It’s a crazy morning with boiled eggs and the morning papers when you read that you local councillor’s dog has a daily blog.
I don’t expect flocking crowds to my blog, but a few regular readers would move my mood barometer nicely along to chuffed. But it looks like I have some way to go.
Harry, the Abingdon border terriers’ owner Alastair Fear set up the blog for his poochy pal after finding that the most interesting subject of the photographs for his own blog was often Harry himself.
With nearly 200 hits a month to Harry’s blog, detailing where he’s been, his latest adventures, who he’s met and his favourite walks, this is one social media-savvy mutt.
Having met Martin Clunes last year at a book signing, and more recently being interviewed on BBC Radio Oxford to talk about his new found fame, his owner is concerned that all the attention may be going to his head. It’ll be Evian in the dog bowl and doggy-Ugg boots all the way before you know it.
While Lib Dem Councillor Fear’s blog This Abingdon takes a serious look at goings on in the town, check out Harry’s diary for a light-hearted canine take on the world.
http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/search/4065838.Every_blog_has_its_day_/
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Saturday, 17 January 2009
The Battle of the Biggest Discounters
I'm refusing to talk about the ongoing doom and gloom sweeping across the UK (it rhymes with obsession, regression, and various others).
However I wanted to write quickly about my own experience of discount supermarkets, and the introduction of bargain brands into chains such as Tesco.
Tesco now position themselves as Britain’s biggest discounter. I purchased an advent calendar for my baby son at the end of November and proudly hung it in the hall way, each day moving along to the next exciting part of advent.
On reaching December 18th I was rudely shunted straight to the 19th of the month. 16th, 17th…19th, 20th. Maybe this superstores discounting had gone a little too far? Whether it was just me that was unlucky, or all the 18th days had been lost somewhere, never to be seen again, we will never know.
Shortly before this my husband admitted that he was a little miffed that our son and I had both been gifted with advent calendars, and based on his new chocolate addiction, he was quite put out.
So, while visiting Lidl to scout for tasty treats for the Christmas buffet trolley (another story in itself), I spied chocolate calendars at the bargain price of 39p! Being the 10th of December I should probably expect to get a knock down deal, but you get to eat 11 chocolates on the 11th day, can't be bad.
I checked my purse and it must have been a sign because I had the exact change, so I scuttled excitedly with buggy, albeit it a bit of a wiggly line, to the checkout.
'Just this' I beamed happily. 'Just this?' questioned the checkout assistant. I nodded to confirm, slightly embarrassed that I wasn't with a trolley piled high with bargain buckets of chicken, yard long tubes of biscuits and one size fits all gloves for the family.
'It's free' he said. 'Free?' I croaked, somewhat suspicious. 'Free' he repeated, and so it went on - 'free?' I exclaimed, again. After this ping pong exchange, almost too chuffed to speak, I said 'thank you....and, and, Merry Christmas to you!'.
I glided out of Lidl, pleased as you like - there are some really nice people out there still....although I have a feeling he saw me counting my coppers, took in the small baby and took pity on my very apparent glee at having enough to buy a 39p chocolate advent calendar.
Admittedly from the 11th to 24th December, my husband tried to trade his days chocolate allowance for the luxury version from my Dairy Milk calendar - I thought it was supposed to be the thought that counts?!
Anyway, I liked the Lidl chocolate., and they are now by far Britain’s biggest discounter in my eyes.
p.s. Unfortunately I decided to stock the Christmas buffet trolley in Tesco, and this time avoiding the bargain basement, plumped for the finest ranges - no advantage of spending a little extra it turned out - it appeared that something small and squirmy had snuck into my bag of pistachios, feasted until he passed out, curled up and was discovered by my mother on Boxing Day.
However I wanted to write quickly about my own experience of discount supermarkets, and the introduction of bargain brands into chains such as Tesco.
Tesco now position themselves as Britain’s biggest discounter. I purchased an advent calendar for my baby son at the end of November and proudly hung it in the hall way, each day moving along to the next exciting part of advent.
On reaching December 18th I was rudely shunted straight to the 19th of the month. 16th, 17th…19th, 20th. Maybe this superstores discounting had gone a little too far? Whether it was just me that was unlucky, or all the 18th days had been lost somewhere, never to be seen again, we will never know.
Shortly before this my husband admitted that he was a little miffed that our son and I had both been gifted with advent calendars, and based on his new chocolate addiction, he was quite put out.
