Time for a coffee

January 11, 2025

Time for a Coffee: Top Ten Blog Posts 2024

Having posted that I was unable to post a top ten from 2024 looking at the dashboard I realised I could see the stats for the blog posts from 2024.

In 2024 I wrote 153 blog posts. In 2023 I wrote and published 187 blog posts. Less than in 2022 when I wrote 236 blog posts. In 2021 I wrote 107 blog posts, in 2020 it was 120. In 2019 it was 58 blog posts, 2018 just 36.

The tenth most popular blog post was on cooking some Roasted Pork Belly.

Post at number nine was Time for the Chicken Shawarma.

Lidl French Week in 2020 was the eighth most popular blog post.

The post at number seven was about the tama squid I had at Wagamama.

The sixth most popular blog post in 2024 was a review of the Greek Tzoumagias-Style Sausages that Lidl sold.

The post at number five was about a Breton Fish Stew from Côte.

My fourth most popular post, was my review of some Lidl Sol Mar Cod Croquettes

The post at number three was a review of Lidl Coffee Ice Cream. They are not huge tubs, but what you get is a tasty creamy coffee ice cream, with a little chocolate in there as well.

The post at number two was about Retro Ice Cream.

The most popular blog post in 2023 was about the time I had the Pollo Cacciatore at Bella Italia.

January 9, 2025

Orecchiette Pasta with Courgette, Mushrooms and Pancetta

I like eating Orecchiette pasta since eating it in London a few years back at the now sadly closed Paesan restaurant close to Exmouth Market. Orecchiette are a pasta typical of the Apulia region of Italy.

I cooked the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. I then in a large frying pan cooked off some pancetta before adding some sliced baby courgette and sliced mushrooms. When the pasta was virtually cooked I added some crème fraîche to the pan. The pasta was drained and then added to the pan and mixed in with the sauce. I plated the pasta before garnishing with freshly chopped parsley and grated parmesan cheese.

January 8, 2025

Burger and Tacos in Leeds

Avoiding a hotel meal in Leeds, myself and a colleague headed out for something to eat. We didn’t go to far and went to the Editor’s Draught, a pub that sells food on Wellington Street.

I was hungry, having missed lunch, so I went with their big burger, The Triple Threat.

It’s the biggest and baddest of the stacks, and it’s piled up with triple beef patties, triple bacon, triple burger cheese slices and triple onion rings drizzled with cheese sauce, in a toasted bun with ketchup, burger sauce, iceberg lettuce, chopped onion and gherkin, with skin-on fries and BBQ sauce.

It was only a couple of pounds more than a standard burger and came with onion rings.

For a starter, well probably a side dish I had the chicken tacos which came with salsa, guacamole and sour cream.

I enjoyed both dishes, they weren’t out of this world, but I wasn’t expecting an out of this world experience. The burger was a nice burger, good flavours and if anything impractical to eat with your hands, as it was so tall.

The chicken tacos were a nice snack.

Overall a quick tasty meal, just what I needed.

January 1, 2025

Where’s the top ten for 2024?

Usually at this time I would publish a blog post of the top ten posts of the previous twelve months. However WordPress have stopped doing free stats for blogs that show adverts. So I don’t have detailed stats about the top posts.

December 31, 2024

Cassoulet Toulousain

I bought this can of Cassoulet Toulousain when I was on holiday in France in the summer. Having had some legs from the roast duck left over from Christmas, I decided I would heat up the legs in the oven and heat the contents of the tin in a pan. As well as beans it also contained some sausage and duck meat.

The Cassoulet Toulousain was very tasty, but also very rich, almost too rich. It had been cuisiné à la graisse de canard, as in cooked in duck fat. I think I would have preferred to tone down the richness with some stock. I do like cassoulet, so it was interesting to try one of these cans from France. They are something you don’t see for sale in the UK, except in specialist French grocery shops or delicatessen.

December 30, 2024December 30, 2024

Very nice cakes

One of the things I like about Too Good To Go is the opportunity to try out new places without spending a fortune. I was in Bristol and there was a bag for Anna Cake Couture for £4 for a £14 value. I got 24 macarons and a cake in my box.

This has a retail value of £57. Not bad for four pounds.

Yes the macarons are slightly less than perfect from a looks perspective, but taste fantastic. The cake was an end piece. However I was expecting that from the description. If you don’t like macarons then this isn’t the bag for you. Delicious patisserie. You can see why they have a rating of 4.9 out of 5.

