Heartwarming Eating: in sickness and in health

So it's been a rather long time since I last had the opportunity to blog! For a few reasons- my Dad was very suddenly, very poorly (and now thank goodness better), our wedding was all of a sudden very soon, and then after all of this we had very much needed couple of weeks on honeymoon- so you see, not much time for writing about eating (although plenty for the act of eating, naturally)- and lots of verys, clearly.

So the first thing to say is that my Dad is fixed (and now bionic) thanks to the staff at Cheltenham General A&E, Critical Care Unit and Cardiac Ward- who are are amazingly talented and compassionate people. Secondly- I am now Mr B's, Mrs B! We got married and it was just fabulous. I will have to write a blog about the big day and thank all of our incredible local suppliers properly, everything from the venue, flowers, cake, catering, string quartet and band were all exceptional. And then came the honeymoon! 24 hours in Rome, followed by 10 nights in rural Sardinia- it was just perfect, and again Sardinia and Rome certainly deserve a blog each, the food and wine in both places were amazing! 

Sneak preview of Sardinia- this is just breakfast, but what a breakfast!

Contemplating life... and my next meal.

So just a quickie today to say happy Father's days to all you Dads out there- but especially to my Dad, and my new Dad in law! I cooked them a proper Sri Lankan feast today- chicken curry, pandanus leaf rice, paripoo (Dahl), malung (coconut stir fried cabbage), pol sambol (fresh coconut chutney), Indonesian peanut eggs, spiced ribs, home grown salad, aubergine sambol and some bread for dipping. You know, just a light lunch... Childhood favourites for my Dad (and me!), and a well received (phew) exotic introduction for my in-laws. All recipes can be found in Charmain Solomon's 'The Complete Asian Cookbook' that I am so often raving about! 

Aubergine Sambol- amazing little bright yellow and cream 'Garden Egg' aubergines picked up in Canton very cheaply. 

Peanut Eggs- family fave!

Then for desert I made shots of indulgent chocolate orange mousses topped with Hotel Chocolat chilli choc buttons, and pineapple macerated with mint and sugar on the side. This also went down a treat, I'm pleased to say- and was an ingenious way to use up flumps.. Yes flumps. We had big Kilner jars of sweets at the wedding and whilst these were pretty well devoured, we still seem to have enough sweets to stock a small tuck shop. I remembered Nigella has a marshmallow based choc mousse recipe- and I'm pleased to report that it works excellently with flumps and the zest of an orange. We then had the opportunity to show off our fancy new Nespresso skills, by insisting everyone had a coffee to finish! 

So apologies I've not been about (so to speak)- but it's good to be back in the blogging saddle. Can't wait to share more food based chatter about our wedding and honeymoon- I'll catch up soon! 

In the meantime, I leave you with fried chicken. The day that Dad had his final operation and all went to plan, Mr B and I went to Chucks opening night and gorged ourselves silly on the immense Welsh, free range chicken wings. The buffalo wing sauce was our person highlight- the frickles were pretty lush too. It was a noisy, smokey night in a warehouse- and yes there was a few first night type hitches with timings, but we had a great time and I hear that they have sorted out waiting times now too. Finger licking good. 

@ChucksCDF I NEED the recipe for buffalo hot wing sauce!

Mad March Fayre

March has been mad, its official. Mainly down to work, but I am pleased to report that my appetite and eating hasn't suffered too much!

I'm loving how popular the @TweetCardiff #ShopCardiff challenge seems to be, people all over Cardiff have been doing their food shopping locally this week, which is just brilliant- we have incredible resources, so it just makes sense! Have a look at my previous posts for some of my favorite local shops, markets and ideas of what to cook with our glorious Welsh produce!

If you have ready my previous posts, you will know that I love a list, I can't help myself. So here we go, my top March eats in no particular order...

Eating Out:

• The Smoke House. I was thrilled to be invited along to The Smoke House along with lots of other local foodie bloggers and journalists earlier in the month. A group of us gathered around a long table and sampled a fabulous section of the menu at the new venture- giving our feedback on the food, and generally having a wonderful time.I look forward to going back soon (next week!) and reviewing the food a-proper now that the restaurant has had a little time to bed in. As a sneak preview- I would have to say that the pulled pork and the signature 'slaw were my highlights at the tasting. Cannot wait to try the ribs next week.

