Observations from a Hill

  The four of us; Jane and myself, Anne and Colin, drove over to visit James and Leo on Anglesey this morning and stopped for a couple of hours chat, tea & snacks. On our return journey we decided to get an early meal somewhere around Menai Bridge, and quickly realised that most places were already booked solid and rammed with just-finished-work-for-Christmas revellers; which we really should have guessed would be the case. However, we noticed that the Jade Village Chinese Restaurant had just opened its doors, and so we opted for that. A wise decision, as we had a choice of all the tables in the house to choose from. We went for a sharing approach, with suggesting a main, then added rice and spring rolls. And very nice it turned out to be, too, washed down with excellent locally brew ale. Our timing was impeccable, and we left as an enormous party of pre-holiday office party types rolled in and commenced quaffing at the bar. So, back home to write this and open a bottle of wine...

Just a food post tonight as we've visitors over from San Francisco this evening: they're doing a kind of mini grand tour, and have decided to call in and stay the night on their way. So I decided to cook my twist on a traditional roast dinner, with slow-roast Welsh lamb, Greek-style lemon & garlic potatoes - I really can't get enough of them since I discovered the recipe: they're superb - some fancy carrots roasted in the air-fryer, purple-sprouting broccoli and a sauce of white wine & chicken stock reduction and whatever I can deglaze out of the lamb tray after it's done. I'll get a picture before we demolish it, so's you can see. That's all for now as I've lots to do and I'm flying solo this afternoon as Jane's in work. Addendum: a lovely evening with the four of us around the table, despite my over-cooking the potatoes and the broccoli a tad: but never mind, it all tasted OK, and it was the company that mattered most...

Just been talking about the Christmas playlists we've all agreed to concoct for the day's festivities and lunch: the fairly obvious one of it's gotta be Christmas songs or anything starting with the initial 'C'. Which made us think of our own personal Desert Island Discs eight selections and ultimately - literally - our choices of music for our funerals [a bit morbid, that one]. On the choice of music for one's own send-off - which frankly seems pointless as one won't actually be around to hear any of it - I might opt for one of three things. Barber's "Adagio for Strings, Op. 11", to at least elicit genuine tears over something [the music] at the marking of my exit; anything by Einstürzende Neubauten to frankly scare the bejeezus out of any who would bother to to turn up to the event; or John Cage's 4'33": the diametrically opposed negation of the latter. As to one's Desert Island Discs distillation, where to start? And when yo...

What is the point of an education? A simple question, but is there a straightforward answer to it? Alas, the answer is no: there's no simple definition of the worth of an education, and whichever explanatory route one travels is inevitably coloured by context, and to a certain extent by politics. The context here of course is framed by class, which is in itself informed by politics, history and the prevailing power structure that governs us as a society. From my perspective, growing up in a working-class environment, but blessed of a good genetic stock of highly intelligent parents and forebears whose only misfortune was the accidental circumstance of their lack of birthright, education was a means to better understand myself in the wider context of the world; not as some arbitrary tool to self-enhancement on some notional 'career path' to a speculatively 'better' future. Not a bit of it. First off, and most fundamentally, a good general education is required to g...

Went over to Biwmares today for lunch: Bass & chips for me, of course: not in the same receptacle as that would be slightly gross and a less than pleasant experience. Initial pint a tad hazy, but tasted OK anyway: I wish they'd teach their bar staff to waste a couple of pints to ullage at the start of a session to clear the lines, let alone get them all to adhere to the legal requirement of a full imperial pint serving of ale to the rim of the glass [not all are guilty in this respect, to be fair]. Whatever, bitch over; the chips were particularly good, even though cutlery failed to materialise; sometimes, modern hospitality seems to follow the model laid down by Fawlty Towers all those years ago: the 1970s with a twenty-first century veneer - and prices - applied. Frankly not at all convincing on the customer service front, but wryly endearing in a masochistic, self-denying kind of way. This seems to be pretty much the default for most standard food-pub/hotel-based establishm...

  Tonight's meat, resting: pork belly, bone in, but alas no skin. What is it about supermarkets that they feel it necessary to remove one of the best parts of any bit of pig? The bloody skin! We're fast running out of proper butchers where you can actually buy this stuff in its entirety: there's not one left in Bangor - although the Halal supermarket at the bottom of town does great lamb and chicken. When we first moved here in 1980, we had an actual pork butcher on the High Street, alongside a proper grocer that sold game, let alone the estimable and now gone general butchers, Johnny Six. Things have changed, but not for the good, I fear. Along with closure of most of the pubs in Bangor, we have a much depleted source of local, basic, food and drink supply. I remember that we had three bakeries along Bethesda High Street, as well as at least two butchers; never mind the plethora of boozers to choose from. It's just plain sad, I'm afraid...