When rats attack! ... or the rat matador and other stories

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man ..... oops, slight distraction there. What meant to say it's well known that JP doesn't do frost-biting.

Or at least hasn't - there are plans, wheels within wheels, the game's afoot etc - but more on that another time.  So without anything boat related here's the first of three London tales, starting with a long grey tail.

Yesterday I saw a rat, a big one, and it saw me. But rather than running away (it that is, not me) the darn thing charged straight at me. Fleet of foot I jumped to one side like a rat matador only to see the little blighter swing round and have another charge.

Hello, hello, hello, thinks I, what's all this? I remembered an urban myth about squirrels in Brixton getting addicted to crack after digging up drug dealer's stashes and wondered whether I was facing a rat having a bad trip or just your everyday demonic possession.

Thinking on my feet I crossed the road and in the swirl of traffic it got distracted and was last seen squatting in the middle of the tarmac chattering to itself (probably something on the lines of "I told you it was a bad idea running a budget deficit of 4% of GDP at the height of a boom" but I don't speak rat).

Maybe it was just hungry but it didn't look thin: rather plump actually. I'm told that rats were considered a delicacy on board naval ships in the time of Nelson, but today you can get many things at your local farmer's market, such as pheasants (above), but not rat.

I know this for sure as today I went to my local one in Barnes and jolly good it was too, especially at extracting £20 notes from my wallet. I got some fish, some naughty but nice chocolate thing, some soup and some bread from a stand very like this one from the Bursledon Blog.

Then back to JP HQ and a quick trip to YouTube to watch again that sketch from Armstrong and Miller called "The Farmer's Market".

Then for some reason checked out the trailer for Ratatouille......

Volvo Crumble

Its come around again, the Volvo Ocean Race, and I can just see my productivity falling. A minute in the morning checking the positions over the first coffee and then again in the afternoon over a cuppa tea, it all adds up.

But what is this? Already things are falling apart with a full third of the fleet (ok, two boats) out of action, with a dismasting and hole in the hull of another.

Watch this space, as they say. Hopefully nothing will happen similar to those dramatic events in the Celebrity Yacht Race - as covered by our very own Buff Staysail - which sailed those very waters back in 2007.

The photo above, btw, is of my apple crumble (caramelised apples underneath, brown sugar and walnuts in the crumble) - yum - as requested by Baydog.

Scallops and Beatles

I haven't forgotten the Tillerman Beatles challenge but further research is needed. I've never really got into them in a big way but no doubt that's what Wikipedia is for.

In the meantime here are some borrowed themes. From Baydog some fresh dived scallops - not as fancy preparation as his, but my philosophy is you should spend longer cleaning than cooking them, and here are quickly seared and then served simply with good quality bacon and green beans.

For the Bursledon Blog here is a picture of the South Bank, where coincidently both of were some time this afternoon:

Finally for all Americans, here is the view your President will see sometime tomorrow on his way to this rather good B&B in central London:

Top tip for house guests: if you do want to talk to Philip about Pippa, do wait until ER along with the other ladies have left the room!

The Black Rabbit and the return of the Chelsea Bun

Chris from Rowing for Pleasure has posted a picture a bit like the one above and I can guess why, as I stopped there too when walking with the Natural Navigator.

You might not be too surprised to discover that the explanation involves a pub, namely The Black Rabbit that occupies this picturesque corner of the Arun river. It's a great location but I've heard a few bad stories of slow service and poor value for money.

Continuing the gastro theme, there is good news for any ex-Cambridge sailors out there (yes Tillerman I mean you) in that the famous Fitzbillies Chelsea Bun might be making a return.

Fingers crossed that next trip up there I'll be able to enjoy that sticky, gooey delicacy.

The South Bank in Spring

On the way to and from the Tate Modern I walked along side the Thames and passed the South Bank complex to see what was happening there.

For starters there was one ginormous fox sitting on the QEH (above) and one big sea gull out front (below):

The weather was, as can be seen, extraordinarily fine for the 1st May, and to complete the mood there was even a beach (or plage as I overheard someone call it):

Behind the Festival Hall there was a food fair where I had a really nice diver collected Dorset Scallop with celeriac puree, bacon and seashore vegetables washed down with a taster of St. Germain Elderflower liquor cocktail.

It was so tasty that didn't even think of taking a picture until too late:

I wish I could take more time off

Alas poor cafetiere....

More on the theme of coffee at sea with the story of the cafetiere and the ARC.

"Twas many moons ago", said the ancient mariner, eye gleaming bright.... ok, actually it was just over seven years ago that we set sail from the Canaries on board the Ocean Wanderer, destination the Caribbean.

The first few days were a bit choppy, you know the score, thirty five knots gusting forty five, pretty much on the nose, and it was making life in the forepeak rather uncomfortable. I remember being bounced from the starboard bunk, up to the ceiling, over the lee cloth, and back down into the port bunk (which fortunately was empty).

It was about this time that the one and only cafetiere got broken and it was a bitter blow indeed.

For the next two weeks we relied upon that granule stuff, but it wasn't the same. I started to wonder if there wasn't some sort of alternative that the wit of a sailor could put together, starting with using paper kitchen towels, which were advertised as being strong even if wet, as a make-shift filter.

Without wanting to go into details it is fair to say that results were disappointing, with the result tasting rather too much of wet paper.

However it made the arrival at St Lucia all the sweeter to know that the next day we could say goodbye to the instant imitation.

Of course I didn't expect the breakfast area of the hotel to be overrun with swarms of cockroaches, but ah! that coffee tasked good.


Updated: an interesting article about coffee on today's Guardian here.

My favourite drink

Over on Five O'Clock Somewhere Carol Anne has given us bloggers more time to write about cuisine, which is just as well as my muse is being stretched thin by the pressures of work and general Life with a capital L.

I was just wondering what on earth I could write about while finishing off my Sunday morning coffee when I realised I literally had an idea in my hands (assuming that cuisine includes drinks).

The home made weekend cappuccino made by the steaming grunting Gaggia is indeed one of the great things to savour. Unlike the rushed caffeine injection of the week this says there is time to relax, put one's feet up and read the paper.

And hopefully, like today, the sun will be out, its reflections glinting on the waters of the River Thames flowing by, and the bare branches of the trees will be tipped by the faintest spray of light green.


Updated: I see that Taru's been working on her coffee machine too and posted a picture that also included a very appetising chocolate something.

Now that is a great idea, so as an addendum here is an expresso with some Montezuma dark chocolate to nibble on:

Holy Crepe!

So did you celebrate pancake day yesterday? As you can see above I most certainly did, and fab they were too.

A couple of equally quickly consumable stories:
- Nautical chart with "Giro bay" gets the thumbs down
- Sea levels rising even faster than previously thought - think 475 gigatonnes per year
- Four men on a raft blown backwards with update here

Gastro quiz

A gastronomic quiz relating to the picture above:
1) What do you call the three things on my plate?
2) What are they made of?
3) Why should you eat them today?
4) Which one can't you import into the USA and why?
5) Would you eat them?
6) What do you drink with them?
7) What toasts should you make?