Butter Bean Soup

Cheap, simple, easy and tasty soup, what could be better? Soak a 300g bag of butter beans over night. Rinse in freshwater a couple of times. Put in a large pan and boil, add a little oil to control the massive foam, for say five minutes. Discard water and rinse beans thoroughly, to get rid of the sulphur preservative. Put back on more moderate heat with fresh water bring to the simmer. Add one large peeled onion, three large peeled carrots left whole, a stick of celery and a clove of garlic.

After forty minutes check the beans are just tender, may take a little longer if they are old. Discard onion, celery and garlic, gently set carrots aside. Drain liquor off the beans and retain. Pick over the beans for the firm whole ones setting them aside. Liquidise the broken soft beans with say quarter pint of liquor.

Meanwhile in a pint of a rich stock, I used pheasant but duck would be good or even chicken, boil about half pound of celeriac peeled and cut into rough small chunks. When cooked, liquidise.

In a clean pan put the carrots, cut in half or quarters along their length, depending on size, and then cut into slices sat 5mm thick. Add about equal portions of the whole butter beans, say half, the strained liquidised stock and celeriac and then the strained liquidised butter bean and liquor. Gently stir and add more liquor to adjust thickness. A creamy loose soup with a good portion of beans and carrots is the goal. Bring back to heat slowly, stir occasionally, adjust seasoning to taste and serve.

Delicious. Sweet, creamy and rich flavoured. For those not needing to avoid, it cries out for two Tblspn of cream stirred in to lighten the colour. Garnish with four or five thin chillie rings barely softened in hazelnut oil with a couple of drops of the oil.

Review - Proper Cornish Pasty

In a moment of weakness believed the hype and tried a Proper Cornish Pasty to fill in after a later start. I had a steak and ale filling.

Hmmm. Pastry was good, crumbly and not that rancid flavour you so often get.
Well there was a piece of steak in it. Just the one bite sized chewy steak, so it was real at least. The rest was a slurry of meaty ooze, potato and suede. Seasoning was not too much to conceal the lack of flavour. The filling was excruciatingly hot, so much more likely microwaved rather baked reheat.

Not the worst I have eaten but well off the best. Struggling to find anything positive. Avoid, unless you are vegetarian!

How to Mail Merge from Outlook to Labels

After many years of struggle and hour after hour going around in ever tighter circles, I have finally cracked it. Note that the following works for Outlook03 and Word03 and may not be applicable to Express Outlook. From experience I suggest in the full name edit box you use Title, to record your preference, such as Mr & Mrs and use the Suffix to record ‘and Family’. When you enter an address double check and make sure you enter it into Home Address and NOT the default Business Address, unless of course that is what you intend.

Step1 In OUTLOOK Select CONTACTS. In CONTACTS view Select EDIT, then Select CATEGORIES, in the dialogue box that opens Select the ‘Master Categories’ TAB. In this new ‘Master Categories’ dialogue box, in the ‘New Category’ enter a name for a Category, let us call it XmasCards. So ENTER ‘XmasCards’ into the New Category box. Close the dialogue boxes by Selecting OK, then OK.

Step2 Go to each record in your CONTACTS list in turn, Select it by DbleClick and the record dialogue box for that contact opens up. With the GENERAL tab selected, Select the CATEGORIES button along the bottom, the dialogue box for CATEGORIES opens up. In the list of categories you will see your new category ‘XmasCards’. Pick the check box next to it, so a bold green tick appears. Exit it with OK. Now XmasCards will appear in the box alongside the CATEGORY pick button. Go through each record in your CONTACTS and repeat until you have added the category ‘XmasCards’ to everyone you want to receive them.

Step3 Still in CONTACTS, Select VIEW, take your time it can be tricky, still holding onto VIEW, slide down to open up the drop down, still holding move onto ARRANGE BY then slide to the right to reveal the side expansion box, slide onto CURRENT VIEW, still holding move across to reveal the side expansion box, still holding move across and down onto DEFINE VIEWS, right at the bottom, Select this (let go of the mouse button) and the CUSTOM VIEW ORGANIZER dialogue box opens. Select the NEW button on the right and the CREATE A NEW VIEW dialogue box opens. In the NAME OF NEW VIEW box override the default name (New view) with your own name, let us call it XmasPosting, so ENTER ‘XmasPosting’ in the box. Have a look below and see the layout for this new view, TABLES is fine and have a look to see who has access to this new View, THIS FOLDER, VISIBLE TO EVERYONE is fine. Accept OK button to EXIT and Close the CUSTOM VIEW ORGANIZER box.

