It has been a fairly food filled month for me so far and quite often I don’t get a chance to tell you all about everything I’ve eaten. And I know you need to know..don’t you? Well not everything of course, it is not entirely necessary for you to see the Nutella sandwich I ate for breakfast last Friday or the rather bland looking bowl of pasta I ate plain last week save for oodles of butter and pepper just because pasta is my favourite comfort food. I do however want to share with you some of the lovelier and occasionally more adventurous dishes I’ve been enjoying.
It may surprise you as I am a bit of a foodie, to learn that I have never really enjoyed seafood. Growing up, both of my parents had allergies or intolerances to shellfish and I guess it just wasn’t something that we ate or saw regularly during childhood. We ate tinned tuna and of course Cod ( fish fingers ) but prawns, mussels and even cockles which are a bit of a speciality in the area I live were all a bit unknown. I don’t think I was ever really a fussy eater but I guess I would call myself a late developer to certain foods, blue cheese and olives for example are both things I despised even as little as five years ago but now I love them. Coffee ( not a food I know ) is another ingredient I have only managed to introduce less than a year ago but seafood has been my biggest challenge. I often get invited to meals or events where there are tasting or set menus and there is nearly always a seafood element, I have always said that I will try any food that is served to me because one it is polite and two well you never know otherwise. So seafood has been an almost part of my life for the last three years or so but only in the form of me quickly trying it with an already set idea in my head that I would hate it..pretty childish right? There have been a few exceptions, deep fried cockles at Fairyhill, Gower and rather amazing scallops from Adam Whittle at The Newbridge On Usk but for the most part I just didn’t like it.
A recent press trip to Spain was a bit of a revelation. Fish or shellfish featured in every single meal over the 4 day trip, including in the giant paella shown below and I enjoyed it all. In fact the mussels were my foodie highlight of the trip or maybe the crispy prawns with a thai green curry foam..hmm decisions.
Aside from seafood I have indulged my sweet tooth, firstly with these amazing gluten free coconut waffles made by Lovely Appetite at a recent family dinner
Next up were these quite frankly outstanding cinnamon buns from The Nordic Bakery. They are fairly enormous and a real pleasure to eat and they serve delicious coffee too.
At home I have been practising my usual mix of healthy and indulgent dishes. If I allow myself to eat what I like for the most part and balance it out with good, healthy dishes as well as a decent workout routine that I maintain my weight and a shape I am happy with ( well I’m guessing that as I don’t weigh anymore ). Cous cous is always a big part of my summer meal plans and well I am perfecting a fondant potato recipe for the Actifry and it is just so good!
Bread, olives, aioli and sangria. Anything better on a hot day? This was the best sangria I have ever had from a restaurant in Benidorm, it was filled with all kinds of fruit including Strawberries so was almost like Pimms.
At a press event a few days ago with BenQ to launch the GS1 projector I sampled the culinary delights of Cranble. Cranble is a new food website brought to you by the Media Team and fronted by Masterchef Professionals finalist Matt Healy. They were cooking for us on a Big Green Egg ( which I need in my life ) as well as a pizza oven and well we were certainly well fed. They do serve a good Pimms Summer Cup too! A little sample of what we ate below..
And finally yesterday was my birthday so I just ate a LOT. I started it off with this rather amazing pork and apple sausage roll from my favourite local cafe Framptons.
So there you have just a snippet of my month in food. I hope to have some new recipes live for you later this month, hopefully one or two videos too! I am planning a well earned five days holiday next week so I may be a little quieter than normal.
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