Mincemeat Popcorn

Now that I'm back I get to see everyone that I've missed while I've been away, earlier in the week Charlotte and I went to Maisie's for lunch and she pulled out some mince meat popcorn.

Granted, it does sound rather odd at first, but it's so delicious and as I write this I'm snuggling down after all the Christmas activities with a bowl just before I watch Harry Potter (it isn't Christmas without Harry Potter).

You'll need:

Approx 5/6 tbsp plain popping corn

1 tbsp oil (we used sunflower, but you can use any)

At least 2 tbsp mincemeat, enough for everything to be nicely covered

First make your popcorn..

 Being an eager beaver, I opened it up too early and got a face full of flying corn.
Only take the lid off when you can count to three between pops!

Once you've poured your popcorn into a bowl, plop in two or three tablespoonfuls of your mincemeat (we used some homemade one),

.. Then mix together with a spoon, or, like Maisie, with your hands.

Once it's all nicely coated, put it all onto a baking tray, make sure its all nice and flat and even!

Pop in an oven at 180 C for about 10 mins, or so it isn't wet anymore.

Then you're left with spicy, crunchy popcorn with soft and chewy raisins!

If I had found this out before Christmas it would have been perfect to put into little bags and tie with ribbons, but it's going to have to remain a secret until next year!m

Flesh & Buns

On Friday Mum and I hopped on the train from chilly Suffolk to an equally chilly London.

A while ago I mentioned wanting to go to the ballet, and a few weeks ago she surprised me with a festive trip to see the Nutcracker, but that was going to be after lunch, and seeing as it was already 11 o'clock and I was feeling peckish on the train we were thinking about lunch.

I sent Katie and Caroline tweets to see if they had any suggestions, which they did, but Caroline was the one who suggested Flesh & Buns, and I'm flipping glad she did!

It's not very obvious until you're right infront of the big black door which leads you down some stairs into an underground heaven.

As soon as we walked in the staff were checking with us and giving us their tips on the menu.
It was so relaxed, and this cheeky little chappie kept flailing and flapping a ribbon of cucumber about and nobody tutted and disapproved, probably because the food made everyone happy.

First we started with edamame, I have them at every opportunity, it may be boring but I love them. These were served piping hot sprinkled with salt, but in Wagamamas they can be had with chilli and garlic salt which is equally deeeelish.

My mother is a bit of a squid fiend, so when she saw that they had crispy squid she went for it, and I devoured it.

I spied some Korean Fried Wings on the menu, expecting them to be normal chicken sized… They were enormous, not the most elegant thing to eat whilst wearing a white dress, although that didn't stop me, sleeves got rolled up and the waitress sneakily slipped us a couple of wet flannels so we could sort ourselves out.

Lastly were the flesh and buns.
I can't even type down how excited I was to eat these, I spent a lot of time craning my neck to look over at the kitchen to prepare myself for their arrival.

All of the meat sounded so tasty that we went for the crispy duck leg with sour plum sauce.
Like duck and pancakes?
Now think of duck in essentially a cloud. You are welcome.

You choose your buns, we went for four, and your little babies arrive in their bamboo steamer carriage.

You load them up...

Sandwich and tuck in.

These are one of the best things I have ever eaten.
That is the best way I can put it, the bun, which is more like a flat dumpling, surrounds the duck like a fluffy cloud and when you bite into it, it is complete heaven, and I wanted to keep eating and eating them forever, but my clothes wouldn't allow it.

After lunch we staggered off to the London Coliseum, which was only a 10 minute walk away, to see the English National Ballet's performance of the Nutcracker.
But first, look at the theatre.

It was one of the best days I've had in a long time, I'm starting to feel festive now!

Horses For Courses

I returned to Suffolk this weekend to eat something that wasn't a stir fry, get some doggy cuddles from Nellie and the spaniels, and also jump judge at the local team chase with mum.

The team chase is one of several (I think) and basically you get into teams of four riders, then you bomb around a cross country course as fast as you can, and you have to get to the finish with no less than 3 horses and riders.

Armed with a huge steaming flask of chai latte, plus tonnes of snacks, I settled down for what I thought would be a leisurely morning ticking boxes, eating, nattering on the radio, and doing some more eating.

As soon as the first team thundered past I knew I was wrong.

Mum had to walkie talkie to say the horses were over the jumps as they whizzed past,

 And I was left in charge of the ticking off of the teams, and of course, the most important job, whistling at spectators when a horse was coming.

Mum and I were rooting for team 30, RAW Botswana, especially as Lucy used to ride one of Ginny's ponies, Smartie!

 Kudos to Ollie to getting into the only good photos of Clifford!!!!

Smartie is on the left!

After a day in the wind and cold, I got home, popped some comfy clothes on and got down to cuddling my little pal.

Then we made a huge batch of sausage rolls to cheer some friends up.

Grab a packet of puff pastry, cut it in half and roll it out so its about 7 inches wide, and very long.
De-skin a packet of sausages and lie 1/3 in, drizzle a bit of mango chutney on top, and brush the extra 2/3 of pastry with a beaten egg.
Tightly roll it up, chop up, place on a baking tray with the seam at the bottom, and brush with the egg again.
Put in the oven for about 25 mins at 180 C

A little random, but that was my weekend!!!

Girl's Night

I haven't been up to anything very bloggable this week, let alone done any cooking, so I thought I'd show you some photos of our spontaneous girl's night that we had on Friday.

Hilary had a late lecture she couldn't get out of, so Hannah, Renuka and I had ages to get ready, resulting in lots of photos!

Best thing about living in a house full of girls??

Always an occasion to take photos

 
 Then things (meaning me) got a little silly..

There couldn't not be one of me eating..

Then we were finally reunited with Hilary, and we played a few games (and took more pictures), before going out.

It was such a good night, it goes to show that usually the best nights are the ones that weren't planned.