Edible adventures with the little sister

So following on from my weekend (last week) with my family and then the little sister, this is what we got up to when she came to stay…

We made French toast or eggy bread.  The little sister had hers with cinnamon sugar and I added some crushed (and homegrown!) raspberries to mine…

We made ‘cheats’ wraps – seed flecked tortilla wraps filled with Moroccan style hummous, sweet potato falafel and homegrown lettuce.  Sadly only the salad was homegrown…

We also had a delicious girlie lunch at Tampopo (the little sister’s favourite) – we shared Vietnamese goi cuon, she ate yaki udon noodles and I ate pad Thai.  Sadly we ate it all too quickly and there are no photos to show for these delicious dishes.

However, we also grabbed some lunch from Selfridges which I did snap a few quick photos of before we devoured it.  A selection of Indian delights and a pesto, mushroom and cheese pretzel and a mango smoothie to share…

A vegetarian breakfast for a hungry sister – a fried egg, sunny-side up with diced vegetarian sausage…

As part of her final parting dinner we did a baked Camembert eaten with crusty white bread that we picked up at the Abbey Leys farmer’s market.  Recipe for how to bake Camembert (it’s really easy) here.

We also made to-die-for cookies.  These are Hugh’s 10 minute cookies from his River Cottage Everyday recipe book, and they are everything you want from a cookie.  They are moist in places but crispy in others, chewy, sweet, and bittersweet with dark chocolate…

And finally, just before we left to pop her on a train home, we whipped up a quick quesadilla.  Two tortillas pan fried in a little oil with grated cheddar cheese and chopped cherry tomatoes sandwiched in the middle…

I miss you little sister!

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The Pioneer Woman’s scrummy noodles

Last night N and I tried out a fellow bloggers recipe for dinner.  I am an avid follower of The Pioneer Woman, especially her cookery section, and loved the simplicity of her Simple Sesame Noodles and knew I would try it out. 

Although – as normal – I didn’t follow the recipe to the letter, I did use almost all of the ingredients she suggested for the sesame dressing, just not measured carefully.  She uses a lovely combination of soy sauce, sugar, minced garlic, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and a hit of chilli. 

You simply whisk all the dressing ingredients together – we didn’t have chilli oil so I substituted some dried chilli flakes and a dash of Tabasco.  Cook the noodles – we used Japanese soba noodles.  Mix in the dressing.  And add some sliced spring onions.

We also included our own addition of some teriyaki mushrooms – a mixture chopped oyster and chestnut mushrooms, fried with a little teriyaki and soy sauce added towards the end, then turn up the heat so the mushrooms go golden and slightly caramelised at the edges.

Simply scrummy.  For the full recipe and directions go here.  And for other delicious dishes from Ree head over to The Pioneer Woman.

Oh, and I haven’t forgotten the follow-up parts to our Italy holiday, more on that coming soon!

Little sister visit: Part II (the dreaded Trafford centre)

Who would have ever guessed that a blog about eating locally would have involved a post about the Trafford Centre.  I am, however, only human, and I have a weakness for spoiling my little sister.  For a fifteen-year-old girl, especially one from the middle of rural Gloucestershire, there can be nothing better than a trip to the Trafford Centre when visiting ones big sister.

I am not really prepared for a visit to the Trafford Centre, I find it rather crowded and overwhelming, and far too stifling.  We had to refresh after a couple of hours and rehydrate with a quite good smoothie.

After a looooooooooong day, a couple of bags and quite a number of hours later the shopping part was over.  N finished work and met us for dinner, which was at the request of the little sister – Tampopo.  She revealed she had already read their menu online a number of times, and knew exactly what she wanted.

tempura vegetables

We shared some starters – Tempura Vegetables with plum sauce, and Goi Cuon (delicate spring rolls – not the deep fried version – filled with rice noodles and vegetables) with a soy and ginger dipping sauce.  My favourite of the tempura vegetables were the green beans, but as N pointed out that’s probably because they were mostly batter :0)  The Goi Cuon were so fresh and scrumptious, and by complete chance I have a book out from the library on street food which has a recipe for them – one to try soon I hope!

Goi Cuon

For mains N had Singapore Noodles – curry sauce with chicken and prawns.

Singapore noodles

The little sister chose a vegan Japanese noodle dish – Yaki Udon – with red peppers.

Yaki Udon

And I went for Chap Chai, which is Korean rice noodles with cucumber and shitake mushrooms.  De-lish!

Chap Chai

So, although this isn’t the homemade, seasonal, locally distinct food that I normally like to cook and eat, it was a fun night out and made the little sister very happy.