Step4 Still in CONTACTS you will now see in your dataset of contacts a new view, ‘XmasPosting’ in addition to NORMAL has now appeared with a radial button beside it. Select this new view by Checking the radial button. The layout appearance of all your contacts may now change because this new view is in a TABLE layout. Go back to and Select VIEW, slide down and across as before to the first side expansion box. Select CURRENT VIEW and slide across to the right to the second expansion box. You should now see ‘XmasPosting’ has a tick beside it and it is highlighted, (the current view, if not make it current), slide down and Accept CUSTOMIZE CURRENT VIEW (just above DEFINE used in Step 3). The dialogue box CUSTOMIZE VIEW: XMASPOSTING appears. Select the forth button FILTER, in the FILTER dialogue box that opens be sure to move and Select the MORE CHOICES tab. With this open there is a CATEGORIES button, Select this and the available categories are listed, put a check against ‘XmasCards’ that you made earlier. Now when you Accept OK out of that box you will see that your category XmasCards is now the selected filter. Accept OK to go back to the CUSTOMIZE VIEW: XMASPOSTING dialogue box and move up and Accept the FIELDS button and the SHOW FIELDS dialogue box opens. You are a bit on your own here. If you are lucky and by choosing from the SELECT AVAILABLE FIELDS FROM drop down such as NAME FIELDS or ADDRESS FIELDS you want to see and find preferably in the FIELDS AVAILABLE box below, FULL NAME and just HOME ADDRESS. When you do find them, pick them they become highlighted and the Press the ADD button and they will appear in the list box on the right. If you do not manage to find them you will need to select all the component part fields, such as TITLE, FIRSTNAME, LASTNAME, SUFFIX, ADDRESS1 and so on. Accept OK, OK to close the boxes and now just your contacts to receive Xmas Cards, or whatever, are listed with just your chosen fields showing. Nearly there.

Step 5 Still in CONTACTS with your new view XmasPosting showing go to and Select TOOLS then MAIL MERGE from the drop down. The MAIL MERGE CONTACTS dialogue box opens up. In the DOCUMENT TYPE drop down at the bottom Select MAILING LABELS (or ENVELOPES), check the radial buttons for ALL CONTACTS IN CURRENT VIEW, ALL CONTACT FIELDS under FIELDS TO MERGE and NEW DOCUMENT in DOCUMENT FILE are Checked and Accept OK. A new blank WORD document opens with a message box. The message says that the mail merging has been done and you need to Select SETUP in the following dialogue box. Just what we are going to do. So Select OK to exit the message box and a new dialogue box appears, MAIL MERGE HELPER with the SETUP button highlighted. Accept the SETUP button, only this one. The LABELS (ENVELOPE) OPTION dialogue box opens. Navigate to and Select the label (envelope) template, make sure the other radials are acceptable and Accept OK to close then just Close the MAIL MERGE HELPER dialogue box. Important, do not use any of the other buttons on this dialogue box..

Step 6 The new blank WORD document changes to suit your selected template for labels (envelopes). Position your cursor over the first text entry point then go along the ICONS along the top until you find MAIL MERGE RECIPIENTS and Accept. The MAIL MERGE RECIPIENTS dialogue box opens (or you can scroll down and deselect those you do not want to post to), then Accept OK. The new WORD template document is peopled after the first cell with ‘Next Record’. Place your cursor in the first text entry position in the first cell and look along the top row of ICONS find and Accept the INERT MERGE FIELDS, do not use the INSERT WORD FIELDS drop down. Use the scroll bar to find and Select FULL NAME, it is now highlighted, Select the INSERT button and then close the dialogue box. You will see the FIELD name FULL NAME has been put in the document. At the end of the fieldname Press RETURN to put in a new line and repeat this time selecting HOME ADDRESS. (If you did not manage to find Full Name and Home Address in Step 4 you may have to enter all the component fields instead). Copy and paste these two fields into each label text position on the line after ‘Next Record’, to fill the sheet. You are now ready to print, look along to find the ICON and Accept MERGE TO NEW DOCUMENT. The MERGE TO DOCUMENT dialogue comes up, Accept ALL RECORDS and after a pause, the new labels document will appeared based on the selected template. Review each label for presentation issues and then, finally, print. Done.

If you are merging to envelopes then your task is much simpler. Follow Step 6 until the fields FULL NAME and HOME ADDRESS appear and then go straight to MERGE TO NEW DOCUMENT.

Daily we should give thanks to Microsoft for making these essential tasks so easy and simple to follow.

