Come Dine With Rach

Clandestine Cake Club, Leeds

2012-02-25T17:58:00.001Z

I attended CCC on Thursday, just before the showing on The One show. I'm honoured to have been part of it right from the very start, and I hope to still be able to get a place now the club (and Lynn) are famous!

The theme was Ravenous Rock and Roll, as you know from my previous post I did a Record Cake. My boss reckoned it looked more like a bowling ball though!

Here's some pictures from the evening of the other amazing cakes that were made.

I can't wait to see how big CCC is going to become.

Record cake

2012-02-24T18:42:00.001Z

Ingredients:

200g butter
200g caster sugar
200g self raising flour
4 eggs
Tsp baking powder

For the icing:
1.5 packs ready to roll black icing
280g icing sugar
140g butter

Method:
Grease and line 2 cake tins, put oven on to 180.

Beat the sugar and butter together till light and fluffy.

Add the eggs 1 at a time, with a little sieved flour with each.

When the eggs are all added fold in the remaining flour and the baking powder.

Scoop into cake tins and bake for 25 mins.

Take the cakes out and leave to cool.

When fully cooled start the decorating.

Make the butter cream and use three quarters of it to ice the bottom layer of the cake ready for sandwiching.
Using a small round cutter cut a hole in the centre of the top layer cake.

Sandwich the cakes together and fill the round hole almost to the top with buttercream.

Roll out the icing- I had to use quite a bit of icing sugar to avoid it sticking to the work top.

Check it fits the cake then use your cutter again to cut out the section.

Warm some apricot jam so it's runny and sticky. Paint the jam all over the cake then stick the rolled out icing on.

Press it down firmly and trim off any excess icing.

Fill any remaining gap in the round cut out with the buttercream and smooth off.

I cut out a music note and stuck that onto the white section- I thought about trying to add 'the Beatles' but that's a bit too fancy for my skill level!

Meal Planning Monday

2012-02-20T12:00:00.000Z

Monday - Out with friend, maybe have a snack out

Tuesday - Eating at friend's house

Wednesday - Probably bolognese

Thursday - Cake Club, I'll be eating my weight in cake

Friday - fish of some sort, roasted veg

Saturday - Who knows!

Sunday - roast chicken, veggies

My meal planning is rubbish this week! It's good to be so busy, but I'll be tired come Sunday.

On Saturday night I have no idea what's happening. We've offered to have some of Phil's friends over for a meal, with kids in tow. So I could be potentially cooking for 8. The most I usually cook for is 4.

I need to do something simple, yet will appear fancy, these people know I'm a food blogger so will expect fancy cuisine. Thing is, I'm not that good cook.

Most importantly it needs to be teenager friendly. My dinner parties have never catered for children before. Nor have I cooked for so many before. I'm at a loss with timings too, Phil's boys demand food pretty much as soon as the clock strike 5. Yet I normally eat on a Saturday between 7 and 8. I absolutely cannot have a dinner party at 5pm.

I have sorted in my mind that the kids can eat in the living room, and the grown ups will eat at the dining table. That's as far as I've got.

So do I do food specially for the kids, and something different for grown ups?

LOGISTICAL NIGHTMARE I feel sick at the thought of the stress I'll put myself under next Saturday. That's if it even happens, we don't know if they're coming yet!!!

Check out Mrs M's blog for the other entries.

Madeira Cake

2012-02-19T09:57:00.000Z

I used a James Martin recipe for this cake but decided to cook it in a loaf tin. Due to using a deeper tin I left the cake in for just over an hour, but unfortunately decided to turn the oven up at the end which resulted in some slight charring.....

I wanted to try the recipe to see if it would make a good cake to use for the swiss rolls I'm making for Clandestine Cake Club, I wanted to decorate the swiss rolls to look like sticks of rock, so wanted a plain cake to use so it wouldn't be a sweet assault on the tastebuds...

I think the crumb consistency is wrong though, and all the swiss roll recipes I've looked at, and subsequently tried this weekend, don't use butter anyway.

It went down well at work/home though!

Meal Planning Monday (on Tuesday)

2012-02-14T18:58:00.003Z

Apologies for lateness with this post, I was laptopless yesterday.

Monday - corned beef hash in a giant Yorkshire pud (not exactly diet friendly but I didn't cook)

Tuesday - chicken stir fry, noodles for Phil, no noodles for me

Wednesday - Spicy bean chilli

Thursday - salmon with lemon and dill, broccoli and green beans

Friday - turkey steaks and roasted veg or eating out

Saturday - curry if in, or something grabbed out if we're not in

Sunday - Potentially roast chicken and veggies, plans subject to change

There you have it! Check Mrs M's blog for the other meal planners.

Recent Eats

2012-02-12T19:33:00.001Z

Phil and I have been busy bees this week with cooking and baking, and some eating out too.

Mine:

Spicy tomato pasta and Butternut squash and spinach curry.

Chocolate brownie with salted caramel topping (must remember less is more next time I add a salted caramel topping). The lemon meringue mess cake, which fell apart and the meringue burnt, resulting in needing to be covered with cream.

Valentines chocolate ginger hearts, made using an ice cube tray!

Phill's:

Baking for his work's pastry competition: 'Blue Watch' blueberry and apple pie and a goats cheese, basil and tomato tart. He's still sulking that they didn't win, he was robbed (by a cheater!).

Breakfast: scrambled egg on bagel and tea: Chicken in mushroom, onion and white wine sauce with potatoes, carrots, green beans and spring greens.

Eating out:

Cattle Grid in Leeds

Butternut Squash and Spinach Curry

2012-02-06T20:22:00.000Z

I made this for Phil and I last week, as it was a midweek curry I didn't feel too bad about using a spice bag as the base of the curry and then adding a few spices of my own.

Ingredients
Butternut squash, deseeded and chopped
1 onion, chopped
garlic puree
spinach leaves
fresh coriander
coconut milk
madras curry powder
turmeric
cumin seeds

Method
Heat some olive oil in a large pan and add the cumin seeds, when they start to sizzle add the chopped onion and then fry it off gently in the oil with the garlic puree. Add the chopped butternut squash and let that cook for five minutes.

Add the curry powder and some extra turmeric, coat the butternut squash and onions with it and then add the coconut milk.

Let that simmer for about 15 mins then add the spinach. Let that wilt for about 4 minutes while you chop the fresh coriander and then serve, adding the coriander to the bowls of curry.

Simple yet delicious.

Ginger Oat Biscuits

2012-01-30T22:10:00.001Z

Hello everyone, I'm back from my jolly holidays in Tenerife. I ate and drank far too much and resumed my dieting today, but I couldn't resist a bit of a sweet treat this evening.

I (very loosely) used a biscuit recipe from my bero book as a base for these.

My version of ingredients was:

125g SR flour
125g oats
pinch salt
75g slimmer sweetener
75g flora extra light
skimmed milk
hefty helping of ground ginger

I mixed all the dry ingredients together then melted the marg in the microwave and stirred that in. It combined with the dry mixture but not enough to make a dough. After adding milk until the mixture was all combined I decided I couldn't be bothered to try and dig out the rolling pin, and a laborious search of the cupboards was fruitless for finding the cutter I wanted to use, so I rolled these into small balls, using a bit of flour to avoid getting the gloop stuck to my hands.

I baked them in the oven at 180 for 20 minutes. They rose up quite nicely but ended up looking more like rock cakes than biscuits.

They smelt delicious but upon eating were very, very, VERY sweet. On the plus that meant I only wanted one. Imagine gingery, sweet scones and you'll get the idea of what these were like. Not my best baking success but a lovely sweet treat for a Monday night.

Wine of the week- M&S Bellota

2012-01-22T06:59:00.001Z

We got this wine as part of the Dine for £10 Chinese meal deal at M&S. I read the descriptions of all the wines and this sounded the nicest. The description ended by saying the wine has a honey flavour after taste, years ago M&S did a Chenin Blanc that had a honeyed after taste that was gorgeous, so I was interested to see if this one would be as nice.

Phil had a sip and declared it too thin, I had a bigger sip and the flavours came through, light, fresh wine with a honeyed aftertaste. It worked very well with the food, but IMO wasn't as nice after we'd eaten. An eating wine, not a drinking wine.

If you get the meal deal I'd definitely recommend picking this as the wine to go with it.

Comfort food - Butternut Squash and Chickpea stew

2012-01-21T14:45:00.000Z

Phil was working on call this week, when he's on call he usually doesn't eat well, so I wanted to make him something warming, filling and packed with vegetables.

Ingredients
1 butternut squash
1 small red onion
1 tin of chickpeas
1 carton of tomatoes
150ml chicken stock
3 rashers of weightwatchers bacon
selection of greens (I picked up a bag of peas, tenderstem broccoli and green beans)
squeeze of garlic purée
few drops of worcestershire sauce
dried rosemary

Method
Chop the onion and the bacon and add those to a large pan with the squeeze of garlic purée, while that's frying gently chop the squash into large chunks. Add those to the pan and cook for a few minutes.

Add the tomatoes and chicken stock and then pour in the chickpeas. Sprinkle in some dried rosemary and season with salt and pepper. Lastly add the greens and worcestireshire sauce and pop the pan lid on.

Let the stew cook for 20-25 minutes until the squash is tender.

Serve with some yummy bread.

Diet update

2012-01-18T20:02:00.001Z

I struggled with Dukan, and I've admitted defeat I'm now just doing the PV days. (Well with a couple of treats).

Not being able to eat any of what I'd normally eat, like rice and pasta, and having to eat so much meat just wasn't sustainable for me. The initial weight loss was great, I lost 7Ib's in 8 days and I feel much better for losing that weight, but I just couldn't do any more PP days.

This week's weigh in is Friday morning, I'm expecting to have regained some of that weight due to the initial loss during Attack being mostly water weight.

I feel like I've failed because I haven't seen it through to the letter.

This week I've tried to do PV days, but I have allowed myself a couple of nice treats like a biscuit, or a blueberry muffin. I know that I'm fat and I shouldn't eat anything like that, but surviving on salad and cottage cheese makes me miserable.

The good things that have come from Dukan are that I'm eating Oatbran porridge and enjoying it. I'm also eating more protein than before and making better choices about the carbs I have, or avoiding carbs completely.

Another positive is I haven't had a drink, yet, for the whole of January. It hasn't felt like a chore this time either, it was a struggle last year. I'm going out for a friend's birthday on Friday and I really don't want to spend much, or to drink. Although I'll be very pushed not to have a cocktail if we go to a particular bar!

How are you doing with your new years diet? Have you stuck to it?

Cardamom Black, Harrogate

2012-01-16T22:07:00.000Z

After I didn't get to try the food at the grand opening evening at Cardamom Black I was invited back by the owners for a complimentary meal. I couldn't turn down such a generous offer, so on Thursday last week Phil and I headed over to Harrogate for some top notch food.

We were greeted warmly, coats taken and shown to our seats for the meal. Coincidentally they were the same seats we had at the opening.

We opted for pickles and popadoms to start.

The mango chutney was delicious. The best one I've had.

To start I chose one of the specials, Nidderdale Lamb Chops. They were described in the press release I was sent and I'd wanted to try it since then.

I wasn't disappointed. The meat was tender, with a subtle spiced flavour which didn't overpower the meat. I'd been expecting something very spicy that would stop me tasting the lamb, so I was very pleased.

Phil went for the Monkfish for his starter, which he thoroughly enjoyed too. The fish was fresh, moist and packed with flavour.

To drink we'd picked diet cokes, as we're both on a booze ban (well I am until my holidays!) so we decided to get some lassi to liven things up drinkwise. We couldn't resist the Passionfruit and Mango one, we definitely made the right choice with it - amazing.

For main I had a Seafood Medley, which I think was Balti, with my staple Cheese Naan, and Phil had Wazaki Chicken (I hope I've spelt this correctly) with lime and coriander rice.

The mains were as good as the starters. The fish, prawns, squid and scallops in my dish were cooked perfectly, no rubber in sight. The curry was hot, but not so hot I couldn't eat it, which is what I'd always imagined a balti would be. Phil's chicken was tender and juicy, and he enjoyed the rice.

We were absolutely stuffed after our starter and main but were convinced to try and cram in some pudding.

Who could resist sharing these? An Assiette of Desserts, the raspberry mousse cake was my favourite, with the ginger and lemon cheesecake coming a close second.

I really enjoyed the food, and the service was impeccable. Of course it would be, I'm sure you're saying, but we made a point of watching how other customers were treated - the waiting staff were every bit as attentive to them as they were to us.

My pictures aren't amazing - apologies for that - but I can't bring myself to ponce about with a flash when people are trying to enjoy their meals. Here's a couple of poor shots of the fantasticly sparkly interior of Cardamom Black - I just couldn't do the place justice with my little iphone camera.

As part of the evening we were told some more about the background of Cardamom Black, of the hard work that's gone into the restaurant and aspirations of things to come. I had planned to ask what was going on with the website, I've seen a few disgruntled tweets about it not being fully operations. Well there's method in the madness for that - an 8 week initial opening period, for all the little problems to be ironed out, for staff to be trained up and for everything to get ship shape. You'll see a lot more from Cardamom Black in the next couple of months I'm sure, with a big campaign to get the word out there.

So - would I recommend it to anyone who reads my blog?

Yes.

Will I be going again?

A very definite Yes.

Thank you again to the hospitality of the owners of Cardamom Black for inviting me back to the restaurant and making us feel like royalty for the night.

Spicy Turkey Mince

2012-01-11T21:23:00.001Z

Today is another PP day for me, and day 2 of Cruise Phase. I meandered aimlessly round the supermarket earlier, not really sure what I wanted to eat, but eventually picked up turkey mince and extra light soft cheese with onions and chives. I grabbed some shallots and decided to make a plain mince dish, like mince and tatties (sans tatties).

I started cooking but then was drawn to the spice rack and couldn't resist adding things in.

Ingredients
Turkey mince
2 beef oxo cubes
250ml boiling water
1/4 tsp marmite
2 shallots finely chopped
garlic
few splashes of Worcestershire sauce
chilli flakes
paprika
dried coriander

Original ingredients, before spice attack

Method
Peel and chop the shallots finely, add these with a squeeze of garlic puree and the dried chilli to a pan oiled with a spray of frylight. Let the onions cook and then add the mince.

When the minced is browned add one of the oxo cubes, crumble over and mix in. Boil some water and dissolve the other oxo cube in 200ml of water. Add the marmite to the stock and stir to mix in.

Leave to cook for as long as possible so the turkey is tender, I added an extra 50ml of water after some had evaporated.

I added some paprika when serving, awarded myself a dollop of the extra light soft cheese and garnished with the coriander.

