I always thought I was an OK cook. From an early age I've needed to be able to use a cooker, a pan, a knife and a microwave. The first attempts were not so great and included the Iceland microwavable kebab (thanks Mum!), making egg toasties by cracking an egg into the bread and closing the toastie maker and not forgetting the disastrous deep fat frying bacon incident. All part of the learning curve I suppose and all took place while at school or university.
Up until recently I did think that I was getting better at cooking, but all it really amounted to was cutting meat up, albeit with a knife now and not cutting it with a pair of scissors, and putting it in an Uncle Ben's sauce - not really cooking, but a lot better than some people I know. And that did me for about 8 years.
You're probably wondering where I am going with all of this.
Last Sunday we decided to have Cazzie's parents over for a Sunday roast. I have done roast beef dinners in the past I'm pretty good at it. My chili and garlic roast potatoes are something I pride myself on. But this Sunday lunch was different. We decided that we would cook everything from start to finish and the menu was......
French Onion Soup
Roast Topside of Beef
Jamie Oliver Carrots
Peas, shallots and ham
Roast Potatoes
Yorkshire Puddings
Cauliflower Cheese
Apple Crumble
Dead Good Custard
I'll be honest - we were both a tad nervous. Our main concern was getting everything to be ready at the same time but with good planning and preparation we hope all would be ok.
Cazzie's parents turned up and all the food was ready exactly when we wanted them to be - it couldn't have worked out any better!
It may seem as if I am blowing my own trumpet and you'd be right. It was a great success and very tasty. My favourite was the apple crumble and custard (which Cazzie took care of). This was the first dessert I'd ever made and I was well chuffed.
I guess the whole point of this blog is to tell those people that are the ready make sauce and microwavable rice generation, that cooking good food is easy - even I can do it. It's all about taking the time and putting in the preparation and anyone can cook a really tasty, excellent meal. Also, all the recipes came from the BBC food website, which are tried and tested methods and are not too difficult to follow.
I have linked in the recipes to each of the ones we used, but I want to include one more that we tried 2 weeks ago when the Forbes' came along.
Roast Rack of Lamb
I hope you find this useful!
Love
Stuoobs
xxx
p.s. If you want my chili and garlic roast potato recipe - just ask!!
Monday 24 August 2009
Monday 17 August 2009
Mountains, Bears, Deserts and Vineyards.
As most of you will know, Cazzie and I have been planning a 7 month trip to Canada and America and it’s my pleasure to tell you all that it’s now sorted.
We leave for Vancouver on Monday 5th October, flying with BA from Heathrow. As we will no doubt be arriving in Canada very drunk, we have decided that it’s probably best to pick the RV up the next day.
Here’s our RV and internal view. It comes equipped with hot shower, flushing toilet, full kitchen and double bed!
We then have a rough plan to follow the blue flags on this map.
I couldn’t get names on this map, but you get the idea!!
We start in Vancouver and the highlights are Banff,Jasper, Calgary, Yellowstone, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Phoenix and right back up through California taking in San Diego, Los Angeles, Yosemite and San Fran (not forgetting the Napa Valley for some wine tasting) before driving back to Canada through Portland and Seattle. If we were just to visit all these blue dots we would cover over 6,500 miles, but we have our Lonely Planet guide to take us off the beaten track if we so desire!! We do have to be careful of bears who have such a keen sense of smell that we need to lock our food up in bear-proof containers in the RV parks!!
We have the RV for 56 nights so we should be able to cover all these places. I have taken Andy’s lead and splashed out on an SLR camera to capture all the stunning views I am reading about.
After the 56 nights are up, we arrive in Whistler on the 1st December until 29th April for the 2009 / 2010 ski season, which includes the 2010 Winter Olympics. I don’t think we could have picked a better in time to be there. We have used the same company that my two friends, Foe and Easty, for our accommodation – SeasonIT.
A view of our house and our outside hot tub.
This place is fab. 300 metres from the Blackcomb slope and 10 mins walk from Longhorns. Perfect!
So that’s the plan. I fully intend to post blogs from where we have been as most of these RV parks have wifi as well as supermarkets, spas and laundromats. I also fully intend to perfect skiing this year as well as snowboarding!
Lots of love
Stuoobs
xxx
Monday 3 August 2009
The best steak restaurant in the world........perhaps
I promised when I wrote my Boston Blog that I would tell you all about Abe & Louie's steakhouse - so here we go.
The benchmark for the best steak has always been at Keens Olde English Chophouse located in New York, discovered by Paulie and Andy on our first trip to the Big Apple. I ordered a Kings Prime cut which looked like this.
It was terrific. Melt in your mouth delicious. We ordered a couple of side dishes to accompany the steak, but these remained largely untouched because the steak was that large and that good. If you ever find yourself in New York, this is a place you must visit.
The hunt for the best steak continued when we found ourselves in Chicago last November. My parents had eaten at Smith & Wollensky's here and made a very bold statement that the steak was better than the one they had in Keens. This is something we could not ignore so we booked in to see for ourselves. I decided to order the prime rib.
I don't have a pre-dinner picture, but I'm not sure that this steak was better than Keens. We decided that we would need to eat one night in Keens and the next at S&W's to be able to be sure. Next trip maybe!!