• .CN At The Smoke House tasting, Mr B and myself had the absolute pleasure of meeting Corpulent Capers, a lovely blogging duo who gave us some great tips! They said that we must try .CN (which we did, immediately!). We were not disappointed, the restaurant was full the night that we wanted to eat there- so we instead got takeout to enjoy with friends back at ours. We ordered probably twice as much as we should have in our enthusiasm, but it didn't matter as it just fed us for a couple of days! Highlights were the hot duck tongues- gorgeous crispy little fellas, thinly coated with batter- they have a small bone in the middle, so you pull the flesh off a little bit like eating artichoke leaves, right up my street! The pork filled buns were a dream, as were the gigantic swirly buns. The crispy lamb breast was just that, and very flavorsome to boot. The salt and pepper squid was also delicately cooked  and beautifully seasoned. Good times had by all! Do check out Corpulent Capers blog for a more full review of .CN. Thanks for the tip guys, looking forward to meeting for dinner soon!

.CN at home feast!

• You might not think of heading over to St Fagans museum for a snack, but oh how I would urge you to! We are lucky enough to live within walking distance of the museum, and I couldn't resist including their bakers here. When visiting this amazing free attraction, do pop into the tiny bakers hut. The cheesy roll fresh from the oven was divine to nibble on whilst cooing at the baby animals, as was the freshly baked loaf that we managed not to eat on the spot and took home. We ate this with a lentil and bacon soup- made with veg from @Welshbox and bacon bits from Thompsons Butchers in Penarth. 

Hot Cheesy buns!

@WelshBox Veg used in soup with St Fagans bread.

Doves flying at St Fagans

Baby lambs at St Fagans!

• Ogmore Farm Tea Rooms- how did I not know about this place? Mr B and I love Ogmore, in fact it was at this beach that Mr B asked to me to become Mrs B! But somehow I have never noticed the charming tea rooms next to the Castle ruins. It feels a little like you are walking into someones house, but stick with it- the results are so worth it! Once in, you are welcomed and seated in the lovely farmhouse style restaurant. The specials looked great- I will certainly be going back to try out the homemade pies and fragrant mussels, my neck was arching to look at every morsel that was bought out and they all looked excellent. Mr B and I decided to split the home baked ham sandwich and a jam and cream scone. A very simple lunch, but one that I would thoroughly recommend. Proper thick cut ham, that tasted as good as my Mum's (big complement!) and surprisingly great coleslaw, its amazing the difference that proper homemade mayonnaise can make. The clotted cream scone was just as it should be- light scone, with densely rich cream, complete with the golden mottled crust on top that I love, and of course good raspberry jam. Welsh Brew tea was served in proper china tea cups. And all this for under £10, after a long walk on the beach- nothing short of ideal.

Ogmore Farm Tea Rooms

Afternoon tea as it should be!

Eating in:

• Square Farm Hogget Chops with Cumin Cauli and Kale Cous Cous. Simply place the chops, florets of cauli and cloves of garlic in a roasting tray, drizzle veg with a little olive oil, salt flakes and ground cumin and roast until golden. In the meanwhile- add hot stock to cover the cous cous, cover and leave to the side. Simmer a chopped baby leek until soft, then add in finely chopped kale and continue to cook town until tender. Sprinkle in salt, pepper, fresh mint and a handful of crumbled feta- then add in your plumped up cous cous and combine. Serve with a couple of cheeky kalamata olives if you have them in the fridge. 

• On one of my 500 cal days, I made Golden Beetroot Gratin with Honey and Thyme served with smoked Salmon and Leaves. This was ideal after a long trip to London for work! The beets were the star- simply wrap in foil and bake until tender (1-2 hours). I did this the night before and just left left to one side until I was ready to cook with them after work. All I did was peel and slice them, before laying the golden discs out in a small gratin dish- sprinkling with thyme and drizzling with balsamic, olive oil, honey and finishing up with a crumbling of feta, before popping under the grill until the cheese browns and the honey starts to bubble. Simple, healthy, local and delicious! 

