A Weekend in a Welsh Kitchen

The long weekend was looming and I decided to take a trip back home to catch up with family and friends. I arrived back ravenous and in need for some serious lunch, thinking that my mum would present me with her usual speciality of a mug of sugary tea, marmite on toast and a chunk of smoked applewood cheese (not that I'm knocking that lovely treat). Instead I arrived home to my mum busy grating beetroot and chopping flat leaf parsley and informing me that we're going to have the ultimate steak sandwich. What a treat.

The Welcome Home Ultimate Steak Sandwich (a la my mum/ a la Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals)

Ingredients

1 large good quality steak (rib eye or rump) quite thick
Some jarred red peppers in oil
Lots of flat leaf parsley finely chopped
3 big dollops of horse radish
A long baguette or rustic bread (we used a half baguette toasted)
A drizzle of olive oil
A splash of balsamic
Lots of salt and pepper
Some sprigs of thyme
A large handful of rocket or other peppery leaves

First you need to get your baguette or rustic bread, slice it down the middle and drizzle with olive oil instead of butter. We toasted ours so that the olive oil sank deliciously into the bread. Next get your three big dollops of horseradish cream and smear all over one side of the bread. Top with a handful of rocket and get on with your dressing.

To make the dressing upon which to set the steak simply get a few jarred peppers in oil and finely chop with the parsley adding a splash of balsamic and a nice twist of salt and pepper.

Now it's time to prepare the steak. Get your slab of beautiful meat and generously season on both sides with salt, pepper, a drizzle of good olive oil and some sprigs of thyme. Warm up your scalding hot dry pan and flash fry the steak for around 3 minutes per side before taking out to rest upon your dressing. Leave it for 5 minutes or so for all the juices to escape before rubbing the steak into the dressing and juices to coat well.

Now lift your steak up, set aside the dressing underneath into a pile and carve the steak on an angle avoiding any tough chewy bits. You should have a nice medium cut with only a flash of pink.

Assemble the delicious pieces of steak (trying not to eat it all like I did) on to the sandwich topping with your reserved dressing. Cut into three nice generous pieces.

We had ours with a simple green salad, some grated beetroot topped with parsley and feta and some large field mushrooms quickly cooked in the oven topped with a chunk of cheddar. Bloody delicious.

My Mum's Moussaka and Garlic Potatoes (Vegetarian)

Garlic potato aftermath

As a child I used to hate this dish, I thought the gooey soft aubergines looked like weird insects and the whole dish was beyond my palate. Now as a fully fledged member of the adult community I can see the absolute genius  of a simple white sauce with egg yolks that somehow tastes as delicious as if I had grated half a block of Davidstow but mysteriously contains no cheese whatsoever. The vege sauce is quick to assemble and this amount will feed 4 with some leftovers for scooping cold out of the bowl the next morning for breakfast (I'm destined to turn into Nigella).

Ingredients

One chopped white onion, lots of garlic chopped, a bag of quorn mince, oregano (fresh and/or dried we used both), lots of quartered fresh tomatos, a couple of tins of tomatoes

A couple of aubergines, sliced and salted

Flour, butter, milk and two egg yolks

A bag of small baby potatoes, whole cloves of garlic (skin on), one lemon quartered, a little oil, salt and pepper

First make your 'meat' sauce by frying one chopped onion, lots of chopped garlic and then a bag (or as much as you like) of quorn. When the quorn has some colour and the onions have softened add the oregano and chopped and tinned tomatoes with generous seasoning and leave to simmer.

Meanwhile get on with your potatoes, fill a saucepan with cold water, add your potatoes and skin on garlic cloves and boil until softened.

Now it's time to fry your aubergines, do so in batches turning often so that they don't catch. They will absorb a lot of oil, my mum uses sunflower but you can use olive oil. Some people salt the aubergines first and others don't. We do..because we love salt. When you have finished frying your delicious aubergines set them aside.

Now, get a deep oven safe dish and pour in your faux meat sauce and layer your aubergines on the top and start on your white sauce. First, make a simple roux by melting butter (or margerine to keep the fat down) and adding flour to thicken into a paste. Slowly add the milk and stir or whisk into a creamy sauce, if it is a little thick loosen with some more milk. You can add a touch of nutmeg or some cheese if you like but we don't. Now it's time to add the egg yolks while the sauce is off the heat. Stir in carefully and make sure you don't curdle or scramble. 

