Morning all!

January 17, 2015 / Geoff Griffiths

Celebratory fireworks lit very early on the morning of January 1st 2015

Well, how very rude of me. It's rather too long since anything appeared here.

I really must greet you with all good wishes for a new year which is as wonderful as you are. That wonderfulness sums up my essential feelings towards all those reading this - thank you for being here (or there)... wherever you are!

A fortnight in and you have this, my first post of 2015. I refuse to gloss over the festive celebrations which have recently passed. My constantly divine wife, two heart-stoppingly stupendous sons and one accompanying glorious girlfriend made Christmas something magical yet again (we had no need whatsoever for a single pear tree or partridge). None the worse for being a very grown-up time. One sobering element was the increasingly slow-witted responses of Dad (me!) for party games. However, when you're playing 'Cards Against Humanity' no-one really cares!

Let us move gently into January with a nod to the Great British Breakfast. We rejoice in the new beginning given to us each time our eyes open upon another morn. It has always seemed to me that we have an obvious duty to celebrate continued existence with a thoughtful and reverent time spent fuelling ourselves for the day ahead. I could extol the virtues of fried eggs, thick wholemeal toast and a continuous supply of chorizo jam. Instead, I intend offering simple advice for a perfect addition to your fridge; one which should give further confirmation that it's good to be alive. Oh, it's hellish easy to prepare, as well!

My raw ingredients are not carefully sourced. The humble supermarket plum, in all its out-of-season guises, is the basis for this. It's what you add which transforms the unassuming into the irresistible.

Start by removing the stones from the contents of a couple of plum-filled plastic punnets (plannets?). Halve or quarter them and spread over the base of a broad pan. The batch you see had the addition of three heaped tablespoons of vanilla sugar*, three star anise and an offensively generous glug of port. A small but careful afterthought saw a smackeroony of orange juice join the mix. My supply of sweet Greek red wine had run out and necessitated the journey to Portugal for the boozy element. If you are committed to 'Dry January' fear not - subsequent action will render this 99.9% alcohol-free.

Simmer the fruit and its friends for as long as you like. Short for firmness. Keep going for jamminess, puree and to gloop and beyond. I stop between firm and jammy.

Now drain the plums, remove the star anise, cinnamon/liquorice stick, cardamom pods (yes, do add whatever you like within reason - I do!) and return the juice to the pan. Boil it and reduce to a concentrated syrup. This will get rid of the alcohol and give you sticky goodness.

Allow the syrup to cool and re-unite with the plums. Then find a container exactly the same volume as your efforts (embrace OCD and accept nothing less!) Store in the fridge. Before you post any comments or reviews of this recipe, pretend that you have waited until the next morning. That's when you should treat yourself to a generous portion of sticky, sharp, sweet fruit accompanied by velvety yogurt. If you don't make your own (Note to self: MAKE YOUR OWN YOGURT!), I can only suggest the pictured Greek yogurt. There is little substitute for this strained and thick delight. It contrasts with the plums and complements them at the same time.

There's a little bit of nonsense talked about 'mouthfeel' for wines, coffees and foods but this simple combination does insist on fully exploring your palate and taste buds before being slowly and gratefully swallowed. The fact that you don't have to make much effort to produce something so life-affirming is just another bonus. If you haven't already, it would be sensible to give it a go.

And that lovely shot of espresso? One of my all-time favourites. Go immediately to Has Bean and order Brazil Fazenda Cachoeira da Grama Yellow Bourbon ... or spend some time choosing what you will. All Steve's coffee is terrific - with regular leanings towards awesome!

I've neglected you for too long. Apologies for the lack of recent activity. No proper resolutions... but I am determined to look after you better through this year.

* Other sugars are available: Light Muscovado, Demerara, Dark Brown Soft... you catch my drift, I'm sure.

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Mango Chutney

December 10, 2014 / Geoff Griffiths

Mrs. Cheoff does love a generous dob of mango chutney - usually with a prawn curry or a lamb rogan josh. Her favourite, for years, was a proprietary brand (I'm shar you wood recognise it if I told you!) After borrowing from at least two other recipes, I have made my own version which offers more complex flavours... which made the lady I love even more than an afternoon in the kitchen say, "Don't bother buying that other one from the shops again!"

