Reporter’s diary

Press, 21 July 1988, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Costly parking

LAST Friday at 8.30 a.m., Alison O’Brien parked her pale blue Toyota Corolla in Salisbury Street. She locked it and was about to leave when she changed her mind, and decided to shift it to a better park a few spaces further on. She returned later to find her car, and another on the opposite side of the road, had been badly damaged by a truck that had not stopped, soon after 11 a.m. Only one witness has come forward to supply details of the white, flatdeck, Bedford-type truck' that was thought to have just off-loaded timber. All her car windows were broken, the doors buckled and there was other damage amounting to about $2500. For Alison this is the second time in nine months she has been the victim of drivers who did not stop. If any witnesses can help, please get in touch with Alison at 665503. And next time, the car stays where it is.

Hay appeal

TEMPLETON Hospital is advertising for hay. Although institutional food is often a laughing stock, in this case the menu has nothing to do with the desperate need for bales of hay. The Riding for the Disabled Unit keeps six horses which each eat about 50 bales every winter. Autumn drought has led to a lack of hay, and home-grown stocks at Templeton have run out. Fifty-two bales have been donated already but more will be needed before the winter ends. If anyone can help by donating or selling (at baling cost) please contact Mrs Effie Deans, phone 497-199 ext. 8889.

‘Waiter, there's...

RESTAURANT gaffe of the month: A woman dining with her husband at a Christchurch eatery

ordered banana fritters for dessert. She bit in with an enthusiasm which instantly changed to revulsion. Her banana was fish, covered in chocolate. It was all, said the waitress, an awful mistake. The restaurant was fortunate that the couple were able to dismiss the incident — if not the lingering taste of cocoa and fish — by saying it must have been the original chocolate fish.

... a hare in ... MIXING sweet chocky and meat is a blunder not new to Christchurch restaurants. Several years , ago a diner was served roast duck covered in what smelt horribly like cocoa. It tasted like cocoa too, so he summoned the waiter. “Mmmm, no,” said the waiter, scooping a sample off the duck with his finger and licking it, “that’s the right sauce — port sauce.” The astonished diner tried the

fingered duck again, but couldn’t eat the dish, so sent it back. When his dessert of ice cream and chocolate sauce appeared, sure enough, the sauce was identical to that which had bedecked the duck.

... my chocolate.” USE of UNsweetened cocoa is perfectly all right — or so it is said. As unpalatable as they may sound, there are recipes for crayfish and cocoa (from a Spanish recipe) and one published in “An Innocent Delight” (New Zealand orientated) by Tony Simpson, which uses chocolate to accompany hare. In each case the outcome is enthusiastically recommended but we have yet to experiment for ourselves. Home brew FOR 12 months Mrs Benton, of Sydenham, has had

a cold and she is, understandably, beginning to despair. Since ■ modern medicines have failed so far, she asks if any readers recall a recipe for cough mixture which her mother used to make when she was a girl, 80 years ago. The mixture included “stinging nettles, dandelions, docks and something else I have forgotten. Could any of your readers have any idea of the missing ingredient?” Anyone who has suffered a cold id dere dose for 12 months deserves help. Mrs Benton can be reached at 321-947.

No half measures “SLOWLY does it” is not always best. Take, for instance, the person who thought she would not mind switching to driving on the right hand side of the road “provided the measure was introduced gradually.” ,

— Jenny Setchell