Flamin' Good

On Sunday we went to a kids' birthday party in St Michaels, which is somewhere we don't get to go to very often. Usually when we go to St. Michaels in search of eats, we'll go to Jamie and Liz Entwistle's St. Michaels Fish and Chips which is probably the best of the three local chippies (the other two being Marino's Fish Bar in Station Road(good, but patchy service in our experience, but then again we haven't been there in months, due to the patchy service which may well have improved by now), and Del's Fish Bar ( a good amount of food for the money, but you can't beat Jamie and Liz's chips - sorry Del! plus, it's always got a queue of schoolkids during the day since it's right next to Homewood School) ). However, since we have been loyal customers of Zafer Bayram's Quality Kebab mobile van for many years we decided to try his new restaurant in St. Michaels, Meat In Flame which resides in Grange Road occupying the old premises of Mouchak (Lest we forget).

We were due to be picked up at 5 and so when the party at the Village Hall started dispersing at 4:30 we said our goodbyes and walked the few yards down to Meat In Flame and got some take-out.

Not only was the food a decent price but even though we were the only people in the building and had just walked in off the street, we got prompt and courteous service. Here's the link to the menu.

When we got home we surveyed our haul. I had ordered the Et Sote (diced lamb cooked with onions, tomatoes, peppers and herbs, served with a side salad and rice).

Delish!!

Laura had ordered the Chicken Shish...

We also brought home a 12" handmade Margherita Pizza for the lads, which disappeared pretty fast. So definitely one to repeat.

If you are in the neighbourhood and want to eat something other than pub food, Chinese, Fish and Chips or Indian food, you can go over to Meat In Flame and have a Mediterranean feast. A lot of food for the money. 5 yums out of 5!

Meat in Flame
11 Grange Road
St Michaels
Tenterden
Kent
TN30 6DL
Meat in Flame Mediterranean Restaurant St Michaels Tenterden
Phone 01580 764290
Twitter @meat_in
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Meat-in-flame-Tenterden/1383908141748893

Meat in Flame Mediterranean Restaurant
Opening Hours:
7 days a week from 11.30am to 11pm

I'm Dechoxing!

I am a bit of a chocoholic (despite the fact that there is no such thing as chocohol). Truth be told, I'm actually just an inveterate snacker, but if the snacks in question contain chocolate, so much the better.

I also work in a convenience store where I am surrounded by vast quantities of snacks (mostly chocolate based ones) all day.

Consider, then, the difficulty I had in deciding to join in with the British Heart Foundation's month-long Dechox, where participants are required to avoid all of the temptingly delicious forms of chocolate for the entire month of March, raising money for breakthrough research into heart disease by way of donations and sponsorship along the way.


You may say I am mad, but I say nay,nay.
 After all, it isn't like I'm giving up eating, or even snacking. Just chocolate.

I may be mad, but I'm not crazy.

If you wish to donate to this very worthy cause, click on my page.
https://www.justgiving.com/dechox2015-jeffhickmott_

Dig A Duck

So - last time I posed this little teaser... What are these?

Well, some of the more well-travelled amongst you might have spotted this, and also if there are any of you that reside on the West Coast of the USA. These are GEODUCKS.

What is a geoduck?

Well you may ask. they look rather, um, unsavoury, don't they? They are in fact delicious, because they are CLAMS.

The geoduck (/ˈɡuːiːdʌk/ "gooey duck"), scientific name Panopea generosa, is a species of very large, edible, saltwater clam in the family Hiatellidae.The common name is derived from a Lushootseed (Nisqually) word gʷídəq, either a word composed of a first element of unknown meaning and əq meaning "genitals" (referring to the shape of the clam), or a phrase meaning "dig deep". Alternate spellings include gweduc, gweduck, goeduck, and goiduck. It is sometimes known as the mud duck, king clam, or when translated literally from Chinese, the elephant-trunk clam.


The geoduck is native to the west coast of North America. The shell of the clam ranges from 15 centimetres (5.9 in) to over 20 centimetres (7.9 in) in length, but the extremely long siphons make the clam itself much longer than this: the "neck" or siphons alone can be 1 metre (3.3 ft) in length. The geoduck is both one of the largest clams in the world, and one of the longest-lived animals of any type.

Why's it look so weird? It's due to the way it grows.

"GooeyduckSeafood" by Bachcell at en.wikipedia. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GooeyduckSeafood.jpg#mediaviewer/File:GooeyduckSeafood.jpg

Back when I lived in Washington State I worked in Early Childhood Education and became exposed to the work of local singer/poet/all around nice guy Tom Hunter, from Bellingham, WA. He had a song he would perform called the Geoduck Song, and he would ask the audience to raise their hands in the air every time they heard the word 'duck'. As the song got faster and faster it became progressively harder to do. 

Well you can hear the diggers say
As they're headed to the bay
I gotta dig a duck
Gotta dig a duck a day
Cause I get a buck a duck
If I dig a geoduck
So I gotta dig a duck, gotta dig a duck a day

CHORUS
Dig a duck, dig a duck, dig a geoduck
Dig a duck, dig a geoduck, dig a duck a day
Dig a duck, dig a duck, dig a geoduck
Dig a duck, dig a geoduck, dig a duck a day

Well it takes a lot of luck
And a certain kinda pluck
Just to dig around the muck
And to find a geoduck
Cause he hasn't got a front
And he hasn't got a back
And he doesn't know Donald
And he doesn't go quack!

Repeat Chorus

www.tomhunter.com

 So... what can one do with a geoduck?

I'm so glad you asked.

First, head on over to www.geoduckrecipes.com/ which should get you off to a good start. There's a lot of Japanese-inspired recipes (sashimi, stir-fry etc.) and even salads and ceviche.

Now, take a look at this...




Now - Name THIS Food!