Christmas menu 2012

This year is the first year we are spending Christmas at our own home with George. So it gives me an excuse to do a a different sort of Christmas lunch. What do you think of the menu?

Update: I've now posted some photos of the meal here.

Making Sunday Roast

Are you thinking about making a Sunday Roast? This is what I do.

Put a bit of meat in the oven. Lamb this time. Pop a bit of rosemary and garlic in and cook slowly on a low heat (shoulder)

Put some celery and carrot ends into a pot of boiling water to make a stock (for the gravy).

Peel some potatoes.

Boil the potatoes for about 5 minutes.

Make some batter for yorkshire pudding. I tend to use a different recipe each time I do it.

Put the batter in the fridge for a while. Then after everything else is almost ready, I put it in hot fat in a hot oven for about 20 minutes.

Add a few herbs to my stock. Which I then use to make gravy using the juice from the meat and a little flour.

Put the par-boiled potatoes in a colander and put some flour or polenta on them.

Give them a shake. Then put them in hot fat in the oven.

Cut the carrots then put them in the a pan of boiling water (or steam them).

Put the food waste in the compost.

 And. All done.

Cinnamon Club Breakfast

My office is less than a minute away from the Cinnamon Club. I have written about it once before. I haven't actually been back for lunch in a couple of years but I have eaten breakfast there probably 10 times. The staff can be ever so slightly grumpy and I think the breakfast isn't as good as it used to be. But its still pretty good.

One of my favorites is still the Bombay Scrambled Egg. mmmm.

Taste of the World

In mid July, we visited the Taste of the World event at Fontwell Park. I expected it to be a bit rubbish. It wasn't. http://tasteoftheworld.co.uk/. There was good food, dancing, singing and beer (I had cider). All fun.

Terribly Clever Creamy Watercress Sauce Base

Dear Marks and Spencer

























This terribly clever creamy watercress sauce base is not so clever. You need to add cream and watercress.

Making Pasta

Fresh pasta is so much nicer than dried. And it isn't too difficult to do.
1) Put some pasta flour onto the table. Make a hole in the middle and drop in some eggs. Mix the eggs with a fork and gradually pull the flour into the liquid.

2) Knead the flour for about five minutes.

3) Flatten with a rolling pin and put into the pasta machine. Start with a large setting and gradually make it smaller.

4) Leave the pasta to dry for a while.

5) Drop into some boiling water for a few minutes.

Done

Breakfast at Terminal 5

Great Japanese pancake for Breakfast at Wagamama in T5.



Not quite as nice as the Glastonbury version though.

Location:Heathrow Airport T5

Trieste 1: Stansted 0

Leaving Stansted for my recent trip to Italy, I popped into Weatherspoons at the airport and had pasta and pesto. It was pretty bland. I even had to add salt. And cost over £10. It didn't look bad however.




On the way back I popped into the restaurant at Trieste airport and had some trout and veg (€8). So much nicer.

Reliable healthy and tasty. What more can you want for.”

Posted a review of Yo Sushi on Tripadvisor.

"First visit to Yo Sushi in Croydon today. It was surprisingly busy but service good. For a quick meal it works so well. And our two year old loves it. On top of rice fish and dumplings, he insisted on two of their deserts (as well as fruit). So didnt work out a cheap lunch!"

You can find the review here

Review of Cinnamon Club London

I've posted a review of a recent lunch at the Cinnamon Club in London on Tripadvisor

"Went a couple of weeks ago for lunch. The set lunch is great value at £22 for 3 courses. Much cheaper than the a la carte. Food was excellent. Had a great amuse of a cold mint soup. A starter of chicken tikka then a pork curry. And a fantastic rice pudding. The setting is great ( it's not that long ago that I used to go to the library- before it was turned into a restaurant)service was great and attentive. Enjoyed it a lot."

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g186338-d718517-r39075981-Cinnamon_Club-London_England.html

Review of Mangosteen London

Posted a review of Mangosteen onto Tripadvisor.

"Great restaurant in gipsy hill. Nice staff and an interesting menu."

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g186338-d731177-r36054182-Mangosteen-London_England.html