Recipe, Thai Chicken Salad

Thai chicken and mango salad

Serves 4
To be strictly Thai you should leave out the watercress and increase the quantity of herbs. If you can't find green mangoes, or prefer to eat ripe ones, you can use 1 ripe mango and 1 tart green apple (core removed). As well as sourness the green mangoes provide crunch so an apple is a fine substitute.
4 chicken fillets (skinned)
salt and pepper
groundnut oil
6 spring onions, sliced
8 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
2 medium-sized unripe mangoes
2tbs fish sauce
2 tbs caster sugar
juice of 1 1/2 limes
3 medium-sized red chillies
50g fresh coriander
40g fresh mint leaves
50g watercress leaves
1 1/2 tbs roughly chopped roasted peanuts

Lightly season the chicken breasts and saute them in 2 tbs groundnut oil until cooked through. Leave to cool. Saute the spring onions, using a little more oil if you need to, in the same pan and put them in a broad flat bowl. Quickly fry the slices of garlic until golden - be really careful not to burn them. Add these to the bowl as well. Cut the flesh from the mangoes and cut it into lengths about the thickness of two matchsticks.Put these in the bowl along with the fish sauce, sugar and lime juice. Halve and deseed the chillies and slice them finely. Add to the bowl. Finally cut the chicken into strips and add to the bowl with the herbs, watercress and 3 1/2 tbs of groundnut oil. Mix everything together. Scatter the roasted peanuts over the top and serve.

Recipe for Cornish Pasties

Here are the ingredients to make 6 very large pasties:-

1. Pack of Just Roll puff pastry (2)
2. Large Potato
3. Large carrot
4. Swede
5. Parsnip
6. Large onion, finly chopped
7. Fresh herbs, parsley, sage, taragon, maybe mixed herbs
8. Seasoning, eg salt, pepper
9. About 2 lbs of best quality beef mince
10. 1 egg, beaten

Here are the stages

1. Peel and dice all the vegetables
2. Chop all herbs finely
3. Place all vegetables and herbs in bowl and mix well
4. Separate pastry and cut each pack into 3
5. Roll out each 3rd of pastry until about 12" by 8"
6. Place large handful of diced veg on bottom half of pastry, make sure
to leave lots of space at top, and enough space all round
7. Place a this layer of beef mince on top of the veg
8. Using pastry brush dipped in water, paint patry all round edge
9. Fold the top over the meat and the veg, press down on the edges
10. Now use a fork to crimp the edges
11. Now go round the edged and form a rope effect by tuning over and over
12. Prick with a sharp knife 3 times on the top

Cooking
1. Place on greased oven tray
2. Heat at about 175 for 40 - 60 mins
3. Halfway through, brush the beaten egg on top to give a nice glaze

Other Variations
1. Use diced beef instead if minced

2. Use minced lamb

3. Add diced chilli to veg mix

4. Add small amounts of either Worcester Source, Tabasco or other flavouring

5. Make smaller but twice the amount

6. With the spare pastry, put peoples initials on the top

7. When making the pasty, insert a dividing wall, and on one side insert apple and cinnamon, but make sure you know which side is which though. This should result in a 2 course pasty, some say this is the tradition way they were made.

Toby Jug, Bottle and Goblet

Bought over ebay, quite a heavy jug, and in very good condition, especially when you concider how vunerable the arms and hands are. The best things about this toby I think are the stripes on the vest and trousers. I also like the face, although this has been painted on, the effect is quite pleasing, and does not look so cheap and nasty as thouse later Victorian copies.
Hard to date, but I would say about 1820. There is also an example in Vics book.

Toby Jug, Half size, Ralph wood

Almost an exact copy of the full size version, this is a truly beautiful jug. The upper half seems completely perfect, but not so the base. The base has been completely sheared off, and restuck on using what I think must be wood glue. Unusually he has buckles on his shoes, not laces. Also interested is the old label inside,
I have see similar jugs, for sale about 1990, doing the circuits of the fine art fairs in london, similar type woods, one with a pot, the other with one arm raised ( Benjimin )
Reading Vics book, and the nature of the damge to the base, I think that he must have been slammed down on a hard surface and this must have caused the whole of the base to be cleanly seperated from the body.
Date wise, I would say about 1795 - 1810, and because of the size I would like to say it could be a salesmans sample, but have to admit, this just might be too much of an over worked cliche.

