Category: EAT

Let’s do lunch

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Boring lunches be gone! Image courtesy of The Guardian

When I began working in Soho my eyes were opened to the culinary delights of this bustling part of town as I dashed about the streets collecting lunch orders for clients. Here are some of the most popular places I’ve been to recently – worth a visit, especially if time isn’t on your side.

* In at number 5 is Wasabi. Super popular for sushi you can eat well pretty cheaply here. A word to the wise though: it’s more expensive to eat in. The Wasabi on Wardour Street isn’t very big and on a nice day there’s no point in spending more money for no reason. Why not take your lunch across to Soho Square, pitch yourself on the grass and catch some rays. If you’re feeling sporty you can play ping pong with a pal there, too.

* Next up it’s Itsu. Also specialising in sushi – in my humble opinion it’s a better option than Wasabi – better value, great for fans of simpler fayre, (you can get a sushi or sashimi box with just salmon or tuna if that’s your favourite). Half an hour before closing they also slash their prices by 50% – pop in and pick up a bargain. And it’s not just sushi – if you fancy something a bit heartier they do noodle and rice pots guaranteed to hit the spot.

* Not a day goes by without lunch giant Pret‘s profits swelling. Known for being able to make the fastest skinny latte in town you can pick up delicious salads and soups here, with the soup menu changing daily.  If you are tight on cash but need a quick fix you can buy some miso soup for £1.50 at the counter and half a sandwich if you are still hungry.  All in all, you should be sated and with some change from a fiver.  It’s worth keeping an eye to their Twitter page as well: a couple of Friday’s ago they ran a promotion across their London stores offering customers free smoothies between the hours of 3 and 5pm.

* Number two on my list of delectable dinners comes courtesy of Chipotle – (Belfasties think Boojum) – where you can load up on carbs and cals with a speedy trip along the production line heading Mexico way.  Choose from veggies, pork, chicken and beef and pile your plate high with your choice of pinto or black beans, rice and all the usual burrito goodies wrapped up in an easy to eat – and carry – tortilla wrap.  Just don’t forget to take plenty of napkins.  This could get messy – don’t say I didn’t warn you!

***UPDATE*** Chipotle are giving away 14,000 FREE BURRITOS this week.  Click on #BurritoWatch to find out how you can claim yours.  ¡Ay, caramba!

* Claiming the top spot is Crussh.   Popular with health conscious diners in a rush they offer a wide range of tasty soups, smoothies, juices and salads.  You can tailor your juice to suit your needs – fat burner, skin soother with extra wheatgrass should you so desire.  My only gripe is their juices aren’t very cold.  That said, they still deserve their place at the top as they hold the secret to eternal youth.  Right after drinking a Crussh juice I got ID’d buying a nice bottle of wine in Tesco.  Now if that isn’t a ringing endorsement of Dorian Gray’s elixir of choice I just don’t know what is.

Bon appétit!xx

A speedy adventure in the kitchen

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Afternoon folks! Today we need to talk about egg muffins. They are taking over my newsfeed! Everyone is talking about them, eating them and uploading pictures of their efforts onto Instagram and Pinterest. Not one to miss out on hurling myself on top of an already weighed down bandwagon I thought I’d give them a go for my lunch. These are pretty cheap to make and taste great, probably not as saintly as the regular type but, hey, life’s too short to spend eating bland food.

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Here’s how I made them:

* Preheat your oven to 180°C / 360 °F. Cook 2 clumps of frozen spinach in the microwave. While that’s doing it’s business chop up one piece of bacon and fry in a pan. Chop it up quite small – wee fingernail size is a good guide – so you have enough for each muffin. If you want to be good fry in a low-cal spray like Frylite and discard any visible fat from the meat.

* While that’s cooking whisk 5 eggs in a bowl. Add salt, pepper and about 1 tsp of curry powder. Don’t be mean with the curry powder it’s not that strong once cooked. Chop some chives and whisk them in too.

* Grease a muffin tray. I sprayed a silicone one with Frylite.

