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March 19th, 2013
35 notes
836. Apple Strudel This is the last of my Germany posts, and it was one of the things I was determined I absolutely had to eat while I was there. I’ve had apple strudel before, but I was sure the type you got in Britain probably wasn’t very authentic, and I wanted to get a proper piece. This was just as I hoped - full of delicious apples, a mix of crisp and soft pastry, and covered in a traditional vanilla sauce. I would happily go back to Germany just for some more strudel alone! 836 down, 960 to go

836. Apple Strudel

This is the last of my Germany posts, and it was one of the things I was determined I absolutely had to eat while I was there. I’ve had apple strudel before, but I was sure the type you got in Britain probably wasn’t very authentic, and I wanted to get a proper piece. This was just as I hoped - full of delicious apples, a mix of crisp and soft pastry, and covered in a traditional vanilla sauce.

I would happily go back to Germany just for some more strudel alone!

836 down, 960 to go

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March 19th, 2013
10 notes

I’m finally getting around to using Pinterest properly

I know, I’m so quick on the uptake!

I’ll start pinning things ever so soon, but first, I want to follow lots of lovely food-filled boards. Which ones would you recommend?

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March 18th, 2013
21 notes
835. Pecan Pie This is one of those photos which I, let’s say misplaced, for a while, then found and realised I’d never got around to posting it. I made this pecan pie last year for Thanksgiving. Even though we don’t really have Thanksgiving here, I always like to make a Thanksgiving meal, as I think it’s a nice holiday, and I think that the traditional foods are all very delicious! I made turkey, mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, green beans, gravy, and maybe some other stuff for the main, then turned my hand to a pecan pie for the dessert. I’ve never made one before, and I could have done it better (the pastry turned out a little hard), but the centre still had that fantastic gooey, chewy, sweet, nuttiness that you’re after with a pecan pie. Maybe this year I’ll make one again and make some improvements to the recipe! 835 down, 961 to go

835. Pecan Pie

This is one of those photos which I, let’s say misplaced, for a while, then found and realised I’d never got around to posting it. I made this pecan pie last year for Thanksgiving. Even though we don’t really have Thanksgiving here, I always like to make a Thanksgiving meal, as I think it’s a nice holiday, and I think that the traditional foods are all very delicious!

I made turkey, mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, green beans, gravy, and maybe some other stuff for the main, then turned my hand to a pecan pie for the dessert. I’ve never made one before, and I could have done it better (the pastry turned out a little hard), but the centre still had that fantastic gooey, chewy, sweet, nuttiness that you’re after with a pecan pie. Maybe this year I’ll make one again and make some improvements to the recipe!

835 down, 961 to go

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March 17th, 2013
20 notes
833. Roggenvollkommbrot Most of the souvenirs I brought back from Germany were food, and most of those were chocolates or cakes, but I did also pick up a loaf of roggenvollkommbrot, which is a sourdough rye bread. It’s along similar lines to pumpernickel but it was slightly less sweet and dark, so it had a bit more of a nutty flavour. I had it a few ways, but one of the best was this lunch, where I topped the bread with mustard, ham, cottage cheese and cucumber. 834. Cwikla On the side, I had a spoonful of cwikla, which is a Polish beetroot relish with horseradish. I wasn’t really looking forward to it, as I’ve expressed my feelings about beetroot before, and I’m not the world’s biggest horseradish fan either, and this time my fears were accurate, as this was pretty horrible. I just about managed two small tastes before I had to abandon the rest (and make sure it didn’t contaminate the rest of the food on my plate!). Certainly not one I’ll be having again. 834 down, 962 to go

833. Roggenvollkommbrot

Most of the souvenirs I brought back from Germany were food, and most of those were chocolates or cakes, but I did also pick up a loaf of roggenvollkommbrot, which is a sourdough rye bread. It’s along similar lines to pumpernickel but it was slightly less sweet and dark, so it had a bit more of a nutty flavour. I had it a few ways, but one of the best was this lunch, where I topped the bread with mustard, ham, cottage cheese and cucumber.

834. Cwikla

On the side, I had a spoonful of cwikla, which is a Polish beetroot relish with horseradish. I wasn’t really looking forward to it, as I’ve expressed my feelings about beetroot before, and I’m not the world’s biggest horseradish fan either, and this time my fears were accurate, as this was pretty horrible. I just about managed two small tastes before I had to abandon the rest (and make sure it didn’t contaminate the rest of the food on my plate!). Certainly not one I’ll be having again.

834 down, 962 to go

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March 17th, 2013
37 notes

Hotel Chocolat Easter Egg Review

Recently I was asked if I’d like to try some Easter products for a luxury chocolate brand. I’m certainly never one to turn down chocolate, especially luxury chocolate, so I of course said I would love to! After I’d said yes, I found out it was for Hotel Chocolat, and I’d be trying one of their Ostrich Eggs. I’ve tried a few Hotel Chocolat products before and they’ve always been extremely good, so I was very excited to give this a go.

