venta

Many of you will know that I have strong feelings on the topic of pies. A pie should, in an ideal world, have a pastry top and a pastry bottom. The should both be made of shortcrust. However, I am a tolerant type and I'm perfectly happy for people to have puff pastry, or top-crust only pies, so long as the damn things are cooked in unison. The thing that some pubs server you - stew with a separate piece of puff pastry balanced in or near the vicinity - is not a pie. It might be tasty, it might be what you want, but it is not a pie. It is a stew-hat, and should be advertised as such.

Incidentally, someone recently introduced me to the phrase "stewpé"[*], with which I am most taken.

Today, for reasons of a lack of time and being crap at getting out of bed nature, I didn't pack myself lunch and went instead to EAT.

( Behold, the horror )

[*] I'm not sure how clear that is written down. It's a portmanteau of "stew" and "toupé".

A gruesome twosome, here....

( Eat Your Heart Out @ The Pathology Museum, St Barts )

Otherly, my local butcher is getting properly into the Hallowe'en spirit, and has decorated his window. If you don't want to see the sort of window-display which could be created by someone who has a lot of spare animal body parts, I recommend you stop reading right now.

( My butcher's window... )