Cooking With Richard

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This was a rather lovely, friendly restaurant that we discovered in Rue Mouffetard, Paris.

We had a starter of escargots (snails):

N-sama had a beef stew which tasted like a peposo:

I had a very pleasant cassoulet:

Altogether, a highly recommended restaurant, not particularly because the food was outstanding (although it was very good), but because the place was cosy and friendly.

Photo and someone’s boggy entry.

I have to admit I was watching the excellent Jamie at Home last Friday and he made a slow-cooked roast shoulder of lamb, similar to the ones I’ve made here before, except he used garlic and rosemary for the classic base seasoning.

This is my version, much modified. I cooked the shoulder for 4½ hours, first for 15 minutes at maximum (220°C), then at 130°C. The meat just falls away from the bone after this, and the dissolved fats and sinews in the meat make it moist and rich:

I made a gravy in the usual way, but added fresh mint and capers:

Rosemary and mint came from the garden, lamb from Yorkshire, and the carrots and sweet potatoes from the UK, so this is local food for local people.

Mushi (insects) are very popular in Japan as pets or even for eating. We got these tasty mushi from a popular mushi shop ….

From here:

Documentary about wildlife in Japan (this link will only work for the next 2 or 3 days, so watch it now!)

Click! —> http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008cb9b

All the ladybirds except the one at the bottom are evil invaders from Asia, the Harlequin ladybird:

The first Harlequin was found in a pub car park in Essex in 2004 and since then the ladybird is spreading aggressively throughout the UK, even as far as Wales:

We reported these to the survey and got back a nice response:

Dear Richard

Thank you very much for your ladybird photo. You have correctly identified a harlequin, Harmonia axyridis. This is a valuable record for our survey.

At the moment ladybirds are forming aggregations in preparation for winter - which they spend in a dormant state. This is why they are so conspicuous at the moment. Harlequin ladybirds characteristically spend winter in buildings and are particularly attracted to light coloured stone at this time of year. We think this relates to their behaviour in their native range (Asia) where they head for rocky mountains to overwinter.

In the spring the ladybirds will start to emerge and again this is a time when we see lots but not as many as in the autumn because quite a few will die over the winter time.

It would be great if you could record all your future observations on-line - www.harlequin-survey.org

You may like to know that we now have confirmed records of the harlequin from many sites across southern England, East Anglia and the Midlands. Further north there are a large number of records from Derbyshire and Cheshire and a few from Staffordshire, Humberside, Lancashire, Yorkshire and county Durham. The Harlequin has now also reached Wales, with records from Glamorgan, Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire.

If you would like to download a colour ladybird identification sheet, please click on the link at this website page http://www.ladybird-survey.org/UKladybirds/UKladybirds.htm

Thanks again and best wishes,

Previously …

Conkers!

In Miyajima:

Usaji:

Special OKONOMIYAKI from Hiroshima, with soba noodles:

“Please do not feed pigeons, crows, &c.”
The crow is saying plaintively “If you feed me, I can’t live without your help.”

Lady M took us to an Ethiopian restaurant tonight and this was the first time I have enjoyed Ethiopian food. The meal consisted of small lamb and chicken dishes surrounding a sourdough pancake called injera. To be honest the pancake was very sour and somewhat unpleasant.

The lamb and chicken dishes were pleasant enough once we’d ordered some rice to replace the pancake.

Notice my rather excellent ELER / Schneier T-shirt in the above photo.

I laughed out loud at this:

“Bruce Schneier generated his RSA key with the two largest prime numbers.”

Update

A short explanation on the above: There are an infinite number of prime numbers as is taught in any basic number theory course, so there are no “two largest” primes. But the meta-joke is that if Schneier had actually chosen the two largest primes then because the numbers would (presumably?) be close it would be wide open to a Fermat attack.

This is our lovely local heron:

N-sama tried to set fire to the kitchen. I burned my hand on a smoking pan of hot oil: