Luncheon 01/07/09

Another mad busy day so I write this as I chow down on another Tesco special. Today we have 8 Chicken Nuggets and a 'Seafood Cocktail' sandwich. Also Tropicana pomegranate, grape and apple.



Well the chicken nuggets are ace, and now in a box so they don't go soggy like they used to. I'm sure they're full of salt and dreaful for me. 'Seafood Cocktail', hmm... An interesting claim. It appeared to be some minced up seafood sticks and a prawn (one prawn) in some slime. Now, I told you what was in seafood sticks before. I'm not sure what I was expecting from this sandwich but it was like eating somebody's chilled snot... Nasty. I had images in my head of succulent prawns, chunks of crayfish, of salmon flakes and tuna, maybe even some smoked mackerel fillet. I think the heat must be messing with my mind.

Since I began writing this, one of the boys walked in with an ice-lolly for everyone. Splendid! So I had a rocket shaped lolly that tasted of... er... Disinfectant. But it was nonetheless very refreshing in this very warm afternoon. Sadly, I can no long taste anything after the severe chilling and massacring of my tastebuds, so i'll never know what my juice tasted like. It seemed warm though so not entirely pleasant.

Enjoy your luncheon!

Luncheon 30/06/09

Too busy today for anything interesting perversley enough. Been to Tesco and got this fine foray:














We have, Tesco Southern Fried Chicken Strips, Fish and Veg Sushi Selection and Innocent Smoothies Pomegranates, blueberries and acai... Protein-tastic

I must admit, that is my generic lazy lunchtime meal at the moment. I'll get back on the interesting stuff though.

Now, I didn't know what an Acai was (I know what an AKAI is) so I decided to do some research... Wikipedia say, the Açaí berry comes from the Açaí palm tree. It is pronounced ass-ah-EE not AK-eye like I've been saying in my head. It's touted to be one of these super-foods that allegedly does the following:

Marketers of these products make claims that açaí provides increased energy levels, improved sexual performance, improved digestion, detoxification, high fiber content, high antioxidant content, improved skin appearance, improved heart health, improved sleep, and reduction of cholesterol levels. More dubious claims include reversal of diabetes and other chronic illnesses, as well as expanding size of the penis and increasing men's sexual virility and sexual attractiveness to women. Açaí is most commonly marketed as a weight loss product.

Well, it sounds bloody splendid to me then! Oh but what's this:

As of March 2009, there are no controlled studies backing up any of these claims.

Boo. Well, I don't think 250ml of something that actually contains "25 peeled Açaí berries" is really going to do any of these things on it's own.

As for flavour, well, it seems to take the well known flavours of blueberry and pomegranate and make the whole thing taste a bit... Plasticky. Like someone has leted some vinyl in there as well. Quite pleasant though overall.

Well, at least you've learnt something today. Tomorrow I shall prepare some luncheon more worthy of you reading. Farewell...

Luncheon 14/02/08

Was in a rush this morning as I'm going away tonight straight from work. Therefore I decided to wander down the town to the French Connection Baguette House again for the famed Mexican Chicken - not tomato. Same as before so no photo. Much better this time, back to the old baguette sleeves but still the Rizla strength bag... Ho hum.

Must add it's fecking COLD today! Sunday, I was walking round Cheslyn Hay wearing nowt but a t-shirt (and some trou obviously), today I needed more coats! What is going on?

Anyway, have a lovely weekend kids, I'm off!

Luncheon 13/02/08

Today I thought I'd go a bit unconventional. All morning, I've been craving hummus, don't know why but I have. So I thought I'd get some. What goes well with hummus I thought? Well bread of course! Hummus and bread. That could get a bit bland methinks, so I also got a bag of southern fried chicken strips and a smoothie. Here is what it looks like:



Oddly on the packaging, it was spelt houmous. I've never seen it spelt like that anywhere before. I've seen hummus and humus, but never houmous. Even the Firefox spellchecker agrees with me...

Here's how to make some hummus:


Ingredients:

125g dried chickpeas soaked over night
Juice and zest of one lemon
2 tbsp of sesame paste (also known as tahini)
2 peeled cloves of garlic
100ml Olive oil
salt and pepper to season

Cook the chickpeas in unsalted boiling water for about an hour or until tender. It's important that you don't salt the water as, for some magical reason, the chickpeas never soften otherwise. Drain them and allow them to cool. Whack everything in a blender or food processor and wazz it till its smooth. If you like it smoother, add some water. I like it chunky though =]


Hummus is really good with grilled chicken breast in pitta bread with some roasted veg like onions and peppers and courgettes and maybe a little spinach. Enjoy!

