People Watching

I’ve been tagged by Life of Sand to list my top 5 restaurants which I sort of did a couple of weeks ago, but was side tracked by a memory of Christmas last. And the fact that I don’t often go out to eat. If I do it’s with a girlfriend and we meet for a bowl of soup somewhere.

One of the greatest joys in eating out, for me, is people watching (and luckily I have likeminded friends), so these eateries are marked on the standard of their clientele, as well as their food.

The Clipper is a tiny café in Falmouth with only three tables. The coffee is excellent, their food is locally sourced and very cheap and includes a range of home made salads, ditto cakes and a good line in toasted sarnies. Unfortunately one of the owners is the most miserable girl I’ve ever encountered. She booted us off our table recently as we’d been there for a while and there were people waiting. Huh. I still go back, though.

Star rating: 7/10. Attracts a lot of art students but also families. Given its tiny size, eavesdropping tends to be noticed. Copies of local papers provided.

Mali Thai
Also in Falmouth though we’ve never eaten there – we get takeaways. Their vegetarian red curry is spicy but not too hot and in fact everything I’ve had there is excellent. You get free crackers too if you like that sort of thing. Conveniently placed for nearby pubs.

We've never sat in so unfortunately can’t allocate star rating.

Miss Peapods
A bohemian type café in Penryn next door to Jumbles Nursery so this place attracts a lot of bohemian type breastfeeding mothers. I would hasten to add I have absolutely nothing against breastfeeding in public. Quite the opposite. It’s just that these women are a certain Type. But I digress.

Food here is again locally sourced, organic and mostly vegetarian which suits me as I’m mostly vegetarian. I’ve only had soup and flapjack so far, both homemade and both excellent. Soup is always imaginative though the bread’s a bit hard, but the flapjack is chewy with lots of apricots. Yum. Most of the staff are a bit dozy so don’t go there if you’re in a hurry.

There’s a large decked area out the back where you can sit and watch the river and boats go by. Or you could if it ever stopped raining.

9/10 This is a wonderful place for people watching so go with someone who doesn’t mind sitting quietly or go by yourself. Newspapers provided.

De Wynns
Another café in Falmouth, used by my mother in the war. It was her great treat with two of her friends to get the train to Falmouth and have tea there. Nowadays the scones are homemade and melt in the mouth, their soup is always very good but only served in winter, and they do very garlicky mushrooms served with toast which is perfect for a winter warmup. Or a summer one given this weather.

6/10 Not so good – mostly middle aged/retired people but rather conventional.

Home
This is the most reliable café as Himself is a very good cook. Much better than me as he is interested whereas I’m not, very. He does very good Thai, cottage pie, fish pie and stir fries. He can be a bit heavy handed, but that seems to be a male trait. And it doesn’t stop people coming back here to eat. Does it Nik?!

People watching: 8/10 if you sit in our front room and watch the world go by. Lots to see, and if people bore you, there’s a great view of Flushing, the docks and out to sea.

Oh - five people to tag if they feel like doing likewise.
Cornish Dreamer
Miss Understood
Mopsa
MotheratLarge
Jayne

Who on earth would read my food column?

Himself usually does the cooking in our house. This is from self defence, as he's interested in food and I’m not, really. I know most people will fall down in horror at that admission, but it's true. Food is something I have to consume in order to write, to go for long walks, to enjoy life.

Whenever we have friends round for a meal (which isn’t that often), Himself is in charge of the food which means everyone is amply fed (he cooks enough for an army) and there is enough wine for a platoon. Mind you, everyone seems to stay until the small hours, so they evidently enjoy themselves. If I was in charge, there would be a big casserole, jacket spuds followed by cheese and biscuits. (Note minimum amount to cook, can all be prepared in advance.) There's also a good chance that we might not have enough. Worse admission. I have an inability to judge correctly how much people eat. This is something I have inherited from my mother.

When we go shopping and He’s in charge, the trolley is loaded and we spend our entire monthly food budget in one fell swoop and eat baked beans for the rest of the month.

His choice of menu is usually something like this:-
bowls of crisps, peanuts etc to nibble before the meal, oh and dips as well
Main course – Two mammoth cottage pies with several platefuls of vegetables
Large bowl of prawns for vegetarians, plus salad and new potatoes
Pudding – Groaning bowl of trifle and/or ice cream
Cheese and biscuits
Coffee with dishes of smarties and those chocolate matchstick things.
All this is washed down with bottles of wine which, luckily, the guests bring lots of.

I once tried to suggest that the menu could be more balanced, but that fell on deaf ears. And I have to say, most of it usually gets eaten. The men, in particular, dig in until they can’t move.

Last night, Himself was watching Celebrity Masterchef and started chuckling. ‘Why don’t you write a column about food, Flowerpot?’ he said, evidently enjoying the look of horror on my face. For once, I was lost for words. What would I say?