I have excuses, of course: whether they are
valid or not depends on your perspective, but they’ve certainly slowed the
process and had an impact on my eating.
A couple of weeks ago, I had to have a tooth
extracted. These things happen and my dentist thought that it would be better
extracted than reconstructed. I have a lot of respect for him, but this is
evidence that things don’t always go they way they’re planned. The extraction
was complicated because I take an anticoagulant, which means that there’s a
possibility that I could bleed significantly from this sort of procedure.
Obviously, it’s a known issue and there is a dentistry protocol to deal with it
(packing the cavity, suturing, etc.) Well all this was done, but the bleeding
wouldn’t stop! It wasn’t life-threatening or anything like that, but it was
unpleasant and I spent the day going back and forth to the dentist trying
different things. Eventually, he gave up and sent me to the maxillofacial
surgeons at the local general hospital. By the time I saw them (I had to wait
an hour, not bad, really) the bleeding had stopped and, fortunately, didn’t recur.
However, I woke the next day with a swollen
face, again, not unusual after an extraction, but it worsened and in a couple
of days I looked like a cartoon character – all I needed was the handkerchief
tied around my head! Eventually, I had to go to an emergency dentist who diagnosed
an infection (what a surprise!) and prescribed an antibiotic, that eventually
cleared it up. It did delay the rest of my dental treatment though and it’s
taken a while to get over it.
Anyway, back in the land of the living and
eating, so just a brief summary of recent food events:
Went to The Church in the Jewellery Quarter of
Birmingham. It claims to serve proper southern soul food. The premises are an
old inner-city pub with limited eating facilities. Frankly, I didn’t rate the food
very highly, though my main of shrimps and grits was pretty good. Others in the
group had jambalaya (bland) and fried chicken (greasy). I wouldn’t go again and
thing that the Times food critic had a very different experience.
Went to Buonissimo (our favourite neighbourhood
Italian). Consistently good food and excellent service. Tuna carpaccio with
seafood salad (lots of squid and octopus!) was truly delectable. Highly
recommended.
Went to the Karczma – Birmingham’s Polish
restaurant. Again, a very good meal (though we ate far too much). The traditional
herring and sour cream starter was splendid, but it was eclipsed by the roasted
pig’s knuckle that was rich, flavoursome and enormous! Thoroughly enjoyed this
night out. Recommended.
Looking forward to Thursday this week when we’re
visiting the Two Cats Kitchen, a new place (Jewellery Quarter again) that
claims to serve ‘New Baltic’ food and is currently Trip Advisor’s No. 2
restaurant for Birmingham. I’ll let you know …
