Yogurt Update!

A few months ago I did a post on my favorite yogurt places and I felt I needed to update as I found a new favorite. They opened a Red Mango right by my sister’s place and she took me there last week. I had read many posts that said they were the original from Korea on which Pinkberry was based. Being that I don’t really like Pinkberry that much, I was skeptical. I didn’t want to get my hopes too high only to have them crushed. Red Mango lived up to its reputation. I think it’s my new favorite yogurt place. My previous favorite was Tous Le Jour Bakery but they were very creamy and occasionally I wouldn’t be in the mood for something creamy at which time, I’d go to CeFiore. Red Mango is the nice middle-ground. Its not as light as CeFiore and not as creamy and heavy as Tous Le Jour, it’s just right.

Tous Le Jour Bakery

17861 Colima Rd

Rowland Heights, CA 91748

(626) 839-6120

 

Piccolo Paradiso Review

This is one of my favorite restaurants in LA. Unfortunately, I don’t get to go there as often as I’d like as it’s all the way in Beverly Hills. It is surprisingly inexpensive considering its location and the quality of its food. The appetizers are around $10, pastas around $20, and meat courses under $30. To me, the five-course tasting menu is the best deal. It is what I usually get when I go as you get to taste 5-6 different courses, which are usually all amazing. It’s great because it claims to be a five course menu but they usually give you five food courses and then they throw in the dessert as a 6th.

I went there yesterday with some visiting family members. There were a bunch of people so we ended up ordering a la carte. I noticed they had raised the price of the five-course tasting menu from $55 to $60 but it’s still a good deal regardless.

We ordered a few different antipasti to share- fried calarmari, polenta porcini and spinach & pear salad. My favorite of the three was the polenta porcini. I was expecting it to be thick polenta cake but it was thin and porridge-like and I was a bit disappointed when I saw it. It was amazingly unexpected to find it fabulous. It was topped with some kind of bachamel cheese sauce and had chunks of porcinis in it. The polenta itself was extremely flavorful, very mushroomy flavored and tasted like a mushroom porridge. After I got home last night, I kept thinking about it and craving for it.

As my entree, I ordered the ravioli vitello, which is basically a grown-up version of Chef Boyardee (in a good way). When I was a kid, I used to LOVE Chef Boyardee and I remember it being one of the most delicious things of my childhood. I had it again after I had grown up and discovered that it was not as delicious as I remembered it being. I wasn’t sure whether they had changed the recipe or my tastes had evolved but nonetheless it was disappointingly gross. Anyway, the veal ravioli at Piccolo Paradiso is exactly as wonderful as I remembered Chef Boyardee ravioli being when I was a kid. It’s really the perfect ravioli with finely ground veal and an nice homemade pasta wrapper. It’s the perfect ratio of pasta to filling tossed in a ground veal olive oil sauce that is not too heavy. Everyone else got other random pastas which they said were very good but I did not try; and my cousin got the New York strip steak, which looked delicious and came with a huge salad topped with, I kid you not, 2×3″ SHEETS of freshly shaved parmesan. They really didn’t skimp on that. I’m pretty sure it was good because he inhaled it in less than 10 minutes.

 

Charlie Palmer Review

My friend told me he had just been to the new Charlie Palmer that opened at South Coast and that it was good. I wanted to try it so we went there for lunch.

The restaurant was done in brown leather and cream fabrics. The leather booths that surrounded the edges of the dining room were made with rolled logs made of brown leather so it looked like a wooden bench. All the textiles had very lovely textures, similar to Frette sheets. The high ceilings and big modern chandeliers made for a comfortable atmosphere.

