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Great gift ideas for fabulous foodies

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New flights of taste with Whiskey flights

September 2nd, 2010 · Foodie Travel, Foodie gifts, Places to eat, Spirits

I am not sure when flights came onto the drinks menus. I guess for me it was about 5 years ago at the Flatiron Lounge in NYC, and I have no idea what flight I had. But it was a great night.

I would have thought that just about every kind of flight had probably been done by now, but equally there are so many niche routes you could go down that I guess this could continue to reinvent itself forever.  Bourbon Steak at the Four Seasons in DC is doing whiskey flights, covering everything from rare, small-batch bourbons through to select, barrel-aged scotches. There’s a massive difference  in pricing here, from $30 through to $200.

If you’re interested in bourbons, then the small batch ones may well be of interest. The flight list at the Four Seasons is Pappy Van Winkle 15 year old, Noah’s Mill 15 year old, and Willet 18 year old. I can’t find the Pappy 15 year old, but the 20 year old is just under £100, so I guess this really is artisanal, small scale production. But still cheaper than getting on a plane to DC!

I’m not a big fan of whisky of any shape, origin or spelling, but I am very interested in the accompanying chocolate dessert flight. Where would you start when faced with Ovaltine-soaked devil’s food cake with chocolate ganache and dehydrated chocolate mousse; chocolate custard with red velvet cake, spicy pecans and chocolate foam; and chocolate brownie with Nutella ice cream? I didn’t even know they had Ovaltine in the US!

Still, if for any reason you are travelling to Washington DC, then it sounds like stopping by for dinner could be an interesting evening. Not to mention if you’re staying you can have your photo taken with President Obama. Only if you qualify as a junior traveller. And you don’t expect conversation.

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One (or two) for the Welsh foodies, expats or otherwise

September 1st, 2010 · Foodie gifts, Kitchenwares, Places to shop online

I may have mentioned, once or twice, that Dr T is an expat Welshman, living here in the East Midlands. He still feels a long way from home. I do try to help with the continued homesickness (it’s been over 16 years, at some point it’ll get better) so there do appear to be regular deliveries of Brain’s Dark and the odd welsh cake or two.

It also means I was delighted to discover Adra, with their great range of gifts for around the home. Now, it must be said, Dr T’s Welsh language skills are fairly limited, but it’s always a talking point to have a Welsh language item around the place. I really like the new shopping bag, which may attract a glance or two at West Bridgford Farmer’s Market. Still, at only £6, I could start populating quite a few of these around the place.

I like the big metal bread bins and things, which seem to be cropping up everywhere, so be different and have one stating Bara, just for a change. I also really like the monochrome oven gloves designed by Melin Tregwynt, very stylish with a hint of traditional Welsh blanket design but wouldn’t look out of place in a contemporary kitchen.

Oh, and it’s not a bad source of gifts for babies born to ex-pat parents either. Since moved back to home land, one friend’s little girl was often seen at nursery in London sporting the legend “Dwi’n hoffi…dolis, lolis a jam”.   

If only they were always so happy with dollies, lollies and jam!

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Spot? Stripe? Who cares?

August 31st, 2010 · Chocolate, Eating with kids, Foodie gifts, Naff presents

 

I’ve been really lucky since I started writing this blog that occasionally interesting companies offer to send me their stuff to try. I always let you know if they have, I always still write honestly and I turn stuff down if I know it’s way off what I want to write about.

And really, I should have turned down the Challenge Bar from Cadbury. You’ll no doubt have seen the Spots and Stripes advertising, and I like the idea of us all playing games together. But not in competition for an awful bar of chocolate. Imagine three big pieces of Dairy Milk overlaid with Milky Bar (think I may be mixing up my producers here, but you get the picture). You stuff your face with one piece each then play for the third.

Honest to god, do yourself a favour and just play the game. There was lots of touchy feely stuff in the press release about getting families to play together but just send them a football. Or a Wii. Anything would be better than getting kids to eat more rubbish chocolate. I mean, it’s going to take a lot of thumb wrestling to burn off the chocolate.

