food, reviews and of course coffee
BBC reports that one in three of us is always on a diet…
One in three adults in the UK is now on a permanent diet, a survey suggests.
We need to stop as a society focusing on body image and focus much more on changing lifestyles so that we have a healthy balanced diet and there is no need to “diet” as such.
Stopped at the services and actually had quite good service at the Coffee Primo stand, normally I always seem to ge the surly assistant who seems to really not want to work there (sometimes not surprising but I am the customer and more importantly a human being).
Today I got a fellow person who was bright cheerful and happy to serve me my Americano.
It wasn’t bad, I have had (much) better, and I have had a lot worse, but it tasted fine and did the job.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has some great orange recipes.
Oranges, clementines and satsumas really come into their own at this time of year, so it would be foolish not to put them to good use.
Check them out on the Guardian website.
I am currently enjoying a cup of Redbush Tea, which isn’t really tea at all.
It is made from a plant only grown near Capetown in South Africa. Redbush tea tastes a little bit like normal tea, but with a slightly earthy, naturally sweeter taste.
I drink it with milk, but you can drink it without.
It’s a refreshing change from normal tea.
The BBC reports
A ban on adverts for junk food during television programmes aimed at children under 16 has come into force.
Will the ban have any effect?
There will still be the big roadside places with all the colourful signs.
Junk food places will still be the only choice available in many shopping mall food halls.
For me healthy eating starts in the home and that means families working together to change their eating habits.
Well I got a bit of a bargain yesterday from the deli counter at Sainsburys.
They had some cooked mini Turkey joints (around 500g) reduced from £9.99 to 99p, a nine pound saving. It wasn’t as though the use by date was yesterday either, bought yesterday on the 29th December, to be used by the 1st January.
It was cheaper than buying a couple of slices of the cooked turkey (which is why I was at the deli counter in the first place).
It wasn’t the best or most tasty turkey, but it works well in sandwiches. Of course we didn’t have turkey at Christmas, so we didn’t have lots left over like those poor people who buy and cook those HUGE turkeys!
The dinner I cooked this Christmas was very nice and went down well.
We had stuffed haunch of venison which was lovely and tender and full of flavour.
Served with potatoes roasted in goose fat, roasted parsnips and sweet potatoes. Along with stuffings, carrots, beans, and other trimmings.
Delicious.
This week’s book choice is Saturday Kitchen Cookbook
“Saturday Kitchen” is a popular magazine-format show broadcast live on BBC1 for 35 weeks of the year. Combining a regular band of chefs and celebrities, as well as archive material and interactive features, it achieves a perfect balance of lively on-screen atmosphere with practical content. Hosted by James Martin, the programme has a down-to-earth approach with attention to modern food trends that appeals to not-too-serious cooks. The new “Saturday Kitchen Cookbook” will move forward with the successful growth of the brand, providing a fantastic opportunity to tap into a bit of everything. With over 100 inspirational recipes from the show, it will bring together new ideas from some of the nation’s favourite chefs, cutting-edge recipes from fresh talent, a variety of different cuisine from all around the world and a wealth of tips on current food topics.
I do quite enjoy Saturday Kitchen, and some of the recipes from the series are quite good or at least inspiring.
This is a nice book with great recipes and lots of lovely photographs. Buy it from Amazon.
Wonderfully amusing article in the Guardian on bringing home the bacon.
With sales of gourmet rashers on the rise, it seems Britons can’t get enough bacon. Tim Hayward is no exception but, tired of shelling out a small fortune on the stuff, he decided to follow in his grandmother’s footsteps and cure his own …
This is an excellent choice as a vegetarian main course, or as an accompaniment.
Take some portobello mushrooms (these are the big flat ones) remove the stalk. Add some olive oil and butter. Cover the mushrooms with breadcrumbs, fresh herbs and parmesan. You could if you wanted add garlic as well.
Bake in the oven for about twenty minutes until the topping is golden brown.
Serve.