The meal at "The Robin Hood" down at Millhouses went better than expected. Shirley and I sat at one table while Frances and Stewart sat at another table - two metres apart. Fortunately, we were the sole occupants of a large alcove and were able to talk freely. We were attended to by a lovely waitress whose friendly demeanour enhanced our dining experience in these strange times.
You were meant to order from a smartphone app but I told our nice waitress that I don't own a mobile phone so she kindly brought paper menus for us.
After my long walk in Nottinghamshire I was hungry. I had only had a banana and an apple for my lunch. I checked out the menu and noticed this:-
MIXED GRILL Grilled rump steak, chargrilled chicken breast, thick-cut gammon steak, two British farm-assured pork sausages and two fried free range eggs.
Upgrade to 8oz rump steak for an extra £2.00
All of our steaks are expertly aged for depth of flavour and served with seasoned chips, grilled tomato, flat mushroom, garden peas and crispy onion rings.
Well, I hadn't eaten a mixed grill in years and I was so sorely tempted that I confess I submitted to the temptation. My apologies to any disgusted vegans (i.e. our son Ian) who may be reading this post. It was a plateful I can tell you and towards the end of my gluttonous munching I admit that I regretted going for the larger steak. Uncharacteristically, I even failed to clear my plate.
All four of us enjoyed our meals and drinks so much that we booked a return visit next week. By the way, we also had desserts. Mine was a Belgian chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream.
It was nice to catch up with the beloved daughter and her handsome husband. Being in Tier 2 has been difficult enough but today South Yorkshire begins its phase in Tier 3 . We do not know for sure how long Tier 3 restrictions will last but I guess we will be in it throughout November.
What the hell will Christmas be like this year? Remember Christmas 2019? We had absolutely no idea what lay ahead of us - just round the corner. Will we ever get back to something resembling the old life - the life that we knew before and often forgot to love? We took it for granted.
We will get back to the old life if we survive!!!Now there will be some things that will be different. Check my next blog post.
ReplyDeleteI won't just check it, I will read it Red.
Deletehey! Hey!
DeleteE.B. White reviewed Hemingway's postwar novel and the review carried the headline, *Across the River and into the Grill*.
ReplyDeleteI haven't had a grill these last forty years. It's been ten years since I've eaten a sausage, six or seven since I've had steak, five years since I've had oven chips from Waitrose which I adore. I've only had a Big Mack five times in my life.
Yours is the kind of food I dream about. Just the bacon, eggs, and sausage would be enough for me so long as they add black pudding, mushrooms, tomatoes, potato scones, buttered toast and a pot of tea.
All I had tonight was rice and king prawns and mango for dessert. I'm thin as a rake and weigh 12 stone, so it's not as if I need to worry about weight. You are eating the life I crave, Sir Yorky. It's what I would eat if I were on Death Row, with maybe Goldie Hawn to give me a back massage.
What ever happened to Goldie?
Do you mean Goldie the friendly labrador from "Blue Peter"? She died years ago. Goldie Hawn remains passionate about the Hawn Foundation, a non-profit organization which provides youth education programmes intended to improve academic performance through "life-enhancing strategies for well-being".
DeleteGoldie the labrador I had forgotten. Shep the collie I do recall: Biddy Baxter, the Blue Peter producer, would not allow John Noakes to keep Shep when John left.
DeleteJanet Ellis and Leslie Judd were two of the Blue Peter girls I can still see.
Janet looked great in shorts on her African safari. Leslie was a dancer and had classical good looks. I always hoped Una Stubbs would join the team.
Truman Capote did a spooky piece about what Death Row incumbents order as a last meal, and the personal mementoes they leave behind.
I'm sure that James Purdy, one of the great unknown American writers, did a prison story too. He couldn't get published in his last years. Read online *Christmas with James Purdy*.
