Cake.

Coconut Cake

(Click for Recipe)

Lemon Polenta Cake

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Meat Me in St Louis

Generally, I don't agree with the concept of Valentine's day. You shouldn't need a specified day to tell someone how much you love them, but at the same time it does give those who often forget or are too shy an extra nudge to make a move. This Valentine's Day, as Rob and I are a little lacking in the cash department, the only appropriate way for us to show our love was to share some delicious food. We decided to head over to the delectably trendy MeatLiquor (about 2 minutes from Bond Street Tube Station). There seems to be a buzz at the moment about these kind of 'No Reservation' restaurants that leave you waiting out in the cold, growing ever more hungry for what lays ahead. So we thought we'd check it out - an "apparently" unmissable burger for £7 sounds pretty good to my wallet right now.

We headed down for just after 6pm, as queuing in the cold for a few hours on such a supposedly romantic evening didn't sound overly appetizing. Although I had dressed for a long wait. We joined the back of the relatively short queue and I was transported back to my uni days of queuing for our local super club. It was dark and there was a lot of red lighting. From the outside, it looked more like a biker style stripper bar than haute cuisine establishment. (There has been talk of comparing the atmosphere to that of Fangtasia in True Blood - something I was secretly very excited about). Within 20 minutes we were inside, and sent over to the bar to wait. 

Now, I'm not an overly trendy person. I don't really go out to clubs or bars (a.) because I don't have the money and b.) because it really isn't Rob's scene) so I felt a little intimidated at first. Loads of trendy people chatting away and drinking their trendy wine from jam jars. The bartenders were making cocktails at full steam and we were presented with our menu for the evening. A good selection of wines and cocktails were available and the food menu look encouragingly small. I can't complain enough about huge menus. Focus on what you're good at guys. We both ordered a Paloma cocktail, which came in a thin beer stein, and was a tequila based cocktail, topped off with Ting. For those of you that aren't familiar with Ting... it's a sugar loaded grapefruit based carbonated drink. Ting is legendary. I never thought I would come across Ting in a cocktail. This put me in a very good mood.

We waiting another 15-20 minutes before we were shown to a table. As it was Valentine's, I expected everywhere to be crammed. MeatLiquor had dealt with this by make a table of four into two tables of two. Except it was still one table. So we sat down with our table mates for the evening - a little awkward if you're out for an intimate, romantic meal...

Having had to much time to debate what we were going to have, and basically finish our £7 drinks, we were ready to order. Rob ordered a Dead Hippie Burger and I ordered a Green Chilli Cheeseburger with a side of Chilli Cheese Fries to share, along with two more cocktails. This time I went for a Southern Comfort concoction that included apricot jam (!). Now, I love apricot jam, but in hindsight, this was more of a dessert than a refreshing beverage. 

The Dead Hippie Burger

The wait for food was good, not too long but it didn't feel like they were rushing to get rid of us. We were served both our burgers and our fries basket on a sharing tray. Where to start with the food? As soon as I took a bite of my burger, a river of juices gushed forth. Now I understood what the kitchen rolls on each table were for. My burger was a juicy, tender explosion of meaty goodness, doused with cheese and chilli. For me, the green chilli was a little too bitter but that might have been due to the apricot jam concoction that I had been sipping beforehand. Rob's Dead Hippie Burger was gorgeous, with two patties and dribbled with dead hippie sauce. We spent a long time pondering what a dead hippie sauce was, and I can only suggest you find out for yourself. 

Chili Cheese Fries

We then had a mountain of fries to conquer. The fries were nothing special. Surely good fries can't be that hard to do? It seems like the effort has really gone into making their burgers super special and forgetting what they like to call "rabbit food". This dish on the whole would be great after an alcohol soaked night out on the town as the main ingredient I could taste was salt. With cocktails at £7 a pop, I had to make mine last throughout the barrage of salt that was hitting me. I have to admit, Rob took on most of the fries but I would have been totally content with just my burger. Dainty food, it wasn't.

The good thing about MeatLiquor is that at weekends, it stays open until 2am with the kitchen closing at 1am. So had I been out on the town at the weekend, heading down for a burger at midnight would be high on my priority list. It's dark moodyness means that although the burgers are extremely messy, you avoid any embarrassment as any others in your party won't be able to see the mess you're making. The burgers were good, the atmosphere was better. We decided that as a whole experience it was worthwhile but had we had to wait for 2 hours (as I know some people have had to), I would have been less than impressed.

A Rather Naughty Valentines

Macaroons. What is all the fuss about? I'll tell you what, they're bloody brilliant. 

This valentine's I will be tucking into these delicious, crunchy, chewy treats. 

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Macaroons.

Scrimping for Soup

Last week, I tried my hardest to budget my shopping and use up everything that I had bought in the best way that I could. This involved a lot of soups. But that's no problem for me because I love soup. Especially at the moment with all the coldness and snow. In fact, most of my shopping list for this week is soups and stews, somehow they just make you feel better about the coldness and misery outside. You know the feeling, the beautiful white powdery snow is turning to horrible grey slush and it's still too cold for anyone to willingly want to go outside.

Even Rob has been more keen to eat soups - something that he will usually avoid at all costs because he doesn't see them as "proper food".

Here's my recipe for a warming, comforting Spicy Squash Soup.

What you'll need:

1 Seasonal Squash
1 Onion or Leek
1 Red or Green Chilli
A Pinch of Tumeric
Vegetable Stock

What to do:

Whack everything in a saucepan and allow to simmer until the vegetables are of a mushy softness. (Usually this isn't something that I would condone as squash does not enjoy being boiled - generally you need to steam it. But this makes this soup absolutely no effort at all, perfect for a winter's day when you have no energy and just want to sit on the sofa in your onesie watching Masterchef repeats.)
When the vegetables are soft enough, get a hand blender and (stand back a tad to avoid splashback) pulverize your soup to a beautiful creamy texture.
Season with salt and pepper and service with a drizzle of olive oil or crème fraîche.

 Rob White's Serving Suggestion:


Place a cream cracker in the middle of your soup to make it "proper food".