'Conversation Piece', South ShieldsFRIDAY 21 DECEMBER 2007
THIS POSTING...
Although I drafted it on Friday, I have been unable to post this blog until today (Sunday) for - let’s call them - ‘technical’ reasons. Apologies.
SOMETHING NEW
Last night - Thursday - I had a completely new experience. When you get to my age, completely new experiences are something to savour and even actively seek out. There is, after all, a regrettable tendency amongst people over, say, 55 to become stereotypical ‘grumpy old men/women’ whose only reaction, when confronted with something unfamiliar or unknown to them, seems to be either ‘I wouldn’t know where to start’ (in the case of computers, MP3 players or nights on the town) to a sneering ‘been there, done that, got the T-shirt’. But that way lies perdition, if you ask me. Far better, surely, is to embrace all the amazing new things that younger people are developing these days - from iPhones to Thai food - and give them a whirl (- a phrase that dates me instantly). I wish I could say that my new experience was the gift of an iPhone but it was much closer to Thai food. It was, in fact, celeriac. Yes, celeriac.
As far as I’ve been concerned over the years, celeriac has been a total no-go vegetable. Not because of what it is, but because of what it sounds like. It sounds like celery, a comestible that isn’t even worth ignoring. I’m told that celery is the only negative-calorie vegetable in the world; it uses up more calories to actually go to the effort of eating it than you gain from the thing itself. Which just about says it all. This fact, and celery’s biliously pungent taste, have meant that I’ve given it a very wide berth indeed for the first 59 years of my life. Celeriac has, I suppose, suffered by association.
No more. Last night, John knocked up a very acceptable beef bourgignon (on a Thursday!) and accompanied it with celeriac mashed like you mash potatoes, and with rosemary, thyme and cardamom thrown in for good measure. It was truly inspired - as well as being awesomely tasty. (Note the 21st century use of ‘awesomely’ there.) As I was enjoying it, it occurred to me that, although I’m used to trying new recipes and unfamiliar types of food, it’s been quite a while since I tried a completely new ingredient. The last one, I think, was persimmon, sometimes called ‘sharon fruit’. They look like shiny yellow apples with bright green stalks and they’re awful. They make your mouth go numb. They really do.
Now, however, I’m wondering what victuals I’ve been wasting time by avoiding. I’ve noticed, for example, that Amsterdam’s greengrocers always seem to stock something called ‘dragon fruit’. They’re pear-sized and a kind of purple colour with green flaps sticking out all over them. Cut them open and you’re presented with pure white flesh and jet-black seeds. They look profoundly exotic and now several supermarkets are starting to stock them.....
CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or contact me in any one (or more) of these ways....
ian.robinson@bbc.co.uk
text 07786 200954 (while the programme is on-air)
call (between about 0545 and 0630 Monday to Friday) 0191 232 6565
Ian Robinson, The Nightshift, BBC Radio Newcastle, Spital Tongues, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE99 1RN
NOTE
Please bear in mind that the views expressed in this blog are my own and NOT the views of the BBC.
THIS POSTING...
Although I drafted it on Friday, I have been unable to post this blog until today (Sunday) for - let’s call them - ‘technical’ reasons. Apologies.
SOMETHING NEW
Last night - Thursday - I had a completely new experience. When you get to my age, completely new experiences are something to savour and even actively seek out. There is, after all, a regrettable tendency amongst people over, say, 55 to become stereotypical ‘grumpy old men/women’ whose only reaction, when confronted with something unfamiliar or unknown to them, seems to be either ‘I wouldn’t know where to start’ (in the case of computers, MP3 players or nights on the town) to a sneering ‘been there, done that, got the T-shirt’. But that way lies perdition, if you ask me. Far better, surely, is to embrace all the amazing new things that younger people are developing these days - from iPhones to Thai food - and give them a whirl (- a phrase that dates me instantly). I wish I could say that my new experience was the gift of an iPhone but it was much closer to Thai food. It was, in fact, celeriac. Yes, celeriac.
As far as I’ve been concerned over the years, celeriac has been a total no-go vegetable. Not because of what it is, but because of what it sounds like. It sounds like celery, a comestible that isn’t even worth ignoring. I’m told that celery is the only negative-calorie vegetable in the world; it uses up more calories to actually go to the effort of eating it than you gain from the thing itself. Which just about says it all. This fact, and celery’s biliously pungent taste, have meant that I’ve given it a very wide berth indeed for the first 59 years of my life. Celeriac has, I suppose, suffered by association.
