This weekend I had the pleasure of dining at the only pub to have ever been awarded 2 Michelin stars. It was my first ever Michelin experience and one that I will never forget as long as I live! The trip was to celebrate my Mum’s Birthday, so a big shout out & Happy Birthday Mum!
The Hand & Flowers pub is situated in a lovely little country town called Marlow on the outskirts of London. As soon as you walk in you feel completely relaxed in it’s rustically charming atmosphere. There is no posh, hoity toity-ness about this place at all. You are just made to feel completely at ease and very welcome by the supremely delightful front of house staff. When your table is ready, you are lead to beautiful solid oak tables with some seriously comfy chairs/sofas. With fresh flowers & lit candles on every table, you can’t help but just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Which leads me onto the food. Aaah, the food… I’m literally struggling to find words to describe how breathtakingly fantastic it was! Well, have a look at the photos and see for yourself how intriguing and beautiful each dish was.
Complimentary
When you are seated, the waiter brings you over a basket of white & wholemeal sour dough bread followed by a newspaper cone of whitebait fish with a marie rose dipping sauce. All complimentary and all delicious! Which I’ll be honest, I found quite surprising as I’m not a huge fish eater!
The Starters
This was my starter. Blowtorched Scottish Scallop with Warm Roast Chicken Bouillon, Morels, Nasturtium and Apple. I have literally never tasted anything like this before and I can honestly say, I don’t think anything is going to come even remotely close to how freaking amazing it was! The scallops just melted in your mouth and that teamed up with the apple jelly at the bottom of the bowl, wow. Just, wow. It was like there was an angelic choir having a sing song in my mouth!
This was the Mr’s starter, Pork and Mushroom Terrine with Dill, Pickles and Toasted Sourdough.
The Birthday girl’s starter, Parfait of Duck and Foie Gras with Orange Chutney and Toasted Brioche.
Dad’s Starter, Potato “Risotto” with Baked Potato Stock, Fresh Morels & Hop Shoots.
The Main Courses
This was my main course, Tenderloin of Wiltshire Pork with Pickled Mustard Leaf, Malt Glazed Cheek, Garlic Sausage and Potato Dauphine. This was like playing hide and seek with your dinner. Every time you moved something on the plate, another food appeared out of nowhere! I was halfway through the meal before I discovered the garlic sausage and the ham hiding at the back! (Best garlic sausage & ham I’ve ever eaten in my life by the way!) The glazed cheek was incredible though. For something that is so fatty, it just melted in your mouth leaving behind a delicate sweetness that worked beautifully with the rest of the dish. I must admit though, it was the little crispy potato dauphine balls that did it for me – outstanding!
This was what the Mr had for his main course, Fillet of Lancashire Beef with Hand and Flowers Chips, and Béarnaise Sauce. He allowed us all to steal a chip each, BEST CHIPS EVER! They were so stupendously soft & fluffy in the middle and super crispy on the outside! I’m sorry Heston, move over – there’s a new chip master in town! I tried a piece of the fillet steak with the sauce too. It was out of this world! Absolutely remarkable.
This was what the Birthday Girl chose, Cornish Red Mullet with Beef Dripping, Oxtail and Bay Leaf Dressing. I’ll be honest, the look of it scares the crap out of me! I’m not a fan of having a whole fish on a plate in front of me but Mum said it tasted beautiful. (Albeit, a little confusing to dissect especially if you have never eaten a whole fish before!)
And finally Dad’s main course was the Loin of Costwold Venison, King Oyster Mushroom “Farci”, Blowtorched Gem Lettuce and Salt Baked Beetroot. I tasted a bit of this too (Ok, I tried to be cheeky and nick a taste of pretty much everything I could get my hands on!) The venison was so rich & peppery! Packed with an extraordinary amount of flavour though, superb.
The Desserts
This little beauty was my dessert. The Hand & Flowers Chocolate and Ale Cake with Salted Caramel and Muscovado Ice Cream. Served with a shot glass of Real Ale. I swear I had a foodgasm when I ate this! As rich as it was, I could have eaten another. From the frosted nut on top of the muscovado ice cream, to it’s gooey chocolatey rich ale core, down to the salted caramel disc on the bottom – it was perfect in every way! Well and truly sensational!
The Mr chose the Banana Soufflé with Gingerbread Custard and Yoghurt Ice Cream as his final course. It certainly looks impressive though doesn’t it? Definitely a soufflé that rose to the occasion!
My Dad chose the Warm Sesame Pudding with Green Tea Sorbet, Crème Fraîche and Maple. But the final icing on the cake (so to speak) was what they pulled out the bag for my Mum…
How sweet is that?! It really was the perfect touch to the perfect evening. Mum had the Warm Pistachio Sponge Cake with Melon Sorbet and Marzipan by the way – and she said it was light and gorgeous which is exactly what she wanted after the rich dishes she had chosen before it.
There was one slight epic fail on my part though…
Oops! Only I could drop my spoon & smash a glass at a Michelin starred establishment, what a plank!
