For years I have been trying to establish the name for the coffee I like - strong espresso with hot milk, no froth and not too big. It's not a capuccino or a latte or even a machiata... at the Earls Court restaurant show they said it was a 'Bloody Akward'. But then I heard about Flat Whites and today I tried my first one in BSE! It's at Costa and costs £2.25 - more than any of the others on sale. I asked the server why? She told me it requires 3 shots of coffee and a special technique to pour it so it's ultra smooth; not because it is the newest thing on the market. Mine was delicious - but still too milky and far too big.
Meat pies, scotch eggs and the generation who buy them
Written by Claire
Edis of Ely make the best takeaway food snacks in their butchers in St Johns Street. I have mentioned them before - their still warm scotch eggs and at least three types of pasties and sausage rolls. I bought a Tin Miners for £1.35 - minced lamb, carrots and onions, perfectly seasoned, with pastry shiny with beaten egg, oozing a bit of gravy but still crisp. And I was the youngest customer in the shop !
This is an expensive farm shop, but I can't fault the food in their cafe. Lunch goes on until 4.00pm, perfect for those of us who only decide we want to go for a walk at 1pm. We look at the llamas for a few minutes to justify eating, then a table becomes available and I can only put it on the blog if I have tasted the food. We had Stowlangtoft lamb brochette (on a stick) with a lovely aubergine side, yoghurt sauce and rocket salad. A salmon fish cake with (not very sweet but very hot) sweet chili sauce, maybe they bought the wrong one... a side order of very hot and crisp french fries and a selection of three British cheeses - Keens Cheddar, Oxford Blue and Gold Medal something, that I made them swear to remember the name but they have already forgotten. All three were as delicious a cheese as you are ever going to find anywhere and served at the perfect temperature. Then puddings - white chocolate bread and butter pudding which sounds revolting but was actually much nicer than it sounds, rhubarb mousse because I haven't had any rhubarb yet, fab pink and very sweet, but on a suspect too-white (shop?) meringue basket, and carrot cake which I don't like in any shape or form but still managed to taste.
Oh the joy of eating late when you want to ! And it was lovely food; no obese oversize portions and a menu that you are never going to see in your average pub Sunday lunch. It was £15.00 each including soft drinks. Not bad for everything sourced within five miles of the kitchen - or so they say...?!
The first one of the year... The sun was out, felt like something summery to eat so made chicken and spare ribs in the oven and finished them off outside. Served with rice and peas, sweet potato salsa and rum punch. Then it rained.
After lunch we walk along the seafront and buy one of these fat beauties straight out of the sea. The whole cod was £14, cut into eight huge steaks by the fisherman and with another fish head thrown in for soup.
Nothing to write about in Suffolk because I haven't been out. Went to London and had lunch in Wahaca - the Mexican Market Eating restaurant of the only female Masterchef winner (so far) www.wahaca.co.uk. Lots of hot sauce, tortillas, meat and fresh salad - very quick, very nice and very cheap - with simple delicious drinks like home made lime squash. £36 for four of us. Suffolk still has a long way to go.
It's growing in my garden for the first time - after a year of picking off caterpillars, spraying, looking, poking and wondering if it was worth it, it has finally produced loads of delicious sprouting heads that are almost as good to eat as asparagus, which is good timing because now I need the space for some new plants.
Been to see two plays in one day as part of the Halesworth HighTide festival; this theatre being one of our favourite venues in Suffolk for comedy, particularly when it's escaped unnoticed into a serious script. The food has always looked good here and I love the randomness of it, watching the cream being whipped for a raspberry cheesecake on the bar next to you while you wait for a glass of wine - everyone seems to volunteer here. I had pork, cashew and apricot terrine that came with three salads for £6 - new potato salad, cous cous and red cabbage coleslaw, topped with a bunch of watercress. It was delicious, fresh and tasty, and exactly what I wanted at 6.30pm between the plays. I could eat like this every day. By the time we got to the interval the cheesecake was ready and it was one of the best I have ever had out - anywhere. www.newcut.org
Nice to meet a friend here in Bury on Saturday for a cup - well a good sized pot actually - of tea, with a fresh scones, the thickest cream and those little jars of strawberry jam. Their sofas are the most comfortable seats in the town, it was warm on a freezing cold day and there was free wi fi access for the laptop. And the staff are REALLY nice!