Mango Chutney

Fills 6 x 225g (8oz) jars

500 g, (1 lb 2 oz) onions, finely chopped

800 ml (32 fl oz) malt vinegar

4 red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

8 mangoes weighing about 2.5 kg (6½ lb), peeled, stoned and sliced into wedges

700 g (1½ lb) soft light brown sugar

1 level teaspoon cumin seeds

2 heaped teaspoons coriander seeds

12 cardamom pods

2 tsp mustard seeds

6 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed with 2 heaped teaspoons salt

1 level teaspoon ground turmeric

110 g (4 oz) fresh root ginger, peeled and grated - or 2 tsp ground ginger

1 level teaspoon ground cloves

grated zest and juice of two limes

1 Put the onions and chillies into a large pan with the vinegar and simmer until the onions are getting tender.

2 Dry fry the cumin, coriander and cardamom. Wait until they begin to pop and release toasty spice. Crush roughly in a pestle and mortar. Add to the onions in the pan with the mustard seeds, garlic and mango slices. Cook for about 15 minutes to soften the fruit.

3 Add the sugar, turmeric, ginger, cloves and lime zest. Bring slowly to the boil and dissolve the sugar with stirring. Lower the heat and cook, stirring enough to prevent sticking. All should become thicker and jam-like. The mango pieces will be doing a good imitation of fruity, translucent amber. Now stir in the lime juice and mix well. If you prefer to accent the earthy flavours of the spices, omit the lime juice. I take the best of both worlds and put it into half of the mix. One batch then has a lovely, zingy brightness for contrast.

4 While still hot, ladle the chutney into warm, sterilised jars, cover with wax discs and seal. Label when cool. This should keep for a year.

You really need to wait 8 weeks for the flavours to make friends. Then they are ready to grab you warmly by your taste buds and introduce themselves one by one. You will like every one of them immediately but will struggle to decide which to spend most time with. Just embrace them all - they’re a delectably inseparable combination!

I have set aside just a few of these as Christmas gifts. Here's the rub. Publicising such information could easily create expectations in a few friends. Disappointment could lead to me being struck off one or two Christmas card lists... this blogging business is a nightmare!

I'm cheering myself up with a rather pleasant thought. At some stage of the Christmas break I will fire up the barbecue outside and grill some mackerel. My mango chutney, with its curried fruit will provide the only accompaniment for a perfect lunch-time treat. There's a possibility that I'll be cooking in the cold... but it's definitely a very cool idea!

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Christmas 2014 - FOUR: It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

December 07, 2014 / Geoff Griffiths

Although it's not quite the most important event in the Christian calendar, the birth of Jesus does provide many a fine excuse for celebration, goodwill... and oohing and aahing at small children acting out familiar tales in schools all over the world.

I'm still waiting to let any religious faith into my life but I do selfishly embrace every opportunity to surround myself with my favourite people at this time. The need to escape the depths of winter is rather dismissed by central heating and piles of tasty tracklements but it's the sharing of moments with loved ones which produces the greatest satisfaction and warmth.

The making, giving and sharing of seasonal fare is part of that enjoyment but its preparation needs to be managed well. Completing the kind of activities below gives the chance to be found in more of the social situations rather than stuck at the stove.

'Stir-up Sunday', the informal term in Anglican churches for the last Sunday before the season of Advent, is a week in the past as I write. That's not going to stop me posting this until next year - it might still be useful for latecomers, the undecided and the just plain dilatory.... and it will be here for reference in December 2015!

All the items mentioned here were made (as usual) from recipes by a director of Norwich City F.C. who also writes cookery books. You have the same book, know that recipes are readily available online or go to your own family favourites so I don't intend repeating them here.

I wasn't aware of the biblical connection pertinent to puddings until getting 'Delia's Christmas' in the mid nineteen-seventies. There, to open the 'Christmas Puddings and Mincemeat' chapter, are the first words of the collect for the day from the Book of Common Prayer. Just for badness, let's take a look at those words - with a spot of added atmosphere from the Latin translation!

“ Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Excita, quaesumus, Domine, tuorum fidelium voluntates: ut divini operis fructum propensius exsequentes, pietatis tuae remedia maiora percipiant: Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. ”

By Jove, I'm feeling completely adeste fideles after that!

