tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398Sun, 11 May 2008 12:17:34 +0000http://www.eatnottingham.com/noreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)Blogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-7681141375348254374Mon, 05 May 2008 20:05:00 +00002008-05-11T13:17:34.410+01:00 Google has rarely let me down. A few weeks ago I used it to successfully diagnose a neurological condition in a friend which was of such rarity that the senior neurological consultant in Nottingham had only seen it twice before in his career. And I am not a doctor. Google is silent however on the matter of cats who eat runner bean leaves. Either Ernest (pictured) is unique in this respect or http://www.eatnottingham.com/2008/05/cats-who-eat-runner-bean-plants.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-1026451060252391314Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:53:00 +00002008-03-13T09:56:04.235ZI remember when Higoi first opened my thoughts ran as follows: A classy Japanese restaurant in the heart of Studentland? - I give them a month, tops. Tonight, twenty years later, I decided to go back and find out why they are still there. The Japanese are masters of miniturisation and in the compact Higoi we were served a multitude of tiny dishes by a very small waitress. We went for the Kaisekihttp://www.eatnottingham.com/2008/03/higoi.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-793532102679925621Fri, 07 Mar 2008 08:49:00 +00002008-03-07T09:38:31.280ZAfter Lawrence I suppose Alan Silitoe must be Nottingham's most famous writer so it was pretty much obligatory to go and see him in conversation at The Broadway followed by the film of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. At 80 he cut a sprightly and dapper figure full of good humour and interesting anecdotes. The story of how Saturday Night and Sunday Morning came to be written was startlingly athttp://www.eatnottingham.com/2008/03/alan-silitoe-at-broadway.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-5353477853479901720Sat, 01 Mar 2008 18:21:00 +00002008-03-01T18:28:27.852ZI followed the recipe exactly this time and it was a complete failure - not even a hint of sourness. For 1.2 I am going to feed and warm the little beastie until it goes off. And if that doesn't work I'll make it with milk and leave it on a radiator until the whole place stinks. I've also bought some rye flour to try, though I suspect that will only affect the texture and consistency.http://www.eatnottingham.com/2008/03/polish-sourdough-11.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-4681874472336827026Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:11:00 +00002008-02-27T13:17:03.036ZMy first attempt at sourdough was borderline success. The consistency and crust was good but somehow it lacked the real bite and bitterness of the bread that I remember. There are a couple of things I think I may have done wrong. My starter sprang into life with such vigour that I decided not to feed it or refrigerate it and when the time came to use it, it had developed a hard crust on top http://www.eatnottingham.com/2008/02/polish-sourdough-10.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-2897369849744211788Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:31:00 +00002008-02-27T08:54:06.559ZLike everyone else it seems, I have been swept up by the online poker boom. As a graduate of mathematics and psychology I'm suprised that it took me so long to get involved. I've got to the point now where I can pretty reliably get into the money on a $10 PartyPoker single table sit & go. Last night I was playing just before bed time in a tournament which was going pretty well for me. We http://www.eatnottingham.com/2008/02/how-to-lose-at-online-poker.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-8912653188471968791Fri, 22 Feb 2008 22:44:00 +00002008-02-26T22:41:54.520ZNo, not the pub. After years of hearing people talk about how great automatic breadmakers are and not believing them, I finally acquired one and have to admit that I was wrong - they are fantastic. I've been gradually working through the recipe book and the best so far was an olive bread with oregano. Now I'm starting to get a bit more adventurous and the quest is on to find a viable method http://www.eatnottingham.com/2008/02/this-is-mohammed-prophet-of-islam.