• Easter Nest- in the festive spirit all thoughts of nutrition went out the window and I melted a load of mars bars and stirred in cornflakes to make Mr B this chocolatey treat! 

Its worth noting that the veg mentioned above came from my wonderful Welsh Food Box delivery! 

Right, off to get ready for the week ahead and distract myself from the Sunday night dread creeping in (I know its Monday!).

Llongyfarchiadau Cymru! #shopcardiff

I don't know if you heard, but Wales did pretty well in the rugby yesterday? In celebration, I thought that I would share some of the good Welsh eating that I've been up to of late!
As you will have gathered, I am a big fan of independent food shopping where possible. So I was delighted to see the @tweetcardiff campaign to #shopcardiff. It just so happened that just the week before I had ordered my first @welshbox veggie box and received my order of half a hogget from Square Farm in Mitchell Troy near Monmouth.

So I've spent the last couple of weeks cooking with some truly exceptional base ingredients. I've found that having the veg box is encouraging me to re-visit some more traditional Welsh recipes. Here are my top 5 from the last couple of weeks:

1. Cawl; deeply flavoursome hogget neck fillet with fabulous @welshbox carrots, potatoes, baby leeks, parsnips and a small handful of barley. The difference between the taste of this root veg and the stuff you get in supermarkets is incomparable. Even as you cut the parsnips and carrots you can really smell the flavours. After a long day at work, a bowl of this and a glass of red is just ideal- chop it all up, chuck in it a pot, cover with water/stock and simmer until tender. What could be easier?

2. Corned Beef Hash with Poached Hen's Eggs and Crispy Greens. This was surprisingly tasty, and very simple! First of all brown some leeks in a little butter, until they start to brown, then add cubes of corned beef coated in Welsh mustard to the frying pan and sauté with the leeks for a minute, before adding a good dollop of mash. Give the contents of the pan a stir, then leave it to catch- you actually want it a little bit burnt as that's where the crispy bits and caramelised flavour comes in. I poached my eggs in the potato water whilst the hash finished off. In order to make the crispy greens, simply finely slice and toss in a bowl with Welsh rape seed oil, salt and a little sugar- then lay out the shiny seaweed-looking greens onto a baking sheet and place in a hot oven for 5 mins, or until crispy. I love greens this way, they provide the ideal topping to the dish.

3. Hogget Chops with Fairy Potatoes. This could not be easier, simply place your chops on a baking tray, add cubed potatoes, whole cloves of garlic- sprinkle with a good grinding of salt, pepper and perhaps a pinch of dried thyme. Drizzle a little oil over the potatoes then roast in the oven until golden. The fat from the chops will render away and give the potatoes and garlic the most wonderful flavour. Why 'Fairy' potatoes? I'll be straight with you- I'm not really sure. Mr B's Nan used to make these little roast potatoes for tea from time to time, and this is what they were called! I like it, It makes me picture greedy little fairies eating the mini roasties.

4. Ok, so this might not be strictly a Welsh dish, but we do love a curry here in Wales- so I feel justified in including this! Madgetts Farm Chicken Wings in my special Tandoori seasoning with roast chunks of spring cabbage. Simply coast the chicken in your favourite spice mix or seasoning, cut a small cabbage in quarters (drizzle in oil and sprinkle with salt) then place in a medium oven to roast. The roast cabbage quarters was a great suggestion from the veg box, which comes with recipe ideas every week. I love wings, and these meaty organic Welsh ones are particularly delicious.

5. Ham and Pea Soup. This one is actually bubbling away as I write, I like to make a good hearty soup and freeze the portions to see us through the working week lunches. So what's in the pot? More of those intensely flavoursome carrots, baby leeks, a ham shank bone that I had frozen for this very purpose (left over from a meaty lunch), split peas, and a small handful of bacon bits from Thompson Family Butchers in Penarth. Whenever I see a big vacuum pack of miscellaneous bacon bits in a local butchers I snap them up- I tend to divide the 'bits' into handful portions and pop them in the freezer, ready for when the need for bacon is there (let's be honest, when is it not?).

So as you can see, when the quality of your ingredients is this good- all you need is to introduce them to each other in simple, but delightful combinations.