This is the time of year when old festive favourites are admitted to the kitchen soundtrack. I'll give you the same choice as I gave myself. Both of these were looping through my speakers for most of the next 36 hours:

Praetorius - Lutheran Mass For Christmas Morning - YouTube
Merry Axemas - A Guitar Christmas 2. Full Album - YouTube

With Delia's trusted tome open on my worktop I started a busy weekend. Fruits had already been soaked (some mummified in alcohol!). Gradually a heavenly host of wholesome smells filled our house. Does anyone make Christmas Baking toilet freshener spray? - they should! The only thing I'd place above this on the festive aromas hit parade is what wafts your way once the turkey giblet stock is on the go on Christmas morning.

Despite my heathen tendencies I did offer up a small prayer that the oven might suffer no power-cuts or breakdowns. The reassuring whir of fans (oven and extractor) was accompanied by the disappearance of the outside world as all windows steamed up in sympathy with the puddings.

CHRISTMAS PUDDING:

Ah... the sweets? They were left over from Hallowe'en and didn't make it into the pudding!

One main pudding and as many 'juniors' as would fit in the stock pan began their alchemy-altering eight hour journey. Meanwhile, texts, tweets and Facebook notifications are sent out to distant family so that they get a proxy stir and the chance to make a wish!

A band of folded foil helps to lift out the large, heavy, hot pud.

CHRISTMAS CAKES:

All sorts of duties here. The main one is to check off everything from the ingredients list as it is used. This year I completely failed in that respect and omitted the almonds! Thank you to all of you who are thinking, "Those cakes will still contain traces of a nut"!

Only one 7 inch square cake tin? No problem if you have thick card and a roll of baking foil!

With two cakes I have the option to cut a few smaller, gift-sized ones. Alternatively, you can copy me and take taunting slices into work to be produced at lunch or tea breaks until late Spring! You can see previous examples of my decorated efforts here: Christmas cakes — Cheoff

CHRISTMAS MINCEMEAT:

As with all the other recipes here, this is made truly special if you use proper wedges or 'caps' of candied peel. The ready-chopped tubs of mixed peel have a dull, lifeless quality by comparison. I'm fully prepared to challenge the tendonitis in my thumbs every time to slice up tiny chunks of these zingy, sherbert-like citrus explosions.

Mincemeat: Too many ingredients to fit in the first pic... all there, encased in suet, on the right!

Our Christmas mincemeat is made in generous batches and gets used through the following year in muffins, quick fruit cakes and strudels.

CREOLE CHRISTMAS CAKE:

The suggestion that this is an alternative Christmas cake has never really been followed by us - we make it alongside the traditional cake as an extra treat... and damn the consequences!

The fruits above are sozzled for a week previously in four varieties of booze. As you can see, they have gone completely out of focus - nothing to do with my camera skills! The resultant cake is a slab of indulgence, so rich in deep, spicy flavours that the job of icing can be discarded. I love an ingot of this with a double espresso.

A hive of concentrated activity has produced staples for our celebrations. The cake will be fed with brandy before its final shroud of sugary almonds and white frosting. Other cakes, puds and jars will be unwrapped and unsealed very soon. The house is calmer for now. There are quiet rustlings of paper as we try to get ahead of ourselves and wrap gifts before Christmas Eve is upon us. Still much to do but for the moment I'll relax a little; enough to close my eyes, sniff deeply and conjure those glorious fruity, spiced remembered smells into my olfactories... now that's magic!

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Christmas 2014 - THREE: Hot In The City Tonight!

November 29, 2014 / Geoff Griffiths

You know that anything from your kitchen is going to be a smash hit as a Christmas present. It will be set upon immediately by the recipients or, after languishing for three years at the back of a store cupboard, it will be the source of intense debate as to whether it is past its sell-by date. Either way, it will create an impression... eventually!

This recipe will end any quest for something which oozes class but which is also easy to prepare. It's one that will never be left to languish on a dark shelf - and it's not at all too late to make some before Christmas!

Scarlet pepper and chilli jam recipe - Telegraph

If you follow the link under my picture you'll be directed to words of wisdom from a rather wonderful woman. Diana Henry is one of my small group of go-to cooks and writers. Her descriptions are delectable; her recipes are approachable and delicious. Propriety forces me to state that I have never let the fact that she is a dusky, dark-eyed beauty get in the way of my enjoyment of her works!

