Skate, the Korean Way

My last post left Viv and I departing Penang for London at the end of April. Our overall plan was to spend some time in the UK with Indy, Cat and Charlie and then for our paths to divide: Viv to Bermuda with her Mum Ann whilst I would go to Rome with my tennis buddies for the Italian Open, pasta and wine. I would then head to Bermuda to reconnect and then we would all troop back to England and thence on to Greece, our ultimate destination and realistically the reason we were doing all of this traveling in the first place.

Despite the raising of Covid restrictions, fair to say that travel is not yet back to its pre-Covid levels of seeming normality. Simply handling all that bloody paper work and getting those tests is a real pain in the neck. But at least we are able to travel. First comment is to say that British Airways is just about hanging on. Number of flights may be fewer but they are trying hard.

On the way from Bermuda to London I couldn’t watch any of the drivel shown on BA’s appallingly low standard in flight fare that was in English. I did find a cooking show concerning 2 Korean chefs who flew to Malaysia to eat seafood and in particular skate.

As they discovered Skate is not found in Malaysia but various rays are, so their quest began in a Kuala Lumpur street market eating sting ray mostly in various ways.

They loved them all. I do too even though I haven’t been to eat ray in KL, only Penang in the north. One such favorite was skate cooked in a creamy durian sauce.

Durian is a soft fruit indigenous to Malaysia. It is everywhere in Penang. It is something you either love or hate. This is because it has the same texture, smell and to me anyway the taste of shit. 

One of the chefs loves durian, the other does not. The non lover found the dish delicious whilst the lover waxed and waxed ever more lyrical about it. It looked slimy to me. Thankfully no smellovision.

The chefs then went to eat at big restaurants, Malay, Chinese and Indian which are the three main ethnic groups in Malaysia. Having savored the fare (non sting ray fare) and lapped it up, they then decided to do a big cook up for their new Malaysian friends and feature skate which they would import from Korea.

Koreans love fermented food. Kimchi for example is fermented cabbage based. Fermented for the unwary means aged in polite terms or nearly rotten if you want to put it plainly. 

The skate was 15 days old.

Thank goodness for no smellovision!

They cooked a dish each. One chef prepared a sort of kimchi appetizer featuring deep fried fermented skate. The other cooked a dish where the skate was first braised then mixed in with a sort of Mediterranean salad featuring avocados. They also did a together dish featuring a cream of durian sauce.

The three chefs sat at a table excitedly discussing what they might expect and then the appetizer appeared. The kimchi and fried skate dish. They took their first bites. 

Silence.

I know that sound from my own experiences with cooking something. Probably the first time was when I was on a boat on the Norfolk Broads in England with some work friends. We took turns cooking and one day was mine for breakfast and I pushed the boat out. We'd had quite a bit to drink the night before so I thought a nice greasy cook up was in order, including a favourite of mine; fried bread. My mum always fried the bread in lard so I'd bought some and added it to the rest of the delicately fried goodies. To me it was great if perhaps a little leaden both on the plate and in the tummy after. To the others, it was just plain silence. I never had to cook again that trip. 

Back to the story...

One chef took a drink of water and said the dish was very interesting and contained flavors she’d never had before. This was the Indian. The Malay chef said ‘yes it was interesting and very nice’ before taking a sip of water. The camera didn’t show what the Chinese guest chef said.

The braised skate came out next and the guest chefs took a bite.

No silence this time. The Chinese chef said it reminded her of stinky tofu, something often found in Chinese cooking. The Malay chef said yes and after a little while again said it was nice.

The final durian dish came out. The Indian chef had left by now and generous portions were heaped out with rice. The two remaining chefs took a bite.

Clearly both chefs love durian for they waded in with gusto. Both said the creamy durian flavor dominated the dish …. Aka they couldn’t taste the fermented Skate, thank goodness!!

As someone who likes fresh skate very much, I think I may have struggled with these dishes. Great fun to watch though.

Sorry. I have to write about Brexit

I really didn't want to do this much but for the past 3 years Brexit has been an ever present for Brits everywhere. It started off with the shock of the referendum, the resignation of the PM that introduced it and then lost an election over it, and was followed seemingly by an endless and tortuous series of probably well meaning meetings which have resulted in ... chaos.

The country has a new PM that from reading the papers and the online media nobody apparently really likes, trusts or believes. He's lost 6 votes in a row in Parliament, a record, and is facing the possibility of jail time if he doesn't follow Parliament's most recent instruction. He cannot call an election as the opposition is happy to watch him squirm. His view is that he wants to be out of the EU on 31st October 2019 (the next final drop dead deadline day... until the next one) come hell or high water and that he'd prefer to being dead in a ditch to going back and ask for another extension.