The food, however was very different than the well designed dining room. The menu was developed by making odd combinations in classic dishes in such a way that it was no longer traditional at all. I ordered the southern fried chicken sliders and my friend got the kobe beef sliders. We also shared the farro risotto with morels. None of the dishes we ordered were any good. The fried chicken sliders were probably the best and even they weren’t especially good. The cheddar gravy that topped the thick fried chicken breast was tasty but tasted more Indian than Southern. I had the new southern fried chicken sandwich from McDonald’s a few days later and I actually think the McDonald’s one was better. Surprisingly, they are approximately the same price as three sliders were $10 at Charlie Palmer compared to a little under $3 for the McDonald’s sandwiches. So I guess the sliders at Charlie Palmers is actually pretty cheap. It is sad though when you get compared to McDonald’s in a taste test and lose . The kobe beef sliders were actually very bad. The patty was pureed to mush and the meat did not taste fresh at all. My friend ended up only eating one of her sliders and she didn’t even want to take home her leftovers. The farro risotto was just off. It had a very strange taste. Even though it was made in the same style as a risotto, I felt it was a misnomer. It tasted nothing like a risotto, more like a very starchy oatmeal. We started picking out the morels and eating them alone and even thought they were my favorite mushrooms, I couldn’t even finish them. They were coated with the starch from the farro and the parmesan did not not pair with the dish at all.

My friend said the dinner menu was a lot better but I’m not sure if I’d be willing to go again. It seems very bad odds when three of the three dishes you get are bad. Though I should mention, they did have a fresh bread basket that had an awesome mini baguette. But unless you’re planning on just eating bread, I think I would pass on this new restaurant.

 

My Fat Duck “Experience”

This was definitely the most entertaining meal I’ve ever had. The chef focuses his meals not just on the taste of the food but the stimulation of all your different senses including perception. The food was delicious but the experience is what made it one of my most unforgettable meals. It is definitely in my Top 5 restaurants but not solely because of the food as other restaurants on my top 5 list but because of the overall experience.  While not every item was amazing to me in taste, I was still completely amazed by the entirety of each course that was served.  All the courses were themed and were made from some of the most unexpected ingredients and as a result, actually tasted as it look. Very weird.

The first course- the palate cleanser was one of the most delightful experiences. The Nitro-poached green tea & lime mouse is a foam that’s squeezed out from a whipped cream canister and thrown into a bucket of liquid nitrogen. It looks like a smoking meringue and has the outer texture of one. As you pop it in your mouth, the server sprays a green tea/lime flavored room spray to enhance the flavors. Smoke starts coming out of your nose and mouth, which is amusing to everyone around you and once you bite into it, it evaporates into nothing but crunchy flavored air. It’s the weirdest sensation. For a moment, you feel as though you’ve eaten a big mouthful of something that is very substantial, only to have it disappear to only a lingering taste that leaves you feeling very refreshed. It was such a lovely experience that throughout the night, I would look around at the faces of other diners when they were served the same course.

My favorite course was the “Sound of the Sea”. This was a beach-themed course and was made to look like a oceanside scene. There was “sand” all across one side and little neck clams, razor clams, geoduck, and seaweed laid out beautifully next to it but in such a haphazard way you could almost imagine coming across it on the beach. The sand was so realistic I had to ask before I ate it. I was told it was made of tapioca, miso oil, panko & mini eel. They also brought out conch shells with ipods inside that played ocean sounds while you ate. This dish was outstanding in every way, down to the amount of thought that went into the planning of it.

The last two course were breakfast themed. The first part of our breakfast was cereal and milk. They brought out little cereal boxes with their logo on it. Inside, wrapped in little plastic bags with logo-ed stickers were parsnip flakes, which was served with parsnip milk on the side. Taste-wise, I didn’t think this course was especially good but I thought the presentation was just so adorable. Luckily, it was very small.

The bacon and eggs breakfast was the last course. This was by far the most entertaining course. They set up a copper saucepan and stand and brought out a carton of eggs with their logos stamped on them, which they claimed were special eggs that had bacon already inside. They go through the process of actually cracking the eggs with the ice cream base inside and “frying” the bacon & eggs ice cream in the copper pan. The bacon and eggs get topped on a plate with a “hash brown” made from pain perdu and a piece of sugar candy that looked and tasted just like real bacon. It even had the same crispy crunchy texture. I absolutely LOVED this dish. It was the most inventive classic dish I’ve ever eaten.