That mishap aside, it really was an amazing experience. But for somewhere with a 6 month waiting list I would expect nothing less!
It just leaves me to say a massive thank you and big hugs to my Mum & Dad for sharing the experience with me and the Mr. It is one that I will never forget and shall look back on fondly.
So here it is, Chiang Mai Cookery School. This was probably one of my favourite experiences from the whole holiday in Thailand! I wonder why…?? Haha!
This was the cooking area where we worked. All tools & ingredients were there ready for us when we came out the demonstration room after seeing how each dish was made. And the best bit? You don’t have to do any pot washing!!
Our first lesson of the day was vegetable carving. I actually found it to be strangely therapeutic! First up was a tomato rose.
The idea is to make a kind of continuous snake from the tomato skin. At the top of the tomato – slice the top but just before cutting it straight off, stop & begin slicing in a helix around the tomato until you reach the bottom and there is no more skin left.
Starting from the smallest end, roll the skin up tightly until you reach the “top” piece. Then fold the “top” piece underneath the rolled skin to make a base and et vous voila! Tomato rose!
(Here is a video explanation to help: Tomato Rose.)
Next on the menu was this really pretty carrot leaf. (My personal favourite.) The carrots were already sliced for us on the course but all you need to do is slice the carrot on an angle to get a larger surface area.
First, shape the top into a leaf shaped point. (As in diagram 1) Then, leaving about 1cm at the top and 1cm at the bottom, cut out the line in the centre.
Next, starting from the bottom, carefully cut out the small leaf shapes on both sides of the centre line. Angle them upwards. I found it easier to have the carrot upside down for this. (As in diagram 2)
Then starting from the bottom again, begin carving out triangles in-between the leaf shaped holes to form the jagged edge. (Started in diagram 2, ending up like diagram 3) Then shape the bottom of the carrot into a point – like the bottom of a leaf and there you have it, a carrot leaf!
The last carving we were taught was this, the lotus flower. Its quite tricky but once you’ve had a few goes it gets a little easier. Just like anything, practice makes perfect!
So, firstly make 4 incisions at the top of the tomato to create 8 segments. (As in diagram 1) NOTE: only go 1cm deep into the tomato or you will cut the sack and the seeds will burst out.
Second, lengthen each incision to the bottom of the tomato – again, only 1 cm deep into the tomato. (As in diagram 2)
Third, pull out all the segments. Some can be a little stubborn but stick with it! (As in diagram 3)
Fourth, slice the dark red skin from the light red flesh on each segment. (As in diagram 4) This is the tricky bit so take your time.
Lastly, just as you would with ribbon on a present, curl the dark red skin on each segment with the back of your knife. Then pull the light red flesh from the centre and rest it on each curled skin.
It’s so pretty isn’t it?! I really loved learning how to make these. In fact, me and the Mr even held a family gathering when we got back and had a little plate of these to show off our new skills. Everyone commented on how beautiful they looked… I was so chuffed!!
After the vegetable carving we were taught how to make 6 different Thai dishes. What follows are some of my favourites.
This is the Tom Jued. (Clear Soup with Minced Pork.) Absolutely delicious! I didn’t think I was a fan of clear soups until I tried this, now I definitely am!
This was the Mr’s Gaeng Phed Ped Yang. (Red Curry with Roast Duck.) Apparently this is one of the King’s favourite dishes and I must say – he has great taste! The depth of flavour is phenomenal. Its so sweet and creamy!
This was one of the afternoon dishes – Gai Phad King. (Chicken with Ginger.) I couldn’t believe how quick this was to make! It was also one of the recipes that I noticed I could source all of the ingredients back here at home. Here is how to make it for yourself.
Serves 2
150g Chicken Breast, thinly sliced
30ml (2tbsp) Oil
3 Garlic Cloves, chopped
1/2 Onion, sliced
30g Fresh Ginger, shredded
1 Red Chilli, sliced
60ml Chicken Stock
2 Spring Onions, cut into 1″ pieces
Sauce:
1 tbsp Fish Sauce
1.5 tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
Heat the oil in a wok until it just starts to smoke then add the garlic. As soon as you can smell the garlic, add in the onion & the chicken and stir fry until the outside of the chicken turns white.
Then add the ginger and stir fry to combine. Add all the sauce ingredients and stir fry again. Add the chillis and the chicken stock and stir fry for 1 minute. Lastly, add the spring onions and stir fry to combine.
Serve and wolf it down!
This was one that really surprised me. Khao Neow Mamuang. (Mango with Sticky Rice.) I really did not expect to like this Thai pudding but ended up loving it so much that I bought half the ingredients back with me so I could have a go at recreating it at home!
Pon (our teacher) got us all up helping out in the demonstration room on this classic Thai dessert. Here is me hard at work, flavouring the sauce with pandanus leaves.
The Mr was in charge of slicing the melon (with a gigantic knife!) and presenting the pudding on the plate. It was such a fantastic day! Both of us thoroughly enjoyed it!
Now I know that you lot will all be hungry for loads of authentic Thai recipes but you will have to bear with me until I get a chance to find suitable UK equivalents for all the ingredients we just can’t get over here! Sad but true I’m afraid.