Scarlet Pepper and Chilli Jam can be made all year round. At the end of visits from both our sons there seems to be an inevitable question about supplies of their favourite 'almost-any-savoury-foodstuff-whatsoever' accompaniment. Their most recent enquiries led to the discovery of dangerously low levels so I set to in our kitchen this morning with weighing and chopping. By early afternoon I was off to see Mike Leigh's latest offering, 'Mr. Turner', leaving jars of treasure to cool and wait for labels.

Scarlet, garnet, ruby...? You could argue about the best choice from the word colour chart. What you can't argue over is the quality of the product. After a couple of hours of careful attention you have vibrant, jellied jewellery. Perfect for giving as gifts - but you will struggle to be generous to others after you've tasted it yourself!

'Mr. Turner' gave me just enough inspiration to pick scarlet from the palette and to swap oil paints for felt tips to produce my own identity tags...

Many of my family and friends will be paying a 'surprise visit' shortly after they see that I've posted this... just on the off-chance!

This is packed with hot, zingy freshness which is great with pork chops, sausages, chicken and some cheeses but a good glazing on spare ribs wouldn't be a bad idea - keeping plentiful cheeky dollops as reinforcements after serving!

There are more terrific recipes in the book from which this is taken:

Salt Sugar Smoke: How to preserve fruit, vegetables, meat and fish

More on Diana Henry (and her other publications) in this blog soon... how could I resist! Her influence is a regular feature in my cooking. In the meantime, do make her recipe as scintillating scarlet presents for all your favourite people.

Let's have a look at those lovely red-raw ingredients once again - before you scroll down to some festive fun!

... before you compost those pepper stalks make sure their Christmas elf alter egos are captured on film!

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Smoked Salmon Tart

November 16, 2014 / Geoff Griffiths

If you want something that is full of flavour and is adaptable to make for a starter, light lunch or main course then go here: Smoked Salmon Tart - Delia Online

Delia is reliable as ever with this recipe although I'd add just one thing; you can get cheap packs of salmon trimmings from most supermarkets but I'd recommend treating yourself or guests and buying a superior supply of fish - the added flavour and texture is worth the extra expense.

You can see a batch here that I baked at the end of summer. Mostly individual tartlets with one larger tin for picnics or lunch at home. The 9 and a half inch was left in the drawer on this day. If you don't have smaller tins then just bake the large one for slicing in generous or dainty portions depending on need. The case certainly does shrink while cooking so chilling the pastry is essential to limit that.

You need to know the particular vagaries of your oven and how accurate the temperatures are. The main thing is to stop cooking the filling as soon as there's a nice 'spring' to the surface. Taken any further you'll have firm and chewy instead of soft and forgiving.

The scalloped edge versions were used as a starter. My only addition was a dob of mustard mayonnaise and a sprig of accidental dill which grew next to our garden tomatoes this year. Finely grated horseradish, softened with a teaspoon of hot water is another good partner for the mayo.

The fats in the pastry mix and the egg wash before baking make for a great crisp texture which is not threatened by the filling. I let the tarts cool slightly before serving. They freeze well but, if you've done that, just letting them return to room temperature is preferable to re-heating.

There's no real salmon season so this is an all year round treat. I'll certainly be making some for Christmas - maybe in mini muffin tins for a delicious canape mouthful!

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Cheoff, will you bake this cake - forsaking all others...

November 15, 2014 / Geoff Griffiths

Lovely things, weddings...

After thirty plus years my brother, Paul, and his small-but-perfectly-formed soul-mate, Marie, decided to get married last April.

Prior to impending nuptials, during a relaxed dinner here, Marie introduced a note of tension by saying, “We’d like you to do the cake.”... Gulp!

This was probably on the strength of the cake I'd produced for my bro's 60th - but that had an audience of just six!

There were all sorts of contradictory thoughts as my wife, Jan, and I weighed up the immense compliment we’d been paid against the huge burden of responsibility which lay upon us as we said we’d be delighted.

Paul and Marie then lived a dual existence, sharing time between their Islington house and a beautifully converted crofter’s cottage on Papa Westray, one of the smallest islands in Orkney (the cottage beautifully converted by my talented and creative brother). The island trip is now mandatory for brotherly hugs since the London property is currently rented out for a truly vulgar sum of money. Seven months ago the wedding would be the final grand occasion in N7 for some time.

