Alternative bread baking at the Hornbeam cafe



Wholemeal Spelt Loaf



Rosemary focaccia, ciabatta rolls and a baguette



The Hornbeam café is a perfect place to take a break and escape from the hustle and bustle of busy Walthamstow streets. Tucked away by the bakers arms, this friendly little café specialises in organic vegetarian food, with a strong emphasis on community involvement. The café also plays host to various book groups, open mic nights and occasional supperclub evenings.

 

 

 

 

 

One particularly successful group, the Hornbeam Bakers collective, also operated from the café throughout the past couple of years. These guys bake the loaves sold at the Hornbeam café and market stalls, in addition to running a range of baking classes, designed for everyone from total beginners to regular bread bakers. Already having some home baking experience, I signed up for two of their Sunday bread making courses; Alternative Breads, featuring a range of wheat free flours, and Speciality bread, where we would make a range of more advanced loaves such as focaccia, ciabatta and baguette.

Our teacher for these two classes was Raju, a young baker with a clear passion and enthusiasm for home baking. The courses ran from 11-4pm in the Hornbeam kitchen, where we would spend the day sharing baking stories and preparing our dough mixes before placing our lovingly made loaves into the communal oven for baking. I found the alternative bread day particularly useful, I've never managed to find a supermarket wheat-free bread that didn't taste of cardboard, so it was really good to have the confidence to make decent spelt, rye and tapioca loaves at home. In fact, I was so inspired by the courses that I went out and bought a breadmaker, and haven't bought another supermarket loaf of bread since!

As of winter 2013, the Hornbeam bakers group are moving into their new premises at the Blackhorse Workshops. They are expanding the range of baking courses offered to include some new ones such as pastry making (homemade croissants - yum!) aswell as all the old favourites such as the ever popular sourdough bread course. At just £30-35 per course, I can highly recommend these to anyone wanting to learn more about baking! You can find more details of all the upcoming classes on their blog here.

Cambodian cooking classes with Da

Pomelo salad with spicy dressing

While walking through Lloyd Park one day I came across a flyer taped to the entrance gate for a series of Cambodian cooking classes taking place over the next few weekends. Being both a huge fan of South East Asian food AND learning new cooking skills, I knew I had to sign up! The classes were held in the community area at the back of the Salvation Army on Forest road. Over the course of a two hour class, we would prepare, cook and eat a two-course lunch together.

 

 

 

 

Chicken wings with a tamarind, garlic and shallot sauce

Our teacher was the delightfully hilarious Da, a Cambodian woman who now lives in Walthamstow with her family. For the first class we made chicken wings in a spicy tamarind and garlic sauce, with a pomelo, pepper and carrot salad. I had never used pomelo as an ingredient before, and had often wondered what the giant grapefruit-type fruits were that I often saw outside corner shops around Walthamstow. The tamarind chicken dish was a big hit, very easy to prepare, with a delicious sharp tang from the tamarind and garlic in the flavour-packed sauce. In fact, I cooked it again later that week for my husband to try.

The initial set of classes has now finished for the year but Da will be running a more extensive set of classes in the new year. Comment below or check back here later for more details!



God's Own Junkyard

Inside God's Own Junkyard

Behind an inconspicuous wooden door tucked away on a quiet industrial area of Vallentin Road is where you will find God's Own Junkyard, a fascinating and quirky Alladin's cave packed full of neon artwork. The man behind the Junkyard is Chris Bracey, who has been in the neon business for 37 years. What started out as a sign making company for seedy Soho bars has flourished over the years into something far more spectacular. You can see his artworks everywhere from Hollywood films such as 'Eyes Wide Shut' and the modern 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' to the latest Rimmel London advertisement  featuring Kate Moss stalking and pouting through a giant pink neon Union Jack. Chris's popularity has continued to rise exponentially in recent years, culminating this spring with the launch of a major new exhibition at the Scream gallery in London, gaining him significant media coverage, for example these articles by The Independent and the BBC. 

The Scream exhibition is well worth a visit, but us E17'ers are in for an extra treat. The Junkyard on Vallentin Road is Chris Bracey's workshop and studio, where he creates his latest pieces and old set props are brought home to rest in the backyard. The interior of the studio is a mind-boggling sight, with every wall crammed full of glowing, flickering illuminations. Much of the artwork here is for sale, from small single words mounted on a wooden board to the bigger, more dramatic installations. As we moved deeper into the studio the back door was opened allowing us out into the yard. Here is home to hundreds more pieces, piled up somewhat haphazardly against each other, giving the impression of a bizzare dilapidated fairground.  The closer you look the more there is to spot and marvel upon. This place is a must-see for all local residents!