Another very interesting sensational experience was the hot and iced tea. There was a sweetened ice tea that was made into a thin jelly. A hot liquid tea was poured over it and you were supposed to drink it together as quickly as possible. The hot tea was actually piping hot but when put together with the iced tea jelly, it was one of the oddest sensations. That course was definitely more experience than taste as the taste was of nothing extradordinary. My boyfriend didn’t like it but I enjoyed it as it produced such a unique sensation.

The food was very creative. Many of the flavors and ingredients that were put together would not have been ones that you would think would taste good together but the way it was done was original and delicious, such as oyster, passion fruit jelly, and lavendar; or pommery grain mustard ice cream, red cabbage gazpacho. The flavors were so incomparable that I couldn’t comprehend how they could possibly taste good together even though I was tasting it.

Other items such as oak flavored breath strips, lime scented perfume, and moss scented mist were used for additional sensory accessories. It was some of the most imaginative courses I’ve ever had and the whole night was very entertaining. The entire evening, I kept thinking not of what was going to be served next but what was going to happen next. A lot of thought went into touching all the senses, even down to the copies of the menu, which were printed on velvety paper and matching velvety envelopes and sealed and stamped in wax with their logo. There is no other restaurant that I’ve been to that has put so much consideration into everything that is experienced by its diners. This is a purely hedonistic experience and should definitely be every hedonist’s list!

*Click on the picture at the top for an enlarged version of my menu.

 

Singapore’s & My Favorite Pastime

So before I’ve even completed my postings from my last food adventure, I’ve already started planning for my next one. My sister and I have been talking about Singapore for some time now and it wasn’t until this week that we finally booked our tickets. We’ll be in Singapore for four days in September. I was very happy to find that their national pastime is EATING! It’s as if the mother ship was calling me home. Their other favorite pastime is shopping, which should please my sister. I figure we’ll spend the entire time eating in between occasional shopping trips and wandering. Which brings the dilemma… what to eat on the limited time? Obviously, every single meal will have to be carefully planned. There’s absolutely no meals that can be wasted when we only have about 10-11 full meals, 12 if we get up super early on the day we’re leaving; but traveling with my sister, that looks unlikely.

So here are the things that I absolutely want to try:

– Chili Crab

– Chicken Rice

– Indian Food (Roti Parata, Fish Head Curry, Haji Kadir- red meat with marrow

– Singaporean Coffee and Kaya Toast

– Pulled Tea

It’s going to take a bit of planning to fit all those things into our meals. Since many of the dishes I want to try are found at hawker’s markets, I was thinking of doing a food tour where we would go to different stalls and markets, order one dish to share and spend an entire day eating and wandering the city. This way we could be constantly eating without being overly stuffed and raise the probability of completing my list of musts. I also wanted to fit in a dinner at Gunther’s, lunch at The White Rabbit or Humble House, possibly a meal at Iggy’s, and the buffet at Strait’s Kitchen.

This seems like quite a challenge. We’ll see how I fair.

 

Drinking & Driving in Scotland

Scotland was definitely my favorite part of the entire trip. Granted, we did spend most of our time of Scotland in the countryside, which I much prefer to cities; but Scotland had the most variability in terrain, the weather was beautiful, there were waterfalls EVERYWHERE, everything was so lush and green, and above all it had the perfect climate for cultivating my favorite green: MOSS. Also, there were the heeland coos (highland cows) that I spent much of my time trying to take pictures of. They are the most adorable things- like little fuzzy bears. And they stick their tongues in their noses. How could you not love something that picks its nose with its tongue. I kept making my boyfriend try to catch a pictures of them licking their noses but they would do it so quickly and randomly, it was hard to snap in time. I finally gave up and bought a postcard of it licking it’s nose. =) He did manage to get the the picture above. Isn’t she adorable?

The first place we stayed at was the Monachyle Mohr. The hotel is situated in the Trossachs National Park, next to two lochs. It’s in a very secluded place and took about 20 minutes driving on a small one lane road. The little road twisted through green forests with moss covered trees. Throughout Scotland, there were trees that had fallen over and taken huge chunks of ground with it. We would see big fallen trees that had about 7 or 8 foot circular disks of dirt clinging to the roots.

