Pieminister

Proudly Bristolian, Pieminister pies are now so popular that not only are they to be seen all over town, but they have even invaded the shelves of many a good food stores all the way in London. The shop in the Arcade just behind St. Nick's market is a pleasant place to try one. Their seasonal specials for Christmas all sound worth a try. This one is the 'Christingle', with honey and orange roasted parsnips, cheddar, caramelised baby onions, chestnuts, white port and rosemary. Yum.

Not so Cheesecake

A few weeks back, I came across this fantastically neon-red, retro school dinner-esque looking cake in a patisserie, displayed alongside a vast array of other gloopy concoctions; but without a label. I called over a staff and politely asked what it was, to be told that it was an 'English Cheesecake'. An English cheesecake? How interesting, I thought. What in a cheesecake would make it particularly English? Cheddar cheese? So I asked what was actually inside it. To that the staff replied, "Oh you know, pastry, coconuts... jam" (all of which, were clearly evident from the exterior). She then ran away, clearly uncomfortable with being asked questions, to serve another customer. I decided I'd just have to find out for myself, so I walked out of the shop with it wrapped up in a paper bag. Back home, I discovered that there was in fact not a speck of cheese in this so-called cheesecake of English origin. What it was was a surprisingly crunchy and heavy-duty puff pastry bottom topped with a thick layer of coconut paste, sugary enough to have me worrying about a heart attack, covered in more sweetness in the form of a bright red jam, then layered with (wait for this...) further sugary-ness in the form of icing, then finally topped off with a generous sprinkling of shaved coconuts. So unhealthy, so much fun, but I now feel really quite sick from its consumation.

ben and jerry's 'wich

It's the end of term, which means being chased by essay deadlines. So I shouldn't be blogging, but I will anyway. At least I'm not posting everyday, and I'll make it short. It was quite literally years ago that I first saw a Ben & Jerry's 'Wich in a random store in London. I didn't feel like an ice cream then so I just thought 'maybe another day'. Little did I know that they are actually a rarity to find. So I was quite delighted when I came across it today in Bristol, especially as I had gone to the shop with the purpose of buying ice-cream. Unlike some other bad ice cream sandwiches I've had in the past (notably Maxibon), the cookie wasn't soggy, it was chewy. It's sweet, it's unsophisticated, but that's Ben & Jerry's for you. Gobs, blobs and shlobs; and man do I love them for it.

Nordic Bakery

Here is a cinnamon roll that I got from the 'Nordic Bakery' in London, Piccadilly Circus. But it's not just any old cinnamon roll, it's a Finnish cinnamon roll. At least, that's what I assume because of its shape. Being the very busy final year university student that I am, I searched on the internet for various Nordic-style cinnamon rolls, and as far as I'm concerned (having compared rolls from Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Finland), this shape is particular to Finland's 'Korvapuusti'. Once the dough is rolled out, it is cut into pieces not vertically but diagonally, illustrated here on a forum that appeared when I googled 'Finnish cinnamon rolls'. Back to the Nordic Bakery, their cinnamon roll was huge, and packed full of spiced goodness. However, when I got to the very centre of the roll, the dough seemed really rather squidgey, as in it was almost raw. In fact, I think it was still raw. Is it supposed to be like that?

European Junk Food

Aldi? Lidl? But, how could you? That is no place for a foodie to be shopping at! Yes maybe, but I don't go there to stock up on bulk-sale cartons of cheap apple juice, or mock-brand jars and bottles of sauces and condiments. What they also sell are a decent collection of junk foods hailed from various parts of Europe such as biscuits from Holland or lebkuchens from Germany. Photoed is a 'Kirch and Pudding Tortchen', a pastry case filled with cherry jam and vanilla custard. Cheap, sweet, perfect. These are, obviously not the cream of the crop products, but sometimes, all you want is a humble biscuit proud of not having complex or fancy flavours.

Booja Booja

It's not ice-cream, and no it's not even a dairy alternative to ice-cream. This is different. This is 'Stuff in a Tub' created by Booja Booja, makers of organic chocolate truffles. According to the tub, this frozen dessert is all these things - Organic - Dairy Free - No Refined Sugar - Low GI and GL - No Soy - Gluten Free - and is made using only four ingredients - water, agave, cashew nuts and ginger (the last because I bought the ginger flavour). I'm not a vegan, nor do I suffer from food allergies, but I still like trying foods that are 'alternative' to your average omnivore product, and personally I think this ranks quite highly in the alternative products range. In fact, I quite like it, though it won't fool you into thinking it's regular ice-cream. There is a distinct taste, perhaps coming from the agave, but it's good all the same. If it didn't come with such a pricey tag (£5.49 from Fresh & Wild) I wouldn't mind filling my shopping basket with their other four flavours (chocolate, vanilla, coconut or maple pecan).

