Pumpkin and feta two ways

With pasta!

As a salad!

So I have been getting a bit of a spare tyre from all the awesome food I have been eating over here so I thought I should start eating more salad and less other things (takeaways, Indian, chips, frozen pizzas..) but Quentin doesn't like just salad for dinner because it isn't satisfying apparently so instead of making two different meals I can just make two things with the same ingredients, just adding pasta for him and more lettuce for me.

Pumpkin and feta is one of our all time favourite combos, which is weird because we both used to hate pumpkin except for pumpkin soup. Now we love it in/on everything, it is amazing on pizza. This pumpkin is butternut squash which I don't think I had tried before. It's weird because it hardly has any seeds but is totally popular over here and really cheap.

I chopped up the pumpkin and removed the skin and popped it on a baking tray in the oven with some olive oil and salt so it could bake while I got everything else ready. As well as the feta I sliced up some red onions, sundried tomato and these crazy peppers I got at the vege market down the road. They look like a large version of a totally spicy pepper but taste almost like a capsicum. Yum anyway. I also had pumpkin seeds for some crunch.

When the pumpkin was almost cooked I started boiling some pasta for Quentin, the bowtie ones which I haven't used before but are cute! Once the pasta was done I chucked a couple of teaspoons of green pesto (Quentin's favourite) and the other ingredients in and mixed that all up. At the end I put in a couple of handfuls of rocket and then it was ready.

For my salad I used the same things, rocket, pumpkin, feta, sundried tomato, pepper, pumpkin seeds and red onion but added some mixed leaves and a bit of balsamic vinegar for dressing. I figured the sundried tomatoes had enough oil in them that I didn't need to add extra and I love just vinegar as a dressing anyway.

The salad and the pasta were both really good, Quentin ate two full plates of pasta/all that I made so he must have liked it. He did pick out the sundried tomato though because he doesn't like it, I thought I would try it anyway but that just means more for me! The salad was totally filling as well but also healthy and really easy to make, yay! I love pumpkin salad.

Indian at Brick Lane

Dips for the poppadoms

Poppadoms

Starter - Onion bhaji and samosa

Mains

All of the mains

 Before we moved out of our old house we wanted to go to Brick Lane for a curry since it is basically a whole street of Curry Houses. We walked there from our house which is about a half hour walk and was not the best idea because I got blisters on two of my toes and Quentin was tired from biking around.

When we got to Brick Lane we were immediately accosted by a man at the closest restaurant. They all have guys who stand outside and tell you what kind of deals they will give you, they are very aggressive but you do get a good deal, especially if there are two arguing against each other!

I wouldn't have gone into this first place because it didn't look great from the outside but Quentin didn't want to walk anymore so we went in. The guy gave us a deal which included poppadums and dips, mains, rice, naan and two drinks each for 10 pounds each which I think is a pretty sweet deal!

The poppadums and dips came first. In NZ I don't like poppadums at all because they have a weird gross taste, maybe cumin, but over here they are totally yum. The dips that came with them were mango chutney (which I liked but Quentin didn't), diced onions and peppers, a weird red one which tasted like coconut to me but Quentin said it was his favourite even though he hates coconut, and one the guy said was mint sauce but tasted more like raita or tzatziki to us. That was the best one.

Next were the starters. We got onion bhaji and vege samosa because they are the best ones. This is where they let themselves down though. Both the onion bhaji and the samosa were overcooked (the bhaji especially) and full of oil. They had good flavour and would have been enjoyable if it wasn't for the excess of cooking and oil. Also the presentation could have been better! We also both think that onion bhaji is better when it is individual pieces of onion battered and fried, rather than big clumps.

For our mains I ordered aloo gobi (as always) and Quentin ordered vegetable masala (I think) since they don't seem to have malai kofta over here, at least not where we have been. We also got a cheese naan and a garlic naan. The rice here is way better than in NZ because you can pick from all sorts of flavoured rice as well as plain. We got garlic rice and vegetable rice.

