long overdue

like many of the library books that i borrow, this blog is long overdue. a couple of weeks ago i took the saturday off and went to see wolf parade in bristol. thanks must go to the doormen on the thekla (a boat come nightclub in the harbour area) who gave us the wrong starting time, resulting in us missing the first ten minutes. what a surprise then that 15 minutes into the gig that we saw, the lead singer was letting us know that this was their final number. obligatory chanting and pleading saw them come back for a further three songs but i would estimate that we saw 35 minutes of gig and that everyone who had not spoken to the bouncer had seen 50 minutes. when you have two albums, plus a new one, why limit yourself to 50 minutes when you're only doing four gigs in the UK anyway? we left feeling a little seasick (it sways) and cheated. of course we compounded this feeling by going in to clifton and visiting the albion. when i was a student in bristol, the albion was a little hole in the wall place and had a great atmosphere. nowadays it looks like cast-offs from footballer's wives and the prices match up to that quite well. bizarrely the toilets were disgusting. we left and went back to our hotel, hotel24seven, and this i can give a glowing review. there were no staff, no receptionist etc and everything is done over the web. the key codes that let us in, the key fob for the car park that was left in the room and, best of all, the comfy, very clean rooms with tea and coffee and a fridge. the rooms that we had had an adjoining courtyard and so we stayed up, outside, smoking and drinking late night tea.

the restaurant that weekend was quiet. on the thursday we had our worst night ever, since opening, one table of four. it probably beat the night that buzz came in to review, because that night there was only a table of two, but buzz were also a two and it felt better. that weekend it felt like i was on holiday, not working on saturday and leaving at 8.15 on thursday. the reason for this blog is so that i don't forget my vegan/coeliac shortbread recipe, so this is it. it was for our chocolate pots and you may want to leave out the spices.


75g dessicated coconut
100g doves farm plain white gluten free flour
50g rice flour
50g cornmeal/polenta
150g caster sugar
1 tsp chinese 5 spice
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g pure vegetable marg

put everything in a food processor, with a blade attachment. pulse to incorporate then put on high and let a dough form. once the dough has formed tip it onto a floured surface and bring together. split into 3 or 4 and roll out. i flattened mine with a spatula. cook in a circle, in biscuit shapes, however, at 160C in a fan oven for a minimum of 8 minutes. the more you cook, the crispier the final product.

cheers

wayne