Another Food Blog

It was like an early Christmas for me, not being American. But my American friends are used to it: a Thanksgiving party. We had just about every possible dish under the sun, and everything was absolutely delicious! The turkey popped out of the oven a beautiful roasted golden brown, and was very succulent and tender. Alongside this were mashed potatoes, nice and buttery, plenty of salads, including a herby pasta salad, and other vegetables, some roasted, some steamed. Later there was pumpkin pie and an excellent cheese board. Generally on the table throughout were nuts to be cracked and some excellent small tangerine-like fruits, still with some of their bright green leaves on for a magnificent contrast. There was also plenty of wine, of course, which helped along the very stimulating, intelligent conversation, some of which came from mere children!

As usual, the portions were so titanic that we couldn’t possibly finish. But each dish was delicious and well worth the guilt of not being able to tuck the entire thing away. We started with six boiled dumplings, filled with unspecified meat, but perfectly delicious nonetheless and coming with a sauce that was so spicy that one drop on the end of a teaspoon would do just fine per dumpling. The other starter was deep-fried aubergine, which came with a sweet chilli sauce and was remarkably sweet and light.

The rest of the food was in two main courses, the first of which was mine: scallops with asparagus. The asparagus was, remarkably, peeled and not cooked to oblivion like most places and people do them. It went well with the lightly cooked scallops, and pieces of what seemed like slices, steamed carrot. The other main course was sizzling chicken with green pepper and black bean sauce. All very good, and a charming couple at the next table, from whom, with very limited snippets of conversation, we figured out were on a first date!

Sitting chatting in a relatively quiet Union Bar the other day, a friend and I were enjoying red wine and cider respectively, the cider Scrumpy Jack. When the bar began to fill, we were joined by two friends eating pizzas. They were both Napolitana take-away pizzas from Ask restaurant, which is about as near as it’s possible to get to The Union without being attached, and £5.95 each, we were told. One of the two decided to remove all the black olives whilst the other braved the pizza whole, which looked like a far better taste-balanced meal to me. Conversation turned in a lively manner to philosophy, based around specific philosophers, including each of us choosing our favourite about whom to pontificate. As you can imagine, in an increasingly thriving bar, this conversation very rapidly turned more to joke-making including some impressive puns.

I quite like The Castle on Castle Street in Cambridge for many reasons, but probably principally because it’s close to home and therefore a good place to meet people half-way when the weather’s cold. I met someone in there about 6pm on a Friday, and there was a clear post-work chatter filling the place. We both drank Aspall’s cider.

Given that we’re having the first Arctic snap of winter, I wonder when they’re going to light their real fires again, especially as there was intermittent, unpredicted rain on the way there, and maybe snow later! The chimney piece that would hold the real fire soars up through the centre of the upper floor and out through the roof, amongst exposed wooden beams. It’s a fantastically young pub usually, too. Just right for cheering up winter blues.