A spare pork chop

Posted on February 27, 2016 by Ralph Bullivant

We had a spare pork chop in the house this evening so I bought some more to go with it and we ate ate them with nectarines and sherry vinegar.

The chops were browned in a large pan in some olive oil. Once they were done they were taken out and left to rest in a warm oven. Some butter was then melted in the pan and the stoned and quartered nectarines were stirred in and allowed to take on some colour along with some chopped sage and a teaspoon of honey. As they

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started to catch on the bottom of the pan a good shake of sherry vinegar was added to lubricate and then the chops were tipped back in along with their juices.

We ate it with garlic potatoes listening to Willie Nelson.

A little known secret

Posted on February 21, 2016 by Ralph Bullivant

It is a little known secret that one of the best accompanists for a plate of fried potatoes is some garlic.

We have been eating it this evening and apparently it is good.

Potatoes are boiled whole until there is some give in them with s sharp knife. As they are done they are taken off to drain. As they do so they continue to cook in the heat they have taken on. Once they are almost cool enough to handle they are chopped into quarters (or eighths depending on size) and slid into a pan the bottom of which has been covered in oil. As they take on colour they are turned over so that a couple of sides at least have started to brown. Just before serving a couple of cloves of crushed garlic is stirred in along with a bunch of finely chopped spring onion.

We ate the potatoes with a chicken that had been cut into pieces, fried and the roasted with some grilled peppers.

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A beautiful fish

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Ralph Bullivant

A few years ago now I wrote somewhere that a red mullet is such a beautiful fish you should only cook it for someone you love.

We had it this evening.

They caught my eye as soon as I got to Wards this morning. My mind had been set on something cheap and cheerful and I had been hoping for gurnard But there were none left. Instead there half a dozen or so red mullet giving off with their colour a halfway mixture between pink and gold.

I bought three of them.

They were cooked in a hot oven on top of a sliced tomato with olive oil and garlic.

We ate them with potatoes fried with spring onions and more garlic.

And very good they were.

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Slightly bemused

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Ralph Bullivant

With the family away with the car I was obliged to walk down to Birkenhead this morning. The air was damp as I started with spits of rain but it wasn’t too bad. I stopped for 10 minutes in The Williamson gallery to look at pictures and see if there were any good second hand cook books for picking up.

Down towards the bottom of Oxton Road I paused to look into the window of All Nations 4 Hair. They had a white screen set up against a wall with some bright lights and cameras. I was waved inside and before knew it found myself being photgraphed first with my hat on and then with it off hair awry.

Harold Offeh, a artist and lecturer at Goldsmiths was in there taking pictures of passers by as part of an arts project involving the shops and business on Oxton Road. The other shops involved are the greengrocers and Frank Cavanagh, the cobbler on Borough Road.

The grocers have had in an Iranian artist, Haleh Jamali, she spent a week with them before Christmas taking videos and pictures. The art is all going to be shown on Saturday 5th March. In the grocers they are going to set up a projector and show the work on one of the walls at the back.

We should all make sure that we make our way down to have a look.

In the meantime it felt slightly unsettling stood in the hairdressers having my photo taken with the good people of Birkenhead passing by in the rain.

Five minutes later I was back out in the rain myself but with a promise that the pictures would be emailed through to me on Sunday.

I finished my walk to Wards and bought myself some fish and then made my way back home taking some pictures of the buildings as they look above the shop fronts through The Pavements.

On the walk back the rain grew in intensity coming down in a thick grey sludge that soaked through my jacket and shirt. Walking into the house I had to strip of dripping clothes left to lie on the kitchen floor hopefully to dry off.