In the mean time though – do give the Chicken and Ginger recipe a go! It’s a super quick and super tasty authentic Thai dish. And I know that we can get all the ingredients from our local supermarkets too. Brucy bonus!
And on that note my lovelies – I bid you farewell!
As most of you know, me and the Mr went to Thailand for just over 2 weeks for our holiday. And my god what an experience it was! It’s like a whole other world over there. COMPLETELY different to the western world that we are all so comfortable living in.
For the first week we stayed in a city called Chiang Mai. It’s a lovely place with an abundance of things to see and do. There’s a really relaxed vibe about the place.
One of the first things we went to see was the temple Doi Suthep on the top of one of the many mountains that surround the city. We got there by song taos which was an experience in itself! The driver even stopped about 2 thirds of the way up so we could get some photos from a lookout point. Stunning views! You could see the whole of Chiang Mai from up there!
When you arrive at the top you are greeted by stairs, stairs and more stairs! Definitely not one for the faint hearted. Although I would have LOVED to have had a slinky right then haha! When you breathlessly reach the top, you walk through an archway which leads you to the beautiful temples. The buildings and sculptures are so ornate and beautiful! As you can see from the photo above, all the decoration is very elaborate.
We were lucky enough to stay in the beautiful Bodhi Serene hotel. I couldn’t complain about anything even if I tried. I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Chiang Mai. But you didn’t come here to look at the hotel that I was staying in did you? No! You came here to see what foodie delights I discovered on my adventures. Well lets get stuck in!
On our first night in Chiang Mai we found a restaurant called Dash! around the corner from our hotel. It serves predominantly Thai cuisine. This particular dish, albeit not very Thai, was something that intrigued both me & the Mr. Shrimps wrapped in bacon! Yep, you heard me. Shrimp in Bacon. It was surprisingly delicious! Definitely an idea I will be stealing for party buffets at home!
Now this dish was something quite special. Chopped pork with basil leaf and egg. It was my first encounter with Thai basil. It literally tastes nothing like our basil at all! It has a very unique and distinctive flavour. I knew at this point I would have to find some to take home with me. The restaurant this dish was from was actually on the other side of town. It’s where all the locals eat and everything is phenomenally cheap! It only cost 100 bht for both our dinners which is about £2. Crazy! This and another version of this with chicken and chillis, was something I ate quite frequently throughout the holiday. Absolutely mouthwatering!
Now street food is something that you cannot escape in Thailand. It is literally everywhere you turn – a full on experience for the eyes & nose! Me and the Mr saw this market stall and just couldn’t resist. I have no idea what was in the marinade for the chicken or what was actually in the sausage but it was seriously tasty stuff! Packed full of flavour and juicy too. I also love how they stapled a paper plate to make a bowl! There’s an awful lot of “make shift” and “make do” in Thailand. I have come to realise it’s actually part of it’s charm.
Oh yeah, another thing I should probably mention is that we went during monsoon season. Probably not the best idea but we were actually very lucky with the weather in Chiang Mai. This was the only time it rained. But when it rains in Thailand, it pours! This was our street and it completely flooded within about 15 minutes. To make it more amusing, we were on the wrong side of the road and had to wade through it to get back to the hotel!! Good job they put big towels at the entrances to most hotels & shops when it rains!
One thing we noticed when we were over there was how popular Japanese cuisine and culture is. It’s everywhere! Restaurants, food import shops, clothes shops and more. We found a restaurant on Trip Advisor called Sumo Sushi which came highly recommended. It’s a trendy open fronted restaurant in a pretty funky district! This was Dan’s giant maki. Scrumptious! In fact, it was all super tasty. But the best bit – we were both full to the brim and it only cost us 650 bht – about £13. Bargain! You would never get as much sushi as we had for that price in the UK. Certainly not as tasty anyway!
Now this was an opportunity that we just couldn’t miss. Tiger Kingdom. It’s a kind of tiger sanctuary that allows you to get up really close and personal with tigers of varying ages and sizes. The one above is one of the big boys! His name is Caesar. What surprised me the most is that their fur is not as soft as you’d imagine. In fact, it’s quite coarse!
Don’t believe it’s real? This photo should prove just how much I was shitting myself haha! (Excuse the French!) Yeah, a little unsure about being sat that close to a tiger at that point!
Now this was also a mega highlight of mine! Randomly walking through the markets of Chiang Mai, we stumbled across this ice cream vendor with a twist…
How cool is that?! We so need to have this in the UK! It was really refreshing to have too as it gets so humid amongst all the market stalls. Fantastic!