Cruise - Day 2 - PP day

Breakfast - 1 small ginger oatbran biscuit (my porridge exploded...)
Lunch - Tikka turkey pieces mixed with quark, one slice of gherkin and 3 pickled onions
Snacks - 2 slices of turkey
Tea - Spicy Turkey Mince
Drinks - 1L water, 3xcups of tea, 1 pint diet coke, 1 options hot chocolate. More water to drink before bed.

Prawn and Mushroom curry

2012-01-10T22:09:00.004Z

Today is my first PV (Protein + Veg) day on Dukan, and I've celebrated with this delicious curry.

Ingredients

Prawns
2 large mushrooms
1 red onion
1tsp garam masala
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp ground ginger
2tsp dried chilli's
garlic
1 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp fat free natural yoghurt

Method
Spray frying pan with frylight then chop the onion while that warms, add that to the pan with the garlic (we have some ready minced although I probably shouldn't have used it because of the oil). Leave that to cook, stirring occasionally. If it starts to stick to your pan at all add a small amount of water.

Add the spices, if I'm making a curry up on the hoof I just add the ones I like so the above are just a random selection of ones I like. Let the spices combine and then add the mushrooms. Leave that to cook for a couple of minutes then add your prawns. They won't take long so possibly another three minutes and the pan is ready to come off the heat.

I asked on twitter today how I'd stop my yoghurt from splitting in a curry, loads of people replied back and told me to take it off the heat, leave it to cool a little and just add the yoghurt when ready to serve. Excellent advice - it worked a treat for me!

When the pan had cooled off a little I added in 2 tbsp of fat free yoghurt, gave it a good stir to combine and then served with some dried coriander (we're out of fresh).

It was delicious, a wee bit spicy but just what I fancied.

So my first day of Cruise has gone well.

Breakfast 1 hardboiled egg
Lunch salad leaves, peppers, cottage cheese, prawns and another hardboiled egg
Snacks 3 slices of turkey, one pickled onion, 1 ginger oatbran biscuit
Tea as above, prawn curry
Drinks 4xcups of tea, 2xpints of diet coke, 1.5L water, 1xfanta zero, 1xoptions hot chocolate

If I leave the mushrooms out of the curry and just use half an onion I can have it on PP days too. I think it's going to be a staple for the next few weeks!

I'm resisting the urge to weigh here, and will wait until Friday morning. I have everything crossed for a loss!

My ginger oatbran biscuits weren't quite the triumph they looked.... it turns out dissolving 2 sweetener cube thingys doesn't equate to 2tbsp of sweetener. Granulated stuff on the shopping list....

Dukan day 6

2012-01-09T22:28:00.002Z

Today is my last day of attack phase, tomorrow I'll have my first PV day. As I weighed myself on Phil's scales, and are a little...ahem...blocked up at the moment I won't bother weighing until Friday morning.

I missed breakfast this morning but have had my three meals with a little bit of supper earlier.

Lunch: chicken pieces and quark
Snacks: 1 pickled onion, 4 crab sticks
Tea: 1 chicken breast wrapped in three turkey rashers with some fresh thyme between the turkey and the chicken, prawns, cottage cheese, 4 slices of gherkin, 1 pickled onion. My turkey rashers were rather well done, it seems they don't taste as good crispy as bacon does.
Drinks: 4xcups of tea, skimmed milk, 1.5L water, 1.5 pints of diet coke, 1 bottle of sugar free fanta, 1xoptions hot chocolate
Supper: 1.5 tbsp oatbran mixed into fat free yoghurt

I think I've done 20 minutes walking, but it was over two sessions - I'm not sure if that matters?

Anyway, I have a confession to make....

Forgive me readers, for I have sinned. Today when clearing up after tea I was scooping leftover mash out of the pan, without thinking I shoved the spoon with the remnants of mash into my mouth. I had a brief thought about spitting it out, but it seemed such a terrible waste of mashed potato to do such a thing...

To repent this sin I will eat 4 crabsticks tomorrow.

(After having a few I've come to realise that crabsticks are vile, I'm desperately trying to use up the pack I bought).

I am planning to have a go at the oatbran cookies tomorrow night, I never got round to making them.

Dukan day 5

2012-01-08T21:05:00.003Z

My energy levels have come back up, somewhat, although I'm finding I'm shattered come the evening, then I go to bed and can't turn my head off. I lie and think, and think, and think.

Today has been quite productive and we were up and out bargain hunting first thing. I ended up having brunch just after 12pm, having missed breakfast again - must do better tomorrow!

Brunch: 3 rashers of weightwatchers rindless bacon, 2 eggs - fried but placed on kitchen roll to absorb any excess oil.

Snacks: 1 gherkin, 3 slices of turkey

Tea: Sirloin steak, 2 free range chicken thighs, 1 chopped gherkin, dollop of quark

Drinks: 2xpint mugs of tea, 2xglasses of diet coke, 2xglasses of water, 1xlatte,skimmed milk with 2 small biscotti... I know I shouldn't have had them. But I did.

After I posted yesterday evening I had a snack.

Low fat yoghurt with a sprinkle of cinnamon, and a teaspoon of green and blacks cocoa powder. As it tasted quite bitter I'm wondering if the sugar content in G&B isn't all that high?

I'm about as fed up as can be of meat now, I have another day of pure protein tomorrow and then when I start Veg+Protein in Cruise Phase on Tuesday I'll be trying to have fish for the rest of the week.

I'm truly looking forward to vegetables.

Temptation was out to get me in all ways today. We grabbed a coffee in M&S, there staring me in the face were cakes lots of cakes, and scones, and biscuits and sandwiches........ I wanted a piece of cake so bad. When Phil brought my coffee over I saw the two biscotti on the saucer and couldn't resist them. I know I shouldn't have had them, but I did.

We had a wander round the new summer clothes section, I bought a swimming costume, a work top and a pair of linen trousers. I instantly felt better for treating myself to some new bits.

I was thinking on the way home about the way I treat myself, when I was younger I'd "treat" myself to clothes, shoes, bags and make up. As I got older, and the credit dried up, I changed my treating myself to grabbing a bottle of wine on the way home, a chocolate bar, takeaways... And so the weight crept on. I enjoy cooking, yet I'm incapable of cooking normal sized portions, I always cook for at least four. I bake to relax and improve my skills. Then I eat the baking. I adore eating out, trying new places, new cuisines. It's also a treat.

So my question, how will I treat myself without getting fat or going broke??

Dukan day 4

2012-01-07T19:54:00.001Z

People didn't lie, day 4 has been much easier. Especially because I hopped on the scales and saw 4ib weightloss!

Today I've been a bit poor for food, I stopped in bed till silly o clock this afternoon, reading and excel working.

Brunch: Worcestershire sauce scrambled eggs & cinnamon oatbran galette (slightly charred...) with a dollop of quark.

Snacks: 4 slices of turkey

Tea: large minted turkey steak, 1 gherkin, 1 dollop of quark

Drinks: 3 x pint of tea w/skimmed milk, 4 glasses diet coke. I need to drink plain water for the evening.

Dukan Day 3

2012-01-06T18:55:00.001Z

Day 3 is hard. So very hard. Today I've had no energy, I haven't managed a solitary 20 minute walk, but as I've walked from my desk to the toilets a million times for a million wees then I've decided that can count.

I aim to do better on the exercising tomorrow. Today has been the worst of the three days, I've come very close to packing it in and eating something carbalicious for tea. I made Phil chicken and pasta with a creamy tomato sauce, I couldn't test the pasta to see if it was cooked, or try the sauce!

Today I've eaten:

Breakfast: Oatbran porridge (1.5tbsp oatbran with 200ml skimmed milk, nuked in microwave till thick)
Snack: Boiled egg
Lunch: pack of sweet chilli chicken pieces, dollop of quark, 2 chopped gherkins
Snack: 3 crabsticks
Tea: 2 grilled free range chicken thighs, 1 boiled egg, dollop of cottage cheese, garlic prawns, 3 gherkins
Drinks: tea with skimmed milk x3, 75cl bottle of water, 1x herbal tea, 1.5 glasses of diet coke (more water to be drunk before bed)

Tomorrow I'll be making these: http://mydukandiet.com/recipes/oat-bran-cookies.html and I'll be having a go at the famous oatbran pancake!

Dukan Diet - Day 2

2012-01-05T20:24:00.000Z

I was a bit too smug yesterday about finding this diet easy so far. Today was hard. I think day 2 is hard for everyone though.

As I'm at my laptop this evening I'll tell you a bit more about Dukan.

In a nutshell it's a crazy protein diet made up by a mad french dude called Dr Dukan. It's done over four stages. Attack, Cruise, Consolidation and Stabilsation.

During the Attack phase of the diet you only eat protein. I went on the Dukan website and that told me I should do it for six days. I'm doing it for five, and if I can stretch to it then I'll do it for seven. This Attack shakes up your body and starts the reduction of water weight. You HAVE to drink over 1.5 Litres of water a day, to keep your kidneys flushing the water through, and the other non-negotiable is 20 minutes of walking per day.

Foods you can eat during this stage are:

Lean beef, veal, rabbit
1.5 tbsp of oatbran per day
Chicken and Turkey - no skin
Liver
Fish - no sauces, not canned in oil
shellfish
2 eggs per day
dairy under 5% fat - eg cottage cheese, quark, fromage frais
herbs
spices
vinegars
lemon juice
garlic
skimmed milk
tea, coffee and 0 calorie soft drinks

The next phase is Cruise on this you alternate protein days with protein + specific vegetables. You do this until you get down to your target weight. Exercise is increased to 30 minutes per day at this stage. If weight stops decreasing then the walk is increased to 60 mins per day.

Vegetables you can add to the allowed foods are:

asparagus
broccoli
cauliflower
cucumber
celery
leek
onion
aubergine
courgette
peppers
tomatoes
mushrooms
french beans
cabbage
salad leaves
radishes
2 tbsp of oatbran per day

When you have reached target weight the next step along the way is Consolidation. At this section of the journey you continue with the foods as above for five days for each pound you've lost to get to your target weight, but are allowed to add:

2 slices wholegrain bread per day
40g cheese per day
1 portion of fruit per day
2 portions of starchy products per week (not potatoes or white rice)
2 celebration meals a week, when ANYTHING can be eaten

One day of pure protein must be adhered to each week and 25 minutes of walking per day.

When you've come through to the end of Consolidation the final stage is Stabilsation. This stage lasts the rest of your life. The main rules that need to be complied with are still keeping to one day of pure protein per week, keeping up with good habits that have been formed during the process, exercising and eating three tbsp of oatbran per day. For the rest of the time you can eat a normal diet.

That, in a nutshell, is Dukan.

So, today - the book tells me the first few days are the worst. Dr Dukan's patronising chapters don't explain the sheer agony of going to the supermarket though. I could have done with some kind of magic to make all the foods I can't eat (95% of the supermarket) disappear and just leave the meat and low fat dairy.

I've had headache today and feel generally tired and miserable. I haven't weighed myself, although the book recommends to do every day. I know that if I haven't lost anything my resolve will disintegrate and I'll eat something carbalicious.

I've eaten:

Breakfast - 1 hardboiled egg

Lunch - cottage cheese, turkey pieces, crabsticks

Snacks - crabsticks

Tea - two 95% meat beefburgers, dollop of quark, garlic prawns, gherkins, 1 boiled egg (gherkins are allowed as an accompaniment, but not if you eat so many they could be misinterpreted for a vegetable portion).

Drinks - 2 x tea with skimmed milk, 1 black coffee, 2 little bottles of diet coke, 1 glass of coke, 75cl bottle of water. If I've read the book correctly then the pop and tea/coffee count in my water intake.

I think I may have gone wild with the gherkins, Dr Dukan wouldn't be impressed

My mouth is dry, I have headache and I'm miserable. The only things keeping me remotely happy are Phil and these:

We bought some of this Oat Bran stuff at the supermarket, it looks like superfine porridge oats. Supposedly you can make a pancake out of it. I'll be giving that a try tomorrow evening I think!

Dukan diet day 1

2012-01-04T18:33:00.001Z

I'll write more about the ins and outs of Dukan when I'm at my laptop.

Today I started Dukan, although woke up with nothing suitable for breakfast so ended up having brunch when I got back from the supermarket.

Brunch - crabsticks, turkey pieces, cottage cheese.

Tea - haddock fillet, garlic prawns, cottage cheese.

Snacks - turkey pieces, crab sticks

Drinks - (to now) pint of tea, skimmed milk x 3, glasses of water - 4, 1 x coffee, skimmed milk

I'll be having a bowl of fromage frais for supper later, and if I feel hungry some more crab sticks.

I feel ok so far, I've been gazing wistfully at a box of biscuits all afternoon but have resisted...

Tomorrow I'm having a boiled egg and some 0% fat yoghurt for breakfast and cottage cheese and turkey pieces for lunch, with crab sticks for snacks. For tea I'm having 2 burgers and another boiled egg, and some gherkins to eat as a garnish (typical French diet).

I'll be a bit more adventurous with the recipes over the weekend!

Comfort food - slow cooker beef and tomato stew

2012-01-04T17:00:00.000Z

I adore comfort food, especially done in the slow cooker.

Ingredients

stewing beef

2 potatoes

2 sticks of celery

1/2 onion

3 carrots

carton of chopped tomatoes

150ml beef stock

2 tbsp plain flour

splash of white wine

Method

Put slow cooker onto high to warm up.

Brown the meat in a frying pan then add 2 tbsp of plain flour, allow it to absorb the juices and stick to the meat then remove from the pan and add onion and celery with a splash of white wine then the carrots and chopped potatoes.

Add the tomatoes to the pan, season and then transfer to the slow cooker. Add the meat and then pour in the beef stock.

Turn the slow cooker down to Low and leave to cook for as long as possible.

York Cocoa House

2012-01-03T14:33:00.000Z

Phil and I took a walk around York yesterday to celebrate the Bank Holiday. I'd been especially looking forward to going to York to go to York Cocoa House.

Opened in November 2011, York Cocoa House is located on Blake Street, just round the corner from where the Park and Ride buses drop off and pick up. The shop sells chocolates and also has a lovely little cafe selling a wide range of hot chocolates, teas, coffees and some delicious looking cakey treats.

We walked in to a warm welcome from Sophie, had a browse of the shop and then settled in the cafe for a hot chocolate each.

I opted for a ginger hot chocolate and Phil an orange one.

The hot chocolates were delicious, lovely and warm and comforting. Just what we needed after being on a cold bus.

The shop is filled with lots of chocolatey treats, from truffles to chocolate numbers. Knowing I'm starting a diet tomorrow I didn't purchase any chocolate, but it took a lot of will power to walk out without any!

York Cocoa House also offer a range of courses, parties and workshops from the shop which I'm sure will be popular.