One of the great food writers was M.F.K. Fisher (1908-1992): Mary Fisher grew up in a Quaker community in California, but spent much of her life in France. Her books, which were admired by W.H. Auden among others, are being reissued.
Delete*Map of Another Town - A Memoir of Provence* and *The Gastronomical Me* are published by Daunt Books of Marylebone High Street, London.
Durable paperbacks with fold-back covers, they would make ideal Xmas presents for anyone who loves France and French provincial cooking.
It will end, eventually.
ReplyDeleteMy husband loves his meat. One time he had two steaks for supper and nothing else. He ended up with meat sweats. I hope you didn't have meat sweats.
We're lucky really. It could be worse, it could be a war. I know that doesn't change anything but it's nice to know that it's not a war, just death and pestilence:)
I second your sentiment, Lilicedar. A sense of proportion appears to be lost.
DeleteRecently I have taken to watching documentaries. It's good to be reminded of our not that distant past. What our grandparents and parents had to endure, almost matter-of-factly. You mention war. By golly, give me a Corona (the beer, not the virus) and a mask any day compared to spitfires overhead dropping their sweet nothings, buildings crumbling around you like matchbox houses. People torn into their respective limbs so fast you can't bury them all (with dignity).
Unfortunately there are certain observations I can't make here, or in any other public arena. I might get lynched. Not least by the Japanese.
U
During the two world wars, British people could still go down to the local pub and sing "Down At The Old Bull and Bush" while swigging pints of foaming ale. We can't do that now.
DeleteAnd don't forget Roll Out the Barrel, My Old Man Said Follow the Van, The Roses of Picardy, We'll Meet Again, Some Day I'll Find You, We'll Gather Lilacs in the Spring Again, Don't Put Your Daughter on the Stage Mrs Worthington, Sing As We Go, We'll Meet Again, Lily Marlene, After the Ball Was Over, The Lambeth Walk, Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye, They'll Never Believe Me, and Sir Noel's London Pride, with that nice line ... *Gay lady, Mayfair in the morning/ See the policeman yawning on his lonely beat ... *
DeleteDo you realise that nowadays a good old sing-song for us oldies is certainly not songs from WW1, or even WW2? They are songs from the late 50's onwards! I dread the thought of being incarcerated in a home for the aged, and having some well meaning dear shout out "Come on - all together "My Old Man..."!! They are not the songs I want to hear! Music by The Carpenters, Queen, Andy Williams onwards, are my generation!
DeleteIf I ever get to an old folks home I will lead the singing of "We Shall Overcome" and Bob Dylan's "My Back Pages"..."Oh but I was so much older then/ I'm younger than that now" Come on! Join in everybody!
DeleteSongs are as ageless as they are diverse, Coppa's girl.
DeleteAndy Williams had The Carpenters on his TV show as well as Simon and Garfunkel; Julie Andrews; Peter, Paul and Mary. He sang with Robert Goulet, who had a rich baritone voice, and Michael Jackson who was indefinable.
Without the music hall there would have been no Tin Pan Alley. Without Tin Pan Alley and jazz, no rock'n'roll.
Many youngsters today roll their eyes in horror at the mere mention of any music not in the hit parade, so what will they be singing in their dotage! No fond memories of the music of their youth?
DeleteThe condemned man ate a hearty meal. Well, I hope not really. I've not had a mixed grill for a very long time. I try not to eat too much red meat. Don't say you upsized to an 8oz steak!
ReplyDeleteYes I upsized. I am just a greedy boy.
DeleteThat's an awful lot of meat!
ReplyDeleteI didn't quite realise there would be that much!
DeleteNow that's a big meal! I'm happy for you all that you had an opportunity to spend time together.
ReplyDeleteThe circumstances were better than expected Bonnie.
DeleteGlad you had such a hearty meal, How many animals went into your meat? It was a lovely walk around Eaton but I'm sure a nut roast would have supplied the proteins you needed ;)
ReplyDeleteDisgusted vegetarian (mostly) from North Yorks.