Requiem for Sainsbury's

As a Sainsbury's client I think I understand how they have managed to grow profits despite being in a severe recessionary economic climate. Have you noticed how all those marginal turnover lines that you used to be able to find have disappeared off the shelves? Well I have, agreed I am a foodie and thus part of a minority group, but that a major outlet is cutting back on its supposed diversity should be of concern to us all. I am talking about the real heart of any supermarket, its food, not all the more profitable and lets skim them while we have them household goods that are crowding out our real reason to visit, the food. This is after all what we gave up our local friendly knowledgeable shops for, diversity of produce conveniently brought together with easy car access.

Another way Sainsbury's seems to be producing profits in a declined market is by slogging it out head to head with the market leader, Tesco's, on a price matching death spiral. None can survive out competing each other on cheapest prices. Except of course the supermarkets are never the losers just every other person or company that comes in contact with them. You can take it as fact that a supermarket will not sell at a loss, they will make a margin no matter what. The no matter what is that intangible quality and the other unseen the health and well being of their suppliers. So here you should be very afraid as you now are totally dependant on a supermarket to supply your needs, they have seen to it that all rivals are extinguished. They determine the quality of the food you get to buy. If for competition reasons they need to cheapen the price by dropping the quality then they will do it and you the consumer buying your usual brand will never know your life quality has just been turned down again by them.

Likewise the old reassurance of product producers caring and maintaining standards is an image of a past gone dead age. The supplier is now totally beholden to the supermarket, they have to comply to the price dictated by their only outlet, the supermarket. They have to survive and if they are told to cut margins they might gamble on a short term loss but really have no option but to cut products costs so they can still survive for another day, A limping hope for a better day.

There is no reassurance to be had in relying on quality standards. The actual things that can be measured and compared are hugely limited against all the intangibles that make up a quality product, whether subjective choices about packaging, ingredients sources and quantities, density and viscosity, residual aromas or textures. In the end you just cannot replace a sensitive passionate person who cares about what he is producing by some objective standards that are incapable of circumvention. It just cannot be done. Yet these are those very intangibles that the supermarkets routinely squeeze to make their profits and everyone in the supply chain is powerless to resist their demands.

Now when I am offered a 20%, 50% or even a 70% discount or a Buy 1 get 1 free, or 2 for 3 or 4, two things spring to my mind. Firstly well I must have been paying way over the odds before you came up with this offer. It is an insult to now rub my nose into just how much you have been ripping me off in the past. The other reaction is, if, what I paid in the past, is a fair price, what have you done to the product or the supplier to now be able to offer it so cheaply. Try if for yourself. Take a tin of baked beans and sieve out all the gloop and then look at the beans you have in the sieve, the quantity of gloop that has passed through and compare that to the tin. Now ask yourself whether you feel fairly treated by that product.

Don't blame the producer as I am sure they would much prefer to provide you with a desirable product that you will enjoy and will want to come back for more of. But they don't sell it to you, the supermarket does and they decide on your behalf what minimum quality it suitable for you. As I have said the producers have no choice. They either sell to the margins dictated by the supermarket or they in effect don't sell as there is no alternate mass market for their product. When locked into a head to head on a price competition we, the consumer lose out big time.

There is no going back, except perversely, in the growing 'Taste the Difference' market where they sell at a premium price the quality that has beaten out of the 'normal' brand. Beware even here, the introductory product comes in on a flourish of high quality and zeal. If it gains a market share and stays on the shelves you will discover the same inexorable whittling away of standards. If only we, as consumers, could keep the introductory offer and then compare it to the product sold years down the line to make the point.

The reason all those years back that I became a Sainbury's client was that they set their stall higher than others on the street. They prided themselves on spacious uncluttered displays and sold to a discriminating middle class. I felt comfortable and found products intune with my social expectations. A happy symbiosis. Things have moved on and now Sainsbury's, no longer the market leader, are vying with Tesco's for the gutter, the bottom lowest common denominator. Sorry pack em high sell them cheap has never been an aspiration of mine. Buying food is all about social awareness, it is an aspirational living statement of the qualities that you bring into your life. The cheapest with the least taste and texture has never and will never be a criteria I will follow. Yet it seems that this is Sainsbury's destiny. Once they had a clear vision and a confidence in how they wanted to go about selling and were not afraid to standout from the crowd. Now they have lost their way, their motive for being, only looking to match competitors. Not the trail blazer, the standard setter, just another also ran.

Fortunately where there is a gap in the market another will come along and seize advantage. So I am now lucky I have a Waitrose nearby. Once in a car I might as well go one place as another. I don't feel like a Waitrose client, too pretentiously extravagant for my tastes, but on balance preferable to the pack em high, sell cheap preoccupations of Sainsbury's. On this note I must also mention M&S who are targeting the affluent singles market, well done them. Maybe I not yet ready for them. Whatever, watch out Sainbury's you have forsaken customer loyalty and there may now be no end to your slide off that market leader pole.

