These two recipes arrive thanks to the creative brain of series chef, Gary Usher, from the UK TV series, "How to Save a Grand in 24 Hours" (Wilson, 2021).
I was particularly taken by the egg fried rice recipe, which runs for the last 20 seconds in the video clip below (Wilson, 2021, 4.23).
The one disadvantage of listening to audiobooks is that I listen at night, on very low volume - and fall asleep. As a result, I need to listen to each book a number of times in order to get the whole story. And the one thing I could not get from the sixth book in the Bryant & May series, the Victoria Vanishes, is quite HOW the pub in question - the Victoria - actually vanished.
Earlier on in the book, octogenarian Arthur Bryant stumbles past a corner pub, but then cannot find it again. Where he thinks the pub is located turns out to be a convenience store. Arthur begins to think that he is losing his marbles, and consults a 'specialist' in memory work... who turns out to be a witch (which should be no surprise to fans of Christopher Fowler, as his first writing 'career' was in the horror/supernatural genre. Not something that appeals to me, but murder mysteries are). Arthur even finds an old architect mate at another pub and the two go off and literally have a crack at picking off the fascia of the convenience store in the hope of finding a pub underneath. But no luck.
To satisfy my curiosity, in the end I had to go and read the ebook. It turned out that this particular piece of the puzzle is only explained in a 'by the way' statement between Bryant and May right at the end of the book:
“Yes, I thought I’d search for signs that the pub had been installed there. He told me they were pretty easy to spot once he knew where to look. Screw-marks, scraps of tape and paint stencil marks. Of course, the building had originally been converted from a pub to a shop, so it required very little effort to turn back time for an evening. They simply placed painted flats over the lower half of the extended shop windows and whacked some plant-holders on top. We can’t press charges on the store owner, as it seems he was pressured into co-operation by people from Theseus. Some kind of bureaucratic error to do with his immigration visa. I’d love to have seen the look on Harold Masters’s face when Pellew told him what he wanted next. Masters was over a barrel by that time. What could he do but comply with Pellew’s request?” (Fowler, 2008, 97%).
There is a quite lovely nod to the naming of this duo in this issue:
Bryant [...] produced some matches. He squinted at the yellow label on the box, then donned his reading glasses. “I say, has anyone noticed this?” He held up the matchbox, studying the logo in amazement. “That’s us. ‘Bryant and May – England’s Glory.’ I don’t know why I never thought of that before” (Fowler, 2008, 83%).
Very cute.
Sam
Reference: Fowler, C. (2008). The Victoria Vanishes. Côte d’Azur.