Sack cloth and ashes for me then! You will be pleased to learn that I just had porridge for breakfast.
DeleteMy late brother-in-law was a big carnivore. He was up from England with my sister, who fancied lunch in a vegetarian restaurant in Edinburgh, just off the Royal Mile. It got good reviews in an English paper. My brother-in-law made an act of refusing to step inside, and my sister said she's go in alone.
DeleteHe liked the food so much he insisted on going back next day.
To all your female commentators so far (and Hamel) I'd say: Meat is largely a man thing. Primal. The hunter, felling trees and stuff.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time my father took me out for lunch. We went to a restaurant of his choice. Steakhouse. Naturally. My father can be a pain of epic proportions but he is also generous of heart, ordering what he thinks you like. So there I was, in the motherland, twenty two years old, faced with an 8 oz steak. The first third in was great. Then my brain/stomach sent me a message. FULL. Intently listening to my father's always interesting flights of intellectual fancy I wished for a dog; a dog surreptitiously hovering around in the vicinity - or a homeless person - preferably hungry (in those days no one appeared to be homeless - at least not in one of the motherland's wealthiest cities). After that lunch, back in the office, I was resolved to take up felling trees in Canada to put away a large steak effortlessly.
U
You felled trees? I always like a woman with a massive pair of biceps!
DeleteThe receptionist at my optician's is a small, sylph-like young woman. I asked her how she handled lockdown. *I really miss my boxing classes,* she told me.
DeleteBoxing with protective headgear, like judo, appeals to women of all ages. I am not sure why any lady wants big biceps, but weight-lifting keeps the skeleton strong: a good protection against brittle bones in later life.
There is a YouTube film about a 19-year-old Australian girl, Sophie Malthus, who fell from her horse: *Life as a Quadriplegic* May 2018 (Attitude).
Every day feels like a bonus when I can walk a few miles around Glasgow, though I'd swap places with the Sheffield Curlew any day.
Interesting how you, YP, and Hamel knit your own narratives out of a steak.
DeleteWho said anything about biceps? Upper arm strength is a man's forte. Always will be. Even when only weedy (the man that is). Woman? Best to live on your wits, technique. Technique is everything. As in Vorsprung. Always one step ahead. Taught to me by a man, and another man, the Angel. Personally? Personally, I just charm birds out of trees without so much as lifting a finger.
U
I can *knit my narrative* (cute phrase) out of Chow Mein, Sweet and Sour Chicken, and Prawn Dumplings, Ursula.
DeleteThere's a tiny Chinese restaurant I haven't eaten in since the 1970s. Every time I pass it I remember reading Teilhard de Chardin, who travelled in the remotest parts of Mongolia.
I was a Catholic idealist in those days and could never have imagined the depravity into which my old church has fallen.
I sincerely hope that Father McKenzie (of "Eleanor Rigby" fame) did not fiddle with you when you were an altar boy John. And Ursula, perhaps I misunderstood. I thought you said you felled trees in Canada which would of course have endowed you with bulging biceps.
DeleteThe priests of my childhood were decent, though I was more influenced by two elderly Church of Scotland ministers I met in my twenties. Great men.
DeleteWhat went wrong in my old church is told in a book by Michael S Rose, *Goodbye, Good Men - How Liberals Brought Corruption into the Catholic Church*.
My surviving brother lives in Upper Norwood, London, near Crystal Palace railway station. There is a Greek Orthodox Church where they serve delicious food after the Sunday service. Their bread is wonderful.
Now that is my kind of church! Give me a nice kleftiko and a slice of olive bread and I will believe in any god you care to mention -even Zeus!
DeleteI am afraid will have to settle for wine, sunshine, olive bread and Aphrodite.
DeleteDidn't Laurence Durrell write an essay, *The Return of Aphrodite*?
From that photo it looks as though you had my whole month's meat allowance on one plate. Did you take the leftovers home with you for breakfast?
