A Source of Cooking Inspiration

[Braai-Q]

30 minutes ago, Troble said:

 

@Braai-Q I also believe that travel will be restrictive when things open up. People will have to show vaccination cards etc potentially. My wife is Peruvian and we had a trip schedule for March 26 of this year to go to Peru and we were gonna get married there civilly so I could get a Peruvian passport, but that got cancelled (airline still hasn’t give me my money back either) and I had reservations at the worlds number 5 & 10 restaurants in Lima that also got cancelled 

 

I think you're right @Troble It's Ian Mackay's Swiss Cheese Model. It's interesting seeing the backlash that Qantas faced with suggestion that they'd adopt a 'no jab, no fly' policy suggesting that implementation and compliance is going to be a challenge. One of my clients is a large international organisation and I'm working with them at the moment. We're struggling with legal and ethical responsibilities and the liability risk they face. Working across 16 markets with very little commonality in approach to the pandemic is to understate it somewhat, challenging. The savings they're making on travel really throw into focus the extent of losses that the airlines will be suffering. I'm not sure I'll be able to afford air fares based on how many airlines will remain operational! 

I'm sorry to hear that your trip was cancelled. Assume that was Maido and Central? It'll be even more special when it happens. Funnily enough, we were due to be in Singapore, flying that day. We were due to visit Odette which I think is in the top 20 if we're talking about the same list. Not that position matters, it's subjective and all are exceptional. 

[Troble]

@Braai-Q yes the number is irrelevant and highly subjective, anything on the list is great. But yes it was Central & Maido. And I was planning on taking a Peruvian cooking class, but all those things will happen in time.

 

The real fear is restaurants closing. Here in the US they are not getting any Federal support abs now with another wave of closure many of the great independent restaurants that have lasted this long are closing. I drive around San Diego the other day to parts of the City I used to live in but haven’t been too in awhile and was shocked at how many of my favorite craft beer bars and restaurants had closed down. 

[tekobo]

Thanks for all the information and great advice @Troble.  My thinking is that if we cross the border to Mexico we might travel around a bit more and then fly back home from Mexico rather than attempt a return border crossing.  

I worry about places closing down too.  The good news for us in the UK is that restaurants and bars have received some support through these bad times.  The most cheering thing for me is the woman who has taken over a shop across the road from my house.  She worked really hard to set things up during our second lockdown and opened up her new pastry shop just last week. There were queues of customers from the first day of opening and disappointed people walking by on Sunday when they found out she had taken the day off.  A ballsy move to open up in these times.  I hope she succeeds.  

@RokDok, we love botanical gardens and seek them out in every city that we visit.  Looking forward to travelling again.  We had thought of doing a "travel light" version of Vietnam and Cambodia and may yet manage it.  Not enough time in each year and we are currently still wedded to building up our friendships in and enjoyment of Padova in Italy.  

[Basher]

We have been relatively lucky in Queensland. Gyms, pubs and restaurants were restricted for April and May, then pretty much normal business BUT, with closed borders. Pretty sure Aussie has had the same in WA.
This is a restaurant I enjoy about a 10 minute walk from home.

https://www.detourrestaurant.com.au/menu
Especially for the shock value of the first 3 items on the menu.
They laboratory breed black ants and use them to spice up the salmon- surprisingly tasty and the kitchen is completely exposed to the seated guests.
The emu tartare is also very good.
It’s tough for me to replicate these cooks at home.

My wife and I back packed for 3 years before settling here. They are very fond memories. To retrace these steps would be a totally different experience now through older eyes.
England is next on the list when this covid reset permits. We have some close friends there we’d love to see again.


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[Braai-Q]

3 hours ago, Troble said:

The real fear is restaurants closing. Here in the US they are not getting any Federal support abs now with another wave of closure many of the great independent restaurants that have lasted this long are closing. I drive around San Diego the other day to parts of the City I used to live in but haven’t been too in awhile and was shocked at how many of my favorite craft beer bars and restaurants had closed down. 

In the UK, we've had the furlough scheme which has helped the hospitality industry to a degree and I know kurzarbeit in Germany is alleviating the situation but it's hard not to see a number of casualties. 

