food

On Wednesday morning I went to the Courtyard Cafe, with my friend Sue, it's located at 11 Hatfield Road, next to St Albans Museum. The cafe's decor is charming, right up my street, an eclectic mix of old and new. We had tea and coffee and home made cakes, beetroot and carrot. I must recommend it, it has a lovely atmosphere and the staff are very friendly and welcoming.

It might not look like the most exciting salad picture in the world but I grew it! The lettuces in window boxes have been a big success. It's easy to control the pests and when you want a salad just open the window and pick a few leaves. I haven't bought a lettuce for weeks. Highly recommended. The tomatoes I am growing in hanging baskets and pots. The one in the picture is my first crop, I'm sure it will taste better because I grew it! I hope.

Ashley was invited to the Institute of Directors conference today, held at the Albert Hall. The conference had lots of inspirational speakers but what really impressed Ash was the packed lunch they were given, I'm impressed too!

Ash and I had lunch at Wagamamas yesterday. If you want a 2 for 1 meal just download the voucher here  and present it before your meal, and If you order their green tea it's free. The voucher expires on the 5 April 09. We had yaki udon (teppan-fried thick noodles with chicken and prawns)

This recipe is great if you want to use up very ripe bananas

Oven temperature 180C (350F, Gas 4)
Grease a 20cm (8in) deep round sprung cake tin 

1. 125g/4oz of butter 
2. 185g/6oz caster sugar 
3. 2 eggs 
4. 185g/6oz self raising flour 
5. 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 
6. 3 small very ripe mashed bananas 

In a mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar. 

Beat in the eggs one at a time 

Beat in mashed bananas 

Sieve flour with bicarbonate of soda and fold into mixture 

I made pancakes!

I bought this bar of chocolate the other day. We were trying to guess what the fantasy flavour was. We have tried lavender chocolate and chocolate with a hint of chili both very nice in their own strange way. All three of us thought the fantasy flavour was rose, a bit like turkish delight. A close look at the packaging in the smallest writing, under the words milk chocolate, it whispers CARROT. No way! Not in a million years would we have guessed carrot. Whose fantasy is that? But it was nice! 

I tried the Yorkshire curd tart recipe, it worked out well. Making the curds was a new experience and you need 2 pints of full cream milk, like Jersey, to make the amount of curds for this recipe. I feel a bit like little miss Muffet with my curds and whey, I now want to know what to do with the whey. 

When we go to Yorkshire we always bring back a Yorkshire curd tart, they are delicious. I have found a recipe for the tart that sounds authentic so if you never get to Yorkshire you can still try this delicacy. Making the curd doesn't sound too difficult I guess it's a bit like cottage cheese. The photograph is a bakers shop in Bridlington.

 
INGREDIENTS  
250 g (8 oz) curds*
2 eggs; beaten
125g (4 oz) caster sugar
60 g (2 oz) currants
Small knob of butter; melted
A pinch of grated nutmeg
250 g (8 oz) short crust pastry
 

As well as the usual Saturday market in St Albans there was the added bonus of an Italian market. Here are photos of some of the produce they were purveying, a little taste of Italy.