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Getting ready for Mother's Day

Just a quick note to say Buy A Gift have a weekend promotion of 20% off all gifts. This is a great site for gift experiences in particular, for foodies and non foodies. With 20% off it’s even better, and lets not forget Mother’s Day is not that far away (14 March, in case you don’t know).

If it’s for a foodie mum, then my best suggestions are:

* Full day curry cookery course for two – six hours of private tuition for two of you from Curry Club founder Pat Chapman, so you will really get a great insight into a wide range of Indian dishes. A real treat for a spice-loving mum, you get the tuition, lunch and a goody bag at the end of the day. After the discount, this will be £336, not cheap, but it is for two, and will bring you a lot of experience in a very personal environment.

* If she’s a creative kind of mum, then how about a day course in sugarwork, where she can give full rein to her artistic and creative flair in a foodie environment. There’ll be sugar cages, spirals and praline galore by the end of the day, all under the tutelage of chef Nigel Brown. The course is up in North Lincolnshire, and if you order it this weekend it will be £120.

* If she likes a drop of the fizzy stuff, then a day of champagne tasting should do the trick. She’ll get to taste 8 different champagnes, learn about how to distinguish between the houses, and matching champagne to food. Sounds like a good way to spend a day to me! After the discount, for two of you this will be £108.

* If mum doesn’t live near you and you’re not close enough to take her out for lunch or cook her lunch, then there are a whole heap of dining out options, from breakfast to afternoon tea to the chef’s table at Gordon Ramsay at Claridges. You could spend from £24 to just under £1000, there are some interesting options there.

So, if you want to not leave your gift choice for Mother’s Day to the last minute, and these take your fancy, then use code PANDA20 at checkout to qualify for the 20% off. Offer finishes midday on Monday, see site for details.

And if nothing else, as the photo says (kind of), call your mum! Fab photo by soot+chalk on Flickr.

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What does a foodie resolve to do?

It’s that time of year when everyone thinks about change. They give change lots of thought. Sometimes they even take action! Anyway, here are some things that foodies might be resolving for the year ahead, which might change their actions. Which means if you are shopping for something for them, then you might want to think differently too.

1. Waste less food – a carry on from this year’s make do and mend mentality, this will be the year of the leftover. It makes sense on every level, from economic to social. It will get a boost when The Ministry of Food exhibition opens at the Imperial War Museum in February(put that one down as a foodie day out). In the meantime, there might be more meal planning, more list writing (only shopping for what you want/need, and not what Tesco et al want you to have) and more creative reworking of what’s left. Stockpots at the ready!

2. Use your cookbooks – I think by now it’s probably obvious that I love my cookbooks and the shelves would testify to that too. My personal resolution is to use them more. Which is the easy part. It possibly goes back to point 1 about planning, not to mention creativity with the leftovers. The unspoken part is to buy less of them. Does keeping half a resolution count?

3. Try something new – this shouldn’t be a difficult one for a foodie, but I think really the focus is that it doesn’t have to be expensive. Wander down a different aisle at the supermarket, chat to a different stall holder at the market, dig something out from the back of the cupboard…in fact, do that one first. Most of us food lovers are guilty of this one, we will have hoarded stuff and not tried it. Make 2010 the year you do. I have preserved limes and sumac to use. Now I just need to wade through the recipe books to find out what to do with them!

4. Eat out for the food, not the glory – I’ve never quite understood the obsession with ticking off Michelin starred restaurants. Make it all about the food, the total experience, not just about the stars. Of course the two combine, but eating should be an all round experience, memorable for every aspect. I would take the counsel of those you respect, and those who share similar tastes, which may or may not be Michelin starred!

5. Grow more – lets face it, most of us do not have the space, or time, to be self sufficient. But we can all grow a bit. Grow herbs on your windowsill, potatoes on your patio, strawberries in a compact little tower somewhere. But every bit you grow will taste better, and it’s a great way to get kids into food. And keep your compost bin going with the peelings.

Shop with these in mind and they’ll be grateful that you found foodie gifts with a 2010 twist. In the meantime my resolution came from @ecjc on Twitter: when in doubt, do it. Given two choices, do the fun thing. This I think I might be able to keep!

Happy New Year!

Great photo by dixieroadrash on Flickr

It’s hard to believe we’re nearly at the end of another year. As always in this household, there’s been a lot of eating over the year, from eating in to eating out, eating in the UK and eating overseas, eating alone and eating with friends. In fact, eating with lots of friends. So, here’s my year in eating:

January

Not a clue what we did in January. No photos of food. The calendar says we had dinner at the Red Lion, which is always a treat.

February

February

Photography by Mini Gourmet Girl, taken at Jamie’s Italian in Bath. Brilliant night out, great restaurant concept, great food, pretty stunning mojitos. Staggered back to our home for the night, the Queensberry, which I would highly recommend.

March

March

March brought the arrival of the breadmaker, and a whole lot of flour of all kinds. Dr T is busy supporting Whissendine Mill, I keep The Flour Bin going, ordering in all kinds of wheat and gluten free flours. I think we have to give the bread making honours to Dr T, yet to to turn out a decent gluten free one.

April

April

Easter brings a whole heap of chocolate, and also my first attempt at Simnel cake. I adore marzipan and so this is my idea of a heavenly cake. I’ll be doing it all over again in 2010. With perhaps more marzipan.

May

May

May saw me in one of my favourite cities in the whole world: NYC. Making news in the UK around the same time was the Babycakes bakery, so I headed down to the Lower East Side to see if they could make gluten and wheat free cakes good. You know what, not bad at all! Although later in the year I would discover that I preferred all the recipes in Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache to anything from Babycakes.

