Saturday 10 October 2009

Eyes down!


Soup... but what sort?


Peas gain!


A dessert of mass destruction?

31 comments:

  1. Now that is just nasty!

    What was it? Any of it?

    Good to see that Mrs TM came with decent food again today. I hope you have enough supplies now to keep you nourished for the rest of the week?

    Good luck with the puter! I hate it when technology fails! The temptation to throw them out the window at that point is almost too much to resist.

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  2. TM, The soup looks disgusting, just like dish water. I can't guess what the main course is apart from the ever-present peas and mash. Some kind of meat pie again?
    Is the kitchen running low on custard powder? It looks very pale and insipid.
    Just as well your supplies have been topped up today.

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  3. I'm part geek so I am used to computers behaving badly. Still annoying though!

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  4. 1. Liquidised cardboard
    2 More driveway aggregate with chunks of chipped concrete, served with liquid mud, peas and thick wallpaper paste. Or thick porridge.
    3. Rotting window frames served with custard.

    Ya think the caterers had a crash on the motorway with a builder's skip? It's the only explanation.

    However, Mrs TM and her bag of goodies has no doubt saved the day and you will eat like a king. Your recovery is nothing at all to do with the hospital food and everything to do with your wife's excellent food choices. If you were being treated nearer home you'd no doubt be home by now.

    Hope the laptop is behaving. We can't bear the thought of not knowing what's going on. *twitch*

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  5. OK.
    Soup - Mushroom - or merely mush?
    Main course. Baffled by this but it appears to have sweetcorn which you said you couldn't eat. Peas and mash identified. Possibly chicken pie. Possibly lunchtime chicken stripped of its breadcrumbs and reconstituted into pie. Who knows?
    Pud. Could be apple sponge but without much apple.

    How did I do?

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  6. Hi TM
    Best Guess:
    Starter: petri dish growing bacteria
    Main: not a bloody clue apart from mash, peas and sweetcorn (which we know you cant eat!)
    Pud: Now having magnified this dish, debated amongst family, educated guess - bakewell tart with custard! - Close?
    Hope you had a good day with Mrs TM her food looks delicious!
    Linda Tenerife x

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  7. Wild guesses:
    Soup: Egg whites scrambled into water that was used for boiling the potatoes for the mash, and about a teaspoon of chopped chives per gallon;
    Main: another kind of NHS "pie" with potato mash and peas;
    Dessert: Broken slice of open crust pie with semolina-ginger filling and NHS custard
    Wishing you some moments of sleep tonight! All the best from Barbara in Styria.

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  8. Is the soup some sort of attempt at coconut - poss chicken and coconut? Looks really bad.

    Any news on how the leg's coming along?

    Get well soon.

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  9. Okay... I'd better put you out of your misery. The soup is chicken and leek. I believe that's called cock-a-leekie in Scotland. Not sure there's a lot of cock or leek in there but suffice to say it wasn't very tasty.

    The main course is turkey and ham in a rich gravy topped with pastry. Well, that's what it said on the menu. The unseasoned mash and bullet peas you will have seen before.

    The dessert was peach flan and custard. Flan is an odd term and bears no resemblance to anything I've ever known to be a flan. It was sweeter than most of the puddings and little more tasty.

    So, there it is. I do think pie is stretching things a bit, don't you?

    Leg update: v painful today for some reason. The 10kg of weight is really pulling on that knitting needle through my shin. Most unpleasant. I'm hoping my next x-ray in two weeks' time will be good enough to enable me to have that pin removed. If it isn't, then it's another three weeks on my back and more opportunities to enjoy this lovely NHS cuisine.

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  10. Sorry to hear you're in pain today TM. That food can't be helping you in any way whatsoever. What on earth is that dessert? It looks like something exploded. I am thinking that your hospital has a mountainous stash of peas akin to the infamous EU butter mountain.
    I do hope you have eaten, but I do believe that soup looks like what my daughter was bringing up on repeated occasions earlier on this week. No other way to describe it; it doesn't even vaguely resemble soup. Shameful.

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  11. poor traction man - at least you seem to have a good sense of humour and that will get you through this I am sure. 2 weeks must feel like a lifetime at the moment. Your tea tonight just looks too repulsive to be true. The soup looks like dishwater, the desert looks like it has already been eaten already and the main course looks totally unappetising and unidentifiable.

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  12. Stop bloody moaning!!!

    Try walking a mile in the NHS's shoes before whinging,
    Look at what other countries do re food - how do those people pay.
    YOUR trouble is you have been in hospital too long and are bored and have encouraged a lot of twats who think they could all do better but couldn't in reality, to moan,

    Boring now...

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  13. Anonymous 20:57

    Having walked in the NHS's shoes for many years I can fully empathise with TM. The food is disgusting and isn't remotely anything near what should be served as nutritious food. The fact that the management structure of the NHS chooses to waste money on needless "priorities" whilst skimping on what is actually supposed to be part of the recovery programme - nutrition and all its attendant effects - is disgraceful.

