Opening ceremony and Bincho

Had an awesome fun packed weekend with my sisters, which involved lots of laughter and lots of cocktails!

We went to Las Iguanas in Westfield Stratford on Friday night to watch the opening ceremony and fireworks which was fab. The staff were great, food was delicious and they even hid some chairs out back for us so that we could sit in the prime spot by the window and watch the fireworks!

We went to see Chicago on Saturday, which was good as always. Then went went for dinner at Bincho in Exmouth Market, stopping at Cottons on the way for rum punch!

I discovered Bincho about a year ago with my friend Katie, who suggested going there as we could get 50% off food with her Taste card. As always, I loved trying new places and I'm do pleased that we went.

There are 2 restaurants, 1 in Soho and 1 in Exmouth market. They serve all their food on skewers. On sat night we had:
- tiger prawns
- pork belly
- lamb
- asparagus and bacon
- beef ribs
- chicken wings
- chicken and spring onions

All marinated with different sauces and flavours, really delicious! They also have a great specials board - we tried kimchee boiled ribs which were yum!

It was the first time that I had been to Bincho in Exmouth Market, as I'd previously been to the one in Soho. Both equally good, although one in Exmouth Market has outdoor tables and feels much bigger and lighter - guess it depends what night you're up for!

We had a fab time and got suitably merry (which included taking some wierd pictures with chopsticks - niuff said!). I can say that we weren't feeling that fresh when we had to get up at 7am the following morning for Olympic beach volleyball!

The Prince Rupert, Newark

The Prince Rupert is probably our favourite pub in Newark. Hubby loves it because they are CAMRA supporters and do lots of real ale, I like it cause it's quite cute and cosy and the food is delicious. The staff are also really great (particularly the gentleman behind the bar yesterday who was mega friendly and helpful!)

Whenever we have friends come and stay, we always end up coming there for food!

Last night, we decided to treat ourselves to a few drinks on a schools night (wild!) and found ourselves at prince Rupert as it also has a nice beer garden to sit and enjoy the sunshine, and we could also get some tea whilst we were out.

Their menu is great. They do homemade pizzas, with lots of toppings to pick and choose. The pizzas are huge, thin and crispy crusts, and really really yummy! Hubby chose to have a meatball pizza!

They also have lots of lovely comfort food, lasagne, burgers, fish and chips, but all is done deliciously. I chose to have fish cakes (I'm off the carbs, although forgot there's actually quite a lot of potato in fish cakes!)

All washed down with a rose spritzer, lovely! For all those who want to visit, see http://www.theprincerupert.co.uk/

The walk home saw a diversion into another pub so that we could play a few goes on a quiz machine, which is our guilty pleasure. We didn't win anything, this time!

I made pasta!

Taking the lessons I learnt last weekend, and my new pasta machine (thanks to our wedding gift vouchers), I decided to try making pasta on my own.

Guess what - it was really easy. I found a recipe in my favourite cookbook - Marcus Wareing's 'how to make the perfect.....' - and it took about 15 minutes to make the dough. 225g '00' pasta flour, 2 eggs, 3 egg yolks, 1 tsp salt and 1 tbsp oil. Mix all in a food processor until crumbly and knead into a dough (add more flour if it's a bit sticky). Then wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge for at least an hour. Easy!

The most fun part was rolling it out through the pasta machine. I decided to make tagliatelle, which was a bit tricky as you need to make sure the pasta consistency is right, otherwise all the strands stick together. After a few attempts, and the help of hubby, I had my tagliatelle ready to cook.

Whilst the pasta has been resting in the fridge, I had also made some pesto (also from Marcus' book), and after boiling the pasta for about 2 minutes, we had tagliatelle with pesto, topped with roasted chicken breast. Delish!

Now off to see Batman!

Caramelised onion tarts - the joy of pastry

Pastry and I have a very difficult relationship. It's actually non-existent. I even manage to ruin shop-bought pastry. It's ridiculous really - but even the idea of opening a packet of jus-rol brings me out in a cold sweat.

So maybe now that I've been on a pasta making course, I'm suddenly feeling adventurous, but I decide to make some tarts. Caramelised onion and creme fraiche tarts to be exact.

I found a recipe in a James Martin cookbook (I don't want to like the man, but I really do!) and it seemed easy enough. He only cooked his onions for 15 minutes, so I decided to find a separate recipe for the onions, as I wanted to make sure they were really caramelised. I cooked them for an hour in the end, just in butter and oil, with garlic, thyme and salt.

