Owner: Taste Bud Travels URL:http://tastebudtravels.blogspot.com Join Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:24:10 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Food and drink has the amazing ability to take us back to good times past, or it can transport us to places that we've never been, but succeeds wonderfully in capturing our imaginations and placing our minds, through flavour, texture and aroma, into Site statistics:Click here
It's a Coffee and Cake Thing 2008-11-02 07:57:00 Café culture has become one of our past times over the years and I think we owe it largely to our holidays spent in Reykjavik.
Coffee
is definitely big in Iceland, strong too and it usually comes with endless free refills. In fact, the refill is a positive sign that you're welcome to stay as long as you like, unlike in some coffee franchises in the UK, which expect you to drink up and then Read more:Thing
Tomato Ketchup 2008-11-01 10:02:00 Thank goodness I'm never going to grow sick of tomatoes! There's still lots left that need eating promptly. Yet another method of preservation is called for and what better than homemade ketchup.
Tomato
ketchup is one of those store cupboard essentials that I can never be without. Not just reserved for the dipping of chips or dolloped next to sausages, it has other culinary uses too.This homemade Read more:Ketchup
The Reykjavik Kitchen Exhibition 2008-10-25 15:14:00 We’ve recently returned from a short break in Reykjavik
and whilst we were there we visited a small exhibition about food in Reykjavik. It runs until 23 November, so if any of you are there then, I’d recommend you go and have a look too.
The exhibition is in one of the oldest houses in Reykjavik and shares the building with Kraum – a shop containing work from 80 different Icelandic designer Read more:Exhibition
, Kitchen
Spicy Tomato Chutney 2008-10-14 09:20:00 Today the house is filled with an enticing fruity, spicy vinegary smell, as I’m making chutney.
It’s just as well we’re not getting tired of eating the 35 pounds or so of tomatoes from this year’s harvest, but it is rather slow going. Time to preserve them, I think. I’ve already oven dried and bottled some, but this time I want to make something that will keep well and can be brought out Read more:Chutney
, Spicy
, Tomato
British Cheese Week 2008-10-02 07:16:00 To mark the end of celebrating BritishCheese
Week, I have put together a nice little cheese cloud to enjoy.Apparently there are around 700 different British cheeses and this cloud has but a few of them - 700 is an awful lot to list!
Have fun making your own word clouds here:wordle.net
Too Many Tomatoes 2008-09-23 07:36:00 Actually you can’t have too many tomatoes, especially home grown ones. Fortunately they are so versatile that you never run out of uses for them.
There’s just the problem of using them all up before they turn squishy and mouldy, that’s when I thought about preserving some of them.
I think I’ve already perfected the technique of oven-drying them (there’s a description of how to do that Read more:Tomatoes
Competition: Win a week of free groceries! 2008-09-22 14:41:00 Do you think you’re a cookery mastermind?
To celebrate the launch of their new website in the UK, Allrecipes in association with Peppadew™ are offering you the chance to win £100 of groceries
by proving that you know your basil from your bay leaves!
Click here to enter the competition.
But be quick as the closing date is 30th September 2008
Good luck and happy cooking!
UPDATE: Please note th
Grilled Fresh Sardines with Roasted Marinated Vegetables and Gremolata 2008-09-21 13:53:00 Sardines are great. It doesn't matter whether they're from a tin or fresh, they're always good. I picked up some Cornish ones the other day, and they were really fresh, smelling of the sea. Their plump silvery bodies looked so inviting.
Although sardines can be eaten whole I prefer not having to deal with any bones whilst eating them, so I set about filleting them. It was very easy as they were Read more:Grilled
, Marinated
, Roasted
, Vegetables
Oh Dear, No Skyr! 2008-09-20 13:36:00 We’ve just got back from a very pleasant day on the South Bank in London – there’s a collection of photos here, if you want to look – and I have to say that it has ended on rather a low note.
The problem you see, is that we’ve become hooked on skyr, an Icelandic dairy product, and until we can get back to that beautiful country in the North Atlantic, we have to get our fix when we make
Plum Crumble 2008-09-18 15:29:00 You just can’t beat English plums for great flavour. They’re in season now, and if you’re like me, and can’t resist the lure of a Victoria or Marjorie Seedling, this is the best and really only time to find them.
Plums can have quite an astringent taste, but I find that this is one of their best qualities. Much of that special plummy flavour is in the skin, which I like to leave on for m Read more:Crumble
The Pearl of Kent: Whitstable 2008-09-16 14:53:00 There’s something about the sea that has an instant attraction for me. I’m not sure why, but it has a positive effect on my well-being. Lately, we’ve both been suffering the strains of modern life, so a long weekend away was in order. Actually my husband likes the sea too so a break by the coast, somewhere, just anywhere was an absolute must. We decided on Whitstable as it’s not too fa Read more:Pearl
Seafood Fortnight: 5-21 September 2008 2008-09-05 03:00:00 Photo: everystockphoto.com
It’s time again for another food awareness day/week/month or whatever. In my experience I’ve found many of these events, are paradoxically under promoted. There seems little point having an awareness week when no one is aware that it’s happening.
As Seafood Fortnight concentrates on the importance of fish, I have decided to give it my full support and attention, Read more:September
The Trouble with Food Blogging 2008-09-04 07:11:00 When I started this blog back in January, I had no idea just how much it would become part of my life.