ReplyDeleteTHank you for sending me your meat allowance JayCee. So kind. No - I did not brink the remaining morsels home. I prefer toast or porridge for breakfast.
DeleteAt least you didn't have the Ploughman's Lunch. That poor Ploughman never gets to eat his meals.
ReplyDeleteThe Mixed Grill looks just the ticket after a good hike.
Who is that ploughman? And how come he seem to plough throughout the year?
DeleteOnce upon a time I could have cleared that plate easily. Nowadays my appetite is more delicate and refined, just like me!
ReplyDeleteCrude oil is also refined Sue!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOnly because I missed something out...
DeleteUrsula reminded me. My mother-in-law always had a 'doggie' bag to put the leftovers in when we went to restaurants, not for the dog of course but the family at home. She was Dutch, went to finishing school where it was taught to use every scrap of the meal. This often resulted in greenish really off cold meats at the supper table, at which we would all look with horror. But had to eat because it would come back the next evening!
Cold green meat is enough to make one become a vegetarian!
DeleteThe comments were nearly as entertaining as your original post! Do you take requests? If you could knit a story knitting in general tso chicken...
ReplyDeleteEh? What the hell are you saying Debby? TSO chicken? Never heard of it... I just googled it: General Tso's chicken. I have never seen that on a Chinese menu in England. I could write a story about General Tso knitting a nice scarf for his mother.
Delete*shocked silence* You don't have General Tso Chicken? What sort of people ARE you? I'm not sure that General Tso actually knitted, but he certainly will warm your throat from the inside. I thought you were the person who made the comment that you could knit a narrative from chow mein and sweet and sour chicken, etc. I see now that it was not you after all. Carry on. I'll simply have to knit my own narrative.
DeleteWow, it's years since I've had a mixed grill! I couldn't face being confronted with all that meat these days - one piece at a time please!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed your evening with the family YP - they are memories to treasure.
I enjoyed my mixed grill but it is very possible that I will not have another one in my remaining years (or possibly months? Weeks? Days?)
DeleteI'm as fed up of Covid-19 as the next person. However, I'm also fed up of people whining about it. You got to eat a meal (that would have fed half the children in Firth Park) and enjoy friends. You haven't had Covid-19. If everything goes your way you'll have a lot more Christmases. We've been a charmed generation, YP. All previous (and I daresay all future) generations have coped with wars and worse. Let's just get on and get through. Of course if we all ignore it a lot more won't get through it. The Trumpian approach.
ReplyDeleteWas I whining? How could I be wining when I was drinking John Smith's bitter?
DeleteIt would appear that every aspect of your post has been covered. I don't think I've ever seen such a meal listed at an American restaurant. Even I, who can dispatch a steak as handily as the next man, could not possibly eat that much protein at one meal. But I have to say- good for you for attempting it!
ReplyDeleteEating mixed grills should be an Olympic event. Perhaps I could win a US college scholarship and train hard, aiming for the gold medal. You would probably do well in the chicken mind reading event.
DeleteDear God! You ate ALL of that?! (Or close to all of that?!)
ReplyDeleteI love how there are like six peas on the plate -- a complete afterthought. LOL
DeleteOh the peas! We have to have our "five a day" you know!
DeleteRemember the Spitting Image sketch?
DeleteJohn Major is dining at home with Norma. *Nice peas, dear,* he says.
He had no wish to enter the Lords because it would have meant declaring his vast income.
Vast? A vast me hearties!
DeleteAfter reading Steve's comment I had to go back and look for the peas. What a sad little afterthought of a pile! They could have just plopped a sprig of parsley in the middle for that touch of green and gave up all pretense of having a vegetable in the middle of the giant plate of meat and eggs. :)
ReplyDeleteIt could become a fun parlour game: Hunt the Peas!
DeletePS what's a 'flat mushroom'?
Delete