New Le Creuset and Tom Yum Soup 

Jeanne, Jan, Andi, Andrew and Em at the end of our supper, post our managers meeting.

On Wednesday afternoon we had the first managers meeting (mostly) face to face, that we’ve had in over a year. Paul (Jones) couldn’t be with us in body, but joined us on Skype, for which I borrowed Josie’s iPad and propped him up at the other end of the table. After we’d finished the meeting we had Pizza Express pizzas, which were delicious, washed down with variously, a Loire white wine, a Chablis and of course Claret. As you can see from the photo Babette was missing because she’s been in hospital since Monday afternoon with something wrong with her tummy and low blood pressure. She had an MRI scan which I’m glad to report came back negative (in that they didn’t find anything more sinister) and after an operation to remove some fluid from her lungs, we’re hoping to have her back home in the next day or so.

Le Creuset Bistro Casserole in Teal
The week before last, I had a visit from the Vicky, our Le Creuset account manager, whom I’d not seen in over a year (face to face). She is another of those kind souls who always brings me cake on her visits, and I presume in celebration of fact that we’d not met in such a long time, she brought me two instead of the usual one. They are muffins (and a half) from M&S, and in fact my habit is to cut it in half (offer her half, which she so far has refused…lucky me) have half for “Elevenses” and the other half with tea in the afternoon. So on this occasion I had enough for two days running. What a treat * .

Anyway she also brought with her an offer which I thought I’d mention, as it’s a bit of a bargain. It’s a Le Cresuet 22cm Bistro Casserole in Teal. The term Bistro in this instance (a name dreamt up by their ever creative marketing department) is somewhere between a standard Le Creuset casserole in depth and one of their shallow casseroles, off hand I’d say it was a bit closer to the standard one rather than the shallow one.

But whichever is the case it has a 2.6 litre capacity and would cook a casserole very happily for 2-3 people, maybe 4 at a pinch.

Em’s Prawn & Noodle Tom Yum Soup
Em made the above Soup a couple of nights ago and kindly sent me the recipe, which you may find HERE.

She gave it to me because she could have done it in this casserole, although on this occasion it must be admitted, she didn’t. And the reason I asked her for a recipe was because I know that if I put in a recipe and it really speaks to you, you are more likely to buy it. Is this a cunning ruse, deviance, perversion or just good salesmanship? I’m not sure…

It has a recommended retail of £215, with a catchy offer price of …..wait for it £150.50. Now for a highly sophisticated company with actually, a very effective marketing department, and working as they do, almost exclusively in the retail environment where “price points“ are king, I don’t quite understand the 50p?

 £150 or £149 are both price points, £150.50… sounds like something you’d get out of a calculator or an accountant.

Le Creuset NEW Stoneware Bowls plus Offer
And whilst talking Le Creuset they have just extended the Stoneware range of bowls and to use some of Em’s (Reigate manager) more colourful language, they (the Reigate team) have been “Perving” over these bowls ever since they arrived a week or two ago. Now I’m not sure what “Perving” means, but I’ve a feeling that it may have a something to do with perversion? I looked up the definition of perversion which said it is “human behaviour that deviates from that which is understood to be orthodox or normal” So I’m probably miss informed and have got completely the wrong end of the stick.

Anyway returning to these lovely bowls, she and her team do seem to like them very much and looking at them I can see why. The small 12cm (5”) one is pretty good for a puddings, for nibbles or as a small breakfast bowl. And the large serving bowl 24cm (almost 9.5”) is just a beautiful piece to look at, let alone using it for salads, pasta, trifles etc. For you this weekend I’m doing an offer of 20% off any two (or more) pieces from this new range.

Use the code PERVE to claim your discount.

*in fact kindness runs in the Le Creuset family like the words in a stick of Brighton Rock ( ignore any inference with Graham Greene grim little story in this analogy) because on Tuesday last, Philippa, Vicky’s boss popped in, late in the day, to see how we were and to give me a lovely hydrangea to give to Babette. She also asked if she could do anything for us, and mentioned cooking a meal for us! How many high flying sales managers do you know who would make you or your family such an offer?

Needless to say I didn’t take her up on her very kind and I believe completely genuine offer, but I was quite overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness, generosity and kindness behind it.

She lives in Liverpool incidentally, just hope she wasn’t on her way home that night!

Outrage Industrial Complex
So that’s pretty well it for this week. Briefly referring back to last week’s email , Arthur Brookes, "Contempt and the Outrage Industrial Complex", I found a short and quite witty definition of it, written by a chap called Richard Thompson-Ford, a professor at Stanford Law School, and then his take on how to combat it. Hope you enjoy it.

The Definition
I AM OUTRAGED! And I know you are too. That’s because these days, everyone is outraged. After all, there are so many things to be outraged about. And there are a growing number of people, opinion pages, media outlets, political spam emails, and Russian social media bots to remind us about all of them. How can one not be outraged by cultural insensitivity, the hordes of illegal immigrants pouring into our country, the assault on reproductive freedom, abortion-on-demand, hetero-normativity, transphobia, transgender bathrooms, neo-socialism, neo-fascism, liberal fascism, neo-liberalism, micro-aggressions, liberal snowflakes, insensitivity to religious minorities, and the war on Christmas? It is our civic duty to be outraged: To refuse righteous indignation is morally suspicious at best, callous and selfish at worst. Also, one must be outraged by the appalling lack of outrage demonstrated by other people. What kind of cold-blooded monster isn’t outraged by all of these things, as well as many more I haven’t mentioned (omissions that I’m certain some readers will find outrageous)?

And What to do about it
The merchants of this economy of obfuscation, discord, and malcontent — be they social media executives, talk radio hosts, or the professional provocateurs of television and the college lecture circuit — feed on the withering hull of our democracy while wrapping themselves in the mantle of civic virtue. The Outrage-Industrial Complex debases our politics, swindles us out of our time and money, and makes us miserable. It’s an outrage! But how to fight it without just feeding the monster? Happily, resisting the outrage industry is not only virtuous — it can also be fun. Whenever I talk to students who wish to organize a demonstration against the latest outrageous speaker invited to speak on campus, I advise them to hit back harder — by going to the theatre or the movies or by staying at home with a good novel. We should starve the profiteers of outrage by ignoring them: Without our rage, they are nothing.
Richard Thompson Ford

Blimey “The Merchants of this economy of obfuscation, discord, and malcontent"….wish I could write stuff like that, I had to ask my educated Mancunian type setter, what “obfuscation” meant (and yes he knew of course) …ah well perhaps I should have tried harder at school. 

I trust you have a pleasant and peaceful weekend.

Kind regards

Andrew

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