Ice Cream Delights

What is it about ice cream and its ability to solve all of the world’s problems in just one simple tub?

I was recently at a fashion show, as you do, and one of the sponsors was Movenpick  so naturally ice cream was on offer. In fact there were copious quantities of the stuff and the pr girls were very apologetic that there were only 8 different ice cream choices there.

They in fact have over 30 different varieties with more being added every year. Now there is a n opportunity for a great job, sampler and quality control……

Favorites of the night were the passion fruit and mango sorbet and the maple syrup with walnuts. That said the white chocolate ice cream that I sneaked in at the end of the show was also superb.

Once we had finished discussing the styles and quality of the fashion being displayed the subject of ice cream came up and which was our favorite. Consensus of opinion was that the best sorbets came from Italy but we could not reach agreement where the best ice creams came from.

Another impression i when we had a good journey to Malta. It was luck of finding a sorbet fundu parfait, would be also good chance to see panoramic view of Mediterranean bay.

My personal favorite that I had inn the past was the honey ice cream I had in Esfahan in Iran. Gloriously creamy with lumps of frozen local pure honey inside, all served in a crispy cone. Not surprisingly no one else had been to Iran so they had not had the opportunity to try this local delicacy. Their loss and your gain if you can get the chance to go there.

That said I also have very fond memories of traditional Cornish ice cream on which is placed a large dollop of Cornish clotted cream. A gluttons delight but do not even think about counting the calories.

Ice cream has gone very commercial, ever since WWII In fact when a number of Italian prisoners of war never left Great Britain and in fact settled down with English wives and opened ice cream parlors.

International chains like Ben and Jerry’s or Hagen Daaz have become family favorites but the best ice creams and sorbets are still the ones made in family shops and stores in small country towns.

Go out, explore and enjoy

The Perfect Breakfast

As I have traveled the world I have had numerous forms of breakfast, are hotel breakfasts the best? No washing up? Every from deep fried grasshoppers to sumptuous buffets and each has left its memory, some of them unfavorably.

My favorite still remains a full traditional English Breakfast although a couple of others have come very close, including one just this week.

There is something to sitting down at a table and picking from a menu selection that goes on for about a page and all that for just one course…. a veritable pick and mix.

The perfect breakfast has to be home made sausages (preferably pork or beef), back bacon, scrambled eggs, black pudding, deviled kidneys, lightly fried liver, fried tomatoes, wild mushrooms and fried bread all served with copious quantities of Twinning’s English Breakfast Tea.

If you really want to go overboard there should also be kippers and an offering of porridge but I cannot face porridge.

Unlimited servings of toast with traditional Seville orange marmalade and good butter finish off the meal, although the toast should be prepared individually each time before serving.

This whole experience should last about an hour

On a trip to Scotland the perfect breakfast was also served with Haggis – an acquired taste for sure but a wonderful addition to the meal. I cannot understand why people do not eat this delicacy more often especially for breakfast. It was a great way to start the day especially as we were off up the mountains to do some skiing.

An addition to my favorite breakfasts was just the other day and unfortunately kills the argument above.

After a night’s gentle drinking with a friend in his bar in Phang Nga Thailand he invited me to sample the local breakfast. Now I have had a number of Thai breakfasts over the years and to be honest have not been that impressed. This one however reinforced the argument of trying everything before judging.

Arriving in the local market that was just starting to set up at 3am we made our way to what can only be described as a garage where you would park your car. Inside were a number of plastic chairs and tables. Outside a table with banana leaves, a tub of Khao Kneow (sticky rice) a large pile of fried onions and a big wok full of hot fat in which was frying chicken.

We had to wait for the chicken to be cooked but it was worth the wait. Taking a ball of the sticky rice you dunked it into the fried chicken and then ate it along with a bite of the chicken.

What an explosion of tastes it was – who would have thought that rice, onions and chicken would have gone so well.

So now I have 2 perfect breakfasts – one that takes time to prepare and an hour to eat and another that takes minutes to prepare and about the same amount of time to eat.

Pastry Matters

If you want to start an argument with a Cornishman tell him a Cornish Pasty can be made with puff pastry. If you want to really upset him tell him the best ones come from Devon.

An aficionado will tell you that only short crust pastry should be used and not sweet short crust at that.

Traditionally a Cornish Pasty was a miner’s lunch that he carried down underground into the tin mines.  As the conditions were less than ideal and things such as carry bags or tins had not been invented yet the pastry itself made up the carry case.

Up to ½ inch thick it acted as its own carry case with the interior consisting of meat, potatoes and turnips and was thrown away at lunchtime with only the contents being eaten.  The superstitious amongst the miners claimed the throw away part of the pasty was an offering to the underground gods to keep the miners safe whilst they worked.

If you want to have another argument with a Cornishman tell him it should be mostly meat….

Correctly no more than 30% of the contents should be meat (according to Cornish people)– it was expensive and hard to find back in the 18^th Century hence its low percentage.

Anecdotal evidence also says that one end was the meat and vegetables with the other end being Jam or fruit, normally apple.

Whatever the truth of the matter Cornish Pasties are a traditional part of English culinary heritage and should be preserved as such.Apparently they have been making Cornish Pasties since 1746, or at least that is the earliest recorded recipe.

A pasty made with meat, vegetables and puff pastry is exactly that –  a puff pastry pasty.

Now the next important question is where can you get a good traditional Cornish Pasty? I sense a quest coming on soon

Film Culinary

After taking a holiday in Cyprus, we are then working on the set of the new Ewan McGregor / Naomi Watts film that is scheduled to be released in late 2011 recently and amongst the numerous discussions we were having the topic of film catering came up.

Now for those of you not in the know, which I expect means just about everyone, making a film consists of periods of boredom interspersed by moments of monotony.

For an extra it means arriving on set at a very early hour to get dressed and made up – the film we are making involves lots of blood and mud so it takes a while to get everyone ready.

In order to keep everyone content and to stop them wandering off food and liquid is kept on constant flow.

Breakfast is available on arrival at 5am with sandwiches following at 10am. Lunch is taken at 1pm and cakes are available around 3pm – more frequently if you were observant and saw where they were being kept.

Though out all of this filming is going on somewhere on the set, except for the one hour lunch break so part of the trick as an extra is to make sure you do not have your face in a bowl of something when the director comes calling….

Now the food on this set is not bad, quantities are good and the meals varied each day but those in the know tell tales of culinary delights being served constantly including steaks, lasagnas, stir fries, chips and burgers – in fact all that you could ask for.

In fact about the only thing you will not find on set is alcohol – apparently the director gets really annoyed if one of the extras has a little too much to drink and starts to sing or snore during filming. Even worse is throwing up on the leading actor……

Got to go - the Director is screaming for the fat guy in the swimming trunks