Had a tremendous valentines evening last night with my partner and just been for a very brisk walk outside this morning, listening to a Scottish Football podcast. We had a lovely saddle of venison, parsnips and fennel mash. I hope you all enjoyed yours. We had a bottle on 2005 Malbec as a special treat. Just about to go for a swim. What a glorious day ahead. Let’s hope today marks the start of a new era for the reds. My friend Greg saw on twitter last night that we are recruiting Jack Ross. Best regards George Spicer.
Good Morning George, I'm enjoying reading your posts and it's nice learning some old fashioned wisdom from a gentleman such as yourself. Would it be too bold of me to ask for some advice? I am having a lady friend round for some supper this evening and I have some nice Dover sole which I am going to gently pan fry. What would you suggest as accompaniments for this beautiful fish? Your sincerely Ron jr
Good morning Ron Fine taste - the Dover is my favourite of all the soles. There’s no doubt about it you will need some celeriac mash and sandfire. Best regards George
George. I'm afraid it is spelled "samphire". We pick it each year on the Lincolnshire beaches and either eat it raw or lightly steam it. Toodle pip.
George, Can only assume autocorrect was playing tricks on you there - surely every expert forager knows the correct spelling....
Ah crumbs. It’s this blasted Samsung galaxy of Georgio’s - he’s rather uncouth and hasn’t programmed the autocorrect to recognise halophytes and other delicacies Many apologies George Spicer
I adore samphire, although on one occasion it caused an unpleasant exchange between my partner and myself. She likes the rock variety which is rarer than my preference which is the marsh genus. We were having Dover sole for tea one evening and I inadvertendely bought some marsh samphire as an accompaniement. She wasn't best pleased and refused to speak to me for the remainder of the week. Unable to tolerate a series of mute breakfasts any longer I decided upon a peace offering and bought a beautiful bouquet of flowers. As I handed them to her she said " what am I supposed to do for them open my legs." Rather foolishly I replied " why haven't we got a vase.?" whereupon complete silence reigned for another week. It's an amazing collocation of diverse phenomena as to why we all have differing tastes, but in order to avoid any future unpleasantness we have now reached a compromise we simply buy broccoli.
George I find myself in a bit of a quandary and am hoping that you can help. I note that you have not previously opined on the intricacies of etiquette or fashion, but I can tell that you are a man of superior refinement and sartorial elegance. The problem is this – my partner (who I love so dearly) bought me a brand new pair of shoes for work for Valentine's Day. I'm sure you're thinking that "where is the issue in that?" Well George, the issue is that they are brown, and as a young professional I have always strictly abided by the "no brown in town" rule. As such I find myself faced with 2 options – I must either hurt my partner's feelings over her thoughtful but ultimately misguided gift, or face the ridicule of my professional peers. This morning I wore the brown shoes but made sure I had black socks on, then when I arrived at work slipped my socks over my shoes so it appears that I am in fact wearing black shoes. A cunning ruse, but one which is unsustainable in the long term. What would you recommend? Kind regards M. Red
Hi George. Hope your having a lovely day despite all the tension of wondering who will be our next manager. I wonder if you could give me some advice on etiquette please. I met this lass on a strawberry picking holiday in Kent last year (fantastic holiday for nowt loads of Yorkshire people there) However she’s from West Country and insists on having her Yorkshire’s on same plate and time as her roasts. At first I ignored it and supposed I’d get used to it but eight months on its infuriating me I’ve gently hinted that to be real Yorkshire Pudding it has to be a starter to be pre digested before the roast dinner but she’s having non of it and it’s really starting to grind me down. We’ve booked an Olive pressing break in Sardinia next October which we were both looking forward to but I’m not sure I can go through with it now . What would you suggest?
Good morning, George Just spent a bit of time in our small garden, feeding our resident blackbird and robin. A while back, there was some concern on a national level over the drop in numbers of sparrows. Well, all I can say is that we must have got a large percentage visiting us for their food! Feeding the birds has been a wonderfully relaxing experience since I retired, one which I can highly recommend for destressing. All the best, sir Big Lil
Go steady with the action - you don't want to do yourself an injury trying to fling it too far, nor do you want to spill it everywhere. I also read someone got a fine for feeding the birds in public a while back. True story you know old chap.
