THE MODERN MINT BLOG
For those people who have followed this blog closely enough to have seen our 2017 updates about the best gin and tonic, we have found this rather odd complimentary product on the BBC….
GIN AND YOGHURT. TOGETHER.
Really. We know. Gin and YOGHURT!
Ridiculous. But then these food consultants (development chefs?) are suggesting there is more to come. We get Heston Blumenthal doing some wonderful things, but do you really trust Sainsbury’s with your food?
When Heston Blumenthal makes a weird mixture of a dish, it is so expensive – which is appropriate – because then it becomes an event. You pay a lot of money to eat something weird.
The price validates the dinner.
When Sainsbury’s make something weird, they try to make it cheap. So everyone can have a bit, everyone can like it, they can make money.
It is not an event, with Sainsbury’s, it is an assault on the senses!
Please don’t bother buying it, or trying it. It won’t be worth it.
Though we doubt that poor sales will be proof to Sainsbury’s that they should stop messing about with our grub. It will probably just make them work harder, longer hours, whipping and roasting their development chefs until they are steaming from the ears with new ideas for ugly recipes.
Pan-fried llama with a concrete topping?
Fish and Chupa Chups?
Leek and Annyong Soup?
Stick to what works well, especially when it comes to Gin.
Which means checking out our tried and tested recommendations for the best gin in the UK this year. Go now! Enjoy!
EBTS Boxwood Growers Forum
Through the European Boxwood and Topiary Society I worked with Chris Poole and Sue Mesher, members of the EBTS board, and we set up a Boxwood Growers Forum. This was to discuss how to make sure this wonderful topiary plant stays in the public conscioussness – we know many growers, suppliers and distributors have stopped selling it as the cost of replacing boxwood that has blight, or is nibbled by the boxwood caterpillar, makes it unviable to offer to clients and gardeners. But Boxwood is a phoenix plant, and there are ways to deal with the problems associated with Buxus. …
Modern Topiarist @ Garden Masterclass Poland
My video on Modern Topiary for Garden Masterclass has been translated into Polish, for the keen gardeners (and happy pruners!) of Garedn Masterclass in Poland. Tickets for the first showing and q and a were available here. But it will become available on the Garden Masterclass Poland website at some point in the near future – so if you are a keen clipper and want to know more, but speak Polish and not English, then I suggest you visit the website and get watching. (Of course, if you don’t speak English, you may not be able to read this…. hmmm… …
Topiary Hotline
The European Boxwood & Topiary Society are to run a Topiary Hotline for keen gardeners and people who love to clip. Date is tomorrow, April 16th 2024, and you can get a ticket for the Zoom meeting here – Topiary Hotline. Run by Chris Poole and myself, we set this up as an antidote to the huge amount of questions we have to answer about topiary throughout the summer. The plus is that their is an excitement around topiary and pruning. The problem is we need to help people in a better way… … so we will be giving people …