It was lovely weather when we arrived at Monachyle Mhor, it was overcast and it would sprinkle occasionally but it wasn’t cold. There was a black lab playing by itself in the yard. My boyfriend whistled to it and it ran over, super happy. She ended up taking us for a walk and making us throw sticks for her to fetch (though when she got it, she would just chew on it without giving it back). We found out later she was a resident dog, named Midnight and was sooooo sweet.

We had dinner at the restaurant that night, which was quite good. We had an amuse bouche of Cesaer Salad, Spring Rolls and Salmon Roll. They tasted very Asian-inspired and the Cesaer Salad was served in a little endive leaf.

We both chose the Kyle of Tongue Oyster with Spiced lemon and shallot topping for our first course. It was a very flavorful oyster that had the sweet sea taste and a long lingering aftertaste.

For our appetizers, my boyfriend had the Seared fillet John Dory with Braised Savoy cabbage and smoked bacon, finished with a light thyme jus and I had the Foie Gras Ballontine with White asparagus, toasted hazelnut dressing, and a truffled vinaigrette.

The Demitasse of Roasted vegetable soup topped with basil pesto followed. The soup was very nutty. The vegetables were pureed into a thick flavorful soup and the pesto gave it soup a very nice nutty flavor and extra body.

For my main course, I had the Fillet of Pork with roasted veal sweetbread, artichoke puree and a radish and caper dressing and morel jus. When the dish came out, the pork was raw. Not just raw like slightly pink raw but raw like beef carpaccio raw. All my life I’ve been told that pork and chicken have to be cooked well done. I asked the server whether it was meant to be raw and whether it was safe to eat and she said it was meant to be raw and if I wanted they could cook it further. She said in th UK, only chicken had to be cooked well done. I guess anything can be eaten raw. In Chinese cuisine, chicken is ok to eat medium rare. Anyway, I decided to keep it the way it was intended and was rewarded with the best pork I’ve ever had. It was soooooo soft and tender, unlike the pork we get in the U.S. that is often overcooked, dry and chewy, which as a result, makes me not care for pork. This pork was flavorful, slightly sweet and very meaty.

My boyfriend had the Roasted Breast of Gressingham duck, Roasted fig and balsamic onion tart, butternut squash puree and steamed greens in its own juices. The duck was also amazing. Usually, duck has a bit of gaminess to it, almost like organs but this one, cooked medium rare was tender and had none of the gaminess. It was one of the best ducks for both me and my boyfriend. I know you’re probably thinking, there’s been a lot of bests on this trip and how reliable can her opinion actually be if everything she has is the new best; But it’s true, there were a lot of bests on this trip and I wouldn’t say it if it weren’t true.

For dessert we ordered the Dark chocolate and tonka bean Pave with Blair Drummond strawberries in their own coulis, strawberry ice cream and the Hot d’Agen prune souffle with vanilla ice cream. And I can say, this definitely wasn’t a best. The dark chocolate pave was a little too rich and we didn’t finish it. The souffle was ok but I hold my souffle standard to that of Gary Danko‘s souffle, which in my opinion is the best souffle!

From Monachyle Mhor, we drove to the Isle of Skye, which was the most beautiful drive. In retrospect, I think Scotland is one of the most beautiful places I’ve been. We passed through so many different terrains from the green mountainous roads of the Highlands to the waterfronts of Fort William to the Loch filled ocean side of Isle of Skye. The pictures really don’t do it justice as it is so much more majestic in person. Throughout the highlands, the melted snow from the mountain tops would stream down in small waterfalls all over the mountainsides.

In Isle of Skye, we stayed in Staffin at the Glenview Hotel, which is actually a b&b and not a hotel as the name suggests. The hotel was small and clean and was a no frills type of place but the couple that owned the place were very friendly and helpful and have the most adorable baby. From the hotel, there is a trail that takes you down to the beach which is very beautiful from afar but is actually very littered once you get up close.