Pour the sauce over your assembled mousakka and bake in the oven until the top is golden.

While this is baking remove your potatoes, ensuring they are soft and heat up a little oil in a pan. Squeeze out the garlic cloves making a nice garlicky oil and squash the potatoes a bit quickly adding them to the hot oil. You can add some herbs here if you like and salt and importantly lots of delicious lemon juice. Fry until crispy and delicious and serve with salad and a scoop of delicious moussaka. 

Vegetarian perfection....

Get Well Soon Jerk Chicken

Following my epic 4 and a half journey home ready for various get togethers I was struck down with a bit of a cold, feeling like I had Bambi legs I reluctantly cancelled all my plans and decided to spend the day drinking steaming cups of tea in my pyjamas. The perk of my day was our decision to make a nice spicy chicken dish for lunch.

This recipe is a bit vague and can be adapted, you can add different amounts of savoury or sweet depending on your taste. The addition of pineapple juice cranks the sweetness up ten notches so if you aren't into that sort of thing then omit.

I'm not really into chilli heat but do crank it up for this, I loved the spicy note in the back of my palate mixed with the sweetness. Mmmm.

We served it as some bizarre French bistro fusion with some crusty baguette and a few buttered new potatoes. Rice and peas would be a nice accompaniment if you fancy being a little bit more Caribbean. Whatever you like really, now if you'll excuse me I'm going to get back to feeling sorry for myself.

Ingredients

3 chicken legs skin on (or you can use breasts, whatever you fancy the most)

(For the sauce) A teaspoon of all spice, as much rum as you can handle, a drizzle of honey, pinch of fresh or dried thyme, two scotch bonnet chillies (if you can handle it), nutmeg, garlic 5 spring onions chopped

A teeny bit of fresh pineapple juice

Season your chicken legs and pan fry until golden (watch your hands those things go a bit nuts!)

Whizz together all the other ingredients using a blender and pour over the chicken

Place in the oven for around 25 minutes until gooey and saucy.

Delicious

Pre-gig Hawaiian Chicken

After enough sleep to revive Margaret Thatcher and hardly leaving the house I was starting to feel a little better. My parents had purchased me a ticket to go and see 1960s band The Zombies for the evening before heading back to Nottingham the next morning. We decided on a nice light early dinner, scouring the cupboards my mum decided to make something that I hadn't had for about 15 years, her own recipe Hawaiian Chicken.

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts or a whole chicken or shredded up cooked chicken
Half of a fresh pineapple ideally or tinned if you can't be bothered to chop
Some diced cooked ham
A tin of sweetcorn

Pineapple juice (not too much)

An array of diced peppers, I used little sweet ones and big ones
Some fresh chillies as hot as you like
A diced white onion

Season and pan fry your chicken until crispy and delicious. Remove to a large baking dish and add your onions and peppers until soft and releasing a nice liquid. Add in your pineapple and pour over the chicken reserving the sauce in the pan. Now it's time to add to your sauce, pour in the pineapple juice adding a little touch of cornflour if you like to thicken. Taste and season, we added a little more salt at this stage. Pour over the sauce and bake for about 15 minutes. When it's done stir in some sweetcorn with a little butter and chopped ham into fluffy white rice and serve.

So after a weekend of abysmal weather, about 5 pounds heavier and not doing very much apart from cooking I had a wonderful time. I learnt that Nuts in May is one of the funniest TV shows of all time ('I want to see the zoo she said I want to see the zoo'), 'Do you want to come and see my etchings?' is a sexual come on and Psychedelic 60s music is back.

Also, as you can see I got my wish...1am post-gig cheese on toast with my mum. I love you Wales, goodbye for now.

Home sweet home

1,000 page views

Beautiful life full of food

Today HYKAEI reached 1,000 page views and I got rather excited. It's been lots of fun starting the blog and it's outing into the world has seemed to bring me good travelling fortune as since it's inception i've had the opportunity to explore lots of England, Ireland, Wales, France, Germany and Australia with an exciting stint in China coming up.