The egg came in a beautiful large box, with a lovely rabbit design on the side, and a ribbon tied around it. I’ll be keeping the box once the egg is finished to store things in as I think it’s far too nice to throw away! One thing I particularly liked is that, in comparison to usual Easter eggs, there was no window in the box, so there was a much better reveal of the surprises inside as you opened it.

On taking off the lid, you first see the menu, which outlines the delicious range of truffles and pralines which come with the egg, and underneath this was the chocolates themselves. There are a generous 21 chocolates in all kinds of fantastic flavours like salted caramel, florentine, and chilli truffle. I’ve tried a handful of them so far and they are all wonderful, with lovely deep flavours and smooth textures.

Below the box of chocolates was the egg itself. Nestled in crinkled paper, the egg is wrapped in thick, gold foil, and comes in two halves tied with a ribbon. I had the ‘Half and Half’ egg, which means you get one half of the egg in milk chocolate with feuilletine pieces, and the other half of the egg is dark chocolate with almonds. Both sides are extremely thick, with around an inch thick chocolate around the rim, and still a centimetre thickness at the thinnest point of the shell. I can’t decide which is my favourite as both of the chocolates are such amazing quality!

The final part of the egg is a half dozen mini praline eggs which are buried in the paper underneath the egg. These are as delicious as the rest, and I loved that they were buried in the paper as it meant they were a brilliant surprise as you are unpacking it, and it was a bit of fun to delve around to try and find them all.

The egg that I had was the Half and Half Ostrich Egg. It retails at £70, so it isn’t going to be in everyone’s Easter budget, but if you do want to spend a little more to really treat someone, I can’t imagine you could get anything much better. It really goes a very long way - I’ve been eating it for 2 weeks or so now and I still have more than half left, so for the price you do get a lot of chocolate. I think it would also be perfect if you wanted to buy one nice egg for a family or a group of your employees to share rather than getting them one smaller thing each. If you’re on a smaller budget, Hotel Chocolat have lots of less pricey alternatives which also look amazing, like the Rocky Road to Caramel Egg (£27), or the Sunny Side Up bar (£7.50).

Thank you very much to Hotel Chocolat for sending me this egg to try.

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March 15th, 2013
31 notes
832. Bockwurst As promised, here is the bockwurst I mentioned yesterday. I hadn’t tried bockwurst before. I love other German sausages but this was one I hadn’t had the chance to try. It’s relatively common to find stands selling bratwurst in the UK (especially around Christmas), but that’s usually where the selection ends. The bockwurst to me seemed to be a bit like a cross between a bratwurst and a frankfurter. It had a frankfurter-like taste and texture inside, but with the nice grilled, crispy outside of a brat. Overall it was totally delicious and I would very much like another one! 832 down, 964 to go

832. Bockwurst

As promised, here is the bockwurst I mentioned yesterday.

I hadn’t tried bockwurst before. I love other German sausages but this was one I hadn’t had the chance to try. It’s relatively common to find stands selling bratwurst in the UK (especially around Christmas), but that’s usually where the selection ends. The bockwurst to me seemed to be a bit like a cross between a bratwurst and a frankfurter. It had a frankfurter-like taste and texture inside, but with the nice grilled, crispy outside of a brat. Overall it was totally delicious and I would very much like another one!

832 down, 964 to go

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March 14th, 2013
14 notes
831. Chaumes One of the nights we were there, rather than having a proper sit down dinner, we grabbed sausages at the market (I had a bockwurst which will be coming up in a post soon), and then a couple of hours later we all sat down and shared a cheese platter with a few beers.  A few years back, the idea of a cheese platter wouldn’t have been all that appealing to me. I loved cooked cheese, on pizza, in a panini, in a pasta sauce etc, but just cheese alone with bread or crackers wasn’t my cup of tea at all. Luckily I’ve come around and whilst I’m still not a big fan of having hard cheeses by themselves, I do love tucking into soft-type and blue cheeses with some nice crusty bread. This platter (if I remember rightly), had emmental, brie, a blue cheese that I think was gorgonzola, and chaumes, which is a softish French cheese with an orange rind. It was probably my favourite of the lot.  831 down, 965 to go

831. Chaumes

One of the nights we were there, rather than having a proper sit down dinner, we grabbed sausages at the market (I had a bockwurst which will be coming up in a post soon), and then a couple of hours later we all sat down and shared a cheese platter with a few beers. 

A few years back, the idea of a cheese platter wouldn’t have been all that appealing to me. I loved cooked cheese, on pizza, in a panini, in a pasta sauce etc, but just cheese alone with bread or crackers wasn’t my cup of tea at all. Luckily I’ve come around and whilst I’m still not a big fan of having hard cheeses by themselves, I do love tucking into soft-type and blue cheeses with some nice crusty bread.

This platter (if I remember rightly), had emmental, brie, a blue cheese that I think was gorgonzola, and chaumes, which is a softish French cheese with an orange rind. It was probably my favourite of the lot. 