The lady at the hotel told us about these fairy pools. I have no idea what fairy pools are but she had pictures at the hotel so I wanted to go find them. We ended up going to the Armadale and once we got there didn’t know which way to go to find them. We had parked next to the castle ruins and decided to wander into the gardens as no one was collecting admission at the time. =) The gardens were very well kept and had so many different types of flora and fauna. What I loved was that they allow for nature to take its course in Scotland. Even in a very well manicured garden, they left fallen trees as they were, allowing the moss to grow on its sides and the castle ruins were overgrown with plants and had the look of an abandoned castle ruin. It made for a beautiful contrast.

There was a wedding happening while we were there so we sat down on a bench and watched as the wedding party, led by a bag pipe player paraded past us.

Scotland has moss galore! I was in heaven! There were big giant globs of moss all over the place. Some of them covered entire walls in green velvety carpeting. To my boyfriend irritation, I decided to start a mossery on the dash of the car. I would sneak in clumps of moss when he wasn’t looking. =)

The last night we stayed at the most beautiful hotel, the Prestonfield Hotel, a old converted manor house built in the 1600s. There were peacocks that roamed the grounds and there was a small putting green and croquet area in front. Behind the hotel was also a full golf course. The hotel was all decked out in velvets of all different colors. I normally don’t like velvet or the gaudiness of the old world style but it was done it such beautiful and luxurious way that I just wanted to stay there forever. We ended up spending our whole day there because it was so nice and relaxing and because we were tired. My boyfriend was also extremely stressed because earlier that morning we had gone to gas station and he realized hours later that he had forgotten to pay! It was a huge ordeal and he was afraid he would go to Scottish jail and such. Luckily, the hotel ended up handling everything for us. (I love nice hotels!) They found the gas station for us (based only on the information that it was outside of Pitlochry and had a green sign), contacted them, gave them our credit card information, and made sure the police were informed and we were taken off the “bad list”. They forwarded the gas station attendant to our room, who were surprisingly nice and understanding about it. They said it happened at least once a week and thanked us for calling back to pay.

 

Vanilla and Honey Ice Cream

While I was Pitlochry, I had a lovely vanilla and honey ice cream. It was a little sweet for my tastes but it was delicious nonetheless. I had bought some local Perthshire honey at the same shop and have attempted to recreate the ice cream to my taste preference.

The bought ice cream had swirls of honey running all through it like caramel. I tried to do the same thing but waiting until the ice cream was almost done churning before I put in the honey. I underestimated a bit as the ice cream was a bit softer than I had thought and the honey got churned into the ice cream. It was still really good. Being completely unbiased, I think the taste of my ice cream is better than the one I bought as it’s less sweet and the honey can be tasted throughout the ice cream instead of in swirls. Their ice cream did have a nicer consistency and was creamier. I think their dairy is much better though and I worked with what was available to me. I did use mostly organic ingredients though.

I love the way the vanilla bean speckles look throughout the ice cream. I bought the vanilla beans at Costco for $15 for 10 beans! =) I have them in the freezer as I hear they last longer there. I had bought some vanilla beans before that I put in the fridge and I was so stingy to use them that they ended up getting hard and when I finally did use them, it was difficult to scrape out the beans. So far the freezer has worked out for the beans.

The heather honey is very noticeable in the ice cream. It’s very floral and it tastes almost like a flower-flavored ice cream. I actually think I put in more honey than necessary. I think even less honey would’ve been better as it was still a bit sweet for my taste. Perhaps next time I would omit the sugar all together and just use the honey.

I was also thinking of trying either a creme fraiche and honey ice cream or gelato next time. I love having honey on my yogurt and I think it’ll have the same sort of taste.

Anyway, if anyone is interested, here is my recipe for the ice cream.

Vanilla and Honey Ice Cream

3/4 cup whole milk*

3/4 cup heavy cream*

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise with seeds scraped out

2 tablespoons Perthshire Heather honey (Any type of honey will do but Heather honey is unbelievably floral)

Cook milk, cream and vanilla pods together in a saucepan over medium until it starts to bubble around the edges. Make sure you watch it carefully as it’ll bubble over easily. Take it off the head and allow to steep for 10 minutes.