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-7846476599574126447Sat, 02 Feb 2008 00:11:00 +00002008-02-02T00:59:13.434ZOur friends said to meet at the tapas bar by the Galleries of Justice. I thought I knew the place that they meant - it had to be La Tasca on Weekday Cross. Dreadful, the last time I visited but our friends assured us that under the new management of World Service the restaurant had been transformed into a world class venue. We arrived in good time and told the waiter that a table for 4 was http://www.eatnottingham.com/2008/02/iberico.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-858601894059583646Fri, 12 Oct 2007 11:45:00 +00002007-10-12T12:52:49.520+01:00http://www.eatnottingham.com/2007/10/richard-dawkins-on-science-education.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-94406009374541275Sun, 30 Sep 2007 21:00:00 +00002007-10-01T20:15:42.224+01:00I haven't written anything for ages because, well, nothing has happenned. I got a bit bored of going to the same places over and over again and writing about how great they were. But behold! My cup runneth over. There is a new show in town. Today we went to sample the Nottingham Tram Walk. This involves riding the tram to Hucknall and then walking through deprived, gun-ridden and http://www.eatnottingham.com/2007/09/kayal.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-8959422058106183054Fri, 06 Apr 2007 01:06:00 +00002007-05-19T00:14:09.132+01:00It's all happening at MemSaab. After allegedly assaulting a fellow diner with cutlery the TV presenter Chris Tarrant was arrested in his hotel room by "Four flak-jacketed police officers". He is apparently "bemused" by the incident. From the 4th to the 7th of June, Atul Kochhar (gasp!), the first Indian chef to achieve a Michelin star (he now has two!) will be making a guest appearance at http://www.eatnottingham.com/2007/04/memsaab-atul-kochhar.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-469363239701455883Sun, 04 Mar 2007 00:32:00 +00002007-03-04T00:38:08.452ZFor years I thought I had forgotten everything that I learnt in my university mathematics degree. However, it all came flooding back with the help of this magnificent piece of maths geek humour. Non-mathematicians are likely to respond with "Huh?" but I can only applaud the unknown genius who turned my second year group theory classes into song. http://www.eatnottingham.com/2007/03/maths-nerds.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-7841767539690748752Sun, 04 Mar 2007 00:03:00 +00002007-03-04T00:22:57.054ZDogma is located on Byard Lane, opposite Paul Smith's original shop. It's above the smoke-filled bar of the same name. The menu looks as though Gordon Ramsey has had a go at it, telling them to pare it down to the achievable minimum and then build up from there. I could have cooked everything on that menu, and I wouldn't have needed a recipe book. It's really very pedestrian indeed. I hadhttp://www.eatnottingham.com/2007/03/dogma.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-117132011848518251Mon, 12 Feb 2007 22:36:00 +00002007-02-12T22:41:58.496ZDear God... Well, at least its non-smoking abd I suppose the beer was OK.http://www.eatnottingham.com/2007/02/wetherspoons.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-116648732436118706Mon, 18 Dec 2006 23:36:00 +00002006-12-19T00:15:24.406ZI have a problem with oysters - for years I was determined to disbelieve it, but I think I really must be allergic to them. Nobody could be as consistently unlucky as I seem to be. I mean every single time that I eat them, I end up with my head down the toilet. Strangely I do seem to get the much-denied aphrodisiac effect. I eat them, I turn into a sexual Tyrannosaurus and then I throw http://www.eatnottingham.com/2006/12/loch-fyne-oyster-bar.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-116648483353831914Mon, 18 Dec 2006 19:28:00 +00002007-01-14T00:35:26.330ZFrench Living has changed. And not for the better. One bad meal could be a forgiveable blip - chefs get sick, waiting staff resign without notice, these things happen. But two bad meals is starting to look like a pattern and three is a definite trend. I'm not sure what can have happenned - according to the website nothing has changed. But recently, the staff that I used to recognise (and http://www.eatnottingham.com/2006/12/french-living-oh-dear-me.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-116266291029135575Sat, 04 Nov 2006 17:23:00 +00002006-11-07T16:47:42.210ZI couldn't help but smirk over the demise of two prominent US evangelicals this week. Ted Haggard, who claimed to be some sort of spiritual advisor to George W Bush, has been fired after allegations of methamphetamine fuelled gay sex with a male fitness instructor. Even amongst the worst of the American religious right, Haggard has stuck out as unusually prejudiced and ignorant. He believes that http://www.eatnottingham.com/2006/11/schadenfreude.