ARCHIVE 609 – A DISTINCTLY CIVILISED FULL ENGLISH

 

 

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I’m quite a fan of Full English Breakfasts.  They are of course eminently unhealthy food, full of fat and calories, and they can also be very bland – the ingredients can all be there, but they’re cheap, pallid affairs, and really not worth the effort.  Sausages can be the worst culprits, cheap, bland, with not a trace of texture and with almost no taste – might as well be eating cardboard, really; probably just as nutritious too.

But in other instances Full English Breakfasts are rich explosions of taste, and one pointer that I’ve discovered to this greatness is their colour – the more colourful (but not garish) ones have better ingredients and tend to taste better.  And so it was with the distinctly classy repast pictured here.  It has been another long morning of walking and photography in the city, and so into Browns eminently civilised restaurant, and a breakfast to warm the spirit.

So, what is here?  Well, the usual suspects – taking it clockwise from the top, fried eggs hiding just right of the sourdough toast, tasty sausages, thick smoked bacon, mushrooms, tomato (real, not canned) – and then that dubious black chunk trying to hide under the toast is black pudding, a pudding made with blood – truly repulsive, unhealthy … and tasty!    And then some baked beans and those thin strips of greenery – which were tasty too!  All in all, probably 1600 calories or so …

This food was indeed delicious, but the icing on the cake for me was in the semicircle of supporting accoutrements   Butter of course, and tomato sauce not in the ubiquitous plastic bottle.  And then a teapot and  small jug of milk >>> and because actual tea leaves were used instead of the ubiquitous teabags, sitting on top of the cup is a tea strainer and a little round metal cup the strainer sits in after use, so that it doesn’t drip onto the table.  I am not any great connoisseur of food nor do I have any great eye for style, but for me that tea strainer and its little receptacle were just the icing on the cake.  In a world where money rules, quality is often forsaken and there is a general race to the bottom, this tea strainer and its little holder turned a good meal into a really quite restful, elegant and special experience.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: X-T2 with 10-24 Fujinon lens at 26mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom, using the Provia/Standard film simulation; Browns restaurant, central Bristol; 28 Apr 2017.  Use of a wide angle lens pointed down at the subject appears to lift the plate of food slightly so that the objects to either side appear to be tilting outwards slightly.  This effect may be correctable with software but I’m content to leave it as it is.

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HOME 6 – SOFT DRINK, BACKLIT

 

 

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Bottle of mixer, waiting on the kitchen worktop for dilution by simply unconscionable amounts of gin.

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Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 300mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Modern 08 profile; in the kitchen; 9 Sept 2020.

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HOME 4 – MY FAVOURITE TIPPLE!

 

 

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As you may be aware, The FATman is an inveterate imbiber of top quality Belgian beer.  I have tasted many Belgian brews, but for some years now have (delightedly and enthusiastically!) standardised on Duvel, which is an absolutely glorious Belgian strong blond ale – with taste, after-taste, texture and … 8.5% alcohol – so, not something you pour down your throat with gay abandon, unless you have a desire to become senseless and horizontal quite speedily.

Shown above, here is golden Duvel in its own, large, tulip-shaped glass, which has been specifically designed to contain this beer’s often towering white head.  Its can be unwise to whip the tops off bottles of Belgian beers as they will often enthusiastically come out to meet you, to say hello, and to end up all over your clothes and the floor.  And Duvel is absolutely no exception, caution is needed and, after the bottle’s top is off, then the correct pouring angle is needed –  if only to avoid my wife’s comments when I emerge from an accident with perhaps one centimetre of golden ale in the bottom of one of these huge glasses – and the rest filled with bright white foam …

Since 1871, Duvel has been made by the Moortgat Brewery in Puurs – and this town has now achieved even more fame by also containing the Pfizer lab that has started producing vast amounts of covid19 vaccine.

And if all this were not enough, Moortgat Brewery now also produces the simply sublime Duvel Tripel Hop Citra, which is stronger (9.5%) and even more delicious!

I’m being spoilt: both of these wonderful beers are available in our local supermarket >>> but whether this will continue after the current acrimonious Brexit trade talks is anyone’s guess!

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Technique: TG-5 at 38mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Natural profile; my favourite armchair; 18 Sept 2020.
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ARCHIVE 525 – SAVOY CABBAGE, BACKLIT

 

 

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Savoy cabbage with backlighting; 29 Mar 2009.

Click onto image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: F6 with 105mm Nikkor lens; tripod; Fuji Velvia 100 colour slide film, rated at 125 ISO to further saturate the colours.
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ARCHIVE 486 – FAST FOOD OUTLET (MONO)

 

 

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Table and seats outside a fast food café in Newquay, Cornwall; 11 Sept 2013.

Technique: D800 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 135mm; 800 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2’s High Contrast Smooth preset.

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OUTER SUBURBS 208 – BREAKFAST IN THE OUTER SUBURBS 2

 

 

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Breakfast plonked down on top of various urgent and often tea-stained papers, that are but the tip of the iceberg of great piles of paper and other rubbish that litter what I laughingly call my “desk”.  A hot breakfast, something to keep the cold out – the near zero temperatures and strong winds of the early morning – as I pound the streets of the Outer Suburbs.  Streets which are now, in these locked down, virus-ridden times, mainly quiet and almost devoid of other walkers, almost all of whom – thank goodness! – are very much into social distancing.

So, what is here?  Well, piping hot cod and chorizo fishcakes and cooked tomatoes, along with grapes, and slices of orange, apple and melon.  And all given more bite by pickled garlic, and a gert great dollop of (meaning, in rather more refined circles, “quite a lot of”…)  Patak’s Lime Pickle.  Oh yes, and all washed down with a mug of hot, strong tea – tea strong enough to stand the spoon up in! >>> tea that leaves a dry film on your teeth! >>> tea that puts hairs on your vest! >>> that sort of tea!!!

When I’ve eaten one of these breakfasts, cats follow me down the streets.  But that’s OK, I like cats.

Oh and the mug, yes, Homer Simpson, very much a role model.

An earlier breakfast post is here: 1 .

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.

Technique: TG-5 at 25mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Natural profile; south Bristol; 28 Mar 2020.
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BRISTOL 166 – AT LUNCH, DRINKING WATER (MONO)

 

 

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Carafe and glass on a wooden table top: a cool drink before the food arrives.

More images from Browns restaurant can be found by clicking onto the Browns tag below – recommended.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: X-T2 with 10-24 Fujinon lens at 36mm (equiv); 800 ISO; centre-weighted average metering; Lightroom, using the Camera Astia/Soft profile; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Full Spectrum Inverse preset and adding a moderate Coffee tone; Capture NX2; Browns restaurant, central Bristol; 28 Apr 2017.
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OUTER SUBURBS 205 – SODA WATER WITH ICE AND A SLICE OF LEMON 3

 

 

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A soft drink at lunch: there are earlier versions here: 1 2 .

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 800 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 19 Feb 2020.
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OUTER SUBURBS 202 – LUNCHTIME DRINKS

 

 

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Drinks on the table, and now we await the food.  Two drinks, soda water with ice and lemon for the more sensible, civilised and sober of the two diners, and something else for …  well … the other one …

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Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 19 Feb 2020.
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OUTER SUBURBS 197 – SODA WATER WITH ICE AND A SLICE OF LEMON 2

 

 

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At lunch in the outer suburbs.

There are earlier versions here: 1 .

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 19 Feb 2020.
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