Today he prorogued Parliament. This apparently is a big thing even though it happens every year as it is the means by which Parliament is formally closed for the sitting MPs' summer holidays. Parallels have been drawn with Charles I and the English Civil War of 1640-1649 but with the new PM cast in the role of villain as opposed to the monarch.

How it ends from this point is regrettably anybody's guess and far beyond me.

This has all happened at a turbulent time in global affairs for no sooner had the referendum taken place that Donald Trump was elected President of the USA. Elections have taken place across the EU with several changes of government leaders in this time too. Global financial markets have done reasonably well but President Trump's use of Twitter has roiled the world on every topic that you could possibly shake a stick at. How does he sleep? It is evident to most that economically things aren't as strong and that recession is nearer than it was.

But we have all forgotten I think that the UK has always been skeptical about being part of Europe, both when it was formerly the EEC and now that is called the EU. This isn't a new thing. I returned to YouTube for clarity and found it in an old Yes Minister episode that explains why the UK is in the EU very well.

And another in which Yes Minister perfectly sums up why Brexit.

Both are from 1980. It doesn't help much but it is very amusing to hear it put like this. Plus ca change....

Great Uncle Mark

Sounds good, doesn't it? But at the same time rather daunting. However it is true for last Monday, 10th July 2017, a little boy was born in England named Michael weighing in at 7 lbs 9 oz and altogether hale and hearty as is his mum, my niece, Zophia.

And that's about it really as I could easily end my short piece at this point and not ramble on as is my wont on occasion, but it does make me wonder what young Michael's life will be in say 25 years which would make it the year 2042.  Chances are that his great uncle will no longer be around as that would make me really, really old but the world will continue and life will go on.

Many commentators have said that this next generation (and I am talking my children, not the one after that Michael has now joined) will be the first in history to have less of an economic future than their parents and it is really easy to see why people would think that. When I started work back in 1973 at the age of 19, nobody I knew had any money and very few went to university -- I think the statistic back than was 1 in 10 who did. So anything we did was upside. These days, far more go to university and most have far more than we did when we were young so expectations are greater.

Back then, I became an accountant because I wanted to not be unemployed like half of my school class were. These were hard times if you remember. That year a coup d'etat had brought down the Heath government in a rash of strikes that brought the country to a grinding halt. The UK had just joined the EU and given what has transpired within the last year in retrospect it seems surprising that these events were not blamed on the then named EEC (European Economic Community, a far cry from the European Union which has far more political overtones). In the ensuing election, there was no result (rather like this year's massive Tory party misstep) and so Parliament struggled on through 18 months of misery, strikes, runaway inflation, soaring interest rates and no money. I know this because my parents continually droned on about the "bloody Labour Party", the "bloody unions" and much else and because I last year read a book called 'The Seventies' which reminded me of this total and utter mess that the country entirely willingly wished upon itself and created. At the time I remember thinking the 3-day week was great as that meant I had 4 days off each week AND I had more money that I ever had before (which was nothing)... even though it was less by a large factor than any of my friends who at that time had work or who were on the dole even.  Being young and never having experienced anything like this before, I wasn't aware of any problems at all. I was having fun!

So I say to the pundits, mostly miserable economists who think mankind is doomed already (think of an early economist called Malthus) that when Michael turns 25 in the year 2042, he will be just fine. He will be at the start of a wonderful life which he will build and I can further foresee when he turns 60 that like his great uncle, he will wonder what his children and grand children will do when they grow up.

Don't worry, Michael. They will be fine!

Love Great Uncle Mark

A New Dawn

We were in England only 4 days yet this is my 4th blog post of the trip, this one nothing really to do with me.  Its just that from the moment we touched down we were immersed in the result of the amazing General Election.

May 7th had been election day in Bermuda too, but for the Corporations of Hamilton and St. George. But in England it was the real thing and what an election it was for after 5 years of Coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, every poll suggested this one would be even more of a mixed bag.  The Tories would get 280-290, Labour a few less, the Scottish Nationalists would probably get most of Scotland and the rest would be shared around.  That meant no single majority and the probable need for either of the Tories or Labour to deal with at least 2 of the other groupings.

History shows that the pundits got it completely wrong!

The Tories won on their own whilst Labour and the Lib-Dems were hammered.  With the SNP winning 56 out of 59 seats in Scotland, this is likely to mean tough times ahead in Parliament for all parties.

