Special Centenary Celebration Edition

Well, here it is and here I am.

Before I start the special centenary celebration edition, I need to ask (myself) three questions, rhetorically, of course:  (Although I welcome some suggestions)

1. Why didn't anyone stop me before it got this far?
2. How on earth have I managed to maintain writing everyday about more or less the same thing?
3. Which poor unsuspecting inanimate object should I target next?

Appreciation's.

I'd like to thank the outstanding folk at spoilt for choice, without you non of this would have been possible.

(I guesses I would have ended up having to convince members of my team to make me 1 cup of tea each day, for 100 work days, then secretly review it.  Damn! That sounds like a good idea... Ah well, it's too late now, I will think of some other mischievously insane thing to keep my mind occupied.)

Much respect goes out to my work colleagues who gave me nothing but support during this soup marathon, especially Paul Darbyshire, without you I would have given up long, long ago.  Please read http://crystal-blue-dreams.blogspot.com/ for an insight into his brilliant mind.

And to you, the reader, thank you for taking the time to regard my madness, it's made me realise that there may still be some thing's about myself that I didn't already realise.  One of these being a peculiar knack of writing words out in such a fashion that it's easy for the reader to, erm, well read.  My normal vocal spectrum is sketchy at best sometimes, this news was very warmly received and makes me feel like I've just had a Chilli Beef Soup which scored a full 11.

Writing is very relaxing for me and I would have only found out this by trying something strange and different, I implore you to do the same.  If you can't pait, then try drawing.  If fly fishing isn't working for you, buy a float and some line weights and go coarse fishing instead. Adapt what you like into something you are good at, the enjoyment is immense...

I've still got to add the remaining photos to the blog and there is one more special spoon full of madness I am eager to offer to you, but dinner times are short, and writing takes time...  So this blog will cease being updated for a while (although I will still be consuming the soup daily like a hungry monkey)

First impressions...  aaaaarrrghhh, that's so hot! By the hoards of Lucifer how is this liquid so hot? You could forge a level 35 steel broad sword in this soup today.  Once my mouth has stepped down from the red alert burning sensation and my taste buds have come out from hiding, I can once again taste, and it's good.
The amount of beef in today's scoop is unprecedented, I could probably make a small bolognese with this serving of beef.
The wind outside is an unrelenting, invisible force of some impressive power today, and the Chilli Beef is my metaphorical wind breaker.

Out of 11

• Taste: 10
• Texture: 8
• Bouquet/Aroma: 7
• Heat - Temp: 11
• Heat - Chilli: 8
• Brownness: 7
• Beef content: 7

Dipping choice for today: Salt and Malt vinegar by McCoy's - I was hoping to have some fancy arse crisps for today, but due to the weather outside, I decided that a trip to the crisp shop was out of the question, even for this auspicious occasion.

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 57

I leave you with a slightly teary eye, but things must be put on hold if the improvements are to be completed, and the next stage of my plan is to be put in motion.

Routine

We all do it, fall out of bed at around the same time, make a miniature cup of coffee to keep me awake whilst I driving down the same road i do every day, to arrive at work and stumble in through the same rotary doors, almost catching my lanyard and access card in the door.  After logging onto my barely functional work PC, I make a pint of coffee, you know, to see my through the morning.
Then it's lunch.
I suppose it's here where I differ from most people.  Instead of sitting and enjoying my lunch, I now have this bizzar ritual of crisp choice, soup transfer into my Thermal mug, photograph the aforementioned items, then write about what i think of todays soup, be it marvellous, or otherwise.

Otherwise unfortunately is the case today.  There are no mitigating circumstances such as distracting tuna pasta, everything is back to normal, but the soup isn't performing to a level that I've come to expect. To further compound my mystery, there are strange gloppy bits in there, which ( I presume) are the result of a poor stiring method.  There are some bad soups out there and I hope this blog is the 1 out of 100 which is below par.