It is creating a degree of innovation with home meal kits and I have seen a number of chefs doing Zoom classes which are sparking interest in their cuisine. A little neighbourhood restaurant which was less 100 yards from our front door in London has been smart. Their space was too small to socially distance tables to achieve a profitable threshold so they create a store and have been offering sourced and produced produce as well as a take away service - https://www.brawn.co/collection/brawn-sourced/

[Basher]

In the UK, we've had the furlough scheme which has helped the hospitality industry to a degree and I know kurzarbeit in Germany is alleviating the situation but it's hard not to see a number of casualties. 
It is creating a degree of innovation with home meal kits and I have seen a number of chefs doing Zoom classes which are sparking interest in their cuisine. A little neighbourhood restaurant which was less 100 yards from our front door in London has been smart. Their space was too small to socially distance tables to achieve a profitable threshold so they create a store and have been offering sourced and produced produce as well as a take away service - https://www.brawn.co/collection/brawn-sourced/

What’s the furlough scheme Braai?
Our federal gov is running a job keeper allowance where the business is paid the unemployment rate if they keep their employees on and their turnover is It’s kept many business’s open and surviving.


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[tony b]

One of my favorite restaurants here in Cedar Rapids, Popoli, has announced that they are shutting the doors for good in a couple of weeks. They are selling off their wine cellar at a discount, so I managed to get a nice mixed case as my "goodbye" present. I will miss them a lot! 

[Troble]

@tekobo that is an excellent idea. You can fly from Tijuana to just about any place in Mexico, Central & South America. In fact many smart travelers in Souther CA fly internationally out of Tijuana because it is so much cheaper than flying out of LAX. They actually have a parking garage/escalator that takes you straight from San Diego to the Tijuana international gate, 

perhaps a sojourn down to Tulum, over to the Caribbean then back home to the UK? Lots of possibilities there. From TJ to Carribean there a lot of possibilities and it’s relatively cheap (or at least was). When you start planning I’d love to help. The best thing to do in CA is drive the CA 1 from SF to Santa Barbara. I’m sure there’s direct London to SF, drive down the coast to San Diego, head to Valle de Guadalupe, down to Tulum, over to the Caribbean, then back to UK.

Geez! You got my travel bug juices flowing again!

Edited December 7, 2020 by Troble

[Braai-Q]

2 hours ago, Basher said:

What’s the furlough scheme Braai?
Our federal gov is running a job keeper allowance where the business is paid the unemployment rate if they keep their employees on and their turnover is It’s kept many business’s open and surviving.


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Same concept in terms of a state subsidy Basher. Here's a guide to the UK retention scheme: https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/emp-law/employees/furlough

[RokDok]

 

• Stage One :
• An extra Xmas present for Mrs RD.
• 

[Basher]

Rough Guide! For Mrs RD, surely not?


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[RokDok]

6 hours ago, Basher said:

Rough Guide! For Mrs RD, surely not?

'Fraid so Basher - it'll be travelling light and cheap most of the time interspersed with the occasional bit of luxury - somehow it's always not me that organises that bit.

 

 

[tony b]

Noticed that you snuck the pic of the new sofa in as your avatar, @RokDok

[RokDok]

1 hour ago, tony b said:

Noticed that you snuck the pic of the new sofa in as your avatar, @RokDok

 

That's observant @tony b

 If Only !!!

The deal is I was allowed a KK provided Mrs RD gets her sofas.(3).

So, after multiple visits to various showrooms-, it was settled that we were gong to get the "Duresta Coco" sofas - as in my avatar. I would have liked leather but was quickly put in my place.

Loads of fabric samples were ordered.

That seemed quite easy.

After a while Mrs RD thought the arms were a bit big, and so then the decision was made to get the " Duresta Waldorf " models instead.

Cue more fabric samples coming through the post.

Then we went to visit Mrs RD's delightful 94 yr old mother, - and realised that her mum had the same model sofa (this one = 35 yrs old flock & tassels etc)

I thought it looked familiar.

Mrs RD was suddenly not too keen on the "Waldorf", as it looked a little dated, so she changed her mind back to the Coco.

On Friday we had a 430 mile round trip to the Duresta factory and showroom. This was simply to finalise the fabric choice.

