Not once but twice

If any one reading this blog remembers one horrifyingly embarrassing moment I had queuing up for the changing rooms in Paris, I just had it repeated over the weekend.

It was a beautiful wedding wedding in a lovely venue. My eyes stayed dry during the ceremony but my mouth was definitely upturned. The situation was much different a bit later when one of the wedding party enquired as to whether I was expecting. As I said no through my smiles, my eyes met the other guests who had overheard the question and were kindly hoping to offer me their congratulations. I have learned recently that people who ask these kinds of questions have the best of intentions and are usually wonderful people but reactions to a 'no' are very varied and in this case, a poke to my stomach was made and the phrase "I guess it's just the tummy then" uttered.

When I made my excuses and went back to the boy and the babe, my eyes were definitely wet and my mouth not so upturned.

I want to say that I don't blame the poor woman but my own greed.

Election Night

Election night in my mind requires pizza.

Preferably in large amounts, with a side of crisps (UK election after all), lots of fizzy pop (to produce burps disdainfully at the candidates we don't like) followed by ice cream straight from the tub.

However, there were no crisps nor ice cream and we ordered pizza not from Dominos as I preferred (trashy food for trashing, I say) but Pizza Express (the boy won't eat trashy pizza), where the manager serving us implied that we were a Conservative supporting, middle class family, having lively debates as the election results unfolded.

What they didn't realize was that neither of us voted Conservative and lively debate consisted of "quit hogging the spicy one".

The babe may look like the boy but she's definitely mine. You can tell by the way she gets all the meat off her lamb chops and shovels pizza in her face. I'm so proud.

Fat Duck

For our wedding, the boy's parents and brother + wife gave us a meal at Fat Duck. And it has taken us only 25 months to cash that in and finally book in to go.

One of the only times we've been out without the babe and was a lot of fun. We dropped off the babe at nursery, went over to my Wednesday regular, the Regency Cafe, for breakfast. Then off to do a few errands, pick up a rental car (cannot rave enough for local car clubs, we use them loads!) and head off to Bray.

Bray, the teeny, tiny village Fat Duck is in, is extremely quaint, very picture postcard perfect, with charming little arches and some lovely big houses sitting side by side with the small doll like houses along the main road.

Our reservation was for 1:45pm and it was very busy already. We were one of the last tables to be seated. Presented with the menu, I was excited to see the Mock Turtle Soup, as featured in an episode of Heston's Feasts which focused on Victorian era food. I especially liked it as it was one of the first things the boy and I clashed about when I insisted that turtle soup was a traditional English food, to which he denied all existence. Happily he knows by now not to argue food with me.

As we had rented a car for the day, the boy could only have one glass of wine, which the sommelier recommended to go with one of the courses mid meal.We started with the 'Lime Grove', described as Nitro Poached Green Tea and Lime Mousse, which is a kind of a mild meringue poached in dry ice in front of us. We were advised to eat it in one bite whilst they sprayed lime scent around us (a bit of a gimmicky touch). Nice and clean, it felt a bit like a palate cleanser. Urged to pop it into our mouths, I only have the pic of the plate to show you!


Next up was 'Red Cabbage Gazpacho', Pommery Grain Mustard Ice Cream. I was fated to love this as I love all the ingredients and the method of delivery. It met expectations and was creamy, smooth and made me smack my lips at the umami-ness of it, wanting more.

The next course was brought to us in three separate parts. 'Jelly of Quail, Crayfish Cream', Chicken Liver Parfait, Oak Moss and Truffle Toast. The first was a wooden tray of oak moss, on top of which was a little plastic box containing a oak moss 'film'. These were akin to the breath strips you can get at the chemist which melt upon contact with the mouth and dissolve. I've never been a fan of these as they give me a claggy mouthfeel which sticks my mouth shut (probably much to the relief of the boy). Anyhow, these were infused with the taste of oak moss. We were to put these in our mouths while dry ice was poured over the oak moss tray so it evaporated in a white fog, scenting the table with oak moss. The purpose, which was explained to us, was so that we smelled, saw and tasted the oak moss all at once. I have to admit, I disliked the taste and texture of the film but loved the smoky smell of the oak moss and the experience of seeing and touching the moss. Served with this was the chicken liver parfait, which was nicely chilled and yummy. The truffle toast was tasty but was not as truffle fragrant as I thought it would be.