So, me, Cazzie, Paulie and Karen then found ourselves in Boston 7 months later and there was a Smith & Wollensky's right next to our hotel with the general consensus being that we should eat there. After a quick chat to the hotel concierge, he informed us that a place called Abe & Louie was "much better than Smith & Wollensky's).". I'll be honest with you - I didn't believe him, but I have always been a fan of local knowledge, so reservations were made. If we didn't like it, we could always go to S&W the next night.
When we walked in, you could tell that place was going to be something special. Nice low lighting, bustling atmosphere and it was full. What was great about this place was even though the place was full, you didn't feel over crowded. We were shown to our table, which was more like a booth. Our waiter for the evening was called Matt - who as it happens was from Chicago. This was pretty much the only guy we saw for the rest of our meal. What I don't like about some places is when you see 6 different people during your meal. One to show you to the table, one to ask what drinks you want, one to bring the drinks, one to bring the bread, one to take your order and one who brings your order. It's not a personal service. But Abe&Louie was totally different and it was so refreshing. Paulie ordered the wine with Matt who tottered off to go get it. About 2 mins later he came back with a small glass of different wine for Paulie to taste. The wine was better, would accompany the meal better and was actually cheaper. Too many places try and offer you a different bottle of wine that's actually more expensive and try to screw you over.
I had ordered another prime rib - double cut this time - while Cazzie and Karen went for the fillet on the bone. Paulie had the sirloin (I think).
This was the best steak I have ever had. It was stunning. Tasty, juicy, tender, succulent. I could go on. Cazzie, Karen and Paulie agreed. There was no meat left on any one's plate by the end of the meal. The 2 bottles of wine was a perfect accompaniment to the meal. Matt kept dropping by and asking if the meal was OK. He even stopped for a chat about Chicago, Smith & Wollensky's and a gave us a few "must do"'s if we are ever back in the Windy City.
Even the deserts were excellent. We didn't want a huge portion each, so Matt arranged for us to have a selection of all of the best deserts.
Each one was so tasty. Rich and sweet.
The meal was finished off with a very healthy Irish coffee.
This was, without a doubt, the best steak experience I have ever had and if you are ever in Boston, you must go here....and ask for Matt!!
The hunt still continues, but the benchmark is now Abe&Louie.
xxx
The benchmark for the best steak has always been at Keens Olde English Chophouse located in New York, discovered by Paulie and Andy on our first trip to the Big Apple. I ordered a Kings Prime cut which looked like this.
It was terrific. Melt in your mouth delicious. We ordered a couple of side dishes to accompany the steak, but these remained largely untouched because the steak was that large and that good. If you ever find yourself in New York, this is a place you must visit.
The hunt for the best steak continued when we found ourselves in Chicago last November. My parents had eaten at Smith & Wollensky's here and made a very bold statement that the steak was better than the one they had in Keens. This is something we could not ignore so we booked in to see for ourselves. I decided to order the prime rib.
I don't have a pre-dinner picture, but I'm not sure that this steak was better than Keens. We decided that we would need to eat one night in Keens and the next at S&W's to be able to be sure. Next trip maybe!!
So, me, Cazzie, Paulie and Karen then found ourselves in Boston 7 months later and there was a Smith & Wollensky's right next to our hotel with the general consensus being that we should eat there. After a quick chat to the hotel concierge, he informed us that a place called Abe & Louie was "much better than Smith & Wollensky's).". I'll be honest with you - I didn't believe him, but I have always been a fan of local knowledge, so reservations were made. If we didn't like it, we could always go to S&W the next night.
When we walked in, you could tell that place was going to be something special. Nice low lighting, bustling atmosphere and it was full. What was great about this place was even though the place was full, you didn't feel over crowded. We were shown to our table, which was more like a booth. Our waiter for the evening was called Matt - who as it happens was from Chicago. This was pretty much the only guy we saw for the rest of our meal. What I don't like about some places is when you see 6 different people during your meal. One to show you to the table, one to ask what drinks you want, one to bring the drinks, one to bring the bread, one to take your order and one who brings your order. It's not a personal service. But Abe&Louie was totally different and it was so refreshing. Paulie ordered the wine with Matt who tottered off to go get it. About 2 mins later he came back with a small glass of different wine for Paulie to taste. The wine was better, would accompany the meal better and was actually cheaper. Too many places try and offer you a different bottle of wine that's actually more expensive and try to screw you over.
I had ordered another prime rib - double cut this time - while Cazzie and Karen went for the fillet on the bone. Paulie had the sirloin (I think).
This was the best steak I have ever had. It was stunning. Tasty, juicy, tender, succulent. I could go on. Cazzie, Karen and Paulie agreed. There was no meat left on any one's plate by the end of the meal. The 2 bottles of wine was a perfect accompaniment to the meal. Matt kept dropping by and asking if the meal was OK. He even stopped for a chat about Chicago, Smith & Wollensky's and a gave us a few "must do"'s if we are ever back in the Windy City.
Even the deserts were excellent. We didn't want a huge portion each, so Matt arranged for us to have a selection of all of the best deserts.
Each one was so tasty. Rich and sweet.
The meal was finished off with a very healthy Irish coffee.
This was, without a doubt, the best steak experience I have ever had and if you are ever in Boston, you must go here....and ask for Matt!!
The hunt still continues, but the benchmark is now Abe&Louie.
xxx
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