To be fair, MGG thought the chocolate scrummy, but then she is only 8. Dr T ate one small bites worth. And I finished mine in a hormonal rage. Which is about all it’s good for.

If you want to play more games with your family, then do so without the chocolate would be my suggestion. Or play for something interesting and tasty. Or go on a long walk. Or cook together. If it’s about spending more time together, then I’m all for it. I just don’t need someone else telling me to do it as a way to sell more chocolate.

Oh, and heaven help the athletes as Cadbury are Official Treat Provider to the 2012 Olympics. I think we should start campaigning for an alternative artisanal food sponsorship programme. Instead of Cadbury, lets have Montezuma’s. Instead of McDonalds, lets have Hawksmoor. And instead of  Coca-Cola, I think we should have a nice cup of Yorkshire Tea!

Great shot of families really playing by Mike Baird over on Flickr.

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Please help make the pain of aching feet worthwhile for Macmillan

August 28th, 2010 · Foodie gifts

As many of you know, in addition to being the Foodie Gift Hunter, I’m also really lucky to have a great day job with Boots. I am really proud of the partnership Boots has now established with Macmillan Cancer Support, and also the Miles for Macmillan challenge we have this year, where all Boots staff are undertaking to walk, in total, 290,000 miles, one for every person diagnosed with cancer in the UK every year.

I’d like to tell you about our team effort, walking the highways and byways of Leicester all the way to Loughborough on September 9th. The endurance of the uphill parts of the 12 miles and the joy of heading downhill.

I’d like to tell you about which character I will be from Alice in Wonderland during our 12 mile travelling tea party.

I’d like to, but I can’t, as I will be on a whistle-stop tour of the Far East that week, and on the 9th will be in our Hong Kong office.

So my challenge is to walk a mile in each of the four locations, starting with a mile around Terminal 3 on Sunday 5th, a mile in Shanghai, a mile in the unconfirmed location two hours drive from Shanghai, and finally a mile in Hong Kong by Friday 10th.

Whilst no endurance challenge to sit alongside the likes of walking the Great Wall of China, climbing Everest or walking 12 miles as the Mad Hatter, I will endure these miles with jet lag and lack of sleep, an endurance feat in its own right to me. Not to mention potentially high humidy, which I am particularly rubbish at coping with!

If you would like to support this incredibly worthwhile cause and sponsor me in this “long distance” stroll, and support this very worthwhile cause, then please donate on-line at our team’s Just Giving page, remembering to Gift Aid if you can.

http://original.justgiving.com/bootsbbemilesforsmilesmacmillanchallenge

This page is for all our team, so please help me identify your generosity so I can say proper thank you after the event. I’ll be posting photos and tweets, and letting you know if I manage to combine this with any good eating or drinking, not to mention shopping.

I appreciate times are not the best but, to quote one of my least favourite supermarkets, every little does help. Every family hopes never to need the great work that Macmillan do but, sadly, 290,000 families every year do. And for them, they need all the help and support we can give.

Many, many thanks in advance. 

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The Friday Five – eating, of the comfort variety

August 27th, 2010 · British favourites, Cookbooks, Foodie gifts, Friday Five, Italian food

Lets face it, for most of us it’s been the most lousy fortnight on the weather front, and it’s felt more like Autumn than the height of summer. Which means there’s only one thing to do: bring on the comfort food!

Need some inspiration?  Here’s a few titles that you might want to stock up on now ready for the real Winter season still to come.

Clarissa’s Comfort Food- I love Clarissa Dickson Wright, what you see is what you get and she cooks in a similar uncompromising manner. With something for every course, you’ll be in deep level comfort which such dishes as salt beef, chocolate bakewell pudding and drappit eggs with sables. No idea what the last one is, but sounds good.

Italian Home Cooking 125 Recipes to Comfort Your Soul by Julia Della Croce- This is one to put on your wish list for later in the year, as it’s not released until October. But for me there can be no better comfort food than a big steaming bowl of buttery pasta, a dish of lasagne, risotto…a whole set of dishes just oozing in comfort!

