A Month of Doing Nothing Much

Following the removal of a cataract I am currently unable to drive because my eyesight and my spectactles no longer match. In the meantime I have to eat and drink, even when recovering from surgery. So, I've tried some more new things, mostly drinks, in a series of tiny adventures.

• In the excellent DABBA in Chester, offering "South Indian comfort food", I sampled a dosa (savoury pancake designed to eat with chutney - there was a whole chutney menu - washed down with blueberry lassi. I've met lassi before, although previously it was always mango lassi along "the curry mile" in Manchester. The blueberry lassi was delicious, not too sweet. However, there was mango in my next new drink.

• Mango flavour bubble tea. Apparently the so-called bubbles were originally created using tapioca (shudder - memories of school dinners during the 1960s). The concoction I sampled (perhaps a COSTAcoction, since that's where I tried it) had no tapioca, rather there were what looked like tiny orange plastic marbles. When you bit into them they released a sip of mango juice inside. The outer casing disintegrated, or dissolved. (I was not inspired to order bubble tea again.)

• Similarly the watermelon lemonade I tried in MARKS & SPENCER. It was thirst-quenching certainly, but the fizz gave the impression that a watermelon had fermented. The best part was a wedge of fresh watermelon on the edge of the glass, so thick it looked likely to tip the whole drink over. I ate it promptly to make sure that did not happen.

• The best really is saved for last here - Affogato - three drinks in one, sampled by me at the wonderful SERGIO'S, also in Chester. (I'm not receiving any commission from these establishments.) What arrives at your table is a tall glass with vanilla ice-cream inside (or should that be gelato?) accompanied by a shot glass of Amaretto liqueur, and half a demi-tasse of espresso. Combined, these three become the perfect end to a superb meal.

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