Madur Jaffrey, The Sweeny, Danny Baker & Being 'HD Ready'

They're The Sweeny Son - And They Haven't Had Any Dinner.....

Well, I've just had mine lads so not to worry. In fact it was a decent chicken and red lentil indian stew culled from Madhur Jaffrey's orginal Indian Cookery book



But considering it was first published/broadcast in 1982 when in many British kitchens a Chilli Con Carne was a daring adventure in terms of making 'foreign food', and your average supermarket herb and spice selection consisted of a jar of dried rosemary and some ground black pepper in a little plastic shaker, you come to realise it was minor foodie miracle that Madur was suddenly on screen waving clumps of fresh coriander leaves and extolling the virtues of grinding your own asian spices in pestle and mortar. Anyway, if you taking your first steps in exploring indian cookery you do worse than pick up a copy (it was republished in 1996 and second hand copies via Amazon appear to be still available) and get stuck in.

The said curry tonight was rapidly consumed in front of my new Sony Bravia LCD/HD-Ready/Future Proof/Digital switchover compliant blah blah telly whilst watching United do marginally better against Benfica than they did against the mighty Royals at the weekend. Living in Manchester means I allow myself to be glory seeking red or blue moon botherer whilst also celebrating my home town's successes because deep down I just like a bit of footy in my life - but not at the exclusion of all other cultural or social life. Heck, I love the whole North West so even the toffees, shakers, trotters and other funny nicknamed local teams within a 30 mile radius can feature in my affections depending on the circumstances.

I think the broadcasting genius that is Danny Baker summed it up when he tried to explain to his various disgrunteld media bosses that it's about football supporting - not the football itself-which is where the heart and soul of the game is - and that's how I feel about it. Danny would, I imagine, take the view that my extreme supporting promisecuity deserves a slap (I think he got sacked from the BBC for suggesting on air the same physical action should be dished out to a ref - so I'm probably safe) but he also pointed out that 'football is chaos' - so I'll embrace my contradictions in that very spirit.

Talking of cockneys, my other recent indulgence (beyond buying a ridiculously expensive TV) has been renting The Sweeny collection from my DVD club. If anyone thinks Life On Mars and its 70's retro style is entertaining you really must check out The Sweeny. It began in 1974 and was possibly the most explosive drama ever to hit UK screens. From the belting opening theme music - to the language, fisticuffs, drinking, sexism, racism and all round two fingers up to authority attitude - it's still a powerful body of work that goes far beyond just laughing at the clothes, cars and now legendary catchphrases. I thinks it's also shown on Granada Men & Motors sometimes (NB this fine channel has now been kicked off Freeview to make way for one of those terrible 'tax on the poor, thick, vunerable or just dead drunk' interactive quiz shows that are I read somewhere being investigated by Ofcom for being a rip-off). Still if you can your hands on a bit of Sweeny action then I thoroughly recommend you indulge. See, this blog's not all about food - so shut it you slag, get your knickers on and make me a cup of tea.