It was definitely worth a stop for me, and I wish Sophie and York Cocoa House lots of success - I'll be visiting again next time I'm over in York.

2012 - the year of the diet

2012-01-02T18:16:00.001Z

Source - google images

I wanted to lose weight in 2011, and started the year off quite well, losing 18Ibs, although 14Ibs of those were extra pounds I gained over Christmas 2010. By the end of 2012 9Ibs have crept back on after I stopped watching what I was eating and stopped going to the gym when I moved jobs.

I need to lose weight because the extra weight I'm carrying is starting to affect my health. I get out of breath walking up stairs/hills etc and for a 29 year old that just isn't good enough.

I'd like to turn 30 being a healthier, happier and lighter person. I've got the happy part pretty much sewn up, things are very good for me, I have a new job and a wonderful new partner. But I'm not healthy and I'm certainly very heavy.

I'm a size 16, although my jeans are feeling very tight at the moment, and I weighed in yesterday at 12st9Ibs. I was measured at 155cm a few weeks ago (I thought I was 152cm - I must've grown). The heaviest I've been is 13st8Ibs (last January) and the lightest was 7st2Ibs when I was 17/18.

My BMI is 33.42, which puts me in the Obese category. The height/weight chart tells me I should be between 7st and 9st4Ibs. When I was 7st2Ibs I was a size 6, or age 11-12 children's clothes, I have no desire to drop over 5st to get to that weight. At 20 I was around the 10st mark and a size 10/12. I'd like to be between 9st7 and 10st which according to the NHS would still make me overweight. I don't really care what they say, more that I feel better.

So how am I going to shift this massive bulk? Well I'm going to try three options over 6 months.

The first, and most drastic diet I'm going to try is the Dukan Diet. I'm aiming to try that for just under three weeks, to complete an Attack phase of 6 days and then move to Cruise for the rest of the time, which is one day of pure protein then one day of protein+allowed vegetables.

I'm under no illusions that I'll be able to stick to this diet, but I'm interested to see if it will work on me. I'll be doing that from Wednesday 4th Jan until I go to Tenerife on 22nd Jan. If I find the diet works for me, and I can sustain cutting out potatoes, bread, cheese, pasta and everything else I find nice then I'll go back on Dukan and restart the Attack phase and start again.

Although I'm determined to give the Dukan diet a decent go, if it isn't working out for me and I hate it then when I return from holiday I'll be moving to the Steve Miller approach to dieting - Eat less and Move more. I absolutely love the Fat Families programme and his advice, and have his book at home. This is the diet I'm most looking forward to - because it isn't really a diet, it's eating what I want of healthy food and carbs, but smaller portions and doing a hell of a lot more exercise.

If I find that I'm not able to motivate myself enough by doing that diet throughout February then in March I will start Slimming World. This is the diet I'm least looking forward to. I have no desire to go to a meeting, to pay someone to weigh me, and then sit and have to talk through everything I'm doing that week and have someone else tell me what I should and shouldn't be eating. Having done Weight Watchers in the past I know I hate this kind of dieting, that it takes all the joy out of food for me. But Slimming World gets results. Lots of people I follow on Twitter love Slimming World, and one of my friends has lost a lot of weight with them and loves going to the meetings and giving out advice and swapping recipes. The thought of going to a meeting makes me feel sick though. But if nothing else is working then short of a gastric band this is my last resort.

So, my diet plan will be:

4th-22nd Jan - Dukan Diet
23rd - 29th Jan - holiday, no dieting
30th Jan - 29th Feb - re-start Dukan and continue with that - Or
30th Jan - 29th Feb - Eat Less and Move More
1st Mar - 30th June - continue with Eat Less and Move More - Or
1st Mar - 30th June - Slimming World

Have you tried any of the above approaches to dieting?

Welcoming in 2012

2012-01-01T17:53:00.002Z

Happy New Year!

2011 was a great year, I ate and cooked some great food - and some not so great too... But 2012 is going to be an even greater year. I'll be 30 this year and have some fabulous plans for my 30th year.

Here's a few pics of my highlights of 2011.

Jaume Plensa exhibition at YSP.

Amsterdam

Tenerife

Chelsea Flower Show

Comfort food - Creamy Vegetable Soup

2011-12-29T17:00:00.000Z

It's no secret that I love soup, I'd have it 4 out of 7 days if I could. I really fancied some vegetables and something healthy for tea on Monday night, but when I saw we had double cream patiently waiting to be used up I couldn't resist splashing some in. Then I saw the Stilton....

Ingredients
8 small potatoes, skins left on, chopped into quarters
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped into chunks
1 small red onion
1 medium brown onion
garlic
florets of broccoli
2 pints of vegetable stock
dollop of double cream
sprigs of thyme
fresh parsley

Method
Chop the onions and potatoes while some vegetable oil warms in a large pan, when the oil is hot enough add some garlic (as much as you like in soup - we have some ready chopped in a jar, I added half a teaspoon). Leave the onions and potatoes to cook while you cut off some florets of broccoli and make up the vegetable stock.

When the onions are cooked add the stock and the herbs, season and then throw the pan lid on and leave to simmer for 15 minutes.

I dithered over if I should have a chunky or smooth soup, but in the end went for smooth, so when the vegetables were cooked I blended the soup until smooth using a hand blender.

I added the cream in and let it gently warm into the soup while I organised the bowls and some Stilton for me.

I was generous with my Stilton portion.... you could use more restraint than I have when adding yours....

This soup was delicious and just what I wanted for a cold, wet and windy Monday evening.

Comfort Food - Shepherds Pie

2011-12-28T20:38:00.005Z

I'd regard myself as a winter cook, so I like nothing better than a portion of some delicious and comforting food on a cold dark night.

Ingredients
Lean minced beef
1 large onion
3 sticks of celery
1/4 pint of beef stock
1 carton of chopped tomatoes with herbs
squeeze of garlic puree
couple of fresh tomatoes
1/2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper
1 large sweet potato
2 medium mashing potatoes
grated cheese

Method
Peel the potatoes and chop into cubes, add them to a pan of boiling water and leave to cook.

Chop the onion and celery, warm some oil in a large pan and when hot add a squeeze of garlic puree and then the onion and celery, turn the heat down low and cook for five minutes.

Add the minced beef and cook until brown. Roughly chop the fresh tomatoes and then add them to the pan.

When the beef is brown pour in the stock and the chopped tomatoes. Sprinkle over some sugar to sweeten, and season with salt and pepper.

Leave the tomato and beef mixture to cook slowly for as long as possible.

When the potatoes are done drain and then mash and retain until the base of the shepherds pie is cooked.

I left mine to cook for 35 minutes then transferred the base to a large dish, smothered with the mashed potato and sprinkled a generous helping of grated cheese on the top.

Pop this into the oven at 180 for 20 minutes, then transfer to the grill to brown for 8-15 mins, depending on the strength of your grill (they seem to vary as much as ovens do!).

Serve with green vegetables and await a lovely warm feeling.

Recent happenings and eats

2011-12-18T18:25:00.003Z

I've had a busy week this week (I don't seem to have any other kind of week at the moment).

I had Wednesday - Friday off from work, on Wednesday I did a huge chunk of Christmas shopping, and I committed a food sin.

I had a McDonalds. I know. We'll say no more about this lapse of judgement and move swiftly on. I had Fajitas for tea, but they weren't exciting enough to photograph. Fajitas are fajitas.

On Thursday I went to Wales with Phil, we had a coffee each and a bacon butty in the services and it cost a whopping £15. Unbelievable. Lesson learned - picnic next time! We got back late and didn't want to cook so we had a takeaway pizza. More naughty food.

On Friday it was my Christmas party, I had my nails doing and hair doing lined up for the morning, with a lovely window of an hour to pop down to Bottega Milanese on the Calls for a couple of coffees and a millionaires shortbread.

Shiny nails

After my hair doing I dashed over to the Corn Exchange for the second Friday Picnic, this one having a ginger theme. I had a hot toddy, a samosa, a ginger cheesecake and then some sushi from Fish&, as well as having a good old catch up with some of my favourite Leeds peoples.

sushi from Fish&

I dashed home and had a couple of hours rest before getting ready and heading back out to my christmas party.

Me, all dolled up

We had our Christmas party at Carluccios and all headed there with great expectations. I was a little disappointed though, but as it's Christmas will give them the benefit of the doubt and head back in the new year some time. We had antipasti to start, which was good, not the best I've ever had but certainly not the worst. For main I had chicken wrapped in bacon. My chicken came butterflied, with some bacon on the top, and smothered in an extreme amount of a buttery sauce. It made it slimy. I didn't eat it all. For dessert I had the cheeseboard. There had been a large amount of office excitement about the cheeseboard. Our hopes and dreams were dashed when we were presented with a plate with three lumps of cheese on, and an abnormally large cracker. We'd envisaged platters to share in the middle of the table. It was very disappointing.

Yesterday I headed out to Bingley to see my friend Chrissie so she could give my laptop a tune up and so we could have a catch up before the festive period. We went out for tea to the Airedale Heifer I wish I'd taken some pics but I dived straight into eating. I had goats cheese and blackpudding to start, but that was a huge portion and almost filled me up. For main I had Cod Mornay which was delightfully cheesy and fishy, but I could only eat a smidgen of it before my IBS reared it's ugly head and ruined my meal. I'm finding I can only eat small portions at the moment, if I eat anything too big, or too spicy, then it sets off my IBS. It's putting me off food a bit.

Today I've been baking. I'm debating over doing a post on these, they didn't go quite to plan. My buns didn't rise, and then my second icing wouldn't set and I ran out of icing sugar. I went ahead and used it anyway.

These are Spiced buns with a swirl of plain buttercream, then a dollop of satsuma buttercream, with edible orange glitter for extra festive sparkle...

You can just about see the one at the back that I dropped a bucketload of glitter on...oops!

This evening I've had beef stew in a homemade giant yorkshire pudding. Just what I needed after eating out so much!

I'll be eating fairly lightly next week in preparation of gorging (as much as I can gorge) over the Christmas weekend.

Very Berry Vodka!

2011-12-15T15:10:00.002Z

Very Berry Vodka...

This year with my huge amount of Blackberries I foraged I have made Blackberry Chutney which I cant wait to try with a little goats cheese, wensleydale but preferably deep fried breaded brie or camenbert...

Last year I had the idea of sloe gin... but I adapted this for my ''very berry vodka''.

I got a few litres of vodka and had a little drink from each (well I had to make room for the berries) I put a big hand full of good quality plump blackberries in with a large heaped spoonful of sugar. I did this a few weeks before Christmas - at month is good but a little longer if possible.
I then tipped the bottles up and back round everytime I saw them, I think a minimum of once a day is good.

Soon enough the vodka turned in to a very berry colour... near christmas I strained the vodka and rebottled with some decorative home-made festive labels and gave to appropriate boozy relations!

Hope you like this idea - A good way to use up the black berries too!

Homemade Christmas! by LuttyRR

2011-12-15T12:45:00.003Z

Hi All,

I am Rach's Cousin and she has asked me to contribute to her blog with some festive Homemade Goodies and Ideas! We have all decided at my mums that this year we are making our Christmas Gifts for each other so here is my list of things to make...

So far I have made:

Blackberry Chutney

My own recipe - 'Lovely Festive Chutney' - Apple, Tomato and Cranberry

Some popcorn goodies to go with my movie night present package - a gift experience they should all love! I hope x

Lots of Red and White pompoms - not exactly sure what for yet - maybe decorating the presents instead of ribbons.

To be made:

Canvases for my mum and dad and sister and fella... saying 'We <3 Mummy and Daddy' with tiny hand prints and 'We <3 Grandma and Granddad' with tiny hand prints.

Wheaty Hand warmers

Decorated Candles with picked Holly for Christmas Centre Piece.

Christmas Pudini's - Nigella Recipe

Brittle Peanut - Nigella Recipe

Cloved Oranges - as a bit of a joke!

A Pasta Collage - take u back to primary school - also a joke!

So let me know if you interested!

Tea and Cake at Christmas

2011-12-15T11:00:00.000Z

I was asked to write a blog post for a campaign currently running for Twinings, talking about tea and cake at Christmas.

I'm a big tea fan, although rarely get to drink anything more exotic than Tetley, but if I fancy something a little delicate and special then I always pick up a Twinings box to try. I drink more tea in winter, and certainly eat more cake in winter too, particularly around Christmas when I give up the pretence of dieting for a few weeks and eat and drink anything I like.

Twinings have a selection of Christmas tea gifts in their tea shop.

I love the willow baskets that house all the goodies in the hampers. If I was picking one as a gift I'd pick the Christmas Spice Hamper which contains two teas- one being the mulled spice tea, some chocolates, a Christmas pudding and two candles.

If, like me, you don't have the budget for a hamper then the Mulled Spice Tea Caddy might be of interest. I love the warmth and spices of mulled wine, so would love to try a mulled spice tea. I love the presentation of the caddy too.

Would you try the Mulled Spice Tea?

All photographs courtesy of twinings.co.uk

Ten questions....

2011-12-14T16:49:00.001Z

I was tagged by the lovely FayC to complete this ages ago and have only just got round to it - sorry!

All you have to do is answer the 10 questions, tag a few people, then return to the original post and comment so that the tagger knows you have completed your mission.

Describe yourself in seven words
Bossy, Loud, Short, Irritable, Passionate, Loyal, Kind

What keeps you up at night?
Insomnia mostly. I struggle to switch off, I can lie and worry for hours on end about inconsequential things all the time. I can feel so weary before turning the light out, then once it's me and the darkness the worries start to creep in and things start ticking over in my mind.

Who would I like to be?
I'd like to be me, but a better version of me. One who is thinner, more attractive, taller, calmer and less easily irritated. I'd like to be one of those people who can shrug things off and say "whatever", but I don't think I ever will be. The little things get to me all the time.

What are you wearing now?
Blue jeans, white tshirt with a red wine stain on it - I hadn't noticed that when I was dressing, orange jumper (covering the wine stain), underwear and Phil's socks.

What scares me?
(I'm not sure if this means do I know what scares the person who tagged me, or what scares me? I'll go with me.)
I'm scared by everything. Birds, fish, sharks, alligators, snakes. Then things like not being successful, reaching 30 without having achieved anything, not having my own children, being left on my own and as such a burden to my family.

What is the best and worst things of blogging?
The best things are having a space in the world to showcase talent, or usually in my case lack of talent. The opportunity for some creative outlet, and also for the sense of community involved in blogging. I love going to events and catching up with other bloggers, having a blog has opened up a whole world I didn't really know existed.