Food for me has always been a source of inspiration – I’m always thinking up ideas for dinner, reading cookbooks and magazines, not to mention watching culinary television programmes. Although thoughts of food are seldom far from my mind, I hasten to add, I’m not constantly stuffing my face Read more:Blogging
, Trouble
Brambles and Berries 2008-08-30 15:39:00 As I was updating my ‘In Season’ list, it occurred to me that we are indeed entering another season.
It is a sad but very true fact that the disappointing summer is on its way out and autumn is hot on its heels. Autumn though, is not a season to be sniffed at, bringing with it luscious hedgerow fruits, wild mushrooms and fiery colours.
As I write though, the weather has taken a turn for the Read more:Berries
Carrots! 2008-08-18 15:08:00 At last the carrots are ready to pull up. They've been happily growing in their pot for a good few months now and we've been itching to taste them.They're very easy to lift from the soil and it's so satisfying to see how large they are as they come up inch by inch.We've grown two varieties - Nantes and Chanteney.
I can't quite believe the smell of them - they're nothing like anything you'd Read more:Carrots
Fiskibollur: Fish Balls 2008-08-16 13:08:00 TRIED AND TESTEDYet another recipe from my kitchen library. I bought the book, Cool Cuisine: Traditional Icelandic Cuisine by Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir, after one of my visits to ReykjavíkI have tried various recipes for fish balls and this particular one works best.For such a simple recipe – there are no elaborate flavourings Read more:Balls
Chocolate Muffins……for Grown-Ups 2008-08-10 16:00:00 Occasionally I like to indulge in a chocolate muffin, to go with a good cup of freshly brewed coffee, but I've never found anything in the shops that caters for more grown-up tastes. Shop bought muffins are mostly very sweet and I want something a little more sophisticated.
To achieve the desired flavour, I use a good quality dark chocolate. Nothing less than 70% cocoa solids will do. You need Read more:Chocolate
, Grown
, Muffins
Cloudberry Vinegar 2008-08-09 08:40:00 I'm always on the look out for some new ingredient to try, no matter how small a part it plays in a recipe. My latest find was some cloudberry vinegar which I discovered in IKEA's food section. When in flatpack furniture land, I make it my ritual to peruse the shelves for Scandinavian food, just before I leave the store.
The vinegar is genuine Swedish stuff and is made from cloudberry wine.
Victoria Sponge Made Simple 2008-08-03 12:07:00 It's not often that I bake cakes, but sometimes on a Sunday, we feel we deserve a treat, so this weekend I decided to make a Victoria sandwich cake, but with a twist. Instead of the usual strawberry jam I used lemon curd and for added zing I pepped up the sponge with some grated lemon zest.
The recipe that follows is for the basic version, but for the adventurous it can be adapted to create many Read more:Simple
, Sponge
Fruits of Our Labour 2008-08-02 14:44:00 My blog has been a little neglected lately as a lot of my time has been taken up with the needs of the kitchen garden.It's amazing how things have grown so quickly over the past few weeks. The tomatoes have come on in leaps and bounds, helped along by the long, warm sunny days. It doesn't seem that long ago that they were little plants full of potential. Their growth rate has been incredible Read more:Fruits
, Labour
Good Growing 2008-07-23 08:36:00 It’s time for a follow up again, on what’s been growing in the garden, and I have to say that I’m very proud of the potatoes.
What started out as an experiment started back in March has proved to be most fruitful. From a few wrinkly sprouting potatoes lying in the bottom of the vegetable trolley, a surprising amount of fresh baby spuds have been born – 2 kilograms in fact.
These are quite Read more:Growing
Wakes Cakes 2008-06-26 07:30:00 TRIED AND TESTEDFollowing my visit to Bakewell in Derbyshire, I decided to put a recipe to test from my Favourite Peak District Recipes book. I chose Wakes Cakes
, as they sounded intriguing with their combination of ingredients. They happened to turn out very well – nice and crisp with chewy currants and interesting little flavour hits from the caraway seeds.
This traditional recipe may
Salad Days 2008-06-24 07:30:00 I wouldn’t normally rave on about a pile of salad leaves, but these ones are special.
From tiny seeds some amazing leaves have sprouted in a variety of colours, shapes and flavours – and what’s more I have grown them myself. That’s what makes them special.
I don’t have to go to the shops to find them, queue to pay for them and when I get home I don’t have to rip open a plastic bag. I Read more:Salad
Better Bread 2008-06-20 07:34:00 I’m not convinced that my bread machine makes a very good job of making a decent loaf. I agree that by automating the process it might make the job a little bit easier. All you have to do is fill the machine with ingredients, close the lid, press a button and “bleep, bleep” it’s finished in an hour or so. The only problem is that you end up with small square loaves with a hole in the botto Read more:Bread
From Foraging to Fritters 2008-06-08 07:50:00 I knew there was a good reason to let part of the front garden to be given over to nature.We haven't intentionally neglected to maintain its upkeep, but there never seems to be enough time to tackle the enormous task of clearing the undergrowth and clipping the hedges, As a result a rather large elder bush has grown up through the hornbeam hedge
It is now in full flower, and not wanting to m Read more:Fritters
Eccles Cakes 2008-11-25 08:59:00 I haven't made Eccles cakes for a very long time. In fact I was probably still a schoolgirl when I did so. I remember baking them during our home economics class when we learnt how to make flaky pastry. My teacher was adamant that they should not contain either candied peel or spices, but I knew I had the traditional recipe. In spite of her comments I went ahead and made them as they should be Read more:Cakes
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