Category: stuff

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Time for a Coffee: Top Ten Blog Posts 2025

Roasted Sirloin of Beef

In 2025 I published 147 posts, sightly less than in 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.

My post about when it was Lidl French Week back in 2020 was the tenth most popular blog post.

The ninth most popular blog post in 2025 was a review of the Greek Tzoumagias-Style Sausages that Lidl sold.

My post on the Schwartz seasoning was the post at eight, Citrus Brazilian BBQ is back!

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

The post at number six was about Retro Ice Cream from the 1970s and 1980s.

The fifth most popular blog post in 2025 was about the time I had the Pollo Cacciatore at Bella Italia.

The post at four was news this year that Bunsik was coming to Bristol.

I enjoy coffee and people enjoyed the third most popular blog post, which was Well I enjoyed that coffee.

In second was a post on the Shiitake Mushroom Donburi I had at Wagamama.

The most popular blog post in 2025 was about the festive Slow Cooked Rolled Pork Belly Porchetta from Aldi I had last Christmas.

I nearly bought it again this year after Christmas when Aldi reduced it to just £7.99.

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Probably not

I was in Bristol and had been for a walk at lunchtime. Nothing had really taken my fancy when I looked at the street food market. I walked around and ended up at Pret. I was thinking about a salad, when I noticed they had their limited edition lobster roll in the cabinet. I thought I might give it a try. 

This was wild-caught Atlantic lobster, dressed in lemon mayo and chilli salt, finished with crispy cos lettuce, cucumber and a sprinkling of chives.

It was in a French bread style roll. I should say that though I enjoyed the roll, I was a little disappointed that this was not a fully filled roll, the lobster had been put on the edge of the roll, so it looked like it was full. Not too surprised, as lobster is an expensive luxury and not like ham or cheese. Various press reports say there is 50g in there, so at least we know that, so we can pretend to be not disappointed.

It was one of the more expensive sandwiches I have bought, here in Bristol it was £8.95. It was nice, but not sure it was that nice. Would I get it again? Probably not.

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Pipp & Co Doughnuts

Pipp & Co Doughnuts

Pipp & Co are a relative newcomer to the bakery scene in Bristol. I had been meaning to go there for a while, so when I did I was impressed with them. More traditional than the Americana style of Krispy Kreme or Tim Hortons. These sugar coated doughnuts are filled with different fillings, all very tasty.

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Round Doughnuts

Round Bakery

I do quite like, what I suspect we would call posh doughnuts, but don’t always like paying the high prices we sometimes see.

Back in February I was on a trip to Helsinki in Finland for a few days for work. I was staying at the Scandic Hotel Simonkenttä in the heart of the city. The Kamppi shopping centre was next to the hotel. Whilst I was at the hotel I popped out, with an idea to get some snacks from the supermarket, but as I passed Round Bakery, I saw their donuts were 50% off. They looked very nice, so I bought two of those. I got a chocolate one, and a maple and coconut donut.

Doughnuts

These were excellent doughnuts, despite being reduced they were still nice and fresh. I liked the decorations which added to the doughnut.  What I didn’t find out until now was that all their doughnuts are vegan.

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Self-Catering in France once more

One of the reasons I have this blog is to remind me of things I have eaten, cooking, but also experiences of cooking outside the home, for example on holiday.

This year we went on holiday to France staying at an Eurocamp in Guines in Nord, Northern France. We were staying in a caravan and I used my previous blog posts on self-catering in France to prepare for the trip.

The caravan did not have an oven, just a microwave, but unlike last year there was a gas barbecue outside. Maybe I was just lucky with other sites, but the last three Eurocamp caravans I have stayed in did not have ovens.

Keeping things simple, I mainly cooked meat and sausages on the barbecue, salad, and then cooked pommes rissoles on the hob. 

The barbecue needed cleaning before it’s use and this was quite a nasty job with lots of grease and old fat on it. The sink in the caravan was way too small for this job, so I took it to the (large) washing up sinks that the campers used.

We really enjoyed the French sausages we got from the local supermarket, they did have a relatively high fat content, so the barbecue needed a good clean after each use. One interesting thing I noticed when buying steaks from some supermarkets was that they came in covered packaging so you couldn’t see the steaks. Another nice meal we did was some chicken thighs, I really like barbecued chicken, and enjoyed eating it.

The salads were in the main lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. I really liked the variety of tomatoes we had and they were full of flavour. Some days we had avocado and we also had some olives as well.

Another key feature of our meals was fresh bread, and we bought bread daily from the campsite shop. The shop itself was a bit disappointing and I felt overpriced. However in Guines itself there was a Carrefour and a Lidl, and in the heart of the town were quite a few local shops. One of these was a Boulangerie and we had some  delicious patisserie from there during the week.

I did take some tools with me, knives, chopping board and a pair of tongs. In the end the knives in the caravan weren’t half bad,  I didn’t like the glass chopping board that was provided, however there was a set of barbecue tongs there, which made cooking on the barbecue much easier.

I didn’t have room to take my coffee machine, and I wish I had.

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Pistachio laskiaispulla

Pistachio laskiaispulla

I had seen the delicious laskiaispulla on display at Gateau Kamppi in Helsinki quite a few times as I walked from my hotel to the Metro station.  I decided I would go against tradition have try to the pistachio laskiaispulla. This was a sweet bread roll, the top removed and a sweet pistachio paste added, fresh cream and chopped pistachio on top. It was rather nice, fresh roll, tasty pistachio, the sweetness offset with the fresh cream. Delicious.

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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.

plate of food

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.

Lidl Coffee Ice Cream

The post at number two was about Retro Ice Cream.

The most popular blog post in 2024 was about the time I had the Pollo Cacciatore at Bella Italia.

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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.

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.

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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.

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Dashing Cakes

I use the TooGoodToGo app quite a bit, more so when I am in London, as there are many more options available. However it can be a bit hit and miss. For example, last year I had a fantastic bag from Cord Cafe on Fleet Street. In that bag I got a cherry croissant, a baguette, and a brioche. Last week when I saw they had a bag on offer, I thought great, that’s breakfast for tomorrow sorted. However in this bag I got a salad, an asparagus pastry, and a sausage roll.

Last month in London I was staying close to Olympia and I looked at the TooGoodToGo app and Dash Cakes on Kensington High Street had a magic bag deal.

I got four cupcakes, a fruit tart, a macaron, and a chocolate gâteau slice. The bag cost just £3.39. I was well impressed, and all the cakes were delicious. I am not that big a fan of cupcakes, especially biscuit cup cakes, even so these were scrummy cupcakes.

The fruit tart and chocolate gâteau slice were excellent, as was the macaron (even if it was blue).

I was really impressed with the quality and quantity of cakes, and I certainly would not just use the TooGoodToGo app with them again, I would also pay full price for their cakes as well.