A varied week of eating experiences

Slightly out of sync, because this was consumed a couple of weeks ago, but the rotisserie chickens from Costco under the Kirkland branch are truly excellent. They are hot (a 9 on the CHOF scale), fleshy and tasty. Compared to other supermarket rotisserie chickens they are in a league above, and a bargain at £3.99. Worth joining  Costco for this. I would also recommend their fresh salmon

Where I work is devoid of catering, and when we bring in visitors over lunch, we are forced to bring in sandwich platters. Now, over the three years we have been in our new premises, we have tried a variety of different outside caterers for the provision of working lunches. In my opinion they are universally indifferent. and I believe that when we start with a company they send in the 'new customers only' platter, which then degrades with repeat orders. Some of the choices are bizarre, and there is a ubiquitous habit of sending lots of Tuna and Mayo sandwiches which no one will touch. At the moment we seem to have found a supply from Waitrose, and I believe this is a Waitrose lunch platter. Not bad. 0 on the CHOF scale, but variety and decent bread. I try to find reasons to not order in the lunches, but there is little choice. So if anyone thinks they can provide excellent working lunches in the Dartford area, please leave me a note.

11th July

I get my internet from BT. This has not always been a happy arrangement, and in Spring, I had a big outage. It was so big, that I contacted the CEO of BT (I'm a shareholder of minuscule proportions). So I decided to go to the AGM to make sure he knew my face. The AGM was held in the old Billingsgate market in city of London. You probably know that one of the reasons the elderly go to AGM's is for the free refreshments. This is what you are offered:

Sandwiches if you had not worked it out. Many did not stay until the end of the meeting, and by the time I got into the lunch queue the smoked salmon was all gone (no surprise there), so I opted for the egg.and the lower picture is what you get at a shareholder meeting. It is amazingly similar to what I got on the Virgin train, and the brown bag lunch is now a global commodity. It obviously scores a 0 on the CHOF scale,and was adequate but no more.It was said in the meeting that the board of directors would be served the same sandwiches and I can only hope they did not put the salmon aside for them.

Tonight I went to a meeting where tapas was provided.from the local tapas restaurant in Barnet:

http://www.riojayole.co.uk/ . I have to say I have never eaten in the restaurant, and will probably try it.

This is a selection of what was served.

It actually looks pretty good. For me tapas never tastes as good as it does in the heat of Spain, and on a wet Wednesday night, it lost some of its charisma. The food is tasty, but because it was laid out in advance, I cannot give it a score on the CHOF scale. However, in Spain hot food appears to be a criminal offence, so it may be perfectly authentic. I will report back when the restaurant proper is tried, but the signs are good.