God's Own Junkyard can be found at 96 Vallentin Road is currently open for visitors every Friday and Saturday from 10am-4pm. Check their website for the latest opening hours and a photo gallery. 

The Bell re-opening November 2012

The Bell pub, on the corner of Forest Road and Hoe street has been pretty much my local pub for the last 6 years. In all that time I think I only ventured inside once, found it to be generally quite run down and uninviting, and never went back. However, this summer the Bell closed for several months for refurbishment, and had it's much anticipated re-opening last week. The place was completely packed on opening night, including quite a large number of young trendies, which I cant ever imagine would have set foot in the old pub!

The bar area now looks open and inviting, with a wide selection of real ales and decent wines on offer. Signs in the bar indicate that they hope to start serving food soon, and I think the Bell would be a perfect place for a leisurely Sunday pub lunch.

The Bell refurbishment has been part of a very welcome series of improvements to several E17 pubs including the Cock and the Chequers on the High Street. 

You can find further details on the Bell here: www.thebelle17.com

Thainese - 313a Hoe Street

The quality of Walthamstow eateries has been on a slow but steady increase over the past few years. Not so long ago you would struggle to find a decent pizza in E17, but now we are spoilt for choice (the Spar, Peppe's at the Rose and Crown, the Nags Head and Oregano's for example). Something that has been noticeably absent however is a decent Thai restaurant. i'm a huge fan of South-East Asian food and have been hoping for years that some lovely little sushi bar or Thai place would open up in the village. So when I heard some twitter rumours about a new place called Thainese which had recently moved into Hoe Street, I knew I would have to pay them a visit.

Thainese

Thainese is found along a rather quiet section of what I call the 'far' end of Hoe Street, close to the intersection with Grove Road. First impressions of the place were pretty good: sleek wooden tables and chairs and walls decorated with artwork and ornate metal lamps.We were greeted with friendly smiles by a man who appeared to be the owner and shown over to our table. The restaurant also boasts a rather unique feature of two cute and cosy little candlelit wooden cabins in the garden which can be reserved for a private party (see photos of the cabins on the Thainese website here).

The Food: Despite the name Thainese, the restaurant doesn't specialise only in Thai food, but also offers a range of Chinese and Singaporean dishes, in fact, according to  the website the head chef trained and worked in Singapore for over ten years. For starters we had crab rangoon, little crispy wonton parcels filled with a crab meat and served with a spicy dipping sauce. For the main course I had chicken Thai green curry, which was good although the sauce had more of the earthy undertones of a yellow curry  so was a little different to the traditional green curries I am used to (but still really nice!). Hubby ordered the beef claypot, beef noodles and vegetables slow-cooked in a spicy sauce. At £10.95, I'd say it was a pound or two overpriced, as were most of the dishes on the menu, although noodles and rice are included in the with all main dishes which makes the prices seem more reasonable. Service was attentive and incredibly friendly, and you could really tell how everyone was trying to make this new restaurant a success. I would definitely come again to try out more of the menu including the chef's speciality Singaporean dishes. One final thing to note is that there is no alcohol on the drinks menu, and no option to bring your own either. 

Claypot Beef

Chicken Green curry

The Verdict: If you're looking for authentic Thai food cooked by Thai chefs, this isn't the place for you ( I would suggest a visit to Singburi on Leytonstone High Road). But for some decent pan-asian food, and super friendly service, Thainese is definitely worth a visit.

You can find contact details, more information and a sample menu on the Thainese website here 

William Morris Gallery re-opening

So the renovations in Lloyd Park seem to have been dragging on FOR EVER, certainly well past the original April 2012 predicted completion date. Between that and the great British weather we have been experiencing lately, it has somewhat scuppered my plans to spend most of my maternity leave sunbathing and picnicking in the park. But finally in the past week we have seen some progress. The path that runs through the centre of the park is now open, so I no longer have to drag the buggy across the quagmire of Aveling field on my way up to the station. The central island has been turfed over and is accessible by a new bridge, providing easy access all the way from the Brettenham Road entrance through to Forest Road. The new hub building, cafe and playgrounds in the centre are all looking very promising, although there seems like a lot of work still to do.

Ribbon Cutting

Walking up further into the park accross the island, the grounds and ornamental gardens surrounding the gallery building are looking fabulous and should be quite a sight when all the new plants and lawns have settled in. And round at the front of the William Morris gallery, an impressive new driveway has been put in, with ramps sweeping up to the entrance of the building itself, which has been re-opened to the public today! A little crowd had assembled for the ribbon-cutting ceremony before we all rushed eagerly inside.