One little gem we did return to again & again was Archer’s Bar & Restaurant. The owners Mark & Sa were so welcoming and friendly! And you can’t forget their cats Chicken & Fufu – and of course, Mary. The bullmastiff who took great pleasure in running around like a nutter chomping on plastic bottles & making loads of noise haha! PLUS they do the best breakfast in Chiang Mai! Actually, a really odd fact I learnt about Thai people is that they never brown their toast. It’s always just warm bread! Mark told me the reason for this is that Thai’s believe browned toast is cancerous so they refuse to do it. As Mark was actually from Essex though, he makes sure its properly toasted for us English folk! Archer’s was a huge highlight of our holiday. We had breakfast there most mornings and even ended up in a lock in one night! Dancing around like idiots to Mark’s vast and eclectic music collection. We genuinely left Chiang Mai feeling like we were leaving friends behind. Such a wonderful bar!
Except for this… one night, Sa was sat at the bar nibbling on this little pud. Naturally I asked what it was. Sa replied – durian mooncake. Now I had heard of durian before. I knew it had one of the most foul stenches in the world but for some reason I was still curious as to what it actually tasted like. She let me try a bit and I really wished I hadn’t!! It sounds gross but it actually tasted like sick! Oh, honestly, I’ve never tasted anything quite like it & I hope I never will again! Haha! Oh well, when in Thailand!
Welcome to Bangkok and our second week in Thailand!
This is basically what it was like 24/7. It’s all go, all the time. As soon as you arrive in Bangkok, you start to feel very small amongst the mass of huge buildings and sky train networks above you! A fascinating city to say the least!
On our first night in Bangkok, we wandered down the road to a shopping centre that was on the corner called Terminal 21. It’s really cool! They based it on an Airport. All the customer service ladies were dressed as air hostesses and a Captain greeted you when you entered! Also, at the entrance to each escalator was a sign saying which country you were departing/arriving at! Each floor was actually a different country. Everywhere from Tokyo to London! Even the toilets were themed, very impressive! Bangkok knows how to do shopping centres well!
They literally don’t know how to do things by halves! This is the giant replica of the Golden Gate Bridge on the San Francisco floor. Unbelievable!
Anyway! As we were a bit peckish after a days travelling, we decided to check out the food courts on the fifth floor. You basically put money on a card (200 bht (£4) was plenty to feed both me and the Mr) and pick what you want from tons of different vendors! Such a fantastic idea! Dan had K.Ken pork steak & I had roast duck, BBQ pork and crispy pork with rice and egg. I can’t believe just how cheap it really was. To put it into perspective, £4 would get both me & Dan a main course each, a pudding each & a drink each. Amazing!
In England, we don’t just have English restaurants do we? Well it’s the same in Bangkok. It’s not just Thai food everywhere- It’s very multi cultural. This New York style lunch spot – BKK Bagel Bakery, was right next to the exit of a sky train station. We fancied a bit of lunch so popped in and we were not disappointed! Dan had the Reuben (pictured above) – corned beef, sauerkraut, melted gruyere cheese & a Russian dressing. I had the Rachel which is the same but with Turkey. Oh, my, god. These were unbelievably divine! Definitely glad we came in here, they really hit the spot!
On the flip side though, we did eat lots of Thai delights too! This was at a bar/restaurant about a 10 minute walk from our hotel called Det-5. I had one of my favourites – chicken with basil leaf, chilli and rice. And above is Dan’s chicken with garlic & pepper. It packed some serious heat but Dan loved it! So much so, he even gave it a generous smearing of the hot sauce provided by the waitress!
About halfway through our stay in Bangkok, we took a boat trip up the river to visit The Grand Palace. Personally I think grand is an understatement! The place is absolutely stunning. Once again, all the buildings are detailed with such lavish decoration and precision handy work. It really is quite something to behold.
It’s so refreshing to see so much colour! Everywhere you turn something beautiful and curious will catch your eye. A definite must see when visiting Thailand!
When wandering the streets and shopping centres of Bangkok, we had seen these restaurants all over and were finally curious and hungry enough to try it! It’s a place called MK Restaurants and you basically get a hot pot with boiling stock in it, then order meats & veg to cook in it! Not only is it novel – it’s super quick, super cheap and super tasty!
Me and the Mr happily devoured all this lot for about £10. Such a fun meal to have, and actually very healthy too! In fact, the receipt you get once you’ve paid even tells you how many calories you have consumed in your sitting! Brilliant!
Tudari restaurant. Yet another place we were really intrigued by! Not only because of how busy & popular it appeared to be but the fact that it was Korean Cuisine. Neither of us had actually eaten Korean before so we dived straight in! This was my skewer starter platter. It’s a selection of the most popular skewers on the menu and I must say, most of them were quite delectable!
I didn’t really fancy hot food that night though so went with pretty much the only main course on the menu that didn’t say spicy! Sweet & sour crispy pork. Hilariously, it was probably one of the hottest things I ate in Thailand!! Haha! I was determined to finish it though as, behind the heat, it was sincerely very tasty and flavourful! My stubbornness prevailed and I did somehow, miraculously, manage to clear the plate! Much to my mouths dismay haha!
On our last night in Thailand we thought we’d go to a restaurant that was a bit more upmarket as one last treat. We found a lovely place called Taste just up the road from where we were staying. This was my main course, butter chicken curry. With a plate full of rice and roti, it was rather filling as you can imagine! But the flavours of the curry were delightful!