Out of 11

• Taste: 6
• Texture: 5
• Bouquet/Aroma: 5
• Heat - Temp: 7
• Heat - Chilli: 4
• Brownness: 2
• Beef content: 3

Dipping choice for today: Salt and malt vinigar by McCoy's

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 55

Not one for the faint hearted

Well, it's almost here again.  This freaking time of the year, when nothing else changes except the expectations of the shop's and young children.  You don't get paid more to compensate for the days off work or for the outlay of money for presents.  But, it's the same for everyone i guess, I just wish I had more of a choice in the matter.  I'm not religious, but I'm forced to participate in a religious ceremony, it's not even about religion anymore, it's about money and showy glittery things.
I feel I have lost my way somewhere along the line and I no longer subscribe to the fanciful celebratory mass hysteria of this bastardised religious holiday.

Don't get my started on Easter...

Instead of my usual sandwiches, I've got a tuna, mayo, chilli, salami, Parmesan, sweetcorn pasta.  This alteration to my normal plan has thrown my otherwise clockwork-like regime into chaos, or as much chaos as this situation could get into, with all it's 3 variables.  Chilli beef soup, main ingredient (in this case, pasta) and some crisps.

One majour side effect is the fact I forgot to photograph my soup and dipping choice combo for today, after 96 of these I'm quite disapointed in myself for forgetting, so (when i eventually get round to publishing the missing photos) there will be a photo of some crisps half eaten and the soup half empty, or half full, depending on your outlook on life.

At this point i really should write something about todays soup, inkeeping with the other blogs...
Ahhh, todays soup tastes really nice, like a good oxo gravy, without the onion.  But as you can imaging, the combination of tuna past and chilli beef was not a pleasent one.  Far from it.

Out of 11

• Taste: 8
• Texture: 7
• Bouquet/Aroma: 9
• Heat - Temp: 7
• Heat - Chilli: 7
• Brownness: 7
• Beef content: 8

Dipping choice for today: Sea salt and malt vinigar by Seabrooks

*Edit* No idea why this image is on it's side, no time to change it though.  So could you just tip your head to the right a little bit please?

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 52
This is what keystrokes where activated when i decided to check out the soup spillage "zone." l,...l;,l,l,k,,,,,

Some kind of jug

I sent a work colleague into the soup emporium for my soup today, slightly aprehensively I waited outside, casting an occasional eye into the shop i noticed that there was a jug being used (instead of the tried and trusted ladle of joy ™, after a short interregation i found out that it was some kind of "ran out of soup" situation.

Aaaaaanyway;
this small diviation from the norm makes no difference to the overall experience of the brown stuff, although having said that, it is slightly on the cold side.
The taste is there, its rich and full of flavour, just what you need on these cold days.

The combination of pork crackling (please see below) and Chilli Beef however, mix about as well as oil and water, you allow one taste to come in, then a few seconds later, the second coms strolling along as if completely unrelated, like an arguing couple.  Though the physcial arrangement of these items makes for good scooping!

Out of 11

• Taste: 9
• Texture: 7
• Bouquet/Aroma: 6
• Heat - Temp: 5
• Heat - Chilli: 6
• Brownness: 7
• Beef content: 6

Dipping choice for today: "Quality" Pork Crackling by Green Top Snacks.  The inclusion of the word Quality always raises an eyebrow.  To feel that the company must state that these products are Quality suggests that if this statement where not made, then the quality would not be sufficient, or that by buying this particular variety of Pork Crackling, then you're avoiding the non-quality version.  I remain doutful that the word "Quality" has holds any weight in this instance.

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 50.  Having just come back from a visit to our local pub for lunch, this situation is unlikely to be resolved this afternoon.

Simple Soup Theory

Let's suppose we are concerned with understanding the entanglement of an Chilli Beef serving pair created at "spoilt for choice", in Bootle. The servings fly off in opposite directions but their properties in some sense remain correlated. They are said to be entangled and it is as if they behave like one soup.

Now in string theory it takes 10 spacetime dimensions (plue or minue one) to create fermions- in this case an chilli/beef pair. It is claimed that 6 of the space dimensions must compactify for the beef shreds to exist in 3-d space.

