Tuesday 28th

Back in Manchester on the Pendolino and there is time before lunch to fill up the cupboard after last week’s frugal living. Tescos provides the usual yoghurt and fruit juice type basics, but today also involves a trip to the butchers, fishmong and fruit and veg stall. Normally I appreciate the general interaction this involves, but today the bloke in Gabbots farm annoys me by refusing to mince up less than a pound of lamb (I had asked for 300g – a quantity I have had minced at Gabbots farm before). Faced with the prospect of a return visit to tescos for some minced lamb in a plastic box, I make the fecker weigh out exactly a pound of lamb. 454g exactly please, no more no less.

Luckily the fishmong is friendly as usual, and the money that was going to go on a piece of steak as a lunchtime treat goes on two scallops and a whole crab.

Mrs Jiffler has been hinting a bit about scallops, so I wanted to investigate, especially since I’ve never cooked the big fat ones before. They are in season now, so should be good (although they cost a quid each).

They go in browned butter for a few minutes on either side, followed by a drizzling of fresh butter (I nearly used the browned stuff out of the pan!), garlic, and parsley. I could get used to this sort of living, scallops for lunch. They spit like scallys (Scallop scallys!) in the pan though, so its best not to wear a good shirt.

My neighbours invite me round for pancakes, so I take the crab with me for fun. There’s a lovely selection of savouries including spinach and mushroom, and bacon and avocado, as well as the crab meat, followed by a couple of mini-pancakes filled with banana and dark chocolate. I think my favourite is bacon and avocado – as always I can’t resist an avocado – but I reckon crab and avocado might be one to try as well.

On the way home I nip into SPAR for some milk and see a bottle of JIF pancake mix by the till. It is half full with ‘mix’ and you add milk to top up the bottle, shake it up, and fry it. The instructions on the back advise you to flip the pancake ‘if you’re brave enough’. I can see a potential court case here…

Bloody hell, how many brand names have I mentioned in the last couple of blogs? I wonder if I could get corporate sponsorship from Heinz or something. If I get enough hits I might get enough free baked beans for everyone.