'Roast Foie Gras' was served with Rhubarb, Braised Kombu and Crab Biscuit. The foie gras was perfectly cooked, succulent and creamy but I was more average on the sweet crystallized sugar (I'm guessing here) shards. The rhubarb jellied sauce was a nice contrast although personally, I preferred the foie without, and the little powdery sesame and what I think was wakame topping provided nice textural contrast. The kombu was the thin light brown film at the bottom and was ok but didn't add much although the wakame may have been cooked with the kombu to add umami-ness.

The next course was the highly anticipated 'Mock Turtle Soup (c.1850)' from the "Mad Hatter Tea". Highly anticipated, it was as gorgeous as it looked on TV.

It started with the rabbit's gold watch, over which was poured boiling water, which dissolved into a broth, which was then poured over the gorgeous plated bits, such as what ox tongue layered with lardo, and a turnip and swede puree. If you're ambitious, the delicious soup recipe is here but I think we had slivers of kombu as opposed to truffle cubes.

It was very yummy. I looooved it. Everything worked somehow and the broth was so flavourful. I personally would prefer it to be a bit warmer but I am not sure that the accompanying ingredients would stand up to a boiling hot broth.

The next one is the famous 'Sound of the Sea' dish, which came with a large seashell with an iPod hidden inside. We were instructed to put in our earphones and enjoy the crashing waves whilst eating our dish, which was crafted to look like the wash after a wave, with foam and dark sand and bits of seafood. All of it edible and all of it was.... delicious! I loved it and was very pleasantly surprised to find it yummy. After my experience at El Bulli, I was extremely apprehensive and had gone off food which exuded style over substance but everything so far tasted good as well as being extremely whimsical and not taking itself too seriously.

As I was saying this to the boy, the next dish came and was, I must admit, my least favorite of the meal. 'Salmon Poached in Liquorice', Artichokes, Vanilla Mayonnaise, Golden Trout Roe and Manni Olive Oil. The salmon was beautifully poached, soft and melting, but wrapped in a thin layer of jelliefied sauce or coating which was liquorice flavoured. Despite my recent conversion to liquorice, it tasted a bit bitter and at odds with the richness of the salmon. The roe and the artichokes were a touch bland and I didn't like the sweet, odd vanilla mayonnaise. Altogether it was just ok.

The next dish more than made up for it. 'Powdered Anjou Pigeon (c.1720)', Blood Pudding and Confit of Umbles. The pigeon was absolutely delicious, rich and succulent, the blood pudding like a thick sauce of blood. Umbles, in case you are wondering, is offal, or the unwanted bits and apparently in this case, it refers to the heart. Yum! Loved this. The only thing I wasn't keen on was the the long shard of what was like prawn cracker but didn't taste of prawn.

After this, we were served 'Hot & Iced Tea', which was a lightly sweetened tea which w

as both hot and cold, which started off hot and dissolved into a cold drink. It was very refreshing and signalled the end of the mains and the

beginning of the sweet courses.

I must admit, I wasn't thrilled by the descriptions of the desserts. The first one, 'Tafferty Tart', Caramelized Apple, Fennel, Rose and Candied Lemon. As some of you may know, floral flavors are not my favorite. I was happy that they weren't overwhelming in the dessert, which was good, light and delicate but nothing revelatory.

The next, I was dreading just a little bit. It was 'The "BFG", Black Forest Gateau'. A child of the seventies, black forest cake is to the 80's what tiramisu was to the 90's and the molten chocolate cake to the first decade of the 3rd millennium. Over played, much maligned and a culinary bore as far as I was concerned. This,

however, was a lovely version which I ate up but given a choice, I probably would have chosen something else. I apologize for the super exposed photo. Brown on brown never shows up well!

The next course, I loved. 'Whisk(E)y Gums' came on a frame. Five different types of whiskey flavored gums stuck onto a framed map of Scotland. Served with this was a bottle of water from the Scottish highlands. The boy loves his whiskey and I love smelling the peaty, smokiness of the whiskey but not so much the slightly acrid taste. So this was perfect for me. I liked all of them and especially the whimsical 'plating'.

The last course, which we sadly had to rush as we were running late and needed to pick up the babe, was called 'Like a Kid in a Sweet Shop', came in a pink and white striped old fashioned 'Sweet Shop' bag. In it were four items as printed on a vanilla scented card:

- 'Aerated Chocolate' with Mandarin Jelly, which was lovely, with a Aero like texture and a nice tart sweet jelly;

-'Coconut Baccy', Coconut Infused with an Aroma of Black Cavendish Tobacco, which I wasn't too fond of;

- 'Apple Pie Caramel' with an Edible Wrapper, which was very sweet with a nice soft chew; and

- 'The Queen of Hearts' which was a gorgeous thin, thin, thin tart with jam wrapped in white chocolate with one side imprinted with the traditional red diamond checks and the other, a meticulous reproduction of a Queen of Hearts card. Sadly white chocolate is one of those things I just cannot get myself to like.

On the whole, I LOVED the experience. The whimsy, thought and meticulous and care which was put into each dish was very much apparent. Expensive but when you think of all that went into it, definitely worth it. The service was smooth, completely unpretentious and friendly. They explained everything and understood that many came for not just a meal but an 'experience', so many things they were happy to include as little mementos, from a printed menu in an envelope and sealed with wax presented at the beginning of the meal for you to follow, to the box the oak moss film came in. It was very thoughtful and much appreciated. The only very very petty criticism I have was that as were one of the last to have our meal, we were able to see what was coming ahead by watching the other tables, which took away a little the surprise and delight which comes from discovering a new way of presenting food.

All being said, one of the best meals ever for the fun, the food, the company and of course, knowing it was a kind, thoughtful gift from loved ones.

Spaghetti a la Marmite

Reading Nigella's interview regarding food heroes in this month's Observer Monthly where she lauded Anna Del Conte, I came across the most appealing recipe. A recipe which, in fact, which is made for me. Easy peasy and as easy as ramen, it is touted as a children's recipe. Spaghetti with Marmite!

The recipe is posted verbatim here:

350-380g dried spaghetti
50g unsalted butter
1 tsp Marmite
freshly grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water. While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the Marmite and 1 tablespoon of the pasta water. Mix thoroughly to dissolve, then pour over the drained spaghetti. Serve with plenty of grated parmesan cheese.

So of course I made it the first chance I got but being me and therefore lazy, I omitted the bit where the butter and Marmite is melted together, instead, I bunged it all together after draining the pasta in a hot pan and generously sprinkled cheese all over as well as white pepper. Delish and the ultimate in comfort food.

About the Marmite I used... I had an unopened jar of Guiness Marmite which Umami had kindly given me ages and ages ago. Although it had clearly passed its best before, being unopened, I have no qualms eating it. Its so salty that I would highly doubt something bad had happened to it. Not that I advise other people to do the same but I'm familiar with my tummy (too familiar...) to know what abuse it can take. Now to sit back, relax, eat my Marmite Spag and wait for the cries of EWWWW to pour in...

Crack Biscuit

This post is NOT about MTV's Pimp My Ride's Xzibit, whom the boy insists on calling 'Cross Biscuit', but about a new discovery of a biscuit (or cookie, if you will), which is so delicious, it's like crack.

McVitie's Caramel Digestives.

A digestive biscuit, covered with a thin chewy layer of caramel and then with a topping of milk chocolate. The only way to make this better is to change the milk to dark chocolate.

A quick dip in hot tea and it's melty chocolate, slightly chewy caramel and nutty biscuit. I'm ashamed to say I finished almost half a packet with one cup of tea. Crack biscuit indeed.

Crispspspspspspsps

What is it with the Brits and their crisps??

By the way, that's chips to the rest of us

I mean I love crisps/chips as much as the next guy...um, ok, maybe a bit more given my love of ketchup chips and Cheetos, but seriously, the Brits seem to be a bit obsessive.

Strolling through my local Sainsbury's, there are thousands of choices of different kinds of crisps and all sorts of flavors ranging from pickled onion (please do NOT eat if you plan to talk to anyone that day as your breath will smell of onions and your fingers of pickles) to roast chicken.

Whatever happened to my good old standbys of sour cream and chive, BBQ, all dressed, ranch, etc.? Well here in the good ole United Kingdom, they are inventive, I have to give them that. So much so that they have "seasonal crisps".

My case in point:

I mean, really.

Ham and Mustard?

Ploughman's?

Turkey and Stuffing?

Is this what da peeps want?

Well, for youse alls sake, I tried them.

Ploughman's was quite mild and tasted mostly of pickle but not too sour.
Ham and Mustard did taste quite true to its name oddly enough.
Turkey and Stuffing tasted like chicken spice... the boy thinks it tastes just like the roast chicken flavor.

But wait, it doesn't stop here. Apparently the next wave of crisp flavors to arrive in store shelves near me are:

• Cajun Squirrel
• Fish and Chips
• Builder's Breakfast
• Onion Bhaji
• Crispy Duck and Hoisin
• Chilli Chocolate

I'm a bit scared to be honest but if I see them, I shall do my duty and report back...

You can also vote for the flavor you want most to remain on the shelves by the 1st of May on the Walker's site.

The Duck who ate the Chicken who ate the Partridge

I know this is 3 weeks late but some may still be curious about what became of my three bird roast.

Well, happy to report that my cooking skills are just a smidgen better than my disastrous baking ones.

On Christmas Eve, I served up roast pork, much to the delight of my brother, who was thrilled with the crispy crackling and the moist meat. He was even more happy when he heard that it was to be accompanied by braised red cabbage, a favorite vegetable of ours.

Christmas Day, however, was a bit less easy. I sent the boy down to our wonderful local butcher, Wyndham Butchers, to pick up my order of 3 bird roast. Meanwhile, I peeled and cut carrots, parsnips and sprouts.

We ended up with a 5.5kg bundle of joy... meaty joy, that is! I was told to roast for approximately 2.5-3 hours and rest for 30 minutes. I went for the 3 hours as I was told that there was enough fat within it to self baste and carried on with the prep for the rest of the meal. Of course, I couldn't resist sprinkling a layer of Schwartz's poultry spices as it seemed oh so naked without anything.

The meat turned out perfect. Moist, delicious and a joy to eat, all five of us had two pieces left and there was 2 pieces left for leftovers so a perfect portion. It was duck on the outside, sausage meat between that and the chicken (which I found a bit 'spongy' but acceptable) and then the dark meat of the partridge. I would definitely make this again for a special occasion, especially as it was easy and different. Much more interesting than a single bird as the different tastes and textures were there.

Sadly the rest of the meal I was responsible for didn't turn out so good. The carrots and parsnips were soft and overcooked, the brussel sprouts bitter and the stuffing, to which I admit I cheated a bit and used a boxed stuffing to which I added onions, chestnuts and bacon to, horribly over salted. The boy's mustard mash and parsnip, chestnut and potato mash were wonderful though, the former nice and tangy and the latter earthy and just slightly sweet.

In any case, it was a lot of fun and I wouldn't mind doing it all over again. Minus all the cleaning, scrubbing and prep involved of course!

Marmite products

Its no secret that Umami and I love Marmite.

We love it on toast and we love it in congee.

But what about crisps (chips to us North Americans) and cheese?

Apparently the English are just as passionate about this yeasty, salty spread because they use it to flavor not only rice crackers and breadsticks but also these new finds:

Walkers' Marmite crisps and cheddar.

Of course I couldn't resist buying them.

And how were they? The crisps were very nice although more subtle than I would have liked.

The cheese was very salty and flavorful, a nice savory snack for the middle of the afternoon when the craving for something intensely salty hits.

For me, of course, it is always followed by something intensely chocolatey!

Crabby Patties

So, long time no good food.

Sadly, its been a bit of a drought for me too. I've not been inspired much and not had much of an appetite for anything interesting. It's one of the annoying things of being out of work. You feel like you should save money and subsequently eat at home much more often. And as I've said before, I am NOT a cook. I'm an eater.

I have, however, last week, made a huge pot of Ginger Vinegar Pig's Trotters to bring to two friends who have recently given birth to adorable baby girls and even given a taster to a friend who has never had them but come to love them, much to my surprise and delight!

Last week, I was in Weymouth. Yes, I didn't know where that was either but it's where the boy is working at the moment during the week and I thought I'd tag along. It's been....um... interesting. But this review is timely, seeing as Weymouth has just completed the sailing venue for the 2012 Olympics on time and on budget!

While the boy spends his time working, I've spent my time exploring the town. Which took about 1 hour. Hmmm, it wasn't going to work out. I've looked in a lot of closed little shop and cafe windows and thought about how fun it could be in season. Teeming with senior citizens, it has been an experience to say the least. I even went to Poole to find some excitement only to find it mostly shut as well.

In an effort to keep my interest, the boy discovered that the Crab House Cafe was within distance and we went to have a look on the Monday we arrived only to find that it was only open Wednesday through to Sunday. We returned on Wednesday with low expectations.

However, inside was a cosy little restaurant with about a dozen tables and we were one of three occupied tables that night. Although I was a bit concerned of the lack of custom, my fears were assauged as soon as I glanced at the bright-eyed, impossibly fresh seafood, caught earlier that day which was laid out by the open plan kitchen.

When we looked at the menu, printed daily mind you, the boy bemoaned the fact that it was only open during the days he wasn't in the city. I must admit his love of fish is directly proportional to my opposition to cooking it and having the smell linger in the flat. The deprived boy began immediately with 1/2 a dozen oysters, which he slurped down without a word to his colleague and myself, as well as a cod and skate (....) which was prepared much like coronation chicken (curry, mayo and raisins) and was a bit too strong for my taste, overwhelming the delicate flavor of the fish.

His colleague and myself both had the Thai fish cakes, which were perfectly crispy on the outside while being moist on the inside. I would say they are more like French quenelles or croquettes. But then again, I have an aversion to putting the "Thai" label on anything prepared with lemongrass. It also came with sweet Thai chili sauce which went well but a squeeze of lemon would have been just as nice.

For a main, the boy smartly chose the fish pan, which came with 5 varieties of fish (clockwise from top): John Dory (St. Pierre in French), skate, grey mullet, cod and one other fish whose name escapes me. It was a fairly large portion but the boy managed to finish it.


His colleague had the grey mullet, which looked good, with nice crispy skin on the top.


I opted for the "crab to crack". Although I was given the choice of the spicy Chinese crab or the plain, I opted for the plain. I was dubious about the spices that were going to be used and I did want to taste the crab unmasked by sauces. I was given a "kit" which included a bib (this was definitely useful), a small hammer, crab crackers, a crab pick and a little wooden cutting board. Then the gigantic crab came out. This was completely unlike the much smaller crabs I was used to back home. This was a big'un, cooked, cooked and then cut up for me to dissect.

I looked at the roe..... gosh, it was drippy, rich and unctuous. It was also a male and came with just a touch of the gooey bits that I so love in hairy crabs. It was meaty and sweet but not as sweet as the smaller crabs but oh, so satisfying. The roe was delicious. It was a little hard to get into the meat and the use of the hammer was definitely needed. by the end I really needed a full bath to rid myself of crab shell still clinging to my hair.

I ate and ate and ate.... in fact, this is the ONLY time I was too full to eat the lower legs. Usually I hate to waste crab and eat everything but this time, I was full of crab and the boy and his colleague had been waiting at least 40 minutes for me to finish so I gave up the lower legs and called it quits.

Sadly the pictures didn't turn out so well as I only had my camera phone. I would show you the roe but it looks like a blurry over-exposed mess!

Definitely worth going to (if you're in the area... maybe to attend or see the Olympic sailing competition in 2012) and the warm welcome was a real bonus.

Crab House Cafe
The Fleet Oyster Farm
Ferrymans Way
Portland Rd, Wyke Regis
Dorset
DT4 9YU
Tel: 01305 788867

Cough-fee

For Christmas I got a great many lovely things, one of which was a packet of chocolate based food items. Do my future in-laws know me or what??

One of the items kept tempting me.... a chocolate marshmallow coffee from Cocoa & Co. Blasphemous to coffee drinkers I know but if you had to sleep in the room where this little sack sat, all innocent except for the lovely fragrant scent of rich dark coffee and chocolate, I dare you to refuse its mating call.

I was good though, I waited until I got home to try it out with my somewhat leaky Bodum press. And of course, to complete the slightly trashy picture, I decided to drink it out of my fancy Krispy Kreme travel mug. I'm all klass.

And how was it?

Tasty, not too 'marshmallow-y', the scent was mainly what reminded you of the chocolate marshmallow, the taste was thankfully more coffee.

In the box were also some interesting handmade chocolate bars, including a Strawberry Black Pepper one I hope to review once I get rid of this dratted *COUGH*

Hippy New Year

This is going to be a problem.

I got myself into trouble, you see, over the holiday season.

I received a dress for the wedding and it was too big. No problem, took it to a local seamstress to take in. In a fit of ambitious headiness, I told to the seamstress during the fitting:

"Please make it very snug, I plan to lose a bit of weight"

Um. She kindly pinned it tightly. Very tightly. Let's just say the rolls, they were aplenty. The seamstress asked if it was too tight.

As my future Mother-in-Law was standing patiently nearby, having driven me across villages to make my appointment, I couldn't lose face. I also couldn't breathe.

"No, I'm sure it'll be fine", I said.

In my head, I was going "WHERE did those rolls come from? I don't really look like that do I? I have 5 weeks, what am I going to do?"

As to where those rolls came from, let's review shall we?

Over the last 10 days, I have had:

Homemade Almond Cherry Rocky Road (which I made myself, thank you very much!);

<------Fried Fish with no chips but a hunka fried haggis... do NOT recommend unless you're trying to kill yourself;

Cream tea with multiple cakes------->

<--------------------Haggis;

and my first pickled egg. ------------>

Also countless cups of tea, ginger biscuits, fig rolls, cakes, puddings (all with custard of course), chocolates received for Christmas, and old fashioned sweets to keep us going while opening presents.

Luckily the boy was very good with Christmas presents this year. Besides particularly beautiful photographs he had put on canvas, I also received a red iPod nano, complete with...

Yup, you guessed it, the Nike + set....

Let's hope that if my rolls don't give me a fright enough to start exercising, than the music will get me moving.

So here's hoping you have a Happy New Year, regardless of the state of your own hips.

All Sorts of Coconut

As I shamefully admitted previously, I have succumbed to the lure of licorice. And although my former boss stopped short of pointing and saying "Ha Ha!" like Nelson from the Simpsons, I did figuratively get deservedly mocked in an email.

So, what do the famous Bassetts Allsorts taste like?

Well, in one word, coconut.

Nope, I have no idea why either.

Apparently, the story was that Allsorts came about when a salesman clumsily spilled his tray of samples and so all the flavors got mixed in a somewhat serendipitous accident. Formal story can be found here.

Now yes, although I am a beginner to licorice, I may not understand some of the subtleties.

Number 1 - Why SALTY licorice? No idea.

Number 2 - Why COCONUT licorice? No idea

Licorice in and of itself tasted quite benign with the coconut being the dominant flavor. In fact I strongly disliked the coconut and much preferred the little aniseed flavored gum drops covered in non pareils as well as the little licorice bits and of course, the adorable little Bertie, whom I ate before I could take a picture. Unfortunately these pieces were very few in my bag, which was instead taken over by the play-doh looking colored coconut.

Quite honestly, I thought they looked like fake candy used for decorations. Which, in my opinion, was probably all they were good for.

Sherbet Fountains

In my continuing education on British sweets, I picked up something called a "Sherbet Fountain". Pronounced "SURE-BERT" despite being spelt "Sher-BET"

Sound nice, doesnt' it? In my mind, I picture a nice ice cream dish piled high with lime sherbert, with a can of Sprite poured over, a cooling dessert for a hot summer day. That is not what a Sherbet Fountain is.

THIS is a Sherbet Fountain.

------------------------------------------->

Described as a 'fizzy sherbet with a liquorice dip, it looked intriguing, all yellow and orange with these weird swirly things on it. It had a little tab on the end which something black was poking out. I secretly hoped that it be a very cool type of chemical reaction candy whereby you pull the black liquorice tab, which would mix the two chemicals and something wonderfully tasty would come flying out, fountain like and you had to catch it in your mouth.

That is not what happened.

It turned out to be far more mundane but yet compulsively addicting type of candy.

I unwrapped it to find that it was a roll of cardboard inside the wrapper, sticking out the 'liquorice dip', which is like a flat long piece of liquorice.

Inside the carton was powdered sherbet, the kind that is kind of like what was in pixie sticks. Basically a slightly fizzy, powdered candy. Despite being slightly disappointed that there was no cool reaction to speak of, it was quite good. The slightly bitter liquorice went astonishingly well with the fizzy sherbet and it was a fun, time consuming, albeit messy process.

Dipping in the liquorice stick and licking it off felt a tad mischievous, kind of like the feeling you get when you were 10, sleeping over at your friend's house and gorging on junk food outside of the view of your Mom. Maybe it was because dipping and licking seemed furtive or because my Mom never let us have candy of the powdered variety. In any case, I enjoyed it and it made the car ride a lot more pleasant.

Smoke Free

As most of the countries have now put limitations on smoking indoors, there seems a resurgence of interest in helping to kick the habit.

During a 15 minute (the boy timed me so we wouldn't be late) shopping spree at Morrison's, a supermarket in the UK, I saw a box of Chupa Chups. It was a small box of 6 mini Chupa Chups, sugar free, citrus flavored with extracts of lemon balm and lime blossom. As I only had a few minutes, I didn't hesitate and threw them in the basket, thinking that Chupa Chups have gone on to target adults.

It wasn't until upon closer examination of the box in the car that I remarked on the size of it and how similar the packaging seemed to be to a box of cigarettes.

Then I turned it over to read the back...............................................>

Chupa Chups marketing gurus have cottoned on to the idea of selling the lollipops not as a fun treat for kids but to replace the hand to mouth action habit which is an issue for smokers. Even endorsed by the NHS (National Health Service in the UK)!

A nice idea but not sure how cool people think lollipops are. Its hard to look tough while sucking a lollipop.

Luckily I always choose yumminess over coolness.

One of my Favorites

Due to a last minute trip to the Northeast of England to scout for wedding venues, I had the chance to catch up with the boy's family. I went on my own. Very scary I must admit, to be going on my own to visit the boy's family. Luckily I was welcomed with open arms. Staying at the boy's aunt's charming Guesthouse, I had also timed my visit to coincide with the boy's parents and drag them along to view venues with me.

While the boy has featured on this blog, the boy's family, less so. Except for, of course, the devilishly wonderful grandmother whose protests about not being able to finish dessert often taking up to twice the time it takes for her to inhale the dessert, beating out all the others at the tables.

The boy's family, in simple terms, are wonderful. Warm and funny and a bit nutty, just like one of my favorites from the market in Aix, a concoction called "Noix et Champignons". Noix et Champignon is like a pesto made of walnuts, mushrooms, olive oil, dried tomats and pine nuts. A jar of which the boy's thoughtful mother never fails to bring me.

It has been a lifesaver many a time, pulled out for guests to spread on crackers, mixed in with pasta and served either hot or cold, a spoonful mixed into a weak sauce to give it body and even served as a bruschetta for a first course.

Coming home to an empty fridge, the boy's mother saved me once again and I dug out the jar from my suitcase and dinner was on the table within minutes. As we sat eating our meal, I recounted to the boy how I was making fun of a hall named "Shafto" when his entire family (mom, dad, aunt, grandparents included) broke into song! Singing something about Bobby Shafto and buckles on his knee, the whole family joined in, finishing the song before resuming the conversation. Although a bit surprised, I found myself happy to be joining a family in which breaking into song, like the musicals I grew up with, was nothing unusual at all.

London on a Noodle String

On a last minute trip to London last weekend with the boy, I managed to fit in a few of the obvious to-dos, such as exploring the gastronomical delights of Borough market, shopping on Oxford street (where I found Primark, which ruined me for the other shops due to their shockingly low prices), catching up with friends over dim sum, and of course a Broadway show (Avenue Q, which I enjoyed immensely)

The first thing we did after dumping our bags at the now defunct Hotel 167 (we found out it was closing two days after we stayed there), we went straight to Borough market to indulge in, amongst other things, a venison burger, cheese from Neal's Yard, dried sour cherries from Cranberry, and the most delicious (and deadly) sandwich from the Spanish importer, Brindisa, which consisted of chorizo, fried in olive oil then grilled and split before being put into an olive oil drizzled bap, topped with meltingly soft roasted red peppers and some kicky rocket. It was heaven in a mouthful.

Although we were only in London for a few days, we found time to visit a good friend who is currently studying to take over the world in Cambridge, where we were very lucky with the weather and went punting, which was a LOT harder than I had thought.

My friend, who had warned me that Cambridge is a food wasteland, recommended a safe bet for dinner, Nando's, a chain of peri-peri spiced chicken restaurants. I rarely order chicken at a restaurant as it has a tendency to become overcooked and is generally boring, I really enjoyed this one for the spices, especially as I had never tried peri-peri before. The chicken could have been of better quality but for 25 pounds between the three of us, with enough food for 4, we were more than pleased.

For lunch before hoping on the bus back to London the next day, we grabbed a bowl of noodles at the ubiquitous Wagamama, a favorite with many for their flavorful Asian-inspired soup noodles. I had the Chicken Kare noodles in a coconut based spicy sauce. It was ok. I felt that it could use a lot more punch to the soup base and the noodles were soggier than I would have liked. However, it was fine for a quick lunch stop.

I was however, much, much more impressed by Jen's cafe, which boasts handmade noodles and dumplings, which are wrapped by two pleasant ladies in front of a show window corner. I had the spicy pork noodles (jia-jiang mien) and a bowl of Beijing dumplings (jiaozi) to share with the boy before sneaking back on my own another day for another taste of those toothsome, deliciously springy noodles. It was my definite favorite find of the trip.

One of the great joys of travelling is the different tastes and finding pleasure in new things to eat, even if it is just in a chain restaurant.

Unfortunately I don't remember the exact address for Jen's cafe but it can be found at Newport Place in London's Chinatown.

Seaweed not see bread

I was recently in the UK again, this time it was a birthday party for the boy's sister's 30th. It was, as always with the boy's family, a very fun, elaborate affair involving cameras, pirates and the rain. Oh, the last bit was about Wales and not the party. The sun we ordered for the weekend didn't arrive on time.


In any case, upon arriving, we were taken to a pub lunch at what I thought was a pub named Earthlings, but turned out to be Farthings written all fancy and scroll like. It was in a village charmingly named Usk. After saying the name of the village a number of times, much to the annoyance of everyone around me, I finally settled down to read the unpronounceable Welsh menu. I was quite interested to see something I hadn't tried before:

See, doesn't that sound interesting? The boy's father, who is quite adventurous with his food (even though he said durian tasted like custard vomit), said that the shellfish around dere dem parts is mighty fine (well, he didn't say it with a Southern farmer's accent but it sounds funnier, no?).

I'm not sure who they think they are fooling with this "laverbread" stuff but it ain't NOTHING like bread. It's actually seaweed. Why they can't just say seaweed, I have no idea.

This what it looked like:

It tasted quite similar to how it looked as well, with some bacon and slightly slimy seaweed and rubbery cockles, it actually tasted a little bit like one of the soups my mother used to make with seaweed and rubbery dried squid. It was fed to us under the extortion "its good for you" but no one ever liked it.

It was interesting but I don't think I'd try it again. Neither will I try pickled cockles, which I also picked up on this trip, which tasted like little rubbery, slightly vinegary nothings.

I think I'll just have to stick to what the Welsh do best. Lamb... mmmnn, tender meat o' baby lambies....YUM!