The worst thing for me would be the sense of competition that surrounds blogging, I stress myself out worrying that I'm not putting in as much effort as others - even though I know my blog is a hobby, it isn't a platform to anything else for me. I'm not a writer, nor am I particularly talented at cooking, I'm under no illusions that I should have a cookery book/show/column or anything else, I just like cooking and eating. The blogging community can also be fiercely competitive. I always recommend other food bloggers for campaigns/events etc, but very often never receive any thanks or acknowledgement for that. I don't know any food bloggers that return that favour either.

What was the last website you looked at?
Facebook. I'm such a nosey parker.

If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
My weight. I'd take away 2.5 of the extra 4 stone I weigh that my BMI tells me I shouldn't. If I was 8 stone again I'd be a size 8, and look like a child, I don't want to be that thin, so if I could get to 10, or maybe 9.5 then I'd be happy. I think that's going to have to be a goal for next year.

Slankets, yes or no?
Why not.

Tell us something about the person who tagged you.
Fay is an inspirational lady, battling with weight, going through cancer treatment, yet always looking for reasons to be cheerful. She's also lovely and friendly on twitter too.

I'm not going to tag anyone as such, but if you fancy answering these questions then go ahead.

Perfect Sunday

2011-12-12T18:00:00.001Z

Sunday lunch at the Midnight Bell. Putting up Christmas decorations. Wrapping Christmas presents. Drinking wine. Watching films and trashy tv.

What could be a more perfect Sunday?

I'd shouted out on Twitter yesterday morning for Sunday lunch recommendations, I had Town Hall Tavern, Milo and the Midnight Bell recommended. Town was a bit chaotic, and we were parked in the excessively expensive NCP, so we decided to grab the car and head round to the Midnight Bell. We were very lucky and grabbed a table before a rush of people and settled down to have the 2 course Sunday lunch.

I opted for Whitebait to start, my only complaint with it would be I'd have liked more of the mayo, other than that it was spot on. Phil had the pate, which was lovely. Because I'd mentioned we were sharing our waitress brought us extra toast, which I thought was good. I had the Turkey for main and Phil went for the beef. The turkey was OK, but the beef was the star of the show, gorgeous flavour, pink and tender. We were absolutely stuffed after the two courses so I was glad we didn't opt to do three!

We left there and headed back to Phil's, he put the tree up, with my token gesture of hanging three baubles and then we wrapped some Christmas presents before settling in front of the TV to watch Brief Encounter and Love Actually.

During the week I'd won a bottle of wine from Latitude Wines in Leeds, we popped down yesterday and picked it up. I wasn't overly keen on it, I'm just not a Chardonnay fan, but drank it anyway... Then drank the Prosecco we had in the fridge... and then sent Phil out for another bottle of wine. We were pretty sozzled come 10pm.... but it's Christmas, it's allowed!

I'm not sure a Sunday can get much better than yesterday!

Stroppy Stew

2011-12-11T09:07:00.001Z

Phil was on call all last weekend, and I took it upon myself to try to be the perfect housewife for him.

TRY being the word.

On Saturday night I managed to spill half of our spaghetti down the sink, and then on Sunday threw a Baxter strop rating 8.5 on the Baxter Strop Scale.... In my defence I had raging PMT and terrible IBS last weekend, so no wonder that resulted in EBS (Epic Baxter Strop).

I set about making us a beef and ale stew, with dumplings. The recipe I found for stew and dumplings tried to fox me by telling me to cook the dumplings for three hours... Luckily I asked twitter and was reassured they didn't take 3 hours and would be done in 20 mins.

I browned the beef then removed that from the pan and added half an onion, three carrots and 2 leeks. The leeks and onions as finely chopped as I can manage. For the fussy eater in my life I need to start being able to chop the onion finer... Phil didn't have a peeler so I had to use a knife. I am very bad at peeling with knives and my carrots ended up looking very deformed...

Irritation implemented...

As I was in Tadcaster I opted for a York Brewery beer.

After the vegetables had cooked I added a tablespoon of plain flour, allowed time for that to absorb and then added the beer and some beef stock. I added the beef back to the pan and left it to simmer.

Therein was my first problem.... My Crueset gets so hot that things stick to it, even when I'm simmering. I knew that but still failed to think about putting it in the oven. So I had to keep coming back and stirring it and relieving the bottom of any sticky bits.

Temper rising....

After two hours I went back into the kitchen and made the dumplings.

Then added them into my pan with 20 mins of cooking left to go, and popped the potatoes on to cook.

But the stew was sticking again, so I had to stir. The stirring started causing the dumplings to break apart...

Anger rising further...

When the potatoes were done I managed to drain them, without spilling half in the sink, and then looked around for the potato masher.

No potato masher.

Temper volcano eruption....

It tipped me over the edge. I attempted to mash with forks. That was scratching the pan. I spied the rolling pin and set about the pan like a demon, chucks of potato flying everywhere...Swearing that would have made Gordon Ramsey blush... Even a small screech of irritation....

Luckily Phil can handle the Baxter Strop very well and came and asked me if I'd finished having a paddy, which made me laugh.

I wasn't finished there though.

I dished up, sat down and then refused to eat mine. I refused to even take a picture of it. Upon calming enough to eat a smidgen I declared it unfit for human consumption, and that the stew was like dog food...

Phil had three portions just to placate me.

It's not often I throw an epic strop over something so small, the stresses of moving, work, PMT and then having the worst episode of IBS I've had in years certainly didn't help things.

I'm pleased to report that sanity has (almost) been restored, and I have no urges to batter the hell out of any potatoes with the end of a rolling pin today.

Mrs M's Creamy Garlic Mushroom Spaghetti

2011-12-07T19:43:00.001Z

I saw Mrs M's recipe post and was inspired to have a go myself.

My only revisions were to use Pancetta, Forestière mushrooms (très fancy - oui) and then to spill half the spaghetti in the sink while attempting to strain it...

A very simple recipe and a lovely quick Saturday evening tea.

Christmas Star Buns

2011-12-05T19:18:00.001Z

I was contacted by Baking Mad and asked if I'd like to have a go at making some Christmas Cupcakes. I haven't done any baking in ages so thought why not. There's loads of cupcake recipes to choose from on the website, but I was taken with a recipe for Chocolate and Vanilla cupcakes.

My only amendments to the recipe were to use dark muscavado sugar and a teaspoon of baking powder.

I've never baked using sunflower oil or creme fraiche so I was interested how they'd turn out.

I overfilled the bun cases, so ended up with almost muffins. But who minds a big bun?

They aren't incredibly Christmas looking, but they have a festive star, and tasted lovely, especially with a brew. The only thing I wasn't happy with was that the bun was really crumbly. I did like the chocolate chips though.

I'm tempted to have a go and make these Christmas Cupcakes from the Baking Mad website next weekend, the bun should be nice and Christmassy with the mixed spice. These snowman cupcakes are really cute too.

I still don't really like calling buns cupcakes, or to cover the whole bun with icing.

Cardamom Black Opening

2011-12-02T19:46:00.001Z

I was invited to attend the opening of Cardamom Black in Harrogate yesterday evening. I wasn't told much about the event in the invitation to it, and assumed it would be a smallish gathering of press/bloggers etc. It was actually an evening of shmoozing and being seen for the Harrogate Glitteratti.

We arrived at Cardamom Black and patiently waited to give our names and be told what was happening. It was absolutely heaving in the bar area, so we were asked to go upto the restaurant and find a seat and told that food would be served at 8pm.

I walked into the main restaurant and was amazed at how sparkly and lavish it was.

The restaurant area filled up very quickly and a large, noisy group sat next to us. Phil went to get us some drinks and we chatted and enjoyed a few canapés. We were also entertained by a magician, and I almost saw some dancing until it became too crowded to see!

8pm came and went and I decided to head to the bar and ask the girl from the PR agency what was happening.

I waited for at least 15 minutes at the bar, and was completely ignored whilst other people's orders were taken. I was a bit annoyed by that, but being short it can happen quite a lot to me. I had a word and found out it would be a buffet that was being served.

A buffet when there's at least 300 people at the opening - chances of there still being food there after queueing for an age - slim to none.

The owner tried to give a speech, which I really wanted to listen to and find out more, but he was drowned out by the group next to us talking loudly, and most of the rest of the room talking. Incredibly rude in my book especially considering everyone was eating and drinking for free. Very disrespectful.

That was the final straw for me, and after a brief trip to the incredibly posh, glamorous loos I decided to leave. I can't deny that the atmosphere and buzz about the place was great, but it seemed that people were there more to be seen and schmooze than actually find anything out about the restaurant, or be bothered about the food.

The restaurant interior is probably the most bling I've ever seen a restaurant interior be, it certainly has the wow factor. I can image it would be very good for weddings and functions. I would have loved to have tried some food but really couldn't face a chaotic queuing session, or put up with the crowds for any longer. I think it was a bit of a wasted opportunity for me really, if I'd known what it was actually going to be I possibly wouldn't have gone. But I suppose I should learn from that and ask more questions about what's going to be happening! That being said I hope I'm not sounding ungrateful for the invitation. I'm always very honoured to be contacted and invited to events.

Best of luck to the owners of Cardamom Black, I hope the restaurant is a fabulous success and that everyone who enjoyed the hospitality and generosity last night become regular customers.

Update - I reviewed Cardamom Black in January 2012 http://comedinewithrach.blogspot.com/2012/01/cardamom-black-harrogate.html

Yorkshire Wine School - wine tasting evening

2011-11-30T19:51:00.001Z

I wrote a while back about Yorkshire Wine School, yesterday evening I was invited along to one of their wine tastings.

As much as I love wine I've never been to a wine tasting before. I've always been a bit scared it would be full of wine snobs and I'd look stupid for being a novice.

That wasn't the case. We were a mixed bag, some wine snobs, some wine lovers and some novices.

I don't want to tell people too much about the event itself, because that would spoil it for people going themselves, so I'll tell you about the lovely wines I sampled and not give you any of the tips/info to go along with it. I made notes all the way through - I need a wine folder!

We sampled six wines; one champagne, two white wines and three red wines. I can safely say I learnt more about wine in the two hours I was there than I've ever gleaned from leafing through wine books over the years and all the bottles of wine I've drunk...

Listening to Laura was so inspiring, I love meeting people who are so passionate and knowledgeable about a subject.

The first wine we tried was the champagne, which we had paired with smoked salmon.

I love champagne, this was my favourite of all the whites, and I was impressed it was a bottle I could afford - Heidsieck 'Gold Top' 2005, £18 from Majestic.

Next up we had a Riesling, a wine my friend Chrissie would adore, but one I wouldn't normally pick. Drinking it with the prawn brought out the acidity of the wine, which made it a bit more enjoyable for me.

The other white was a Pouilly Fuisse, again one I wouldn't normally pick with it being of the Chardonnay variety - but it was actually enjoyable.

Moving onto the reds we had a Moulin D'Angludet, which was lovely, but way out of my normal price range at £30 a bottle. We had this with some sausage, I could tell you why but you should go along and find out for yourself!

The second red was my favourite, the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, an Italian wine - this one being from the village of Montepulciano, not using the grape. We had this with parmeasan, which made the cheese taste out of this world, it gave it a wonderful creamy taste. I'll be popping down to Latitude Wines in Leeds to pick up a bottle of this for my Dad to try!

The last wine was a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Napa Valley in California. Priced at £21.59 it's not one I'd buy for myself, but it was enjoyable and had an immense fruity flavour. We had this paired up with a slice of chorizo.

I had a superb time at the evening, and will be booking one of the Introduction to wine courses, possibly the February one so I'm back from holiday. You can find out about the courses here http://www.yorkshirewineschool.com/catlist.php?cat=2

There's 4 places left on the Champagne tasting evening, I reckon that one would be an excellent evening.

Laura was a wonderful wine tutor, put us all at ease and answered every question thrown at her with ease. I'd definitely recommend going to a wine tasting event with her.

Thank you Laura for inviting me last night, I look forward to seeing you again soon!

Recent eats

2011-11-28T17:13:00.001Z

I've been a busy little bee of late, this week isn't any better - Las Iguanas tonight, meeting a friend for a drink tomorrow, wine tasting on Wednesday, Cardamom Black on Thursday and at a gig on Friday....

On Thursday last week I went to the Taste at the Yelp Exchange evening, ate lots of treats and sampled a few drinks. You can read my review on the Yelp site http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/taste-at-the-yelp-exchange-no-title#hrid:u4ylHMiS11d7cvySi63o6Q. My favourite stall was Mike, Indie Ices. The Mango Kulfi lolly made my night.

On Friday I grabbed a quick lunch with a colleague at Wokon in Headingley. I opted for a seafood noodles dish, which was nice, although the calamari was rubbery. It was possibly the hottest food I've had in a long, long time. I'm talking heat hot here, not spicy hot. I tried leaving it to cool but kept burning my mouth! We know for next time that we have enough time to walk back to the office while it cools down to an acceptable eating temperature.

On Saturday I went to a Thanksgiving Buffet and stuffed myself with an obscene amount of food, and drank wine from a pint glass.... I was having it in half pints though, not full pints of wine.... I had a super evening, with lovely company and tremendous food. I also had a revelation trying KT's Pumpkin Pie - it was heavenly!!! I thought I hated pumpkin, but if all pumpkin pie tastes as good as hers then I'm a convert.

(I suspect they don't all taste as good.)

On Sunday I had a brief trip to the German Market for a Sausage and a hot choc with baileys. It was far too busy and filled with idiots with MASSIVE pushchairs and was making me angry, so we left and I bought some new shoes.

In the evening I was at Phill's and he made us Pork sandwiches with stuffing and apple sauce for tea.

I'm just looking at the Las Iguanas menu to try and decide what to have for tea this evening. http://www.iguanas.co.uk/pdf_menus/las-iguanas-leeds-food-menu.pdf Has anyone else found their website confusing? It's taken me ten minutes just to get to the menu! I won't be posting a review on them, I'm out for my Mum's birthday and don't want to be rude stopping them eating while I take pictures of it all...

Press Release - Cardamom Black, Harrogate

2011-11-27T12:00:00.000Z

November 22, 2011

EXCLUSIVE NEW ASIAN RESTAURANT TO OPEN IN HARROGATE’SEMPIRE THEATRE BUILDING

Discerningfood lovers in Yorkshire will be able to indulge in a deliciously mouth-wateringselection of traditional South Asian cuisine when new restaurant Cardamom Blackopens in Harrogate on December 1.

Owned andmanaged by restaurateur Nick Rahman, the plush new eatery is situated inHarrogate’s former Empire Theatre building. It will offer diners a wideselection of South Asian dishes encompassing succulent starters, specialitysharing plates, a fresh fish bar, classic and unique main courses, delectable freshdesserts and a wide selection of fine wines, champagne, cocktails andbeers.