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-116160619220051293Mon, 23 Oct 2006 12:16:00 +00002006-10-23T13:28:23.496+01:00The title is that of a philosophical work by Oolon Colluphid which completed his series, “Where God Went Wrong”, “Some More of God’s Greatest Mistakes” and “Who is This God Person Anyway?” Oolon Colluphid is a fictitious minor character in “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams. Richard Dawkins might well have chosen the title for his own recent work, The God Delusion It would http://www.eatnottingham.com/2006/10/well-that-about-wraps-it-up-for-god.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-116060644794724709Wed, 11 Oct 2006 16:32:00 +00002006-10-15T01:38:27.643+01:00Something is going on - this is starting to look carefully orchestrated. First Jack Straw http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5411954.stm Then Ann Cryer and Shahid Malik http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/07/nveil07.xml Then Gordon Brown! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6036377.stm Trevor Phillips! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6040016.stm Nowhttp://www.eatnottingham.com/2006/10/labour-grows-backbone.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-115875660623792414Wed, 20 Sep 2006 12:08:00 +00002006-09-20T14:02:15.846+01:00 La Tour des Beaumes is the gorgeous villa that we rented in Provence this year. On the scant basis of the proprietors names, Eric and Jean, I fabricated an elaborate fantasy of a romance between an English schoolmistress (Jean) and a French restauranteur (Eric). Then I got an email at New Year which caused me to rethink: Dear Paul, Bonjour, We want to send you our very best wishes for a http://www.eatnottingham.com/2006/09/gay-provence.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-115680789033988831Mon, 28 Aug 2006 22:47:00 +00002006-10-11T22:02:57.183+01:00Nottingham, I am sorry to say, is not one of the cities conquered by the Nobu empire. They did briefly take over Chino Latino on Maid Marian Way, but quickly retreated back to the capital, concluding perhaps that Nottingham was not ready for their brand of Japanese exotica and their decidedly London prices. The London venue continues to thrive however; it was packed out on Sunday night when our http://www.eatnottingham.com/2006/08/nobu.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-115611570850584655Sun, 20 Aug 2006 22:58:00 +00002006-08-22T19:20:53.933+01:00Google Earth is a great product with only one flaw - I can't see my house on it, or indeed much of Nottingham. Now it seems that Microsoft is in on the act and with their system you can see my house, in an alarmingly high level of detail. http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=str9b4gx36rs&style=o&lvl=2&scene=4296749 One has to wonder, if imagery of this quality is available free of charge http://www.eatnottingham.com/2006/08/microsoft-earth.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-115213594516239178Wed, 05 Jul 2006 20:25:00 +00002006-11-15T00:57:35.750ZWhen does a pub become a restaurant? Or vice versa? Scruffy's looks like a pub. It smells like a pub; fag-ash and beer-fumes being the predominant odours that greet you as you cross the threshold from Derby Road. Oh let's face it, it is a pub. There is nothing wrong with pubs of course, in fact I am a big fan of them. And some pubs serve excellent food and not all of them smell of fag-ash. But http://www.eatnottingham.com/2006/07/scruffys_115213594516239178.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-115165925766082980Fri, 30 Jun 2006 09:16:00 +00002006-06-30T10:20:57.673+01:00The entire Dutch government has been brought down by the Ayan Hirsi Ali affair. Most gratifying.http://www.eatnottingham.com/2006/06/dutch-government-falls.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10894398.post-115132750193273353Mon, 26 Jun 2006 12:53:00 +00002006-06-26T14:11:41.996+01:00Piccolino is part of the oxymoronically named "Individual Restaurant Company" group and the Nottingham branch is a recent addition to the Lacemarket dining scene, with a prime location at Weekday Cross. We went on Saturday night for a visit which is unlikely to be repeated. We had booked for 9pm but were invited to wait in the bar area for an hour and purchase our own drinks until a table http://www.eatnottingham.com/2006/06/piccolino.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Nottingham Diner)