I recently had a discussion with my dad about how we use different devices to help us learn about ourselves and grow as a people. I've used my career and my love of food and travel and it's wonderful to have a space to talk (and often annoyingly rave about) my passions.

It's also been an interesting device to explore aspects of often travelling and experiencing life solo. Perhaps this blog has allowed me a little bit of company on my journeys, safe in the knowledge that I will share my experiences on here with anybody bored enough to listen.

So thank you little blog of mine and thank you to my wonderful readers.

So let's raise a glass of your finest to travelling, food and adventure. To always being open minded and curious. To taking every chance that comes your way and enjoying every last bite of this lovely little life. 

Have your Steak and Eat It: The Meaty Version

To contradict everything vegetarian that I wrote in my previous post I absolutely love steak. For me there is nothing better than a great rare steak, a dollop of English mustard, a glass of red wine, some triple cooked chips and a big pot of hollandaise or pepper sauce for dunking.

When I lived in Melbourne I was absolutely spoilt for choice with venues serving up fantastic steak, I frequented two hatted Rockpool on not one, not two but three occasions (ah so that's where my money went). I also enjoyed beautiful dining at Steer with handsome housemate PW and Euro ladies man LM on more than one occasion and I reguarly visited the Napier for great value kangaroo with Melbourne foodie RF.

So moving back to the UK was a bit of a steak anti-climax. The problem is that despite watching a hundred videos educating me on how to cook the perfect steak I absolutely suck at it. I do everything by the book, I season the meat, leave it to get to room temperature, smear it with oil before putting it in the scorching hot pan as oppose to pouring the oil directly in. I leave it sizzle for one side for the appropriate amount of time for medium-rare NOT turning it (for fear of all hell breaking loose) until agonisingly eventually turning it to reveal a blackened bleeding mess rather than the beautiful scorched perfectly done meat ala Heston or Jamie.

I didn't know what I was doing wrong, well actually I did. I firmly decided that steak is a dish best served in a restaurant. From then on I vowed never to attempt to cook it but to jump at the opportunity to eat it whenever i'm in decent restaurant. With that in mind when I first moved to Nottingham I took my mum to a 'gastropub' in the Lace Market. Now I'm no snobby food critic but it was bloody awful, and by bloody I mean literally...bloody awful.

With the taste of failure and badly cooked pepper sauce in my mouth I vowed not only not to cook steak again but never to mention it's name in Nottingham. Steak was dead to me, that was until I went to The Library.

The Library (http://www.thelibrarybarkitchen.co.uk/) is a great little spot in Beeston, looking a little worn around the edges now and forgiving it's somewhat crazy menu and bizarre outdated website it's a great place for some candlelit treats and a damn good glass of Australian Shiraz. I eyed the steak nervously, could I do it? Could I dare risk £13 of my hard earned academic cash to run through the gauntlet of chewy meat and bitter disappointment? Feeling in a ballsy mood I decided to go for it, and for once, my steak gamble paid off. The meat was beautiful, the chips were perfection, I could have happily drank my pepper sauce neat, even the salad was brilliant.

I'm raving now, but seriously, if like me your are jaded by steak and apparently incapable of achieving anything remotely edible at home go to the Library. Just go, book a train, do it.

Actually i'm going to do it, right now. I'd better get moo-ving
Now THAT was bloody awful.

Smokeless Cigarettes, Guinness and a Bar Called Leggs: Debauchery in Dublin

Howth, Ireland

After the thrills of Easter were over I had booked in a much overdue trip to Ireland to visit my old colleague and whirlwind of fantastic infectious energy LM. Joining the party was lovely London-based foodie CD making for an exciting weekend ahead.

I booked to fly with Ryan Air, always the cheap option and always a gamble of wrestling with fellow passengers to get a decent seat and tutting loudly British style when somebody pushes in the never ending boarding queue.

The last flight of the day was full of the usual fun characters that I just love to observe. The elderly mother and daughter who could easily earn a place on television starring in their own comedy sketch. Her determined mother dressed up in her smartest red coat reminding me of that Eddie Izzard sketch of the queen mother who just keeps going. I loved overhearing the obligatory mother and daughter bickering that was still alive after all these years and having a secret satisfied smile that the old dear was right all along about what gate it was.