Sweet Comfort Food by Bridget Jones- there are so many comforting puddings, like rice pudding or bread and butter pudding that would just bring such a great sense of wellbeing. Never mind the calories, some times you just need a portion of some of these things!

Winter in the Alps: Food by the Fireside- just the imagery conjured up by the title makes me think this is going to be full of comforting, warming delicious food. Cheese fondue and mushroom polenta anyone? I mean, I can feel the calories piling on just writing those words, but when the weather’s like this, who wants a lettuce leaf?

Life is Sweet: A Collection of Splendid Old-Fashioned Confectionery – I don’t think you can beat a few old-fashioned sweeties to cheer the day up, and this should give you plenty of ideas. Coconut ice is going to cheer up any day and making your own marshmallows would drive grey days away.

So, we have to hope that the sun makes a reappearance some time soon, but in the meantime have a practice for what lies ahead. It’ll be here before you know it, sorry!

Beautiful rainy shot by malias over on Flickr.

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Heading off for a wild weekend

August 25th, 2010 · Beer & Lager, Cheese, Foodie Travel, Foodie gifts, Foodie things to do

Want to kick September off with a wild time? Well, foodies and foragers will probably want to head for St Davids for the Really Wild Food & Countryside Festival. Celebrating food and countryside crafts originating from the wild, you’ll get not just demonstrations from top chefs such as Scott Davis and Fraser Christian, but also walks and talks, ferret racing and welly wanging!

How could you resist?

Happening over the weekend of 4th and 5th of September, there’ll also be plenty of food and drink to sample too. There’ll be cheese from Caws Cenarth, cake from Popty Cara, and lamb from Glam Lamb, amongst others. Don’t worry, there is beer, cider and perry on the go too.

I am sure there will be plenty of campsites around but if, like me, you don’t do camping, then I like the look of Caerfai Bay Cottages or The Shearer’s Loft. I also really like the look of Garn Mawr guesthouse, contemporary but cosy. 

So, go get practising your wanging of wellies in order to build up an appetite, not to mention saving your pennies to back your porker in the pig racing!

Welly wanging photo by Annie Mole over on Flickr.

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Belvoir Buzz or Manor House Honey?

August 24th, 2010 · Foodie gifts, Honey & Jam

Our honey has gone on sale in our village shop today, so pretty low on food miles as the hive is approximately 100 metres from the shop as the crow, or bee flies.

It’s also gone in with a bit of a market research question, as the beekeepers can’t agree on a brand name! Do we go traditional, with Manor House Honey, or with the modern alliteration of Belvoir Buzz. Just bear in mind that round here Belvoir is pronounced beaver.

What would you go for?

What ever they call it, the honey is really delicious but with only one hive it really will be small scale production. I’ve a feeling they will be hunting for space for more hives for next summer, so I’ll be building up my collection of honey based recipes!

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Surprising good source for gifts for foodies

August 23rd, 2010 · Baking, Foodie gadgets, Foodie gifts, Kitchenwares, Places to shop online

I’ve always had a thing about nice stationery and notebooks, so I’m a fairly frequent visitor to Paperchase. In the last couple of years I’d noticed that they’d started doing a lot of toiletries and candles, and now they’re expanding out into all kinds of things that you might consider giving to someone with a keen interest in food, and good looking things. These are the things I’ve picked out as being possibles to tuck away as ideas for gifts:

* Cloud 9 Noodle Bowl - there are some really cute melamine kids tableware, quite Japanese inspired with things like this noodle bowl and some very cute Bento boxes. There’s no reason to keep them just for kids, although they may be too cutesy for some. For real kids, then there are also beakers and cutlery sets, practical but cute.

* Keen bakers can never really have enough cake tins for storing the results in, even if they don’t normally hang around for long. This cupcake pattern tin is a good size and the pattern is pretty and appropriate. You can even add in a bundle of matching teatowels.

* If you’re going to be carrying round tea and cakes, you’ll need a tray or two. I like these melamine trays, as they’re not too huge, and also the parasol pattern is beautiful, great colours.

* Forget buying bottles of water, pack off everyone with their own refillable aluminium bottle. Great designs available from the previously mentioned cute through to something slightly more “grown up” for when they turn 11 or so!