June

June

June was eventful. I took the plunge and decided to commit myself to writing The Foodie Gift Hunter, whilst letting Problem Presents look after itself. Right decision. I also helped cater for 150 for a surprise birthday party. I know slates have come in for a bit of slagging off recently, but I loved how these starters looked. They were a bit of a joke really, as the birthday girl’s husband is a builder, the slates really are roof tiles costing about 75p each, and probably are now on a roof.

July

July

As usual, July saw us decamping to France, to the Charente Maritime. So many great food moments, but I think my birthday lunch at Bistrot du Marin was the high point from a taste perspective. The mussel barbecue was the most unusual.

August

August

We were raiding some new to us local foodstuffs in the school holidays. Staffordshire oatcakes were interesting, especially when pimped up with black pudding and apples. Stichelton became a regular item in the fridge.

September

September

The end of the school holidays saw me convert MGG from her usual request for Chinese on our trip to London to some great Turkish delights at Safra. She just requested to go back next week. I’ve put my neck out to say I think Turkish food will be on the up in the year ahead, and it’s definitely got 1 vote from MGG.

October

October

With Halloween falling on a Saturday, MGG and I spent a fun afternoon creating trick or treat goodies from scratch. Kids seemed genuinly surprised and happy when they got dragon eye cookies, zombie eyeballs and crunchie bones in a paper cone.

November

November

Ah, November, month of memorable eating in Blackpool! To be honest, would rather remember making Osso Buco for the first time, although there weren’t so many laughs!

December

December

For some, December is all about Christmas. For me, I can’t worry about Christmas until I’ve created MGG’s birthday cake. This year involved less terrible language than usual, possibly due to reading the instructions in advance and buying the right kit.

So, here’s hoping that 2010 is just as interesting from a food perspective, with new recipes, new places and new experiences.

Strictly the best part of Blackpool

I spent an amazing few hours inside the Tower Ballroom on Saturday night for the recording of this week’s Strictly Come Dancing. Which was the upside, and did come after several hours queueing outside in the cold and the rain, but was worth every moment. Although if you think that was dry ice being used, I think you’ll find it was just a gentle layer of mist rising from the audience as they dried off.

Heading out on a high, we were definitely in need of food, not to mention a glass of wine. Or two. My advice, do some research before you go to the Tower end of Blackpool, as it was hard to spot anything that wasn’t fish and chips. Or McDonalds. I’d done some and we hopped in a cab for Kwizeen.

Yes, you read that right. You probably need to say it out loud.

Honestly, I chose it to see what sort of place would have that name, and the menu did seem interesting and with possibilities. Having dashed in without a reservation, I have to tell you that the welcome was the warmest thing I’d felt all day (other than the rosy glow from Team Cola’s performance). Front of house cannot really be faulted, and the restaurant is pretty stylish and restrained in design.

I’d love to tell you about the fabulous use of local ingredients that really made their flavours sing out, the interesting amuse bouches, starters that really got our appetites revved up, the innovative main courses, the wonderful choice of desserts. I’d love to tell you about the best kir royale turned out in a long time.

I’d love to, but I can’t. Mulling it over in the early hours (another tip, don’t stay on Albert Road if you’re a light sleeper) I could only come to the conclusion that just everything was overdone. The Kir Royale had possibly double the amount of creme de cassis you really need, with the dark purple colour and big slug of cassis still at the bottom of the glass being a giveaway. The little pie amuse bouche was a lovely idea, just sadly overcooked and completely dried out in the middle.

The Mrs Kirkham’s Cheese Souffle Pancake was gargantuan for a starter, and the tomato sauce somewhat curried. I didn’t like the outer layer of oil either around the sauce. However, the roasted chicken and spinach ravioli got a thumbs up, so much so that I didn’t get a taste. Order that, bypass the pancake.

I wish the main courses had had the same attention lavished on them as the mushroom shaped potatoes. I don’t think you can buy these in, which means someone hand shaped each one. Which might have been why the salmon was chargrilled into submission, and the cannellini beans in my cassoulet could have taken your eye out if you’d pinged one across the room. We’re still not sure what the sauce was on the salmon, Best Foodie Friend is still slightly traumatised and described it as gloop. And not good gloop.

I love an assiette of desserts, it makes me feel much less guilty about pudding. BFF was opting out, as was the only man in the group. Which left two of us, and a very generous assiette. We got more spoons, and tried to convince them to join in. I think we only finished one portion, and I think full stomachs were only part of the issue. The creme brulee was very acceptable, but not very exciting. The two sponge puddings were somewhat overcooked, although I did love the carrott and orange toffee pudding, so forgave its caramelised edges. The tiramisu trifle had a slightly rancid edge to it, not my favourite flavour.

What can I say, it was an experience! It was a great meal in terms of company who I was very happy to be sitting at dinner with, sharing the tales of the show. I thought Tony was fabulous in his hosting skills. I am just sorry that I couldn’t have given it a 10. I think, in the words of Len Goodman, it was just about a 7.

Would I go back? Maybe. But given there was a 30 year gap between this visit and my previous visit to Blackpool, and this trip didn’t give me any big reasons to wonder if that was a mistake, I think possibly not. Should you go? Well, it’s better than McDonalds, I’ll definitely give it that!

Want a 10? Needs to be as smooth in every aspect (style, technique, content, delivery) as this:

Beautiful shot of the amazing Tower Ballroom by Craig Murphy on Flickr