Nick, through histeam of specialist contractors, has painstakingly brought the old theatre backto its former glory and it now boasts a stunningly unique interior that blendscontemporary design with traditional features, including a grand stage areawhere live entertainment will be staged on selected evenings.

The restaurantalso has two separate bars, an iced fish bar displaying fresh seafood, a daybedarea where guests can relax and enjoy a special grazing menu, and options forprivate dining and conferencing.

CardamomBlack’s menu will include traditional South Asian dishes made with locallysourced ingredients, effectively fusing time-honoured traditions with thespirit of the West.

Signaturedishes on the menu include:

· Nidderdale Lamb Chops (starter)– the finest Nidderdale lamb chops marinated in juicesof smoked garlic, rosemary, roasted black pepper, a touch of roasted Cumin and crushedwhole spices.

· Chicken Devaan(main)– a specialdish made with olive oil, black pepper, ginger, plum tomatoes and fried onions.

· Classic Dark Chocolate Fondant (dessert) – a rich 70 per centcocoa chocolate fondant that’s oven baked and served with Swiss premium whitechocolate ice cream.

Speaking aboutthe new restaurant, Nick said: “I have wanted to open my own restaurant inHarrogate for several years but could never find the right venue. As soon as Ilearned the former Empire Theatre building was available I jumped at the chanceas I knew that with the right investment, the beautiful building could berestored to create a truly stunning and unique restaurant interior.

“Harrogate hasa vibrant restaurant scene, but I feel it lacks a high-end Asian offering andCardamom Black will fill that gap, bringing unique South Asian dishes toHarrogate that are all made using only the finest, locally sourced ingredients.

“This,combined with glamorous surroundings and meticulous service, will make for atruly enjoyable and unique dining experience and I’m extremely excited aboutwelcoming both locals and people from across Yorkshire and beyond into CardamomBlack.”

Nick Rahman’sfamily have been involved in the restaurant sector for over forty years. Hisfather owns part of the largest chain of Kashmiri Restaurants in the UK and so hehas been involved in the restaurant sector his whole life, most recently as asenior board manager within the chain.

Having run andmanaged restaurants within the chain, Nick knows what does and doesn’t work andhas used that experience throughout the creation of Cardamom Black.

Cardamom Blackis situated in the old Empire Theatre building, opposite Harrogate Theatre, andwill be open from 5pm-10.30pm on Sundays & Mondays, 5pm-11pm Tuesday toThursday, 5pm-12midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

To book atable or find out more about what the restaurant offers call 01423 31 31 36 orvisit www.cardamomblack.com.

-ENDS-

Issued on behalf of Cardamom Black by Brand8 PR.For further media information please contact Jasmine Headley on 0113 394 4581or email jasmine.headley@brand8pr.com

Update - I reviewed Cardamom Black in January 2012 - http://comedinewithrach.blogspot.com/2012/01/cardamom-black-harrogate.html

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Prosecco Conegliano

2011-11-26T10:08:00.001Z

This week has been all about Prosecco for me. On Saturday I had a friend round for Sausage and Bean Casserole and maximum booze consumption. I had two brandies while I waited for her to arrive, then we had a bottle of wine with our casserole, the wine wasn't of a great quality, so we decided to go purchase more. On the way it seemed like an excellent idea to go to the pub...

At the pub I had three pints of ale and another brandy... It all got a bit hazy after that... We'd stumbled into Sainsbury's to purchase the finest wines known to man. At some point I declared fizz a necessity, and we saw the Prosecco was on offer. I vaguely remember the journey home, cracking open the Prosecco and then playing on the dancing game for the Kinnect whilst shoving our faces full of crisps. We somehow got through a bottle and a half of Prosecco, on top of the rest of the booze.

Needless to say I wasn't very well on Sunday....

Fast forward to Monday and there's still half a bottle of Prosecco going to waste in my fridge. It seemed rude not to drink it.

This Prosecco is on offer in Sainsbury's at £6.99 down from £10.49. I only know this because I looked on the Sainsbury's website, not from remembering....

It's the best supermarket Prosecco I've had, but I've only had a couple - I'll need to do some further research before I can declare it my favourite of all supermarket Prosecco's. It was delicately fizzy, deliciously crisp, but more subtle than champagne. Definitely one that I'd purchase again.

On Thursday I also had Prosecco at Distrikt and then at Pin in Leeds. I'd put the Distrikt one at the best of the two, but the £20 price hurt my purse the day before pay day!

Fudgetastic

2011-11-22T17:00:00.000Z

I went to Scarborough last weekend, we had the usual fish and chips but couldn't resist going in the fudge shop and spending some pennies. (The ones we had left after spending a fortune on the 2p machines....).

I picked out chocolate with crunchie for me, chocolate orange for my papa, chocolate with mars bar for mama and Phil had halves of strawberry and aero and vanilla and twirl.

I had a piece of mine with a cup of tea as soon as we got back.

I was inspired by the shop and decided to have a go at making some fudge myself...

I used this recipe but omitted the nuts.

It was really simple to do, just melting the chocolate and butter in with the condensed milk, sieving in the icing sugar (which I only remembered after I'd thrown a load of it in, hence the white speckles) and then pouring it into the tin and then putting it in the fridge to set.

The loaf tin I used wasn't ideal, it made it hard to get the fudge out. I was a bit disappointed that the fudge was a bit too squidgy too. I'm told I shouldn't have used icing sugar and used sugar instead... I'll try that next time!

Have you made fudge before?

Meal Planning Monday

2011-11-21T17:34:00.001Z

I haven't been much use at meal planning this last couple of weeks, with being here there and everywhere. I'm going to try and do better this week.

Monday - Pasta and Pesto with garlic bread (all shop bought, bad, bad Rachel)
Tuesday - Fajitas
Wednesday - Stir Fry
Thursday - samples at the Yelp event
Friday - fish, either fishcakes or a smoked haddock risotto
Saturday - Thanksgiving buffet at Katie's
Sunday - Sunday dinner, will be upto the chef what meat etc we have!

What are you eating this week? I need to take an offering for the Thanksgiving meal, so I'll be doing research tonight - if anyone has any ideas please let me know!

You can check out all the other meal planners over on Mrs M's blog.

Wine of the week - Monte Nobile Riserva

2011-11-17T17:00:00.000Z

I can't take the credit for picking this wine, I'd grabbed a bottle of French red when in Tesco, but then had this one pointed out to me. As we were eating Italian food an Italian wine seemed appropriate to go with it. I think it was £4.49 down from £8.99.

The Tesco website tells me:

Ruby red with light orange highlights.

The spicy nose features notes of black pepper, vanilla and chocolate, which carry through to the soft, velvety, well-balanced palate.

Erm... I can't say I got those, this wasn't an overly fruity red, I'd put it as being Medium bodied. It wasn't overpowering, nor was it weak and flavourless. It was just right for drinking whilst eating my Spag Bol.

Not sure I'd purchase it again, but it's well worthy of it's place as wine of the week.

Spaghetti Bolognese

2011-11-16T20:19:00.001Z

Everybody has their own take on a spag bol. Here's mine...

Ingredients
500 lean steak mince
1 onion
2 carrots
2 cloves of garlic (or a good squeeze of the tube)
1 tin tomatoes
1 carton passata
smidgen of tomato paste
mushrooms
mixed herbs
salt & pepper

Method
Chop the onion, if you're using fresh garlic then peel and crush the cloves. Fry the onions with the garlic. When they've softened add the mince. While the mince is browning peel and chop the carrots and then add to the pan. Add the tinned tomatoes to the pan and allow them to cook off. While that's happening chop the mushrooms.

Ideally use a bigger pan than I did....

When the liquid from the tomatoes has cooked down a bit add in the mushrooms and the passata, then lastly the puree and some herbs, and finally some salt and black pepper. I tend to use dried mixed herbs, and then if I have it I serve with fresh basil.

I let my bolognese cook for as long as I can, the longer it cooks the better the flavour I find.

Sometimes I crumble a beef oxo over it, to add more depth. If I haven't used carrots then I sometimes add some Worcestershire sauce to sweeten it.

Now I know some people brown their mince then remove it and cook the onions, but I can't usually be bothered with doing that.

How do you do your bolognese?

My Dish Nostalgic Recipe Competition

2011-11-07T19:23:00.000Z

My Dish, the recipe sharing social network..... have launched a new competition today - Nostalgic Recipe, you can find out more at http://www.mydish.co.uk/nostalgic. The competition prize is £100 of M&S vouchers, which I wouldn't mind myself.

My choice is fish fingers.... Fish, breadcrumbs, vinegar, tomato sauce, Captain Birdseye. Mmmmmmmmmm.

Although, I do have to admit, I wouldn't eat Birdseye fish fingers as a child, I only liked the cheapest possible ones that didn't taste fishy in any way. As a grown up I can now love fish, but nothing is better for a hangover than a cheap fish finger sandwich.

My second choice would be corned beef hash. Only my Mum's corned beef hash, nobody else's tastes the same.

Go ahead and enter the competition, then let me know what you picked!

La Rocas, Wakefield

2011-11-04T19:39:00.000Z

On Friday last week I attended a blogger event at La Rocas. I'd suggested they do a blogger event, and tried several times to get them to email out info to the other attendees but that didn't happen, I felt kind of responsible for the event, and quite miffed they ignored my advice. We weren't given any information when we got there either, strange way to handle a blogger event really. I've since been told that the twitter account of La Rocas isn't handled by the restaurant itself, which can't have helped matters.

But anyway.

I've been to La Rocas before, for lunch. We took advantage of the 3 for £5 deal - it was great, so I was expecting good stuff from the evening menu too.

We were settled down at a table and served a large amount of food. My favourite dish was the sharing platter. I personally don't care that it wasn't "authentic", and I'd imagine neither do any of their customers. They don't pretend to be an authentic tapas restaurant, and I like garlic bread. The majority of the food was OK, but unfortunately a couple of dishes really weren't.

Would it stop me from eating at La Rocas again - no. But I was disappointed they served it to a group of food bloggers though, the reviews of the food haven't been good, I feel for La Rocas that the event wasn't successful.

I wouldn't normally order a dessert in a tapas restaurant but I was really hoping we'd be wowed by them and it would turn things round food-wise. They were homemade, and sweet. I'd change a few things if I was making them, but that's just me.

After the food we were invited to the bar to try a cocktail each. As with most cocktails in Wakefield they were very colourful...

I enjoyed the evening, and I will still recommend La Rocas for lunch. But I can't get over feeling so disappointed by the food and the fact nobody spoke to us though. It was a wasted opportunity for La Rocas.

I also think I've been to too many blogger events recently, and will be taking a break from them to concentrate on my own food. Being so busy is taking it's toll on me.

Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Soup

2011-11-02T16:00:00.000Z

This is a tasty, and very healthy soup.

Ingredients
1 butternut squash
2 red peppers
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
750 ml veg stock
salt & pepper

Method
Chop the squash and peppers into chunks and roast for 25 mins.

Chop the onions and garlic then cook over a low heat until the onions are soft.

When the squash and peppers are done add them to the pan, let them cook off for 2 minutes then add 750ml of vegetable stock.

Blend and serve.

So easy...

Silver Spoon Decorations

2011-11-01T20:21:00.001Z

I was sent these to review and couldn't resist getting started straight away.

I was sent strawberry buttons, easy melt dark chocolate cake covering, vanilla extract, giant sprinkle covered discs and some lilac food colouring.

I decided to make some vanilla buns and decorate them with a wee bit of lilac icing and some of the sprinkle discs.

I used my usual bero book recipe:

100g SR flour

100g marg

100g caster sugar

2 eggs

Blending the sugar and the marg then adding an egg with a little flour, then the remaining flour, and lastly adding one sachet of vanilla paste.

I spooned the mixture into the bun cases and baked in the oven for 15 mins.

I was given some decorating bits from my Aunty so got those out to whip up some icing.

I followed the instructions and added in six drops of the food colouring to my icing, which resulted in lilac.

That wasn't enough for me though, so I added a lot more to get this lovely purple shade.

I poured the mixture into a piping bag and added some very poor icing swirls to the top of my buns. I didn't want to do cupcakes so didn't want to cover the whole bun. I find them too much about the icing, and a little sickly at times, so I wanted just a smidgen of icing.

I went for a few different effects with the discs, leaving one whole, splitting some in half and then the rest into quarters.

What can be better than a bun and a cup of tea?

I loved the decorating bits that I was sent to review, I can't wait for a free weekend to bake something to use the cake covering and pink buttons.

I'd definitely buy all the products again, particularly the purple food colouring.

Thank you Baking Mad for sending me these to review.

Aubergine Curry

2011-10-27T17:30:00.000+01:00

I've made Aubergine Curry (Baingan Bharta) from this recipe lots of times, but on Saturday I decided I knew better and made this recipe up myself... It worked, although was FAR too hot for my taste, next time I do it I will only use half a chilli....

Ingredients
1 Aubergine
1 red chilli
1 large onion
Knob of ginger
Cumin seeds
Tsp ground cumin
Tsp Turmeric
Few Curry Leaves
Tbsp Dried Coriander
4 dessert spoons of chopped tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
Natural Yoghurt

Method

I chopped the aubergine, sprinkled with salt and some fry light and then popped into the oven for 25 mins at 200.

While that was roasting I put some cumin seeds in with olive oil and let that get hot while I chopped the onion, garlic, chilli and ginger. When the cumin seeds started sizzling I added the onions etc and the turmeric and ground cumin.

When the aubergine was finished roasting I added that to the rest of the curry, with the 4 tbsp's of chipped tomatoes and stirred it round. I added the curry leaves and then about half the tub of yoghurt and seasoned with salt.
Whenever I've made this dish the yoghurt has split - I'm not sure if it's meant to, but I don't mind it doing that. I left the curry to cook for another 5 mins and then served with a sprinkling of dried coriander and some bread... I forgot to buy naans!

I loved the flavours, but it was so hot I had to put extra yoghurt in to cool it down!

La Tasca bloggers event

2011-10-26T20:33:00.002+01:00

I am disgracefully late in posting this, due to breaking my phone and losing all the pictures I took. Very annoying...

So - La Tasca, my experience of the Leeds restaurant was that if you were in a group you'd get good service and if you were in a couple you were ignored - and I can't remember what I thought about the food. Until the event last week it's not somewhere I would have chosen to go.

I opted to go to the event to see if they could change my mind, and to see what the new decor looked like.

We started the event with a Sangria lesson, on making La Tasca's Traditional Sangria, which uses Sangria Wine, Vodka, White Rum, Orange Liquor, Lemonade and fruit and then the Cava Sangria, which used Blackcurrant liquor, Peach Schnapps, Lemonade and Cranberries. The lesson was very entertaining (you can see from Becca's picture below that we were all enthralled - I'm enjoying the Traditional Sangria here).