Being a longish journey, made longer by the British love affair with traffic cones and the blocking off of multiple lanes of long stretches of motorway for no apparent reason, this journey was going to take eight or nine hours or so and therefore Mrs RD kindly offered to share the driving.

Sanitized and face masked we had a vast showroom to ourselves.

Mrs RD decided she didn't like the Coco after all.

I didn't catch the reason - as I'd suddenly become light-headed, felt slightly sick and my ears were ringing.

Fortunately there was no shortage of places to sit and rest.

So, we are now apparently going to get the " Greenwich" model.

And we are going to a local showroom tomorrow to see more fabrics - there's a choice of 600.

I think we've got most of those as samples already and I'm seriously thinking it would be  much better just to stitch the damn things together and throw them over our existing sofas.

The offer to share the driving consisted of Mrs RD moving her car out of the way so I could get the bigger car out, and ten hours later moving it back again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MacKenzie]

The moral of that story is: It is so much easier to get a KK than a sofa. 

[Troble]

@RokDokalways been a fan of Lonely Planet country guides https://www.lonelyplanet.com/mexico

they do a good job of providing historical info as well as budget, moderate abs high Eve accommodations and dining for all places. I used this extensively on my RTW trip and I still purchase an updated Lonely Planet book to this day if I’m going on a big international trip. It’s a excellent starting point and resource

i don’t know how you survive that couch fabric experience that would drive me nuts 

Edited December 10, 2020 by Troble

[Paul]

13 hours ago, RokDok said:

And we are going to a local showroom tomorrow to see more fabrics - there's a choice of 600.

I'm not wife bashing here but, there's no way my wife could make a choice out of 600 options. I'd call the place and ask they only offer 10 to 15 within her color palette. Just trying to making things easier for her! 

[tekobo]

1 hour ago, Paul said:

I'm not wife bashing here but, there's no way my wife could make a choice out of 600 options. I'd call the place and ask they only offer 10 to 15 within her color palette. Just trying to making things easier for her! 

As a wife, this made me laugh.  The Husband and I have long wanted a sofa from the Roche Bobois Mah Jong range.  The key feature of this range is that you mix and match different patterns.  It is the definition of the absence of decision making.  We got their app, picked out a load of fabrics and made up a sofa.  When we looked at it in the cold light of day we realised how awful it would look and toned it all down to a range of finishes that we thought we could live with long term.  So we made a decision.  Sort of.  We like the result.  

[RokDok]

6 hours ago, Troble said:

i don’t know how you survive that couch fabric experience that would drive me nuts 

That happened to me a while ago nuts is the new normal.

Thanks for the Lonely Planet link- they are great guides- we still have the first one we ever had - " South East Asia on a Shoestring" we used it have ing worked in Australia for a year and came up through Malaysia and Thailand.

I would have bought that one too , but that would kind have cornered Mrs RD. Just getting the one guide gives her the opportunity to tell me off for not getting the right one.

4 hours ago, Paul said:

I'm not wife bashing here but, there's no way my wife could make a choice out of 600 options. I'd call the place and ask they only offer 10 to 15 within her color palette. Just trying to making things easier for her! 

The cat's out of the bag I'm afraid Paul. Mrs RD knows that there are 600 different fabrics - at least the choice has been narrowed down to 580 - she's ruled out the leather ones that I like.

@tekobo, now I like that idea :

I've shown Mrs RD and I think we could be onto a winner here.

 

 

[tekobo]

I used to buy different guides unitl I worked out which I  most liked the recommendations from.  Pre-tripadvisor I used to rely on the Time Out guides.  I don't know if they still produce paper copies but my Time Out Sydney guide from 1997 remains one of my prize possessions. It guided me for food, shops and a place to live when I spent a year working in Sydney.  

We mostly rely on local knowledge and tripadvisor now. The latter is good because you can also get a sense of the reviewer as well as the review.  We have gone to some places on the basis that a reviewer we didn't like picked out a feature that they hated and we knew we would love. 

As for sofas, be careful @RokDok.  All the second hand Mah Jong sofas we have seen on eBay look awful.  Someone was left unsupervised to pick what they wanted at will and their lack of taste shines through.  The set you picked out above looks like fun.  We went for the kenzo takada range to tone things down for our setting.