Quick n Easy

Here is a quick n easy but tasty and looks good stir fry vegetable dish. On a moderate heat fry off thin slices of red chilli in a light oil, I used grape oil. After a minute throw in three heart stalks of celery cut into 3mm slices, stir around. After another minute stir in five cos lettuce outer leaves cut into 5mm strips across their width, turn them around so they all get the heat. Just as they begin to show signs of wilting, after about three minutes, turn heat up to high, to drive off any moisture. Put in about eight chunks of defrosted baby spinach (or half pound of dried fresh young leafs), mix well then finish with a bunch of spring onion cut into coarse slices about 4mm thick. Keep turning so nothing scorches, keep the moisture at bay and watch the lettuce. Check seasoning and serve immediately just before the lettuce collapses in about another two minutes. It is a fast cooking process so have everything prepared before hand. It has very nice fresh taste with a crispy crunch and just a whiff of heat.

Vegetables

What on earth, vegetables? Stay with me, a long time ago we started buying our vegetables from a livestock market stall that went on to become our town's only surviving fruit and vegetable shop, Granny Smith's. Recently the freshness of the produce on display has become more and more of an issue. The logistics for the greengrocer are hard, buy what is available and cheap in the food market and then sell it, gauging local demand just right and you make money. Get it wrong and you have moulding stock on hand or over priced against competitors or just as bad, you run out and have to turn customers away. Don't shed too many tears there was always a high mark-up to cover the inevitable stock wastage which is why, the good ones who knew their customers always used to make money.

Times have changed and now money is tight. The Supermarket have changed all the ground rules. They cream off the top quality stock. They set a roughly even price all year round, priced high to cover costs off season but not too high for when prices dip in mid-season. The traditional greengrocer has to compete against that scenario, seeking the just off prime stock or that price that will knock the socks off the Supermarkets pricing. A tough competitive world but it does not stop there, only the good can survive.

Once upon a day the produce came off the field into the market, sold and was in the shop that day or the next, fast turnover. Things are no longer like that, Supermarkets buy from around the world, move produce around, distribute from vast central warehouses, splitting into orders for individual shops and they must have certainty that the produce will last and be fresh for the days shelf time they have set. The producers are under enormous pressure to provide produce that will stay fresh for the shelf time dictated by their 'only' client, the Supermarket.

I have never managed to grow tomatoes where all the fruit were evenly ripe, none over-ripe, none under-ripe and all on the same truss but now they are everywhere, vine ripened trusses. Stay firm for weeks then suddenly collapse in a way I have never experienced before. Conspiratory theory or is this indicative that our food is no longer what it used to be be, straight off the fields. English apples on sale in March that after a couple of days go from crisp to woolly inedible? Peaches, to ripen in basket, that just sit and do not ripen and then collapse in a soggy mess. A long time ago I discover by chance that cauliflower is not straight off the field but is routinely dipped so it keeps better. I think that is the current state of our food, processed to keep and make profits for the seller.
Not so good for the consumer, you cannot trust your eye to spot fresh food from food that had been manipulated to stay "fresh".

Saddle of Venison

In haste before life empties the memory banks. We have just had our first and the most fantastic saddle of venison last Wednesday. Pre-ordered we picked it up from our local traditional butcher, http://www.stillmansbutchers.co.uk (cannot recommend as they put cheapness before quality). It was the last of the season's Red Deer and had been hanging for about three weeks. Great, the meat had a deep red without the puddles of water from a fresh carcasses. We settled on the front six ribs, they cut back the skirt ribs to the line of the eye of the loin and trimmed the ends. It was much larger and heavier joint than we anticipated.




Liberally peppered, salted then seared all sides in oil, (Anna cannot take butter) the saddle was placed it into a hot oven on a pan of roughly chopped onion, carrot and celery with half a bottle of red wine. Oven temperature was 220°C and the temperature probe set to 57°C. It took about an hour and 40 minutes.

Taken out of the oven kept warm and rested for at least half an hour. Very important. Meanwhile 10 juniper berries, sprig thyme and flour (buckwheat as Anna has to avoid wheat) were put in a pan with the oven vegetables and all juices, blended, then reduced, then sieved.

Finally the saddle was carved, cutting down all along the line of the spine and then along all of the ribs,the loin piece was then removed and cut on the diagonal. We have often had venison, (usually farmed) but this joint was truly fabulous, a distinct flavour without being gamey or over strong and so very butter smooth to eat. Probably the best piece of meat I shall ever eat! Have I said enough?