The lady sitting across from me was a weary middle-aged teacher using this brief opportunity of semi-peace and quiet to finally mark endless essays scrawled in pencil. I smiled as she jotted down 'I loved your comedic use of narrative style' wondering who the student was and feeling a little longing in my stomach to be 12 and writing creatively again.

About halfway through our very brief flight once the arguing behind me and the screaming baby had finally quietened the cabin crew passed through the aisles offering an endless array of highly inappropriate items: 'smokeless cigarettes? anybody? smokeless cigarettes?'. What the hell are smokeless cigarettes? I asked myself. After this baffling event was over a different member of the cabin crew wandered past. Scratch cards? Anybody want to win up to 1,000 euros on a scratch card? Vodka? Does anybody want a bottle of vodka? Ok so they didn't do the vodka thing but wow, was I turning into a prude or was this highly unusual flight etiquette? Perhaps there is some legal loophole that only exists over the stretch of ocean between Britain and Ireland where flights of passengers have 40 minutes of endless debauchery drinking vodka and throwing around scratch cards and all having sex with one another before passing out quietly to smoke their smokeless cigarettes.

By the time I had finished this daydream it was time to land. Little did I know that this debauchery would mark my time in Ireland.

A night out in Leggs

Appletini anybody?

Our first night was hallmarked by three things: cocktails, shots and a bar called Leggs. We arrived in the heart of the city at 10pm and went straight to a bar playing loud hits such as 'beautiful people'. Quickly realising that we all had a lot of catching up to do and some numbing against this crime against music, the Jagermeisters came out. What follows is a little hazy blur of dancing, wandering into convenience stores that sell delicious smelling chunks of lasagna, loudly singing Take That and getting in a cab to find the famous Leggs. I don't remember much about our Leggs experience suffice to say it was like partying in some body's basement surrounded by hundreds of sweaty people. I recall three key events: being handed a Smirnoff Ice with the first sip of it's insipid sugaryness taking me back to my youth, observing C trying to steal kebabs from baffling trays of roaming food that nobody was allowed to touch and getting far too excited when Bonnie Tyler came on.

The next day was spent with the mother of all hangovers making me pleased to have nearly grown out of the heady fun of partying most nights. We retired to the Village Cafe (http://villagecafe.ie/) in Rathmines for friendly staff, a lot of Irish sausages, two coffees and tons of chatting before wandering into town to explore the city.

We ducked into the park by St Stephens Green, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, couples idled past, the sun was shining and our heads were starting to clear slightly. With a new lease of life LM decided to take us to Temple Bar for 'hair of the dog' Irish style.

We arrived at The Temple Bar (http://www.thetemplebarpub.com/) and enjoyed some obligatory Guinness and live music. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Waltzing Matilda making me smile about my distant heartland.
  

Temple Bar Joy


Relaxed dining at Jo'Burger
137 Lower Rathmines Road, Rathmines Dublin
http://joburger.ie/

It was time to decide on dinner and we made the decision to head back to Rathmines and go grab a burger. We idled into Jo'Burger and managed to get a table for 3, it was packed and had a great atmosphere, the menus were printed on annuals, long stem candles were shoved into wine bottles (so simple but I love it), attractive waiters bounded past and a DJ was softly playing soul. It was wonderful. I ordered the smoked applewood cheddar burger with 100% Irish beef and whole chunks of crunchy apple. We washed it down with some delicious beakers of wine, a pile of onion rings and some chips with jalapeno mayo. It was just what the doctor ordered (or not).

One hell of a burger

Deciding now we were in our late twenties/early 30s we couldn't handle another night of Leggs we decided to grab a quiet drink somewhere and found the perfect venue. A bar called Toast. It was a great place, we quietly enjoyed a G&T, loads of chatting and some people watching. The hairy DJ seemed to be my musical soul mate intuitively playing my ultimate play list: Tears for Fears, New Order, Depeche Mode interlaced with a little Prodigy, Haddaway and Joy Division. Remarking that 'if he plays Blue Monday I'm going to ask him to marry me' it was time to wander home to lament about wonderful Dublin and have a respectable Sunday.