Toby Jugs, Half Size Twins

The Blue and Green Half Size Twins
Both bought on Ebay, the one with the green coat came from Australia ( about 400 gbp ), the blue one from the UK ( about 150 gbp ).
They are both exactly the same, and from the same mould, with exactly the same glaze and finish. But for some reason, the green coated one looks much better, and looks much older.
When I first recieved the green coat, I was sure it was about 1830, made in staffordshire and a quality piece. When recieving the blue one, I thought that this must hacve been a cheap copy, recently made, not to the same standard. but comparing them together they are both of high quality and exactly the same.
The only think that I have managed toi find out about both jugs is that the same jug is featured in thre book by Captain Price, with a black and white photo displayed, with the word "fake" in the descriptiuon field. As this book was printed in 1921, then the jugs must be before this date, but if Price knows them as fakes, why did he put a picture in his book ?
Date could be almost anything. I would put it any where between 1820 and 1920, but I would love to know what Capt Price knew. I have seen these go in markets for about 100 - 200 gbp though, so they must be a pretty good fake.

Toby Jug, American Sailor

Bought from Charles in the Van Haler Arcade in Portabello Road, over Ebay for about 1600 gbp, this jug came all the way from northern Portugal. My idea is that the jug went over with the house contents in the early 19 century when a rich family moved to the Anglo cominity that grew up near Alporto grape growing area. I'm told that such pottery peices are still available at very good prices, the Prtugese not as yet appeciating how desirable they are.
Almost ceratinly made by Ralph Wood, it has a very light weight, thinly potted, with all the nice aspects of excellent glazing. A small amout of resetoration to the handle, the only think that I feel cheated over is the lack of handles on the sea chest.
As far as date, I would say 1790 - 1810

Toby Jug, A Thin Man

The Thin Man
Bought from Aurea Carter about 2003 for about 1500 gbp, this one is a very unusual colour. The detailing is very fine, and as far as I can see there is no damage to the hand, but there has been some repair to to the base of the chair.
One main thing that you notice when you first look at hime is the quality of the detail, in particular, the chair and face. The chair is a work of art on it's own, and is a pretty good representation of a chippendale chair. Another thing that never fail to wonder at is the marvalous almost urved line of the back of the jug.
Because of the colour, and the great detail of the potting, I think it was not made by any of the known makers, but was made by one of the staffordshire potteries that probobly just did dinner services, and just did a proto type toby jug just to see how it would turn out.
The only other thin man I have for direct comparison is the repro produced by Kevin Francis, and against this one it appears vastly superior in potting, detail and definition. All I need now is more thin men to compare it with . . .
Date wise I wouls guess about 1810-1820

Toby Jug, very old hatless

http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/brinleyhawkins
/detail?.dir=53f7&.dnm=393b.jpg

A very remarkable jug. Bought from an American dealer in New York, thsi must be about 1760 or just slightly older. The most remarkable thuing is the colour of the glaze, in electric light it appears blue, but in sunlight appears green.
Very roughly potted, with no real finese on the finish, and the pot he holds is one of the biggest I've ever seen. I have seen vary similar jugs, again marked as very old, the one in Vics book I think is without a base. The closest I can put it with later toby jugs would be a Whieldon, the glaze is very similar, and the way the coat curves beyond the base is very characteristic of Whieldon.

Toby Jugs, latest pictures

Here is a link to my newest toby jugs :-


http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/brinleyhawkins/my_photos

Toby jug Basics

Here is a link to my Toby Jug web Site :-

http://www.geocities.com/brinleyhawkins/tobyjugs

Sunday 27th March 2005

working at fijitsu 0800-1700. Emailed Keith about ladies night coming up and an invite to Chapter of fortune on thursday night. Last night had pastie event at bob and cilla. Cilla realy enjoys making pasties. Andy and Sahra were there as well and looked a thier new flat below. This still has the ols wooden sliding shutters over the french windows. The place is very small,. noce cornice work round the cieling which is very high.

Jance stayed the night, but left with me to go home

Here's a list of things to do :-

1. Pay for eddie bauer shirts on ebay
2. Write up my account of Gabrelle D'Estres for Temple of Fortune
3. Get Saturday off for 9th April
4. Pay gas bill
5. Pay in money for Eastern star
6. submit weekly sheet for pay
7. washing
8. tidy up kitchen

Plans for this evening include an early night