Masala Dosa and Sri Lankan Restaurants in London

Problem
My family is eating too much meat and cereal or cheese and cereal (fast food: pizzas, burgers, and kebabs) not enough vegetables.

Answer
Try a vegetarian restaurant. Or a restaurant with vegetarian dishes.

Google will find them for you. (The CEO of Google is Tamil.)

Restaurants
I have listed them alphabetically by name.

Chennai Chutney

Chennai Srilalitha Veg Restaurant, Harrow
South Indian

Gana Sri Lankan and South Indian
Wembley

Ganesha, Watford
ganeesh-restaurant.co.uk

Palm Beach Restaurant, Wembley.
Sri Lanka and South India.

Rams Pure Vegetarian
Harrow

Saravanaa Bhavan, Harrow
South Indian Vegetarian

Sarashwathy Bhavan
No time to go there?
Order from Just Eat (For food from Ganeesha in Watford.)

Glossary
Dosa - folded pancake
Hopper - fermented rice pancake, bowl shape

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masala_dosa
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/sri-lankan-food-where-to-eat-it-and-how-to-make-it-hoppers-soho-london-review-moonstone-review-a7717251.html

Author
Angela Lansbury

What are kneidlech and kreplach?

Chicken soup at B & K. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
For a long time I could not remember which was kneidlech and which was kreplach, as they both go in soup and both start with k and end with ech or ach. Then one day I thought of the French word crepe and it becomae easy to remember which was which.

Glossary
kneidlech - dumplings
kreplach - like a filled crepe or pancake with edges pinched together, pasta envelopes containing meat.

What language is that? Yiddish, which is a mixture of German and Hebrew. Some say it's German written in Hebrew letters.

Similar - ravioli (Italian)

I read the wikipedia article on kneidlach and was surprised to learn that dumplings in chicken soup can be made using chicken fat. There's a use for something which might otherwise be thrown away - or drained off the soup.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreplach

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See my other posts on B & K. Please follow and share links to your favourite posts.

Pancake Day (Feb 13 in 2018) Recipe for Success

Problem
What do I do for pancake day?

Make pancakes heart-shape because the day after pancake day it's Valentine's Day.

Iceland is offering free pancake ingredients with frying pans if you buy the deal whilst stocks last.

https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/food-and-drink/pancake-day-iceland-giving-away-free-pancake-ingredients-shrove-tuesday/

If you don't get these, here's a recipe for you:
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Pancake

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

CALENDAR 2018: New Year, Valentine's, Remembrance Day, Carnival, Xmas and more

Problem
I read about events after they have started and it's too late to go. 

Answer
For next year, you and I have a calendar, listing the main holiday dates and tourist events and celebrations.

A quick reminder of October - Dec 2017.
2017 LAST QUARTER
OCT 13-15 Chocolate Show, Olympia, London, England.
Oct 31 Halloween.

NOVEMBER
Nov 5 Guy Fawkes Night (UK, especially Lewes, Sussex. Remembers Parliament saved from Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot.) Fireworks all over UK, public displays. Buy tickets.

DECEMBER
Dec 22 El Gordo, big prize of the national lottery, seen on TV, announced by a choir of children.
Dec 24 Christmas Eve. Many offices and shops close lunch time.
Dec 25 Christmas Day.
Dec 26 Boxing Day UK. Sales start in shops and online.
Dec 31 New Year's Eve Worldwide, starting Australia, then Europe, then Americas. Public Fireworks in London. Buy tickets and souvenirs. Watch on TV.

CALENDAR 2018

JANUARY

January 1st  New Year's Day Parade, California, USA. Morning Concert and ballet from Vienna, Austria, televised in Europe.

January Sales. 

Jan 5th Three Kings. 

Jan 25th Burns Night . 

Jan 27th Holocaust Day. 

and Carnival in Venice Italy.

FEBRUARY: 

Chocolate month. 

Feb 13 Pancake Day. 

Feb 14 Valentine’s Day. 

MARCH

March 1st St David's Day, Wales. 

March 11 Mother's Day UK.

March 17 St Patrick's Day, Ireland. 

March 23 St George’s Day, England.

March 24 Oxford and Cambridge Boat race. 

March 30 Easter Good Friday. 

APRIL

April 1st Fools Day. Easter Sunday.

April 2 Easter Monday.

April 23 St George’s Day, England.

April 25 ANZAC Day, Australia and New Zealand.

MAY

May 1st May Day. 

JUNE

June 17 Father's Day.

JULY

July 2-15, 2018, Wimbledon. 

AUGUST

August 3-11 Eisteddfod music festival, Cardiff, Wales. 

Aug 3-25 Edinburgh Tattoo, Scotland.
Aug 9-19 Bristol Balloon Fiesta, Bristol, UK. 