Also, last night I went for that curry, and I must say Quinton Balti is one of the finest Indian Restaurants I've ever been to. the food was excellent! For starter I had an invention called the Nargis Kebab, essentially this is a tandoori scotch egg. It some lovely tandoori keema (lamb mince) covering a whole boiled egg with a small omelette draped over the top. It was most special! I also had some kind of bhuna with chicken and paneer in it. Top Norris!

EDIT: I just found this and had to share: Nargis Kebab Appreciation Society

Luncheon 11/02/08

Well, first of all, I am very sorry, I've been very busy at work so I haven't been able to keep this as up-to-date as I would have liked. Very naughty I know... Well, to be honest, I haven't really eaten much that's been special. I've made a few salads, done some wonderful things with cous-cous had some Morrisson's salads, you know the score. Here's a gallery of a few of the things I've been eating since last time:


Some very nasty Tuna salad from Benjy's


Something random and slimy from Boots


A marvellous sarnie I made


Liquid luncheon


Porky baps from the canteen


Today I could only be arsed to go to Boots so I had the meal deal which has now gone up to £3.20 I might add! Still cheap though, and I had a 'Tomato and Basil Chicken Pasta Salad', which came with a box of carrots and dip and an Orange and Passionfruit smoothie. The salad wasn't bad, slimy and mayonnaisey as usual but that's par for the course. The chicken was a little dry but the dressing was nice. I even got three whole leaves of spinach as a sort of token effort at justifying the name 'salad'. We all know my feelings on the misuse of that word! Wasn't bad though in terms of flavour though, I'll give them that. Here it is in all it's glory:



At the weekend I perfected my 'Special Sauce for Putting on Pan-Fried Seabass mmm it's Dead Nice'. That's it's official name by the way. You make it thus:


Ingredients:

~6 spring onions or one and a half shallots, finely chopped
4 tbl spoons of sherry vinegar
2 egg yolks
200g clarified butter
7 big fresh basil leaves, shredded
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
3 tbl spoons of water
salt and pepper to season

Chuck the spring onions and vinegar in a hot pan and quickly reduce. When the liquid is down to about a third, pour out and reserve. clean the pan and refill with some cold water and put on the hob until boiling. On top of the pan place a glass or metal bowl. Chuck in the egg yolks, water and seasoning and heat while whisking until the mixture has gone pale and fluffy then slowly pour in the clarified butter whisking all of the time. This is the difficult part cos you end up with butter everywhere and all down your arm. The mixture should start to emulsify like a hollandaise and thicken. Lob in the chilli, basil and vinegar and onion reduction, and whisk for a little bit, then take off the heat and keep it warm over the water until ready to serve. Don't let it go cold before serving or it'll go proper nasty and congealed, a bit like marzipan but horrible.

Pan fry your seabass (also works well with red snapper, mackerel, and trout) and spread some of this tasty stuff over the top, not loads cos it can be quite tart. Server with rocket and cherry tomatoes and a spoon of mushroom risotto or cous-cous. Absolutely bloody splendid! Very pleased with myself over this one. I also have a tasty recipe for a roasted red pepper sauce that goes amazingly with plaice or skate. I'll give you that another time though...


In closing, I thought you might like this poster I found in a pub in Cannock yesterday, made me chuckle!



Oh yes and...

project:Adonis weight: 14st 1lb

Luncheon 18/01/08

Well, I was meant to be going for a pub lunch but I was stood up. Won't go into that. Also, it was raining and no-one likes the rain. SO I went as far as Boots for the £2.95 luncheon. I had the pack of three Chicken themed sarns, a bag of carrots and a tasty 'Innocent' Smoothie. Well, the smoothie was good... The sarn-pack contained Chicken Salad, Chicken and Sweetcorn and Chicken and Bacon. Chicken Salad, well, it had tomatoes on, and we all know my opinions on tomatoes in sarnies now don't we? Well, of course it was a sloppy, watery tasteless mess. Chicken and sweetcorn... Or should it be called mayonnaise with a strip of chicken and some sourcorn? Horrible. Chicken and Bacon was OK, but only because the bacon tasted nice. Basically, it was a crap pack of sandwiches. Then the bag of carrots. I don't know how you get carrots wrong, but they did. tasteless watery little sticks of crunch that they were. At least the smoothie didn't let me down! I can't actually remember what it was but it was orange in colour and had something called goji berries in it... I didn't think it was worth a photo...