So, while visiting Lidl to scout for tasty treats for the Christmas buffet trolley (another story in itself), I spied chocolate calendars at the bargain price of 39p! Being the 10th of December I should probably expect to get a knock down deal, but you get to eat 11 chocolates on the 11th day, can't be bad.
I checked my purse and it must have been a sign because I had the exact change, so I scuttled excitedly with buggy, albeit it a bit of a wiggly line, to the checkout.
'Just this' I beamed happily. 'Just this?' questioned the checkout assistant. I nodded to confirm, slightly embarrassed that I wasn't with a trolley piled high with bargain buckets of chicken, yard long tubes of biscuits and one size fits all gloves for the family.
'It's free' he said. 'Free?' I croaked, somewhat suspicious. 'Free' he repeated, and so it went on - 'free?' I exclaimed, again. After this ping pong exchange, almost too chuffed to speak, I said 'thank you....and, and, Merry Christmas to you!'.
I glided out of Lidl, pleased as you like - there are some really nice people out there still....although I have a feeling he saw me counting my coppers, took in the small baby and took pity on my very apparent glee at having enough to buy a 39p chocolate advent calendar.
Admittedly from the 11th to 24th December, my husband tried to trade his days chocolate allowance for the luxury version from my Dairy Milk calendar - I thought it was supposed to be the thought that counts?!
Anyway, I liked the Lidl chocolate., and they are now by far Britain’s biggest discounter in my eyes.
p.s. Unfortunately I decided to stock the Christmas buffet trolley in Tesco, and this time avoiding the bargain basement, plumped for the finest ranges - no advantage of spending a little extra it turned out - it appeared that something small and squirmy had snuck into my bag of pistachios, feasted until he passed out, curled up and was discovered by my mother on Boxing Day.
Can Heston save The Chef?
As a child a stop at the little chef was a treat. A real treat. Pancakes with lemon and sugar - loads of sugar. I'm not quite sure what my usually sane parents were thinking, letting us eat our own body weight in sugar before bouncing us back into the car for the remainder of the journey. I'm sure if it wasn't for our intolerable nagging it would have been a loo only stop - none of the excitement of the pancake stack and complimentary colour in placemat.
These days though as a parent myself I have only ever stepped under the red and white stripy canopy and in through those heavy doors once - and it was an absolutely necessity. It was do or die. A short time after departing from a successful days shopping in Milton Keynes with another mummy friend, our two adorable, hungry, tired, cranky babies demanded food, and it was stop or be stopped - more than likely by the local bobbies for driving without due care and attention.
So when I heard that the almighty Heston himself is set to revamp the over priced, outdated motorway diner-cum-dive that is The Little Chef I had mixed feelings.
Fantastic challenge, can't wait for the next instalment. But, really do I want one of my favourite childhood memories to be turned from the sickly sweet to something more sinister? Because there is no doubt that if I did ever return to peruse the menu, the fluffy yumminess that was pancakes with lemon and sugar would more likely be pancakes with swede ice cream and snails on the side.
Blumenthal of 'the world's best place to eat' The Fat Duck at Bray will be bringing the wierd and wonderful world of his culinary craziness to our screens from this Monday (19th January) in Channel 4 series Big Chef Takes on Little Chef.
I'll be eager to tune in - especially to find out why LC's chief executives turned down Heston's first menu for lacking the wow factor.
I'm also keen to see how Heston brings his scientific approach into the kitchen of a service station eatery - personally the science part for me was calculating the maximum amount of crunchy white hyper inducing goodness it was possible to spread on the surface of one pancake.
Don't miss it - Channel 4, Monday 19th January at 9pm. Even if I never visit a Little Chef again, I still don't want it to close, that would be a sad, sad day…
These days though as a parent myself I have only ever stepped under the red and white stripy canopy and in through those heavy doors once - and it was an absolutely necessity. It was do or die. A short time after departing from a successful days shopping in Milton Keynes with another mummy friend, our two adorable, hungry, tired, cranky babies demanded food, and it was stop or be stopped - more than likely by the local bobbies for driving without due care and attention.
So when I heard that the almighty Heston himself is set to revamp the over priced, outdated motorway diner-cum-dive that is The Little Chef I had mixed feelings.
Fantastic challenge, can't wait for the next instalment. But, really do I want one of my favourite childhood memories to be turned from the sickly sweet to something more sinister? Because there is no doubt that if I did ever return to peruse the menu, the fluffy yumminess that was pancakes with lemon and sugar would more likely be pancakes with swede ice cream and snails on the side.
