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.

I'm kinda new here, hi!

Like most weekends, this one has involved much food sampling and bracing fresh Welsh air (more of the former if I am being truthful). Friday night was spent in the pleasantly heaving Bar 44 in Penarth. Mr B and I perched at the bar over looking the kitchen and feasted on slow cooked Ox cheeks with buttery mash, sublimely crispy artichokes, patatas bravas, iberico chorizo, fried duck egg with smokey peppers & Spanish black pudding, and smooth jamon croquetas…. With the obligatory bread, Rijoca and espresso to finish. All of which tasted so good that in all honesty we could have just kept going. The crispy artichokes with delicate shavings of Manchego make my mouth water at the mere memory. As I love to cook, watching the kitchen was ace. I love the nosey aspect of it, watching the various members of the brigade get subtly scalded or praised by Chef added a certain theatre to the evening. I didn’t take any photos, I was too busy dipping, crunching and enjoying every morsel. But I promise that I will get over my aversion to taking photos in restaurants very soon, I know this could get pretty dull for you without a bit of visual stimulation…

On to Saturday.

 I’m relatively new to Cardiff, been here for about 16 months now, and been in North East Cardiff for only a month or so. I love finding new independent shops to fuel my foodie obsessions. Yesterday we tried out E. Pattersons Butchers in Fairwater, along with the Greengrocers just around the corner.

Some great Welsh meat at Pattersons and superb service- I do love a bargain (rule being that quality can’t be sacrificed for price though). Check this out: 2 x Sirloin steaks, 2 x pork chops, 4 x plump pork sausages, 500g stewing beef, 500g pork belly, pack of spicy chipolatas, chunk of black pud and a breast of lamb for about £21- how good is that! Yes you may have guessed that Mr B and I favour the cheaper cuts of meat- I love to slow cook and turn an unloved piece of fodder into an unctuous delight. In fact that night I took the skin off the pork belly to make some naughty brittle sticks of crackling to accompany pre dinner drinks, and made a stunning (modest, sure) traditional Sri Lankan curry with the meat itself. My love for Sri Lankan food and the whys and where’s of that will have to come another time, or I am in danger of never ending this entry.

We picked up a few more bits and pieces at Roath Farmers Market- bread, eggs, veggies… BEEF BACON! I know that I have already gone on a bit here, but I have to quickly tell you of the beefy wondrousness of Cig Lodor subtly sweet and spicy Beef bacon, fried in a smidgen of oil until meat and fat are crispy, sprinkled with Maldon and served with Cerdin sour dough and fresh soft yolks in front of the rugby. Well, lets just say our simple lunch went down better that the match results (that’s me attempting to engage with sport fyi).

 Today was spent messing with sand and swings with a friend and their kids at Parc Play. After many a chilly hour hoisting the small people onto wooden pirate ships and climbing mini teletubby hills, us grown ups were rewarded with Thalis and mango lassis at  The Vegetarian Food Studio around the corner. The hot, fresh breads dipped in homely spiced lentils and a hot little chickpea number were exactly what was in order. As was the sticky sweet cardamom laced yoghurty pud. The service was warm and friendly as always, and we came away with a box of sweets, again, as always…

 And now? Time for a cup of chai, a saucer of Barfi and an episode of Mr Selfridge. First blog done, and pleased to report that Mr B has noticed that both a steak and a saucer have made an appearance in this inaugural entry. I look forward to starting the week with a full freezer of meaty goodness, a fridge of vibrant fruit and veg and a well stocked larder.

One last thing, I forgot to mention that I am on a diet. Whoops.