Slow cooking???

I've impulse bought a slow cooker and have NO recipes! Have you any that you recommend or enjoy?

Northern Irish Food News

Today saw the first ever Cupcake Camp NI at the Blick Studios in Belfast, actually in Europe even!!!! I had hoped to be there with some cupcakes but got a little busy with work and had to bail out.

I'm looking forward to hearing how it all worked out and hope I can join in next summer!

Also, Sainsburys have been in touch asking for a little plug and seeing as I'm a Sainsburys fan I thought I may just pass it on.
They're running a campaign called GR'EAT BRITAIN' ON A PLATE to encourage people who are planning a holiday at home to try out more local food. Check out the press release here

Finally, you may remember that I was at the Enjoy a Taste of Scotland event in April 08, well it turns out that now there will be a Northern Irish event too! Tesco's are hosting "Taste Northern Ireland" in Belfast on 11th and 12th September in Custom House Square with free entrance to the public. This event aims to "showcase and celebrate the fantastic breadth and quality of Northern Ireland’s produce to a wider audience." There will be lots of local exhibitors, a celebrity cookery theatre, kids cookery and more. I'll keep you posted with any other details I receive!

That's all for now, but I'll be back soon with another recipe.

Cake Wrecks

Stuff Yer Bake just posted about a blog called Cake Wrecks which after looking at about 2 posts I fell in love with and just had to share here too.

Good Natured Fruit

It seems like I refer back to my visit to Enjoy the Taste of Scotland quite a bit but I can't help referring to it once more because a couple of weeks ago I spotted something I tasted there and had remembered enjoying them very much. Good Natured Fruit is now sold in Northern Ireland!!!! I've been buying the strawberries and raspberries and absolutely loving the taste of them - so much better than the other varieties of strawberries and raspberries in the shop. The strawberries are beautifully sweet, juicy and plump and the raspberries have been used in some incredibly delicious muffins for me to have for breakfast.



If you're able to get your hands on these please do!!! Good natured fruit aims to work in harmony with nature to grow berries that are pesticide free using natural predators (like ladybirds) to get rid of greenflies. You should check out thier website for more details while I get on with munching these strawberries!

Foodie packages

On Wednesday this week I came home to a few packages that had been delivered and I was very excited! Generally I'm quite excited about any package - like a kid at Christmas or something.

The first was a package from Oleifera who I had met at Enjoy the Taste of Scotland a few weeks ago. I was so excited, I had given them my address to have a sample bottle sent out to me and I was surprised that they had sent it and also that they'd sent such a large bottle!!!!



It's rapeseed oil that has half the saturated fat that olive oil has, can help to lower cholesterol, has your essential omega 3 and omega 6, and even has a high smoke point. I'm really looking forward to getting to use this in a few recipes - and then blog about it ;-)

The second package was something I had ordered on Ebay after seeing Megan from Megan's Cookin had ordered some herself. I ordered 60 vanilla pods for £12 with free P&P! Bargain seeing as it's £2.50 for 2 at my supermarket!



Stewie couldn't resist sneaking into photos again.... silly pup.



Anyways I can't wait to get using all this now!!! I'll have to come up with some exciting recipes for these ingredients!

Drysdale Swede Test

I mentioned in my review of Enjoy the Taste of Scotland that RK Drysdale (a supplier of brussel sprouts and swedes) were looking for people to test a prototype product for them and sent me home with one. It was a peeled swede in a sealed plastic bag where there were 2 "recipes" they asked you to pick from then report back what you thought. The choices were:

1. Microwave in the sealed bag for 8 minutes (at 800W), then mash adding butter, salt and pepper.
2. Microwave in the sealed bag for 5 minutes (at 800W). Remove from the bag and slice into 5mm slices and place on an oven tray. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt. Roast in the oven at 220˚C and roast for 15 minutes.

I went for option 2, which was very tasty however there were a few flaws in the "product" which I've fed back to Drysdale. The bag had ripped as I lifted it out of the fridge for use, I thought the bag was really way too hot to handle when removed from the microwave, and it had burst in another place when in the microwave. Also the swede was really too hot to handle for slicing and I had to hold it with some kitchen roll to keep from burning my fingers - I'm sure if it was microwaved for a shorter length of time that it would be cooked through enough to make slicing easy, reduce the possibility of burnt fingers and it would also roast well too being slightly crispier.



In hindsight perhaps using the first method would have been easier. Well we live and learn.

I thought this was a great concept and would help many busy families to prepare healthier meals and have more variety in their diets so I really hope they will be able to improve the product and soon be able to sell it to the public because swede is an under appreciated vegetable.

Enjoy the Taste of Scotland Review

Well Enjoy the taste of Scotland was last Friday and only now have I had time to stop and write a report on how it all went.

It all started at 5.30am on Friday when I woke up and got ready for the day then started the drive up to the airport for my flight on sleazy jet. As I arrived in the queue for check in I turned around to see who was behind me and to my surprise there stood an old school friend. We ended up chatting all the way to Glasgow - in the departure lounge, on the plane, waiting for luggage and on the bus into Glasgow, then we went our separate ways but I really enjoyed our chat and it did keep me awake seeing as I'm not used to being awake at that time of day!

I arrived in Glasgow about 9.30am and the event wasn't starting until around midday so off I went for a walk down Sauchiehall Street - this street became famous for me when I was working in WHSmith because we were almost always in tight competition with the Sauchiehall Street store for all sorts of things. Anyways, I had a walk round and decided that although I'd be spending all my afternoon eating and nibbling that I was rather hungry. I had to laugh at myself because I had travelled to Glasgow to try some new and different food and I end up going into McDonalds for a Sausage McMuffin and OJ - yes I'm ashamed but I far prefer the breakfast menu in McD's to it's main menu.

Noon rolled round and I had just arrived at the big white tent in George Square.



There were lots of people running around like mad trying to set up last minute bits and pieces and me standing wondering where on earth I'm supposed to go or who I'm supposed to see. I end up grabbing someone who was trying to rush past me holding a radio (that must mean they're important right?) and asking where the press go, I was pointed in the direction of "Reception" while the girl rushed on to her emergency. I walked up to the desk feeling a little out of my depth and said who I was and that I was looking for Craig (my contact). Craig turned round to greet me, he handed me a press pack, a press USB pen and a press badge.



I was sent off to play round the various stalls and taste lots of different samples. I first arrived at Kingsmill and despite having a big bag for collecting samples and info was given another bag full of loaves and baps - a very generous gift and gesture but unfortunately I had to give the bag away because there was no way I would be able to get it on the place home. Warburtons tried to do the same but I had to refuse.

I went on and chatted more with lots of other food companies and brands including Border biscuits who sent me home with some lovely butterscotch crunch and chocolate chip shortbread (they went down well with a cup of tea!).

I got chatting to Greenvale - a potato producer - who mentioned knowing Wilsons Potatoes here in NI to which I replied "oh you know Angus? He's a good guy" and the guy looked at me blankly leaving me thinking that either my friend Angus Wilson is a liar (highly unlikely) or that this guy was just clueless.



Patterson Arran have also sent me home with enough oatcakes to last a life time! May need to use them to cater for youth group a few times.

I was still walking round nibbling almost anything people were offering and ended up feeling like something a little fresher than Mrs Tilly's Butter Tablet or Dean's Shortbread or some First Milk cheese - don't get me wrong I loved all of these tasty treats but my mouth was just a little dry and in need of something a little sweeter. I stumbled across Good Natured Fruit with some tasty strawberries - they're a pesticide free strawberries and raspberries. I got talking to a girl about how they go along the rows placing ladybirds on each of the plants to get rid of nasty bugs out to destroy. You could really taste the difference!

I also stopped by Oleifera who apparently are posting out a complimentary bottle of rapeseed oil, which I'm quite excited about. It has half the saturated fat that olive oil has, can help to lower cholesterol, has your essential omega 3 and omega 6, and even has a high smoke point. I'm really looking forward to getting to use this in a few recipes.

I went into the kid's zone for a nosy and got talking to a girl about an education scheme by the Royal Highland Education Trust for schools that is aimed at raising awareness of the importance of red meat in a healthy balanced diet and teaches children about the journey of cattle, sheep and pigs from farm to plate including animal husbandry, basic nutrition and what various world religions believe about red meat. Being the nerd that I am I was quite excited about this scheme.

I came across R & K Drysdale who were giving away a sample of peeled swede in a plastic bag that can be microwaved in the bag then mashed or sliced or whatever. So expect a blog post shortly about the results!

I decided after all that walking around Sauchiehall Street and then all around the exhibits that I needed to take a seat and the only seats I could find was the rowed seating for the cookery theatre so I got comfy and rested my feet for a bit. I had a look around and spotted Nick Nairn, who had almost run me over a few minutes earlier by running around the place pushing a trolley and being followed by a camera crew, getting set up to film a cookery demonstration.



It was also at this stage that I had spotted the walking Macsween haggii looking like happy chappys but I'm sure the people inside the costume were melting with the heat. (I also spotted a Baxter's soup man walking around waving and skipping too).