I've also eaten out locally, a fair bit in the last couple of weeks, and met some incredible foodie inspiration! I look forward to writing up some of these experiences shortly and sharing.

But for now, well done Wales! Land of Champions- for rugby and food.

Duck Confit & Angel Delight

Last Saturday we made the welcome and familiar trip to Broadhaven (Pembrokeshire ) to stay with friends. Stopping in at gorgeous Narbeth on the way there is compulsory. We headed straight for Ultra Comida, which was reassuringly busy as always. When joining the orderly queue for the tiny cafe area, we were quickly acknowledged, and in less than 5 minutes offered a seat at the bar. The plan was to make a late Tapas feast that evening so we opted for Bara (baguettes) for a relatively light lunch, Mr B and I opted for Tortilla and Red Pepper filling, and a mature Spanish cheese and Chorizo in the other- with a side order of Pan Fried Squid (as you do). On reflection it would have been more sensible to split a Bara between the 2 of us, these bad boys are sizable! The bread at Ultra Comida is fabulous, although we should NOT have nibbled a whole bowl of it with olive oil prior to the main event, or perhaps devoured that whole bowl of complementary olives- but we did, obviously, and they were gorgeous. However- it did mean that we very much struggled to eat our Bara- the bread was crisp on the outside and delightfully fluffy (for want of a better word) on the inside. The chorizo was strong with a paprika and garlic tang, the slightly melted cheese tasted incredible mixed with the bright red chorizo oil leaking onto the bread.

Now this is a rare thing for me to say, but perhaps the Bara would have benefited from a little less cheese, as the rich combination and generous portion proved a little sickly towards the end (but I suspect that is my bread and olive lined tummy talking). The tortilla Bara was excellent, I've said it before- but I'm always so pleasantly surprised at how delicious a simple omelette can be in the right hands. The garlicky (by definition) aioli and sweet red peppers were the ideal matching for this simple combo. The squid was well seasoned, although perhaps a little under done for our liking- although I would much rather under than over when it comes to seafood. The salsa verde and aioli on the side managed not to overpower the delicate sweet flavour of the squid. Service throughout was attentive and friendly- despite the incredibly busy lunchtime crowd. On the way out, although we could barely move- we did manage to make a few purchases in the deli: a stick of the wonderful house Bara (a bargain at £1.10), a wedge of ‘Don Luis Romero’ Rosemary coated cheese (divine), and 2 bottles of the house wine (£10 for both, ideal for our Spanish evening ahead).
 
That night, we joined our friends in Broadhaven and together whipped up a Spanish feast. Highlights of the spread included home made Croquetas - the recipe was really simple to execute actually and very good to eat- crispy shell and oozing centre. The crispy aubergines, sausagey meatballs and fine cheese selection also went down a treat with Ultra Comida's house wine, and a Rioja or two...
 

I can't mention our trip to West Wales and not include some photos of the beautiful beaches that we visited.

 
Following our trip to West Wales, we spent Monday in Monmouth with family- remembering someone very cherished in my life who is no longer with us. We like to celebrate memories at this time of year, so decided to treat ourselves to a nice lunch in town. We walked past Prego just before 2pm and decided to head in. The restaurant was relatively busy, but the serving staff quickly acknowledged us- and offered that we could wait for a table to be cleared to sit in the window, however we were happy to sit towards the back and did so to make things easier. Service was slow, it took 10 mins to get a menu and over 30 minutes for a drink to arrive at the table, in fact I had to get up and ask for this as we were getting very thirsty. I think that we were forgotten about, rather than the restaurant being so busy it took that long to serve drinks. However I must add that staff were apologetic about this fact, and explained that they were one member of staff down, following this apology our drinks (of the soft variety) were on the house, a welcome gesture. When the food arrived, we were delighted with our choices. I had Confit Duck leg served on a white bean Cassoulet with Toulouse sausage- the duck was delicately tender and flavourful, the cassoulet perfectly seasoned and tasty- dotted with plenty of good Toulouse sausage.

Mr B had a beautifully slow cooked rib of British Veal in a tomato and wine sauce, the meat was suitably unctuous- falling off the bone (and into my mouth). The sauce was robust with a hum of red wine that complemented the veal rather than dominated it- a really good dish, served with very buttery mash.