One idea is communication via extra dimensions, which leads to a time-like/space-like issue. The other idea is the "stringy thread" connecting the chilli/beef pair. If such a connection existed, and is assumed to be an actual material connection rather than a channel for messenger taste particles, then the dimensions thru which they are connected become irrelevant - they could be the normal 3+1d without any call to extra dimensions. What I'm then positing instead is some non-local/souperluminal connection via this "thread" that instaneously transmits information from one serving of soup, to another, on the other side of Bootle (or vice versa).

Essentially I am theorizing that the Chilli Beef is really acting as a single particle that is extended over a macroscopic distance in 3+1d space, and that the apparent EPR causality violation is due to information traveling from one "end" of the extended taste particle to the other.

Soup tastes good today.

 Out of 11

• Taste: 9
• Texture: 8
• Bouquet/Aroma: 7
• Heat - Temp: 9
• Heat - Chilli: 8
• Brownness: 7
• Beef content: 8

Dipping choice for today: Hand cooked sae salt and Balsamic vinegar by Marks and Spencers.  The vinigar works well and the sea salt always helps.

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 45

Quite spicy, tastes wierd

Oh god man, the taste of the soup fluctruates as much as my mood.  Todays soup tastes wierd.  Not helped by the fact it had been sitting there waiting for a new owner for some time. The level of spice is there, but it just tastes unconventional... It's not all that bad and at the time of writing it's almost all gone, but I can't help but wonder what went wrong in the spolies world of soup creation.

Out of 11

• Taste: 6
• Texture: 6
• Bouquet/Aroma: 7
• Heat - Temp: 5
• Heat - Chilli: 8
• Brownness: 5
• Beef content: 8

Dipping choice for today: Fire roasted Tortillas by Marks and Spencers.  The strap line for this is "Hey ho to Mexico".  Marvelous.  I expect big things from this combination.
There was a late offering of a Cheese taster, again from Marks and Spencers, this was not a happy meeting between the corn and maze based snack and todays strange soup.

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 44

Sublime Soup Symetry

They've sorted it out today.  Wow!
I'm painfully aware that the ingredients must be the same each time, but it's the balance that's the problem.  There must be oxtail soup in it, but i can't taste it; pepper too, it's there, but it all the components have been mixed into a sublime soup symetry ™. 

I was in a foul mood today, this soup has (and my expectations where putting it under tremendous pressure) really made me feel better.  Dare I say, happier.

Out of 11

• Taste: 11
• Texture: 9.5
• Bouquet/Aroma: 9
• Heat - Temp: 9
• Heat - Chilli: 9
• Brownness: 5
• Beef content: 9

Dipping choice for today: Mexican Chilli by McCoys.

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 43

n.b.  I can also taste a can of tomarto soup in there somewhere...  It's things like this that affect the brownness...

Technology fails; Soups win

My apologies, last night my mobile blogging wouldn't work, stupid technology...

Mandy Williams hosted monday night super soup special (broadcast live on Sky Sports 1) and it was a pleasure to be part of.
Great company, strange eclectic mixture of noises from Radio 4 and a small plethora of delicious soups to sample, transformed my otherwise mundane monday night into an interesting social soup supper.

I gotta firstly appologise for Beth Finnigan for not getting round to trying her offering (Allotment leek and Potato soup), next time...

First up was Dani Bentley's bacon, sweetcorn, sweepotato (i think), amongst other things, soup.
The look of the soup instantly invokes thoughts of health, taste and well being.  The delicate flavours did not let down this professional looking soup down.  All elements of the dish where cooked to perfection and it was a most pleasant experience.

Danni Bently's bacon, sweetcorn, sweepotato (i think), amongst other things, soup

Next up was Mandy Williams French onion soup, with grated Gruyère. 

I've never tried french onion soup, so I wasn't really sure what to expect.  I hope to god that it tastes like this the next.  It must have been cooked for a good amount of time because the onions just melted away, while the Gruyère cheese just added this extra layer of taste and texture that's quite hard to describe.