Aug 22-23 Battle of the flowers, Jersey, British Channel Islands. 

SEPTEMBER 

Oktoberfest, beer tents in Munich, Germany.

OCTOBER

Oct 12-21 Eurochocolate Exhibition, free entry, Perugia, Umbria, Italy. (Annual but dates vary.)

2018 Notting Hill Carnival will begin at 09:00 on

Sunday

,

26 August

and ends at 08:00 on

Monday

,

27 August

All times are in United Kingdom Time.

Oct 31 Halloween. 

NOVEMBER

Nov 5th Guy Fawkes. 

Nov 11th Remembrance Day. 

Chocolate week and Chocolate Show, UK.

International Balloon Fiesta, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.

DECEMBER

Dec 24 Xmas Eve. 

Dec 25 Xmas. 

Dec 26 Boxing Day. 

Dec 31 New Year's Eve. 

******************************************
More Information From:
EVENTS
www.thechocolateshow.co.uk

TOURIST BOARDS / INFORMATION
http://www.antor.com (Association of National Tourist Organizations.)
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk
www.visitbritain.org
https://www.wikipedia.org
https://wikitravel.org/en/Main_Page

COMMERCIAL SITES / BOOKINGS
https://www.booking.com/index.en
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer.

Five Romanian Words to Recognize While Eating Pancake with Lemon

Problem
How do I learn more words?

Answer
Just keep going. Learning languages is like the old joke about who too you eat an elephant. The answer is one bite at a time.

English
apricot - c a i s a (with accents)
lemon - l a m a i e (cap shape over the first a but hat over the second a)
orange - portocala (bowl shape above the final a)
Pancake or crepe (a French word) - clatita (rhymes with eat her)
peach - piersica (PEACh - PiErsiCA - both have the four letters PEAC, although the Romanians have the last two in a different order)

Now we have learned five words it would be handy to learn to recognize or say pancake with lemon please. So let's learn with and please.
please - t e  r o g (or v a rog - equivalent to French T u to a friend or child, v a more formal, think r o g as Request and roger, roger over an out, request to roger is dog, if you please, t e  r o g or v a  r o g  - I inserted spaces because the automatic spell checker suggests dog; g in request also visually resembles reg with a round top and a tail)

Romanian
c a i s a - apricot (with accents)
clatita - crepe or pancake
cu is with (which was in the previous post)
l a m a i e - lemon (both words have the letters L.M and an e)
piersica - peach (both words contain PEA - PEAch and PiErsicA)
portocala - orange

www.duolingo.com
www.romaniatourism.com

Angela Lansbury, author and speaker, teacher of English and learner of languages. I have several more posts on Romanian and other languages. Please share my posts.

Izgara Turkish Restaurant in dining capital of London

Izgara Turkish restaurant has opened in Hatch end. One of our local papers described Hatch End as restaurant capital of London. How many restaurants? About 18 and you can walk up and down and check the menus in the windows in a distance of about 500 yards in less than 5 minutes, if you are quick. Alphabetically: Ask, Casa Mia, Coriander, Fellini, Orama, Mosfilo, Sea Pebbles, Zia Teresa, and more, plus the places in the supermarket and arts centre. Cuisines are Greek, Indian, Italian and now Turkish at Izgara.

Will another rival restaurant cause any worries to the existing restaurants? I don't think so. The more the merrier. Another opportunity will attract more diners to the area, and offer more choice to those wondering whether to go elsewhere or stay nearby.

Izgara opens lunch time today (Monday 30 Nov 2015). It is open to the public every day including Monday when you struggle to find a restaurant open. Noon until 11.

Yes, it is a new addition to the Hatch End restaurant scene, Izgara, Turkish for grill. I confess I have struggled to remember and spell Izgara. At first I thought is a guru. Wrong.  Not two Us. Two As. Think A star, twice. The last letter is A.  So I made myself a memory aid (mnemonic). IZ G rill  A nd Really Appetising. I Z G A R A.

Izgara. Open noon Monday 30th November 2015. From noon to 11 at night. Run by the same owners as Izgara in Edgware and the team who operate the other two restaurants. 

The Hatch End manager told me his name is Shukur. Pardon, how do you pronounce it? He smiles because he's been asked before, and he has a ready answer. He says think of pronouncing it like sugar.

Where is Izgara? Two doors along from Fellini, the big indoor-outdoor Italian restaurant curving round the corner. Izgara replaces Zaza, another Italian restaurant, from the Italian group which has a restaurant in Pinner, if you are looking for them. I looked at the Zaza restaurant website to get the street number of Izgara for you but the Zaza restaurant website already says they've closed their Hatch End branch.

