The George Lite Zone

Fire up the Audi Quatro, slap a cartridge in your 8-track and hit it. Alternatively buy Ashes To Ashes on Amazon, groove to the groove in the comfort of your own home and invite bonnie nickers round to dance the horizontal tango to the strains of Father Benny Cake's classic - Vienna. The lineup for this tasty bit of 80's nostalgia includes: - Introduction - Dialogue: Alex Drake David Bowie - Ashes To Ashes Visage - Fade To Grey The Human League- Love Action Duran Duran - Girls On Film Dexys Midnight Runners - Geno OMD - Souvenir The Stranglers - No More Heroes The Clash - I Fought The Law Heaven 17 - (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thing Interlude - Dialogue: You're Nicked Edmund Butt - Gene Genie (Gene Hunt's theme from `Ashes To Ashes') The Passions - In Love With A German Film Star Altered Images - Happy Birthday Joe Jackson - It's Different For Girls Flying Lizards - Money The Beat - Doors Of Your Heart The Ruts - Staring At The Rude Boys The Teardro

Like a scene from Don Sieggel's classic Invasion Of The Body Snatchers , a Doppelgänger of " The George Lite Zone " has emerged from its pod onto the world wide web. Resplendent with the features of the original but given an alien twist, it originated on the planet Wordpress and may one day go on to replace its host should it fall asleep. Watch this space and keep watching the skies.

This is the greatest and best beer in the world's. . . tribute. Earlier this week I was in Cafe Bizon , when the barman asked "What do you want?", "What beers have you got?", I replied, "Any beer you want.", said the bar keep. As a joke I asked for a glass of Westvleteren. Belgium has a total of 6 Trappist breweries, Westmalle, Westvleteren, Chimay, Rochefort, Orval and Achel. On drinking my way through this distinguished list I found that by far and away my favourite was Westvleteren. Unfortunately, this beer is as rare as Pixie Poo and took an awful lot of tracking down for my first encounter. The reason for this rarity is that a couple of years back it was voted the best beer in the world. Subsequently, demand was enormous, stocks depleted and cases of this beery nectar sold for large sums of money on e-bay. Eventually the monks at St Barnabus monastery, formerly St Sixtus, said enough is enough and stopped sales of the beer outside of the abbey.

I fondly remember reading such Clarke classics as " A Fall of Moondust ", " Rendezvous With Rama " and " Childhoods End ", in the 70's so it was with great sadness that I learned of his death from Heart failure aged 90. Author of over 100 books, Clarke was a visionary, in the 40's he predicted the communications satellite and mobile phone. In 1965 he wrote 2001 a Space Odyssey , based on his short story " The Sentinel " and was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay of the film in 1968 with Stanley Kubrick with whom he co-wrote the screenplay. On his 90th birthday Arthur listed three wishes for the world: - To embrace cleaner energy resources For a lasting peace in his homeland of Sri Lanka For evidence of extraterrestrial beings. Rest in peace Arthur, child of the stars.

When I was over in Hyderabad last year. I was disappointed with the quality of the much touted Biryanis, which, being a specialty of the region I had high expectations for. My faith in the humble Biryani was restored last night however by a carryout from the newly opened Kushi's in Dunfermline, which was superb. The last time I had a Biryani this good was in the UK's former number 1 Indian restaurant Quilon in London, where the cost was considerably more. In fact everything about Kushi's is superb from the food, the decor, the service to the rather cool name. I'd eaten in Kushi's over the bridge in Edinburgh so was anticipating great things from their new sibling. Butter Chicken, Lamb Karahi, Chicken Tkka Masala and Chicken Jalfrezi are all cooked with style and aplomb and the deserts, including a most excellent Kulfi Faluda, all make a satisfying end to a great meal. Bravo Kushi's, Dunfermline's new king of curries. Long live the king. Blogged with the F

No Brussels for me tonight, after a concrete mixer decided to give the Forth Road Bridge a concrete overcoat and left me in a giant motorway shaped car park. Police haven't yet ruled out sabotage due to a lack of any concrete evidence. Boom, boom... But still, badda-bing badda-bang, at least I'm home with the family for an extra night this week. An offer I can't refuse.

This week I once again became entangled in the Spinnekopke 's web of fine food. One of my favorite eating houses and conveniently close to Cafe Bizon , In't Spinnekopke specialises in Belgian beer and food cooked in Belgian Beer. A winning combination in anybody's book (if that book in question was The Good Beer Guide" that is). Unfortunately their legendary Carbonade wasn't up to the mark, with the beef having a texture reminiscent of the bison hung on the wall of the aforementioned Cafe Bizon. The accompanying gravy made with Lambic beer was still, as usual, superb though. The visit was however worth it for the desert, a holy trinity of beer Sorbet's. Sorbet à la Kriek, Sorbet à la Blanche and Sorbet à la Maredsous accompanied by fresh strawberries. When the waiter recommended it, the idea of beer sorbet's didn't initially appeal to me, but I thought what the hell lets give it a try. I'm glad that I did as it is now a worthy addition to my exclus

In Brussels, the Durum kebab sits atop the pantheon of the gods of fast food. A veritable leviathon of luscious lettuce, damned fine donner meat and chilli sauce, it certainly fills the gap. Throw in some fresh chillis, Belgian fries and pili-pili chilli dip and it's the food of the gods.