Mandy Williams French onion soup

 Last but not least was the Chilli Beef.  As you may have gathered from the amount of times I've blogged about this stuff, it's never the same.  I was worried and felt under immense pressure from my peers that this soup would meet the expectations I have set.  Wondering that when i threw this metaphorical dart at the board of taste, it would slam right into the bullseye.  But alas, it wasn't great, and this left me not wanting to taint their experience (which was quite well received) by further complaining about how much better it's been in the past, but to allow them to just taste the god-dam stuff.  It tasted like Ox tail soup, with more pepper in it.

Chilli Beef on tour

Out of 11

• Taste: 6.5
• Texture: 6
• Bouquet/Aroma: 7
• Heat - Temp: 6.5
• Heat - Chilli: 5
• Brownness: 5
• Beef content: 6

Dipping choice for today: A spoon!

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 42

Todays soup review will be made this evening

I've been invited to a soup evening at a friends house tonight and it would be rude of me not to take a sample of the CB round for my friends to try:

This bag contains 4 Chilli Beef Soups

I'm therefore, avoiding contact with the CB until then.  At which point I will attempt a mobile blog! (Which is what i presume to be a blog from my mobile.)

We could be in the presence of the first 11

At the time of writing, I'm starving and could eat a sheet of A4 paper and find it tasty...
I'll reserve the potentially record breaking score for later on in my review.

I'll to try and explain, whilst using words I've not repeated too often in the other 85 blog entries about the CB.
It's astonishing.  The kind of  taste that effects the expression on your face.  It summons feelings of shock, to a point.  I've seen people frown whilst eating this soup it's so good. You feel setback and surprised by the depth of the taste and how rich it is.

The Chilli beef soup would certainly be one of the items I'd take to a desert island with me.

I've consumed more of it now, and even after half a bag of crisps, some chicken skin and a buttie, the soup still tastes insanely good.  So here it is, the first score of 11 out of 11.

Out of 11

• Taste: 11
• Texture: 9.5
• Bouquet/Aroma: 9
• Heat - Temp: 9
• Heat - Chilli: 8
• Brownness: 5
• Beef content: 8

Dipping choice for today: Scampi fries by Smiths.  (and some chicken skin from a rather over health conscious co-worker.)  The Scamip and Chilli Beef worked for me the other day.
For the record, chicken skin and chilli beef do not mix well, some kind of culture clash happening there.

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 38. Sob it.  Let's aim for 50 and see what happens then.

Self Searching Entry

Sometimes, words alone are not sufficient to explain the experience that the CB offers.
Sometimes, the words just won't arrive in my brain.
More oftern than not, it's nonsensical, madeup, wierdness, that flows from my reservoir of randomness™.  But today, the sun has been beating down hard on the pooled reserves and the townsfolk of randomasia have been using their sprinkler systems all summer, when recommended otherwise.  This has resulted in a droubt of ideas, creativity and words to describe the CB, hence this rather strange and self searching entry.

The Soup is fantastic today, slightly different from yesterday's in ways that can't really be achieved by it standing somewhere, maturuing over night.  That is all.

Out of 11

• Taste: 9
• Texture: 7
• Bouquet/Aroma: 8.5
• Heat - Temp: 8
• Heat - Chilli:7.5
• Brownness: 6
• Beef content: 7.5

Dipping choice for today: BBQ Beef by Hula Hoops.
This should make for an interesting, finger-tip scolding, dipping experience.

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 37.  In the absence of any way of solving this problem, it will have to just continueas is for now.

Chilli Beef vs God

This kind of weather the Chilli Beef excels.  It's freezing outside, my hands are cold and my nose feels like it belongs to Mr Potato Head.

The soup has risen to the challenge and is warming me up nicely. 
It's excellent; taste, texture and chilli kick are all at the levels where you'd want and expect them to be.
It's a strange feeling when the soup is this good, because i almost feel sad as it's going to come to an end at some point... Enjoy it while it lasts, that's the motto for the day.

