Nudist Hotel In Birmingham

Like who wouldn't want to visit Birmingham. It's got all those really popular tourist attractions like, erm... motorways?

But if you are visiting, and just happen to be a nudist, then I hope you watched the Hotel Inspector this week. There could be no better set-up for the Channel 5 pun writers. And they didn't disappoint. Here are the ones I noticed, there were probably more.

• The cracks are beginning to show
• Eager beavers
• Improve the bottom line
• Meat and two veg (that was something about the food if you were unsure)
• The fire-pit is an ideal place to roast your chestnuts.
• Sagging profits
• Salad isn't the only thing that comes undressed
• well-clipped bush
• rude awakening
• Is the end in sight?
• [She] uncovered dull decor, ...
• Get exposure (on the internet and radio)

I am going to end my blog there. You could say the end is in sight.

█

Eat More Fish

After my post on why I shouldn't eat meat I saw an advert for a show on a very similar topic. I didn't watch it, but I guess the gist of Channel 4's investigation is that you can't have cheap ethical meat products. I have really gone off having meat in convenience food like pasties or sandwiches from the shop or whatever. But I am still cool with having meat occasionally when it is the focus of a meal. We have completely stopped having spaghetti bolognaise (with meat), we just have spaghetti and a jar of tomato sauce now.

I haven't even posted about Eurovision that is how much I haven't been blogging. But when the musical elite of Europe came together to laugh at the contestants in Baku I had a barbecue to mark the occasion, and on that barbecue I put some mackerel. It was an exciting day for a barbecue. Good thing I had watched that video on how to clean and gut a mackerel, cos I wasn't expecting to have to do it when I was planning the meal.

Guess what's in the bag.

We had more fish on a birthday barbecue a couple of weeks later, including a trout. Not only that, but on two occasions now I have made a quick and possibly healthy lunch by getting a fish fillet from the supermarket and pan frying it. If you do this from Sainsbury's they give you a free knob of interesting butter. You don't get that at Morrison's. Sainsbury's really know how to look after their customers.

Felt all cheffy spooning my foaming butter over my fish. 

An Update and An Apology

It's obviously been a long time since my last post, so there is a lot to say. We seem to be going at about one post a month. Wow.

My rhubarb has died. Possibly this was due to all the rain we have had. Maybe it would have died anyway, we may never know. I might try again next year, I will see how I feel. However for the time being, project rhubarb has utterly failed. For a contrast, my peonies seem to be doing alright. One of them had a flower which was quickly destroyed by heavy rain. It now has another flower.

I had a wisdom tooth out. It hurt for a bit, but now it's okay.

Er, it's been raining a lot. And my house leaks. That's not cool.

I have had two attempts at a mushroom risotto. The first recipe was created by the founding member of the Essex school for spasticated cooks: Jamie Oliver. The second recipe I tried is the property of the Walt Disney Company, and very nice it was too.

Mushroom Risotto with extra mushrooms. For people who really like mushrooms. Oh, and JO suggested putting some freshly chopped herbs on top, cos that's trendy. Or it would be if you could chop them into small pieces.

Inspired by Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall's book, I had a go at a minestrone soup. As he suggested I put beetroot in it, and (unsurprisingly) everything went purple. I never thought it could be so difficult to tell a carrot from a potato. It was definitely a first attempt ministrone, and quite different to the red water with tiny vegetables you get in tins. I would like to have another go sometime, I think I could change some things and do a better job.

Some of the things I put in my soup: peas, chopped tomatoes, carrots, celery, beetroot, onion, macaroni, courgette, red chard. It also had potatoes and garlic. (And you know like water and salt and shit like that.)

Also in the last month my age has changed from a prime power to a different prime power. That doesn't happen very much after the age of 9. You get 16-17, 31-32 and not many people will make it to the next one.

Never had Irish coffee in a wine glass before. I thought it was a bit weird, but I was wrong.

And now the apology. In an earlier post, I told the world some of my opinions about information. At least I thought I did. I have since re-read a book I first read about 10-15 years ago, and discovered that those ideas had been implanted in my brain by the book, and were nowhere near as original as I thought. The simile between us living in the information age but not knowing what information really is, and iron age men being good at manipulating iron without appreciating its chemical structure was from the book. As is the separation between actual information and whatever physical means is used to store it.

There was one way to think about information in the book that I had forgotten, and so didn't write in my post thinking I had made it up myself. I can now repeat it safe in the knowledge that the author of Goodbye Descartes got it from Alice in Wonderland.

Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin; but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!

The grin is not part of the Cheshire cat. When you move the cat the grin remains. Similarly, information is not a part of a book, or a CD or whatever.