Yesterday a friend sent me an article from The New York Times celebrating the centenary of the Negroni cocktail, invented by Count Camillo Negroni at his local caffè in Florence in 1919.
Kingsley Amis peaked early with Lucky Jim, published in 1954 when he was 32. He never wrote anything remotely as good and it beats me how Ending Up got nominated for the Booker Prize. I suppose the judges warmed to it as it’s only 113 pages.
If anyone tells you that it’s no more trouble to cook for eight as two they are full of nonsense. How can it be as quick to finely chop (deliberate split infinitive) four onions as one; four garlic cloves, zest four lemons. You get the message?
I went out for a belated birthday lunch with a Goddaughter (we share a birthday) and her hangers-on on Sunday in a local gastro pub. The food was excellent, the service friendly but not 100% professional.
As a postscript to yesterday’s post, Pamela and Tatyana (by e mail) amplify by referring to Byron’s narrative poem, Mazeppa, which, as with Onegin, inspired Pushkin.
In late 2008 the Food Standards Agency (FSA) introduced this 6-tier scheme called the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
I mentioned two local restaurants and have subsequently been back to both; it’s what professional reviewers do. The River Café was just as good on a second visit. Because they weren’t too busy we were allowed to arrive at 1.30 and have the set lunch menu; £28 for two courses.
“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like “What about lunch?” (AA Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh)