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The past two weeks I feel have hardly seen me eat a homecooked meal. I have eaten all kinds of food all over the country – some good, some bad, some better than others – but what I can say is that I am ready to eat platefuls of my own, homecooked food.
Here’s my two weeks in food.
1. Bradford ~ unexciting council catered sandwiches but delicious, spicy, vegetable samosas.
2. North Yorkshire ~ sandwiches under cling film, pretty tasty chunky cut ham sandwiches, good looking fruit scones but needed a minute in the microwave to soften.
3. London ~ more platters of sandwiches, this time M&S and fridge-cold, very nice goat’s cheese and sweet pickled carrot on grain bread shame about the cold.
4. Lancaster ~ disappointing pub meal in hotel, lots of local produce but cooked terribly, worst ‘crab’ cakes ever eaten – thick, grey stodge – yuk! Nice chocolate ice cream to save the day.
5. Kirkby Lonsdale ~ country pub lunch, good tasting ploughman’s with mustard yellow piccalilli, thick roast ham, and a Scotch Egg – dry bread but a won over by a chocolate milkshake.
6. Manchester ~ Polish lunch at training, a truly delicious beef and potato stew!
7. Chorlton ~ work Christmas party at Ostara, divine winter solstice vegetable and spice soup (a secret recipe!), scrummy cider pot roast ham with all the Christmas trimmings, but a sadly disappointing chocolate yule log. More on Ostara here…
8. Manchester ~ another wonderful Polish lunch, cheese filled pierogi’s topped with caramelised onions, and sausage and cabbage stew – am on the hunt for this Polish takeaway for more more more!
My conclusion – a dismal meal can always be saved by excellent chocolate ice cream.
Last weekend N and I had a lovely weekend down South, visiting some friends in Surrey and doing a bit of wedding planning (how exciting!) – we went to view these stunning giant tipis as a possibility for our wedding reception…
But back to food. We visited a National Trust property called Polesden Lacey (a beautiful house, gardens and stunning view – well worth a visit if you’re in the area) which also has a recently opened farmshop.
Always on the hunt for delicious local food, we chose a couple of local cheeses, a sausage roll and a pork pie. The sheep cheese we bought called Lord of the Hundreds is so tasty I could eat the whole thing in one sitting.
On Sunday night we cashed in a voucher for a free night’s stay at a hotel called the Bishop’s Table in Farnham. It’s a pretty old building painted sky blue, which has recently been refurbished downstairs combining modern and old very nicely. Upstairs hasn’t been updated, but we had a large room with a big bathroom with delightful old shutters – the only thing offense about the bedroom was the garish flowery wallpaper and matching curtains.
Breakfast, however, was going to cost £12.50 for each of us, which I think sounds quite a lot! I wasn’t convinced the breakfast would live up to its price tag, so before we left for our weekend away I had a search on the internet for an alternative option for a tasty Monday morning breakfast.
I discovered Farnham Pottery farmshop and coffee shop, which is located just outside Farnham in a place called Wrecclesham. Originally a Victorian pottery the buildings have been sympathetically converted into a small farmshop and coffee shop. With only four tables in the tiny coffee shop, it felt cosy but light and airy with a lovely atmosphere.
From the breakfast menu, N chose a bacon breakfast bap accompanied by a pot of Earl Grey, and I went for the English muffin with scrambled eggs (it did come with smoked salmon but I was far too full after a weekend of good company and good food) and a Delightful Detox smoothie (yoghurt, raspberry and pineapple).
The food was delicious. My English muffin was toasted to perfection and the scrambled egg full of flavour and moist, N’s bacon bap disappeared without a murmur, and the smoothie was scrumptious. And the cost – £12.60 - just 10p more than it would have cost for one of to have breakfast at the hotel, and it was just what we were after.
Next week in Manchester is the annual Food & Drink Festival. All week long there will be different foodie offers at various eating establishments around the city, and a number of ‘fringe’ festivals in suburbs of the city.
My regular grocery shopping district is Chorlton, a part of Greater Manchester that is stuffed full of wonderful places to buy, eat and enjoy excellent food and drink. Recently we heard about a newish restaurant called Ostara, a ‘modern British restaurant’ that claims to serve food made from the ‘finest organic and locally sourced ingredients available.’
N and I decided it sounded well worth sampling to see if the food was as good as it promised. Situated on a busy street in Chorlton, Ostara greets you with a warm but stylish interior of mossy green walls, sleek but functional wooden furniture, framed botanical prints, and vintage bottles filled with seasonal flowers and foliage.
We ordered Fentiman’s Old Fashioned Lemonade while we looked through their weekday set menu. At 2 courses for £11 and an option for 3 courses at a price I can’t remember, it seems very good value for money if they provided the quality ingredients they advertised.
The menu was full of options that I would have happily chosen. In the end we opted for starters of a goats cheese and onion tartlet and a wild mushroom pate with carrot chutney, and for mains N chose bangers and mash and I decided to try the savoury steamed pudding with leek, spinach and Red Leicester cheese. I have searched online for their menu so that I could give you the full description of these dishes, but to no avail.
N’s goats cheese and onion tartlet was deliciously creamy and very cheesy. It came with corn salad (or mache to some people) and something that tasted like an unusual pesto – if only I had written down the description from the menu.
When my pate arrived I was delighted. I was expecting a smooth pate, but it was in fact a very coarse pate made from wild mushrooms, many of which were distinguishable. In a small dish I had what was described as carrot chutney, which was in fact marinated grated carrot with what I think were coriander seeds spotted through it – it was delicate, and fragrant and spicy and went wonderfully with the pate and toast.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from my savoury steamed pudding, and when it arrived to first look at it was slightly odd. A large dome of soft beige pastry. However, once I dug my knife into it, out of it oozed this buttercup yellow sauce dotted with tiny chunks of vegetables. It was as delicious as everything else we had eaten so far, although I did struggle towards the end with some of the pastry.
N’s ‘bangers and mash’ were in fact two fat sausages (I believe from out door reared piggies) and a colcannon mash which was laced with slithers of savoy cabbage. The fat sausages were perfectly browned, and meaty but not overpowering (like some we ate in Italy, which were a little too meaty for our tastes).
Both our dishes were accompanied by the same vegetables, which we found refreshing compared to restaurants that serve different vegetables with each dish. These were cooked exactly to our taste, tiny carrots soft and giving but still with bite in the centre, vibrant green sprouting broccoli that hadn’t been cooked to a mush, and finally some green beans, still crunchy in the middle.
What a treat! Ostara serves up delicious, British-inspired, seasonal food that leaves you feeling like you’ve just eaten a wonderfully prepared homecooked meal. If you’re in Manchester – don’t forget to stop here for a bite to eat.
So, I must confess, I was hoping tonight to share a lovely meal N and I had last night at a fab new restaurant in Manchester…however, it appears I have left our camera with all the great images of our meal in our car…which in turn is in the garage having its exhaust fixed.
Fingers-crossed the car will be back tomorrow and along with it the camera. Then I shall share some scrumptious food, including a divine wild mushroom pate and a savoury steamed pudding.
We arrived in Naples on Friday lunchtime with bellies rumbling having eaten a couple of sorry chocolate-flecked brioche for breakfast.
After dumping our bags at our B&B – Donna Regina – set in the heart of the Centro Storico we headed out in search of lunch.
Only a short distance onto Via Del Tribunali there were lunch options all around us. Fantastic street food, incredible smells, people bustling about, scooters whizzing past.
In the end we chose a small shop front that seemed popular with the locals, a large queue outside who occasionally were invited behind the counter and swallowed up by darkness as they disappeared into the depths of the building. We could only guess that there were seats hidden away.
Behind the plastic counter top was a small selection of freshly cooked items. One of these items was pizza – pizza al forno, and this is what we choose. The pizzas were folded into a piece of paper and handed over to us for 1 euro each!
These delicious pizzas were spread with a thin layer of fresh tomato sauce and one small piece of mozzarella in their centre. The edges were singed black from the wood-fired oven they had recently been baked in, the gritty burnt taste I came to understand is vital to the flavour of a true Neapolitan pizza.
We made it as far as a bench on a small, grubby piazza before we tucked into these tasty pizzas. Throughout out holiday we saw people eating these kinds of street pizzas, folded in paper, during their lunch breaks. Even smart Italian women in their suits and high heels were seen tucking into them.
As we sat licking tomato sauce from our fingers on the small piazza, we spotted a gelato shop on the corner.
Here we order two ice creams – for me a ‘cioccolata’ (chocolate) and for N a ‘limone sorbetta’ (lemon sorbet). Both were homemade and incredibly tasty. My chocolate ice cream was a deep, dark chocolate flavour – the best ice cream we had all holiday.
On the way back to our B&B we stopped at a small cafe – Bar Tico – and had a cold Peroni (for N) and a small cup of lemon granita eaten with a spoon. These became our signature drinks for the holiday – photos of lemon granitas to come.
The B&B that we had booked into was run by a family of artists on the 4th floor of an ancient building. Reached through an unassuming wooden door off Via Luigi Settembrini and up many stairs made from large grey stone, inside it was tranquil and charming.
Our bedroom overlooked the street below, and despite the scaffolding on the building opposite was quiet and cool, sheltered from the strong Italian sun.
At dinner time we headed back out onto the warm, sticky streets and settled at a local pizzeria for another dose of good Italian pizzas.
N ordered a ‘Napoli’ pizza, topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella, anchovies and oregano.
Mine by called ‘Pizza Re’ and was topped with small chunks of fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, some other kind of cheese, and once cooked finished with rocket and olive oil.
Whilst eating our pizzas we watched them busily making pizzas – deftly spreading out lumps of dough into pizza bases in no time at all, adding the various toppings and sliding them into the wood-fired oven.
For our first afternoon in Naples, we had eaten incredibly well already, and couldn’t wait for the rest of our food adventures.
N and I got back from our week in Italy last night, having had a truly wonderful holiday in Naples and on the Amalfi Coast. I have religiously kept a food diary of all the food we consumed and can’t wait to share the high’s and lo’s with you all.
I have also got over 400 photos (I know!) to go through so there will be a couple of installments over the next week or more, so please check back.
Here’s a sneak peek in the meantime of some of the delicious food we found and ate on our travels in Italy…
So a couple of days turned into over a month! I just get so swept away with all the other lovely food related activities in my kitchen, garden and on the allotment that I completely forget these other things I promise. If you’re just joining us, you can read Part 1 of my food memories in the Loire valley here.
I shall begin where I left off, which was in a beautiful little town on the banks of the Loire called Candes St Martin. This was where I ate probably the best food ever in the most lovely setting. Now don’t be expecting some Michellin starred restaurant or stunning views, this was a small, family-run affair tucked away up the back streets.
I am a big fan of all things old, vintage and love carboot sales and junk shops. N got rather fed up on this holiday as I had done my research and discovered the French word ‘brocante’ which is along the lines of a flea market/garage sale/table top sale/antiquey-junk shop.
So every where we went I was scouring the countryside and towns for signs reading ‘brocante’. I found quite a few, and N was a lovely boyfriend and turned off down winding side streets and pulled over at the side of the road numerous times in the search for lovely old French ‘things’.
So whilst wandering along the quiet streets of Candes St Martin I spotted a sign in a little shop window. Now it wasn’t really a shop, more a window displaying items sold in a shop that wasn’t on that premises. Much like if I popped a whole load of vintage items in my front window.
The sign in the window was a deep burgundy red, and mentioned a brocante and salon de thé 500m up the hill. So off we went – N encouraged by the promise of a cool drink and bit to eat.
At the top of the hill in amongst the houses, set off a sleepy little square, there it was - Table de Matiéres – La Brocante Gourmande.
Past the lovely old white stone walls, you entered a pretty little courtyard. It was full of sprawling nasturtiums and hollyhocks bobbing in the breeze. A random assortment of chairs and tables were set out, some with pretty tablecloths. In amongst them were old bedsteads with peeling pink paint and vintage fruit crates.
The courtyard was framed on one side by a huge stone wall that seemed to be holding the hillside back. The owner’s house was to one corner and built up against the side of the hill.
At the other end of the coutryard was a wooden fronted building that disappeared into the hill. This was the Brocante Gourmande. It was full of old treasures and vintage books. It went way back, with small rooms off it that were dug into the hillside.
I was instantly in love. Food and vintage finds all in one place – what a dream come true. We visited Table de Matiéres more than once, and came away with a couple of old fruit crates with lovely vintage labels on the front, and two pretty bird prints – one of swallows and one of two doves. I think that was all I was allowed…but I could have bought so much more.
Then to the food. The menu sounded delicious, it was one of those rare menus where you read it and think you would happily eat anything and everything on it. Cassolette de charcuterie…Croq d’été…Assiette de tomatoes, feta, carpaccio de canard…Tarte aux prunes…
N and I decided on a simple lunch of a shared plate of cheeses, N accompanied his with a glass of rosé and I couldn’t resist the scrumptious sounding milkshake pêche. Now this milkshake was divine. I even wrote some notes down after drinking in an attempt to pin down the flavours in it. It didn’t taste like a normal milkshake, it was more like a combination of milk and yoghurt, with fresh peaches in it. One day I shall try and recreate it.
The planche de fromages was simply presented on a wooden board. There was a selection of four cheeses and a pot of crusty baguette. I wish I had asked the owner to write down the names of the cheeses, as they were so tasty, but I didn’t, and shall forever regret it.
Now, I realise it doesn’t sound like we actually ate much, and you might ask “how on earth” can I come to the conclusion that this was the best food I’ve ever eaten, when all I ate was a plate of cheese.
Well, that’s the mystery of our memories – I simply remember this experience of eating good, simple food in the most delightful of places as heaven. I shall never forget it and it will stay imprinted on my memory in such a way that on the gloomiest of days I still conjure up that lovely eating experience.
What was also so special was that it was run by an ordinary seeming couple out of their home. When the husband took our order, he went up a flight of stone steps and into what must have been their kitchen. You could hear his wife preparing the food, you could tell the quality of the produce from the small menu they offered, and it was just such a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere.
So if you’re ever in the Loire and happen upon this pretty little town of Candes St Martin, make sure you drive up the steep winding road to the top of the hill, park under the large shady tree on the square, and wander along the road to Table de Matiéres - you can’t miss it, you will see the vintage ephemera tumbling out of the gateway and its turquoise green gates beckoning you in.
Check back soon for the next part of my food memories from France
I thought it was about time that I told you about my lovely food memories from my holidays in the Loire Valley in France. The Loire is about five hours drive south into France and slightly to the west side. It hugs ‘The Loire’ a stunning river that is the longest in France. The part where we stay near Saumur is dotted with chateaux and vineyards, and chalky white buildings.
As a child I used to go to the south of France with my family every May half term, but the Loire is a relatively new discovery and N and I have been twice. I never thought I would want to return to the same place, what with holidays being so rare and costly, and there being so many places to visit, but last summer we knew that we wanted to go back for a second time. We ended up in the Loire after I found this pretty little campsite on an internet search – Le Chant D’Oiseau.
Many of our holidays are chosen by beautiful places to stay – we find somewhere that we think “we’d really like to stay there” and then we look at what the areas like, then off we go. We are now good friends with the English family that run Le Chant D’Oiseau and would highly recommend it if you are looking for a home-away-from-home; a relaxing retreat; or a safe, family-friendly site. They also have really nice gites if you want a few more luxuries.
N and I camp. I am currently of the mind that France is the only place I’m really happy to camp, as the weather is pretty much guaranteed to be nice during the summer hols. A fair weather camper, is me.
Going back for a second year meant that we knew quite a few places that we liked, and it was nice to know that we sort of knew our way around a bit. However, since the first time we went my passion for all things edible has increased so now most of the holiday was based around food – markets, lunch, dinner, local food production etc. I have to remind myself that it’s N’s holiday too and that he might like to do something other than trek round France looking for a small village that produces poires tapées…
Poires tapées is a unique way of preparing pears (and apples – pommes tapées) from a village called Rivarennes. The pears are scalded and peeled before they are cleaned and put into a furnace. From my understanding, the furnace is there to dry the pears out, not cook them. A couple of days later the pears are pressed using an unusually wooden device called a ‘platissoire’ that presses them flat, hence the ‘tapées’ part.
In Rivarennes we went to a small cottage where they used to make poires tapées and watched a short video on its history, and then got to try some of the products they make with the pears. We were given a whole pear that had been rehydrated in red wine…blimey it was strong and I only managed to nibble at mine (I’m not a red wine drinker). Then they gave us these little bowls with diced dry pear – each bowl had a different variety of pear and it was really interesting to taste the differences between the varieties. My favourite was the funny sounding Queue de Rat.
So where else did our food travels in the Loire take us… Well, we fell in love with two pretty towns right on the banks of the Loire – Montsoreau…
…and Candes-Saint-Martin.
We ended up spending a large part of our holiday here, whether it be wandering the quiet streets of Candes-Saint-Martin and dreaming of living in some of the stunning houses, or sitting up on top of the huge hill that overlooked the towns and the Loire with stunning views.
Many a cheese and saucisson picnic was eaten in the dappled shade on this hill.
In Montsoreau we found a popular little cafe that was full of locals and therefore bound to be pretty decent food. We ate here twice in the end, because the food was honest and tasty, and the waitress was extremely friendly and tolerant of our attempts to order in French (we’re not that bad I don’t think…). If I remember correctly, I think we ate the same food both times – very adventurous of us, I know. I had Croque Monsieur (yum, yum, yum) and N finished off a big plate of Steak Frites. It was some of the best cooked steak he’s ever had, almost mooing on the plate!
We also had starters of locally-grown mushrooms in a simple vinaigrette sauce (can’t remember the details of it which is a shame), but it was really good. There are lots of caves along the banks of the Loire, some were used as dwellings (troglodytes) and others are now used to grow mushrooms in. Lots of mushrooms.
We went into the mushroom caves on our first visit to the Loire, which was back in 2006, so I can’t remember the types of mushrooms. But this is how they grow shitake type mushrooms…
I’ve realised that on two trips to the Loire there is quite a lot of lovely food experiences to share. For now I shall leave it here, and will post Part 2 in a couple of days, and I shall tell you about possibly my favourite place to eat ever. The place I would go back to for my last meal.
Have a great weekend!
The Organic Farm Shop near Cirencester in Gloucestershire was one of my first experiences of a farm shop. It is my ‘local’ farm shop when visiting my family, and stopping off here on the journey is a sign that we’re nearly there.
As you turn off the road and down the long tree-lined drive to the farm shop, you pass piggies in a field and a market garden sized field of fruit buses and pollytunnels, before you reach the farm shop nestled amongst a grove of trees. There is something lovely about seeing the produce growing in the fields before you enter the farm shop, something reassuring – and a great reminder about where a lot of the produce you buy in the shop comes from.
In addition to the farm shop (which is stocked with fantastic goodies) there is a cafe serving delicious, home-cooked vegetarian food. Meat-eaters do not be detered by the veggie menu, it is scrumptious food and you won’t sit there wondering where you steak is. If N can cope, anyone can.
As it was my birthday weekend, we decided to treat ourselves to lunch in the cafe. It serves daily specials and have a standard menu which comprises of a variety of baked potatoes and omelettes. Most meals are served with a selection of salads, which are displayed on the counter.
You can pick and choose which salads you want – N and I turned down the mung bean, red cabbage and cauliflower salad, but were really surprised by salad of celery, cucumber, fennel and sunflower seeds. I was also converted to the true potential of polenta – an ingredient that I have had disastrous-throw-in-the-bin results with – these were crisp, cheesy ‘croutons’ that topped off our salad. Yum yum.
So N opted for a selection of salads topped with melt-in-the-mouth goats cheese (he had eaten his before I had a chance to take a snap). I chose from the specials board and tasted my first asparagus of the season – an asparagus and cheese tart with salads. This tart was so good and would really like to recreate, or at least try to!
