food, reviews and of course coffee
I do like a lager now and again especially in the summer or early autumn. It’s not as though I don’t like a good real ale, but during the summer, a bottle of lager reminds me so much of my travels to France and Italy back in the 1990s.
One of my favourite bottled lagers is Peroni.
When I am at an Italian restaurant for lunch I often choose Peroni over a glass of wine. It has a distinctive taste and freshness and I really find it very refreshing.
Nope, not a typo…
A cheese show in Somerset is hoping to set the record for the world’s most expensive cheese sandwich.
The Frome Cheese Show claims to be the oldest in the country. And organisers hope its cheese sandwich, costing £110.59, is the world’s most expensive.
It was created by Bath-based chef Martin Blunos and is made with cheddar blended with white truffles and sprinkled with gold dust.
Having got Chicken with a Parmesan and Lemon Crust as part of the £10 dine in offer from Marks and Spencers, I roasted it in the oven alongside some potatoes and steamed vegetables.
It was quite nice.
I am not sure how much of a deal those £10 deals are from Marks and Spencers, actually of course it is no deal really, just the price that they charge called a deal to tempt you in…
However I don’t buy them because it is a special offer I buy them because it’s a quick and easy way to get a meal without having to spend huge amounts of money.
Oh and the wine isn’t too bad either!
Enjoyed reading this blog article about the differences between the fast food you see in the advertising and the fast food you actually get.
People around the world know fast food as one of the most reliable distributors of disappointment ever produced by the business world. We know that if we ever feel the need to complain about something, we can just grab a page out of a coupon booklet, adorned in pictures of juicy burgers, then go have a party. Why, the restaurants themselves usually plaster their walls with pictures of juicy burgers – often hanging right over your table – so that you need only open your eyes to find something to compare your food with, while you eat it. Needless to say, the results of my little project were unsurprising… which shouldn’t be a surprise.
My favourite part is that the food in many of the advertising pictures wouldn’t actually fit in the boxes that they are supplied in!
Went to Bottelino’s again.
For starters I had the calamari again.
I do like calamari, this was okay, certainly not the best I have ever had, but also not the worse. Would be nice if they were a little more authentic. Next time I go I must have something different, though looking at another table I don’t think I will go for the mushrooms. Quite liked the look of the anti pasta.
They do a lunchtime special at my local branch where any pizza or pasta is just £4.95, so I decided to try the calzone.
It comprises a pizza base folded and stuffed in this instance with bolognaise sauce and mozzarella cheese.
I didn’t enjoy this as much as other pizzas I have had at Bottelino’s, it was a little too rich for me.
Overall not the best experience I have had, but didn’t put me off going again.
Bottelino’s is an independent chain of Italian restaurants in Bristol and North Somerset.
Sometimes speed and ease is what is needed in the kitchen. I do use tinned pulses and beans a fair bit in my cooking. Though I know I can buy dried, soak and cook them myself, I do find that using tinned is quick and easy. It also allows for last minute changes to recipes or what I am going to cook for dinner.
One problem I do have is that sometimes a regular sized tin of pulses or beans is too big. So I was pleased to find these small tins at my local Waitrose of Borlotti Beans.
I have used these for salads and for cooking, as with my recent pork and borlotti beans recipe.
What is also nice about these is that the beans are not in brine, so less salty.
The griddle is a nice way of cooking medallions of pork.
It chargrills the surface, adding flavour, whilst keeping the meat moist and tender.
Very nice.
Sometimes I wish pubs that serve food had a little more imagination.
Look at this combo starter for sharing.
Most of the stuff on that platter is deep fried!
I guess that is what most people want from a combo starter, personally I would have liked them to use fresh ingredients rather than processed stuff out of the freezer that is then thrown into the deep fat fryer. I know there’s some salad and at the far end is some chicken and garlic bread, but why not take a leaf out of the Spanish tapas cookbook or a Greek meze cookbook and be more creative.
I took some chicken breast and between two sheets of cling film and flattened it with a rolling pin.
I then brushed the chicken with olive oil and seasoning.
This was then placed onto a hot griddle and cooked for a few minutes on each side.
Delicious.
Now I don’t drink instant coffee if I can help it. If no real coffee is available I will drink tea. I have “accidently” drunk instant coffee now and again, well I have taken a sip and then put it down!
Though I did see these Starbucks VIA Ready Brew not only in my local Starbucks but also in my local supermarket.
I decided that I would give them a go. As well as instant coffee the sachets also include microground coffee, which I hoped would make it better than instant coffee.
Made a cup…
Okay, even though it is better that most instant coffees, it still tasted like instant coffee. It’s okay and would do at a pinch. I can see taking some when staying at hotels in order to have coffee in my room. In the meantime I will continue drinking real coffee!