December 25, 2024

Easy Carve Stuffed Duck

One of the dishes I like at Christmas is a partially boned stuffed duck. I had my eye on the Aldi version, mainly down to the price, but also the other stuffed ducks I had seen were slow cooked (as in pre-cooked), whereas the Aldi version was fresh (as in raw).

Aldi have a dynamic pricing when it comes to some of their Christmas specials. When the duck first went on sale it was £24.99, within a few days it was down to £19.99. However, I waited until Christmas Eve, when it came down to £9.99. That was the right price for me.

Of course there is a risk that they will sell out before Christmas Eve, but I usually have my eye on a range of specials, so don’t worry too much if I can’t get the one I want.

It was very easy to cook and the final glaze made the dish. The duck was very tender and full of flavour. It was a lovely main course for the festive feast.

December 18, 2024December 17, 2024

Eating Greek Again

Staying over in London, I had planned to eat in the hotel I was staying at, however there was an issue with the included meal allowance. So I was then left with the decision to either eat at the hotel or choose an alternative. There wasn’t many choices close by, but I did like the idea of Greek, and nearby was an independent Greek place. I enjoyed my meal so much, on the next night I went again. There was smiles as I arrived, and I sat at my “usual” table. Certainly a sense of déjà vu, which we all smiled at. This time I was going to have something different.

This time I went with the halloumi followed by the pork gyros. The halloumi tasted really fresh, and was dressed with some olive oil. I really liked the dish.

I don’t think I have had gyros before so it was an interesting experience. They came with pita bread, tzatziki, and chips.

The pork was done really well, it was tasty and tender. I liked the addition of the red pepper.

The service was great, and I certainly would go again.

December 17, 2024December 17, 2024

Wahaca for One

I had really enjoyed my last meal at Wahaca at Paddington, so had thought about going again at some point.

Arrived in London and went to Wahaca for lunch. They do a deal for one, which looked nice. Better than a sandwich. Initially I thought do I want to go there, as it was quite early, just approaching midday. But then I thought, what was the alternative? A sandwich from Pret? So headed on up the stairs. I was the first person in the restaurant. However, by the time my food arrived twenty minutes later, the place was packed.

What you got was:

- - Guacamole & Tortilla Chips
  - Smoky Sonoran Hummus
  - Sweet Potato & Feta Taquito
  - Two tacos of your choice, I went for the Buttermilk Chicken Taco and the Beef Gringa Taco.

I loved the way the food was presented on a wooden board.

The guacamole tasted nice and fresh, and it was nice to have the mixed tortilla chips as well. I really liked the smoky Sonoran hummus, not too smoky, but I liked the addition of the sunflower seeds. The Sonoran hummus is a Mexican hummus, made with roasted vegetables, chickpeas, guajillo and herbs, drizzled with chilli oil.

At the heart of the board was a sweet potato & feta taquito. There was a variety of textures and flavours in this taquito. It came with caramelised onion, salsas and chipotle mayo, and was served in a crisp blue corn tortilla. The crunch of the rolled taco and the smooth sweet potato made this a tasty treat.

I had gone for the buttermilk chicken taco and the beef gringa taco. You got one of each. The gringa taco was slow-cooked British grass-fed beef with grilled cheese and salsa fresca, in a soft corn tortilla. The beef was tender and full of flavour.

The buttermilk chicken taco was chicken crispy fried in WildFarmed flour with pink pickled onions and spiced mayo, in a soft flour tortilla.

It was a great meal, really tasty. Service was excellent as well.

December 13, 2024

Eating Greek

I walked over, and looked over the menu, one of the waiting staff came out and asked if I wanted to come inside and look at the menu, as it was warmer inside than out. I said yes, by then I had pretty much made my choice that I would eat there. There was an Italian place next door, but I did fancy Greek.

Having decided to eat, I was given a choice of where to sit. The welcome was warm and friendly. I went with the hummus followed by lamb chops. The hummus arrived and was accompanied by a large portion of warm flat bread.

The hummus was nice and fresh and the bread was warm, soft and doughy. Delicious.

The lamb chops soon followed. There were three chops on top of crispy chips.

The lamb chops were very tender, but the char in some places was a little bitter. The chips were twice cooked, but were seasoned. Personally I would have liked some salad with it. I washed down the meal with a bottle of Mythos, Greek beer.

The service was great, if anything a little over attentive.