Dan finally got to try a Thai dish he’d been looking for the whole time we were there – tom yun goong. It really is an assault on the taste buds! Its sweet, it’s sour, it’s salty, it’s spicy – it’s more things in one go than anything I’ve ever put in my mouth! Such a strange but brilliant sensation! Absolutely jam packed full of flavour. I can see why he was so anxious to try it. I’m not quite sure what we had was worth the price tag that came with it but nevertheless it was delish!
And unfortunately that brings us to the end of what was genuinely one of the best holidays I have had, and probably will ever have in my lifetime. I can’t believe it’s all over already. Oh well, back to reality!
If any of you want to know more about our adventures in Thailand, I kept a little holiday blog whilst we were there too. Click here to have a nosy.
Oh, and by the way, I did keep one ace up my sleeve. I’ve saved one of the best highlights of the entire holiday for it’s very own dedicated post. The Chiang Mai Cookery School day course we did! Stay tuned folks…
I can’t believe September is finally here! Tomorrow morning me and the Mr will set off for Thailand. It’s a gruelling 12 hour flight and a 6 hour time difference to get used to but I know it will all be worth it.
So don’t be sad when there are no new posts or updates from me over the next couple of weeks – I will be off enjoying the delights that Thailand has to offer. Fear not though my foodie friends! For when I return I promise to share it all with you!
Including everything from the local dishes and beverages to the crazy street markets, floating markets and attractions.
This weekend was a special weekend. Not only was it the Mr’s birthday but it’s my 1 year blogiversary! I can’t believe I’ve managed to keep it up for a whole year and I’m still brimming with ideas for new posts I want to share with you all.
To mark these two momentous occasions we decided that we would go out for dinner on Saturday night & I would cook a nice birthday meal on the Sunday.
As it was Dan’s birthday, he chose the restaurant. He picked an Indian restaurant called The Cumin in Nottingham. It’s a family run business with two brothers running the kitchen & their sister running front of house. Having previously sat at the top spot on Trip Advisor for a year it is currently in 3rd place for top restaurants to visit in Nottingham. Not bad going at all!
The moment we walked through the door we were greeted by the friendly & very welcoming front of house staff. I couldn’t help but notice how cozy the decor made the place feel. We were led to our table upstairs and handed the menus along with a complimentary bottle of water for the table. It is worth mentioning at this point that it’s not a super posh al a carte menu, it’s a mouthwatering list of great home cooked family food. Just what the doctor ordered!
For the starter we opted for a tandoori mixed grill sharing platter and some papadoms. The house dips were already on the table, one of which was their home made mango chutney. Hands down, best mango chutney I have ever tasted!
The mixed grill was absolutely divine. The smell that emanated from this as it was brought, still sizzling to the table was unbelievable. You only have to look at it to know it’s going to taste great!
For our mains, I chose a Murg Makhni with Pilau rice and an Aloo Paratha. Dan chose the Murg Dum Biryani with a Chapatti.
My Murg Makhni was a mild tomato based chicken curry. The sauce was so creamy and packed with flavour and the chicken was tender and succulent. Yummy!
Dans main, the Murg Dum Biryani, was cooked in a rather interesting way. Here is a quote from their website explaining the process:
“This process reflects the ingenuity of the Indian Chefs. Food is part cooked and then put in a pot and the lid is sealed with dough paste to capture the moisture within the food as it is then tenderly and slowly cooked to retain all the flavour and aroma.”
When it is brought to the table, the lid is still sealed with the dough paste. The waiter then removes it in front of you as you are greeted with the pleasant aromas escaping the pot. Such a great idea! Dan was making lots of yummy noises as he was tucking into this so I assume it was as appetizing as it looked!
On the side was Dan’s Chapatti & My Aloo Paratha. I chose the Aloo Paratha as I was intrigued by it’s contents. It’s filled with mashed potato and herbs! It didn’t disappoint! Absolutely lovely.
All in all, the food was absolutely fantastic. Exciting, delicious, home cooked style food with superbly friendly & helpful staff. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone!
We were chatting to the kind lady on front of house and I mentioned how lovely everything was and how much I loved their mango chutney. She said that they may have some samples that I could take home with me, disappeared to have a look and came back with several small bottles for me. How lovely is that?! I was chuffed to bits! And as if that wasn’t enough, Dan mentioned the KitchenMason website to her. She responded by offering a visit to the kitchen to take a snap shot of the chefs. AMAZING! So here they all are.
They were more that happy to oblige with huge smiles and cheeky grins! What a brilliant night, I would probably say it was one of my favourite restaurant experiences. Talk about going above and beyond!
For those of you that are interested, head on over to their website and take a look at the menu. www.thecumin.co.uk You won’t regret it!
I’ll be doing another post soon to let you all know how the birthday meal went for Dan.
This weekend it was mine & the Mr’s 6th anniversary so I decided to pop the question…
“If you could have anything in or on a cupcake what would it be?”
He responded speedily with “Marshmallows!”
I recently bought a brilliant book called Cox Cookies & Cake. So I had a flick through and low & behold, Chocolate & Marshmallow Cupcakes! Who’d have thunk it??
