Are Chefs The New DJs?

Last Christmas, my wife and her family ganged up and got me a cookery class with a chinese chef. It was good fun, to my surprise I discovered there is a cookery-classes-scene, a bit like clubbing, people follow the chefs around like DJs. Which is good, it means they have to come up with the goods, they can't just follow a formula and be half arsed. Everyone was fairly friendly, and relaxed, particularly after we got to eat the fruits of our labour and drink the geneours amounts of wine provided.

There was a couple of us who obviously are/used to be professionals,  the quietly efficient ones who knew how to roll out pastry and just wanted to get the hang of chinese cooking. The rest were middle class or wealthier people, and for those of you looking for that special one, most of the people were (or pretended to be) single. So what are you waiting for, text ROAST to. It did feel a bit like being on a cruise.

A great idea for a present for someone who likes cooking.

Like selling coal in Newcastle

Since those classes I've organized a couple of lunches at my place to practice what I've learned. Started off with some Brits - the easiest to please, they'll eat any slow cooked, fatty meat, and if you put sugar in it they'll be in heaven (not physically, hopefully). Then progressed to Singaporeans, a bit pickier and more familiar with the real thing, but I know their weakness (industrial quantities of chillies). They were also pleased. Last weekend the final challenge - cooking chinese for chinese people.

I made Hong Shau Rou, vegetarian Baozis (steamed dumplings), and a Sichuan tofu/aubergine dish. It was a triumph, they all ate triple portions and licked the plates clean. Result! I've finally got the hang of it. When all is said and done, chinese cooking is quite easy, it relies on four or five flavourings (soya sauce, rice wine, fermented/yellow beans/hoisin, rice vinegar, sesame oil) and always using stock instead of water to add flavour. But then, I suppose you can say the same of most styles.

A jolly good time was had by all

Media

No dystopians this week

While feeding The Creature last thing at night I usually watch the Simpsons - I'm going through the whole lot, starting from series 1 when Smithers was a black man. Normally I get a Simpsons DVD and something else in the post, but for some reason Lovefilm has been sending me only Simpsons for the last two weeks. A bit much. Because of that, my dystopian movie season has been put on hold.

Zeitgeist

I've downloaded and watched a 'documentary' about the "econopocalypse" as some popular internet posers call the current state of the economy. It's called Zeitgeist and was presented at some art film festival in California. Not great, it feels like propaganda, but has some interesting bits of info, and is better than the crap they show on BBC 3 (Bizarre ER?? WTF???)

Bloody Brompton

Bicycle tire burst - only realized after a while of riding on it, so the tyre needs changing too. As it is the back wheel of a Brompton it's not that easy to change it, they only sell spares to the two main cycle chains (Evans and the Cycle Surgery), and as a result I'll have to commute on public transport until the week end. Bastards. A good side effect though, is that I have been able to read again, something I haven't done since The Creature entered my life.

Brand New

I've been re-reading Brand New, the catalog of an exhibition from the early 00s - remember those days? Cool Britannia, no War on Terror, No Logo, Tony Lie-bour was still cool... everyone wanted to understand branding. The exhibition was basically a lecture, and the catalogue feels like a university textbook. It's crazy how much of its time it feels, it's only 8 years or so ago... anyway, this is going the BookCrossing route, unless someone here wants it, you can have it.

The Evening Standard is Sorry

The Boris Johnson Fan Club Evening Standard is a crap West London newspaper designed to make everyone depressed, with full pages mastheads which range from SHOCK AT XXX! to ANGER AT YYY! then FEAR FOR ZZZZ!!! and back again. It has recently been acquired by some Russian for a quid or something. Another side effect of using public transport is that I got to see those bizarre adverts they are running in which they say 'Sorry for taking you for granted' and so forth. I find them a bit cringy - it's like some girlfriend you have split up from who keeps calling back trying to meet up again. Go away! You are only a newspaper for crying out loud!!

Perhaps someone should tell the new Russian owners there's no need to be so contrite, here in the UK newspeople don't get killed so easily. Bar the odd newspaper seller during protests, that is

A Bit About Football

It is obvious from last night's match that it wasn't just the neutrals who wanted a ManU Barcafinal, it was UEFA and the referree too. If I were a Chelsea supporter I'd be royally pissed off, but I'm not so I'm not. It makes ther elimination even sweeter, in fact. I'm looking forward to a great football final, and may the best one win.

Not sure who I'd rather won it, perhaps ManU - Ferguson had a great career and should be remembered by achieving something special (i.e., back to back victories, something last achieved by a special Milan side). Whicever way it goes Guardiola had a fantastic first season, he'll have plenty of time to win again.

_{wwwwwwwww eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeee kkkkkkkkkkkk eeeeeeeee nnnnnnnnnnnnn ddddddddd}
In the distance, I can hear the weekend calling. It's not that far now. Not far at all.