game to cook pheasant

Our shared home cooking exploration continues - this time in my Oxford kitchen, with its limited cookware and preparation spaces. Winter here is game season and butchers in the Covered Market have plentiful supplies of venison, rabbit, pheasant and quail. You can choose to buy these animals fresh with fur and feathers, or prepared for home cooking. We selected a pheasant this weekend and I scanned the internet for suitable recipes. Mike Robinson convinced me with his simple recipe and video instructions. Roast pheasant with lemon and rosemary - an easy Italian style of cooking with olive oil, fresh herbs, garlic and lemon... All as easy as promised and the taste was impressive...a dark and dense flesh amidst a unique arrangement of bones... all made for an interesting exploration. So good, that I am keen to try it again!

waiting for a diagnosis

This is emerging as an interesting experience from inside the healthcare system. First of all there were conflicting potential diagnoses between German and English doctors, which in fact would have required almost opposite treatment. I was then unsure as to how to enter the NHS - having used the emergency department in Berlin, I was not sure whether to go to emergency or my GP when I returned to the UK... I think I made the wrong choice in going to my GP but in the end I got to the Trauma Clinic which is where I had to have a repeat xray and eventually I was referred for an MRI. This is the golden key to my diagnosis as it shows what is happening inside my knee joint - I want to know the status of my ligaments and my meninscus! But then, the comedy continues - because the registrar did not note my request for an MRI as urgent, I was told I would have to wait 4-6 weeks.... not happy... hobble back to the trauma clinic... ignored by the doctors...only the nurse would talk to me and interpret a message to the doctor... eventually she agreed to call and ask for my request to be urgent...So later that day I was offered a cancellation for the following day. I was told to make a follow up appointment in 3 days by the doctor, the clinic administrator could only make it in 5 days and the MRI technician told me it normally takes 10 days for data to be transferred approx 500m up the hill! This is despite the fact that there are posters everywhere advertising the new online medical record system! This is a challenging time for me. Every day I am involved in helping healthcare clinicians to better understand and use recent research in their healthcare practice. Almost 10 years ago, I was in a team that reviewed all the scientific evidence about whether joints should be rested or mobilised early after injury - the literature is fairly unanimously behind early movement... Yet I am stuck limiting my early movement in fear of the first not so nice potential diagnosis... Stuck in a rut again!

slippery tram tracks in Berlin

we had enjoyed a lovely chinese fondue, which was such a pleasant surprise for me and we were heading out to meet some friends for a friday night drink. I was given the sparkling new road bike with a warning about the tram tracks. It was an amazing experience as with the dual suspension I could barely touch the peddles but off we went - safely across the first set of tram tracks - I felt a small slide on the third and typically it would seem, I panicked and did the wrong thing - I tried to accelerate over the metal but the obvious happened - my front wheel dropped into the gap and jammed itself there - stopping me short and twisting me off onto the hard asphalt. Luckily I protected the bike as it fell but my right knee took the total brunt of the fall. I can only be thankful that there was not a tram in sight as I was totally unable to move and a bit spacy - I knew my knee was not going to be good. It seemed like loads of people ran over from the Yum Cha Heroes Restaurant opposite and most of them were able to talk to me in English! So it was a slow hobble home, a painful indoor weekend and a nervous flight back with my crutches and long leg splint. now 5 days later, I am still hobbling and waiting to resolve the medical dichotomy of possible diagnoses between two different countries...

a more glamorous Girl with a Dragon Tattoo

I loved the book and the original Swedish film, which captured the complexity of this amazing story. So many convoluted themes about politics, sex, power, love, addiction and all those dark side of life shadows. I really enjoyed the faithful representation and no frills acting of the Swedish movie.I was unsure as to whether Hollywood would trivialise or typecast this movie. But I was pleasantly surprised - Daniel Craig is cool and calm as Mikael Blomkvist and Rooney Mara portrays Lisbeth Salander with commitment. The whole cast is a litle more glamorous in their dress and the sets are lavish and contrasted by the amazing Swedish scenary. The photography and music create the suspense and the mood which means that the whole film is an emotionally harrowing journey... again..

