Skyfall

On the 11th August 2013, I posted a blog post that I never in a million years thought I would have to write.

The Company Shed

All through my work placement I've had a hankering for seafood, I couldn't get it off my mind, all I could think of was the spaghetti vongole I had in Amsterdam, oysters, crab, pretty much any living thing in the sea, it was bad.

I heard about The Company Shed somewhere online and begged mum and my godmother Jill to come with me as a lunch before I went back to Canterbury for university.

The Company Shed really is a shed on the shore, filled with lino covered tables and chattering people all exclaiming at how fresh and delicious the food is, you bring your own bread and choice of beverage (we opted for rose), grab some plates, a roll of kitchen roll, a table and get stuck in.

Lunch in the Clouds

As I'm writing this, it seems like an entire lifetime ago that me and Millie, and our mothers flew up to the 40th floor of the Heron Tower in a Charlie and The Chocolate Factory-esque all glass lift, but our meal was just too good not to share.

Our mothers have been such close friends for years, Millie and I went to school together every day too, so it was only natural we would become great friends.
We went to London to see the wedding dress exhibit at the V&A where we chose our future dresses- look out Kate Moss, there are two copycats hot on your tail.

Amsterdam Weekend Day 2

When I last left you, we were snuggled in fluffy floor length dressing gowns, padding around the hotel room in slippers and looking forward to our downy bed. 

I was zonked, a 4am start had knocked it out of me and I was hoping for a lie in, I was wrong because Mum had plans.

We had a leisurely breakfast then strolled over to the Rijksmuseum, for some culture, popping into some antique shops on the way.

One of those little white houses in the picture came home with us. They are copies of the gable houses that line the canals in Amsterdam and were given out on business class KLM flights from 1952.

We weren't used to seeing so many people on bikes, several near crashes occurred, most of them our fault.

There was just so much to the Rijksmuseum, you couldn't possibly do it all in just one day.

But I did spy my dream pirate ship..

... And the weapons that I would use to make badly behaved sailors to walk the plank, I mean just look at those pistols!

We found a lovely little Italian tucked away, literally tucked away, with two minute rickety tables balanced precariously on the cobbles.

But sometimes, the best places are diamonds in the rough, because we had incredible spaghetti vongole, with a free glass of rose, despite the fact nail polish remover might have gone down more easily!

Suitably stuffed, we ambled through the quaint streets, until we saw a decadent patisserie, where we forgot all about the spaghetti and the breakfast.

We napped two to go, hopped on a double decker train, which would have looked more fitting in a hunger games movie and headed to The Hague, where my godmother lives.

We spent a lovely night enjoying their company, then on the Sunday, when in Rome, we cycled to the beach and had lunch on the sand (on some beanbags, which were on the sand).

A lovely weekend for some mother & daughter & godmother time!

Amsterdam Weekend Day 1

Last Friday, mum woke me up at the crack of dawn, 4 am to be precise, to get dressed to go to the airport. 

We were having a mother/daughter trip to Amsterdam!

Once we'd checked into our lovely little hotel, 717, we took a stroll around in an attempt to get our bearings, which proved to be a little difficult in 27 degree heat, so we went for a tour around the canals.

I actually left my camera in my room this day, in my excitement to go out an explore.
We found a couple of blocks of streets with lots of restaurants, where we stumbled upon this little gem, a minute tapas restaurant, with no name, and about five tables.

We started off with globe artichoke, peppers and onion,

Battered courgette, grilled peppers and onions,

Closely followed by an enormous plate of paprika squid,

Which would have been amazing if the jelly like bits had been taken off,

But these, these were so good, razor clams in some sort of pesto (I can't read Dutch), if a little overcooked,

Seeing as it had cooled down, if only by a few degrees, we tried to walk off our lunch by doing a little retail therapy,

It seems that cheese is quite popular in the Netherlands, so much so I must have become a little overwhelmed because I found this on my phone;

Amsterdam is so lovely to just amble around, looking in little individual shops and pouring over their beautiful clothes.
All this ambling became thirsty work, so we found a little bar on the side of the canal, and ended up having a Heineken (as it's brewed in Holland) floating on top of the canal,
I mean how is this for a relaxing view?

