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Welsh Tesco

Story location: Home / Blog / coventry /
21/Feb/2011

The Tesco near the Walsgrave Triangle has a bilingual sign in the 'ready meals' section. The thing is, we are about 60 miles from Wales (as the crow flies) so I don't know who the sign is for. I was unaware that Coventry had a significant Welsh-speaking population.

Welsh Tesco sign



Home-made profiteroles

Story location: Home / Blog / food_and_drink /
19/Feb/2011

This afternoon we had a go at making profiteroles. The choux pastry recipe came from a home baking book and wasn't as difficult as we expected. One thing we did learn is that the profiteroles rise better if we cook them one tray at a time instead of putting two trays in the oven and swapping them over.

Cream Cheese profiteroles
Profiterole stuffed with cream cheese

Cream and chocolate profiteroles
A traditional profiterole with cream filling and chocolate sauce poured over the top.

profiteroles ring
The profiterole ring, fresh from the oven.

profiteroles ring
The profiterole ring after adding the cream and chocolate.



Marks & Spencer Valentines Meal

Story location: Home / Blog / food_and_drink /
13/Feb/2011

Tonight's meal was from the Marks & Spencer's 'eat-in' range. For Valentine's weekend they did a version which cost £20 but included starter, main, side dish, dessert, sparkling wine and chocolates.

Crab Salad
Our starter was the mini dressed crab which we served with a mixed-leaf salad.

Sea Bass
The main course was Sea Bass with chilli and coriander butter. The fish was simply baked then the skin and backbone needed to be removed before serving. It was a little bit fiddly but the fish was very good. We chose the mixed vegetable layer for side-dish, which contains peas, shredded courgette, cabbage and broad beans.

Strawberry and Champagne Souffle
The Strawberry and Champagne souffle was a posh trifle. The jelly contained large pieces of strawberry, topped with a thick layer of fluffy champagne flavoured cream.

The Rosado Cava we picked turned out to be a particularly good example of a cava. It was dry but with a discernible fruity flavour.

The deal also included chocolates but at the time of writing we haven't eaten those yet.



Hamster Treats

Story location: Home / Blog / animals /
13/Feb/2011

We attended the Burgess Small Animal Show last month but have only just got around to transferring the photos from the camera. We were given some 'goody bags' containing animal treats - here are some photos of our beasties enjoying them when we got home.

 

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Rocky Horror Picture Show

Story location: Home / Blog / films /
13/Feb/2011

Last week we watched the episode of Glee which featured the cast performing songs from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It made me want to watch the film again, which we did last night. I have mentioned in the past that I'm not a fan of musicals but the Rocky Horror Picture Show is one exception. The less said about the sequel, Shock Treatment,the better.

I got our old VHS video recorder set up so we could watch the old tape of Shock Treatment, just to remind myself how bad it is compared to RHPS. The songs are very lacklustre (apart from Bitchin' in the Kitchen), and the story (mainly a parody on TV taking over society) isn't as interesting. The film is trying too hard to be quirky and could really do with a strong character such as Frank-N-Furter.

My 'first impression' of the film was that it felt like someone trying to make a bad musical but that might be a little harsh. The film completely lacks the 'fun' element which made Rocky Horror great.



Butternut Squash Soup

Story location: Home / food_and_drink /
13/Feb/2011

The soup was made using some spare roast butternut squash from the freezer. The rest of the ingredients were:

  • 2 small onions, 1 leek, 2 cloves of garlic. Chopped and fried until softened.
  • 1 tub of chicken stock.
  • 1 tbs chopped parsley
  • 1 medium sized cooked potato
  • A pinch of salt.
  • 1 diced carrot.

Everything was simmered for about an hour then left to cool before being liquidized. There was enough for 2 days. Day 1 was a mug of the soup with diced chicken added. For day 2 I cooked some 'soup mix' which contained pasta, pulses and grains. This made the soup very thick, almost like drinking a stew.



Some Recent Films

Story location: Home / Blog / films /
09/Feb/2011

We received a Showcase Cinema gift card for Christmas which means we've been going to the cinema quite a lot recently. Some films we have seen include:

  • The Black Swan - A strange film which tries to confuse the viewer by blurring the line between reality and delusion. It might benefit from a second viewing to help clear things up but while the film was ok, I don't feel any great desire to watch it again. There was rather too much wobbly camerawork for my liking, not as much as Cloverfield but it still made my eyes tired watching it.

  • The Kings Speech - I thought I was going to like this film a bit but it was much better than I was expecting. The acting, writing and camerawork were all first class. I also didn't realise we had an Archbishop of Canterbury called Cosmo.

  • Tron: Legacy - We saw the mostly-3D version of this film. I liked the original and the new film is an adequate sequel. I did like the 80's style synth-pop soundtrack which fitted the film very well.

  • The Way Back - This was a highly fictionalised account of prisoners escaping from a Siberian prison camp and making their way mountains and desert to freedom in India. Despite the film being very slow in parts it managed maintain interest by building up a good atmosphere.

  • Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader - I was disappointed by the Prince Caspian film, which dispensed with most of the story and concentrated on a Lord of the Rings style battle sequence. Dawn Treader is a much better film and is a more faithful version of the book.

  • Next 3 Days - This was a special preview showing we went to in Nuneaton. The film was quite good, mainly dealing with planning a jailbreak and subsequent escape.