So, in the last post I picked on the silly musical offerings of a rich little Californian child, and by doing so I jumped on a bandwagon just as pathetic and guilty as the system it mocks. What of it? That’s what critics do; they bully easy targets and piss on the creative aspirations and efforts of others, while simultaneously offering nothing themselves. Food critics are treated like kings at the best restaurants in the world, dining at the expense of their magazine or publisher, and all they can do is poo-poo the food and moan about the jus or the delicious food being inedible slop.
Music critics slag off whatever isn’t popular and big up whatever is popular without ever offing an original thought and having desperately failed at some point earlier in an attempt to become a musician themselves. People slag off the rich and successful motivated by their own inability to become rich and successful. Do I want to be one of those people? Unfortunately I am already, and there is little I can do to wipe out the critic within my personality.
What I can do though is sometimes write about things I love instead of things I hate. I don’t know why more people don’t do that. Maybe if Frankie Boyle tried it he might come across as less of a cunt; just a thought. So anyway, what can I write about today? It’s got to be something quick, because I have to get out of bed v v soon. I have a kitchen to tidy, a meal to begin preparing and a wedding fair to go to. That’s it: food! God, I love food!
Everyone knows that they stick the chocolate by the till in corner shops and supermarkets to entice the impulse buy. When you have spent an hour traipsing around Tesco getting more and more hungry, filling the trolley with greater and greater variety of crisps, snacks, pies, and puddings, it’s possible Mr. Tesco might just be able to swindle an extra 50p out of you with a tempting Double Decker. But what kind of impulse buys might you see in one of Central Manchester’s many Chinese supermarkets?
While paying for my sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce, instant pad Thai noodles, natto, and fresh limes, I noted a mysterious object beside the till. I picked up the round plastic box and peered at the solid white mass inside. Turnip cake, the lady at the till informed me, it’s very nice. And believing her, and having never tried turnip cake before, I had to buy it. No two ways about it.
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| turnip cake and a daikon, yesterday |
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| fried turnip cake and bamboo with pickled ginger and chili, yesterday |
Upon returning home I googled it and discovered it’s not actually made of turnip. It is made with daikon, a mild flavoured radish popular in Japan. On a few occasions I have made my own delicious daikon fritters, and regularly used them in big pot roasts while living in Osaka. Daikon are often found in supermarkets and Asian shops under the name mooli.
Turnip cake is a popular dim sum dish and can be eaten as is or sliced and fried to give it a crispy texture. I fried mine, discovering it was full of tiny little shrimp of the sort so delicious in Morecambe Bay Potted Shrimps. I ate my turnip cake with some fried bamboo shoots and pickled ginger and red chilli. Even if I wanted to I couldn’t slag this off. The turnip cake was amazing and is definitely going back on my shopping list.
So there was a bit of positivity, a good review of turnip cake. All I could really think to say was it was delicious. I am in a rush to finish this post, and getting hungrier every second. Next time I write something about food I’ll take my time over it. Erm... good bye.
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