Blumenthal of 'the world's best place to eat' The Fat Duck at Bray will be bringing the wierd and wonderful world of his culinary craziness to our screens from this Monday (19th January) in Channel 4 series Big Chef Takes on Little Chef.
I'll be eager to tune in - especially to find out why LC's chief executives turned down Heston's first menu for lacking the wow factor.
I'm also keen to see how Heston brings his scientific approach into the kitchen of a service station eatery - personally the science part for me was calculating the maximum amount of crunchy white hyper inducing goodness it was possible to spread on the surface of one pancake.
Don't miss it - Channel 4, Monday 19th January at 9pm. Even if I never visit a Little Chef again, I still don't want it to close, that would be a sad, sad day…
The Mission - One burrito leads to another
Opened at the beginning of 2008 and serving 1000 burritos a week just a month later, The Mission is getting ready to open six more eateries, and is leading the burrito boom!
When you’re just about to serve your 10,000th burrito, you’re using four kilometers of tin foil, and 2,500 avocados for the all important guacamole each month, it’s no surprise that the talk is of expansion at this taqueria.
The Mission Mexican Grill opened its doors to a waiting crowd buzzing excitedly with anticipation and rumbling bellies; eager to sample California-Mexican food at its best. And they weren’t disappointed.
This was the start of a revolution; the sweet smell of salsa and success began drifting down the cobbled streets in no time. The success that is, of bringing the fresh, wholesome flavours of the burrito to Oxford, all the way from the Mission District in San Francisco.
“Since we turned the open sign around for the very first time, we haven’t stopped to take a breath. Most days we are making burritos non stop – it’s hectic but fantastic! Our chef Victor is amazing – so when you serve great food and you can’t stop to grab a bite yourself, what do you do – you start thinking about the bigger burrito!”
Jan Rasmussen, Owner.
The first step will be a further addition to the Oxford high street to keep up with local demand. A following big enough for an impressive Mexican Wave has established itself, especially amongst American students studying in the town. This new outlet will also cater for private parties and functions, as well as serving the late night snacker on the way to or from nearby bars and clubs.
But is it possible to replicate the success of The Mission? Jan believes the popularity is down to a rapidly increasing demand for wholesome, filling and good value for money food to go. And, having a chef who knows his pico de gallo from his pinto beans, as well as expert burrito-makers upfront is essential. Chef Victor will be instrumental in the successful launch of each new outlet, and asking him if he knows about Cal-Mex food is like asking Jamie if he knows much about school dinners.
So where next? London? Bristol? Birmingham? All are names on the table – and you heard it here first. The Mission team are hard at work planning out the expansion of what started as one little burrito joint in Oxford, and is now set be the beginning of the burrito revolution.
When you’re just about to serve your 10,000th burrito, you’re using four kilometers of tin foil, and 2,500 avocados for the all important guacamole each month, it’s no surprise that the talk is of expansion at this taqueria.
The Mission Mexican Grill opened its doors to a waiting crowd buzzing excitedly with anticipation and rumbling bellies; eager to sample California-Mexican food at its best. And they weren’t disappointed.
This was the start of a revolution; the sweet smell of salsa and success began drifting down the cobbled streets in no time. The success that is, of bringing the fresh, wholesome flavours of the burrito to Oxford, all the way from the Mission District in San Francisco.
“Since we turned the open sign around for the very first time, we haven’t stopped to take a breath. Most days we are making burritos non stop – it’s hectic but fantastic! Our chef Victor is amazing – so when you serve great food and you can’t stop to grab a bite yourself, what do you do – you start thinking about the bigger burrito!”
Jan Rasmussen, Owner.
The first step will be a further addition to the Oxford high street to keep up with local demand. A following big enough for an impressive Mexican Wave has established itself, especially amongst American students studying in the town. This new outlet will also cater for private parties and functions, as well as serving the late night snacker on the way to or from nearby bars and clubs.
But is it possible to replicate the success of The Mission? Jan believes the popularity is down to a rapidly increasing demand for wholesome, filling and good value for money food to go. And, having a chef who knows his pico de gallo from his pinto beans, as well as expert burrito-makers upfront is essential. Chef Victor will be instrumental in the successful launch of each new outlet, and asking him if he knows about Cal-Mex food is like asking Jamie if he knows much about school dinners.
So where next? London? Bristol? Birmingham? All are names on the table – and you heard it here first. The Mission team are hard at work planning out the expansion of what started as one little burrito joint in Oxford, and is now set be the beginning of the burrito revolution.
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