Tuesday 13 March 2012

Tuesday Mongolian.

Tonight I am in Bedford overnight on a two day course.

The course is about time management and it has been well run, insightful, inspiring, useful and a very welcome use of my days.

I am at a b&b with a colleague who works at Herne Bay in Kent. He and I hit it off on meeting today, so we had some pints out and then ventured for dinner.

We happened upon a Mongolian buffet place but not the usual sort; the set up was that you picked your own raw ingredients and saw them cooked. You could either follow the recipes on chalk boards with a ladle of this, and pinch of that, a smattering of spices and a ladle of sauce. There were varieties galore and one could be free and easy or prescriptive.


My friend from work was cautious and went by the book, choosing to collate very set recipes for his first tries. I went ad hoc and crazy , making up my own thing. I tried chicken with water chestnut, leeks, bean sprouts, sweet corn, carrot and a mix of coriander powder, chilli, fish stock and garlic. Bang and onto the hot plate. A success! Then I tried lamb and veg and sweet and sour sauce, also a success, and finally I went for a dish of lamb-cheeky, and far too bloody cheeky it was too.

Anyhow, three bowls of great scoff with rice and prawn crackers plus a beer. A good night's eating for under a tenner a head and quite fun to do.

Maybe they serve cat, dog and horse on a Saturday night piss-head shift but Tuesday ingredients were definitely as advertised.