The baking bug tightened it’s already firm grip on me and I got straight to my kitchen. This is what you will need to make 12-15 cupcakes:
For the Cake
75g Dark Chocolate
200g Unsalted Butter
225g Caster Sugar
3 Eggs
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
25g Cocoa Powder
175g Plain Flour
For the Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting
250g Unsalted Butter (Room Temp!)
125g Marshmallow Fluff
To Decorate
Mini Marshmallows
Preheat your oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C and put paper cases in a cupcake tray.
In a large saucepan over a low heat melt the butter with the chocolate and leave to cool for a few minutes. Then add the caster sugar and mix well.
Next, add the eggs one by one and then sift in the flour, cocoa powder & baking powder. Mix until you have a smooth cake batter.
Split the mixture between the cupcake cases & bake in the centre of the oven for approx 20 minutes. Turn halfway to ensure an even bake. Use a skewer to test at about 15 minutes and then every 5 minutes after that. When the skewer comes out clean, they’re done.
The original recipe said it made 12 but I had enough batter for 15. Fill them to about three quarters full. Don’t over fill them.
When cooked, allow the cakes to sit in the tray for about 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the marshmallow buttercream frosting, simply beat the marshmallow Fluff with the softened butter in a bowl until smooth.
To decorate, you could just smooth the frosting on top with a pallet knife or you could pipe it on like I did. Whatever takes your fancy. Top with mini marshmallows for that extra little touch.
These little beauts are so yummy. They have a deep, rich chocolatey flavour to contrast the sweet marshmallow frosting. Delish! And they got the seal of approval from the Mr too, can’t be bad!
On another note, because the Mr is so totally marvellous, he took me out to dinner at a local restaurant called The White House.
It has always been so highly recommended and I have always wanted to go there and see for myself.
For the starter I had Ham Hock ,Chorizio and Chicken Terrine with a Cherry Tomato and Shallot Dressing. It tasted as good as it looked.
For the main I had Chicken Supreme and Stuffed Roasted Leg with a Red Wine Sauce. This was hands down the tastiest chicken dish I have ever had at a restaurant. The sweetness from the tomatoes went beautifully with the creamy potatoes underneath. The chicken was so juicy & tender with a stuffing that was packed with bags of flavour. Finger licking good. Lots of yummy noises made.
For dessert I had a Chocolate Brownie with a Pistachio Crust & Home Made Ice Cream. I don’t really need to say anything about it. It’s chocolate and it’s me. We go together like Romeo & Juliet. Yum.
All in all it was a very tasty meal in a pleasant atmosphere. A lovely way to spend our 6th anniversary.
Hope you enjoyed this weeks post my lovelies. If you like what you see, enter your e-mail in the “Sign up for yummy updates” box at the top of the page to subscribe. That way you’ll never miss another scrumptious post : D
Hello my little cherubs of loveliness! So sorry I’ve been away for a while, I’ve been very busy!
The last two weekends I’ve been helping to spread the word about the AMAZING Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Company. It’s such a unique, novel & tasty product though, they practically sell themselves! I helped out on a stand at both the Festive Gift Show & the BBC Good Food Show, both at the NEC in Birmingham. My partner in crime was the owner of this genius company, Miss. Helen Ellis. She is the brain child of this fabulous idea and is also really lovely! Make sure to say Hi if you ever visit a stand : D
Basically, the general idea is that it’s a solid Belgian chocolate base with loads of different delicious toppings. Some include brownie biscuit, vanilla fudge pieces, Jelly Belly jelly beans, popping candy and many more. All are in the shape of a pizza, cut into slices then beautifully presented in pizza boxes. I will say this once & only once though… there is NO bread base & I would NOT recommend cooking them haha! You simply open them up and devour them!
Pictured above is one of my new favourite chocolate pizzas, the Strawberry & Champagne Mini Pizza. (Although next time I will be getting a large!) This one has a Belgian milk chocolate base with freeze dried strawberry’s running throughout along with popping candy. Toppings include red rainbow drops, white chocolate honeycomb balls, edible glitter & a pretty chocolate strawberry decoration. Now tell me you didn’t start salivating after that!! No really, go get a tissue, I can see you drooling.
These pizza’s make the perfect little stocking fillers. Or even get one for your Christmas buffet table. But you will need to act quickly! These babies sell like hot cakes near Christmas so if you are planning on buying, get in early to avoid disappointment!
I genuinely think this is a brilliant, novel & delicious idea. I can also assure you that it can be quite difficult when I help out every now and then at the shows, as I have to stand around lot’s of this stuff and not eat it!! It’s certainly a challenge but someone’s got to do it : D
And on that note I bid you farewell. Until next time!
Hello guys! So sorry there hasn’t been any new posts for a while, Me and the other half went to York for the weekend so I have been absent from my beloved kitchen!
We had a lovely time away. York is such a beautifully picturesque city, so I thought I would share the highlights of the trip with you all!