But what joy in those smarty pants pollsters with all the technology and clever questions getting it so wrong.  Much of the drive from Gatwick to Birmingham was spent listening to these pundits trying to explain how it hadn't been their fault rather the electorate who didn't answer the questions properly.  But most of the rest was spent listening to the left leaning BBC enable ex-Labour MP's in explaining how they lost (not their fault nor Ed Milliband's) and how disastrous the next 5 years would be under the Tories.

The right leaning newspapers however gleefully reported the demise of every party but the Tories and the SNP going over in glowing, tiny detail how Milliband's menhir, Ed Balls' arrogance and Nigel Clegg's perfidy had ended up biting them in the backside.

What surprised me though was to hear so many people say that the result was the end of democracy in Britain.  But then again that was the BBC asking the 'right' people.  If they'd asked the 'wrong' people, the answer would have been different.  At least everyone had the chance to vote.  Its nobody's fault that it didn't turn out how everyone wanted.  Someone always has to lose after all.  Ask Nigel Farage. UKIP had 3 times as many votes as the SNP but only won 1 seat, not 56.  That's the Westminster System for you.

Milliband, Clegg and Cameron at the VE+70 service at the Cenotaph.  Perfect timing!

What was it Churchill said?  "Democracy is the worst form of government ... apart from all the others".

Dining in the Dark

In retrospect, the recent London trip was much about eating.

Immediately on our return from oop north, Alex had distinct ideas about what he wanted to eat and the location -- the much gentrified Shoreditch area.  I remember Shoreditch as being very much the poor relation to the City nearby and in fact much of the area was either bomb sites or those revolting buildings slapped up in the 1950's and 1960's.  Well that's all changed as the artsy set has moved in and gentrified the place to shabby chic levels, higher property prices and much, much better restaurants and bars.

Alex chose the Viet Grill (see website here) where we ate up a storm clearly needing some Vietnamese comfort food in the shape of their pho (aka noodles).  Really nice too after which we all split up as I wanted to go for a stroll through the City whilst the young uns wanted to rest before that night's birthday party for Ali which would be held in Brixton Market.

Brixton Market through the years

Things have changed a lot since I last worked in the City nearly 30 years ago.  Wild horses wouldn't have dragged me to Shoreditch or Brixton.  Then the former was a dump whilst the latter was a place people didn't return from.  Gentrification has changed everything and whilst the bones of the City were still there, I was keen to stroll down memory lane to see if I actually could recognise some of my old haunts.

How the City has changed too.

It still has the same character that it always had I think because the City like most places in England grew simply by adding on bits to what was there before.  There was nothing planned.  So you have tall buildings, small buildings and little lanes cheek by jowl with the new glass monstrosity high rises.  It all makes for a very interesting labyrinth which it took me years to learn years ago and which sadly meant I had to keep to the main thoroughfares this time so as not to get lost.  By contrast US cities are mainly planned with the big blocks dominating so there are fewer labyrinthine walkways to discover.

Anyway Dirty Dicks opposite Liverpool Street station is still there -- it used to be scraggy but now I am sure it has gone up market like everything else.

Bishopsgate is unrecognizable now with many of the little lanes and low buildings replaced by big roads and even bigger buildings!  But it was pleasant to stroll through the City during rush hour… for a while until I got sick of the deluge of people and the rain, and caught the tube back to my lodging.

We'd arranged to meet at Brixton Market at 8 pm and I wanted to be early as Jan's daughter Gabby would be joining us and I suspected the lads may be late (they were).  As it happened I met her just outside Brixton tube station so we walked into the market together.

Brixton has also been gentrified… or rather it is in an earlier stage of gentrification than Shoreditch, but you can see it happening.  Gabby and the London based friends of Alex and Ali were all devotees of the area, but it still has a bit of an edge to it.  Mind you the assembly point was a hamburger restaurant which next door had a champagne and cheese bar.  Further into the market was a Roti stand so all ethnicities appeared to be covered.

Ali and the Champagne Bar

The following day I went down to Canterbury to see my mother-in-law Anna on the train.  Not as easy as it should have been as the heavy rains had washed away part of the fast railway that connects to the Channel Tunnel.  This meant the stopping train which in the end was both reasonable cost and fast enough, not quite 90 minutes.  Mind you it rained cats and dogs throughout which actually wasn't bad at all as I enjoyed strolling along the City walls into the City centre -- something I haven't done enough.