Put saucepan back on the heat and mix eggs and sugar together. Whisk a little of the milk mixture into the eggs to temper and then pour the egg and sugar mixture into the saucepan, whisking continuously. Cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes until ice cream base is thickened and coats the back of a spoon.

Pour the base their a sieve and lay a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the base to prevent skin from forming. Chill in fridge overnight.

Next day, follow ice cream machine directions and pour honey into the ice cream while it’s churning. Pour into a container and stick in the freezer for at least overnight before eating. It’s better after it marinates in the freezer.

* You can also substitute for 1 1/2 cup half and half. You can pretty much use any ratio combination of milk and cream to make it creamier or less so. I think all cream is a little too rich for me and usually I did 2:1 cream to milk but I ran out of cream this time. All milk will give you gelato which is also nice. I often substitute all milk in ice cream recipes to make gelato.

This recipe makes one pint as I like to make small tubs but it can be easily doubled to make a quart.

 

Drinking & Driving in England

From Belfast we flew to London. Very unfortunately, I booked our flight for the wrong date and we had to buy tickets to London which cost me GBP90 each. We stayed in a microscopic room at Base2Stay. I had originally booked a bunk bed room for GBP 110 but my boyfriend decided to stay in a room with a king size bed for GBP 140, which turned out to be quite comfortable thought it was tiny. Then again, expecting a nice place, that’s huge and cheap in London is impossible.

We spent the two days wandering around the city. We went to Farringdon to eat at at Smith’s of Smithfield. Luckily, we arrived just in time to be able to order as the kitchen just closed. I had the Welsh Rarebit and my boyfriend had the Steak Salad. His steak salad was really flavorful as was my welsh rarebit. My welsh rarebit was topped with a piece of bacon. The bacon in the UK is different than our bacon. It’s in between our bacon and canadian bacon. More flavorful than canadian bacon but not as fatty as our bacon. Very good! I ate more bacon while I was there than I had in entire year.

On our way to finding Smith’s, we had passed comptoir gascon, which had a Michelin star. The menu looked good and reasonably priced and we thought we’d go there the next day as it wasn’t open when we passed by. When we got there the next day, we realized that it wasn’t open on Mondays. =( At this point, we were both extremely hungry and grumpy so my boyfriend ended up picking Hix Oyster and Chop House. The decor was modernly crude. All the furniture was very simple and modern but with discreet touches of lewdness. Discreet enough that a person wouldn’t be offended. I’m totally lewd so I personally found it hilarious. There was a white neon sign hanging on the wall that initially appeared to be just a design but when you looked more closely at it, you see that it could be words but you can’t make out what it says. That is until you look in the mirror and it says, “Fucking beautiful”. When I went downstairs to use the bathroom, I saw two blurry pictures on two doors but I can’t figure out what it is or which one I belong to. A server directed me into a door and when my boyfriend returned from his bathroom trip, he said, they’re blurry pictures of buttholes! AHHAHAHAHAH… That would never fly in the states

We boyfriend had the House Smoked Salmon for the starter that was good but nothing special. I had the Shaved Asparagus and Wild Sorrel Salad with Welsh Cheese- Up until this point, we had subsisting on a diet of Fried foods and Meat. I tried to count the times I had had any greens and couldn’t think of one! The salad was very nice and green and soothing. The vegetables were shaved on the bias which made everything clean and tender. The cheese gave the dish just a touch of creaminess and saltiness.

For my main course, I had the Hanger Steak with Baked Bone Marrow- This was probably the most flavorful and tender hanger steak I’ve ever had. It was as tender as a filet but with so much more beef flavor. The baked bone marrow was also good. It had been scooped out of the bone and mixed with bread crumbs, stuffed back into the bone and baked. I could only have a few bites because it was sooooo oily, I could feel myself getting sick.

My boyfriend picked the Lamb with Kidney for his main dish. I thought the kidney was a little overcooked and as a result tasted extremely gamey.

We also had a side of Chips (french fries) that were very good. I don’t normally eat very many fries but the fries throughout the UK were soooo good and fresh, I couldn’t stop eating them. I had them for almost every meal.

