Apparently Warners are planning a big screen version of the Justice League of America fo release in 2009 complete with Batman, Wonder Woman (phwoar), Superman at al.

Well little is it known there is a Justice League of Europe running out of Belgium, masterminded by Professor Branestawm fighting crime in all its forms, with Mr Benn and his amazing cross dimensional travelling abilities, Worzel Gummidge with his multitude of interchangeable heads, Mr McHenry from The Magic Roundabout and his speedy scooter to get instantly to the crime scene, Captain Haddock from Tintin who's a a bit tasty with his fists, Mr Claypole from Rentaghost for silent surveilance and Mortimer he Raven cos you have to have an animal donch'a.

Take that America!

A while ago I had a chat via the wonders of e-mail with my pal Eugene where he lovingly described making a Spam, tomato and Lettuce sandwhich. Inspired by this conversation and fortified by a visit to the Bang Bang with Lord Warriner of Brentwood I bought a can of the pink stuff.

Well in the cold light of day it sat in the cupboard forlorn and unloved, watching tins of beans, anchovies, chick peas and sardine come and go, jars of spice and sauces would be in and out but still the lonesome can sat there waiting in the dark for his time to come.

Well this morning when I went down to the galley I discovered that Bosun Gravy had failed in his mission to stock up on bacon, eggs, sausages and black pudding for our traditional Saturday fry up. Damming the eyes of Mr Sainsbury I thought back to James May making breakfast for Oz Clarke on their great wine adventure and out of the cupboard it came.

In a trice it was opened, sliced and frying in its own fat in a hot pan with a dusting of freshly milled black pepper. Pausing only to remove a dead Wood Pigeon from the grasp of Ships Cat One, dump it in the wheelie bin and wash my hands, the spam slices were flipped over to cook through.

When nicely browned I flipped them onto a slice of toast with a dollop of Nervous Nigel's Mango Relish and bunged another slice on top to finish the job.

Yum

Last night we had Tagliatelli with smoked duck breast in a cream and black pepper sauce again (see November for recipe), although as I had a few left over mushrooms in the veg rack they went in too and it was very tasty.

Now Mr Sainsbury's Emporium was very poor for fruit and veg when Bosun Gravy embarked on his foraging mission yesterday so to avoid a nasty case of scurvy amongst the crew I made a salad with what I had in the fridge.

First I finely chopped the other half of the red onion from the pasta and put it in the bowl. Then added about 12 chopped up cherry toms. In the fridge I found some fine beans so I cut them in half and dropped them into a pan of boiling water for aboy a minute to ensure they were crunchy and set them aside to cool. I then repeated the process with some tender stem broccoli. Once the greens had cooled down in they went into the bowl followed by a handfull of pine nuts for some crunch and some finely chopped pickled Chili peppers (I used Mezzetta, from the Napa Valley, Califonia and much hotter than the Turkish variety) for a bit of punch.

For the dressing, I discovered an almost empty bottle of Kentucky Bourbon with the recycling and it gave me an idea. Taking the bottle I poured in about a desert spoon of Balsamic Vinegar, the same of Spanish Olive Oil and then most of a miiature of Absolut Pepper Vodka that was also in the fridge. Shook it up, slopped it i9n the salad and gave it all a good mix.

Went down very well with the Dixie Chicks in the background.