The rice we ordered were both really good, even I ate some! And we couldn't quite decide which was best, but maybe the garlic one. The naan was really good as well, it was nice and puffy and crispy, not dense at all but not too crispy so that it all disintegrates! Quentin's main was also delicious, the only problem was with my main. I ordered aloo gobi but I am pretty sure I got aloo saag since there was no cauliflower in my dish but there was spinach. It still had potato so I ate that and it was tasty but there was a major amount of oil in the sauce which was totally off putting.

Now the décor, I think it would be best described as gaudy. They had all sorts of weird stuff going on in there, sort of like they had decorated for a Christmas party and never taken it down! They had shiny streamer type stuff hanging from the light fittings in the roof, streamers on the walls and a big TV playing Indian music videos. I never like to eat at a place playing a TV unless it is part of their thing, like a sports bar or something (although when do I ever go to a sports bar!). Anyway some questionable choices to be sure.

Overall the food was good but there was room for improvement. I would give them 3 out of 5 and would not go back since there are a million other places to get Indian on that street.

Bangers and Mash

Top view

Side view, mmm steamy

It is super cold already, the weather changes so quickly here! The weather makes me want to make good stodgy food so yesterday I decided to make bangers and mash. They have tonnes of vege sausages over here so we are going to try as many as we can and see which ones are the best. It will be good news for summer barbeques! Also I'm not sure why they are trying to make meat in a lab when there are perfectly good meat substitutes already, just eat some soy!

I used up all the potato I had left in the cupboard and while that was boiling for the mash I sliced some onions and cabbage and fried that up with some salt. I am in love with cabbage at the moment, not sure why but it is awesome! Also a good winter vegetable. You can get all the foods all year round over here but I think it's better to have summer things in summer and winter things in winter.
When the potatoes were done I mashed them with some (I can't believe it's not) butter and milk. Once they were nice and mashed I stirred in some pesto. The cabbage and onions were pretty much cooked then too so I put on the sausages. We had two Asda brand sausages left so I used them and also two Quorn sausages which I hadn't tried yet.

I made some onion gravy too (Bisto brand) and when that was all ready I just put the potato on the bottom, then the cabbage and onions, then the sausage and put the gravy around. I think I still need to work on my presentation skills but not too bad!

We both liked the Asda sausages better than the Quorn ones so we won't get Quorn again. There are still a bunch more to try though. It was a good meal, I had to get Quentin to finish mine though because it was more filling than it looked! Also cabbage and onion together is the best, definitely going to make more of that! Winter food is delish. Quentin said I am making the best food at the moment, at least I am doing something productive while looking for a job!!

Vegetable Tart

Before going in the oven

After being cooked

With added greenery

 I decided to make a dinner Quentin would like i.e. made out of pastry. I also still have lots of things to use up before we move so this will help. I had one sheet of pre-rolled puff pastry so I defrosted that and then basically got out all the veges we had left to put on it. I also bought some pesto for the base because it is Quentin's favourite.

Once the pastry was defrosted I put it on a baking sheet and scored the bottom in a rectangle leaving an edge so the edge would puff up and not the middle, this way the toppings don't all get pushed around by air bubbles. Then I spread on some pesto (cheap as here btw, about 1.50 for a jar) then put on red onion, about 5 cloves of garlic sliced, red and green capsicum, pumpkin seeds, cherry tomatoes, blue cheese and cheddar. I think that was all anyway!

When Quentin got home I just had to put it in the oven for about 20-30 minutes and while that was cooking I sliced up some avocado and mixed that with some spinach, watercress and rocket with some balsamic dressing. Once the tart was out of the oven I put the greens on top and then it was ready to eat. I think this could serve 6 people, maybe with extra salad or something on the side but it turned out that I ate 1/6 and Quentin ate 5/6!! At least I know he likes my cooking!

Anyway this is a super easy thing to make and would be good if you have a few people coming round or something because you can make it earlier and then just put it in the oven when you need it. You could put anything on it as well, I would have liked to add sundried tomato and olives but Quentin doesn't like those. Maybe one day. Anyway the verdict was yum :)

My kind of sushi

Making the sushi

Final product

We are moving out of our flat this weekend so I am trying to use up all the food we have in the house so I don't have to cart it all an hour across town! Today I made sushi for lunch to use up the sushi rice, avocado, soy sauce etc. I like making sushi because then I can have whatever I want in it and it is yum. Also easy, although it does take a little time to cook and cool the rice and organise all the things.