In London, we rented a Alfa Romeo, which my boyfriend cleverly named Alfie. Unfortunately, to add a second driver, it would’ve been an additional GBP9 a day so we decided that my boyfriend would drive and I would navigate, which worked out as he’s able to drive a manual car better than just in theory and I’m a much better navigator as he falls asleep when he’s the passenger.

From London, we drove to Salisbury, where we stayed at the Rokeby House, which was actually much nicer than it’s portrayed on the website. The couple who I assumed owned it, though the names they introduced me with were different than those on the website, were very friendly and the breakfast was very good. I don’t know why but the house just seemed a little creepy to me. Perhaps because it was old? Anyway, that night we walked into the city and had dinner at Strata a little Italian restaurant on the edge of Market Square. I had a green salad and my boyfriend had a mixed salad. For our main courses, we had Seafood Risotto and Seafood linguini. We also shared a tiramisu for dessert. Everything was tasty and a far better deal considering price and taste, comparative to what you would find in the states. The quality of the restaurant was far superior to what can be found in the states for those prices.

The next day we drove to see Stonehenge (yay, giant rocks) and then to Bray on the Thames. We stayed at a beautifully gaudy hotel, Red Roofs of Oldfield, which was right next to the river. They left all the doors of the unoccupied rooms opens so we wandered around and took pictures of the house. I was a bit embarrassed when we got caught in a room taking pictures.

That night we dined at the Fat Duck, which was our whole reason for going to Bray. That was an amazing experience which I’ll have to do a completely separate post for.

From Bray, we drove to the Yorkshire Dales and stayed at the Cross Keys. My friend Don had recommended the place as he stayed there on his honeymoon. The inn was soooo warm and friendly. It took forever to get there on a tiny road. It was situated on a beautiful green field that were surrounded by sheep grazing on the hillsides. The food was very delicious and rustic and my boyfriend said their chowder was the best chowder he’d ever had. I had the rabbit pie made from local rabbits. I think I freaked out the owner when I told him that we had seen the bunnies while driving in and they looked so delicious. =)

From the inn, we were able to walk up the hills to get to the Cautley Spout waterfall, which was a very windy but relaxing hike.

On to drinking and driving in Scotland…

 

My Goodness, My Guinness!

Basically, our whole reasoning to vacation in the UK was because my boyfriend’s need to go to the Guinness brewery. I decided We decided that we couldn’t base a whole trip around one city so I planned a tour of the UK and dubbed it the Drinking and Driving Tour 2008.

We started our trip in Dublin where we stayed at Number 31 located on a very small street. It was a nice choice as it was very quiet and relaxing and the owner of the hotel was extremely caring. Our room was on the first floor and was slightly noisy as we could hear the front door whenever opened and closed. Luckily, none of the guests came home late so we were never awoken at night. We had a standard double room and so the room was a little small but still very comfortable. They gave vouchers for 50 minutes worth of Internet use, which was nice as it was free but I like not to be limited in my online use. I’m sure they would’ve given me more had I asked but I didn’t.

On our last night in Dublin, we had dinner at Gruel, which was the best meal we had while we were in Dublin.

Tomato-based Vegetable Soup- Tasty vegetable soup. It was pretty good for being vegetarian.

Meatballs with Tagliatelle and Tomato Sauce- Straightforward. Exactly what you would expect.

Bangers & Mash with Red Onion Gravy- The bangers (sausages) were AMAZING. It had so many different flavors all stuffed together in a super crispy skin. The skin looked like fresh-baked bread, crackly and crispy. I don’t know how they did it but it was really good. I almost wanted to order an additional one to take home. The red onion gravy wasn’t so much a gravy as much as sliced onions that had been cooked down in a red wine reduction. It paired really well with the bangers.

Lemon Tart with Vanilla Ice Cream- This was probably the best vanilla ice cream I’ve ever had. It was so light but rich and creamy at the same time. It tasted like whipped cream in ice cream form. The lemon tart was also good but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

From Dublin, we took a two hour train ride to Belfast and stayed at Ten Square, which was centrally located being directly across from Donelley Square. The rooms were Asian-themed and surprisingly big, especially for European standards. The price of the room start at GPB 165 but I got a great deal at only GBP 119! Soooo worth it! The Internet was also free so I was able to surf to my heart’s content. =

We went to Deane’s as soon as we got into Belfast. We got there during lunch and so it was a super good deal. We were able to get a 3-course meal for only GBP 21.50.

