Wednesday 4 April 2007

Smoking

I've impulsively booked to go to a concert at Snape on Friday night. I had an email to say there are still tickets for some of their Easter concerts - I hadn't booked anything as we often have family things on over the holiday.

You can book online, so I had a look, but backed away hastily when I discovered there was a £1.75 booking fee. Since all I wanted was a single £10 ticket, it seemed a bit steep. Just as well, for when I mentioned it to Ro, he said he'd come too. I rang for the tickets this morning.

A pleasant programme of Prokofiev and Stravinsky, including Lieutenant Kije. I have an affection for that piece. When I was under a period of great stress, I couldn't listen to much music; I couldn't cope with it. I played Bix Beiderbecke, Hoagy Carmichael and Kije, over and again. They were enjoyable and comforting in a way I still don't understand - not that they were, but that others weren't. Later, I was able to listen to Mozart's Requiem. Now, anything, I'm glad to say, and I like to be surprised.

I'll be in the shop this afternoon, so I've had an early lunch. A delicious undyed Lowestoft kipper. Maybe it's because I'm a Lowestoft girl that I love smoky tastes. Lapsang Souchong tea, kippers and bloaters, Islay whisky. And the smell of a wood fire, of course.

7 comments:

badgerdaddy said...

I will be visiting some fine musical shenanigans upon you in the not-too-distant...

Z said...

ooh I say!

y.Wendy.y said...

I wonder what lapsang souchong tastes like. You know what? I'll be in the UK in a few weeks and I am going to buy some and try it.

What are bloaters?

Loathe kippers sadly - they pong to high heaven...my dad used to cook them for breakfast and I'd have to go to school all fishy stinky. Bleuch. But smoked haddock is lovely. In cheese sauce especially.

In SA there's a very very salty, smoked bony fish called 'snoek'....it may be pike? Not sure - anyway it is utterly utterly divine...in kedgeree it is perfection.

Z said...

Bloaters, like kippers, are smoked herring. But bloaters are smoked intact, with the guts in. They are gamier, moister, than kippers.

yes, we had kippers for breakfast. The people next door had them for tea, which my mum thought was a bit infra dig. But he owned a fishing fleet, so it was understandable. His name was, indeed, Catchpole, which is a splendid near-Lowestoft-local name. Sadly, the fishing fleet is all but defunct.

Z said...

Ah, if you try Lapsang, don't let it stew and do drink it fairly weak, without milk.

Pat said...

My son's having kippers for brekker tomorrow. We had fantastic venison sausages and beef sausages with mash and veg cooked by him and granddaughter tonight. Delicious!

Z said...

I rather love it when someone cooks for me in my own home. All the treat without having to go out of your own front door!