My mum enjoyed the buffalo mozzarella salad, especially with the sneaky side of herby chips (which obviously I didn't steal at all). When it came to the meal ending we were offered coffee/ desserts- which we politely declined (rare moment of self restraint) and asked for the bill. We were forgotten again at this point and the bill didn't come (we were now pretty much the only table in the restaurant)- so we got up and paid at the counter, which wasn't an issue. In summary- the food was incredibly enjoyable, the surroundings welcoming and the staff friendly. The service lacked efficiency, but in all honesty I got the feeling that we were just unlucky on the day, and this certainly wouldn't stop me visiting again.
 
The rest of the week's eating was a relatively muted affair due at an unfortunately timed Migraine. However, Mr Bailey did bring me back to life with a cup of Butterscotch Angel Delight mid-week, perhaps not the most gastronomic of dishes, but it did the trick.

The 500 cals a day, twice a week is going well by the way (I’m not even being sarcastic!). I have been tweeting dishes as I go- and am collecting up some recipes to share soon.

Weekend of Top 5's

I'm a fan of lists. So here is my weekend in the medium of lists (your lucky, I was toying with interpretive dance).

Top Cardiff Market Bargains

1.  Fabulous hunks of Ox cheek £5.99 per kg, from K. Blackmore & Sons.
2. In Sri Lankan cooking we love chunks of mutton (with bone!) to make a good curry, at the same butchers we picked up some wonderful diced Welsh Mutton for £6.99 per kg.
3. A variety of 50p bags of fruit and veg: mushrooms, huge red peppers, strawbs, bananas, and even a job lot of smoked garlic!
4. Whole large Grey Mullet, expertly filleted at Ashton's, £3.29 (£5.99 per kg).
5. Half a dozen free range eggs £1.40.

Top Meals

1. Home made Jamaican Oxtail stew, thanks to Mr G's Soul Kitchen for the marinating tips! The slow cooking, scotch bonnets and allspice berries made this dish rich and flavourful, perfect with a bottle of red.
2. Mexican Eggs- spicy, easy Sunday brunch.
3. Spinach and Feta Pastry from Pipi's, with a good strong coffee. The baklava here is amazing, a favourite ‘coffee & pastry’ haunt of ours.
4. Sticky, fudgey homemade meringues served with cream and macerated strawbs. The egg whites were left over from Valentines Beef Wellington (yolks used to glaze).
5. Cream egg in front of the TV.

Top Places

1. The breathtaking sand dunes of Merthyr Mawr. Such a good work out, making your way over these steep, golden hills! Bird life is great too.
2. Ogmore beach. Just beautiful. There is no place on earth I would have rather have been today. The sun, wind, air and exercise fuel both heart and mind. The stuff that clever people write poetry about.
3. Cardiff Market, as you can gather from the bargains list- we really enjoyed ourselves yesterday. You can get up close and really choose your produce, stall holders are friendly and the butchers especially was massively knowledgeable. I truly think that shopping this way is lighter on your wallet too. If you enjoy your food, get down to the market and show your support- your belly will thank you!
4. St David's Hall, Friday night we spent the evening with family- being entertained by the incredible Yamato Drummers.
5. My garden, I planted a tree today!

I love Cardiff, I love that we have the city for its culture, markets, restaurants and nightlife- and I love that we can be by the sea, countryside or even mountains in no time. Aren't we lucky? With a fridge and freezer full of locally purchased food, I am ready for the week ahead! Although I am going to have a go at the 2 days at 500 cals fad that everyone seems to be doing at the moment. I want to see if I can do it in a delicious way, I’ll let you know.

No Cooking Week!

How quick did last week go? I seemed to have chomped my way through it in no time. I had a couple of days in London for work, although I did squeeze in some extra curricular feasting...obviously. My evening started auspiciously at The Sampler in South Kensington. What a concept! The Sampler is essentially a wine merchants, beautifully set-up with non-intimidating, but still informative logic. My friend is a regular here and so showed me the ropes: essentially you get given a top up card- where you put as much or as little credit on as you want. We opted for a modest £10 each, incidentally- you keep this card and it retains the credit left for next time.  The merchant stocks over 1500 wines, with 80 of them in glass tanks separated by genre, with touch screen buttons at the top to indicate price per ml. I can't remember the exact amounts, but you can choose from small tasters, to a slightly bigger mouthfuls, to half a glass.