Hangovers at Howth

On our final day LM drove us to the seaside town of Howth to go and get some local food and fresh air. The place was beautiful and full of organic market stalls offering local seafood and hot sizzling meats. Grabbing a sausage bap and wandering down the pier I noted how beautiful the Irish hills were in the light reminding me a little of Wales and how much I miss living next to the sea.CD was grabbing her flight home so we said goodbye and planned our last meal.

Dinner at Locks Brasserie
Number One, Windsor Terrace Portobello, Dublin
http://www.locksbrasserie.com/index.php

L had been recommended Locks as having some beautiful French food and a relaxed atmosphere, at about 8pm we luckily snagged a quiet table for two looking over the canal. We opted for a beautiful bottle of French white to start and was presented with some house made bread and butter scattered with sea salt. Remarking that I would come here just to have wine and bread we chose our starter and main. For starter we both chose the mussel broth with perfect cubes of soft tomato, fresh parsley and lobster croutons excellently presented in a beaker.

Chicken and chorizo

For main I chose the pan fried chicken with chorizo cubes and cream, smears of pea puree and a potato fondant stack. Deciding that it wasn't quite rich enough I ordered a side of my favourite champ mash dripping in butter. The food was incredible, the staff were amazing and the atmosphere was truly lovely. We decided to impulsively share a dessert choosing the banana parfait with chocolate dirt (Heston style), peanut butter crunch ice cream and dots of caramel. I'd come back to Dublin for this dish alone. And the wonderful company of course.

Banana Parfait

It was time to wander home and conclude my little break to Dublin, I was impressed by their food, warm hospitality and most of all that Irish spirit. Farewell for now you beautiful city, I will be back. Now if you'll excuse me I have a flight to catch.

Packet of smokeless cigarettes please.
  

Rathmines Architecture



Have your Tofu Steak and Eat It: Best Vegetarian in Nottingham

Nottingham in Spring

Spring has well and truly sprung in Nottingham, the once barren trees are sprayed with beautiful pink blossoms, Britain seems to be undergoing a mysterious 'heatwave' spurring ridicious newspaper headlines ('Britain swelters under 19 degree heat') and the fields are full of painfully cute lambs bouncing around making me not want to eat them. With that in mind I have turned my altruistic attention to vegetarian food.

The last few years seems to have brought a new wave of vegetarians into my life. They are everywhere, ordering salad and nut roast and introducing me to new concepts like tofu, tempeh and facon and...um carrots (I'm a little new to this vegetarian thing).

I love my new vegetarian possy and I do concede that it is a very healthy way to live ones life especially if an odd bit of fish is consumed here and there. That said I will never say no to that rare steak but I can finally see the appeal of not hurting our fuzzy friends and packing more vitamins and minerals into your diet as a bonus.

So it's time to put away the steak knife and pick up the organic lactose free soya protein (is that a thing?) in my tour of the best vegetarian eats in the city.

Alley Cafe
Cannon Court, Nottingham NG1 6JE
http://www.alleycafe.co.uk/ (this link sometimes doesn't work, that's how laid back it is)

Tofu-licious

I love Alley Cafe, for many reasons but the main one being when I visited they had an 'awesome burger' on the menu which I attempted to order only to be very politely turned down because 'the burger was so awesome it sold out'. Touche Alley Cafe touche you have won me over.

Upon my first visit to Alley Cafe with a gang of work buddies with the awesome burger sold out I was forced to go for an alternative and ended up getting the tempeh burger dished up in an organic bun with loads of veg, house made coleslaw and the best sweet potato wedges I have had in a long time with a nice dollop of chutney. I took a glance around the room, people were smiling, knitting, eating delicious looking pizzas. There was great music playing, the bar staff looked energised and full of their 5 a day. I had a bucket 'o' hoegaarden (anyone else think it looks like a bucket?). This place is like the holy grail.

For my second visit I dragged my accidental starved vegetarian food and quirky cafe lover KM and attempted to stun his hunger senseless with some vegetables stat. I changed tactic slightly by getting the bean burrito which was slathered in cheese and full of delicious non-meaty beans (though this time a tad dry).

