Newts

I noticed equine activity in a field near me on the 7th and 15th January. One hopes that horse rescue was not a cover for the operations of an eastern European horse meat mafia.

But today I notice that the field has been designated a PSSSI (preserving site of special scientific interest) and is about to be prepared for the reception and subsequent preservation of some very important newts. Thinking of horse meat, I suppose it is just possible that the eggs of this particular sort of newt are transported in the alimentary canal of this particular sort of horse, thus accounting for the transient presence of the horse. There is precedent in the rather smaller animal Toxoplasma Gondii, the eggs of which are transported in the alimentary canal of cats before going on to infect rats, for whom the infection is dangerous because it blocks the ratty aversion to the smell of cats. Furthermore, around 10% of the human population of the US is similarly affected and there is a positive correlation between this infection and schizophrenia (see C. Koch of 10th February for a light version and http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/ for a more scary version). The things we spend our money on.

Slightly nearer home, and sticking with alimentary canals, we have finally made it to the 'Canopy' in Epsom High Street, the place with a handsome Victorian canopy shading part of its frontage, the 'Canopy' which was formerly a bath shop and before that the late night greaseburger outlet of choice for lubricated teenagers. I had managed a bacon sandwich there (good, but not as good as that from Los Amigos (see 2nd January)) but not taken lunch, an omission which we put right last week.

Good service and good presentation. A nice bottle of wine and reasonable prices. Lunchtime clientele nearly all senior ladies lunching. Restaurant a little too small and cozy for me; I prefer a bit more space.

My starter was described as homemade fish cakes with a terminal 's'. This turned out to be one fish cake containing, inter alia, quite a lot of spice and some prawn. OK, but not great, not as good as we could do at home. My main course was a Torbay sole, first tried in a pub in Devon, the Drewe Arms, and reported on June 25th 2011 in the other place. On that occasion I was very impressed. On this occasion, I suspect that the fish might have arrived fresh but had been frozen at some point as the fish was a touch soggy. Bread crumbed with something gluten free which was OK. Vegetables a bit feeble and hidden under the fish. Overall, also OK, but not great. They had run out of puddings which were probably good, but they did manage to do bread and cheese instead of the cheese platter on the menu. So good marks for trying and good marks for the white bread which was, for a restaurant, very good. But they were let down by their cheddar which was very ordinary and was probably intended to be cooked with rather than to be served in all its lack of glory.

A pleasant meal. It will be interesting to see if we go back, perhaps for their evening offering.