Seasons Are changin!

As it's Sunday, we headed up to the Farmer's market in Blackheath to get some produce for the coming week...

Is it me or do work lunch boxes seem to be the hardest thing to keep exciting and interesting? Not only do they have to be portable (un-leakable) usually have to be cold or pre-cooked (no ovens at work) but also tasty and satisfying. And on top of all that variety!

Now I know we're in the height of summer and what I'm about to say will seem strange... but soup seems the way forward! Obviously this will change once I'm all souped up, but having a bowl of soup is healthy, hot and also will keep you fuller for longer compared to a salad - 'don't you know' - well that's what I heard them say on this TV programme. There were lots of army men eating soup and others the same ingredients but not pureed... anyho the soldiers that had the soup stayed fuller for longer.

Oh I've just thought of another reason why soup is goood in the summer - it's like having a cuppa tea. A hot cuppa tea will cool you down quicker than a glass of ice cold water.  FACT.
Again heard this on another tv programme and made a lot of sense but don't ask me to explain... something to do with your bodies inside freaking out at the hot tea and then cooling you down quicker...??

That was a bit of a tangent wasn't it......

So where was I? Oh yeah 'Soup kitchen' and work lunch boxes.
My work colleague, Kim, and I are gonna start making lunches for each other. So she'll sort out Mon & Tues and I'll sort out Wed & Thurs etc etc... We're gonna do soups, which works out brilliantly! Cause when you make soup, it usually ends up being a 'Vat' of soup & you end up eating the same soup every day for a WEEK!? So by us combining our efforts, not only do keep the variety, try recipes you've never made but it's also rather fun and exciting! 'You never know what ya gonna get' :D

Also I might get myself this cool yet informative t-towel. It tells you what veg is in season every month, which in turns tells you what veg you can get lots off for not a lot of money - Great for soup making! It's designed by Stuart Gardiner (he's done some really cool stuff!) and I think they might sell them round the corner from my office in SCP. Ooo might pop in on Monday :D

Another modern way to stay in touch with your seasonal veg would be to sign up with 'Eat the seasons'. They send you an email every couple weeks to tell you what's in season and has links to recipes and things. very useful as it's free and again very 'informative' (God I'm sounding like my old teacher Mrs Cox!? She was my Home Ec teacher - named after apples - Ha!? co figure)

Bought some delicious Kent Cherries... majority were eaten by the time I got home ;o)

Plan to make Spinach & lentil soup for Wed and Thurs next week. I ended up getting the spinach from the supermarket, as all the spinach in the market had wilted a bit in the sun.
Let's hope Kim likes it :O)

Mx

Harrison's Carrot cake

My friend Jo, who told me about the amazing Yorkshire pud recipe, gave birth on Wednesday 14th July to a lovely little boy - 'Harrison'. So in true fashion I decided to bake them a cake to celebrate!! :D

Carrot cake I decided on. Now I've done carrot cakes before and they're BEASTS! Three tiers to be precise. So for their version I tweaked the recipe slightly, made it a 2 tier with a slightly different version for the icing.
Because I've been seeing the bump grow and have now met wonderful Harrison, I had to make sure it would be up to his standards ;o)

Here is how I got on:

 

So here is how I made Harrison's Carrot Cake:

RECIPE

200g Light muscovado sugar

2 medium eggs - fresher the better!

200ml sunflower oil

200g Rice Flour (can use plain flour if you don't have rice flour)

1/2 tspn Bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tspn Baking powder

1/4 tspnground ginger

1/2 tspn ground cinnemon

1/4 tspn ground mixed spice

salt

200g grated carrots

75g whizzed up walnuts

35g unsalted butter

200g icing sugar

35g creamcheese

2 tbspn lime juice

METHOD

Mix up the sugar, oil and eggs until combined. Then sieve in the flour, bicarb soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Mix well. Then add grated carrots and whizzed up walnuts - mix.

Spoon into two sandwich tins and pop in a pre-heated oven at 170oc for 20-25mins until bouncy.

For the icing you'll unsalted butter, icing sugar, cream cheese and some lime juice.

Mix well and spread - volia!!

Old Greenwich Brewery

So this weekend my Sister and Jonboy came to visit. Pete saw this as a perfect excuse to go try out 'The Old Greenwich Brewery' that's recently opened in Greenwich. 

Instead of recommending which wine you should have with each course it recommends what BEER! So yes Pete was VERY excited to say the least ;o)

 

After what felt like the fastest walk EVER in very hot weather (see Pete in the top pic at full speed!) we arrived at the Brewery in desperate need of a drink. The service was ace and after taking one look at all four of us they appeared with four ice cold glasses of water, swiftly followed by a selection of Meantime beer :D This was a good start!

The food was divine!! Truly scrumptious! Here are a few photos of what we ate. I would definitely go back even though... I have to say the puds were a bit of a let down... I had the home-made ice cream, which was just too sweet and I couldn't finish (which as you know is unheard off for me!?). However John choose a brill pud, choc cake with the runny bit inside (I know there is a name but can't remember..) and that went down a treat!

 

It's situated in the Martime Naval College area right next to the Thames, so has a lovely cool breeze on a hot summers day. It's well hidden so you'll have to have a keen eye to find it. But trust me well worth the search & the hike - Hey there's a pint there with your name on it, you won't regrete it.