Dr · Gleet

Jamie Oliver has opened a new restaurant in Guildford, where I live. It appears to have no vegetarian main courses, because they either have obvious meat or parmesan cheese. I think all parmesan cheese is non-vegetarian because parmesan is the same as parmigiano reggiano (because of this) and the protected regional status rules of parmigiano reggiano state that it must be made with calf rennet (see here).

There are various legal arguments I may not understand, but I thought it was pretty straightforward, and I've not seen anything in a supermarket for some time which would use the name "parmesan" on the packet (instead using "italian hard cheese" or similar) and still call itself vegetarian. So I tweeted at Jamie Oliver to ask about the absence of vegetarian food, to which he responded that one third of the pasta dishes were vegetarian - presumably the parmesan dishes. I tweeted back to ask, but have had no reply. I went into the restaurant in Guildford to ask, and they had marked up by hand all the things they thought were vegetarian, which included everything with parmesan.

So - does anyone know; might restaurants be getting this right? My understanding is that either they misrepresent the vegetarianness, or they are breaking the EU PDO laws. I might be wrong, though. Am I?

Update: I do realise that there's a sense in which cheese with calf rennet is no less vegetarian than a cow's milk cheese without, since the killing of calves is a by-product of the dairy industry, but I'd still be interested to know the answer

hello livejournal,

I've been remiss, really, about posting. My life has been complicated since I last posted, but such is life. I don't have a terribly profound update to give you all (though feel free to comment and ask things) but I'm on a train! a train! and posting! yes, it's the train to York. The internet is not good enough to watch streaming wimbledon coverage (though I may try audio in a minute) but it's still pretty good. And by ordering a ticket a week in advance I've got a first class ticket for a second class price. I'm not sure there is much benefit in doing so since now I'm just sitting in the company of other middle aged men who are eating smelly steak sandwiches, but, you know, first class. I've been wearing my fanciest hat in celebration.

xx

At a couple of different pub quizzes recently, we've been using the team name "Quiz on my face" which was shamelessly stolen from a team at another quiz a few years ago. I've been pleased to note that other teams in the quizzes are calling themselves "Quiz on my face too" and "Quiz on your face." Excellent. Last night, we stole the team name "Fact Hunt".

Various people on the telly (including the usually sensible Simon Calder) are saying things like "Isn't it terrible - other countries deal with weather like this all the time, but as soon as it happens here, we grind to a standstill."

Grinding to a standstill is the right response. If this kind of weather happens every 10 years or so, then it would be ridiculous to keep a huge amount of machinery and infrastructure up and ready all the time to deal with it, and use it for a couple of days every few years or so. If our climate were such that this happened a lot, then we should have that kind of stuff, but we don't.

The last time I posted I said that I was about to take part in the Great South Run (and shamelessly plugged my justgiving sponsorship page (which is still open)). It's only fair I post an update to say that I finished and hit my target, which was to keep running all the way without stopping to walk. You can see my speed as a function of time here. I hadn't really intended to speed up at the end, but when I just had about a mile to go I realised that I could get to the end more quickly if I ran faster, and I was quite keen to reach the end. It turned out that I could take advantage of my comparatively long legs by making longer strides for greater speed with not much difference in effort. If I'd've spotted that earlier... who knows!

Cor, so the Great South Run is this Sunday and I don't seem to have pulled out, so I'll be running 10 miles for the first time ever. I managed 9 miles last weekend, so I think it'll be okay. If any of you fine livejournal people are planning on being in Portsmouth on Sunday let me know and we can meet up for a post-run drink.

If you'd like to sponsor me - I'm running for MIND, the mental health charity - then go to http://www.justgiving.com/pdstevenson and donate to your credit card's content

I've just had an article published in an interdiciplinary journal, so for the first time I can read, alongside my own paper, articles like "Faces and Behinds: Chimpanzee Sex Perception". That sounds much more interesting than mine.

On the train on the way home I started creating a iTunes playlist called abstract nouns. I put in Suspicion by R.E.M. and Shame by Low and so on, but I'm not sure about Joy Division's Transmission. Is it as in "the transmission of knowledge?" - in which case, okay, or is it as in "my car's transmission is shot?" in which case not. I think it's the former. What else should be on the list? And also - what about gerunds? My inclination is not, but I do like Mercury Rev's Frittering. hmm

I has a baby let me show you it

Hi! I'm in Tennessee. I managed to get in to the US okay, even after the immigration official looked at the Cuban visa in my passport and asked me what I was in Cuba for (I said "scientific conference" and didn't mention that the science was nuclear physics). Tomorrow I'll fly home and see if they'll let me in there. I'll probably have a few hours to kill in Paisley on Wednesday evening if anyone wants to meet up there...

It's not a great picture because of the reflection (hi! that's me and beth you can see), but it's one of my favourite signs from a business just up the road. Look at our INCLUSIVE prices, oh except for the fees...

I've just booked flights to Knoxville. I'm quite excited - I used to live our there, and haven't visited for years. It'll be great to see my friends children for the first time... The only downside is that I'm only there for two days, but still. Woo!

Last night I sang karaoke at work. I would have done Okie From Muskogee by Merle Haggard if they'd've had it, because I always do, and I can sort of sing like Merle Haggard. I might have done Everybody's Talking by Fred Neil, if they'd've had it but they didn't. All the songs I fancied doing were woefully inappropriate for my meagre singing skills, but it was karaoke... so I went for Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood by the Animals. I can't sing like Eric Burdon, and I had to sing the chorus an octave lower than I should have. Never mind. Then I did a duet of I Got You Babe. The most surprising song in the list was O Superman by Laurie Anderson. I really should have gone for that.

I made potato, spinach and gruyere gratin for dinner tonight. It was nice. Then rhubarb crumble. nom nom nom. There's a picture of the gratin to the right.

rhiannon_81 came to visit today, which was splendid. We braved intermittent rain and walked down to Southsea Castle, which is one of the less impressive castles in the world, but at least is by the sea. and within walking distance.

On Friday there was a learning and teaching symposium at the university. I presented a poster, having been asked by the deputy dean for teaching and learning. I also went along to the keynote address, which was given by a physicist from Harvard, and was interesting. He made a lot of sense, and I should give some of the ideas he presented a go. Because I didn't have my glasses, I sat in the front row. This meant that the hosts - the university bigwigs - introduced the speaker to me, and we got chatting. That was all good. Because it was a big event, there was a photographer taking pictures of the speaker and the audience throughout the lecture. Then, at then end, when I was about to leave, the photographer came up to me and asked whether he could take a picture of me. I said he could - and he did. He didn't to it to anyone else... curious. Maybe it was because I was dressed so nattily, or because my makeup was so nicely done. I wonder. I was wearing my new waistcoat and pale pink pashmina. Maybe I shouldn't do that when attending events where senior staff are present, but then ... it's one of the perks of being in academia.

On Friday I left the novel I was reading on the train when I got off at Guildford. Oops. I tried getting in touch with the lost property people at Waterloo. It wouldn't be the first time that I'd recovered a book that way, but this time it was not to be - It had not been handed in.

This morning, I was standing at Fratton station when the man who reads the Times and looks like Stuart Maconie tapped me on the shoulder and said, "You left your book on the train on Friday. Here it is." hooray! what a nice man.