After the Sangria we were taken to the carving of the Iberico Ham. We were shown by a member of La Tasca staff how to carve, and told about the history of Iberico and then bloggers were given the opportunity to try it themselves. I declined the offer, not wanting to sever any of my limbs, or my fellow bloggers.

We were then taken downstairs to eat. I was really impressed with the downstairs decor - in fact I don't remember there being a downstairs before?

Upon being seated, tucking into some olives and being plied with more lovely Sangria the tapas started coming out.

Albondigas, Chorizo, Goats cheese ciabatta, Mixed bean salad, Patatas Bravas, Gambas Gabardina and more....

It was all lovely - not one dish wasn't of a high quality - but I'd expect that at a bloggers event in fairness. After eating we were asked to score out of ten, Come Dine With Me style. I think I went for an 8, which for a tapas meal is a good score for me! I think the menu has changed quite considerably since I was last in La Tasca, it was concise - splitting dishes into From the Sea, From the Field and From the Garden, which I really liked. I'd be interested to see how their paella stands up against mine or my Grandma's (who does the best Paella around).

I'll certainly be going back to La Tasca, particularly because people are now encouraged to sit at the bar, have some wine and a couple of tapas dishes as you would do in Spain. What could be better for a Friday night after work drinks and some food? I particularly liked the attitude of Declan, the General Manager of La Tasca Leeds, he was passionate, knowledgeable and didn't mind answering our numerous questions.

A big thank you to Manifest Communications and La Tasca Leeds for a lovely evening.

Here's some pictures courtesy of Claire - if you don't read her blog then please do check it out!

Cornucopia Leeds

2011-10-26T19:24:00.000+01:00

On Sunday I was invited to the bloggers breakfast at the Cornucopia Leeds event held in the beautiful Corn Exchange building in Leeds.

The event was described as:

An event to showcase the finest food and drink producers in the North of England, from primary produce, fresh from the Autumn harvest, through to the most sumptuous of patisserie ....

So I couldn't wait to go and find out more. It was quite hard not going in on the Saturday, particularly as so many of my twitter friends were raving about the stalls and produce on offer.

I arrived at the Corn Exchange at 9.30am and grabbed a table with Joe boy and Jo Girl of Food and Biscuits fame and dived into the food after a short guide on what each item was.

Breakfast Brownies from the Yummy Yank - these were delicious

Granola

Brioche from Sunshine Bakery with Pudsey Pickles preserves (the Strawberry and Champagne jam was my favourite)

Nanaimo Bar from Fayre by Alley

Cappucino from Primo's, but I think was coffee from Casa Espresso

Buffalo sausages from Tenter House Farm, with chilli jam from the chilli jam man - a great combination!

It was lovely to have the opportunity to try these, and to have a good chat with Rebecca about Cornucopia and other foodie stuff, and also to sit and chat with fellow food bloggers.

After I'd scoffed some grub I took a wander round the stalls.

I stopped to chat at the Yummy Yank's stall and check out these amazing layered cakes. After that I was enticed to the flower stall from Ready Planted, and had a lovely chat about the importance of buying British flowers and where to buy the elusive cabbage rose that I want so much! I was very tempted to buy some lillies but I don't have a vase at the flat, putting flowers in a pint glass just isn't right...

On my way round from there I stopped to chat with Edd from Swillington Farm, the blog post by Elizabeth on Swillington Farm's meat boxes is still attracting readers.

I couldn't go past Lianne's stall without stopping to take some pictures. Her Rose jam had been a big hit over the weekend, no wonder with such lovely presentation.

After trying the buffalo sausages I was intrigued to check out the stall and couldn't resist picking up some Buffalo Burgers, can't wait to eat them. I also bought the EXTREME hot chilli jam as a Christmas present for my Dad - that'll teach him for putting hot pepper sauce on everything I cook....

The chocolates from Lauden Chocolate looked absolutely amazing, but I managed to resist buying any. Likewise the fantastic looking Sausage Rolls from Sunshine Bakery - I walked quickly past to avoid being tempted by one!

The next Cornucopia event is a Christmas one 21st-23rd December at the Corn Exchange. I have my fingers crossed there might be a late night on one of those days so I can get along to it too!

Meal Planning Monday

2011-10-24T18:01:00.001+01:00

Monday - Butternut Squash and Red Pepper soup

Tuesday - Jacket potato and cottage cheese

Wednesday - Lasagne & salad

Thursday - fajitas?

Friday - blogger event

Saturday - curry

Sunday - vegetable bake, pork loin, mash

Haven't decided what curry I'll be doing on Saturday, I've been enjoying having veggie ones recently so perhaps a cauliflower and potato one?

What are you eating this week? You can check out all the other meal planning entries on Mrs M's blog.

Distrikt Leeds

2011-10-22T09:15:00.002+01:00

Absolutely ages ago I went to Distrikt for tea on a Foraged Monday with the wonderful Katie Buffalo, one of my favourite people in Leeds. Here's a picture of us enjoying some sunshine...

Distrikt is a pretty cool place to drink, probably on the verge of being too cool for me, but I'd been in quite a few times regardless of worries I'm not cool enough. It's always come highly recommended for food, but I hadn't ever eaten in there, so when they tweeted me and asked me to pop in that Monday I thought why not.

I wasn't sure if I should be announcing myself when I arrived, and nobody seemed to recognise me. I'll be honest - I breathed a sigh of relief that I could do a normal review, it's hard to be fully honest when you get a free meal. I sat at the bar and attempted to pick some wine...

Now picking wine for me - it's fine, picking it for someone who also likes wine, but you aren't too sure if they'll like the same as you isn't fine. In the end I picked. I went and sat down and shortly after the wine arrived so did Katie.

We had the foraged menu brought over and picked a selection from that, and from the normal tapas menu.

Whitebait - whitebait is my new love since having it for the first time a few months ago, if it's on the menu then I want to try it!

Pitta and dips - I wasn't keen on the rose one but Katie liked it, and other people I've talked to have raved about it

Pork belly with peaches - I loved this dish so much, pork belly is a huge favourite of mine

I *think* this was squid with chorizo

Chicken wings

I can't actually remember what this was - Katie help me out here - Crayfish?

We enjoyed our food, the wine and had a good old chat. The Monday night atmosphere is really nice and relaxed, so I felt very comfortable and not as though I wasn't cool enough to be there at all. As I can't actually remember what some dishes were a month later I think I'd better start making notes in future - bad blogger.

I went up to pay our bill and asked the lady who'd been serving us if she'd let the person who'd invited me down know that I'd been in.

Oh dear. She was the lady who'd invited me down.... Look of horror on her face, profuse apologies that she'd forgotten that I was coming in.... I realised I should have announced myself...

Rosita ushered me back to the table, brought over a couple more glasses of wine and told us some desserts would be coming out to try. Well you can't refuse a free dessert can you.

The strawberries were delicious, and the cream in the banana was nice - but I regretting trying the banana - I know fine well I don't like warm banana, why oh why do I keep trying with it? Katie enjoyed it though.

We headed off after these to North Bar for beers, which seemed a superb idea at the time but I fully regretted in the morning....

I'd definitely go back to Distrikt for food, on either the Foraged Monday, or on a Wednesday which is half price tapas night. I love the fact that Distrikt source locally, from Leeds Market, and that the menu is seasonal and the foraged menu changes by the month.

Thank you to Rosita for the wine and desserts, and I'm sorry for the confusion of not letting you know it was me earlier!

Meal Planning Monday

2011-10-17T20:03:00.002+01:00

It's that time of the week again....

Monday - Leftover butternut squash curry
Tuesday - stir fry
Wednesday - All you can eat chinese buffet for friend's birthday
Thursday - Parents for tea
Friday - Leek and Potato soup using parents homegrown potatoes
Saturday - Spanish chicken stew
Sunday - unsure yet, pasta and pesto if I don't get anything more exciting

Catch up with all the other Meal Planning Monday entries over on Mrs M's blog.

Butternut squash curry

2011-10-16T19:35:00.001+01:00

I wanted to have something tasty and veggie for tea tonight so whipped up a quick (cheats) curry.

Ingredients

Butternut squash
Korma paste
2 small onions
Green beans
Cannolini beans (in place of chickpeas)
1 pint veg stock
Coconut milk

Method

Heat the paste in a large pan while chopping the onions.

Add the onions to the pan and let them cook whilst chopping the squash.

Add the squash to the pan and then pour in the stock, the coconut milk and both sets of beans.

I cooked the curry for about 25 mins until the squash was cooked.

Yum!

Yorkshire Wine School

2011-10-15T11:56:00.004+01:00

I apologise for being a bad blogger this week, life is really getting in the way. I left my job yesterday, ready to start a new one on Monday, the last week has passed by in a complete emotional blur.

So, I have nothing to give you but a press release for an exciting new venture happening in Leeds. I was invited to the launch but unfortunately have a prior engagement (oh what a social butterfly I am), I'd quite like to go along to one of these events though, and learn more about wine, so I'll be following on twitter and keeping up-to-date.

Tuesday 11 October 2011

Yorkshire’s newest wine school is expecting a fruitful launch

Wine lovers will have good cause to celebrate this month, thanks to a former Oddbins manager who is launching Yorkshire Wine School - running wine courses in Leeds, York and Harrogate.

Laura Kent, who lives in Wakefield, is offering two-hour evening wine tastings, all-day Saturday introductory sessions with lunch, and full eight-week courses - perfect for those who enjoy a tipple and would love to learn more.

The first confirmed venue for the school is the Radisson Blu Hotel in Leeds city centre, with further venues in Harrogate and York to be announced early next year.

The opening of the school, an independent wine education company that doesn’t sell wine, marks a new career move for Laura, originally from Cambridge, who will run the school as part of the www.localwineschool.com network.

Laura worked at Oddbins for almost five years, and was the manager of the Newcastle city centre branch before the company went into administration in April. Suddenly faced with redundancy, Laura saw the opportunity to set up her own wine school, and to make a career out of her passion for teaching others about wine.

Laura said: “Being made redundant from Oddbins was a sad time - I had enjoyed working in several stores throughout the North East over the past five years. However, I have also been helping to run tastings at Newcastle Wine School for two years, and I really enjoyed sharing my enthusiasm for wine with others, so I decided that now was the time to take the plunge and put my experience to good use.

“I saw a gap in the market in Yorkshire to run a successful wine tasting company with a unique level of quality, range, price and location. The courses and tastings at the school offer a great opportunity to try new wines and learn a little more about the subject in a relaxing, friendly, informal environment.

“The school will provide the perfect way to meet other wine lovers living locally and I’m looking forward to seeing what people think of the range of courses on offer.”

Laura has taken the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Diploma and is a member of CAMRA, so she will also be organising artisan beer tastings at the school.

The choice of courses will appeal to all wine lovers, from those with no previous experience of wine tasting, to the serious enthusiast. Laura also hopes to be running WSET courses next year - these qualifications are a 'must have' for anybody seriously considering a career in the wine industry and are also a great way to learn about wine in a concentrated and intensive way.

The school’s tastings and courses will focus on specific wine regions, grape varieties and countries. The eight-week introductory course will involve tasting wines from all major wine-producing countries, including France, Italy, Spain, New Zealand, Australia and Chile.

Yorkshire Wine School is the 7^th in the successful www.localwineschool.com network, which has Wine Schools in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Lancashire, and Hertfordshire. Chris Powell set up the first School in Newcastle in 2000 and is now looking to open further new Wine Schools in Edinburgh and Bristol.

Chris said: “I am delighted to welcome Laura as the newest member of the Local Wine School network. I have no doubt that her experience at Oddbins and her enthusiasm and passion for the wine industry will help to make Yorkshire Wine School a great success.”

All courses and tastings are available to buy as gift vouchers and can be ordered online. For more information about upcoming dates, prices, and venues, please visit www.yorkshirewineschool.com, or email info@yorkshirewineschool.com

Follow Yorkshire Wine School on Twitter - @Yorkshirews

Like ‘Yorkshire Wine School’ on Facebook

Meal Planning Monday

2011-10-10T17:00:00.000+01:00

It's the week before pay day so I'm trying to avoid a big shop. That means a vegetarian/freezer week.

Monday - Pork loin, mashed potatoes, broccoli, carrots and cauliflower cheese (at parents)
Tuesday - meeting a friend for a drink after work, need something quick - pasta and pesto.
Wednesday - fishcakes, I have fish and leftover mash in the freezer to use up
Thursday - Stir fry - noodles, peppers, babycorn, spring onions, soy sauce, ginger, chilli
Friday - my leaving do from work, and pay day. Liquid tea...possibly a pizza?
Saturday - Curry
Sunday - Roast chicken

The chicken that I have on Sunday will give me chicken for a couple of meals next week. I'll also make some for the flatmate, if she's in. I'll be getting a free range chicken, so it will be an expensive food shop. I only buy free range chicken, so I usually only have it around pay day.

I'm unsure what curry to do on Saturday, I really like Paneer so if I can find some I might make that. I need to do a trip to Leeds market for fresh veg and fruit so I'll look there and see if I can find some, if not it'll be a butternut squash one.

Lunches for this week will be salad, I have some cous cous in the cupboard so will make up a big bowl and flavour it with lemon and herbs.

Leek and Potato Soup

2011-10-06T16:37:00.000+01:00

This is one of my favourite - and easiest to do soups that I make regularly.

Ingredients

Potatoes (I use roughly about 4 medium to small ones)
2 Leeks
salt and pepper
1L vegetable stock
1/2 pint milk

Method

Chop the potatoes into smallish cubes and then chop the leeks. Sweat them in a large pan in a knob of butter. When slightly browned add the veg stock, season and simmer.

When the vegetables have softened blend the soup using a hand blender. I like to leave it pretty rough so there's still some chunks of potato to enjoy.

Lastly add the milk, this thickens it a little and makes it a touch paler. I use skimmed milk, but for a richer version use full fat.

Cauliflower Soup

2011-10-05T12:30:00.000+01:00

This is another recipe I had up on my old blog, no pictures to go with I'm afraid.

Ingredients

1 Large cauliflower chopped into florets

1 Large potato chopped into chunks

1 Medium onion, chopped

Butter

1.2L Chicken stock

600ml Skimmed Milk

small tub of crème fraiche

Salt & pepper

Method:

Chop the vegetables then tip the cauliflower, onion and potato into a hot pan of melted butter. Let it sizzle then turn the heat down, pop the lid on and sweat for about ten mins, making sure you stir it a couple of times.

When that's done pour in your chicken stock, bring to boil, and pour in your milk. Bring to the boil yet again then reduce heat and simmer for 12-15 mins.

