by goodshoeday, on May 10th, 2010
This article was first published in Francoise Murat & Associates newsletter in April 2010.
We’ve just had Easter eggs, egg-decorating competitions at school and the hens are laying well again. With year round supplies of eggs in the shops we forget they are seasonal. We forget that when we talk of eggs we mean hen’s eggs. Anyone who keeps a few hens knows that during the winter they hardly lay at all and it takes until spring for them to get back to producing an egg a day. Jane Grigson talks of eggs as a rarity in the winter months and preserving [...]
Continue reading Eggs-eptionally seasonal
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by goodshoeday, on October 9th, 2009
Ka-boom. Wowzer. Bam. Pow. OMG.
Wonderful. Amazing. My taste buds and brain are in overload.
I’m at Paul A Young. I’m tasting chocolate. Beautiful chocolate. I’m riding on taste sensation after taste sensation. I thought I knew chocolate but I didn’t know all of this. It’s a whole new set of experiences. How to convey it all to you?
Its passion, its craftsmanship, its huge knowledge. It’s wanting to save the world from bad chocolate and show everyone the way of good chocolate. Its superhero time. Okay so as far as I know Paul doesn’t zoom about wearing a cape and mask, or his [...]
Continue reading A chocolate super hero
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by goodshoeday, on June 24th, 2009
Early in May I took up the #livelocal challenge. I learnt lots in the first week some of which I’ve already blogged about. A big part of taking up the challenge was not just to do it for a week but try to think more about what I ate, where it came from and so explore food options closer to home. And so to one of my favourite foods – CHEESE.
England has a great history of cheese making, we came a bit unstuck in the Milk Marketing Board post-war era with many cheeses being lost and production becoming very industrialised. [...]
Continue reading Tasting notes: Suffolk cheeses
by goodshoeday, on April 15th, 2009
Those who know me well know that a kir of any kind is one of my favourite drinks. When I, occasionally, run out of cassis I am at rather a loss. I’ve made it with the classic white burgundy, with any dry white wine I can get my hands on, with red wine (first tasted in Paris and known as kir communard, its good in the winter) and of course with champagne (or other dry sparkling wine) as a kir royale. It’s probably my first choice of cocktail. I love it.
So what to make of Peronelle’s Blush, made by Aspall’s [...]
Continue reading An English twist on kir royale
by goodshoeday, on April 12th, 2009
Everyday is a great day for eating chocolate as far as I’m concerned but today there is the extra opportunity for a sneaky bit of chocolate if the Easter bunny has dropped off some chocolate eggs whilst on his/her rounds. I haven’t found any so far but I did try out a different chocolate bar as a special treat.
Today’s chocolate is “The Co-operative truly irresistible Fairtrade dark chocolate with spices and orange oil”. Sounds interesting, and with Fairtrade ethics to boot to ease my conscience while I’m munching away. I’m quite a fan of Green & Blacks Maya Gold which is [...]
Continue reading Easter chocolate selection
by goodshoeday, on April 5th, 2009
For those of you who haven’t guessed yet I’m a big fan of both coffee and chocolate and one of the highlights of each day is sitting down mid morning for a little bit of both. I like to try different pairings to see what works and what doesn’t. Mostly I like my coffee and chocolate pretty strong and intensely flavoured so some of my favourites won’t be for the faint hearted. I usually have my coffee made in a cafetiere and drink it black no sugar, occasionally I go for the extra hit of an espresso made in a [...]
Continue reading Another coffee and chocolate pairing
by goodshoeday, on March 24th, 2009
I’d been curious for a little while about one of the products I’d spotted in the farm shop I like to use when I visit Suffolk and then a couple of weeks back two things conspired to make me get on with trying it out.
First I was reading Hugh F-W’s weekly slot in The Guardian (‘Trickle treat’ on 7 March) and then I went out for dinner at ‘The Lighthouse’ in Aldeburgh and when they brought the bread with oil and balsamic they explained that the oil was a local product made from rapeseed (in fact just theone I’d been [...]
Continue reading Tasting oil
by goodshoeday, on February 25th, 2009
Recently I’ve been trying out a different coffee blend – and some different chocolate. My current coffee selection is Percol Guatemala (fairtrade and organic). Its very different from the Union Hand-Roasted I was drinking (see my earlier post) and at first I wasn’t so keen. It seems to be a weaker brew even though they are both graded as 3 so I’ve been having to use a bit more of the grounds in each pot. Its quite smokey in flavour and when I paired it with Green & Blacks Cherry chocolate it just didn’t quite work. Now I’ve [...]
Continue reading More coffee and chocolate
by goodshoeday, on February 9th, 2009
Its been raining here all day so a comforting cup of coffee and a sneaky bit of chocolate has helped while away some of the time. Mind you everyday deserves a good cup of coffee and some nice chocolate.
Today’s pick on the coffee front was Union Hand Roasted Organic Ethiopia Yirgacheffe which a medium body and fruity brew – a good any time of day coffee.
Chocolate wise it was one or two slices of Kshocolat Orange Slices (candied orange coated in dark chocolate) and with the fruitiness of the coffee this was a great pairing. They’re expensive but as an [...]
Continue reading Coffee and chocolate
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