Silence is art in The Artist

When a film has consistently received rave reviews and is sold out on Sunday night in Oxford, it really does suggest something special. Having never seen a complete silent movie, I was open to a new experience - although I did not realise at the outset that so much of the movie, The Artist, would really be silent, and it would all be shot in black and white. Somehow it was like the opposite of the sensory overload of opera and I was able to totally relax and enjoy the experience, without having to think about words or meaning. I even gave up trying to lip read - trusting that the important text would be summarised for me. And seeing the movie in black and white enabled me to better appreciate the shadows and textures. I could experience the real beauty and charisma of 1920's style and fashion - somewhat more universal for men but totally stunning for women - I loved the short curls, head hugging bonnets, long skirts and slender heels. The romance happened almost by surprise, as did the tragic turn of events. So it was the ultimate challenge of personal pride and commitment to another, played out across time. Words were not necessary as emotions were rife. The tension was real and occasionally punctuated by the humorous antics of the rather cute little dog, Uggie. So, at the end of the day, I must agree that silence can accentuate the art of acting. It was a pleasant retreat to enjoy the simplicity of a good story.

an Iron Lady?

I can honestly say that I have had no personal experience of Margaret Thatcher's politics. However I have observed the impact of her decisions on the UK and I can hear that the country is still very divided in their opinions about her - which in itself says quite a lot about her longstanding influence. So it was with an open mind that I came to see the recently released film, The Iron Lady. The cinema was full to overcrowding. I can only say my reaction was mixed. Meryl Streep is a truly amazing actress - she portrayed the subtle changes of aging in movement, expression and positioning. I really did forget I was watching Meryl. Jim Broadbent is also a very convincing Dennis Thatcher - portraying a calm, supportive and sensitive husband. But I am still at a loss as to why this film was made... and its timing. Cynically, I wonder if there is a desire to be the first of many, when she really does die. I hope not - but I cannot help thinking that neither she nor her close family would really enjoy watching this film right now. Maggie's rise to the top in a very male chauvanist political world was truly impressive but this film does little to investigate how and why this happens - more than a happy coincidence, I think. I felt disappointed at the superficial way it portrayed her rise to the top and eventual personal abuse of power. I don't feel like I am any wiser about the difficult and disastrous decisions she made. How can one really compare the massive costs and benefits of the Falklands war with the closure of so many Welsh mines and the impact it had on the surrounding towns? There is also a terrible, tragically ironic split between the smart, educated and erudite lady that she once was and the dementing lady she is now. I am not sure whether we are meant to pity her for this dramatic loss of self and power - I am not sure she would want this - and I also wonder whether it is a small political back handed slap from her opponents - you cannot have and keep it all! It is also not clear whether her 'hallucinations' of being with Dennis are a beautiful escape from reality for her or a challenge for her daughter to cope with as she tries to maintain her mother's function. I wonder whether the now dementing Maggie was actually content to live in the past, although I fear we were meant to feel her deep sadness at her loss. Finally, I am not sure what this does for the social image of dementia - at one level the current Maggie seems cold, distant and disconnected from her past - which I think preys on all our deepest fears about not wanting to dement as we age. However if I could just live happily with the positive memories, it might not be so bad...

New Years Eve 2011

We experienced a seriously significant change in climate over the time period of 3 hours just after lunch on New Years Eve. We stopped for a quick lunch at the Autogrill on the coast just before Genoa at 12 noon. The skies and ocean were beautifully blue and the temperature was around 16' as we drove away from the coast, sadly. We were lucky as most of Piemonte retained its blue skies and we could see some of the Alps on the left as we drove north into the clouds!

By 2pm it was totally cloudy as we drove through Domodossola - hoping to catch the auto train to Brig... we were on time for the 14.17 departure but the queue suggested we would not make it on to the train - so we decided to drive over the Simplon Pass. It was raining as we started out so I was a bit disappointed I may not see the full vista... but by 1700m the snow had set in and the road was completly white,as was everything else!

The pass at 2005m was a total whiteout and it seemed as if we were in the middle of nowhere in our warm and reliable A5. Thankfully the winter tyres and the ABS braking were a brilliant combination, so we could relax and enjoy the slow drive down the other side. White on white with white extras...

We saw almost hidden houses and cars. The snow continued into Brig, where the train line emerged. As the road was closed before Gopelstein, where we would normally have caught the train to Kandersteg (this time a 200km road detour), we were very happy to hear that the train was travelling direct to Kandersteg from Brig.

We waited for an hour in the snow and finally drove on board the train to take us across the snowy hills and through the mountain to emerge at the picture postcard village of Kandersteg. It was a very short drive to the Meike's grandmother's house where we were able to relax with good company, food and wine. It was such a lovely house to enjoy a raclette and watch the infamous 'Dinner for one' before we celebrated the new year of 2012