Some of the samples were only 30p, another we saw was £15! You have a full range to try out there, and that we did! You can of course by wine by the bottle and go and sit in the comfortable lounge in the basement- which has a very definite rustic French feeling. We lingered about the shop tasting anything we fancied, it was great to be able to try out samples of wines that are normally outside of my budget. The staff were excellent, warm and friendly- as was the shop Collie dog, Ivy; she seemed to have a penchant for chewing corks and scratches behind the ear.

Dinner was an equally successful experience; the same friend took me to Casa Brindisa which is just around the corner. The Tapas restaurant was buzzing, so busy for a Tuesday night! We sipped Rioja at the bar, nibbling on Habas Fritas  whilst we waited for a table, which became available in just 10 mins. The food was incredibly good- aged, full flavoured slices of Manchago with spiced quince, creamy, crispy smoked beef Croquetas, Iberico Chorizo, Padron Peppers, Tortilla with spiked aioli and breads. Each dish complimented the other beautifully; I'm always taken aback at how stunning a good tapas restaurant can make the simple omelette. The atmosphere felt entirely Spanish, as were many of the accents of our fellow dinners, there is a real authenticity here that is entirely commendable. I now can't wait take my Londoner chum (formally of Creigiau) to Bar 44 when she's next back in the 'Diff!  Btw- post Tapas we headed back to The Sampler to spend the rest of our pennies, £10 each seemed to go an extraordinarily long way! 

As much as I love trips to London, I am always so happy to be back in Cardiff. It's a total cliché, but I there is just a change in atmosphere when you get off the train in my opinion, and I for one, like it. Mr B cooked for me that night, have you ever seen a pitta bread look so appetising??

Valentines evening, I also had the night off. I was a very lucky girl indeed, and was treated to a beautifully rare Beef Wellington prepared from scratch! A wonderful surprise, I think that Mr B has been reading up on cookery when I've not been watching, and I can't say that I'm not thrilled! 

Friday was spent working from home, catching up frantically from being out of the office! I had a lunch date though, with a good friend and her gorgeous little boy. The three of us had a superb lunch in Falafel Wales, one of our favourites! I cannot recommend this little Lebanese cafe enough, the staff treat you like old friends, and the food is consistently excellent. Real Middle Eastern home-style food, served with care and generosity. My friend had the fabulous 'vegetarian lunch no.1', yes perhaps not the most catchy of titles, but assuredly delicious: Falafel, Hummus, Baba Ganoush, salad, bread and Koshary. If you haven't tried Koshary before- do it! It's a tasty carb fest of lentils, pasta, rice and a spicy tomatoes sauce topped with sweet and crispy fried onions. 

I opted for the Friday special Kabsa Rice with a sneaky lamb skewer addition. I have no words for the comforting, flavourful deliciousness of this dish, especially with a liberal splash of lemon juice on the top. I find the smells of the spices and the rounded tastes so reminiscent of being 'home', but maybe that's just me. The crunchy toasted alonds added welcome crunch, the tender meat was smokey fresh from the grill and the perfectly spiced rice binds the dish together.

So, after a week of eating out, and being cooked for, I am desperate to get back in the kitchen! I'm a big fan of Mr G's Soul Kitchen’s oxtail a dish. Mr G himself (or least the restaurant’s helpful twitter operator) has given me some tips. So I'm off to try them out. I'll let you know how it goes. 