As you can see it didn’t take us long to finish it all off. I am also coming to the realisation that I am a bit obsessed by taking photographs of empty plates (those that are empty because the food that previously was on them has all been gobbled up). I was so tempted to take a photo of the table next to us after the family had left, there was something fascinating about the empty plates, cutlery, cups and crumpled napkins strewn across the table. N gave me such a look at the suggestion that I quickly put the camera away.
sillyness
The final day of my little sister’s visit was spent in Manchester, visiting the Manchester Craft and Design Centre and naturally some more shopping. But before we left home, we made some homemade chocolate croissants. We’d all been watching Nigella Express earlier in the week and she’d made these simple looking pastries which we all fancied having a go at.
You very simply take some readymade puff pastry, roll it out (or buy ready rolled if you’re Nigella), cut it into squares, then each square is cut in half across the diagonal to form triangles. You take a chunk of chocolate – we made some using 70% cocoa (my favourite) and some with milk chocolate (little sister’s choice) – place it on the longest side of the triangle, and carefully roll it up. Once you’ve finished rolling you bend the long leggy bits round to form something like this:
Nigella’s naturally looked a lot more attractive than ours, and she made rolling them up look easy-peasy, which I didn’t think they were… You then glaze each croissant with a beaten egg and bung in the oven at about 180°C for 10-15 minutes or until they’re golden. This is what they looked like:
I can’t say I thought they tasted as good as I was hoping. A lot of pastry and not much else. We found the milk chocolate didn’t melt that well, and the 70% cocoa was too bitter. I think if we tried them again I would use a plain chocolate around 50% cocoa, and after glazing them with egg perhaps sprinkle some caster sugar over them before baking to give the pastry a hint of sweetness.
So after filling up on chocolate croissants, the little sister and I headed into Manchester. First stop was Chinatown in search of beautiful Japanese paper – the little sister had seen some in HobbyCraft but it seemed overpriced even if it was incredibly lovely. We did find some and I look forward to finding out what the little sister does with it. Next we headed into Piccadilly Gardens to the Saturday Fashion Market – we passed Canal Street on the way which looked stunning with the cherry blossom out:
taken by the little sister
Our final stop of the day, before the little sister’s train home, was the Manchester Craft and Design Centre which is situated in the Northern Quarter. The Northern Quarter is full of quirky design features, and with the sun out and air warm felt like we’d been transported briefly to a European city. The little sister took some snaps:
We found a gorgeous little flower shop called Northern Flower, which will be added to my other hobby – an online directory for natural, eco-friendly weddings The Natural Wedding Company – as they use a lot of seasonal English flowers.
The little sister and I really enjoyed our browse around the different studios in the Manchester Craft and Design Centre. From photography, to textiles, jewellery and painted tiles, there is some really beautifully handmade creations being produced and sold here. I would highly recommend a visit to anyone interested in craft, design or all things handmade. We had lunch in their cafe – Cafe Aromat – which was delicious. We both had leek and potato soup, the little sister had a brie, tomato and pesto pannini and I had a mackerel, cucumber and lemon mayo sandwich:
On their counter top were a tray of enticingly soft, unctuous looking muffins. We were eyeing them up all through out lunch, and decided that we would share one – on looking back we should have pigged out and had one each they were so good. I let the little sister pick (I wanted the plain muffin covered in Smarties) and she chose us a Snickers Muffin. I would have never picked this muffin, and was quite sure that I would probably end up letting her eat most of it as I didn’t think I’d like it. How wrong I was…
This chocolate muffin was filled with a scoop of smooth peanut butter, smeared with a toffee sauce, and topped with a sprinkling of chopped nuts. It was divine. To die for. Definitely worth going back for. The little sister said it was the best muffin she had probably ever had. I might even have to agree.
As you can see, it didn’t take us long to finish…
And that was the end of the little sister’s visit. We wandered over to the train station, popped her on her train, and waved goodbye. I really miss her, and hope she’ll come back to stay soon.
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