food, reviews and of course coffee
Interesting BBC video report on using a mobile phone to do your supermarket shopping.
A German supermarket is encouraging customers to scan and ring up their shopping using mobile phones, and check out without the help of a cashier.
It’s a bit like using the scanner that I do at Sainsburys.
Following on from my earlier post, found an interesting article in the Guardian about Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s attempts to change Tesco’s chicken policy.
The campaign to improve the welfare of chickens sold in Tesco stores, led by celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, hijacked the company’s annual meeting yesterday, drawing groans from the pensioners and standard bearers of middle England there to pose a question about their local store or to take advantage of a spot of free lunch.
Well worth reading.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, he of River Cottage
The BBC reports on his attempt at the Tesco shareholders meeting.
Tesco shareholders have not backed proposals to improve welfare standards for chickens championed by TV cook Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
The chef wanted investors to adopt new standards for rearing birds, but the plan got fewer than 10% of votes at its annual general meeting in Solihull.
Read more.
Though this is a setback for Hugh’s campaign, a lot of consumers are changing their own buying habits. Over the last few years virtually all of the chicken I buy has been organic for me the main reason has been flavour and concerns about chemicals used.
I have noticed recently in both Sainsburys and Morrisons the amount of shelf space they give free range, organic and RSPCA Freedom chicken has really increased.
However with the continuing economic pressures on consumers, will price give way to quality and taste? According to an article I read in the Guardian, the answer is no, as what goes first with an economic downturn is going out to restaurants.
So what kind of chicken do you buy and why?
I have done this lentils recipe quite a lot now, so here is a more detailed and illustrated version.
Heat a frying pan and add some chopped pancetta. There is no need to add any extra oil as there is sufficient fat in the pancetta.
This is a variation on a salad I blogged about a month ago or so.
Take some mixed leaves, I like the peppery flavour of rocket in my salads so I used that alongside some sliced Romaine lettuce.
Place them on a plate.
Add some sun dried tomatoes, I use SunBlush as they are not as chewy as “proper” sun dried tomatoes.
Add some chopped cucumber, depending on how thick or tough the skin is, you can either leave or peel. I peeled as the skin on my organic cucumber was quite tough.
Dress with some extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar and black pepper.
Top the salad off with some pan fried (until crispy) pancetta bacon.
Serve with fresh bread.
Well Time to eat… is one today. It was a year ago that I started this food and coffee blog.
Since then I have made 201 posts.
There have been 5,858 visits.
Here’s to another year.
Having really enjoyed the citrus chicken I did the other day, I decided to try a variation.
I first rubbed some cajun spices into some boned chicken thighs, for which I left the skin on.
I am currently using and enjoying Fiddes Payne Cajun Seasoning, there are other seasonings
I then added the juice and zest of one lime and one lemon and some olive oil.
This I left to marinade for half an hour.
I heated a frying pan, and placed the chicken in skin side down, but didn’t use any oil.
I let the chicken brown, and then finished it off in the oven.
The end result was a beautiful lemon citrus chicken with a really nice cajun spicy kick to it.
I am sure you could do something similar with chilli and lemon.
Let me ask you a question, is it really so difficult in this day and age, for a coffee shop to take coffee orders and then make the coffee?
Also can they ensure that the whole order is fulfilled and that it arrives all roughly at the same time?
Really, a serious question!
It’s not as though we don’t have lots of coffee shops and chains which can’t work out or observe the simple process of taking an order for a coffee, getting payment for the coffee, making the coffee and serving the coffee.
Recently I went to the Soho Coffee Co and was frankly appalled by the level of incompetency shown by the six staff behind the counter in undertaking the coffee making and serving process.
It’s not as though the place was busy, well it got busy because of the incompetence! As a result prospective customers were walking away – they were losing business.
So what happened to me then?
Well I went to the counter and ordered an americano, a babycino and an egg and mushroom bloomer.
The bloke on the till marked the cups and handed them over to the barista and then took my money!
Typical coffee ordering process in the UK (and I suspect the US as well). I do recall how things are done in Italy though, there you place your order at the till, pay your money and then you go to the barista, wait in line if need be, hand over your receipt/order and then the barista, makes your coffee and serves it to you. Simple, easy and as you will see avoids the problems I had at the Soho Coffee Co.
So there I was waiting, there were people in front of me and people behind me.
There seemed to be a huge amount of activity behind the counter, but very little coffee coming out.
So the barista firstly announced two cappuccinos which nobody seemed to own.
They then announced an americano, which the couple about two people behind me promptly said was theirs… Well it could have been, who knew, but I had a feeling it was mine. So we discussed and I took ownership of the coffee. Their americano and cappuccino came next, so no hard feelings there.
However no sign of the babycino, so I am waiting.
They then place a babycino on the counter, go to take it, when a woman in front of me takes it, as she has been waiting for hers for her child for ages…
They then ask me what I had ordered, I tell them (again).
The babycino arrives, only to be given to the bloke behind me!
They then ask me what I had ordered, I tell them (again).
Eventually my babycino arrives, nobody else tries to take it, so I now have the babycino and an americano (which is now going cold).
I look questioningly at the barista about my breakfast order, she looks vacant, I tell her about it, she then blames the printer! So now I have to wait once more as they cook my breakfast order.
So what was a simple process of ordering coffee and food, which should have taken only a few minutes, took nearly fifteen minutes!
So what was the cause of the problems.
It appeared to be a lack of a system for taking coffee orders.
The teller on the till would mark the (paper) cups and then place them by the espresso machine in no particular order, so that as the barista made the coffee, it could and would not be in the order in which the coffee was ordered.
Without any way of connecting the coffee cups to the customers, as coffee was placed on the counter, any customer could just take it either thinking it was theirs (in all innocence) or even just pretend it was theirs – I think that is what may have happened to my breakfast order!
Anyway as a result it will be sometime (if ever) I go back to the Soho Coffee Co. It’s not so much a problem with the chain, just the staff at this particular outlet, who did not have a robust enough system to serve customers quickly and efficiently and importantly with the correct orders.
In the Guardian, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall writes about how much he enjoys the artichoke.
Raw, boiled, grilled, baked or stuffed, the globe artichoke is one of summer’s most welcome treats. Who’d have thought a thistle could taste so good?
Personally I really like artichokes, I think my preference is for the chargrilled ones that are then marinaded in olive oil, herbs and spices.
I do also like fresh, but preference is for the Italian style anti-pasto type ones you can buy.
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