We finished off our drinks and continued on our quest for food, this time, supper.
Mum and I are really big on our asian food and we found a little Thai restaurant (again, I don't know the name, helpful!)
They squeezed us in and gave us a starter as a surprise, coconut, peanut something or other, we didn't understand and it wasn't on the menu, but the best bit about it was was all the ginger packed inside it!
The waiter told us to wrap the leaf up like a parcel and pop it all in at once, mum and I eyed each other dubiously, but did what we were told, it was amazing!

Next was the usual line up of hors d'oeuvres that you get eating asian food, chicken satay, tempura butterfly prawns and spring rolls, all of them delicious.

We finished off with an extremely spicy green curry, then headed off to visit Anne Frank's house, where I, understandably, didn't take any photos, but it's worth a visit.
The queues go around the corner during the day but if you wait until an hour before it closes you'll get in in no time at all!

Naked Chocolate

Over the past few weeks I've developed an increasing addiction to Nakd bars, which are essentially made up of dried fruit and nuts.

I actually found them in the uni library, grabbing a couple before my library lectures, but now I'm hooked.

I found this picture floating around on Tumblr, it verges on my ideal snack collection to nibble on, mmmm.

The basic chocolate recipe goes by

2 cups of pitted dates

1 cup almonds

2-3 tbsp or more if needed of cocoa powder

Then you can add whatever extras you'd like, in the photo below the bar shaped ones (I tried my best) are chocolate and orange, where I zested one large orange and added about a teaspoon of the juice.

The unsightly sausage shaped one is chocolate and lime, where I added the juice of one whole lime.

Put the dates and nuts into a blender and keep it whizzing until they start sticking together in clumps.
Here is now a good time to add your cocoa and any extras, give it a really fast whizzy burst and then slow it down so a ball of fruity/nutty dough can come together.

Wrap it in cling film and pop in the fridge for a while to set, once it has firmed up a bit you can shape it into bars like I tried to do, by sandwiching it between 2 layers of cling film and rolling it out, or roll it up into a big sausage like I did this time, cutting into disks.

All you have to do to keep them is to wrap them up in cling film and keep in the fridge so they stay harder which makes them a bit chewier.
I find they're useful to have on hand for a grab-and-go breakfast or a snack, plus you're saving lots instead of just buying Nakd bars too, as tasty as they are!

Taste of London Part 2

We continued our mammoth tasting feast to Club Gason, where we had their icon dish, crispy barbecued foie gras,

 … Just look at that shatter..

This was my first proper time eating fois gras, it wasn't what I had expected, a lot softer, although it was really yummy, I'm still yet to make my mind up about this one, beautifully presented though!

  
Then I demanded yet another coconut stop!

They had several places with lovely fresh coconuts stacked up, say the word and with the swoosh of a big knife the top would be off, straw inside, and you could have your coconut water fix.

Apres coconut, we tried Gordon Ramsey's restaurant Maze, and plumped for the Sezchwan salt and pepper squid, 

 

We agreed that it could use some lime, but that didn't stop Mum smiling!

Okay so, prior to this, I have never liked oysters, there was something so unappealing about the cold, salty slime but my mother and the waitress (turned photographer) took upon themselves to change,

The first one I had plain, which I foolishly decided not to chew once...

… Which, as you can see in the photo below, was a bit of a shock

After a bit of coaxing, the ever so helpful waitress recommended I try one with tabaso,

Plus I chewed!

Such an improvement, and now a converted oyster fan!

After our oyster palava, we ambled through the Thai restaurants, we both found it surprising that none of the foods really appealed to us (probably due to all the food we had been eating all day?), but we did come across a man making vegetable sculptures,

Have you ever seen a more beautiful carrot?!

Our last food stop was to go to Cliveden House, where Andre Garrett had such a delicious pudding in store for us, peanut butter parfait with salted caramel, chocolate and raspberry, 

Holding tightly to our pudding we went to the Shack Revolution, where we grabbed a raspberry mojito, for her, and a apple and ginger vodka collins, for me, and funnily enough we ended up preferring each other's drinks.. 

Which both proved to be a little bit lethal!

 Okay, enough fraternising with cocktails, because this could be one of the best puddings I have ever tasted, it was a bit like a a deconstructed, molten peanut butter and jam sandwich, replacing bread with nuggets of crunchie and popping candy, I mean, just look at the wonder on my face:

We headed home, a coconut in hand for me, a bag of treats for Mum, heavier than we arrived, and slightly merrier.

Taste of London has finished this festival, but there's one from 20th-23rd November HERE.