More Gustatory Perambulations

So, last night I made Thai Style Trout a la Gnom for two. Two whole trout (massive creatures that sadly got a beheading to fit in the baking dish, and then stared lugubriously up at me from the bin), coconut milk, 2 limes, shallot, garlic, lemon grass and about half a red chilli (my experiments on capsaicin receptor response attenuation continue). Fry the oniony things a bit, add the chilli then coconut milk and the juice of a lime (aside: coconut milk may look solid in the tin but IT'S AN ILLUSION, it will burst everywhere when you prod it and cover your hob in what looks like baby sick). Season and throw over the fishies in the dishy and bake until they look done. Serve with jasmine rice (the cretin version that you microwave) and green beans. AWESOME, if I do say so myself. It also made me think that you could probably do a wicked rice pudding with sticky rice, coconut milk and lime juice.

During all of this culinary endeavour, I took to reading packets and labels and what-not, as I am a nosey f***er. It turns out that my "simple meal" was a bit more sophisticated than I gave it credit for:

Salmo trutta morpho fario (I think, but don't quote me). Came from New Forest, Hampshire. Not too exotic, just down the road in fact. Farmed, but organic. One had bizarre, knobby pectoral fins, the other, rather suspiciously, had lost them on the way to Waitrose. MUTANT ZOMBIE FISH?
Cocos nucifera: milk. Came from Indonesia, to suffer the ignominious fate of being packed in Bracknell.
Cymbopogon citratus from Israel. I don't know why either. I think you can grow it here, though it's not hardy.
Capsicum annuum from Zambia. Probably grown quite profitably on a small farm somewhere, where, according to reports male farmers will spend the proceeds on farm equipment and female farmers on clothes and kitchen equipment. Apparently, chilis are good to grow in Zimbabwe too, as the local fauna are wusses like me.
Phaseolus vulgaris from Kenya. Who knew that the mature seeds were poisonous!?!

My dinner had been to countries that I will probably never go to.

On a more recent note: I am not a natural parallel parker. Not entirely dyspraxic behind the wheel though, which is a relief to all.

More Gustatory Perambulations

So, last night I made Thai Style Trout a la Gnom for two. Two whole trout (massive creatures that sadly got a beheading to fit in the baking dish, and then stared lugubriously up at me from the bin), coconut milk, 2 limes, shallot, garlic, lemon grass and about half a red chilli (my experiments on capsaicin receptor response attenuation continue). Fry the oniony things a bit, add the chilli then coconut milk and the juice of a lime (aside: coconut milk may look solid in the tin but IT'S AN ILLUSION, it will burst everywhere when you prod it and cover your hob in what looks like baby sick). Season and throw over the fishies in the dishy and bake until they look done. Serve with jasmine rice (the cretin version that you microwave) and green beans. AWESOME, if I do say so myself. It also made me think that you could probably do a wicked rice pudding with sticky rice, coconut milk and lime juice.

During all of this culinary endeavour, I took to reading packets and labels and what-not, as I am a nosey f***er. It turns out that my "simple meal" was a bit more sophisticated than I gave it credit for:

Salmo trutta morpho fario (I think, but don't quote me). Came from New Forest, Hampshire. Not too exotic, just down the road in fact. Farmed, but organic. One had bizarre, knobby pectoral fins, the other, rather suspiciously, had lost them on the way to Waitrose. MUTANT ZOMBIE FISH?
Cocos nucifera: milk. Came from Indonesia, to suffer the ignominious fate of being packed in Bracknell.
Cymbopogon citratus from Israel. I don't know why either. I think you can grow it here, though it's not hardy.
Capsicum annuum from Zambia. Probably grown quite profitably on a small farm somewhere, where, according to reports male farmers will spend the proceeds on farm equipment and female farmers on clothes and kitchen equipment. Apparently, chilis are good to grow in Zimbabwe too, as the local fauna are wusses like me.
Phaseolus vulgaris from Kenya. Who knew that the mature seeds were poisonous!?!

My dinner had been to countries that I will probably never go to.

On a more recent note: I am not a natural parallel parker. Not entirely dyspraxic behind the wheel though, which is a relief to all.