I'll send somebody out to stroll around Hatch End and get Izgara's street number, as I haven't time to keep researching restaurant numbers. Anyway, Hatch End is a small place. Just walk along the station side between Pickwick Walk on the corner towards the traffic lights where you cross the road and you'll find Izgara.

If you like Mediterranean food, you will like this. If you can't tell Turkish food from Lebanese, Greek, Israeli, that's fine.  You'll recognise kebab, cubed chicken and lamb, hummus (chickpeas), pink dip, tabouleh, rice, tomatoes, aubergine. 

Here's the owner  of Hatch End Izgara (right) with keen customer from Edgware branch who popped in to see the new Hatch End branch, as he was passing the night before the opening when the owner and his partner and their family were celebrating.

I'd been watching that sign, 'Izgara, Hatch End, coming soon,' for days. 

They serve Turkish coffee, Turkish wine, and a yogurt drink. I tried the Prosecco. In my opinion you can't go wrong with Prosecco.  (Ok. It's not Turkish it's Italian. But it's popular. Like cola.) Where wine is concerned, I'm not mad about dry reds and whites but if you are interested here's what the Turkish red and white wine bottles look like.

I love the lights and the ceiling.

Candles at night. Proper sea salt and peppercorns.

Here's a Turkish yogurt they use in their yogurt drink, which must be the same concept as lassi which I love in Indian restaurants. I'm always trying to add milk, yogurt and cheese to my diet to keep my teeth while and hopefully keep my bones strong.

Izgara Website

www.izgararestaurant.co.uk

And if you see what looks like a spring roll in Izgara, it's a blini, a rolled up thin pancake, with the ends folded in, filled with soft cheese.

See more pictures and facts about the food in my previous posts.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker.

See my other posts, always offbeat and entertaining, humorous, well-researched. Books on etiquette and comic poetry and more on Lulu.com and Amazon and ebooks coming soon.

Sweet and savoury pancakes

On pancakes, savoury topping is bacon, tomato and spinach.

On the other half is Canadian maple syrup, the real thing, from the sap of the maple tree. 

The origins of pancake day?

What's the origin of pancake day? Using up flour and food, old food, which you will given up for lent, a Christian festival. But it probably goes back to pre-Christian days, when spring cleaning got rid of old food ready for the next harvest.

I wonder whether the fast days were for going without to help eke out supplies for your own family, or throughout the community. Or could it have been to stop the old food contaminating the new? Looking at the cereal and dairy supplies (in pancakes), you are removing the old flour, giving the utensils a rest period (like the seventh day of rest for families and animals, and fields lying fallow).

A Discovery channel programme investigated the ten plagues and the deaths of the firstborn Egyptian children of the ruling class.  The called in detectives and forensic investigations of possible causes of death. After eliminating as unlikely the invasion of every home and striking down of only one inmate, they looked at the possibilities or deliberate or accidental poisoning.

Investigators compared mass deaths with later outbreaks in rural communities. They found incidences in American history of deaths from St Vitus's dance, which is caused by contamination of stored cereal crops (used to make flour) in unduly wet weather.

The conclusion was that it was likely that the richer pharaonic tribes lived in one area, eating one feral crop, whilst the slave or servant or foreign group lived elsewhere eating another crop. The richer people had stores of crops. The first born child was traditionally given a double portion of the food, because the firstborn was favoured, (and often as much as four years older if breastfed).

Not knowing the cause of the problem, or knowing the cause and wanting the entire population to abide by the rules for preventing it happening again, the rulers then established a rule or tradition of using up old flour, making it both fun (pancake day) and serious (abstaining for lent).

The Jewish festival of Passover celebrates the passing over of the children who were not killed by the angel who supposedly slew the Pharoah's first born, and includes removing all wheat from the house for a week, and using all new crockery. This was depicted in paintings as the last supper, a springtime meal. (Though the bread is might be shown in famous paintings as risen dough rather than flat unleavened bread.)

If you do not observe the Jewish nor the Christian abstentions, you may still find yourself surrounded by people celebrating pancake day and may wish to have fun following the recipes given for making pancakes.

Commerce and marketing now cater for all religions and traditions and are keen to promote anything which sells more goods and keeps well-fed happy customers. If you eat pancakes, but have not had any recently, you will enjoy the promotion of pans and pancake recipes.

Pancakes in America are often small fat items. They can be bought readymade in stacks like biscuits (which in the USA are called cookies).

British pancakes are larger and thinner. British pancakes are half way between the American and French versions.

The thinnest pancakes are the wafer thin French crepes which are huge and rolled up, sold around moated Mont St Michel, in Northern France, sometimes with the addition of Grand Marnier or liqueur.

Enjoy pancake day.