15 November 2011

Mint Choc Cupcakes

Weren't we all brought up on the luxury of After Eights or Elizabeth Shaw Mint Crisps or Matchmakers, those quintessentially 1970s pieces of sophistication?  Or was it just me?  So using our new mintier Organic Peppermint Extract, I decided to create...

06 November 2011

Lamb Stew With Rosemary & Lemon

I was pottering around the shops the other day and their was some good looking shoulder of lamb.  They called out to me "Cook me, take me", so I asked the butcher for them and popped them in the basket.  Back at home, I found some lemons that need us...

04 November 2011

Chocolate Ambassador

At my father's 75th birthday bash at the weekend, our children could not get enough of the Prinz Regenten Torte nor the Chocolate Ambassador.  Chocolate Ambassador turned out to be a rich chocolate mousse with raisins and biscuit within it.  As we we...

01 November 2011

A Couple Of Simple Recipes Using Steenbergs Peppermint Extract

Using Steenbergs relaunched organic peppermint extract, I made a few peppermint flavoured sweets the other evening for a Diwali meal that we were treated to by some good friends.  They are really simple and quite delicious; the hostess loved the Pepp...

30 October 2011

Our Agony With Peppermint

Peppermint has been giving us here a headache over the last few months.  Somehow our peppermint just was not quite good enough and we have spent lots of time trying to work out why and what we could do about it?  Firstly, the peppermint tea was minty...

18 October 2011

Blending Breakfast Teas (Part 3)

So how to get us started? Well, I decided to start at the end first and to work backwards, so I tried to work out what were the types or styles of tea that we wanted to come out with as products. Basically, we were looking for light, medium and stron...

10 October 2011

Blending Breakfast Teas (2)

These developments in tea blending style are best described through the developments in the composition of the standard household tea blend over the years.  These show how the blends became more complicated, even as they became less complex in flavou...

06 October 2011

Blending Breakfast Teas (1)

I have been doing some research while trying to create a range of Breakfast Tea blends to complement our very popular English Breakfast Tea.  This has partly been a matter of curiosity as I like, in a slightly anoraky way, reading old books on tea, s...

25 September 2011

I Needed A Fix Of Vegetable Curries

07 September 2011

Kaffee Und Kuchen In Munich

The other thing I always remember about trips to Bavaria and especially Munich was the cakes, or Kaffee und Küchen, either with my Granny or Aunts or in the posh cafés in the centre of town.  So we indulged with a visit to Kreutzkamm, but did not get...

03 September 2011

Four Days In Munich - Some Traditional Restaurants (19 - 22 August 2011)

I went to Munich with our eldest, Jay, the other weekend ostensibly to show him Germany and visit my aunts and uncle.  However, we managed to sneak in a match at the Alliance Arena between FC Bayern Műnchen and Hamburger SV, where Arjen Robben, Basti...

06 August 2011

Two Fish Shops - Craster And Seahouses (19 & 20 July 2011)

01 August 2011

Two places for tea – The Old School House and Galloway Activity Centre

I seemed to spend the first week of our holidays driving a triangle from Loch Ken to Cream O’ Galloway at Rainton and then to Kirkcudbright, ferrying our kids from activity to activity.  We did manage to break for tea a few times. 

22 July 2011

The Better Supermarket Beefs In The UK - More Thoughts On Burger Making

For the supermarkets, I have reviewed their offerings (see below) and made an initial selection of meats, going for beef from Booths, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose. 

15 July 2011

Some Rules For Better Beef For A Better Burger

These are some more technical thoughts on the type of beef you are after, over and above the right breed and farmer.

12 July 2011

How To Prepare The Meat For Your Burger

But the key to the recipe is the meat. You should not just get the nearest pack of mince that you can find, but should go to a proper butcher and get the mince made for you using the right types of meat.  The best beef for a burger comes from the top...

08 July 2011

Starting Out - The Basics For A Simple Homemade Burger

Some time ago, I started a quest for a great burger, then stopped that search as things at Steenbergs gave me less time than I had needed.  But I think I am ready to start that hunt again.

11 June 2011

My Take On The Modern British Balti - A Recipe For Balti Masala

On Thursday, I was at home sorting out some domestic chores with some builders and my mind wandered to food and more specifically curry.  I craved a great balti, so I whipped one up, together with some dhal.