Out of 11

• Taste: 9
• Texture: 7
• Bouquet/Aroma: 8
• Heat - Temp: 9
• Heat - Chilli: 8
• Brownness: 6
• Beef content: 7.5

Dipping choice for today: Roast Ox by REAL. I bet you never expected that flavour!  These are an, erm, interesting taste.  Same as beef, for the first second or two, then there's this odd slightly peppery almost earthy after taste.  Ah well, so long as they crunch, I'll pretty much eat any flavour of crisp.

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 36.  You know what?  Lets pretend i've cleaned the keyboard. I was expecting this to last for maybe a week, then i'd clean it, but I'm very busy at work and as I've left this mess for so long, it's gonna require a soak to get the CB off the base of the keyboard.  I could however damage the keyboard in some way and get our IT team to replace the it completely...  That's far too lazy though.

Moon's Day

The soup today tastes like it's lacking something.   A little too much salt, makes it taste a bit cheap.  Never the less, it's still very nice and gets consumed far too quickly.

Whilst I'm on here, I need to mention the Oxtail soup my brother cooked this weekend at his hotle in Devil's Bridge (Hafod Hotel, near Aberystwyth).  It was just unbelievible.  So tasty, very rich flavours, each element tasted so fresh and intentional.  We where served it in this tiny tasting cup, with home made chutney and some freshly baked bread, which had the texture of crumpets.  It was the first of 4 courses, all of which where amazing.

Out of 11

• Taste: 8
• Texture: 8.5
• Bouquet/Aroma: 8.5
• Heat - Temp:9
• Heat - Chilli: 6
• Brownness: 5
• Beef content: 7.5

Dipping choice for today: Scampi Fries by Smiths.  This, believe it or not is an amazing combination.  Standard dip at first, but then i realised they are hollow in the middle.  You bite a little bit off the top, et voilà, scampi flavoured miniature edible soup vessel.

Chilli Beef wth Scampi Fries

scampi flavoured miniature edible soup vessel

scampi flavoured miniature edible soup vessel full

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 34.

Schrodinger's soup

We have the soup in it's cauldron.
The observer cannot know whether or not the soup is tasty, and consequently, cannot know whether it is worth buying. Since we cannot know, according to quantum law, the soup is both amazing and awful, in what is called a souperposition™ of states. It is only when we purchase a soup and learn the condition of it's taste that the souperposition™ is lost, and the soup becomes one or the other (amazing or awful). This situation is sometimes called runny food indeterminacy or the customer's paradox: the observation or measurement itself affects an outcome, so that the outcome as such does not exist unless the measurement is made. (That is, there is no single outcome unless it is observed.)

Todays soup is amazing, by the way.

Out of 11

• Taste: 9.5
• Texture: 8
• Bouquet/Aroma: 8
• Heat - Temp: 7
• Heat - Chilli: 6
• Brownness: 8
• Beef content: 7

Dipping choice for today: Sea Salt and vinigar by Seabrooks.

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 24

Fridays soup poem

Mondays soup is full of hate,
Tuesdays soup is fair of taste,

Wednesdays soup is full of beef,
Thursdays soup is fit for a chief,

Fridays soup, is always spectacular,
When it arrives, you know that you are,
Halfway through, the last day of the week,
When it's 7am tomorrow, I'll still be asleep.

Out of 11

• Taste: 7
• Texture: 6
• Bouquet/Aroma: 8
• Heat - Temp: 9
• Heat - Chilli: 5
• Brownness: 5.5
• Beef content: 7

Dipping choice for today: Cream Cheese and Chives by Seabrooks.

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 21

Primordial Soup

Pretty sure this is a new batch today. I arrived at this conclusion through a variety of routes, allow me to enlighten you:
It smells fresher, it's very runny and the taste is quite weak.