    If you were in any way connected to the patient care side of the NHS you would surely understand what's going on here.

    Incidentally it's a pity you don't have the courage to come out from behind the monitor. Very brave, sniping from the safety of your anonymity. NOT.

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  14. Stop bloody moaning!!!

    Stop bloody reading my blog!!!

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  15. I'm glad you're moaning TM as I think the food is positively dangerous. It's not just the budget that's too low but the whole way it's organised. There are many good things about the NHS but it is important to be able to criticise it. The fact that things are worse in other countries does not mean that such poor nutrition should be tolerated. I am currently jobless and so money is tight but if someone were to offer to feed me for free on the food that you are being given, I would refuse it.

    Sorry to hear you're in more pain today. Hope your x-ray in a fortnight brings good news.

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  16. @anonymous 20:57: Did you read about TM mentioning he had pains today? So even he were just moaning, he'd have every right to do so! You'd probably do the same if it were you that has fallen ill. Or if it were you who found the food depressing and the boredom and pains difficult to combat.
    And why do you think TM should find the solutions to the problem singlehanded; I find it awesome enough that he raises awareness about it. Barbara

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  17. To annonymous @ 20.57
    Do you live in the UK? Do you pay UK taxes? Do you appreciate how painful and awful being on traction this way is? If you answer NO to ANY of the above then butt out!

    Traction Man is highlighting a HUGE problem in the NHS. The problem of patients becoming MALNOURISHED during a prolonged stay. This is a documented FACT! Talk to some dieticians and they will back up everything TM is saying.

    I have walked in the NHS shoes for years! I have been a patient! I have been hungry in hospital because the food is, in some cases, inedible,

    So, anonymous, why don't you stand up and be counted! Tell us who you are and why you are reading this blog if you feel TM is so wrong in what he is saying?

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  18. i think we are failing to give peas a chance.

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  19. Oh thank goodness the peas are back, I was getting really worried.

    This Scot has never seen cock-a-leekie soup look like this.

    Turkey and ham, okay, I believe you, and peach flan, have to ask TM, where were the peaches.

    Laughing at the troll, there is always one, or two, good reply.

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  20. There was something orange and slimy in the pudding... could that have been the peach?

    As for the soup... definitely cocked up.

    I'd like to put the troll in traction and administer four daily doses of Vancomycin> ONce stripped of his taste-buds and suffering advanced cabin fever, we could then have another chat. Bring it on troll!

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  21. A peach: orange and slimey? I wouldn't think so. It should be yellow and firm. Unless it had been transformed into jam? Was it sweet?

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  22. Oh so maybe it was a little bit of a jam-like peach

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  23. Am I the only one who thinks that your dessert looks like a crumbed bat?

    Good to see the anonymous snipers showing up here to kick those who can't even get out of bed. When they appear, you know you're on the side of the angels.

    All the best, TM. Illegitimis nil carborundum

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  24. Ian..... Love your Latin. Wish i could find a decent book on Latin as i would love to learn to speak it... with attitude..!!

    TM.Use the gruel to make paper chains for Christmas decorations, flour and water soup is good as glue.

    Ness..xx

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  25. Hope you have some fruit salad left over from lunch.

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  26. Lucky for Mrs TM today - this is one of the most horrible meals i've seen.

    Moan, whinge and complain as often and loudly as you like while you are imprisoned ... and I'm hoping you continue to do so afterwards so others might not have to suffer as you have. Will you be outing yourself once you're out?? I certainly hope so!!
    Cheers
    Mich

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  27. I reckon I'll be 'outed' fairly soon. Since half the hospital is reading my blog and having a good laugh (management excluded) I think my chances of remaining anonymous are minimal. I wanted to be anonymous for two reasons: Firstly, I didn't want the focus to be on me rather than the subject of bad NHS food. The other more important more reason was... I didn't want anyone spitting in my food!

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  28. I strongly suspect that Anonymous 20:57 is something to do with the hospital food business - I use food in the loosest sense of the term, you understand. After the first media interest they had clearly hoped the dust would settle and interest in your blog would wane. It hasn't and that is rattling them. Hence the irritation. Unpleasant - and foolish - though these remarks are, be encouraged by this, TM - you're clearly getting through.

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  29. And the moral good people here, is do not post drunk and fed up with life and frustrated generally.

    TM - I apologise wholeheartedly for the remarks - I really do mean that.

    To the others I say nothing. But yes I am backing out of this blog because I do feel actions speak louder than words.
    Get well soon but please remember this one thing... there are a lot of people out there who do care, who are trying and who are probably feeling as frustrated as you are.

    Hope you are up and about soon.

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  30. How the eff did they manage to squeeze all the colour out of whatever vegetable they put in that soup? And what did they do with it? It looks like a bowl of dishwater.

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