I almost always make my sushi the same, with tuna, avocado, cucumber and red capsicum. I also put finely chopped red onion in with the tuna and a little garlic mayo, and put black sesame seeds on the rice. Black sesame is so good with all things Asian.

I spread the rice really thinly on the nori (seaweed) because that is the most boring part. Then I put the black sesame all over the rice (not too much though!) and then put on the tuna mix. The veges go on top of that and then roll it up tightly and use some water to stick the end onto the roll. Let it sit for a few minutes so the nori can absorb some moisture because that makes it easier to roll.

I also make a salad to go with my sushi now after being inspired by the sushi chain here. I mix some edamame (which you can get frozen and deshelled) with some finely chopped cucumber and cabbage and then add some black sesame and use rice wine vinegar and soy sauce as a dressing. You can make the salad while you wait for the rice to cool and it gives the dressing time to get into the veges a bit.

I can't always eat the whole roll of sushi but you can always have the rest for a snack later, or feed it to Quentin! Sushi rules!

Lunch in Notting Hill

Pizza!

Yesterday I met Jane for lunch in Notting Hill. We went to check out Portobello Street which had heaps of cool shops and also has a market on the weekends which I will hopefully get to at some point. Neither of us had been there before so we just walked until we found somewhere that looked good and ended up at a place called the Notting Hill Organic Kitchen. It was a small but nice place with a few other tables in for a late lunch. One of the other tables was a couple who probably grew up in the area because they looked really rich and also sounded like posh English people, funny!

They had a huge menu with all sorts of stuff but also a lunch deal where you could choose a main and a glass of wine for 10 so I went for that (wine, yay!). They had a few different things but someone at the next table ordered a pizza so then I wanted one. I ordered the vegetarian one and Jane got the margarita. The service was fast and the guy was really friendly although he didn't know what a flat white was. Apparently you can't really get them in London.

The pizza's were pretty large, I would have been happier if Quentin was there to help me eat it but I almost managed all of it. Probably shouldn't have but oh well! My pizza came with tomato sauce, roasted capsicum, goats cheese, mozzarella spinach and walnut oil. I can't say I tasted the walnut oil but the pizza was really good. The base was that thin, soft but kind of chewy type that I like. It probably wasn't as good as the pizza in Italy but it was close. The double cheese was awesome.

I'm not too sure what kind of wine I had because I didn't recognise the variety but it was from Chile and it was pretty good actually. Not like the beer Quentin and I got once thinking it was from Chile but it actually had chilli's in it!!

I will give this place a 4 out of 5. They had good prompt service, good value food which was delicious and I don't think they could have done much to improve. The only reason they get a 4 instead of higher is because it was only pizza which is not the most difficult thing to make, and is not that exciting. I would definitely go back though and try something else because all the meals I saw looked really good. Also you can get a side of mashed potato, winning!

Dinner in Battle!

 

There is actually a baked potato under there somewhere!

Delicious vege burger!

We stayed a night in Battle which is near Hastings and is the where the Battle of Hastings took place. We were staying at a crazy old hotel with a massive spiral staircase and all sorts of weird art up (including some by Chris Simpson.. doesn't look like his usual work!). They had an attached Italian restaurant but we decided to go to the pub down the road which looked good. Little did we know that everyone in Battle was about to go there to do shots!

 

The menu was pretty big, they had all sorts of mains as well as specials and what were meant to be smaller meals but totally weren't! I ordered a baked potato with chargrilled vegetables and mozzarella and Quentin ordered the vegetarian burger. The meals were enormous but I would say that presentation was not their strong point!