The new William Morris gallery cafe

Downstairs, as previously, much of the exhibition showcased William Morris' work, with many of the exhibits updated with added child-friendly interactive features. There is also a large room which will house various different exhibitions throughout the year, currently on show is the impressive Walthamstow Tapestry by Grayson Perry. Almost as excitingly (for me!), just behind the contemporary exhibition room is a light and airy new cafe, with a conservatory style glass roof and patio overlooking the grounds. Sadly I didn't have time for a coffee break today as I was rushing off to the Lee Valley white water centre for some Olympic action, but I'm sure I will be back very soon to give a proper cake appraisal!

Part of the Walthamstow tapestry by Grayson Perry

The William Morris Gallery is open from Wednesday to Sunday, 10.00 - 17:00. You can find further details of upcoming exhibitions and events on the website here.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Arts and Crusts

I've been on maternity leave since the start of March, which has given me the unexpected luxury of time to explore much more of my beloved E17 than I normally get to see during my previously busy evenings and weekends. After my first couple of weeks off work I found that I was having lunch in the same few places over and over again, and it was time to try and discover some more local gems. Thanks to the power of our fabulous twitter community, it just took one quick message and 15 minutes later I was armed with a long list of personal recommendations.
First on my list was Arts and Crusts, on the corner of Victoria Road and Woodend Road. This lovely little cafe is tucked away from the main road on a residential street, making it a peaceful haven just a few minutes walk from the chaotic noise of Wood Street and Forest Road.
Inside the cafe you will invariably find Andrew, the owner and officially 'the nicest man in Walthamstow'. He goes out of his way to remember the names of all his customers, and I have spent many a happy lunchtime chatting to the other customers who Andrew has introduced me to. There is such a genuine warmth and friendliness about this place which keeps me coming back every week. As far as the food and drink goes, I've tried quite a few of the sandwiches and paninis on the menu, which have all been delicious! I'm not a coffee drinker myself, but I have it on good authority that the coffees on offer here are also excellent. The cafe also has a regularly changing display of local artworks, most of which are for sale if anything catches your eye!
You can find Arts and Crusts at 19 Victoria Road. Follow them on twitter @ArtsandCrusts for all the latest news.

Wood Street Indoor Market

This Saturday saw the re-launching of Wood Street's indoor market. I had walked past the market entrance several times in the past without even really noticing it, but it has now been completely  reinvigorated with the addition of 21 new shops. The place was a bustle of activity on re-maunch day, and it was great to see so many of the local residents out in force to support this new venture.

One of the new shops that caught my eye was the Significant Seams Hub where I put my name down for some 'waiting for baby' sewing classes where pregnant women can get together and sew a special toy or item for the new baby. We munched on yummy mango and passionfruit cakes from Plumbun, and I loved the funky T-shirt designs on display at Carbon 28 (definitely going to buy Jon a couple of cool presents from there!).

You can find Wood Street Market at 98-100 Wood Street, and it is currently open from 10-am - 5.30pm, Monday -Wednesday and Friday-Saturday. You can find a map and a full list of the market traders on the Wood Street Indoor Market website.



Daisy's Cafe - Hoe Street



Daisy's cafe is one of a few bright oases scattered among the pizza and fried chicken shops that make up the otherwise uninviting stretch of Hoe Street that leads from the Lloyd park end of town up to the station (Le Delice and L'hirondelle being a couple of the others). The cafe has an ever-changing selection of quirky decorations, toys and jewellery for sale which are scattered around the walls and give the place a really interesting vibe. The staff are really lovely, friendly and laid back. I normally pop in at lunchtimes for a tea and panini, and often end up bringing home a slice of one of the excellent homemade cakes from the main counter. Definitely worth a visit!

You can find Daisy's cafe at 176 Hoe Street

Goats cheese + chargrilled vegetable panini (with optional Worcester sauce flavour crisps!)

**UPDATE 7th Feb 2012**

Daisy's cafe appears to be up for sale! A for sale sign appeared outside at the weekend.....lets hope they can find a buyer and keep the place going.

The Castle, Walthamstow



Aberdeen Angus burger at the Castle

It's that quiet strange time of year between Christmas and New year's Eve. Luckily I don't have to go back to work until January 3rd so I am free to spend a few relaxing days at home eating up all the leftover chocolates and  playing computer games before the reality of the new year kicks in. What better time to treat ourselves to a leisurely long afternoon pub lunch in Walthamstow? More local pubs are starting to offer food options now, with regular food nights on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at the Rose and Crown plus roast dinners every Sunday from 1-3pm. I've also been told that the Nag's Head is starting to serve up small plates from a bar snack menu in the evenings.

