Come on down to Chinatown...

For the best looking, and best tasting cakes I suggest Chinatown.

Nothing beats it.

Not too sweet, not too sugary.  No icing.

Light, fluffy.

Pretty.

Simply heaven.

This little piggy went straight into another piggy's mouth...

The Vegetarian Monologues

#3

Vegetarian month has driven me to eat cheese.

As crazy as this sounds, I never liked cheese - unless it was melted.  Until now.  I was in Brussels the other weekend and the nice elderly man at the cafe helped me choose something vegetarian for lunch - three cheeses.  In my excitement, I forgot to ask him that I wanted a panini and not a baguette (terribly Belgian).  I ate it anyway as I'm not a waster of food, and found myself liking it.  A lot.  So much so that I've now been having cheese and tomato salad sandwiches for lunch.  I'm no hardcore cheese fan yet, but the mild ones are my favourites, mozzarella is a good one, and goat's cheese...oh and the soft cheese is good for cooking in pasta with too...

This week has been a busy one, so busy in fact that there was no time to cook in The Little Kitchen.  Yes, even I have to admit defeat sometimes and go for some fast food...to Burger King.  To my surprise Burger King had a pretty good vegetarian menu - three options of beans - I went for the bean wrap and it was pretty delicious.  Although I'm not sure whether it was because I was hungry, I had just come back from Wembley Stadium - where they don't have a vegetarian menu whatsoever, so where ever I went would be a pretty good choice.

As I'm on a roll with (confessing to) trying new things, I have never been to Garfunkel's...and now I know; I wasn't missing out on much.  I had a veggie burger and not that there was anything wrong with it, I ate it all the same but the bread felt like cardboard, it was all a bit none-quality.  Safe to say, I won't ever be going back there again.

I must also add that during Vegetarian Month I have been taking my iron supplements.  Remember kids - stay healthy.

Review: An outdoor (sort-of) picnic

I was originally saving these special utensils for an intended rooftop terrace party...however due to unforeseen circumstances (well they were foreseen, just stubbornly refused to believe it - the weather) it never happened.  So I finally got my arse in gear and used it for vegetarian month.  

I was kindly sent some gingham style patterned plastic plates from Whitbread Wilkinson along with the salad bowl from Joseph Joseph, which brings a smile to your face - and that's without the food.

The main feature I have to say is the salad bowl.  Not just any salad bowl - one with servers, ATTACHED.  Sounds simple, but so effective and practical.  I'm not usually a big fan of fancy 'technology' - sometimes it can get more complicated than it needs to be, or it's just plain lazy, but the Joseph Joseph salad bowl is probably one of the best kitchen gadgets (can you even call it a gadget - I think it's just a necessity) you can use.  The servers slot perfectly to fit in with the bowl so there is no hassle, and mixing up my salad was so much fun, and not awkward to hold as sometimes it can get with standard long servers.  I felt as though my salad was truly mixed and varied.  The main test was picking the salad and onto the plate - not one drop of a leaf.  It well and truly passed the test.  The only thing I will say is that at around £30 - it is a tad pricey for what essentially is a salad bowl, but you can see where the quality is in its design and material.  It can also at times be quite heavy to carry - but I guess that is just one of the features of having an outdoor tool.  

Joseph Joseph outdoor salad bowl - served and won the match.

The Vegetarian Monologues

#2

Week 2 and I've learnt some new skills in my vegetarian experiment - how to stuff a pepper.  Now, as stuffing peppers go I assumed it would be easy - it was, until I decided I would make it up as I go along (as I usually do) and that's when it all went Pete Tong.  In the end I stuffed my orange pepper with an advocado, garlic and garlic flavoured soft cheese...it was nice, though a little too garlic-y, I had it with a serving of cous cous (never crossing my mind that I could have stuffed the pepper with it).  To satisfy my hunger pangs, I added a side of falafel.  For a Monday evening dinner, it did the job, if a little disorganised but that was more to do with my scatty brain than anything else.  Maybe the lack of meat is affecting me after all?

Mid-week I thought I would make a seafood paella.  A part of me thinks that I should keep this to myself but no, I will be honest...it turned out more like a risotto.  I like risotto, and I ate it anyway but that was not the intention.  It was a pretty decent risotto nonetheless.  I didn't keep to the recipe - I think that's where I went wrong.  I think paella is one of the few dishes where there are instructions for a reason and I should probably stick to it in future rather than spontaneously guess and hope for the best - my usual cooking style.



Come Sunday, vegetarian cottage pie.  I ventured into three supermarkets in one day and could not find any lentils (is there a lentil shortage?) so I used kidney beans instead amongst my delicious vegetables.  Making the sauce is something I quite enjoy - mainly because of the fact I know what is going in and there are no unhealthy bits and bobs I don't know about.  All you need is a can of chopped tomatoes, a stock cube, herbs, Tommy K (Tomato Ketchup) and soy sauce.  It works everytime.  

I love vegetables.

The Vegetarian Monologues

#1

So, I've officially started my vegetarian month.  So far so good...

I am surprised I've kept to it a week to be honest.  The first time I tried this, I forgot after only a few hours and consumed some sort of sausage (no pun intended).

As first week's go - it was pretty tough.  Not only did I make a trip to The Diner, I also made a trip to Brussels, Belgium and resisted the temptation of meat, and ended the week with a roast dinner - veggie of course.

I had a lovely soft shell crab burger from The Diner...with sweet potato fries...and onion rings - all to share of course (sort of).  I was originally going to give up the fish, but I think it would be a wise idea to ease myself into this non-meat malark.  Thank god for seafood is all I'm saying.


I also went to The Cheesecake Cafe in Brussels and ordered a Lasagne aux brocolis.  I think the translation is obvious - but it was literally all it was, green pasta sheets and cheese.  It was an odd meal, I believe there are much nicer vegetarian meals out there, but it was quite boring in terms of what was actually on the plate.  The dessert soon made up for it however, a warm brownie with sauce and ice cream.  If this vegetarian experiment goes well, I want to try being vegan for a week.  It'll be extremely difficult but I want to see if I can do it - as a forever-loving meat eater that is, what's one week of my life?


My favourite veggie meal from this week has been the veggie roast from The Water Poet in Spitalfields.    I have to admit I am one of those snobby people who will give a vegetarian dinner - such as a roast dinner a bit of a dirty look.  A few years ago, a Sunday dinner with no meat was ludicrous to me, I couldn't comprehend it.  I have to admit though, my spinach and ricotta cheese sausages were really quite lovely, and the fact that we managed to get a table (albeit outside but the outdoor heaters really do work - I even had to take my jacket and scarf off - I would recommend booking though if you want to go for Sunday dinner later than 12:30).  I would definitely come here again and try out the meat option - I have my eye on the pork belly available.

Here's hoping I won't run out of interesting meat substitutes for the rest of the week, so far on my list there's falafel, (more) salmon, halloumi and lots of veg, oh and my iron supplements.  

Hayley