Oh yeah, and project:Adonis is going really well, lost another 2lb!

project:Adonis weight: 14st 0lb

Luncheon 14/01/08

Today I was late again. Therefore, I did not prepare myself a tasty luncheon at home. I decided instead to go to the French Connection Baguette House in the sprawling, cosmopolitan metropolis that is Walsall. Therein, I purchased one of their finest chicken baguette meal deals. My chicken filling of choice was Mexican Chicken, salad, but no tomato. This final detail is important. I am a learned chap, especially in the ways of eating. I am no master, by any means, one cannot master eating, one can only improve. In my years of tortuous study, I have learned that the bane of the sandwich is the tomato. Fresh tomatoes and sandwiched should not mix. Tomato based condiments, for example, a nice chutney, are fine. In fact, more than welcome is the tomato chutney to say, the turkey sandwich. I digress. Sliced tomato should be kept clear of sandwiches by any means necessary. Firstly, they soggify the sandwich. The jelly-like substance which suspends the seeds, soaks into the bread and makes it slimy and nasty. Secondly, in most sandwich shops, the emphasis is on speed and low cost, the tomatoes are usually flavourless balls of pulp on their last legs. Nasty. Thirdly, the skin gets stuck in my gappy teeth and pulls the whole tomato slice out in one big long chain of slop, all over my chin and shirt. So, in conclusion, tomatoes, no! The rest of the meal deal consisted of a bag of Cheese Doritos and a can of Sprite. ALl for the princely sum of £2.95, bargain!



Not a very impressive photo I know, but what did you expect? Any way, the Mexican Chicken is a fine beast, chicken in mayo spiced with chilli and paprika and mixed up with diced red onion and green peppers. Its one of my favourite sandwiches ever. I doubt it's incredibly healthy as it's full of mayonnaise. Also today, I have consumed a banana, a bowl of porridge and a massive carrot. I have an apple and two satsumas left too. Woo!

Oh yes! I forgot to mention, I used to go to the FCBH, very often but I must admit I haven't been for well over a month now. I am most disappointed with the sandwich peripherals. What I'm talking about are the carrier bags and the baguette sleeve thingies. Firstly, the baguette holster used to be a nice thick paper one with all of the paraphernalia for the shop printed upon it. Now its a plain white one of sub-standard quality which gets soggy and leaks. The carrier bags, well, she ripped one putting my crisps in, then put that one inside another one, which was destroyed before I left the shop. It had the thickness of a Rizla and the strength of a 120 year-old, muscular-atrophied leper...

Cereal Drought Over

Hurray! I managed to get some Choco Snaps on the way home from band rehearsal today! I've just contently munched through a bowl and am now fulfilled! However, I forgot to stock up on Marmite, so I shall have a little sulk about that.

I've just been watching 'Hugh's chicken run' on Channel 4 and I think the next episode will upset me. What annoys me are the people who whinge and moan about not being able to eat free range food because its too expensive. Fair enough, it costs a load extra if you buy from Tesco, but if you get off your fat arse and went to the butcher's you'd find that there's a whole world of tasty cheap cuts of meat that were reared humanely and cost you a whole lot less than Tescos! Try quitting smoking and spending the family allowance on biscuits first! I can go to a butcher near me and buy a whole roll of pork leg joint for £10. That roll of pork can easily be cut in two and feed two families of six, and have spare for a tasty sarnie, maybe with some mustard or horseradish. The same cut of meat, a quarter the size, injected with water and preservatives, shrink wrapped and refrigerated for a week, before it even gets to the shelves from Tesco would cost you about £12. No wonder these stupid people think they can't afford food, it's because they're too bloody lazy to shop around! And that's not even a cheap cut, you can get 2 lb of steak mince in most butcher's for about £2, two massive pieces of shoulder steak for about £3, that'd make a casserole big enough for about 6 or 8 people if you did a lot of mash with it. It's just pure laziness. I hope a whole lot of people watch this program and see just how horrific it is to battery farm animals. Cheap meat is not worth it, if you choose to ignore the suffering and continue buying Asda Smart Price chicken, you're an arsehole.

Rant over, sorry. On a lighter note, I just found out that these exist from one of my favourite websites: Snackspot.org.uk...

New Nobby's Nuts Flavour

I can't wait to have a go on these babies!