831 down, 965 to go

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March 13th, 2013
16 notes
830. Feuerzanganbowle Another of my must-tries on my Germany trip list was this, feuerzanganbowle, which is basically a version of mulled wine which has flambeed rum added to it. Unfortunately the rum was pre-added so I didn’t get to experience a big fireball display, but it was very tasty nonetheless! One of the things I loved about the trip, was that at the markets you buy a mug when you get your first drink (whether it’s gluhwein or hot chocolate), and then you take the mug around and get it refilled for a cheaper price for each subsequent drink you want. I now have a whole new collection of mugs in my cupboard! 830 down, 966 to go 

830. Feuerzanganbowle

Another of my must-tries on my Germany trip list was this, feuerzanganbowle, which is basically a version of mulled wine which has flambeed rum added to it. Unfortunately the rum was pre-added so I didn’t get to experience a big fireball display, but it was very tasty nonetheless!

One of the things I loved about the trip, was that at the markets you buy a mug when you get your first drink (whether it’s gluhwein or hot chocolate), and then you take the mug around and get it refilled for a cheaper price for each subsequent drink you want. I now have a whole new collection of mugs in my cupboard!

830 down, 966 to go 

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March 12th, 2013
18 notes
829. Sauerbraten Considering I went on my trip to Germany before Christmas, it’s really about time I posted my pictures from there, so here we go with the first!  For the trip, I went armed with my trusty 1796 notebook with a whole page of scribbled dishes that I really must try to find when I was there. This was one of the top items on the list - sauerbraten - which is a version of pot roast cooked with vinegar. The portion was huge - 2 super thick slices of beef, with lots of rich, vinegary gravy, a big pile of spaetzle, and a bowl of lovely red cabbage to boot.  The meat was extremely tender and just fell apart in my mouth, and the flavour was excellent - really deep and meaty. And whilst the presentation wasn’t the best I’ve ever had in a restaurant, this huge plate of comfort food washed down with a couple of wheat beers was exactly what I needed at the end of a long day of travelling. It was definitely a good sign of how great the food would be for the rest of the trip! 829 down, 967 to go

829. Sauerbraten

Considering I went on my trip to Germany before Christmas, it’s really about time I posted my pictures from there, so here we go with the first! 

For the trip, I went armed with my trusty 1796 notebook with a whole page of scribbled dishes that I really must try to find when I was there. This was one of the top items on the list - sauerbraten - which is a version of pot roast cooked with vinegar. The portion was huge - 2 super thick slices of beef, with lots of rich, vinegary gravy, a big pile of spaetzle, and a bowl of lovely red cabbage to boot. 

The meat was extremely tender and just fell apart in my mouth, and the flavour was excellent - really deep and meaty. And whilst the presentation wasn’t the best I’ve ever had in a restaurant, this huge plate of comfort food washed down with a couple of wheat beers was exactly what I needed at the end of a long day of travelling. It was definitely a good sign of how great the food would be for the rest of the trip!

829 down, 967 to go

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March 11th, 2013
13 notes
828. Stinking Bishop A little while back, some American friends came to visit us for a few days. They were taking a trip all around Europe, and they made Cardiff their second stop, so Pie and I decided to make sure we showed them what the city had to offer, and gave them a taste of some traditional Welsh and British things. We went to Big Pit (which is an old coal mine, you get to wear a hard hat, which is awesome), we got fish and chips, we spent quite a lot of time in the pub, and we went to Wally’s deli. While we were in there, we spotted the Stinking Bishop in the cheese counter and all decided to give it a go. The nice lady at the cheese counter cut us off a small piece to share, and we each placed a little bit in our mouths with trepidation. Stinking Bishop has a reputation for being rather pungent, so we wanted to approach it with caution! To start, the taste seemed nice, like a camembert, and we were all wondering what the fuss was about, but then it hit you. Suddenly the taste and the smell was so overpowering and not pleasant at all. It just took over your mouth and was so strong and would not go away. And worse, our fingers stank too, just from touching a tiny piece before we put it in our mouths. The lady kindly gave us all a wet cloth to wipe our hands which sort of helped. (I think she was probably laughing at us all on the inside). Suffice to say I didn’t buy any! 828 down, 968 to go

828. Stinking Bishop

A little while back, some American friends came to visit us for a few days. They were taking a trip all around Europe, and they made Cardiff their second stop, so Pie and I decided to make sure we showed them what the city had to offer, and gave them a taste of some traditional Welsh and British things. We went to Big Pit (which is an old coal mine, you get to wear a hard hat, which is awesome), we got fish and chips, we spent quite a lot of time in the pub, and we went to Wally’s deli. While we were in there, we spotted the Stinking Bishop in the cheese counter and all decided to give it a go.

The nice lady at the cheese counter cut us off a small piece to share, and we each placed a little bit in our mouths with trepidation. Stinking Bishop has a reputation for being rather pungent, so we wanted to approach it with caution! To start, the taste seemed nice, like a camembert, and we were all wondering what the fuss was about, but then it hit you. Suddenly the taste and the smell was so overpowering and not pleasant at all. It just took over your mouth and was so strong and would not go away. And worse, our fingers stank too, just from touching a tiny piece before we put it in our mouths. The lady kindly gave us all a wet cloth to wipe our hands which sort of helped. (I think she was probably laughing at us all on the inside).

Suffice to say I didn’t buy any!

828 down, 968 to go