Closer to the great day, Jan and Marie sat at our computer screen viewing sugar paste Gerbera decorations which we thought might not be beyond our capabilities to reproduce for the cake top. Paul entered and gave his input... "Nah, we don't want flowers!"

He was right, of course. It was Jan who hit on a London/Papay theme which was enthusiastically received - all we had to do now was interpret it... armed with the complete lack of experience which makes such tasks the stuff of palpitations and increased bowel movements. This was going to be a more personal expression which reflected the two very different places which meant so much to the happy couple.

Deep, spicy and fruity... that's Delia for you!

The cake itself was reasonably straightforward with an extra-large edition of Delia's 'Classic Christmas Cake' forming the base to a regular size 7 inch square.

All sorts of ideas swirled round before Jan and I set to in the springtime light of our conservatory to begin the decoration.

Puffins had been requested. They are a regular feature of Papa Westray's fauna. I started squishing sugar paste into shape and had an unusual moment of inspiration. Paul, the ukelele player, Marie and her rabbit, Bob... Marie, Rabbit, Puffins, Paul... Hmmm.

Puffins, Paul and Marie were now melded into a cake-topping bride and groom. (Puffins, Paul and Marie also recorded the classic 'Leaving On A Jet Plane', of course!)

Other elements were needed for the island-life section so I continued to develop my sculpting skills. Puffins love to catch sand eels. This fact contributes to one of my brother's favourite jokes. Hence the pair of brown 'sandeels' which I shaped along with other shoreline regulars... gnaah, groan!

Pleased with my efforts, I looked across at Jan's chosen task - the skyline of London, the Nag's Head Market and Islington's terraced houses. Pretty damned fine effort there, I'd say!

You're seeing the fruits of nearly four days work. Breaking off only to create the occasional three hour Sonos playlist to soundtrack our endeavour, we finally decided when enough was enough and pushed, pressed and pasted the whole thing together.

Our fears about getting the finished cake safely to London were totally unfounded. It was greeted with universal acclaim and we tried desperately to convince everyone that we'd never done anything like it before. Paul and Marie reserved the top for celebrating with their island community and still refer to our offering as a highlight of their special day.

We used friendly advice, local libraries and online help to achieve our goal but all of the recipes and instructions missed out the one thing which we added in abundance... our love.

You can't make anything as important as a cake without love, can you.

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A spot of TripAdvisor to and fro

November 14, 2014 / Geoff Griffiths

I admit it... I occasionally get an alert saying, "Congratulations, Geoff, your review has been published on TripAdvisor". You must have worked out that I could fairly easily be described as an extrovert. Now that doesn't mean I can't be a shrinking violet if the occasion demands but restaurant reviews often creep in as one form of expression which redresses the balance.

We do reference the site for all sorts of information. Half the fun is in sorting out the emotive inputs from the objective, practical ones. My comments are as honest as I can make them. If I do praise, recommend or censure I am perfectly happy for the readership to discard anything I've said... like I sometimes do with others! There's no substitute for going and finding out yourself - but it's good to access firm warnings to avoid costly mistakes or see high praise which encourages a visit.

Here I'm sharing one of my most recent efforts from TripAdvisor (truly, there aren't that many of them!)

From the title you'll gather that The Star Inn at Harome was a good experience...

“Accomplished, honest cooking - smashing!

We live within a couple of hours’ travel from Harome. Having tried for a mid-day snack here years ago while we were passing and giving up because the place was so packed, we always intended returning.

We successfully booked for lunch on our thirty-eighth wedding anniversary… only to find on arrival that we had been trumped completely by a couple a few tables away who had made their vows sixty years ago!

The unusual flat cap bread basket became totally secondary once we had tasted its oven-baked goodness. The black pudding rolls were my particular favourite.

‘Cured Hartlepool Landed Octopus with ‘Mollet’ Norfolk Quail Eggs, Deep-fried Anchovies, Black Olive Sorbet, Marinated Vegetables’
This was just utterly lovely. Every ingredient was treated with perfection. The vegetables had such a light touch that they might have been the stars of the show. However, the black olive sorbet picked up on the sea-life elements and became a subtle, salty ‘rock-pool’ backdrop to their fishiness. Wonderful.