Day 1
When we arrived it was about lunch time on Sunday. We had read about a groovy little pub tucked away above a real ale shop called “The House of Trembling Madness.” So we decided to go there for some lunch. It was a cosy little place with a lot of character. Firstly we ordered some drinks. I opted for a strawberry beer they had on tap called “Timmermans” (pictured below) & my other half went for a cider.
Both choices were delicious! So whilst we sipped we also ordered some food. My oh my, what got brought out to us was quite literally the best burger I have ever eaten in my life. This, I considered to be quite confusing. Especially as they did not have a kitchen. They prepared & cooked all food behind a tiny little bar. I have absolutely no idea how they did it but it was superb!
Instead of the typical lettuce, tomato & sauce filling… they had lettuce, caramelised red onion & blue cheese sauce. Holy cow pat it was good! I have no idea what beef/herbs the burger was made of either but whatever it was, it was very flavourful & tasty.
By the way, please excuse the blurry-ness of the burger photo, I was so excited to try it I rushed the photo taking part!
So, once we had devoured our lunch we decided to have a wander around the city centre until we could check into our hotel. Thinking that my day could not get any better than it was, we turned a corner and saw this sign.
Oh my god, perfect timing or what?! We had no idea that the food festival was on in York that weekend. Although this did explain why it was so busy on a Sunday, which we were rather perplexed about!
I actually did a little jumping on the spot & reverted to acting like a 6 year old girl when I saw it.
Then the next thing I heard was a lady shouting through a mega phone, “Come and make your own chocolate lolly, free until 5pm” Oh hell yes. Off to the tent we went!
Whilst we were standing in the queue, surrounded by children I might add, we had a brief moment of wondering if it was only children allowed. But then I realised that I didn’t care, I wanted to make a chocolate lolly! So we carried on queuing. First they gave you a tray and asked you what decorative toppings you wanted. Then they “blob” a load of melted chocolate on a polythene sheet and tell you to bang the tray down hard a few times until the chocolate flattens out into a “lolly shape.” Lastly, you put a lolly stick into it & have 5 mins to decorate how you like.
15 minutes later we went back to the tent to collect our lolly’s and they looked like this.
I will point out straight away, mine is the one with the Smarties flower & Dan’s (my other half) is the one with the smiley face, if you couldn’t tell!
NOTE: This is a great, creative & easy Christmas present idea!
Once we had checked into the hotel later on, we decided to potter about & look for somewhere to eat dinner. We landed in a nice little Italian place called La Vecchia Scuola. (Where, ironically, the head chef was Chinese!) I had a “Romana” pizza which involved a topping of Tomato, mozzarella, Italian sausage, pancetta, garlic, red onions, fresh basil topped with rocket leaves. And Dan had an “Americana” which had a topping of Tomato, mozzarella, Italian sausage, pepperoni salami, fresh chilli, red onions and oregano.
Both were rather delicious. The pizza dough especially was very tasty & had a wonderful texture. Unfortunately, we were both too excited to tuck in and I therefore forgot to take any photos of them! Sorry guys, but I can assure you they were very yummy!
After dinner, we were glad of the ghost walk we went on to let our belly’s absorb the mass of pizza that had just been consumed. I must admit, I was a bit passive about the whole ghost walk thing but it turned out to be very funny and quite interesting. All in all a perfect evening!
Day 2
We didn’t pay for breakfast at the hotel so we could go out and sample some of York’s finest. After gawking at what felt like a million cafés, we came across a lovely place called Café Luca.
Here, me and Dan both had a Sausage & egg cob. But these weren’t just any sausages. These were the award winning sausages from the Shambles. (A small, very old area in the centre of York.) I can assure you, they were lip smackingly delicious! Hands down one of the nicest sausages I’ve had in a breakfast cob. If you’re interested, here is the website for the shop Ye Olde Pie & Sausage Shoppe
Once our belly’s were full we decided to do a bit of site seeing. We started by walking along the famous York Wall. Now I should mention at this point, this was Dan’s idea. If I had known how long this wall was & how many steps were involved at the start I may very well have changed my mind!
That being said, it was a pleasant, albeit exhausting, walk : D
You could see plenty of eye catching sites from different parts of the wall. I must admit though, at one point in-between walls, we did get lost & couldn’t find the next part. So we decided to regroup at the nearest pub haha! I laugh because it was only 11.50am. I know, it’s bad isn’t it!
Anyhoo, when we had got our breath back we tootled on over to the Cathedral to have a nosy. Below are some photos of the wall, the cathedral & some general sites around York just to show how truly beautiful this city is.
Once we were well and truly knackered we decided to go and sample the delights of the Food Festival once more.
One of my favourite stalls was a fudge stall that had all these beautiful wedges & bars of fudgey colourful loveliness! They were so lovely that me and Dan bought a slice each for ourselves. Dan got a Milky Bar slice & i got a Toffee Crisp slice.
There were plenty of stalls to feast your eyes on. One in particular we went to when were were peckish for some lunch. It was a stall that sold grass fed beef in all shapes & sizes. Sausages, burgers, steaks etc. We each had a grass fed Red Leicester cow burger. The difference in texture between these and normal burgers was phenomenal! There was no gristle, it didn’t fall apart it was just perfection.
