Category: Mike

Mushrooms at Strada

Dinner with friends at Strada recently was a rather nice affair, with all food up to Strada’s usual high standards. Of particular note, however, on this occasion was my starter: polenta con funghi. Roasted slices of firm parmesan polenta, served with plenty of mushroom sauce (which the menu informs...

Cranberry and Apple Chutney

Lots and lots of apples, and a liking of home-made chutney, led me to create three jars of a rather special apple chutney. The apple’s were Nottinghamshire’s finest, and the jars once contained mayonnaise. Into a pan, for about an hour, went finely sliced white onions, the decided apples,...

Disappointment at Trinity

I was, sadly, somewhat embarrassed by my own College’s display at its BA Dinner last week. The food, for the most part, was passable: chicken terrine (intriguingly with pistachio nuts added,) and beautifully-soft steamed cod with dill sauce. The accompaniment to the main course, a cold green bean and...

We’re jammin’

All Madsen’s talk of jams made me want to make my own. Having acquired more strawberries than I could eat from an autumnal garden party, and being in posession of a large number of cooking apples, I decided to make an apple and strawberry jam. I hulled and halved...

Greene Cheeses

Cambridge’s Boathouse pub is renowned for its back decking which goes down through many levels to the river. The pub is owned by Greene King, and for £7.95 one can purchase the “Cheese Deli Board” – described as a platter for sharing. For your money you get a good...

A man’s breakfast for manly work

Working at MoD Shoeburyness blowing things up is hard work, hence I was glad for the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet at the Ilfracombe House Hotel in Southend-on-Sea before our second day on site. I started off with a Weetabix, dribbled in honey and soaked in milk. I then moved on...

Zen and the art of Explosives

A recent trip to MoD Shoeburyness left a work colleague and I with a hefty appetite: hence our evening search for an all-you-can-eat Chinese dinner. Despite my “the restaurant is empty” misgivings, we ended up in Southend-on-Sea’s Zen City. From a choice of a dozen starters we picked crispy...

Dinner à la mode de what’s in my fridge

A two course affair tonight: onion soup, then chicken and broccoli bake. I started off by dicing a chicken breast and frying it whilst heating milk, flour, and butter to make a white sauce. Once the sauce was thick, I mixed florets of broccoli and the chicken into it....

More!? OK then

Desserts are something my College do well: after all, we have a habit of inventing them. Portions, however, are often far from generous, and one is often left wanting more. Not wishing this to be the case with the delightful-smelling pear and almond tart that finished off another College...

What a difference a word makes

At a recent dinner in College, I was quite excited to see the menu for the first course listed as “Roast Butternut Squash.” I was looking forward to cubes of roasted squash, drizzled perhaps with some sort of flavoured oil, served alongside a simple mixed-leaf salad, perhaps adorned with...