* Chop 1/3 – 1/2 a slice of cheddar cheese or grate some of whatever cheese you have to hand.

* Assembly time: Pour your egg mix evenly into each muffin hole. Don’t fill over halfway as they rise like Yorkshire puddings when they are ready. Add your cooked and drained spinach and bacon evenly to each muffin. Decorate with your cheese and add another pinch of pepper and curry powder for good luck before popping them in the oven until they are cooked through and are desperate to get out of their moulds – (about 15 mins or until a knife comes out of the middle of each one clean).

Tip: If you are using a silicone mould be careful putting it in the oven. You probably know this already but I wasn’t expecting mine to go as wibbly wobbly as it did and I nearly dropped it on the floor in surprise. You have been warned!

Enjoy the fruits of your labour. Once cooled they should store in the fridge for a few days. Bon Appetit!

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Something (sweet) for the weekend

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Last week I took a race back home to see loved ones, soak up some culture and eat some good food. The Northern Irish excel at good food and eating is a national past time. I’m pretty certain we invented the term ‘traybake’ though in crossing the Irish Sea these goodies appear to have shrunk and assume a rather paltry portion size that would almost certainly be sent back should one dare present its puny self in a coffee shop back home.

The dark horse leading the charge of the (possibly-not-so-) light brigade towards food nirvana is none other than Belfast-based chocolatier Co Couture. Discreetly tucked away down the steps of a basement on Chichester Street Co Couture has quietly been gathering an army of followers over the past few months and I for one am a devoted disciple to the church of chocolate.

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Thank you for reading

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Boys-a-dear! In the last 24 hour hours my blog has, (much to my surprise), had more traffic than ever before. Who knew so many people love Scandinavia like I do? Interestingly one of the top searches driving traffic to my page was named ‘nordicana moans’. I’m not sure what reveals more about my predominantly British readership – the desire for a good old moan or that search engines led wanton readers to me. Either way, I am delighted you stumbled across my blog – whether you intended to or not! I hope you weren’t too disappointed with what you found and I hope you’ll stick around!

Now is as good a time as any to thank you all for reading and interacting with me since I started my blog last year. Whether you followed way back in the beginning or you joined us just yesterday I am so glad that you did! I hope you enjoy what you read and I would love to hear more from you. After all, blogging is a two-way street and I’d really like to know what kind of stuff you are interested in – or not, as the case may be! I’ve had an idea for a project I would like to work on over the next year but it’s really dependent on a little a lot help from my friends. If you’re intrigued then please do follow / subscribe and comment to let me know you’re in!

I wanted this post to be about sharing a recipe I discovered for Chocolate Chia Cookies I came across the other day. Now don’t they just sound lovely? It was going to be all arty farty pictures and everything. I went out the other day and even bought something called ‘buckwheat flour’ especially. Well I am very sorry but out of a recipe that was meant to make 10 I now have about 30 dense misshaped mounds of nut-rich, taste-poor muck. And because buckwheat flour is expensive – even though it seems to taste of nothing – I am going to eat them because a) I don’t like waste and b) they are too dear to throw away. I suspect I’m also going to have to up my exercise intake due to all the nuts in said muck burgers so if you see a girl power walking through a London park eating what looks like a little patty of dog mess don’t be alarmed, it’s probably me.

Boggin'. If you don't know what boggin' means, the first thing that springs to mind is probably about right.

Boggin’. If you don’t know what boggin’ means, the first thing that springs to mind is probably about right.

So it seems I’ve given you a big fat nada with this post and how apt I found the picture below which I took in a shop on Brick Lane that appears geared towards people with too much money and too little sense. I promise my next post will be more interesting! In the meantime, thank you for sticking with me through the good and the muck!xx

Don't worry mama, I didn't buy it! ;)

Don’t worry mama, I didn’t buy it! 😉

(Incidentally, if anyone knows of a good use for buckwheat flour and chia seeds please send it my way so I can use this stuff up!)