My revived dining partner ordered tofu steak on a bed of sweet potato mash and some oddly delicious tomato based gravy. The tofu was slightly charred giving it that authentic Burger King taste, I'm not really selling it here but trust me, it was delicious. Our meal was washed down with some German beer and some organic lager which was deliciously tasty. As we ate a girl in camel boots casually sketched the scene, a hapless couple tucked into some wine and frosty probably post-marital tension (we reasoned they were working on their relationship discord by eating hemp seeds, is there anything hemp seeds can't do?), a big gang of nerdy students arrived to order pizzas and occasionally stare at ladies backsides to the gentle soundtrack of Bob Marley. Lovely atmosphere, great food. A real find.

So in conclusion, visit Alley Cafe do it now. The place is so awesome it might sell out.

Cafe Roya (aka Flying Goose)
33 Chilwell Road, Beeston NG9 1EH
http://www.caferoya.co.uk/

I have recently moved to Beeston and I'm just a little bit in love with it, aside from being full of Asian groceries and local farm fresh produce the place really feels like a community and I get the sense that it's full of some really good hidden foodie finds. My trip to Cafe Roya confirmed that suspicion. My work friend and fellow Beeston lover LM arranged a little Beeston dinner at the Flying Goose, confusingly Cafe Roya by night.

The place is tiny and beautiful, filled with candles and two other tables of happy vegetarian diners. As soon as I spied the simple menu I knew that I was in for a special treat. It was simple, seasonal and divided into a three courses with only a few options for each. True to form and being a sodium rather than a sweet lover I decided to have a starter rather than a dessert and picked the haloumi skewers with caramelised onions and a shredded salad with lemony yogurt. It was absolutely delicious, I could have happily licked the plate.

The beauty of fried cheese

Second course was a no brainer, if pie is on the menu there is a 95% certainty that I will order it. This wasn't just any pie, the homemade egg washed crust was crisp and perfect and it was packed with delicious porcini mushrooms and topped with a light gravy and rich Irish Colcannon packed with spring onions and butter. I actually think this might be the best pie I've ever had. Wow, I'm losing my mind someone get me some steak.

There is always room for pastry

 The best bit about Cafe Roya is the atmosphere, book your table at the right time and it's yours for the evening, service is relaxed the wine is amazing and well priced. It would be a great place to take a special someone for a night of relaxed vegetarian dining.

So I will be back, and please please make that pie again.

Spanky Van Dykes
17 Goldsmith Street, Nottingham NG1 5JT
http://www.spankyvandykes.com/

I'm absolutely addicted to Spanky Van Dykes, for many reasons. The first being the fact that they had the balls to call themselves such a kinky name, second for the great music and the third for the food. I'm slowly working through the meaty menu including southern fried chicken and goats cheese beef burger but every time I go the vegetarian food catches my eye.

So this time I decided to do something shocking and order a hippy burger (I'm not being smart, that's what it's called). The burger was great, washed down with a Brooklyn Beer and some double cooked chips I was in heaven. I want to go back to try their hangover veggie breakfast and if I can muster up the energy to go dancing on a school night I'd love to top it off with a visit to Lust for Life for some nostalgic beats.

So that ends my mini tour of my favourite vegetarian eats thus far. For the future I am very excited to soon visit Ecoworks in St Annes a roaming vegetarian kitchen set on allotments and I shall be ordering their veggie box for some homemade healthy eats .Rumour has it that they also produce beautiful fresh and interesting food including weird Beetroot cakes that I just have to add to my 'to masticate' list.

http://www.ecoworks.org.uk/

So if you'll excuse me, I'm off to chomp on a carrot, frolic in the meadows and indulge in some guilt free lamb stroking.

Disclaimer: No animals were harmed in the writing of this blog only a few innocent soya beans

Memoirs of a Martini: Best Cocktails in Nottingham

A Nottingham sunrise

Back from my holiday to Australia and a house move on the cards I was feeling decidedly more settled into the city. So settled in fact I was even considering purchasing some kitchenware (new coffee machine..swoon). Moving around a lot is a double-edged sword, itchy feet and the thrill of new experience is tempting but the downside is that I am never able to really settle somewhere.

