Eggs...

The ultimate Fast Food!
Yes, the adverts say it, the government says it but the truth is that it is TRUE!
Eggs are the ultimate Fast Food!
And healthy with it! No added preservatives, E-numbers, etc...
Edwina Currie gave eggs a bad name!
Remember the Sam and Ella jokes?
I used to make good old Mayonnaise in-house!!! Absolutely delicious! And then, we were told that we had to use past-your-eyes eggs!
Ready-made Mayonnaise! What a load of oval things!
Anyone who hasn't tasted real Mayonnaise has no idea what they're missing!
My mother, bless her soul, used two forks, back to back to beat a couple of eggs into a delicious Mayonnaise.
Food processors? What's that?
A couple of egg yolks. A smidgen of mustard. A drop or two of vinegar and you start gently beating...
Adding the oil one drop at a time until you feel confident enough and then you add a bit more and a bit more...
Until you have this unctuous, smooth, creamy melange...
That is Mayonnaise!
Feel free to make some at home! I do...

Lively Salsa at Casa...

Last night, to recover from the flood at Krimo's I went to Casa del Mar to check out Adam's first live Salsa evening. Not that the Sunday Night Salsa is ever not lively but this one involved a local band that played great Latino stuff such as La Bamba, Oye como va...



















I took a few photos and helped wash glass as the bar was very busy. Cocktails, Sangria and wines flowed non-stop.

Service with a smile...















Early Learning Salsa...

Krimo's Arc...

A lazy Sunday morning spoilt only by a phone call.
A flood at Krimo's! Water teemed from an upstairs flat.
Ceiling tiles, canopies, cctv cameras, aircon unit, menus, electrics, etc... soaking wet.
Mops and buckets, brushes...
Everyone battling against time.
Water is still dripping from the ceiling.
Impossible to open.
Many sympathetic customers disappointed by phonecalls announcing that we could not possibly open for Sunday lunch.
A nightmare! These things are sent to try us.

But smiling Hayley and her staff smiled and dried the floors and my tears of frustration...

Walking on water...

On this warmish bank holiday, Allan Henderson of Hartlepool Marina
came up with this ingenious game for kids of all ages.
He zips you up inside this clear-plastic sphere after pumping it up and off you go walking on water.
It's not as easy as it seems and may take a few goes before one can stand up inside the cocoon.














Younger children are very quick learners.
Below is Liam, grandson of our friends, Barry and Pat Anderson. He seems to have got the hang of it and, on his second (£3) try, he managed to take a few steps on the water.
Come on, Allan how about turning the Marina into a wine lake?

Darlings Town...

Colin and Tracy got married a year ago, somewhere in Darlington!

Darlings Town!!

You know, Darlington has a lot to answer for!
The Quakers...
Stevenson's Steam Engine...
And Colin and Tracy's wedding!!!

It was magical!
Honest!
The organisation! Well, Nicola helped a lot... Remember Nicola?
Everyone including bride and groom was absolutely over the moon for the way the whole day went for them.
Music, wine and laughter...

Col and Trace, here's wishing you all the best for the future!

Photo courtesy of Dirk van der Werff, an excellent local photographer!

Fishy tale....

The price of fish has driven us to send our Portofino chef, Noel Stamp all the way to Mexico to catch his own!!
Noel has just arrived back at work after a two-week holiday in Cosumel, with his fiancée, Gemma.
Being a keen fisherman, Noel couldn't resist catching the first boat out to go deep-sea fishing for Barracudas, Swordfish, Tuna, etc...

The last time he went to Mexico he brought me back a cookery book. The cheek!
This time, he thought about bringing back his catch but worried about the stink he might cause on the plane back. So, after getting one of the hotel chefs to cook him the best of the catch, he shared the rest between the housekeepers and waiters.



Have ever heard the story of a guy catching a fish this big?

Noel made sure he had the evidence with him because we would not have believe one word of his fishy tale.

Memory lane...

Many of our customers have grown up with us. Just imagine the following sequence. They came to Krimo's and later, to our other restaurants when they were:
-Courting
-Celebrating their engagement
-Hen or stag nights
-Anniversaries
-The birth of their children
-Birthdays
-Exam results...

Then, their kids started the cycle all over again.

Last Saturday, two of our biggest fans, Gill and Graham Harland brought in a photo that had appeared in the Hartlepool, coincidentally alongside one of our adverts.
It features a smiling Graham, (baby in the centre) sharing a pram with his sister and most certainly celebrating a Royal event around 1955.
We didn't start in business for another 30 years and Graham along with Gill, was one of our first customers at Seaton Carew.
When I presented them with our new Loyalty Card, Graham, the eternal joker, wondered whether their points could be back-dated to 1985!
Graham, I hope you don't come in next time with a bagful of old Krimo's bills, just to prove your "points", mate...
Great memories we share. Especially a few bottles of rosé one Summer's afternoon in your garden....

Universal praise!

One of our younger diners left this message in our visitors book last night.
Who am I to disagree with this space-travelling gourmand-gourmet?
May the force be with you, Georgina Skywalker!

Casa's Website is up...

They say practice makes perfect...
I say practice makes faster...
Casa's website was a piece of cake to do after Krimo's.
I'm hoping that Portofino's will be just as easy.

Eight weeks at the University of Teesside helped a lot. I've really enjoyed the exercise.
I wonder what I'll do once the web design is over...

L'entente cordiale...

Colin, our very tall head-chef is famous for his dry humour. Just ask any of the waitresses at Krimo's and they will all go: "Arghhhh!"
He has been known to tease vegetarian staff with things like "Would you like an omelet... a ham omelet?"
I personally think he is very quick-witted. His humour seems to extend beyond the Channel.
Many moons ago Colin worked at our French friend Didier Deville's Bistro 57 as second chef. As his subordinate, he was always at the butt of his boss's pseudo-chauvinistic Rosbif jokes, especially if the French rugby team had lost to a British team.

Nowadays Colin has finally swapped positions and now he has a Frenchman under him. Gentle giant, Jimmy!
Is Colin the kind of person who would fight the Hundred Years War all over again just to get his own back? Non!
A true Englishman, Col savours his revenge cold, with a bit of horseradish instead of Mayonnaise.

Computer whizz...

Richard is the man who set up my first computer over fifteen years ago.
He is the computer whizz kid I call whenever there is a loose mouse in the house, a deadly virus bugging me or a simple case of forgetting to plug in something...
He doesn't just fix the problem, he also teaches me how to do it myself in case it happens again.

The fact that I got a first (yes, a FIRST, thank you very much!!) in the Web Design course I attended back in June, may not be all down to Richard but I could never ever have considered going for it had it not been for what I've learnt from him over the years.

Yersterday, Richard came to Portofino to upload my finished Krimo's website. You know, the one I've been building since I finished the course. And he was quite impressed, I think. After all, I have been a good student...
But then my server went down and we weren't able to see the new website online till this afternoon. It is not yet the finished product as I have been known to constantly tweak things but I am quite proud of it.
Please feel free to tell me what you think of it...
Sod's Law has brought down the server again, so you may not be able to admire my handywork...

Magic is back...

After over six months' absence and a triple heart bypass, Madjid is back at the stove... well, half-back as he is only working half the hours he used to put in before he was diagnosed with a cardiac problem back in December.

He was operated on in mid-April but had to convalesce for several weeks before he was allowed to step back into the kitchen.

The huge scar down his chest has healed very quickly but he has to be very careful not to lift any heavy weights.
Madjid has always followed a sensible diet with plenty of vegetables and fish and the odd glass of red. It has been very crucial for his rapid recovery.

Welcome back, Magic!