Cured Monkfish with Monkfish cheek, piedmontese peppers, tomato foam

Beef topped with marrow and bernaise sauce. Chips and buttered green beans. The chips or steak-cut french fries were sooooo good. They tasted like very super thick cut fries from McDonald’s. The buttered green beans were slightly overcooked but I think it’s only because I like mine almost raw. The beef was also slightly overcooked. I had asked for rare but it came out almost medium. The taste of the beef was very different from the kind we have at home. While it wasn’t as tender, it was much more flavorful. It had a slightly gamey taste to it but left the most wonderful aftertaste in your mouth.

For dessert, I had the Sticky Toffee Pudding with Banana Ice Cream- The banana ice cream was not as good as I hoped. It tasted just like a banana flavored banana laffy taffy and a little fake, not like real bananas. The sticky toffee pudding was ok. Maybe it’s because I’m not crazy about sticky toffee pudding but I figured since I was in the UK, I should try it. It was extremely moist though and covered in gooey toffee/caramel sauce.

My boyfriend had the rabbit terrine and smoked chicken as the starter.

As the main course, Pork belly with black pudding. The pork was tender and fell apart like pulled pork. It was served with the crackling on top. He said it was possibly the best pork he’s ever had.

For the dessert, he chose the cheese plate.

We also ordered tea and received a small plate of petit-fours at the end of the meal.

This was a very good deal and an extremely good lunch. It’s supposed to be the only restaurant in Northern Ireland that has a Michelin star and I can totally see why. The rest of the meals we had in Belfast were unfortunately not worth writing about. We also ate at the restaurant bar inside our hotel, which is apparently a very popular place for locals. The food was pretty good but nothing special so I’m not going to write about it. We went there as we couldn’t get used to the daylight until 10PM and didn’t go out looking for food until almost 9. By that time, all the restaurants were already closed and we had to resort to the hotel restaurant.

 

Marshmallow-y Goodness

I bought gelatin a really long time ago so that I could make marshmallows but I never got around to it. I also bought Fluff so that I could make a fluffernutter sandwich but wasn’t ever in the mood for it. I finally made a fluffernutter panini and it was quite good though I think I still prefer a PB&J panini. Funny enough, I don’t even like marshmallows that much but I still wanted to try.

So I finally decided that I was going to make the marshmallows. When I told people I made marshmallows the first question I get is, “what is a marshmallow made of?”. So here is my recipe for marshmallows:

3 envelopes of unflavored Knox gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cups corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted
Confectioners’ sugar

Sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water and soak for 10 minutes. Mine turned into a wet sand looking texture.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup and bring to a boil until it reaches 240F on a candy thermometer. Take it off the head and pour the syrup into gelatin and start mixing at low speed. Add speed slowly so the syrup doesn’t splatter out and increase to high speed. Add the salt and beat for 10 minutes. Add vanilla and mix some more. The mixture should be really thick and fluffy. It should have hard peaks like beaten egg whites.

I wanted to try some coconut flavor and also some vanilla so I sprinkled part of the pan with the coconut. One cup of the coconut will be enough for an entire pan. I used unsweetened coconut because that’s what I had in the pantry but you can substitute the sweetened one. I also thought the sweetened would make it really sweet as the marshmallows are sweet enough as is.

Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan with nonstick spray and then layer a sheet of parchment paper into it for easy removal of the marshmallow brick. Spread half of the toasted coconut into the pan & pour the marshmallow mixture into the pan and spread the remaining coconut on top.

Let the mixture dry overnight. Lift the parchment paper to lift out the marshmallow brick. I used a bench scraper that I wet to cut the marshmallow brick into pieces. You can also use scissors which also works well.

Toss the marshmallows into confectioners’ sugar to keep it from sticking.