Things were changing and Nottingham was looking and feeling a little more like home. To celebrate the heady joy of standing still for once I have upped my tour of the city. So this series of posts starts with the best cocktails in town (it's tough research but someone has got to do it).

Browns

20 Park Row, Nottingham NG1 6GR

http://www.browns-restaurants.co.uk/locations/nottingham/

Berry martini and a cosmo

Our tour starts at the newly opened and rather fancy Browns. My fellow food lover and office mate HS suggested some Sunday afternoon cocktails and one thing led to another and before we knew it we were enrolling in their loyalty program and telling all that would listen about the joy of their booze.

The great thing about Browns is that their signature delights are only £3.95 after 4pm from Sunday-Wednesday. How could we resist. Purely for research purposes we tried a multitude but we can highly recommend the cosmopolitan (complete with lit orange zest) and the berry and pomegranate martini. Our Greek companion NC loved the rum based vanilla daiquiri and the marinaded olives. If you want to soak up your straight booze a little more the flat breads adorned with chorizo and prosciutto are a tasty and cheesy snack.

Flatbread joy

The bar staff are really friendly and we even had an impromptu martini making session. If you are lucky enough to snag a table in their dining room the mains are a very reasonable price. However, be warned, this place is flavour of the month and perpetually packed full of beautiful people with pearls, nice neat beards and fancy jackets (not all at once, that would just be weird) so get there early.

Tilt

Upstairs, 9 Pelham Street, Nottingham

http://tiltbar.co.uk/

Tilt seems like an old friend to me now, the type of friend that always insists on getting me drunk.

It was love at first sight, I was mainly attracted to it's cosy loft, smiley staff and promise of good liquor and live blues. What could be better than that? The cocktails are great, a favourite of mine being Gin Garden which is adorned with cucumber and elderflower cordial. Refreshing and delicious.

I have hazy memories of sampling their rum cocktails, although I do believe that the such incident culminated in me falling asleep next to a carton of cheese, chips and garlic sauce in front of Snog, Marry, Avoid.

You can take the girl out of Wales....

The Living Room

7 High Pavement, The Lace Market

http://www.thelivingroom.co.uk/location/nottingham

I have mixed feelings about The Living Room, I'm not usually a fan of chain places but the setting of this place is something special. Set in the heart of the Lace Market just off a little cobble stoned walkway and opposite my favourite Saturday night hang out Nottingham Contemporary it's a convenient place for some decent food and a great cocktail.

I've visited The Living Room on a number of occasions from early in the evening to a quiet Sunday night to a bustling Saturday. Saturday it all gets a bit packed and stressful but early Friday night is the best time to nab a table, not have to queue for the bar and enjoy some live piano music. I always love a grand piano when I'm out and about. Maybe it's because I secretly want to be in Ally McBeal, without the anorexia and hallucinations.

A special living room cocktail treat is their apple pie martini, concentrated appley alcoholic goodness topped with real double cream. It's rather decadent and worryingly tastes totally non-alcoholic. Hiccup...bar tender pass me the custard.

Tonic
6b Chapel Quarter, Chapel Bar Nottingham
http://www.tonic-online.co.uk/

Tonic is another one of those places that I love to hate, I love the nice food, the fancy table service and importantly the cocktail menu but a little piece of  my heart does belong to the more quirky independent places. That aside, Tonic does make a damn good Grey Goose martini.

Oh they also do food too, good food. Like this, rare fillet steak with a rich jus, marrow garlic kiev and dauphinoise stack.

Remnants of a martini

 As you can see the martini was demolished way before this arrived. Can I have another? Shaken..not stirred and some more dauphinoise please.

A Birthday in Orange

A wonderful part of my Australian holiday was a birthday trip to see the beautiful VC in her new temporary home. A mere 3 hours drive away, Orange is blessed with a plethora of gorgeous wineries, cafes and one very fancy French restaurant. In the spirit of birthdays and being all together again we decided to indulge in them all.

TES, SS and I left Sunny Sydney with a bag full of Bourke Street Bakery goodies and an ipod full of classic tunes (let's all meet up in the year 2000!) and set off for our first destination, Mayfield Vineyard.

