You Know You're A Foodie When...

On pondering my love of food (something I spend most of my time doing), I considered what is it that makes me a foodie. Here are some of the reasons I came up with...

You get excited about novelty kitchen equipment.

Like this tiny grater. What would you use this for? I personally loved this little guy with abundance because it made me feel like a normal sized person.

You're idea of a low hassle lunch includes poaching and making a hollandaise sauce.

This was my lunch a couple of days ago. I fancied something quick and easy yet tasty and noticed a box of duck eggs had appeared in our kitchen. I cheekily pinched one, poached it and served it on a slice of sourdough toast, wilted spinach and covered in a buttery, homemade hollandaise. To be honest, I felt a little pretentious eating this... but I think that actually made it taste a little better.

You spend half an hour making a sandwich for your packed lunch.

I found the recipe for this one through Pinterest and it comes from 'Full Belly Sisters'. Grilled Gouda, Spinach and Avocado. Luckily we have a microwave at work to make the cheese extra melty. To top it off, you consequently spend the entirety of your morning at work thinking about said sandwich and how good it's going to be. 

The amount of spices you own replicates your supermarket spice section.

We have an entire shelf for our spices at home and this really isn't enough space. A spice rack would be out of the question - we need to construct a wall of spices. Should I order them alphabetically, by taste or heat or by origin?

You've found yourself sitting in front of food channels at 3am.

Food Network and Good Food are two of my best friends. I am always happy to settle down in front of the TV and put on a food show, whether it be Masterchef, Cupcake Wars or a celeb chef show. But sometimes I find myself drifting in to a daze and next thing I know, it's 3am. This was a regular occurance in our houseshare last year, but that was more acceptable as we'd often go out drinking until 3 and then switch on.

You've started planning your dream holiday around restaurants and food.

Rob and I have started planning our dream holiday where we would stay at the Snoqualmie Falls and then travel down the West Coast of the US. Taking inspiration from shows such as Man v. Food, our stops are purely planned around what we will be eating. I also find excitement in trying special local delicacies, no matter how weird and wonderful they might be.

A large proportion of your birthday presents are food and recipe books.

This year, I tripled my number of recipe and food books. Alongside this, I received kitchen and baking equipment. Enough said.

You bore your friends and family with your food knowledge.

Every time I find out something new about food, I feel the need to share it with my loved ones. This is purely because I find it completely fascinating. Unfortunately they don't tend to feel the same way.

Chilli and Lamb Burgers with Feta

Ingredients

• Minced Lamb
• Red Chillis
• Red Onion
• Rocket
• Beef Tomato
• Feta Cheese
• Crusty Roll

Get your buns out! 

Place a handful of rocket, a big juicy slice of tomato and a thick slice of red onion to one side of your bun.

Get your cheese on!

Prepare your feta by crumbling generous chunks from the block.

Make your meat!

Chop your chilli up really small and mix into the lamb mince with your hands - shape into burger shapes. Heat a thin layer of olive oil in a grill pan, then once it's hot, slap your meat in! Cook until golden brown.

Jenga Time!

Place your meat onto your salad and then add a good bit of feta onto the meat. Place the other bun on the top and enjoy!

Smokehouse Rock

Here's a little back story for you:

 

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far far away, I was a vegetarian for a year. It started due to my unhealthy weight obsession and the purchase of the book 'Skinny Bitch'. A NY Times bestseller, this book's blurb reads "A no-nonsense tough love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous'. Being at a vulnerable age in my personal development, I absorbed it's horror stories about anything other than completely organic vegetables. I immediately stopped eating meat - it's main victim. Before this I could have told anyone that my favourite food was beef (I especially loved steak), so it was a shock to the system but I was completely dedicated to my cause. At the time, I was goaded that I would never do it, that I loved meat too much, that I would fail. Word of advice: Never challenge me. If something is made into a competition, I become a very different, serious person. And thus, Vegetarian Georgie was born. Now I look back on this part of my life with disbelief. 

This Sunday, Rob and I went for dinner at the Soho branch of Bodean's - a barbecue smoke house that boasts the best ribs this side of the Atlantic. We'd been itching to try them out since our move last summer, but hadn't found the time or the money. 

The Soho branch is set into two floors - the top floor is a bar/deli with communal tables, a fridge full of take home products and (at our time of arrival) ESPN on their screens. People sit around drinking beer, eating barbeque and laughing. It is a good atmosphere. The lower floor is the restaurant, where we ventured down to. Sunday was a horrible windy and wet day and so the warmth and cosyness of the Bodean's restaurant floor was exactly what we needed. The first thing I was impressed by here (despite the rain shelter it was providing) was their playlist. It was an eclectic mix of everything I love: Rainbow, Metallic, Simple Minds... I don't believe I've been to restaurant before that played this sort of music and over the course of the evening, it was impossible not to be biased towards the other aspects of the place, purely based on their playlist choices. 

Bodean's cocktail menu was a treat in itself, a mix of classic and innovative at reasonable prices. Alongside this, I could choose from a huge variety of soft drinks, wines or even a root beer float (I was extremely tempted). We both settled for Pepsi, which was ultimately shown to be a good choice after our food had arrived. We opted for a Nachos Supreme to start us off, which we dug into with pleasure. They got the salsa/guacamole/sour cream/cheese balance down to a T. The menu at Bodean's is a menagerie of US classics. They've got all bases covered. Burgers, Hotdogs, Ribs, Meatloaf, Shrimp, Deli Sandwiches, Burritos, Enchiladas, Mac and Cheese and Steaks. We, of course, wanted a bit of everything and ordered the Meat Platter for two - "A selection of our finest meats from the smoke pit served with fries and coleslaw". On ordered, we inquired as to what was included with the platter... our server told us "all the meats". Everything I've ever wanted to hear.

A true test of a restaurant is whether or not they can do good fries. Bodean's thankfully passed this test. I breathed a sigh of relief. And so to the meat platter... Short and Long Pork Ribs, Pulled Pork, BBQ Chicken, Burnt Ends and Beef Rib. It was like I was tasting every episode of Man V. Food at once. It was on tucking into this that I reflected on my prior vegetarianism. What was I thinking? 

This meal was the closest thing I have ever had to a religious experience. The meat... the sauce... the creamy and crunchy coleslaw that cuts through the richness of the meat perfectly... It was heavenly. When the bill arrived, it was the first time in a very long time where I didn't die inside on reading the figure. I was happy to pay for this food and I will happily return to Bodean's whenever I can.  

Everyone need's to put down whatever they are doing and run to Bodean's. NOW.

Cake.

Coconut Cake

(Click for Recipe)

Lemon Polenta Cake

(Click for Recipe)

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".