Editor's Blog - Friday, 17th October
| Author: Ken The Editor | Published: 17th October 2008 22:05 |
Wednesday night's Mari Wilson concert was great - a mix of the old stuff from the 80s and her more modern stuff. She has a great stage presence and can certainly belt out a tune. And when she did Cry Me A River and Just What I Always Wanted as her encore it was proper moving!
The main problem was that there were only 40 of us there to witness it. Now 40 people would look lost in the 606 Club, but in a massive theatre like the Assembly Hall it was bordering on the farcical - we could have all fitted into the front row! But all credit to Ms Wilson: it was the theatre who decided to cancel the show, but when she was told of their decision she blew a fuse and insisted that the show went ahead - hence the succession of phone calls on Monday and Tuesday this week (see previous blog).
And, star that she is, she stayed behind at the end to chat with the audience and sign copies of her latest CD. Now my mate Ian will think I'm a right tart, but I just had to get a signed CD...
And, in case you were wondering, no she doesn't have the beehive these days.
Next week it's a bunch of old 60s artists in a show called Maximum Rhythm & Blues - I'll tell you more about that next time.
Yesterday morning I heard the letterbox clatter and thought it was the post come early for a change. However upon investigation I found that somebody had shoved a glossy magazine called "Chislehurst Life" through my door. At first, I thought it was a freebie, but then I saw the price was £2.60 - that 60p more than 12 whole issues of the Gazette!
It's the sort of magazine that you find in dentist's waiting rooms (only there they are about 2 years out of date!), and I thought I would have a butchers through it. However, when I got to the editorial on page 3 it sort of put me off as it stated it was for "the affluent parts of the Home Counties ... Chislehurst, Beckenham, Sevenoaks, Westerham and Oxted". Clearly Petts Wood is not affluent enough for them. I thought "Sod you, then" and gave it to She Who Must Be Fed to browse through.
The front cover had a picture of Angelina Jolie. "I never knew she lived in Chislehurst" my good lady wife announced and we both tried to work out the connection. I even looked her up on Google, but all the articles I could find said she lived in Hollywood. Perhaps Angelina and her old man have bought a semi in Green Lane under a pseudonym to avoid the attentions of the paparazzi!
Two minutes later I heard "Have you seen this?" - She Who Must Be Fed had also got to the editorial. We both had a good old giggle and I left her to it. 10 minutes later I was instructed to deposit it in the paper recycling bin! And I still don't know who put it through our letterbox - some "affluent" person from Chislehurst, I guess. But whoever it was, thank you for giving us a good laugh to start off the day.
Yesterday's cookery lesson was a tale of two halves.
First up was the Flourless Chocolate Cake - so called because it's made with ground almonds rather than flour (clever, isn't it!). It seemed to go OK and when it came out of the oven teacher said it was good - even better than hers! I thought it looked as if it should have risen more, but if teacher says it's "good", who am I to argue?...
We then did the Stuffed Chicken Breast Wrapped in Pancetta. That was great fun, especially bashing them to a quarter of an inch thick. When I took mine out of the oven teacher came over and said "They look good and that pancetta smells divine!" I didn't have the heart to tell her that it wasn't pancetta but smoked streaky bacon - well, there's about as much chance of Morrisons in Petts Wood selling pancetta as Prudence Brown winning the next election, so I didn't even bother to look for any! Here's the finished result...
As soon as I got home, She Who Must Be Fed couldn't wait to sample the chocolate cake. She took one bite and announced "It's very chocolaty, but too dry!" She just about managed to finish her slice, but said that she did not want any more - ever! I tried a piece and had to admit that it was sort of inedible. So, this afternoon I served it up on the lawn for the foxes' tea...
Within a couple of minutes 5 foxes appeared and gobbled the lot down between them. They certainly didn't complain that it was too dry!
This evening, somewhat apprehensively, I served the chicken breasts up for our tea. She Who Must Be Fed started tucking in and then announced "These are the best chicken breasts I've ever tasted. When will you be doing some more?" Oh well, at least I got one of the two dishes right!
Unfortunately I cannot make next week's lesson (the last of the course) as I'm at the Maximum Rhythm & Blues gig. However, teacher gave me the recipes in case I felt like having a go at home: Duck Breasts With Apple And Citrus and Pear Crisp With Toffee Sauce. She Who Must Be Fed isn't keen on duck, but I might well have a bash at the pear jobby - I'll let you know how I get on.
Toodle pip.
What do you think?
You will need to sign in to post a comment to this article. if you do not have an AboutMyArea account, you can join now for free.