Chilli Beef close up

As the soup boils in the cauldron, it thickens and throughout the week the smell becomes less fresh. It is my assumption that, over time, the smell becomes taste, this is possibly done by wizards in a parallel dimension (the gateway to which is at the back of the soup shop). The beef is dissolved by the constant stirring performed by a team of dedicated workers, who monitor the soup 24/7, stirring, tasting, performing midnight vigils to prey for the gods of flavour and texture to bestow their powers unto the CB.

Out of 11

• Taste: 6
• Texture: 6
• Bouquet/Aroma: 9
• Heat - Temp: 9
• Heat - Chilli: 8
• Brownness: 5.5
• Beef content: 8

Dipping choice for today: Beefy by Seabrooks.
An obvious choice.

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 20 - This has now gone past the point of being boring, I'm now starting to become proud of my lack of cleaning achievement.

For more or less 5 moths I've been doing blog.

5 Months, what the hell is wrong with me? (This is a rhetorical question by the way).

Good soup today. Very savoury, full of flavour and the texture is just right.
Seabrooks crisps have a slogan on their packets which reads like this: "Once tasted, Loved forever." Long live the Chilli Beef.

Out of 11

• Taste: 8
• Texture: 8
• Bouquet/Aroma: 7
• Heat - Temp: 9
• Heat - Chilli: 8
• Brownness: 6
• Beef content: 7

Dipping choice for today: Cream cheese & chives by Seabrooks.
I've not commented on the combination of crisps and soup for a while, but this strange mashup seems to work very well. The two ends of the preverbial taste spectrum converge in a very nicely rounded taste. The chives make the soup seem quite, erm, herby i guesse.

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 19

Today nearly didn't happen

Got to the soupery and to my dismay, there was no pound coin in my pocket and the cash machine was at least 3 1/2 minutes away, I can't wait that long for soup, so i managed to convince the lovely lady behind the counter to weigh me in until Monday. SUCCESS!

Does free (I know it's technically not free) soup taste and different than paid for soup? Possible, yes.

It really does taste good, it's more tomartoey today, not much chilli spice though but that good wholesome (see below) gravy taste really warms you up.

whole·some/ˈhōlsəm/

Adjective:

1. Conducive to or suggestive of good health and physical well-being.
2. Conducive to or promoting moral well-being.

Out of 11

• Taste: 9
• Texture: 8
• Bouquet/Aroma: 7
• Heat - Temp: 9.5
• Heat - Chilli: 7
• Brownness: 7
• Beef content: 7

Dipping choice for today: Spicy tomato by Wheat crunchies

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 14 (I think it's probably too late by now, the soup inside my keys seems to have dehydrated into some kind of compound with a mass similar to diamond. i.e. it's pretty solid in there.)

Tastes like a new batch

Disillusioned by boredom and repetition, I hold a lot of hope for the soup to turn my day and my attitude around. It may help, but a the time of writing this, I've not had enough soup for it to have made a difference. It tastes very good today though, and i can almost feel my endorphins waking up from their hibernation.

Tomorrows soup will of course taste as good as any Friday soup does, spectacular.

Out of 11

• Taste: 9
• Texture: 8
• Bouquet/Aroma: 7
• Heat - Temp: 9.5
• Heat - Chilli: 7
• Brownness: 7
• Beef content: 8

Dipping choice for today: Crispy Bacon by Wheat crunchies

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 13

Death by pie

Oh god, I ate one of those family sized Pies last night all to myself...
Not the wisest idea I've ever had. I can barely move today and had to ask myself, is there any room for soup. I dispelled this ludicrous thought and marched (well, wobbled) on into spolies. As expected, there is always room for the CB.
Todays soup is exceptional, great texture and smell. It's like the best gravy you've every had.

Out of 11

• Taste: 9
• Texture: 7
• Bouquet/Aroma: 6
• Heat - Temp: 5
• Heat - Chilli: 6
• Brownness: 7
• Beef content: 8.5

Dipping choice for today: Salt and vinegar by walkers

Days since "the spillage" and I've still not cleaned my keyboard: 7