I've changed my profile picture. Peter Allen pointed out that if I was going to talk about being 'open' with my email address, a picture of me (rather than Little Miss Chocolate Buttons) might be a better choice.
I hate the way I look, what with my funny bald, square head and my huge double chin, despite being naturally thinnish by nature. Yuk. All I've got going for me is a sense of humour, and that isn't very sexy at the point where it matters. (No it isn't. Don't argue).
Yet every so often I arrange a photo, a self-portrait - that amuses me and that I myself can bear to look at.
This photo was one of a series taken by Christine a couple of years ago on the Coventry Canal. She clicked the shutter, but I directed her carefully, posing myself and telling myself when to say 'cheese', so I consider it my own photo, much as I adore her.
I'm shown eating a Pukka steak & kidney pie. I love Pukka Pies. It's one of my secret guilty pleasures, to guzzle these thickened-gravy-filled concoctions, preferably cold, when no-one's looking.
I'd like to know how many calories and fat I'm about to consume, but the Pukka website doesn't say. It only says how many per 100g (253kcal, 6.1 % saturated fat), which isn't much use. I mean, when was the last time you ate something and you stopped when you'd eaten exactly 100g?
No, wait, elsewhere it says a pie is 238gm, so that means 600 calories and 15gm of saturated fat, which is about a quarter of a typical man's caloric intake, and half of the fat. But it was only one waffer-thin pie, so that should be OK. (Hey, you guys at Pukka Pies, why did I have to work all that out? Why couldn't you have printed it on the side of the packet?)
Incidentally, I love the way that Pukka Pies sponsors the Leicester Ladies Hockey Team, including some members of the medal-winning UK team at the Beijing Olympics. Here's a YouTube video of them touring the factory. I think I'm in love. How many pies did they eat?
I must ask Pukka about guided tours for boaters around their Syston factory. You can moor up alongside the Hope & Anchor pub on the River Soar, about half a mile away.
Dammit, Denny! Now I want a pie! The wife isn't happy as she has to go get me one. Hope you're happy!
Posted by: Carl | Thursday, 11 March 2010 at 08:43 PM
Of course the real boater's pie ( someone told me) is the lovely Fray Bentos Steak and Kidney. Unchanged since I was a nipper.
Yummm.
Posted by: Neil Corbett | Wednesday, 10 March 2010 at 07:07 PM
Maffi, no, it was only one, a waffer thin one.
Posted by: Andrew Denny | Wednesday, 10 March 2010 at 06:57 PM
Oh! so you ate all the piess!!!
Posted by: Maffi | Wednesday, 10 March 2010 at 08:33 AM
Gloria, There's nothing wrong with my fingernails. In fact, they are my fortune.
I am the 'Before' model that Leighton Denny uses to show what wonders he can do with nails! (See www.leightondenny.com)
Posted by: Andrew Denny | Tuesday, 09 March 2010 at 02:34 PM
Great to see your link on the Pukka Pies Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Pukka-Pies/120896106082
Posted by: Pukka Pies | Tuesday, 09 March 2010 at 11:09 AM
Queniborough was two miles from Rearsby, where I grew up. One of the people who died of CJD, Christopher Reeve, was a kid I knew at primary school. The CJD outbreak has been attributed, though not universally, to a technique used by local butchers.
There was a good overview of the whole story in the Guardian. I remember the Rearsby butcher - a proper old-fashioned butcher.
Anyway.
Pukka Pies were, as you can imagine, immensely popular round there. But no mention of them would be complete without the fantastic 'Socialise with Pukka Pies' poster. You can even buy a copy of the poster from their website.
Posted by: Richard Fairhurst | Tuesday, 09 March 2010 at 10:35 AM
ANDREW! It is better to sink your teeth into a pie rather than your finger nails - naughty boy!
Posted by: Gloria | Tuesday, 09 March 2010 at 10:30 AM
Y'know I haven't had a Pukka Pie in ages...and there's nothing more guaranteed to make me hungry than seeing someone else enjoying their food!!
Like you Andrew, I don't like pictures of myself and have very few in my collection, so it's unlikely that you'll see many more of me! The one I've used was taken by a friend who's a regular at one of my quiz nights. He's an artist and used it as part of his 2009 project to take and post a picture every day. He's started again in 2010 - http://johngarghanphotos.blogspot.com/ - if you want to have a look. (It was him that suggested your blog to me!!)
Cheers,
Pete
Posted by: Peter Allen | Monday, 08 March 2010 at 11:46 PM
Is it just me or does the new picture look a bit like Oz Clarke?
BTW, have you decided on the new middle name? Albion ???????????? Dumsday.
Do let us all know
Posted by: Ann | Monday, 08 March 2010 at 04:09 PM
Actually, the Pukka factory is just around the corner from the village of Queniborough, said to have been a CJD 'hotspot' ten years ago in the 'mad cow' outbreak. But I'm sure that's just a coincidence.
Posted by: Andrew Denny | Monday, 08 March 2010 at 01:58 PM
I think it's just around the corner from the pet foods factory.
Posted by: Fiona | Monday, 08 March 2010 at 01:35 PM