The Birth of the Monster

Before I start, I'd like to say that I would welcome and appreciate any comments that you wish to leave at the bottom of my blog. 

When I sit down and try to think what to write to keep these blogs informative and entertaining, I usually start to think of how to extoll the virtues of smoothies and health and how the two mix. Then, once I start writing, all of those good intentions go down hill and I start waffling like a babbling fool. You see,  It's really difficult for a non-trained hack, like myself, to come up with fresh Ideas.

Well, I cant remember what I wanted to write about when I switched on my PC, so I am happy to report that this blog will be no different. Who am I to change a tried and trusted formula?

I want to tell you about my 20s.

There are vast tracts of that decade that only barely twinkle in my memory. However enough of those years' culinary remembrances remain to be able to tell you a little about the initial steps towards this Saga.

The main constituents of my diet during my 20's were..........

Curry and Beer

And that's pretty much all.

If you are to understand why, you need to understand a little bit about my home-town.

I come from Birmingham, England.

Birmingham is famous for a few things.

Black Sabbath

Some of the most disgusting cars in history

Having more miles of Canals filled with shopping trollies than Venice.

UB40

ELO

DURAN

But probably the most delicious contribution to the British Zeitgeist must be the BALTI.

Birmingham is a great city. Forget what the papers say about it being a disgusting, Dirty, grey and uncultured industrial place.
Just look at this BBC film with Telly Savalas getting all of a twitter about it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00j976x

If its good enough for Kojak, Its good enough for anyone!

It IS all of those nasty things that people say about it.

Which big city isn't?

The main thing that Birmingham has, is a myriad of cultures all living together and sharing their cultures, so that the city has now become a delightful and glittering Gestalt.

Is it a Bunny? Is it a duck?

Well..............Almost delightful and glittering.

One of the cultures that has made it's mark since the 1950s, is the Indian culture.
Punjabi, Kashmiri and Goan restaurants soon appeared all over the city, but there is a region of the city called Sparkhill that has a Huge number of restaurants and cafes. This area was the centre for the development of a type of curry, sort of a melange of different types of curry styles which became known as BALTI.

There are a few facts that you need to know about Balti.

First it is BLOODY DELICIOUS. It is the Goldilocks of curry.....Not too spicy, not too weak, Just Right.

Second, as you see from the photo, above, Balti is served with the biggest bread you have ever seen.

Unless you are these people..........

Third, it is incredibly cheap.

The one thing that is not so good, is that Indian food is made with a special type of butter called Ghee. Which is a clarified butter.

We have always been told that Ghee is the product of a marriage between a cow and the devil.

You can imagine my delight when I saw this....

http://www.naturalnews.com/034182_ghee_clarified_butter.html 

So Butter now is not bad for you.

Except when you eat a lot of it every night.

With Beer........

lots

of

Beer

I hope now that you have some sort of idea why I got to the state that I was in when I started my blog.

I would like to dedicate this blog to my partners in crime at the time.

John (who I hope will someday contribute to this blog)

Paul (the controller)

and Joe (wherever he is)

Today's recipe

The Gingersnap Monster

Correct indigestion with this ginger Blast, which contains pain-killing and anti-nausea compounds perfect for an upset stomach. It also contains pear, packed with fibre and calming cinnamon and nutmeg spices, which not only help ring in the holidays with festive flavours, but help calm and relax your stomach.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Butter Lettuce
• ½   Banana
• 1   Pear
• ½ Inch Ginger
• 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• ½ Teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1 ½ Cups Water