When I was last in The Hope Café (PC 327 – 24th March 2023) I invited Sami and his girlfriend Lisa to supper and said I would email some dates which would work for us. Yesterday, Thursday, was a suitable date for everyone and they came.
We have learned from experience that it’s better to ask anyone coming for a meal whether they are vegetarian, vegan, have dislikes, often an irrational one (!) about certain food, or whether they have any allergies, like to mushrooms, to nuts or to red peppers. Celina is allergic to all sorts of seafood, such as prawns, lobsters, oysters, whelks, scallops, clams etc. People seem shy in telling one upfront, so we ask. Some years ago someone came for a three course meal and then announced she was on a calorie-counting diet and could she weigh the food I was about to put onto her plate! Someone else had had to eat fish pie at boarding school and today, more than 40 years later, still couldn’t stomach it, especially if the pie includes boiled eggs. Felt sorry for him, as Jamie Oliver’s Fish Pie recipe is to die for!!
Sami had introduced me to Lisa, whom he had met in India during a tour of the Indian Mutiny sites, back in December (PC 312 In The Hope). She’s a writer from Folding over Sheet in the Derbyshire Peak District and the two of them seem to have developed a lovely relationship, so much so that they went off to a yoga retreat in India in February and then toured Goa.
Our doorbell went.
“Bottle of Tattinger? (Note 1) How did you know? Welcome ….. so nice to see you both ….. please …. come in …. let me take your coats.”
We had decided not to ask anyone else, as we wanted to get to know Sami and Lisa better. Our huge ‘living room’ is exactly that, a room in which we live, cook, eat and relax; downstairs are the apartment’s bedrooms. The open plan format allows me to chat to our guests as I am putting the starter together, a simple collection of roasted pine nuts, peeled pears, rocket, endive, some chunks of gorgonzola and a dressing.
“So how was your yoga retreat?”
Lisa quickly replied:
“Actually it was lovely. I am fairly new to yoga, having started only a couple of years ago when my now ex-husband left for a new life with his secretary! Such a cliché, but I had sited his coercive behaviour in our divorce papers, so it was a very serious breakdown of our relationship! ….”
I made a mental note to find out more, probably at a later date.
“ ……. But it got me focused on what I wanted, mentally and physically; practising yoga covers both aspects so a good place to start! I was delighted to find out from Sami he practised Hatha yoga too, maybe in a more desultory way …..
“I agree, not very regularly, but I am keen to do more.” interjects Sami.
…… so we booked a retreat in Kerula. Very international group of people, all ages, very relaxed and a beautiful place.” And pulling out her mobile from her handbag, with a little searching produced a photograph of the place.
“Looks wonderful! OK Let’s sit.” ….. and we sat as a foursome around the dinner table and got stuck in. The conversation started to flow, everyone relaxed and comfortable.
I then excused myself to finish off the main course. Sami and Lisa hadn’t met Celina before so she was able to tell them something of her life, being born in Rio de Janeiro etc.
Up until 1995 white rice to me meant perfectly cooked, dry and fluffy stuff; the sort of standard accompaniment to an Indian curry. I had never liked what I could call ‘wet’ rice, until I went for lunch in the café of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney’s Circular Quay. I ordered a bowl of mushroom risotto and thought I had gone to heaven; creamy, perfectly al dente but still with a bite and have loved cooking it ever since. When a friend Narissa commented she was put off making it at home, one evening I hosted a ‘Teach-in’ on how to make it.
A much used Risotto recipe from Jamie Oliver
Sami got up and came over to keep me company.
“You can obviously cook Richard.”
“Well, yes I learned sailing offshore that with a little effort food can be tasty and then I can read. Not fazed by a new recipe and remind myself that some recipes, for instance by reputation Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate cake, don’t work, but I have never tried to make it! A few years ago, in the family kitchen in Rio, I was told you could only make Crème Caramel with condensed milk. Thought this was nonsense if you can buy ‘fresh’ milk so came back to the UK, found a recipe and made some – delicious!”
“I guess I’ve got a bit lazy since my bankruptcy and having to look after myself! Too many ‘Take-Aways’ but Lisa can cook really well so life is on the up.”
“And I read the Post Office (PO) scandal isn’t over?”
“It’s a nightmare. I was offered thousands of pounds but the lawyers wanted 80% of it. Some convictions have not been overturned, with the PO dragging its feet, the compensation scheme is a nightmare to work through and the governmental enquiry still has to hear from the PO and Fujitsu executives.”
Into the heavy-bottomed saucepan of white onions (15 minutes to sweat properly), garlic, sliced celery, I add some finely chopped mushrooms and separately cook some other roughly-torn ones.
“OK! Now some Risotto rice and white wine; three minutes”
“Hey that’s beginning to smell wonderful.” says Sami, looking over my shoulder.
Over the next five minutes I gradually add some hot vegetable stock, keep stirring, and eventually the rice is cooked. Finally I add the mushrooms, a large knob of butter and some grated parmesan cheese, tip the saucepan’s contents into a warmed serving bowl and take it to the table.
“Sami, can you bring that bowl of salad and the plates please?”
When everyone has some food in front of them and something to drink, I raise my glass and toast:
“Bon Appetite”
(To be Continued …..)
Richard 7th April 2023
Hove
Note 1 A bunch of flowers is lovely too, but you have to scramble around looking for a vase etc so a bottle better!
postcards 