No more. Last night, John knocked up a very acceptable beef bourgignon (on a Thursday!) and accompanied it with celeriac mashed like you mash potatoes, and with rosemary, thyme and cardamom thrown in for good measure. It was truly inspired - as well as being awesomely tasty. (Note the 21st century use of ‘awesomely’ there.) As I was enjoying it, it occurred to me that, although I’m used to trying new recipes and unfamiliar types of food, it’s been quite a while since I tried a completely new ingredient. The last one, I think, was persimmon, sometimes called ‘sharon fruit’. They look like shiny yellow apples with bright green stalks and they’re awful. They make your mouth go numb. They really do.
Now, however, I’m wondering what victuals I’ve been wasting time by avoiding. I’ve noticed, for example, that Amsterdam’s greengrocers always seem to stock something called ‘dragon fruit’. They’re pear-sized and a kind of purple colour with green flaps sticking out all over them. Cut them open and you’re presented with pure white flesh and jet-black seeds. They look profoundly exotic and now several supermarkets are starting to stock them.....
CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or contact me in any one (or more) of these ways....
ian.robinson@bbc.co.uk
text 07786 200954 (while the programme is on-air)
call (between about 0545 and 0630 Monday to Friday) 0191 232 6565
Ian Robinson, The Nightshift, BBC Radio Newcastle, Spital Tongues, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE99 1RN
NOTE
Please bear in mind that the views expressed in this blog are my own and NOT the views of the BBC.
3 comments:
hi ian the beef bourgiginion with celeriac mash sounds very tasty...i might even give it a whirl...words can be funny or just plain interesting...
codswallop..cantankarous..
single double time of summer time..cuddy lugs..whippersnapper..compunction.. compulsion..abnoxtion..daphne blot my gran used that one all the time,..
spannered, thats durham slang for a person who,s overimbibed, no doubt there,ll be a few over xmas,. next day paying the price, saying never again.........
impudent fond..flummoxed..flibber de jibbert.. will o the wisp a clown..anyone who,s an avid fan of the sound of music like me will know the nuns sang it..
Evening Ian,
Celeriac... ahh the much maligned celeriac as ugly to look at as the winner of the ugly pugly sponsored ugly pug dog show but a taste that surprises many who eventually try it.
Having turned orthodox vegitarian in April I've looked far and wide for new tastes and as I've started cooking adventurous meals for the first time in my 43 years now I like to experiment.
I too mashed celeriac a month or two back, in a mash-up (good modern musical term) with charlotte potatoes and butternut squash, a splash of single cream and a nob (large) of butter all pulverised to a pulp until my wrists ache, but the resultant mash, in conjunction with a Quorn roast mushroom and garlic en croute with red wine sauce was a massive family hit to the extent
that I am no longer allowed to do normal mashed potatoes with no other veg.
Celeriac is a hit here, and I guess I must be on a winner as the family have eaten my veggie Sunday lunches exclusively for 3 or 4 months now and don't whinge for an old fashioned roast.
Butternut squash too is a massive hit now when used as a mash-partner..... or boiled in cubes and serves as a veg in it's own right.
I'm hungry now... off to the kitchen.
hi ian,i heard you mention the man who listens to your show and is a "truckshunter" by trade, well how much of a coincidence is that? i thought truckshunters was an imaginary word thought up by you...its magic really....more things in heaven and earth...
the guardian angel song you played was lovely....
the guardian angel of children..
this beautful angel guards and protects all that is new in life, especially new born babies. it watches over anything that is beginning to grow and that needs extra nourishment, gentleness and care...
the turkey,buttered and baconed is upside down, squashed into the oven and the door won,t shut, moral of the tale...
calculate before buying...or splash out on a cooker with a bigger oven..
words..
pickerninny, doolally, gobble de gook, higgle de piggle de...frazzel...
quotes..humorous..and happy..
fish and visitors smell in 3 days...
keep your eyes wide open before marriage and half shut afterwards..
joan rivers..
everytime we love, everytime we give, its christmas...
dale evans... merry xmas...
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