Has this kid been taking lessons from my Marianna? Or possibly watching too much Junior Masterchef?
From: Gourmet Night (the fifth episode of the first series, broadcast 17 October, 1975)
Ronald: Haven't you got any proper chips?
Basil: Well these are proper. French Fried Potatoes. You see the chef is Continental.
Ronald: Couldn't you get an English one?
Mrs Heath: (to Ronald) Why don't you eat just one or two, dear?
Ronald: They're the wrong shape.
Basil: Oh dear - what shape do you usually have? Mickey Mouse shape? Smarties shape? Amphibious landing craft shape? Poke in the eye shape?
Ronald: ... God, you're dumb.
Mrs Heath: Oh, now...
Basil: (controlling himself) Is there something we can get you instead, Sonny?
Ronald: I'd like some bread and salad cream.
Basil: ... To eat? Well... (pointing) there's the bread, and there's the mayonnaise.
Ronald: I said salad cream, stupid.
Basil: We don't have any salad cream. The chef made this (indicating the mayonnaise) freshly this morning.
Ronald: What a dump?
Mr Heath: (offering Ronald the mayonnaise) This is very good.
Mrs Heath: (coldly) He likes salad cream.
Ronald: (to Basil) That's puke, that is.
Basil: Well, at least it's fresh puke.
Mrs Heath: (shocked) Oh dear!
Basil: (indignantly) Well, he said it!
Mrs Heath: (loftily) May I ask why you don't have proper salad cream, I mean most restaurants...
Basil: Well, the chef only buys it on special occasions, you know, gourmet nights and so on, but... when he's got a bottle - ah! - he's a genius with it. He can unscrew the cap like Robert Carrier. It's a treat to watch him. (he mimes) And then... right on your plate! None on the walls! Magic! He's a wizard with a tin-opener too. He got a Pulitzer Prize for that. He can have the stuff in the saucepan before you can say haute cuisine. You name it, he'll heat it up and scrape it off the pan for you. Mind you, skill like that isn't picked up overnight. Still, I'll tell him to get some salad cream, you never know when Henry Kissinger is going to drop in, do you.
And on the subject of Gourmet Nights...
Sybil: Andre thinks Thursday nights would be best.
Basil: Thursdays?
Andre: I think so.
Basil: Right. And on the other nights we'll just have a big trough of baked beans and garnish it with a couple of dead dogs.
Mmmm, doesn't that sound yummy?
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1 comment:
I can feel the vein on my temple throbbing just *reading* that scene, although Basil was very, very entitled to behave even worse than he did!
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