 

I had to get an extra plate because there was so much food on my plate I couldn't get into it without it going everywhere! The baked potato was really good, super soft inside and with a good sort of crunchy/chewy outside which I love. Usually if we have baked potatoes I get to eat the skin from Quentin's as well and he has the insides. The outside is better. The vegetables on it were roasted capsicum, aubergine and zucchini. I am not a huge fan of aubergine so I left some of that but there was so much I wouldn't have been able to finish it anyway, I think I only ate about half of my potato! There was tonnes of cheese on it as well so it was super delicious.

Quentin's burger was massive, it had all sorts of stuff inside it, plus about three vege patties! The wedges were good as well but would have been better with some sour cream or sweet chilli sauce. The coleslaw wasn't great but I don't like the coleslaw over here anyway, they put way too much mayo on it so it is basically half mayo, half vegetable. The burger was really good as well, I had a bit of it. Quentin didn't finish his dinner either so we both failed.

 

I will give these guys 3.5 out of 5 for their effort. The food tasted really good but it wasn't anything super exciting. The presentation could definitely have been better but the service was good although we did have to wait awhile for our food. It was Saturday night though so I don't really blame them.

 

Also the bar was cute and had all sorts of old photos of the town and random stuff to look at. Oh also on Wednesdays they have a steak night and you can get all the normal kinds of steaks but then also you can get kangaroo, crocodile, bison or zebra! I did not know you were allowed to eat zebras! Also I definitely wouldn't but it was still interesting.

Dinner at the country pub near Maidstone

Homemade chips, you are the best!

Chilli non carne!

We arrived quite late at the place we were staying on Friday night but luckily there was a pub about 5-10 minutes walk down the road which looked promising so we headed down there. It was super tiny and cute, the roof was so low I could easily touch it and had to duck to go through the doorways! There were about 6 tables there for dinner and then some other seating area where the people who were drinking were sitting. It was like something out of Coronation Street, I'm pretty sure the whole village (about 15 people) were hanging out there.

They had a smallish menu but two vegetarian choices so Quentin and I decided to get both and share. They were vegetarian chilli con carne, which I had never tried, and a vegetarian lasagne. The service was very slow, maybe they only had like one cook or something and there were three other tables but we were starving when the food arrived!

Quentin said that he wasn't too impressed with the way the chilli con carne looked but we both agreed that it was really good. Tasty and filling and just the right amount of spice. It had some small beans in it which I hadn't seen before, they seemed like a cross between a bean and a lentil. They were yummy anyway.

The lasagne came with salad, peas and home made chips. We had been warned that the food could take a little while because the chef was busy cutting more chips! Anyway they were basically the best part of the meal, I love homemade chips! The peas were not great but I mixed some in with the chilli and that was tasty. The lasagne was good but I think I could make better. It was a perfect thing to eat on a cold and rainy evening though, the only thing was that it was slightly bland and could have been more tasty.

Overall I think I would give this place 3 out of 5 stars. It was better than average because the food was yummy, but there were a couple of things which could have been done better, and the service was very slow. I would maybe go back there if I was in the area but would be tempted to try somewhere else.

Chinese takeaway

Chinese Foods

After a big day/night on Saturday I didn't feel like cooking on Sunday so for dinner we ordered some Chinese. There are like a million places to order food from here and they all deliver for free which is awesome. It is hard to tell which ones will be good and which won't though! Anyway I had felt like some Chinese food for ages, I don't think we had had any since NZ so I thought I would give it a go.

We ordered from one of the million places and got some vege spring rolls, vege chow mein, sweet and sour fish, and vege massaman curry which I hadn't tried before. The delivery took like more than an hour but it was Sunday evening so they were probably busy.

The chow mein was nice but a bit bland, it could have done with some more soy sauce and some chili or something. It was no baby lady chow mein that's for sure. But average I suppose. The sweet and sour fish had a weird taste to it, Quentin said it tasted like vinegar, I didn't notice so much but I did notice it didn't taste like what we would get at home, and it wasn't that great.

The curry was like ridiculously hot, we each had a bite and started coughing! So I can't really say much more about it since we couldn't eat it. I am going to try adding something to it so we can eat it but who knows what will happen!