As I was sitting resting weary bones I also spotted someone sitting on her own also chilling out a bit. I decided to go over and introduce myself and it turns out I'd just met Lynn from Lynn's Cooking Blog! We ended up being buddies for the rest of the day. We hung around for the opening speeches then headed out for some tea and came back to do a little more browsing of the displays again.

This time round I got talking to a guy in a kilt giving out flyers on how to cook steak to perfection - I'll be sticking that up in my kitchen for future reference! I tried some Mackays marmalades and preserves and really enjoyed the variety of flavour and the natural flavours that came through in them. And also got talking to a girl from the Really Garlicky company who gave me a great press pack that included a bulb of smoked garlic (again expect to see some blog posts including this!). Then stopped by the Tunnocks stand to get some tea cakes for Rob who I had left at home alone with Stewie for the day.

Not all of the food on display has originated in Scotland - but then I suppose that's a difficult thing to do anywhere now. I came across Monaghan Mushrooms, who have some farms in Scotland too apparently. I also was given a packet of Yeungs chinese curry mix which I'm pretty sure isn't traditionally Scottish, but they are Scottish based and have been for over 18 years! There was also a stall for Edinburgh Tea and Coffee which prompted us to ask exactly where in Scotland they were growing the coffee beans and tea leaves.

There were also some cookery demonstrations on in the "Cookery theatre". I sat, watched, listened and even smelt my way through one by Joe Queen from Macdonald Hotels which I really enjoyed. I would have loved to have seen more cookery demos and in particular by some of the exhibitors themselves to show the versatility of their product and also introduce new ideas for using their product.

It was an interesting day, particularly when exhibitors asked "Which publication are you from?" - I eventually learned that saying I was 'freelance' was much less complicated than saying 'I'm a blogger' (which the writer for Farmer's Weekly who I got chatting to for a while at the airport on the way home told me was much easier than saying any publication sometimes). All in all I really enjoyed my day, despite my flight home being delayed a few hours and making my day that little bit longer. I enjoyed talking with food producers and cooks and bakers about food and learned quite a bit about the Scottish food scene, however I really would have liked to see more primary produce instead of the sweets companies, bottled water companies, and a few other random companies. And as I said earlier in this post I really would have liked to see more cookery demos and things from the actual exhibitors themselves as well as the scheduled cookery theatre program.

It really was quite an adventure for me trying out some products that are either hard or impossible to obtain in Northern Ireland. There were so many other companies there that I could talk about but this post is already long enough, so check out the Enjoy the taste of Scotland website for more details on that.

I really hope something like this can happen over here sometime! It would be great to see some more of our local produce getting a plug.

Thank you to Craig from Denvir Marketing for helping me work out how to get over to Glasgow and also for making me feel all privileged as "Press" for the day.

Going to Enjoy the Taste of Scotland

Today I'm away to Enjoy the Taste of Scotland being held in George's Square in Glasgow. I posted about it before here but can't belive it's actually today! It's going to be a great event. If you're in Glasgow or near Glasgow this weekend I recommend checking it out. The details are all on the website and it's absolutely free!

Enjoy the Taste of Scotland

I've spent some time researching the costs of flights to and from Glasgow today because I heard about an event called "Enjoy the Taste of Scotland". It sounds like a really exciting event where lots of the local Scottish food companies and producers will share their products for sampling and there'll also be some cookery demos by some top chefs. The event is being run by Tesco and aims to showcase more than 100 suppliers of Scottish produce & food, wine and much more. It's being held on 25th-27th April at Glasgow's George Square, from what I gather the 25th is for media/journalist type people, while 26th and 27th is a free for all, and it really is free for all with no cost for admission!

The website is here but it's not live just yet. Check back later for more details.

Really hope something similar comes to Northern Ireland soon! It'll be fantastic! In the meantime i'm real excited about going to this, and if you can go, you should!

Jargon busted

I posted before about Sainsburys making an effort to explain how their chicken is produced with little luck but just found this jargon buster on Channel 4's Big Food Fight section that explains this all better.

Be informed!!!!

Still on the chicken run

Since we decided to buy chicken that has been given a better life than intensively farmed chicken I've had real trouble getting any. Is it because more and more are buying it? Or do the stores just not have the stock? Well, I was in our local town yesterday passing by the "posh" deli café and noticed something I recognised......

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Sainsburys are keen

I was doing our weekly shop yesterday and couldn't help but notice the signs everywhere....

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The great chicken race

Last monday to wednesday Hugh's chicken run was on Channel 4 where Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall sets up a chicken farm where one half of the barn has intensively farmed chickens and the other half has free range chickens to show how over 90% of the chickens in our local supermarkets are produced. Then on Friday there was Jamie's Fowl Dinners where.....


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