Hello

As it is Sunday evening, it is time to tell you about the stand out plate of the weekend! Actually there is two…

After three years, my boyfriend decides to show me that he can cook (and very well actually!!) He would tell me off for putting it like that and would proceed to remind me that I love his bangers and mash! But this was no bangers and mash…it was healthy, tasty and original. I don't know what you would call it exactly (I am sure it has a posh Italian name) but it had a pastry base, shaped and raised at the edges and was filled with tomatoes, onion, garlic, peppers - all blended nicely with swirls of mozzarella and baked in the oven. Quick and easy I am told, but absolutely delicious and a taste of real Italia.

The second is a homemade blackberry and chocolate mousse. We spent Sunday afternoon fruit picking and came home with strawberries, blackberries and raspberries.

We had bravely done the chocolate mousse in our first year of university and I remember it went down a storm with Morgan's housemates, so decided to try and replicate our success and incorporate blackberries. We liked the recipe because it didn't require buying lots of different ingredients for one baking session and then pushed to the back of the cupboard and never used again. All you need is eggs, caster sugar and chocolate - oh and of course this variation included blackberries.

You melt the chocolate and in the meantime separate the egg yolks and egg whites and add the sugar to the egg yolks and whisk (preferably with an electric mixer, but as we found out it isn't too bad whisking by hand) until thick and pale. Then add the melted chocolate and mashed blackberries to the egg and sugar mixture, mix well and then put to one side. Then whisk the egg whites until stiff and slowly fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, careful not to over mix because the mixture will end up to heavy instead of light and airy. Once folded in and combined well, pour into moose pots (wine glasses with a thick stem work well) and leave in the fridge for 2 hours to set.

Then do whatever two hours on a sunday afternoon calls for and return to your mousses, top them each with a small flake and two whole blackberries. Ta dah!

Good evening!

Tonight I fancied a home made, healthy but substantial dinner. So I cooked sweet and sour chicken. Not the deep fried sweet and sour chicken you get at the takeaway Chinese may I add.

I seasoned the chicken breast with salt and pepper, sliced it into bite size chunks and then fried it in a little olive oil until browned and then put to one side. I then added a drop of olive oil to the already hot pan but turned the heat down and threw in the onion, pepper, garlic, spring onion and  fried for one minute. Then I added the pineapple chunks, tomato puree, rice vinegar (any vinegar would do) and brown sugar and brought to the boil stirring slowly. Once the consistency was as I liked it, I turned the heat down and added the cooked chicken and crushed walnuts. Cashews or peanuts would have been better but I used what I had. Although the nuts come right at the end and are a can-do-without ingredient, their subtle crunch makes the dish for me.

I cooked a small amount of rice with mine to soak up the sauce and give the dish a bit more weight. However if you are looking to cut out the carbs, the sweet and sour chicken is it's own dish in it's own right. For a quick, easy but flavoursome dinner option, look no further. Enjoy!

Hello!

Today I will tell you about some of the milestone adventures I have had the last few months to give you a bit of a backdrop to what I am all about.

Imminently before finishing my 4 years of university at University of Hertfordshire, I landed a job in communications at a great company based in Poole, Dorset. So there I was with three weeks to move out of my family home of 20 years based in a cushty little village in the county of Bedfordshire. I left my family, my horse and everything else I had always known. It was definitely heading out of my comfort zone but something I was ready for.

As well as a new job and a new home, I had the added excitement of travelling to Uganda in July for three weeks. I was going with my family and boyfriend to do a voluntary project in a remote and very poor area of the north of the country. I have now been back two weeks and can safely say it was the most overwhelming, life changing and rewarding experience I have ever had. The excitement of my new job and home was suddenly not so exciting as I had to tear away from my family who I had been through so much with the last few weeks.

I sorely miss Uganda - the people, the smiles, the simplicity and the reason we were there. But there is one thing I don't particularly miss…and that is the food! But as I knew then, and I continue to remind myself of now, we are lucky to have food, let alone be privileged enough to eat food that satisfies our taste buds as well as our body's survival needs. The best way to describe Ugandan food is  heavy and bland. Think potato (not cheesy or smooth!), beans, roasted corn, goat, chapatti (Indian I know!?), banana and pineapple! Banana and pineapple was breakfast every morning and we were sick of the sight of it by the end! Lunch and dinner was very carb intense and although we were doing physical work every day, we didn't lose any weight because of the crazy carb intake! I lived on avocado…it was soft and smooth and had flavour. Avocado grows well in Uganda and a staple food. The local people were not too malnourished when we were there because the region had experienced a lot of rainfall and this is when people can grow crops and eat well. A little girl was preparing lunch for her family, using a handmade pestle and mortar.

En route back home from Uganda, we had a couple of nights in Dubai. Middle Eastern food is probably my favourite cuisine. I discovered this love in Lebanon back in 2010. An entire feast of tabouhli, labneh, falafel, vine leaves, lemon chicken wings, meat kebabs (the best you can ever imagine), pure garlic paste and flat breads. I love the social aspect to eating middle eastern food, it's all about little and often and sharing as you go. Although there is every cuisine in the world on offer in Dubai, we were partial to Lebanese! We did however compromise one evening with a steak house for the boys. Yes, I did enjoy it but my mind was definietely wandering elsewhere! Why have a steak in Dubai, when you can have it at home?

Anyway, we are home now and whilst I have always argued that English food isn't very inspirational, I didn't complain about fish and chips by the seaside this afternoon!

Good evening!

This is my first blog post and I'm delighted to share with you my love for food, restaurants and travel. This said, isn't it the biggest disaster when this love doesn't meet our expectations? Whilst I love food, I am the world's biggest critic of it too! These high standards lead me to travel to some of the best food oriented countries in the world, the best restaurants out there and experiment with cooking flavours, combinations and presentation. I don't however always get it right, and I do often cheat. Lets face it, the days run away with us and meal times are a frantic rush. I'm here to share the lows with you as well as the highs! I did have an interesting accident this week when I made a simple but tasty potato salad. In went the chopped mint, garlic and mayo, only to discover I hadn't boiled the potatoes first! Gutted I was. Tonight on the agenda is chicken, chorizo and pepper kebabs with a cucumber and mint salsa all wrapped nicely in a pitta bread. And of course a glass of vino seeing as it is Friday! Bon appetite to whatever you are eating (and drinking!) tonight x