morning but the went down well, in fact it was the first dish to sell out. £2.50 a bowl and it all goes to the school fund, I recon they got 20/25 portions out of that.

Leeann is out on the raz tonight with the girls, I'm gonna spend the evening writing my book, which is going really well. Maybe over a glass of Chianti.