My first attempt at brewing in Scotland (Buchwider Bräu α₁) was a decent German-style wheat beer.

I’ve now tried to brew a Belgian-style one, imaginatively called Buchwider Bräu β₁.

It’s brewed with equal amounts of wheat malt and Belgian pale malt, and it’s flavoured with orange peel, grated ginger and coriander seeds. (I was hoping to get close to my favourite witbier, the famous Korenwolf.)

The ginger is relatively prominent, and the orange is noticeable, but I must admit I find it hard to detect the coriander.

I actually think it’s quite a nice beer, although I think it’s better with food than for drinking on its own. I don’t think it’s that close to a Korenwolf, though, so I’ll have to try again another time. Has anybody got a Korenwolf-style recipe?

My next project is a German Maibock. I’ve got the ingredients, but I need to empty some bottles before I can start.

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For efterhånden mange år siden begyndte jeg at brygge øl sammen med min gode ven og gangfælle Jes Rønnow Lungskov, og vi var også med, da en gruppe ølentusiaster bryggede øl i det historiske bryggeri i Den Gamle By i Århus.

For ti år siden flyttede jeg så til Glasgow, og i begyndelsen boede jeg i lejligheder, der ikke var ret velegnede til at brygge i, så hobbyen fik lov til at gå i glemmebogen.

Men efter at være flyttet ud i forstadsidyllen i Newton Mearns begyndte jeg at få lyst til at brygge igen, og jeg var så heldig, at jeg til min 40-års-fødselsdag fik alt det nødvendige udstyr af min søde familie (tusind tak til jer alle!).

Det første bryg kom på flasker for nylig, og det er en tysk hvedeøl, brygget af 2500 g hvedemalt, 2350 g münchnermalt og 250 g karamelmalt.

Den smager glimrende, omend skummet har for kort levetid.

Jeg har kaldt den α₁, hvor α er opskriften, og 1-tallet signalerer, det er første gang, jeg har brygget den.

Mit næste bryg står og klukker i et skab lige nu, så det skal snart på flasker. Det er en belgisk hvedeøl med ingefær, appelsinskal og koriander, og den hedder naturligvis β₁.

Jeg kan i øvrigt anbefale mælk til at klistre etiketterne fast på flaskerne med!

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However, the Guardian has now published a really helpful series of photos that shows how to do DIY sous-vide cooking.

Basically, I just just need my insulated mash tun and some poly bags from Ikea, and my steaks will always be perfect.

I’ll definitely be trying this very soon!

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When I worked in Champs-sur-Marne (Paris) last week, I was impressed by the way most of my co-workers would jump into their cars at 12 o’clock, drive to a nice restaurant, have a leisurely two- or three-course meal and then return to work around 1.30.

I then realised it wasn’t just because they were really fond of good food, but also because it’s encouraged by a system called “Ticket Restaurant“.

Basically each employee can buy a number of tickets restaurant at half their nominal value (i.e., they pay €5 for a ticket worth €10), while the employer pays the other half; I believe the employer gets some sort of tax relief so that the actual cost is less than €5.

It’s really a win-win-win situation:

• The employee gets a relaxing lunchbreak and a square meal at a very decent price.
• The employer has satisfied employees and doesn’t need to provide a canteen.
• The wider economy can sustain many more jobs in the restaurant trade than if the system didn’t exist.

I have a feeling introducing a similar system in the UK could help kickstart the economy, as well as decreasing stress levels in industry.

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For the past three days I’ve been working at a French company in Champs-sur-Marne, a Parisian suburb. Every day we’ve gone for lunch at a local restaurant, and it’s been a pleasant experience every time.

Today we went to quite a special place, Chez l’ Savoyard in the historical centre of Champs-sur-Marne.

At first I thought it was just a traditional little pub and restaurant.

However, when the owner spotted me, he shouted “Il est nouveau!” and rushed over to shake my hand, saying “Mon fils s’appelle Thomas aussi.” (He quickly forgot, though, and started calling me l’anglais instead!!!)

We then sat down at a table, and one of my temporary colleagues went into the kitchen to find out what was on the menu, while one of the others fetched a bottle of white wine in the bar and grabbed a bottle of crème de cassis from another table.

There were four starters to choose from – eggs mayonnaise, herring salad, charcuterie and salad Parisienne – but there was only one main course on offer: cuisse de canard.

We didn’t have to cook the food ourselves, but the starters were served by another customer who happened to be near the kitchen at that time.

The food was lovely, though – the mayonnaise was homemade, very runny and mustardy, and the duck leg was perfectly cooked.

After each course, we carried the dirty dishes back to the kitchen ourselves.

Because it was my first time there, the owner made us a special dessert – some sort of ice cream with meringue served together with a slice of custard pie. To show that I had sussed the system, I carried our dirty plates back to the kitchen.

We paid €12.50 (£10.37) each. Funnily enough, we didn’t have to work the till ourselves.

Don’t miss Chez l’ Savoyard next time you’re in Champs-sur-Marne!

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I have several nice curry cookbooks, but at the moment one of my favourites is Mridula Baljakar’s Real Balti Cookbook, which is very reliable.

I cooked an Amritsari Dhal (a vegetarian dish with both masoor and channa dhal), a Methi Chaman (a dish with paneer cheese, spinach and fenugreek leaves) and a Rista (lamb meatballs with cream and cashew nuts), served plainly with rice, chapatis and cucumber raita, and everybody seemed to be quite happy with that.

I discovered this cookbook when we visited Phyllis’s old uni friend Gillian last year, and it’s definitely worth buying.

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Last week Charlotte made burgers and chips for dinner, and Phyllis chucked a bag from Waitrose onto the table. It contained six completely black rolls, as well as a sticker saying “reduced”.

I obviously thought the price had been reduced because somebody had forgotten them in the oven for two hours, so I commented to Phyllis that I found it strange that the shop hadn’t binned them instead of trying to sell them at a reduced price, given that nobody in their mind would go near badly burned food, which is likely to be carcinogenic.

She looked at me like I had just landed from Mars and pointed out the the bag was labelled “Scottish Well-Fired Rolls” and that Scots have eaten this type of rolls for ages.

I’m quite relieved I didn’t encounter them earlier! They’re surely an even more appalling Scottish delicacy than deep-friend Mars bars and deep-friend pizzas (which actually taste very nice).

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Men jeg aner ikke, hvad sådan et dyr hedder på dansk!

Er der en klog læser, der kender svaret?

Er det måske en kalkylland, kylkalkand eller kyllandkun?

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Jeg bagte forleden æbleskiver med småpigerne.

Jeg havde regnet med, Anna nok ville prøve at vende dem, men jeg blev alligevel lidt overrasket, da Amaia (der fylder 2 den 11. januar) tog spisepinden ud af Annas hånd og fermt løftede en æbleskive fra panden over på tallerkenen!

Alle børnene kunne vældig godt li’ smagen af dem (min æbleskivepande havde forputtet sig, så det var et par år siden, de havde smagt dem sidst), men Marcel var nu mest optaget af, hvor meget han ville kunne sælge dem for i december inde i Glasgow, hvis han lavede sig en lille bod på gågaden…

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