Cowbridge in The Rain... and Other such Tales

Despite the grizzly rain, it's been another brilliant weekend! Yesterday afternoon we headed into Cowbridge for a leisurely stroll (darting in and out of shop doorways to avoid the downpour). After heading to Bar44 in Penarth just last week, we had to fight temptation to head over to the Cowbridge branch for lunch. Instead we opted for cosy British cafe comfort and decided to try out the Quarter Penny Cafe. As we entered, we realised that there was a queue for tables- which we took as a good sign. The cakes in the counter looked amazing, very much in an oversized, rustic, home made way- rather than the petit delicacies of a French Patisserie. Service was efficient and friendly; we only waited about 10 mins in the end, and were informed about the wait from the start. Mr B choose a hearty steak and watercress sandwich with hand cut chips, and I went for a spot of afternoon tea. Baring in mind Quarter Penny comes across very much as a traditional little cafe, we were surprised (but pleased!) to see that the steak came served blue without being asked, the cut of meat was thicker than your average minute steak- but beautifully tender, which meant that the generous portion was welcome. The chips were good- crispy and golden with skin on, the perfect accompaniment to the simple lunch. My afternoon tea consisted of 4 thin slices of toasted baguette topped with egg mayo, tuna, smoked salmon and coronation chicken. I must admit that I had forgotten just how lovely that retro classic of coronation chicken is, I also appreciated the fact that I think thigh meat had been used rather than breast, much tastier in my opinion. The portions of the open sandwiches were very delicate to allow room for the slab of cream cheese topped carrot and walnut cake and the billowing jam & cream scone which came with the afternoon tea, both of which tasted very much like home made and were delicious. May I just point out that Mr B and I split the cakes, just so you don’t think that I'm a complete guts (although I pretty much am). If I were to go again, I'd skip the afternoon tea deal (£7.95) and head straight for a coronation sarnie on white- I'm more of a savoury person really. The cafe was very busy with all sorts of different people- family's, young couples, older ladies taking coffee and cake; a very friendly vibe. This isn't the place for refined formal dining, but it is the ideal independent cafe retreat from a rainy day, with cakes that stick to your ribs, and a good strong brew to warm your cockles.
 
Post white refined flour/ sugar gorge- we decided that some bracing sea air was in order. Mr B and I are a little strange, in that we love the beach when it's grey, raining and windy. It has more character, honestly! Some photos of the beautiful Llantwit Major, complete with liberal precipitation below. Not to get all poetic on you, but the noise that the pebbles make as the sea draws in for it's next wave, sounds so pretty and musical. Ok, that did sound a bit girly, buts it's true. 

After beaching we needed warming up. I used the little pumpkin that I got at Roath Farmers market the week before, and made a Burmese Beef & Pumpkin Curry, again a recipe from Charmaine Solomon. The results were hearty and warming, eaten in bowls with large glasses of wine whilst watching Woody Allen’s Manhattan. A rare meal on the sofa, but ideal movie fodder.

Today has been a domestic affair, with DIY and some final unpacking from our move just before Christmas. Our only trip out today was to go to Tile shops, I know, I know- this is fascinating stuff, your on the edge of your seat, right? The reason that I am bothering to write about this, is that to break up the mundane we took some pretzel rolls (more Waitrose bargains, 5p each!) that we filled with salami and cheese, so that we could have a mini picnic whilst overlooking Penarth beach. We did venture out in the rain briefly to get some teas from the Pier, but even I draw the line at eating in the rain. From the shelter of our little car we watched the intrepid sailing students as we dined dans le Golf. 

On the way home we popped into Masala Bazaar, where I tend to get a fair amount of my Asian ingredients. Purchased, was a big bowl full of Okra for £1 and a bag of baby aubergines for £1.50- you will have gathered already that I love a bargain!

Tonight, we have mainly been watching Serbian cinema (Mr B's choice) and eating Italian. This weather seems to lend itself to carbfests. So we had Salami and Tomato pasta for Nigella's 'Kitchen' and oregano roasted baby aubergines courtesy of Nigelissima. For pud we had a proper Sunday bread and butter pudding, made with the less than traditional Italian Pandoro. The aubergines are wonderful cooked this way, they take on a crisp golden surface, and the garlicky zingy dressing really lifts the sweet flesh. The pudding was as it should be, wobbly and creamy with a delicate vanilla and cinnamon undertone running through. 

Pleasantly fuelled for the week ahead, its time to ignore the Sunday night mini rumble of stress- as thoughts of meetings and deadlines start to ripple in my brain. Time for a paned and book instead.

