Week 9 - Greg + Liam
Liam and I decided we wanted French food and our friend Alex who is a quarter French recommended La Boheme in Lymm so we drove there. My working day had concluded with a minor crisis so it was nice to get out of the house.
Liam is of course a doctor, but is younger than most of the crowd I hang out with so is earlier on in his training. This means he gets to work on rotation across a number of specialties. He is currently working in geriatric medicine and we got on to the subject of Alzheimer’s which reminded me of a joke Jasper Carrott had made in the mid-90s and then had been swiftly chastised for. It went something like this: “Yesterday president Reagan announced he has Alzheimer’s. Yesterday president Reagan announced he had Alzheimer’s”. Interestingly, Jasper Carrott made much of his fortune not from comedy, but from Who Wants to be a Millionaire which was produced by Celador, a production company in which he was an investor.
Liam has recently bought his first flat in Chorlton, which is not far from where I live in Didsbury, and is in the process of decorating it. I love a bit of DIY but can’t stand decorating, probably because of my complete lack of patience. Liam however seems to be taking it in his stride.
When I was looking at houses in Manchester while still in London I showed my friend Kate pictures of the house I now live in. She remarked that it looked like a children’s care home, something I haven’t been able to let her forget since. One of the first things I did when I moved in was remove the red carpet on the stairs and have the place painted to dispel any care home vibes. She now assures me that if it were a care home, it would very much be one she’d have been happy to grow up in. I guess that’s a compliment, of sorts.
La Boheme is very much a traditional French restaurant complete with white linen table cloths and a candle on each table. Liam remarked that the candle holder on our table looked as though it had been made from fingernail clippings. A comment that may have made the food just a shade less delicious and that I fear I will take to the grave.
Liam is a vegetarian but will occasionally eat seafood. Some of the best seafood I’ve eaten was in Padstow where we went as a family to celebrate my father’s 60th birthday. We were in Padstow for the weekend and had a seafood cookery course as one of our activities. One of our tasks was to kill a live crab, cook it and then remove the meat to use in a pasta dish. My sister had a suspicion that she might be allergic to shellfish but decided to plough on undeterred. We cooked and consumed the meal, which was delicious, but after about half an hour Clare mentioned that she wasn’t feeling great. Suffice to say she spent the rest of the day throwing up and hasn’t touched crab since.
Liam and I often get drawn to the topic of self-reflection and I recommended How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. He informed me that I’d already gifted him a copy. How to Win Friends and Influence People was one of the first very popular self help books and was first published in 1936. Like most books of the genre it has a few themes that are repeated for impact. One such theme genuinely charged the way I approach life. It is this: the best way to win an argument is by not having one in the first place. If you do have an argument and prove to be correct, then the other person feels like an idiot and resents you. Whereas if you’re proven wrong, you feel like an idiot and resent the other person. It took me over thirty years to realise that there are more important things in life than being right: being kind, thoughtful, generous, amusing, supportive, honest; the list goes on. If you’re the type of person who has to be right all the time, then you need to ask yourself who you’re really trying to convince, others or yourself. For most of us, it’s only when we get older that we realise all the things we were never taught formally. We all suffer from the human condition, but are never taught how to manage and reflect on our emotions, that’s something we’re just expected to learn by ourselves. Exploring not just how you feel things, but why you feel them is hugely valuable, but seems to be entirely absent from most children’s education.
Dining in a French restaurant led us to ask when / how the French became such celebrated cooks. Within a few seconds viewing of a cooking show involving a professional kitchen you will stumble across a French phrase or two, “Qui chef”, “Are you happy with the cuisson on that?”, “Au gratin”. As an English person it all sounds a bit pretentious, but that’s almost certainly to do with our historically tempestuous relationship with the French (which is incidentally why words like “serviette”, “toilet” (and even “pardon”) are frowned upon in some of the fustier parts of high society). I was once told that it was actually the English that had originally taught the French to cook, principally because we had a class of landed gentry who had demanded fancier and fancier food. Some (very light) online research leads me to conclude that this is in fact nonsense, although Escoffier who invented the brigade system, which streamlined the production of high end food at scale, did hone his craft in top hotels internationally, including The Savoy in London. It would in fact appear that the foundations for French cuisine as we know it today were excavated in France during the Middle Ages.
I can’t remember how the subject came about, I guess we must have been discussing religion, but I was reminded of my sister’s friend who had taken the Alpha Course. Unless you been drawn in by one of Bear Grylls’ adverts then you might not know what the Alpha Course is. It is essentially an indoctrination into the basics of Christianity. My sister’s friend decided to take the course, not because she was interested in what it had to offer, but rather so that the next time she encountered someone who compelled her to take it, she would be able to counter their argument: “How do you know if you haven’t tried it?” “I have”. This commitment to the contrary is admirable, but I do wonder when it meets its natural conclusion. Is there a risk you’d wake up in a convent one day questioning how you got there?
Having got serious with all things religious, we moved onto the less contentious subject of exercise. Liam is an accomplished Judo practitioner, but has a recurring foot injury so hasn’t been participating as much as he would like to recently. We also occasionally take part in a 5km Park Run on Saturdays and Liam is training for the Manchester Marathon. I’ve taken part in a couple of half marathons, but the thought of running the full distance fills me with dread. Not necessarily because of the race itself (which I accept would be hell) but because of the tedium of the training required. Some people are able to zone out when they run, but I just get bored. I’m also not quick enough to get my training over with quickly. Liam said the key is not to listen to music but spoken word, a theory my friend Martin also endorses. One of our mutual friends has recently suggested adding golf to our sporting repertoire, something which appeals to me as much as a root canal. Liam was initially a little more enthusiastic, but his recent silence on the subject speaks volumes.
We were given an amuse bouche while we waited for our table in the bar which consisted of an utterly delicious celeriac soup, a chicken liver and a trout canapé. We then had the following:
Starters
Pigeon Poêle Sur Choux De Bruxelle: Pan-fried pigeon breast with grilled Irish white pudding, shredded sprouts, pancetta & chestnuts. Game chips. Blackberry and sloe gin jus
Assiette De Crabe Oriental: Homemade crab croquette with pan-fried marinated king prawns tails. Langoustine bisque risotto. Garlic rouille crouton
Mains
Filet De Veau Aux Champignons: Pan-fried veal fillet with mashed potato and green beans. Tomato, garlic and parsley. White wine and cep sauce
Bar Poêle Sauce A L'Orange & Romarin: Fillet of pan-fried sea bass with a fricassee of garden peas, leeks, grilled cos lettuce and carrots. New potatoes. Orange and rosemary beurre blanc
Dessert
Crepe Suzette A La Française
Frangipane Aux Fruites Rouge & Glacé Pistache
Liam had left his car at my house so popped in for a cup of tea and a couple of episodes of With Love, Meghan, a TV show which lives up to its reviews and I compel you to watch because I had to.
Thanks Liam for a great meal!