Next step is to blend, blend, blend till it's smooth!

Lastly season to taste, add in the crème fraiche and heat back through ready for serving with some crusty delicious bread.

Tomato Heart Soup

2011-10-04T16:43:00.001+01:00

Another one brought over from my old blog - I made this soup last year when I had some tomatoes to use up and jazzed it up with some heart shaped pasta from Millies in Leeds.

Ingredients
1 clove garlic
1 onion
6 large tomatoes
1 Litre veg stock
spoonful of creme fraiche
grated cheese (if you're a piggy, like me)
3 tsp sugar
tiny splash of balsamic
S&P
cup of pasta

Method

I chopped up all the veg and threw the onion and garlic into cook. When they'd done I added the tomatoes and sugar and left them to cook for 10 mins, with the lid on the pan, giving it a bit of a shake every so often.

I got a little bit wild at this point and threw in a splash of balsamic to bring out the flavour, then seasoned with the salt and pepper.

Next up I added in the veg stock and left it to simmer for 15 mins. After that I blended it all, then added in my pasta and cooked for another 5 minutes till that was done.

To serve I poured it into my dish, and whacked in a generous helping of creme fraiche and a wee bit of grated cheese. I had mine with some cheese on toast.

I didn't get a good picture of the soup in the bowl, but you can see from these pics how cute the pasta is.

Spiced Ginger Cake

2011-10-04T16:03:00.001+01:00

I was looking through my old blog trying to find this recipe a while back. One from the archives...

I loosely followed a recipe from Waitrose.

Ingredients

225g treacle
2.5 tsp ground ginger
2 tbsp milk
125g soft dark brown sugar
125g butter (softened)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

Method

Get your oven on to 175, Gas mark 3 and then grease a small square tin (or a dish if you can't find your tin like me...) and then line the base of the tin with grease proof paper.

Pour the milk and the treacle in small saucepan and melt treacle into milk over light heat. When that's done take off the heat and add the baking powder.

Cream together the butter and sugar, then gradually add the egg.

Mix in the treacle mixture from the pan to the butter, egg and sugar and then sieve in the flour, ginger and salt.
Pour into your greased tin and bake in the oven for 45 mins.

Auchentoshan whisky tasting event

2011-10-02T19:20:00.004+01:00

Last weekend I was invited down to Nation of Shopkeepers to attend a whisky tasting event for Auchentoshan, a single malt scotch whisky, and to have a bite to eat.

Auchentoshan (pronounced Ock Un Tosh Un - not Ockytoshy as I was calling it several hours and several drinks later...) is a distillery up in Glasgow, and is the only single malt whisky to be triple distilled, bringing the spirit upto 81%, and is matured in casks that previously contained bourbon, sherry or fine wine.

The press release explained:

Auchentoshan is a whisky that’s targeted at guys and girls who enjoy the finer things in life but who might not have tried aSingle Malt before. With packaging and branding that are contemporary and sophisticated, it’s increasingly the choice of those who want to be educated and knowledgeable about the contents of their drinks cabinet. As a whisky that likes to do things differently, Auchentoshan triple distils every single drop, making it the smoothest and most delicate tasting Single Malt. It likes to work alongside and support like-minded creatives who choose to push boundaries in their fields.

So to the event...

I arrived at Nation of Shopkeepers, feeling uncomfortable as always as I do in there - I have never been, and never will be, cool enough to feel at home in there. I ordered a diet coke at the bar and upon paying asked where I should be for the event. That sparked some confusion in the staff and after one staff member asked another, who I assumed to be in charge of sorts, I was told to "stay there, someone will find you" in a rather offhand and unfriendly way. If I'm honest I nearly left at that point, had it not been for Katie (Leeds Grub) arriving I would have walked out.

We sat down and after half an hour or so of chatting Katie asked again at the bar, she was given similar offhand treatment, but luckily a representative from the whisky tasting stepped in with a friendly greeting and things eventually got moving.

We had some food, the less said about that the better - the picture below says it all, and then went outside for the event.

While we were having the food we were given a couple of the Auchentoshan and ginger ale drinks to try. I'm actually a brandy drinker, and I always drink that just with some ice, whenever I've had whisky I've had it in the same way, so it was interesting to try it. I wasn't sure at first but it really grew on me, I could see myself drinking this on a night out rather than the usual vodka or gin.

We sat down at the tasting and the table filled up quickly, I'd guess the other tastees were all university freshers, but they were game for trying it and asked some good questions.

We started off with the Auchentoshan Classic which had hints of vanilla and citrus, we were told to swill it round in the glass then slowly take 4 sniffs to get the scents rather than a nose of booze fumes, as you repeated the process the scents developed more each time and I could really smell the vanilla.

Next up we tried the 12 years old, which had more of a nutty and toffee taste. If I've remembered correctly this one we were told to pop our hands over the top of the glass and then splash some of the whisky on it, then pop the glass down and rub your hands together and then smell, this really brought out the different scents.

Last up we tried the Three Wood. This whisky is matured in three different cask types, bourbon, Spanish sherry and then Pedro Ximenez sherry.

This was my favourite of the three (and also the most expensive, typical for me!). It had a strong depth of flavour and was really moorish. I could easily have had three or four of these. The butterscotch sweetness was just right, not too sweet, just to give a hint of the flavour.

I really enjoyed the event, and I'll be looking out for the Three Wood to buy as a Christmas present for my Dad, not because I want to try it again of course.... The tasting really opened my eyes to whisky, a spirit I never normally bother with, and I'd love to try some more in the future, particularly now I know some tasting techniques!

Sorry Katie, couldn't resist popping this one up!

La Bottega Milanese - The Light

2011-09-25T12:24:00.002+01:00

I've lost my cooking mojo lately, and certainly lost my baking mojo - if anyone finds them please return them to me. So rather than lovingly create wondrous food stuffs myself I've been eating basic food in the house, and been more inspired when eating out.

I've been into Bottega 2 in the Light for coffee a couple of times, but hadn't had chance to eat in there. Now I'm not hugely knowledgeable on coffee, I like the taste, but find the options of what to have rather scary. Worse still, I never make proper coffee myself, I live off instant at home. I can hear the coffee snobs judging....I love going into Bottega because I can simply ask Alex, the owner, what I should have and trust his judgement and recommendations for me completely - and the rest of his staff are equally as good. I walked in with a raging hangover on Tuesday morning and declared I needed something strong that would get rid of my hangover. I had a double shot latte (I think) and felt much better after it!

I tend to always pick Flat White when I'm out for coffee, I went for years having things like Vanilla Latte, or gingerbread latte etc, but I just can't get on with them now, so a flat white seems like a simple but effective coffee.

A couple of weekends ago I was having an impromptu shopping session with my cousin, and dragged her upto Bottega 2 for a spot of lunch. We had a couple of sandwiches, I had one of those coffee's with the icecream in - which I love - but I can't remember what they're called - someone educate me with the name please! My cousin had a lemonade, being preggy and not allowed any delicious coffee.

I love the atmosphere in both Bottegas, and the service. I haven't connected with Laynes Espresso, the other indie coffee place in Leeds, as well, I've tried a few times with them and just don't get the same ease that I do at Bottega.

What's your favourite coffee place in Leeds?

Like everyone else I'm really wishing we'd hurry up and get a really good tea place too!

Wine of the week - Roko Cabernet Sauvingnon

2011-09-24T12:43:00.002+01:00

I've had a red and a white wine this week, the white was a fairtrade Cape Nelson Sauvingnon Blanc which I think was from Sainsburys, and the Roko Cabernet Sauvingnon from Tesco.

(I only went to Tesco out of sheer desperation, I normally avoid all Tesco shops like the plague).

The white was a bit harsh, which it being half price down from £12 I wasn't expecting and was very disappointed.

I'm only just getting back into red wine mode, with the season change, and picked this Roko one on a whim when the urge to drink wine - any wine - was high. I wasn't expecting it to be upto much but I really enjoyed it.

I didn't eat with it, well a couple of pieces of toast and a wedge of cheese can't count as a meal can it, so I can't recommend that it's good with food. But it was cheap and drinkable.

It didn't set my tastebuds jumping, but I didn't expect it to either.

What have you been drinking this week?

I had cocktails last night and I'm off boozy bowling this afternoon - it's my birthday on Monday so celebrations have started early.

Lettuce Soup

2011-09-14T19:49:00.000+01:00

My parents garden is currently home to a glut of lettuce and potatoes, whenever I'm there I have more thrust upon me! I had a full lettuce to use, and after eating salad for lunch every day for the last week I didn't fancy salad for my tea. I'd heard lettuce soup discussed on twitter before, so decided to have a look at recipes.

I was particular taken with this Creamy Lettuce and Arugula soup recipe on www.livinglettuce.co.uk.

I have no idea what a yukon potato is, and have never seen arugula, so made my own version using that recipe as my inspiration.

Ingredients

1 enormous lettuce

1 large onion

6 potatoes

half a bag of spinach

1 Litre of vegetable stock

splash of double cream

goats cheese

Method

Roughly chop the onion and cook until soft in a large pan. While that's cooking peel and cube the potatoes. Add the potatoes to the pan and then add in the stock. I used 1L, but I think this could work with 750ml better, if you prefer a thicker soup. Simmer the potato and onions in the stock for 20 mins with a lid on the pan.

When the potatoes are soft add the lettuce and the spinach, pop the lid back on and let it swelter down for 3 mins.

Doesn't look all that appetising at this stage does it!

When the greens have wilted down it's time to get your blend on. This is my new hand blender, I'm quite taken with it!

When blended your mixture will be a fabulous shade of earthy green.

Adding the cream mutes the colour and adds some luxury to the soup. I just drizzled about a quarter of my tub in.

Stir the cream through and allow it to gently heat within the soup, then it's time to serve.

I added a whopping great chunk of goats cheese and enjoyed a warmed ciabatta for dipping into the soup.

I didn't expect the soup to be quite as tasty as it was - I didn't add any extra stock because I sometimes find that using the vegetable oxo gives it enough salt - I'm probably wrong, but I like my soup like this. I dipped my bread into the soup, which tasted good enough, but when you add the goats cheese into the mix it's a delightful taste sensation.

The soup tastes good for you, but not to the extent of Aduki Bean Stew.... Anyone that's had that will know what I mean... Adding in the cream gives the soup a touch of luxury, and then adding the goats cheese is a work of sheer indulgence.

Lovely! Please try some for yourselves.

Meal Planning Monday

2011-09-12T22:24:00.002+01:00

It's been a while since I've been organised enough to get one of these done... I need to improve....

Monday - Bangers and Mash
Tuesday - Leftover Borscht then out to Bettakultcha
Wednesday - visit to the gym then Salmon and Salad
Thursday - Tapas, with my cousin in Huddersfield
Friday - gym then salmon fishcakes and salad, using the left over mash from tonight and other salmon fillet
Saturday - a curry of some sort
Sunday - Either chicken or pork, undecided as yet

What are you having this week?

Any tips on what to do with my salmon for Wednesday night? I was thinking a teryaki style thing?

My Saturday night curry I'm thinking a Cauliflower curry but it's subject to change!

You can find all the other blog entries for this week over on Mrs M's blog.

Wine of the week - Glenridge Point Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc

2011-09-10T10:33:00.001+01:00

This is a section I've been meaning to bring out for ages, but I'm not overly confident with sharing my own opinion of wine, because I've never actually been wine tasting. I just drink a lot of the stuff, and have formulated my own opinion of what I like and don't like....I'll fully admit I can't always pick out the flavours the bottle suggests I should. Or the smells. I have books about wine, but I've never dared to go wine tasting, because I'm worried I won't be able to pick out the flavours everyone else can and will look uncultured and stupid.

(I worry constantly that I look uncultured and stupid).

But I know what I like from wine, and I am going to share that with you.... I'd love it if people would let me know if they agree/disagree or share if they think I should try a particular wine.

I love wine. I drink red in winter and white in summer. I drink rose if needs must and there's absolutely nothing else to drink. I'd probably have a soft drink than have to drink rosé. In my opinion (feel free to disagree) people who only drink rosé don't actually like wine.

So my wine of this week is:

This wine is currently half price at Sainsburys at £5.99.

I've had a cold this week, so my wine flavour picking out is worse than normal... I'm not going to even try, but it tasted flavourful and sweet - but not too sweet - this is possibly the sweetest I can go, I'm a dry white fanatic. It went pretty well with my lettuce soup, although I drank the majority of it afterwards. Does any wine go with soup? Can wine complement another liquid?

I picked this wine because it was half price. The wine snobs will have given up with this blog post already, so if you're still reading I know you won't mind me admitting that...

I generally pick wine mostly on the whim of my mood and the basis of the season - sometimes in winter I'll really fancy a white, likewise in summer with red - of what I'm eating and the price of the wine. I try my hardest not to buy the big mass producers (blossom hill etc) and if I'm buying white then I never buy chardonnay.

I detest chardonnay.

Price is a big factor for me, because I don't have an unlimited budget. I try to always spend a minimum £6, although it's not unusual to see me with some £4 wine if times are hard....

I have some wine sin confessions, but I think I'll wait until a later post to confess those...

Cattle Grid Leeds Bloggers Event

2011-09-08T22:32:00.000+01:00

I was very lucky to be able to attend a bloggers event on Tuesday night at Cattle Grid in Leeds.

I'll be honest with you - I don't go to Steak Restaurants all that often. The last one I went to was The Rythre Arms and that was at least 3 years ago now - a lovely steak restaurant that I hope to get back to again soon.

The best steak I've had, so far, (that I haven't cooked myself) was in the Baltic Restaurant in Newcastle, the food coupled with the views was amazing... But I'm more than willing to keep trying steaks to try and find a better one!

Promo shot of the outside

But I'm here to tell you about Cattle Grid. Here goes....

The event on Tuesday night saw 15 of us invited to dine for free at the Cattle Grid restaurant. Cattle Grid is located behind the Corn Exchange in Leeds, in the old Cafe Rouge building.

We arrived and were given a drink, the vast majority of us plumped for red wine, readying our palettes for the meat... We took our seats, an excited buzz about the room, and then were given a talk by one of the co-owners Steve Novak. He was very frank with us about their restaurant vision, ensuring we were under no illusions of what the place will be. Steve and Shaun want Cattle Grid to become the steak version of Pizza Express. Or Nandos. But we don't talk about Nando's on this blog. I like their ambition! Steve told us more about where the meat is sourced etc, and answered any questions we had and dealt with the pack of hungry bloggers very well.

One of the excellent questions to Steve was what would he recommend for us to eat - his response was the Ribeye - so I went for that one. It's not a cut of steak I've ever had, I always have fillet. I've been missing out, and will be changing my steak ways. Penny and I ordered onion strings, spinach and coleslaw to share as sides, and I was talked into sharing a half rack of baby back ribs and piri piri ribs with Neil and Dave.