Hope that you have a great week! Nos da! X

My Week in Recipes

Us Monday to Friday workers take a collective sigh of relief as the weekend arrives!
Last night we were lucky enough to have a good friend cook an incredible feast as an early welcome to the Chinese New Year! We were spoiled with tender poached then roasted Salt & Pepper chicken, glazed ribs (I may have slipped, fell and nearly swallowed an entire rack myself), sticky chickeny rice, hand made spring rolls, crispy seaweed, spiked but sweet chilli dipping sauce and a spectacular finish with a plate that resembled a mini croquembouche of freshly fried banana fritters, dipped in sticky dark syrup and liberally sprinkled with sesame! What amazing friends, and what a round belly I now have! Being looked after in someone else's home was an ideal start to the weekended, I should have taken pictures I know! But we were in beautiful twinkly candle/ Chinese lantern lighting so they wouldn't have done justice to how good the food looked, and I'll be honest, my hands were full...yeah, of food.
 
So, I wanted to write a little this morning pre- weekend greediness (although I think that we have established above that the weekend started last night). This is just a bit of a note really about mid-week dinners that I thought might be useful/ vaguely interesting? I've been working reasonably late at the office all this week, but alas my belly's need to be fuelled and my brains need to unwind by cooking has not suffered, which if your following me on twitter you may have noticed. I wanted to share some of the recipes that I have been using. I know that everyone knows that we can knock up fresh food quickly- we hear it all the time on tv and in magazines. But I thought that I would share some of my favourites that happen to be quick to prepare, rather than being written with time saving rather than flavour in mind. I won't link to the recipes here, but will direct you to the page numbers (old school right?) so that you can look in your own books, or get them out from the library. I'm happy to read novels on the kindle or iPad, but cooking- ah, for me it has to be a book, covered in splashes and notes. 

Monday saw Mr Valentine Warner at my Good Table (do you see what I did there?), with his Pork chop with apple and crispy sage (p30), I used rosemary as that is what I had. The way that the herbs flavour your drop of cooking butter adds a welcome depth to the apples and pork. I used the loin chops purchased in Pattersons, it was on the table in less that 15 mins. I served with sautéed garlic mushrooms, and some left over Sour Dough to wipe up the juices. It's the herbs and apple that really transform the humble chop.

Tuesday I added an extra seats and welcomed Nigella, Yottam and Sami to the table. I had some barley in the cupboard, peppers in the fridge and fancied Mr Ottelenghi and Tamimi's Parsley and Barley salad (p80), however I lacked fresh parsley- a slight draw back as the title indicates. So I prepared the pepper and barley bit of it, and instead used some frozen basil (10p Waitrose reduced fresh herbs!) and whizzed up Nigella's pistachio pesto (p103) which is incredibly moreish. The barley takes 30 mins to become soft, which is the perfect time to knock up the other elements of the dish.

Wednesday we came over all nostalgic for our Oaxacan travels and thoroughly enjoyed preparing and eating, Thomasina Miers (I'm giving up on this table metaphor) Mexican black pud (p170). I can't tell you how authentically Mexican this simple, rich dark and deeply smoky dish tastes. It honestly only takes 10-15 mins to prepare/cook and is a totally different way of using black pudding, turning quite a small amount of meat into a hearty meal. The smoky chipotle makes this dish- you can buy it dried in Wally's or canned in a purée from Waitrose.

And then we get to Thursday with Charmaine Solomon, who you may not of heard of- but who holds Regal status in my family. I will be soon writing a full blog about Sri Lankan cookery and the wonderful Charmaine, but for now it's enough to say that Thursday night involved working pretty late, and arriving home blearily eyed and ravenous, craving spicy comfort and this lady saved me! I made her Sri Lankan scrambled eggs (p174) in under 5 mins, and served it up with plain boiled rice and left over Mexican black pud. Perfect comfort food.

Right, I've got carried away writing about food when I should be painting the spare room. So I shall go and get on with that now.

I'll just add one last thing, check out the breakfast in bed that Mr B bought me whilst writing this. Hot chocolate (mugs and chocolate bought in Oaxaca market)- Mexican hot chocolate is so rich, spicy and thick- I love it! With some rather sizeable chunks of Pandoro.

Have a brilliant weekend, thanks for reading.