1,000 year old City walls

1,000 years of history in this City but now it was very, very wet.  Even the usually low River Stour is right up to its highs -- the story of the entire country at the moment.

The highlight was that evening's big adventure -- namely dining in the dark with Gabby at Dans Le Noir (see website here), a restaurant on the fringes of the City.  This what the website says:

"You are about to live an unbelievable experience: eating and drinking in the pitch darkness.
This idea might seem a little strange at first, but by suppressing the dominant sense of sight, you will enter a world in which one is uncertain of surroundings and experiences.

"With the help of our blind guides you are going to completely re-evaluate the notions of taste and smell through our gastronomic and pedagogical process.

"Our food, mostly organic, is based on first quality ingredients, making this experience as interesting and tasty as possible. Just choose one of our 4 surprise menus.

"Dans le Noir? London is located in the charming Clerkenwell area, on 30-31 Clerkenwell Green, near Holborn and Farringdon, a few minutes walk from the heart of the city: the restaurant can accommodate approximately sixty people in the “dark room”, the main dining area. It also has a lit bar and a private lounge serving fine wines and delicious specialty cocktails before and after a meal."

This was an amazing experience although there are several practical considerations to get over: first is the total darkness.  And I do mean the total darkness.  Wave your hands in front of your eyes and you can usually see a flicker.  Not in that restaurant though.  Very eerie.  Second is the food.  As you cannot see a thing, it is almost as though you are eating with a spoon as you cannot find the food on your plate in the usual way.  Makes fine food almost irrelevant.  Third is the company.  You cannot see them!  There are people to left and right and the noise level is pretty high -- one of our neighbours talked endlessly about fell diseases throughout.  But overall I had a great time with Gabby!

I think I put on 10 pounds!

"Alive, Alive-O"

I just downloaded these photos from a couple of months back so can write about our day at the Old Leigh Regatta, a once a year event in my home town.

Old Leigh is a great place and a first stop any time I visit the town.  It has great old pubs and of course the cockle sheds, the most famous of which is Osborne's across the street from the best pub there, the Crooked Billet.  Really what could be better than a pint and some local cockles, whelks or oysters?  My mum and dad used to bring my brother Jan and I here when we were young.  In those days you'd also eat the mussels but now the local mussels have some bacteria and are a health hazard so those on sale are imported from Chile.

Jan had told us of this event and we'd promptly advised our Bermuda friends Keith and Judy as well as the friends we were staying with, Kevin and Gill, who needed no second invitation to come down for the event too.  Jan suggested that we should all enter the cockle eating competition -- something he'd won a year or so back and which involved eating a pint glass filled with cockles as fast as possible.  He said that his son Rupert would take part whilst his daughters, Zophia and Gabriella, would be on hand to film the event and provide moral and other support.  This was a real treat as we don't see anywhere near as much of our nephew and nieces as we'd like.

Rupert, Jan, Me, Gabriella, Zophia

The intent was to turn up around 12 noon, ease into things with a pint or so and some palate opening plates of shellfish before facing the main event.

Interestingly none of Jan's children had ever tried oysters before -- and having eaten some with Jan a short while before and seen how many he could hoover away, this was not surprising.  I imagine there'd be none left for the children!  So first order of the day was to rectify that.  The oysters weren't Southend oysters, but they were Essex oysters -- from Maldon in fact which is just up the coast.

Gabsy's first oyster experience

They were really nice too and I felt opened the palate nicely.

Rupert's too

Preliminaries over the next step was the coconut shy that Gabriella apparently always insisted on trying out each year.  I hadn't done this for years but Gabriella showed uncanny skill and combined with Rupert managed to snag the cuddly toy of her dreams!

Looking for the cuddly toy

The event itself was a highpoint for the regatta and had 6 entrants -- 3 of us (Jan, Rupert and myself) and 3 others (2 no hopers and last year's champion).  The idea was to eat a pint glass filled with cockles as fast as possible.

Ready, Get Set…

They were horrible.  With no seasoning allowed, you relied on the taste of the cockle itself.  They are tasteless without seasoning and felt like chewy, sinewy, things.  I could barely manage a couple of mouthfuls but the champ and Jan's technique was the way to go: open the gullet and pour. By the time the champ had finished both my cheeks were stuffed full of an undigested mass of part chewed cockles that I surreptitiously returned to the pint glass -- Rupert had had the same problem with the cockles and did the same.

"How do you swallow these things?"

But it was all good fun and a great day out with family and friends.

Next time I'll bring my own seasoning!