I think I cracked it. I mean, I didn't make the pastry from scratch - that's for another day - but I manage to make the pastry cases with relatively little drama. Cooked them in the oven for 15 minutes and then added the Creme fraiche and onions, and cooked them for another 10. Very easy and extremely delicious. Even the hubby enjoyed and he vows to never eat a meal that doesn't include meat (apart from breakfast, and even then, I'm not sure he enjoys it!).

Served with rocket salad, asparagus and new potatoes. Can't wait to try again - maybe with homemade pastry next time.....

Les Atelier des Chefs

What a day! My wonderful friends, Hazel, Jess and Katie bought me a cookery class for my birthday. There was a range of classes that I could have taken but I chose to take the pasta making class, as I've always wanted to make pasta, but have been particularly scared of it!

The class was at Les Atelier des Chefs on Wigmore, by Oxford circus. As soon as I walked in, I had a good feeling. In front of me was a group of people (the class before) sat round a big table eating and drinking. There was lots of laughter and the gorgeous desserts they were eating looked and smelt wonderful!

Whilst waiting for the class to start, I was given a glass of wine and spent some time looking through their shop, where they stock amazing, but very pricey, kitchen equipment. My hubby and I both have an obsession with ceramic knives, which is strange because hubby doesn't care about anything in the kitchen. However, he does like his knives. They had a wonderful range of ceramic knives, but they were quite expensive so was very restrained and didn't purchase.

There were 12 of us in the class, and everyone was really nice and friendly. Our chef teacher, Andrew, immediately started talking us through the ingredients. We're going to make fresh tagliatelle, smoked haddock ravioli and 2 sauces to accompany: wild mushroom cream sauce and a pesto sauce.

It was a 2 hour class, so we weren't all going to make every component ourselves, but we all shared out the jobs. Our chef teacher was great and talked us though everything and was really patient!

Best thing I learnt - how to take the fish fillet off the skin with the sweep of the nice!

Next weekend, one of my tasks will be to go get a pasta machine - i couldn't believe how easy pasta actually into make. I mean, I know that I haven't done it myself yet and it will be very difficult, and messy, but I can't wait!

For anyone who wants to learn any new skills, I would recommend Les Atelier des Chefs. For anyone that works near Oxford circus or St Paul's, they also do lunchtime and evening dinner class! Genius!

Ode to Lasagne

Since I was a young child, I have loved two foods: lasagne and custard. Not together, well I might, just never tried it!

It seems fitting then to write an entry about my favourite foods. I love them so equally that they deserve an entry of their own. So today I write an ode to lasagne. Lasagne with salad. Lasagne with chips. Lasagne with garlic bread. Lasagne with coleslaw. Lasagne with salad, chips, garlic bread and coleslaw. Proper pub grub!

It would be my final meal if I was on death row and I genuinely believe that I could eat it for dinner every day for the rest of my life and not get bored of it. Now that's a statement.

My mum makes a killer lasagne. It has been a family staple my whole life and always on the table whenever I go home. I used to try and replicate it the best I could, but I always used to be disappointed as I couldn't make it taste quite right.

So I decided to make it 'my own way'. My grandma puts spinach in her meat sauce, so I always do that. I now add cheese to the white sauce. Put a couple of chillies in it for a kick. And you know what, after years of perfecting, it tastes good!

Served with tomatoes in balsamic vinegar is how we enjoyed it this weekend, what a treat!

Enchiladas and Banana rum cake

Had the unexpected surprise of an impromptu visit from 2 of my sisters this weekend (don't worry Bear, we didn't have too much fun without you!). Working all day on Friday meant I needed to make something quick, yet tasty.

Enchiladas! Having lived in Arizona for 3 years when I was younger, I developed a taste for Mexican food and was really excited when I found an easy recipe for enchiladas.

Blend 1tsp cumin, 2tsp chili powders, 1tbsp jalapeños and 1 can black beans into a paste and spread over 6 tortillas. Then add chicken (cooked and I also add cooked onions and peppers), roll up and put in a roasting tin. Cover in salsa and cheese, and bake in the oven at 200c, for 20 minutes covered in foil. Then remove foil and bake for a further 10 minutes. Simples and delicious - serve with sour cream and extra jalapeños if you like it spicy. The girls loved it!

We had a lovely week - few drinks out on Friday night and then wandered round the shops on Saturday.

They also helped, or observed, me making my first banana bread. I slightly adapted from a Lorraine Pascale recipe (basically added 2 tbsp of rum to the cake mixture!!) but it is so lovely, big triumph!