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.