Savoury Muffin

On my trip to London the weekend just past, I went to various places around the city to stock up on gourmet goodies (as is the only purpose for my London trips usually). At the bakery in the Harrods Food Hall, I picked up this savoury muffin with a ham, mixed peppers, sundried tomatoes, leeks and gruyere cheese filling. Now, by 'filling', I thought that the ingredients would be speckled around the dough, as is usually the case, say with the berries of a blueberry muffin. Instead, this muffin had a cooked centre that was encased in a muffin shell. I was pleasantly surprised, though I don't think the mixed peppers went well with the other ingredients in this case. Nevertheless it was good enough that I would love to try some of their other flavours like chicken or salmon next time I'm in the city.

Maximillions Deli

Maximillions Deli (I've spelt it right here! It's not supposed to be maximillians) is a popular carvery sandwich shop on Broad Street in Bristol. There are always queues during lunchtime though the staff is very efficient so you get served in no time. I have had my eyes on their pork, apple sauce and stuffing sandwich for a while, and I finally got the opportunity to try it today. For the filling, you get to choose as much as you want from their vast selection of salads at the counter covering basics from simple lettuce leaves to coleslaw type mixes. Now, as to the pork itself, it was juicy and tender, no complaints about that. Yet flavour-wise, it all seemed to be quite taste-less. I am usually someone who complains about outside food being too salty or too sweet, yet I ended up using multiple packets of ketchup in order to satisfy my tastebuds. The apple sauce in particular was an extreme let down. Its blandness did no justice to the well-cooked meat. Perhaps next time, (if there ever is one) I will order my sandwich with stronger flavoured fillings like jalapeno peppers...

Christmas Pudding... flavoured yoghurt?!

Today, I came across a yoghurt flavour that I had never heard of or seen before - Christmas pudding. Produced by M&S Foods, it's part of their line of Christmas season produce. I envisioned a creamy yoghurt with globs of christmas pudding pieces, somewhat like those brownie ice creams that you get nowadays. Reading the description though it turned out to be a brandy and mixed spice flavoured yoghurt with bits of sultana, raisins, currants and apples in it. Not quite what I had imagined, but still more interesting than your average strawberry pot of probiotics. The yoghurt itself, with a 14% content of whipping cream was dreamily dollopy. Really quite sweet, but surprisingly, the grape bits tasted completely out of place. They were nice and plump, but not flavourful enough in contrast to the bold taste of the yoghurt itself. Perhaps it aught to be soaked in brandy? But I guess children wouldn't be allowed to have it then? I don't know. Still worth a try though.

Supermarket Brands

English supermarkets have a great abundance of own-brand products. In the case of food products, they do cheap lines as well as luxury ones. Most of the time, I prefer sticking to non-supermarket brands. Yet at times, products generally considered "superior" to others such as Waitrose or M&S Food may take my fancy, such as this strawberry scone from Waitrose. Though I usually tend to prefer biscuity american-style scones, this fluffy, crumbly bake was not at all bad (though admittedly eaten with a significant dollop of marmalade and therefore not so sure myself as to which flavour I am actually complementing).

Back in the UK

My last post, on the 16th of June, is now almost 5 months ago. Where the hell have I been??? To describe my current situation in digest, let's just say I am no longer in Sydney but am now (rather unfortunately) back in Bristol, UK. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind being back in the UK, but polluted, overcrowded, multi-cultural cities like London are more my idea of home. Over the many months of blog-absence I've taken so many photographs of food that I don't know which to start posting. So, a good place to start may be... today! One major difference to life in Sydney is that I am no longer eating "food" from catered student accommodation but am actually eating food. The above is king prawns, shallots, bean sprouts and brussel sprouts (yes, brussel sprouts) dumped in an amazing ready-made 'Thai Penang Sauce' by Seasoned Pioneers. It's creamy, spicy, sour and just great for lazy cooks like me. In my case, served rather unauthentically, with couscous.