The spring rolls were those mini ones you get in a big pack from Moore Wilsons and they were pretty soggy by the time we got them, I would rather have a big spring roll!

Anyway overall it was not the best experience and I wouldn't order from them again. I will give them 2 stars out of 5 since we couldn't eat one of the dishes and the others were average at best. I have to go on a hunt to find some good Chinese food now!

Borough Markets Deliciousness

Halloumi Burger

Vegetarian Thali

On Saturday we went to check out what was happening for the Thames Festival, and visit some food trucks that were meant to be at this park. We met up with Rory and Amanda and ended up walking around for ages trying to get across the river because the bridge was closed for a protest, then when we got to the park no food trucks! But anyway not the end of the world because we just went down the road to the Borough Markets where they have like a million food stalls and it is all super delish looking.

None of us were sure what we wanted so we walked around checking everything out. I got a bottle of wine from a stall and they opened it for me (cork) and gave me some plastic wine glasses, now that is service!

Quentin decided to get a Halloumi burger which he said was good but a bit too healthy because it had all sorts of veges mixed into the patty with the Halloumi, and also has grated carrot, beetroot etc in it. And he wasn't sure about the bun, I think it had too many seeds or something. I tasted the burger though and it was super delicious! Maybe just not what he wanted at the time.

I got a vegetarian thali which was rice with three kinds of curry, a dhal, a potato curry and a cauliflower and pea curry. They also put tamarind sauce and yoghurt sauce on top, as well as onions and coriander. Why did I let them put coriander on? I do not know. It is basically the devil! But anyway the curries were all really good, although the cauliflower one had a tad too much celery. Who even wants to eat celery, it is the worst! The potato one was my favourite (big surprise) but I love lentils as well. The tamarind gave it a good tang and sweetness and the onions and coriander added some good crunch and freshness. I totally couldn't eat it all but it was super yum.

Rory and Amanda got some chocolate brownies and some potato and cheese from this stall that had massive rounds of cheese cut in half that were going under the grill, then they just scraped off mass amounts of melted cheese to make cheese toasties or to go on potatoes. I tried a bit of theirs and I don't know why I didn't just get that, mine was really good but you can't beat potato and cheese! Also it came with cornichons which I love. I think next time we go there (hopefully soon) I will get the potato and cheese for sure.

Anyway overall I think I will give the Borough Markets food/drinks/service etc 4 out of 5 stars. They lose a star for not having seating, Quentin's burger being a bit too healthy, there being too much celery in one of my curries and they had run out of hot chocolate which Amanda wanted. It is super delicious there though and they basically have every kind of food you would want. I can't wait to go back!

Pub Breakfast

English Latte

Eggs!

This morning I had to go and meet with a recruiter quite early so didn't have time for breakfast which meant I had to go out for breakfast after, oh dear!

I went to a place called All Bar One which I think is a chain of pubs because I'm pretty sure I have seen a few around, unless I keep seeing the same one and not knowing it which is possible!

I wanted some poached eggs so I got eggs Florentine but with tomato instead of spinach since spinach is not my favourite. The English muffins were not really toasted which was not the greatest but the eggs were cooked pretty well, if a little bit over. I got the hollandaise on the side since I don't like it very much but I tried a bit and it was ok. If the muffins had been toasted better it would have been a much more enjoyable breakfast.

The coffee was weak but that's what I expect from England, I need to remember to ask for extra shots! Also they didn't have flat white which was disappointing. But they did give me some sort of pebbles in a shot glass which is kind of weird at breakfast time but cute anyway.

I would go back to the chain but probably wouldn't get this breakfast again because of the muffins. They have a vege breakfast which I could try. And I would have to remember to order extra shots in the coffee.

Overall I think I will give them 2.5 stars out of 5. They had some good aspects and some not so good which made them average overall.

Burger Pizza!

Start with a pizza for the bottom

Add burger patties

Cheese

Onions

Pickles

Ketchup and mustard



Then add the second pizza

Slice

And eat!

 

After being inspired by something I read online about burger pizza's being offered for sale in Japan Quentin and I decided to make one ourselves.

