I have been having weird dreams since my knee operation.
This morning, was it this morning or this afternoon? Was it not yesterday? Colin from Krimo's came to the office to talk news, reviews and mainly menus. A fruitful and vegetable meeting...
As he got up to leave I asked him whether he'd enjoyed his stint at Casa last week?
He looked at me and said:
"Casa? I wouldn't know the first thing about tapas. Especially when the menu is in blooming Spanish!"
I honestly, clearly remember somebody telling me that he had worked a shift at Casa del Mar as all the chefs were off... All that in what must have been a dream!
Since I came out of hospital, I have had very vivid dreams about cooking, kitchens, etc...
Last night I woke up in a sweat really believing that I had set a pan on fire. Then I realised that it was only a bad dream!
Moi, burn a pan? Are you joking me or what?
Just ask Lydia, our long-suffering-serving porter (At least 18 years at the sink!) Yes, just ask her if Krimo ever burnt a pan in his time in the kitchen!!!
Burning dreams...
Making the news...
Check out the above link and make the news.
Daniel, you're such a joker, mate.
And no, I didn't fall for it!
Knee jerk... Action!
My left knee has been on the telly!
Six years ago, while playing footie, Portofino against Krimo's, I slipped and hurt my knee. I had to skip the gym for a few months. It niggled me on and off but got worse over the last few months, especially after a busy shift at the restaurants.
This Thursday morning my knee got its first acting role in a dramatic arthroscopy. It all went well and I am now resting, twirling my thumbs, watching The X-factor, Eurovision Dance Contest, and getting totally bored out of my brains! I have tried drawing, practising on my guitar, drinking tea till it seeps out of my ears...
I am a very impatient patient!
I know that the restaurants are all very busy despite this awful wet and cold weather. I know that because my mobile is right next to me.
The doctor suggested a two-week break to make sure my knee heels properly. No driving for two weeks! That alone is going to drive me crackers!
Hot pancakes.....
Traditional pancakes cooked over a wood fire.
A great Olympic new sport, this would be.
The lady's face was red as a beetroot. I just hope she had heat and fire-proof undergarments. She was jumping from one black-iron pan to the next, one ladle at a time, turning the pancakes over, then lifting them onto a large plate.
They sold like hot pancakes, with sugar, honey or jam.
Absolument gorgeous!
Harvest Festival in the French town of Provins.
Designs on menu planning...
We have been working on Portofino's new menu for the last couple of months. Tasting, tweaking, binning, slurping, salivating and lastly PRINTING...
This morning, my office was like the back room of a print factory.
In 1994, over three years before we opened Portofino, I asked the Hartlepool College of Arts if they could help me design menu covers. The then-lecturer jumped on the idea and turned it into an end-of-year project for his students.
I was rewarded with 17 different designs!
I chose one which we have used for the last eleven years. The logo was out of this world!
I framed all the artwork and put it up on the walls at Portofino. This morning I decided to change the menu cover while still keeping the logo.
I picked two pictures, photoshopped them and hey, Presto! we have a new menu cover!
I printed over thirty copies while working on the final touches of the menu.
Staff Profile: Lindsay Welsh
Age: 33 (I know... I look younger!)
Joined the restaurant: Day One!! 25th January 2006
Initial job: Bar-Manager
Job History: The Wynyard Golf Club 1996-2005, Bollinger's Wine Bar 2005-2006
What I like about working at Casa: I love the social aspect of my job, meeting new people and getting to know regulars.
Favourite dishes: Can't cook! Won't cook! Why should I? My boyfriend is a fabulous Italian chef! I love Japanese food but you can't beat a Sunday Dinner!
Favourite holiday: Italy of course especially with my own personal guide. I've there four times. There is so much beauty and culture.
I would also like to visit China. I'm fascinated by the culture.
Heroes: Princess Diana. I admire her for the charity work she did before she was sadly taken away.
Thoughts: I dream that one day Andrea (my own, personal Italian chef and tour guide) and I will own a quaint Italian restaurant in Italy, or here, or both?!?
Note to myself: Must learn more than just Italian swear words...
Krimo says: Lindsay, you are a character! I am sure that without you, Adam would be lost, but I won't say that in front of him. Customers love you because you are genuine and they also love that cheeky spark in your eyes. Keep it up, bambina!
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.
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!
Weather grounds air show...
Three weeks ago, torrential rain and low temperatures spoilt our Maritime Festival.
This past weekend, the Sunderland International Air Show was another victim of the English Summer weather.
Two miles from the coast, as temperatures soared to 26 degrees (!) we, along with thousands of other people left our car on a field on the outskirts of Sunderland and boarded a Park and Ride bus. Colourful shorts and Tshirts, sunglasses, picnic hampers in hand, we headed for the seafront.
As we neared Seaburn, mist put a veil over the face of the sun.
Thousands of visitors waited in vain for a glimpse of a flying machine. The tannoy announced the fly-over of a Belgian Airforce F16. We heard it but never saw it.
All waited and expected, whiling away the hours on the Twister or the beach, getting a henna tattoo here, an ice cream there...
The sky cleared up for a few minutes raising our hopes skyward only for the mist to dampen them soon after.
The only planes we saw were of the Airfix type on sale in many of the stalls along the seafront.
Two years from now, the Tall Ships come to Hartlepool.
Do we have to start praying now for good weather?
Mouth watering...
When I conceived Casa del Mar, I decided that it should be a place where diners would be transported back to whichever fantastic Mediterranean holiday they have just come home from.
The menu includes Greek salad, Spanish Paella, Algerian Sausages, etc...
The minted lamb draws from both North African and Spanish cuisines.
Just like with Pavlov's dog, smells and tastes never fail to ring a bell inside our memory.
One warm summer's evening back in the late eighties when I was still cooking at Seaton Carew, I walked across the road to my favourite seat by the paddling pool just as I always did before the evening service, to collect my thoughts and ready myself for the onslaught.
A couple of hundred yards down the sandy beach The North Sea felt peculiarly warm. Not warm enough for a late dip but it imparted a strong Mediterranean smell, a fishy smell, a smell I had only come across back in the tiny harbour where, as a youngster I went for evening walks with family and friends. A smell that conjured up many beautiful memories.
Suddenly, I was gasping for grilled sardines, simple olive oil and lemon dressing, a walk on a beach...
Whenever I see couples holding hands across a table at Casa del Mar, their eyes full of Rosé I know they are on a beach far, far away, listening to the gentle surf of a Mediterranean evening...