Mayfield Vineyard
Icely Road, Orange NSW 2800
http://www.mayfieldvineyard.com/

We trundled into Orange at dusk to our welcoming cottage the House of Pears. The cottage was stunningly beautiful and completely white set on the backdrop of endless vines and some very friendly geese. One of the many reasons I love my friends is that they always know how to put on the most delicious bounties of food. This night was no exception.

We collated our various foodie efforts, Sonoma bread bought previously from Sydney, a selection of local cheeses from Orange. Salted butter, perfectly fresh salmon and huge bitey Sicilian olives from the local deli washed down with a lot of champagne and culminating in some obligatory tipsy Magnetic Zeros dancing. A wonderful evening.

Phillip Shaw Vineyard
45 Caldwell Lane, Orange NSW
http://www.philipshaw.com.au/about.htm

Not a bad view

Our morning began at Byng Street Cafe for some top notch coffee and baked treats as we lined our stomachs for the wine tasting ahead. High on the agenda was a trip to Phillip Shaw Winery, known far and wide in these parts as one of the best vineyards in town.

What I love about wine tasting, apart from the free wine, is chatting to the makers and finding out loads of detail that you wouldn't normally get from simply ordering a bottle in a restaurant. We chatted to the owners about the psychedelic bottle design, the perfect cheese accompaniment and other local vineyards that were worth a visit.

The decor of Phillip Shaw is incredible, set in their huge kitchen with a sleepy dog lazing around we felt as though we had been invited over a friends house for an afternoon drinking session. To mark V's birthday the wine maker himself came out with a tray of homemade hot pasties and a big dollop of tomato sauce. Mmmm tasted just like home.

Lolli Redini
48 Sale Street, Orange NSW 2800
http://www.lolliredini.com.au/

With a little wobble in our step we retired back to the cottage to greet V's surprise guests and open a few special bottles of wine that we had purchased on our tour. It was now time to get ready for the pinnacle of our visit. A trip to Lolli Redini.

One of the many things I love about Australia is their multiple hatted restaurants that also happen to be pretty affordable. At $80 for their set menu this still to me represents a special treat but not one that will set you back your life savings when you compare UK places of comparable quality in London. Lolli Redini was renowned for being the best restaurant in town and also French, my favourite. I was extremely excited.

We were all seated on a lovely long table and began selecting our three courses. I just could not stay away from the house signature goats cheese souffle set off with a delicate celeriac and apple salad. Without hyperbole this was one of the most amazing mouthfuls of food I have ever had.

I would sell my soul for this souffle

For second course I selected the veal which was served medium rare with a beautiful pile of sauteed mushrooms and cabbage. How they got the mushrooms so tasty I will never know but I suspect a lot of butter was involved. My Italian friend MC indulged my suggestion to share a big scoopful of truffle mash which was like sex on a spoon (forgive my vulgarity).

Far from being taboo these days eating good quality and well sourced veal is actually encouraged, good old Jamie Oliver often suggests veal as an alternative option. Thanks to humane farming practises in good places I can sleep well at night knowing that my animal was not unfairly treated. For the vegetarians among us, my friend ordered squash with shards of salty Parmesan and a sprinkle of pine nuts. It looked and tasted delicious.

Delicious veggie option

In a rare twist my dessert was not that favourable, I selected figs three ways which included a fig mousse, fig ice cream and fresh fig with honey and toffee. It was a little rich and creamy and didn't offer enough textural difference. We chatted to the chef about it and he told us about the inclusion of truffle oil into the mousse which is not to every body's taste. I spotted my friend SS's passion fruit souffle and had food envy. We decided to drink local opting only for wine from the local vineyards. We started with a bottle of Phillip Shaw's fizz that we had sampled earlier and some beautiful mellow Merlot and crisp Chardonnay.

Souffle envy

It was the perfect end to a perfect birthday. As the sun set and I had to undo my belt 3 notches I felt warm and fuzzy and overwhelmingly lucky to be in such a beautiful location, eating such incredible food with such amazing kind people.

With a lump in my throat saying goodbye for now to a wonderful friend it was time to leave. Goodbye Orange, it was lovely to meet you.