Quentin is very good at making pizzas so he made the bases and I organised the stuff to go in the middle. We got some vegetarian burgers which look like meat ones because we thought that would make it look more authentic.

First Quentin made the pizzas and we cooked them until they were almost done and then took them out. We had just put pizza sauce and cheese on the pizzas so I added ketchup and mustard on the bottom, then the burger patties, then chopped onions, then pickles, then more ketchup and mustard and the second pizza.

Then we put it back in the oven for a bit to heat the filling and melt the cheese. I cut the burger pizza into 6 pieces like a pizza and it was delicious! It actually tasted like a burger and also a pizza, so good! I assume it is not terribly good for you but a good experience.

Between us we managed to eat almost half of this, if only we had someone else to help us eat it.

Lebanese for Lunch

Delicious Potato!

I had a job interview in the west of London the other day, about an hour away from where we live and it was at lunchtime so after the interview I went and got some lunch at a Lebanese place down the road from where I was. It was at a place called Karaam and it looked cute from the outside so I figured I would give it a try. By myself haha.

The had a shorter menu for lunch but it still had three vegetarian options which is cool. Two were things which I knew what they were (falafel etc) but one was something I hadn't heard of before, called Batata Harra which was some sort of potato dish so I ordered that one since potato is never bad!

The plate came with falafel, a cheese roll, the batata harra, hummus, salad and tabouleh. The falafel was not great, it was a weird texture, kind of like cake and also was really bland but slightly sweet, not what I expect from a falafel! The cheese roll was good and the other stuff was really really yum.

The tabouleh was way more parsley than I am used to but had a really yum sauce. The potato was a bit spicy and had been cooked with some capsicums, chili and onion. I think it would be too spicy for Quentin but for me it was awesome. The hummus was really good too.

The people working there were really friendly and the service was good so I think overall I will give this place 4 out of 5 stars. It was only let down by the falafel really, and the water they gave me wasn't chilled. Other than that it was great, I would totally go back there for the potato!

Mexican

Starter



Enchiladas

Chimichanga

Last night we went out to Shoreditch to a place called Chico Bandito for dinner. We had wanted to go to another Mexican restaurant but we couldn't get a booking so this was our second choice. It is much closer to our house than the other one though so that was a bonus. When we got there it looked pretty cool, like all bright with paintings on the walls and stuff. They had some cool chandeliers made out of wagon wheels too. Quentin said he would make me one when we have a house, yay!

We wanted to get heaps of things but also knew we wouldn't be able to eat everything so we just got one starter and a main each. For a starter we got some chips and dips, guacamole, spicy hummus and refried bean dip. They were average. I wasn't sure whether they had made the dips there or not, the guacamole was really smooth which makes me think it wasn't fresh and the hummus just tasted like the hummus you get from the supermarket and was also not spicy. The refried beans could have just been put from a can into the serving platter. Also the tortilla chips were obviously just from a packet and were flavoured which took away from the flavours of the dips.

Anyway they all still tasted good, it just wasn't up to the standard I would expect (e.g. burrito brothers!). For our mains I got enchiladas and Quentin got a chimichanga. They both came with Mexican rice, salad, guacamole and sour cream. The salad was possibly a three bean mix or something similar from a can put onto some lettuce. The enchiladas were really good though, they had a vegetable mix inside which was in a sort of spicy tomato sauce and so yum! I saw capsicum, onion, courgette, pumpkin and mushroom but I think there were some other vegetables in there as well.

Quentin said that his chimichanga was good but it wasn't as good as a burrito brothers one because it wasn't as crispy on the outside as it should have been. I tasted a bit and I think we had the same vegetable mix inside. They give you a good amount of dips with your main though, I hate running out of guacamole and sour cream with my main so that was good.

Overall everything tasted good but the thing I liked the best was the vegetable mix in the enchiladas which was also the most home made part of the whole meal as far as I could tell! I have decided to give places we go stars out of five so I will give Chico Bandito 3 stars out of 5. It was good but definitely not up to the standard  I would want. However I would still go there again but I wouldn't pick to go there when I could go somewhere new.