‘Homemade Village Shot Roe Deer ‘Sausage’ with Pickled Red Cabbage Purée, Pontefract Cake and Pommery Mustard Seeds’
My wife enjoyed this a great deal. Liquorice is often a dangerous plate-fellow but could have been even more insistent here before going into Bassetts AllSorts territory. Meat and one veg in harmony.

‘Cutlet of Ryedale Lamb with its own Faggot, Lowna Dairy Cheese, Smoked Ratatouille-style Vegetables, Oregano Confit Tomato’
Perfectly cooked lamb… that is always a good start. With the cheese ‘lurking’ in the faggot and all vegetables, rather like the chef, on top of their game, this was another delight for my wife.

‘Barbecued Venison, Slice of Giant Puffball with Cobnuts, Rainbow Chard, Elderberry Juices’
No letting up here. On a warm summer day this dish could have edged towards autumnal heartiness. However, it was given the sort of consideration that planted it firmly in the realm of a bright and light season - well before any need for the serious business of pickling or preserving. The meat had been rescued from the coals at the perfect moment and every one of its plate partners gave texture, flavour and colour in abundance. Elderberry was left as a suggestion of thin, fruity, blood-hued meat juices. This decision was just right. A thicker, more syrupy reduction would have carried everything towards a later season.

The vegetable selection was almost unnecessary but, again, the cooking made it irresistible.

‘Iced Garden Lemon Balm Parfait ‘Sandwich’ with our own ‘Alpine’ Strawberries, Homemade Lemonade’
This was my wife’s selection and provided an eye-catching and palate pleasing end to her meal; very clean and light. It also determined me to include ‘Melissa officinalis’ in our garden planting next year!

‘Caramelised Rice Pudding with Sugar’d Skin, Homegrown Blackcurrant ‘Jam’, Deep-fried Apple Pie Custard Doughnut’
This could be considered as an inevitable nod to the passage of time, acknowledging cooler months and demand for heavier puddings. There is a distinct possibility that I made the wrong choice here but it didn’t match the heights of the rest of our meal. The crystallised or candied mint leaves were certainly lack-lustre, having lost any vibrancy. It was still as good as many offerings elsewhere and there had been so much previous excellence that it really didn’t matter that much.

Since we were both on driving duty, we allowed ourselves one glass of wine each. The choice is terrific and we easily found a suitable white and red.

Prices for this quality of cooking are more than reasonable. Ours was a quiet mid-week booking. The old part of the restaurant is intimate and slightly quirky. There are higher ceilings and more modern livery is installed nearer the kitchen. Service was attentive, responsive and informative. After eating, we explored more of the venue’s potential for larger occasions with family or friends. The lovely garden revealed some of the ingredients for our meal.

Were we suitably distracted from the intoxicating love which has developed between us? Indeed we were. Did we identify a reason to return? No… we found countless excuses to visit again very soon!

Michelin be damned… the Star at Harome still shines!”

Picture from: http://www.thestaratharome.co.uk/star_accomm.htm

What I failed to include in my review was the fact that chef-owner, Andrew Pern, was not cooking on the day of our meal. I'll give belated congratulations to his well-trained, talented 'substitute'. Andrew did, however, contribute to the experience a few weeks later when TripAdvisor posted this:

StarInnHarome, Owner at Star Inn, responded to this review, 9 September 2014

“Maybe I should ask you to write the foreword to my next book!!! Although with a review that long, you could be the author! I am glad you managed to dine with us and a very happy belated anniversary to you. Maybe you should stay with us next time!

Thank you for all of your great comments and we hope to welcome you back very soon.

Kind regards

Andrew Pern ”

Andrew's compliment was mildly diluted by his astute identification of my reckless word-count but I intend standing firm there. Perhaps my stubborn motto should be: "Write nothing that you wouldn't want to read yourself."?

Obviously I'd recommend a visit to Harome's number one restaurant - then you can check out my opinion and their lovely food at the same time!

Ah... I've just visited The Star Inn Home Page and found out that they have regained their Michelin star for 2015. Great stuff! I don't think it will make much difference to the excellence provided there but it's pleasing to hear of renewed recognition for their efforts.

As for me, I'll continue to pontificate and review. It's fun to contribute and fun to soak up the community offerings. If, like me, you don't treat it too seriously you might use TripAdvisor for a bit of diversion... see you there!

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