On Sunday, August 21, 2005 9:57 PM, Chuck wrote:

> > > > personnell   I've booked out an entire French restaurant
> > in Manly and
> > > > arranged a fixed menu of roast beef, yorkshire pudding and
> > > > vegetables, followed by spotted dick and custard.

(snip)

> When we were in France (I was in a cooking school in Provence for a week)
I
> learned why the French are so good with sauces.  Their meat is awful
(unlike
> the Scots where their meat is offal.)  Enjoy your feast and raise one for
> me.

G'Day, Chuck!  Although I'm a person who, (when left to fend for himself for
any length of time,something that hasn't happened for years, hence my
well-padded frame!) regards food as nothing more than fuel - and is
perfectly happy existing on cold food eaten directly from a tin - I have
nothing but the greatest respect for those who regard cooking as an art. :-)

Indeed, it often seems to me that it's as noble a form of art as, say,
paintings, architecture, or landscaping.  The difference being that it's
appreciation is so short-lived and possibly demands greater discipline and
commitment from its practitioners than any other art form.  (That's my
philosophical musings for the day!) :-)

As for the Trafalgar Day lunch, I'll certainly toast your health.  :-)

Since arriving in OZ, in 1973, I've only been back to the UK once.  That was
in 1990, with the highlight of the trip being an invitation from the then
skipper of HMS Victory for Sylvia and myself to have dinner on board, in
Nelson's cabin.  It was a magnificent affair, following which I was
presented with an original bolt mounted on an oak plinth - both of which
were removed from the ship during the restoration that took place between
1922 - 28.

Interestingly - to me, at any rate <bwg> - the bolt, made of brass, has
little arrows set inside a circle impressed into the metal circumference
with the largest space between the arrows being about half-an-inch.  The
idea being that sailors couldn't cut off more than half-an-inch of the
valuable metal to try and sell ashore to pay for grog!  Hence the rhyming
slang, "half-inch" meaning "to pinch" (or steal!) :-)

Strike