Despicable laziness and the Chinese New Year

It’s not just bloggers, we see the same slothfulness on TV, on radio and in press. Yes, I am referring to the pitiful recycling of old material in an effort to eek out one more programme, article or post from the previous year’s material. That “Best Of” programme is probably the most appalling form of TV one can endure. As a side note, comedy programmes bring this to a depth unplumbed by others. The sycophantic praising of old comedy by old comedians is an annual dirge that sickens me. They should be put out to grass, not bootlicked by ageing brownnose colleagues. It is pitiful and should be banned.

Now, with that off my chest, January 31st is Chinese New Year. It is a time for celebration and a time for reflection on the year gone by. I thought it would be a good idea if I reprised some of the better oriental posts that appeared here during the past year. Don’t you agree?

I decided we should start the year with something flat. January is that kind of month so Baked Oriental Plaice on Bok Choi and Fresh Noodles made an appearance.

At the time, I attracted the highest accolade from a very pleased Luffy Moogan who commented “Sod em all.” You touch my sole Luffy!

Later in the year we introduced Monkfish Cheeks in Black Bean and Chili Sauce.

I was delighted to have the delightful Trixfred comment “I used to watch Kung Fu with my father. It was good then but now, God it’s crap.”

We came back later with the beginning of the ‘Easy Oriental’ series and Chinese Five spice duck with ginger plum sauce.

This dish prompted Lidia of the stupendous Ohlidia to splurge praise with: “Those plums look juicy and yummy…”

Such high praise spurred me on and I followed up with the mathematical problem in Salt and Pepper Prawns. 

There was a fair deal of comment including “I laughed out loud” from the extremely elegant and refined Laura over at Laura’s Mess.

My next creation was Lion’s Head Meatballs.

It caused Frugal over at Frugal Feeding to remark “You’ve achieved a good colour on your balls.”

Undoubtedly the hottest dish of the year was Mapo Tofu. 

The hugely knowledgable Chicago John over at The Bartolini Kitchens poured on the accolades with “I’ll go sit with the children now.” High praise indeed.

This was followed up with Mahjong Squid, a name of my own invention.So inspiring was this post that the Sous Vide King, Stefan, over at Stefan Gourmet was prompted to blurt “I feel an urge to sprinkle this with sesame seeds.” I am humbled.

More recently, I decided do something different in Tea Smoked Chicken. This attracted great acclaim “Of course, the fireman would have a lovely meal when they arrived.” from the lugubrious Richard McGary at REM Cooks.

And, yes, I carry on. Not in spite of the comments I receive but because of them. I come from a very humble culinary background and every word of encouragement from the great and the good of the food blogging world only spurs me onwards. Spurs me onwards into the year of the horse, that is.

Thank you all and here’s to next year when we can do another review, making great use of the previous year’s content. It really is a good format, don’t you think?

Happy Chinese New Year.