At the moment, their products are available online through Amazon, but their own e-commerce site apparently goes live next month, will check back in then for new ranges. Always good for emergency birthday cake candles too!

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What foodies need when they have a motorhome…

August 22nd, 2010 · Foodie gifts, Just for fun, Naff presents

Or it would appear what one retailer of said motorhomes thinks you should be finding space for. I mean, I know things have moved on since the caravanning trips of my youth, but I would have thought space was still at a bit of a premium and therefore everything had to earn its place.

Maybe not, as it appears this particular retailer, a real specialist in the area, thinks you should be making room for:

A decorative butter knife. To go with your bread. In case you weren’t sure.

An egg whisk with scary eyed chick

A pizza cutter complete with plastic pizza decoration. At least I think that’s what it is.

A vegetable peeler decorated with the plastic vegetable of your choice. Although not sure if the third from the left is animal, vegetable or mineral.

Truly a collection that left me lost for words. I have not seen such delights since the musical cake slice we got as a wedding gift. Our marriage has lasted longer than the plastic bride and groom on the handle did.

But if you’re feeling the need for the open road then don’t go out there unprepared!

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The Friday Five – Alternative Student Cookbooks

August 20th, 2010 · British favourites, Cookbooks, Foodie gifts, Friday Five

After yesterday’s A level results there’ll be a whole heap of students heading off to cook for themselves. There are of course a whole heap of student cookbooks on the market (213 came up on Amazon) which means there could be a whole heap of duplication of cookbooks on any one floor.

So these five are my choices for great, straightforward approaches to every kind of cooking occasion, that aren’t getting fancy, that are about good simple food, but just a little bit different to what every other student might roll up with! Plus these will last them well beyond graduation.

* Real Fast Food by Nigel Slater- this is the first cookbook I bought myself, and on the basis of it being the only cookbook that offers recipes for both bacon sandwiches and smartie sandwiches, I think it’s perfect student fodder! Quick, easy and tasty, and not expensive, this is a classic book and they will refer back to it often.

* How to Eat by Nigella Lawson – I was reflecting earlier this week that this is the muckiest of my cookbooks, as I use it so often. It gives them a good guide to the basics, some good ideas for whether they’re cooking just for themselves, or mucking in for a whole crowd. There are so many good recipes in here, from things like apple crumble for when they crave some comforting home style food through to Cambodian hot and sour beef salad for more exotic days when there’s a bit of steak on the reduced counter.

* Tamasin’s Kitchen Bible: The One And Only Book For Every Cook- I love this book, and again it’s one of those that I dip in and out of regularly. Again, easy to understand chapters cover simple skills like making flapjacks, pancakes and a Victoria sponge (I know we’re talking student budgets, but there are days when only cake will do) through to frugal food (plenty of cous cous, polenta and other grains) and foolproof favourites. It also leaves scope for future development covering things like Christmas and more serious skills. If I only had two books, this and the Nigella would be my desert island choices.

*Jamie’s Ministry of Food: Anyone Can Learn to Cook in 24 Hours – if they’ve not done a lot of cooking at home then I would say this was a good starting point, and also it’s a good book for cooking with your mates. Or learning to cook together with them. This will be decent grub, crowd pleasing dishes that pretty much anyone should be able to turn out and make taste good. Written in Jamie’s own inimitable style, I would think this is pretty popular amongst the student crowd already!

* Delia’s Frugal Food - I had a really hard time choosing between this one, and One is Fun. The latter has some great recipes that I am still scaling up years later, and saw me through many a flatshare. The problem is it’s just a sad title, makes you sound like a bit of a billy no mates. Frugal Food is great at giving  ideas on how to shop effectively, what joints of meat would help stretch your budget and how to be creative with leftovers. Which sounds perfect for students, and most of us post the austerity budget!

So, this is not to say don’t buy them a student cookbook but just think about offering some variety across their floor in their accommodation! Given that Nosh 4 Students is the best selling student cookbook on Amazon, I bet there’ll be a few of those being packed off in boxes from homes around the country!

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