The baby back ribs were gorgeous, but the piri piri ribs were incredibly spicy - far too much for me, but if you like them spicy then they're for you... Not for the faint hearted.

After a short wait, and plenty of chatting and more red wine quaffing, out came most of our sides and the steaks.

I asked for my steak medium rare, also recommended by Steve, and that's exactly how it came. The ribeye was tremendous, with a fantastic flavour. The blue cheese sauce I opted to have with it was also delicious, I was glad I picked that one. The chips were doubled fried, as is fashionable at the moment - they were very enjoyable. The spinach was fine, and the coleslaw was creamy.

A few of the other steaks weren't cooked as they were ordered to be unfortunately, I'm wondering if that was a timing issue - their steaks were HUGE. Dave and Neil had enormous T bone steaks, and Penny had a very large Chicken Burger with the harrissa topping.

Due to a fryer malfunction we didn't receive Penny's chips or the onion strings until nearly the end of the meal. The onion strings, not to be confused with onion rings, were salty, sweet and moorish - deep fried in a light tempura style batter. Had I not have eaten a full meal by then I would have happily polished off the full portion, with a lovely cold pint of lager to accompany them! (Oh how I ooze class...)

I really enjoyed my main, and felt for those whose steaks weren't as up to scratch as mine. Amazingly, for all the food and wine we'd consumed by then, the majority of us opted for a pudding too. I opted for chocolate icecream, with others having waffles or crème brulee.

I loved the presentation of the brulee, but I wasn't keen on the taste. I only managed one ball of my ice cream, but it was chocolatey and nice - nothing exciting, but I wasn't expecting to be wowed by it. I often wonder that for a place like Cattle Grid it's probably not worth investing too much into the puddings, because it's not really what people are there for - they're there for meat and lots of it. Feel free to let me know if you disagree though.

Towards the end of the evening we were shown upstairs, to what is currently being refurbed to become a venue to be used for a comedy night. Comedy isn't my thing but I'd be interested to see how the room works as a venue. I thought it would make a marvellous, intimate venue for Bettakultcha, and proceeded to bore poor Steve about Bettakultcha for the next five minutes.

(The red wine had fully taken control by then...).

So what did I think about Cattle Grid then?

Well, if I'm honest, I've found it hard to give anything but a glowing review - I don't think you can be fully objective about a free meal. It's an issue I always discuss when with bloggers, and we all have a different opinion on it.

Promo shot of the bar area

I absolutely enjoyed the evening. The venue was trendy without being intimidating. My food was excellent although I know it can't be said for everyone - but my meal was very good. The fryer breaking was unfortunate but certainly not a big deal. The service was warm, friendly and efficient. The generosity of allowing us bloggers free reign over the menu was fantastic.

Will I go again?

Yes. I wouldn't be a regular, as I wouldn't be in any steak place, but I'll be taking my parents to Cattle Grid soon, and hopefully my brother too, they all love a good steak. I would prefer them to be using only local suppliers for the meat as they do with the bread - from Anthony's - but I understand that pricing has to be taken into consideration - the fact that they don't use local meat suppliers wouldn't stop me from going.

I also think it's important as a food blogger to go back again and pay, to support the restaurant, but also to see what my experience as an average customer is like.

Thank you to Steve for allowing us to visit Cattle Grid, and to Emma and Clancy for organising such a brilliant event.

Smoked Haddock and Leek risotto

2011-08-31T21:57:00.000+01:00

I'd been meaning to cook Smoked Haddock chowder when I got the fish at the supermarket, but it just didn't seem like a chowder kind of day - too much of a wintery dish I think. So I googled a smoked haddock risotto recipe and up popped this one from BBC Good Food.

My version is slightly sloppier than theirs - never a good thing really, but I'll hold my hands up to adding too much stock, an easy mistake to make... It's actually only my second risotto I've made, although it's something I will order if eating out. My Mum can't abide the texture of risotto, it's one of her food hates, which meant it wasn't something I cooked.

If I'm having a rice based dish I would rather have paella, mostly because it reminds me of my Grandparents out in Tenerife, but also because it's colourful. My risotto here looks.... well, green.

I wasn't sure if I would like this risotto, I'm more of a prawn and pea risotto, or mushroom risotto kinda gal. It was delicious though, gooey, moorish, comforting but without being heavy. I used vegetable stock rather than chicken, because I wanted more of a fresh veggie flavour to come through, I did add a wee bit much cheese to serve... But I like cheese....

Do you have a favourite risotto?

Taste Sensations - Brie with Balsamic Strawberries

2011-08-28T09:04:00.002+01:00

The other day I brightened up my boring commute with another random twitter conversation. This time on random taste combinations, I'd tweeted about having a banana and some coronation chicken sandwich filler for breakfast - but not at the same time, and so started a conversation on strange things people do eat at the same time.

We had:

marmalade and cheese
cheese and mango chutney
banana, cheese and beans
blue cheese and banana
peanut butter and marmite
dairylea and jam

We also came to the conclusion that all sandwiches taste better with crisps in - but you didn't need me to tell you that, right.

One of the taste combinations that came up was brie with strawberries and balsamic vinegar. My ears immediately pricked up for that one, and I was inspired to dash to the supermarket that night and pick some up to try it for myself... I thought I had some actual balsamic vinegar, but I actually have balsamic dressing - but I went with it anyway...

I cut the tops off the strawberries and lay them to rest in their balsamic bath, while I cut the ciabatta and toasted it with the delicious brie on top. I was impatiently peering through my oven door to see if it had melted enough to come out, as soon as it had I whipped it out and got my strawberries on top...

The verdict - I can see why Phil likes it, and I enjoyed the sharp, sweet tangyness of the strawberries against the smooth, creamy, gooey brie, but I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to have it again!!

What are your strange taste sensations? I'd like to be inspired to try some more - although I draw the line and banana, cheese and beans, that's just a tad too strange for my tastebuds!

Spicy Potato Curry

2011-08-22T10:00:00.000+01:00

Ingredients
Potatoes
Onions
Garlic
Ginger
Coconut Milk
125 ml vegetable stock
Cumin seeds
Turmeric
Ground coriander
Chilli flakes

I put some oil on to heat up and added the cumin seeds. After chopping the ginger, garlic and onions I threw them in to cook off once the cumin seeds started sizzling, after they'd cooked for a few minutes I added the potatoes and the rest of the spices.

I let the potatoes brown for a bit then added the veg stock and then the coconut milk and left it to simmer for 15 minutes.

The result was..... spicy.....very spicy....

I had to add plain yoghurt just to eat it!! Very tasty though!

Stuffed Aubergines

2011-08-21T20:45:00.001+01:00

I love aubergines, but find them to be a 'marmite' type vegetable - I know so many people that don't like them at all!

I used this Good Food recipe for mine, but left out the olives (flatmate doesn't like them) and added some mixed herbs.

They were absolutely delicious, I can't wait to cook them again. The filling is so nice, for all the "aubergine is slimy" people - this is the recipe to try.

Bravo Good Food!

Meal Planning Monday

2011-08-15T20:59:00.001+01:00

Last week was a nightmare of being everywhere and having no real plan. This week is going to be more ordered.

I hope.

Monday - Golden roasted vegetable rice
Tuesday - Prawn stir fry
Wednesday - out with JuJu and Katie - liquid tea....
Thursday - Italian Style Stuffed Aubergines
Friday - BBQ food
Saturday - chicken parmigiana
Sunday - Smoked Haddock Chowder

I've just done an online shop to get everything apart from Saturday's food, and a few storecupboard bits that I'm missing. I do enjoy going to the supermarket, but when I'm as busy as I have been the past few weeks I'm just not getting time to go food shopping for when I'm at the flat. That's the trouble between dividing my time between two homes, and worse still on weeks where I'm dogsitting so at three places in one week...

What are you cooking this week?

Strawberry Buns

2011-08-13T16:45:00.003+01:00

I'm not really a fan of cupcakes. I find them to be "fur coat, no knickers" in the sense too much of a big deal is made about the decoration, and the cake (or bun as it should be known) is neglected. I've never made cupcakes, although in years gone by I have made buns, sometimes decorating them, but generally not. We were brought up on buns with sultanas in, so they were always sweet enough.

I recently bought some piping bags and nozzles, and then was given some as a housewarming present, so I was itching to try them out.

My first attempt at piping using a nozzle was a disaster - the piping bag exploded from having too much of my Viennese Finger mixture in... my second attempt - red icing wasn't successful really either... I've learnt that melting the butter then trying to combine that with the icing sugar just won't work, it leaves the mixture too runny. I tried putting the icing into the fridge to set for five minutes but it was still as runny. Last time I made this error I kept adding more and more icing sugar - that didn't work either!

I ended up just letting the runny icing come through the piping bag onto the buns, and then adding my strawberries to the fully covered tops.

I think they still looked good!

Recent eats

2011-08-09T14:54:00.000+01:00

I didn't feel like blogging last night, I just watched hours of the news coverage of the riots. I attempted to make some Viennese fingers, but they were a massive fail - the dough burst through the piping bag!

I was awake till after 3am this morning so I'm shattered today, I should have done a meal planning monday, but I can't even remember what I'm meant to be eating this week now.

Here's a few pics of what I ate last week.

Domino's Review

2011-08-07T20:07:00.001+01:00

I got an email a couple of weeks ago asking if I'd be interested in reviewing a Domino's pizza. Being pretty poor, and a pizza fan I took up the offer.

I was promptly sent my voucher and decided to use it as a Friday night treat for me and Rich - having gone and done a work out at the gym straight from work I didn't feel too guilty for pizza for tea, and for the 2 large glasses of wine I had with it....

We went up to my local Domino's in Headingley, this is the first time I've actually gone to collect a pizza from Domino's, I've always done online ordering and had them delivered in the past.

I didn't need to look at the pizza menu I always go for Pepperoni Passion, but Rich stumped me by asking what base I wanted - I never usually bother changing bases and just have the classic one. We asked to have the thin and crispy base, which appeared to cause some confusion over what that particular base meant...we ordered from an assistant who'd only just started, and was rather....erm....excitable. Not sure I would do a little dance behind the counter... I was also mortified that after I ordered a large, 10 slice pizza he then looked at Rich and asked what he wanted! I know I'm a big lass, but I couldn't eat a ten slice pizza to myself... Well, OK, I probably could, but still - he could have asked if we required anything else, not assume we were a pair of greedy gerties... (To clarify, we were sharing the large pizza!).

We didn't have long to wait before our pizza was ready, and picked up some beers and vino on the way home. I was famished by the time we got back and quickly tucked into some pizza.

I don't know if it was the different base, or the fact we collected it, so got the pizza "fresh", but I found it to be much tastier than when I've ordered online. Previously I've found Domino's to be a bit greasy, but this one definitely wasn't. One of my pizza pet hates is for the slice to be floppy and limp (a la pizza express) but this one was just as I like, nice and crispy, with the topping not falling all over my face and top as I try and eat it... not that I ever do that of course, that's never happened to me before....

I'll certainly go and collect a pizza from Domino's over order them, and I'll be opting for a thin and crispy base.

Budget Salmon Fishcakes

2011-08-03T17:30:00.019+01:00

In my quest to cut back, and be more of a spendthrift, I'm seeking out budget recipes. Fishcakes are a favourite of mine but can work out to be quite expensive, particularly if using haddock. I decided to give tinned fish a go, and opted for salmon. I'm not sure if I fancy tinned tuna fishcakes...

If anyone has any recommendations of tasty, cheap meals I'd be grateful!

Ingredients
1 tin of salmon
1 large baking potato
chopped chives
salt
1 egg

Method
I baked the potato in the microwave (sin - but time efficient) and then mixed some salmon in a large bowl with the chives and the egg. When the potato had cooked I mashed it and added it to the fish mixture.

I thought I had some breadcrumbs but don't, so I spooned the mixture onto a baking tray in two large helpings and then baked in the oven at 200 for 20 minutes.

I served it with some homemade potato salad and some salad leaves and tomatoes.

My verdict - not as nice as my usual thai fishcakes, or even the smoked cod fishcakes I made a few weeks ago. I probably used too much potato, so would suggest maybe using two baking potatoes rather than one, or even better some leftover mash - who has leftover mash though??

They were a quick, tasty and cheap meal which is what I was wanting, so I'm happy with how they went.

Butterscotch Loaf Cake

2011-08-02T20:16:00.000+01:00

Following on from sandwiching a cake with my Askey's Butterscotch Treat Sauce I couldn't resist making a cake with it. I decided to substitute it for golden syrup and do a loaf cake.

Ingredients
150g SR flour
150g butter
1/3 bottle of Askeys butterscotch treat sauce
1 tsp mixed spice
pinch salt

Method
I melted the butter in a small pan on the hob with the butterscotch treat sauce, while that was melted I sieved all the dry ingredients into a large bowl.

When the butter was all melted I set it aside to cool a bit, then when cooled down I combined with the dry ingredients.

I stirred it all together and then poured into a greased, lined baking tin and into the oven, 150 degrees for 45 mins.

I was worried it might be a little bit much butter, but it tasted lovely. The mixed spice just gave it a hint of a kick, and took off some of the sweetness of the butterscotch sauce.

An excellent alternative to golden syrup!

Meal Planning Monday

2011-08-01T21:26:00.003+01:00

It's that time of the week again... I still don't feel in a proper routine after moving to the new flat, even though I've been here a full month. I'd planned to do food shopping on a Saturday morning at Leeds Market, but it just hasn't happened.

Last week then...

Monday - Pizza Express (I had an American pizza)

Tuesday - Chickpea curry, coriander & garlic naan, homemade raita and popadoms

Wednesday - Carvery with the inlaws

Thursday - ~~"Budget"~~ ~~Salmon fishcakes, corn on the cob, potato salad~~ shop bought fishcakes

Friday - ~~Whatever the P-Units feed me~~ herb crusted haddock, sweet potato wedges

Saturday - CAKE - it's Clandestine Cake Club - and also borscht

Sunday - ~~I'll be at the rugby with Rich, who knows what we'll eat!~~ fish & chips

Not a great week foodwise, I only actually cooked from scratch on one night - not good enough is it.

I'm going to try and do better this week, but I haven't started well, with a food fail.

Right, week commencing 1st August....

Monday - Disgusting green pepper stir fry :(

Tuesday - "Budget" salmon fish cakes

Wednesday - Bangers & mash with Rich

Thursday - Prawn linguine

Friday - mushroom and potato curry

Saturday - Parents 30th wedding anniversary meal out

Sunday - whatever I can find in parents freezer

Check Mrs M's blog for her meal plan and all the other ones for this week!