Another stall to note was the Chilli Jam Man stall. Dan has a thing for all things hot so this was a must for him.
Just so you know, my face looks like that for one reason and one reason only. Dan made me try one of the sauces. He assured me that it wasn’t that hot but it was very tasty and that I would like it. Also, the bald man at the stall told me that the sauce I was about to try had just won an award at the Brighton chilli festival. So I tried it. And my partially angry, partially “in pain” expression in the photo is the result. Yeah, thanks for that Dan. Love you too! Haha.
Well that just about concludes my weekend trip to York. It was absolutely wonderful and I would honestly recommend this city to anyone thinking of going away in the UK for a weekend. Not only are there amazing things to be seen but amazing local food & produce to be had too.
Hope you enjoyed my York highlights and I promise there are some normal posts with recipes coming up!
In literally one click, this website will have you salivating over pages & pages of unbelievably delicious looking grub!
This website has inspired me, not only to try as many recipes from the site as possible, but to start my own blog. In the hope that maybe one day, one of my recipes might make someone else want to do the same!
The following 2 posts are the results of the two recipes I attempted from the site today.
So thanks for reading & I hope you will join me on my future food gawking adventures!
This was my starter. Blowtorched Scottish Scallop with Warm Roast Chicken Bouillon, Morels, Nasturtium and Apple. I have literally never tasted anything like this before and I can honestly say, I don’t think anything is going to come even remotely close to how freaking amazing it was! The scallops just melted in your mouth and that teamed up with the apple jelly at the bottom of the bowl, wow. Just, wow. It was like there was an angelic choir having a sing song in my mouth!
This was the Mr’s starter, Pork and Mushroom Terrine with Dill, Pickles and Toasted Sourdough.
The Birthday girl’s starter, Parfait of Duck and Foie Gras with Orange Chutney and Toasted Brioche.
Dad’s Starter, Potato “Risotto” with Baked Potato Stock, Fresh Morels & Hop Shoots.
This was my main course, Tenderloin of Wiltshire Pork with Pickled Mustard Leaf, Malt Glazed Cheek, Garlic Sausage and Potato Dauphine. This was like playing hide and seek with your dinner. Every time you moved something on the plate, another food appeared out of nowhere! I was halfway through the meal before I discovered the garlic sausage and the ham hiding at the back! (Best garlic sausage & ham I’ve ever eaten in my life by the way!) The glazed cheek was incredible though. For something that is so fatty, it just melted in your mouth leaving behind a delicate sweetness that worked beautifully with the rest of the dish. I must admit though, it was the little crispy potato dauphine balls that did it for me – outstanding!
This was what the Mr had for his main course, Fillet of Lancashire Beef with Hand and Flowers Chips, and Béarnaise Sauce. He allowed us all to steal a chip each, BEST CHIPS EVER! They were so stupendously soft & fluffy in the middle and super crispy on the outside! I’m sorry Heston, move over – there’s a new chip master in town! I tried a piece of the fillet steak with the sauce too. It was out of this world! Absolutely remarkable.
This was what the Birthday Girl chose, Cornish Red Mullet with Beef Dripping, Oxtail and Bay Leaf Dressing. I’ll be honest, the look of it scares the crap out of me! I’m not a fan of having a whole fish on a plate in front of me but Mum said it tasted beautiful. (Albeit, a little confusing to dissect especially if you have never eaten a whole fish before!)
And finally Dad’s main course was the Loin of Costwold Venison, King Oyster Mushroom “Farci”, Blowtorched Gem Lettuce and Salt Baked Beetroot. I tasted a bit of this too (Ok, I tried to be cheeky and nick a taste of pretty much everything I could get my hands on!) The venison was so rich & peppery! Packed with an extraordinary amount of flavour though, superb.
This little beauty was my dessert. The Hand & Flowers Chocolate and Ale Cake with Salted Caramel and Muscovado Ice Cream. Served with a shot glass of Real Ale. I swear I had a foodgasm when I ate this! As rich as it was, I could have eaten another. From the frosted nut on top of the muscovado ice cream, to it’s gooey chocolatey rich ale core, down to the salted caramel disc on the bottom – it was perfect in every way! Well and truly sensational!
The Mr chose the Banana Soufflé with Gingerbread Custard and Yoghurt Ice Cream as his final course. It certainly looks impressive though doesn’t it? Definitely a soufflé that rose to the occasion!
My Dad chose the Warm Sesame Pudding with Green Tea Sorbet, Crème Fraîche and Maple. But the final icing on the cake (so to speak) was what they pulled out the bag for my Mum…
How sweet is that?! It really was the perfect touch to the perfect evening. Mum had the Warm Pistachio Sponge Cake with Melon Sorbet and Marzipan by the way – and she said it was light and gorgeous which is exactly what she wanted after the rich dishes she had chosen before it.
. So I had a flick through and low & behold, Chocolate & Marshmallow Cupcakes! Who’d have thunk it??