We decided to head for the Castle, just set back from the main village high street on Grosvenor Rise. They have rebranded themselves as 'Walthamstow's first gastropub', and offer up a tempting looking menu of classic main courses, light bites and the popular roast dinner on a Sunday. We went for the delicious homemade Abberdeen Angus burger, which came with coleslaw and a neat stack of huge chunky chips, priced at around £10. It's definately a child-friendly place, in fact you might find yourself fighting through the buggies to get to the bar on a Sunday afternoon.

You can find opening hours and a sample menu for the Castle gastropub on their website here: www.thecastlegastropub.co.uk

New Blog: Baby Steps in Walthamstow

As you may know, I am currently 5 months pregnant, expecting the new arrival around April 9th 2012. I imagine that life in 2012 will be very different for me, and I'm really looking forward to my 10 months off work to discover all the fun daytime baby friendly activities that E17 has to offer. I'm sure that my non-parent friends don't really want to read endless posts about pregnancy yoga or where to find the perfect pushchair, so I have decided to launch a sister blog, BabySteps in Walthamstow, for all my baby-related thoughts. Click the link below or the BabySteps tab near the top of the page for my pregnancy diary and updates on how I am getting on preparing for the springtime pitter-patter of tiny feet! I will also continue to keep this blog for all the other cool non-baby related stuff going on in E17!

Baby Steps in Walthamstow

London Prepares Series - Handball cup

Handball action!

It's an exciting time for East London as preparations for the London 2012 Olympics get into full swing. The shiny new Westfield shopping centre is already open and already packed full to the brim with frantic shoppers seven days a week. High-rise apartment blocks are springing up all over Stratford, and the new transport links are starting to take shape. As for the Olympic park itself, the progress on the various sporting arenas has been obvious every time I drive down the A12, and construction seems to be remarkably on schedule according to the official reports!  The main stadium was completed on time and under budget in March, with work on the other arenas being finished throughout the year. Throughout the winter and next spring, the arenas are being opened up for various test events as part of the London Prepares series, and as a resident of Waltham forest, we were lucky enough to get 4 free tickets for the Handball cup which took place this weekend! Now I don't know too much about handball as it isn't a massively popular sport here in the UK, in fact in 2007 we barely had a national team and had to recruit a load of athletes from other sports and send them on an intensive handball training programme in Denmark. The scheme seems to have been successful as both the GB men's and women's teams have earned the right to compete in London 2012. (We are offered places automatically as the host nation, but can be prevented from taking part if the teams are not competitive enough). I have tickets to the Olympic men's handball quarter-final next year, so now seemed like as good a time as any to figure out what the sport was all about, and a good excuse to get inside the Olympic park for the first time.

The Olympic handball arena

As well as testing out the handball arena, the London prepares series is being used to train some of the many thousands of staff that will be needed next year. When we arrived on Saturday, we had to go through airport-style security screening, where our bags were scanned and we had to empty our pocket contents into little plastic bags. The staff were all very chirpy and happy, and hopefully these test runs will help them iron out any issues before they have to deal with the massive crowds flooding in next summer. We walked past the aquatics centre and over the huge sweeping bridge past the impressive main stadium towards the handball arena. Even the normally green dingy canals had been totally cleaned out and looked sparklingly clear. The park itself is still a bit of a building site for now, but as soon as the grass and plants are in I can imagine it being quite something. The handball arena is one of the smaller looking venues, a compact black cube of a building with a capacity of around 7,000. Inside, brightly multicoloured seats are packed in over two floors, ensuring everyone is close to the action. The handball floor can be easily taken up to allow the floor to be used for other sports like badminton or basketball. 
We were there to watch the two semi-final games of the women's handball cup, featuring Angola v Poland and Austria v China. Team GB sadly hadn't made it to the semi-finals, missing out only by goal difference from the earlier group qualifying stage. For my first experience of handball, the games were really exciting! Loads of end-to-end fast paced action, plenty of goals, and we even had a handy little leaflet to explain the rules (kind of a cross between basketball and 5-a-side football!). I don't even remember who won the competition - for me the day was much more about getting a taste of the Olympic experience, and I cant wait for next year!
Tickets are still available for other London Prepares events on the Ticketmaster website here: London Prepares series tickets. I managed to get myself some more tickets for February to watch Tom Daly in action at the diving World cup!

Alex and Salim's E17 Supper club

Jon enjoying his sparkler!

I've mentioned before on this blog how I discovered the secret world of London supperclubs and have been working my way round some of the most recommended hidden gems over the last couple of years. There is a thriving underground foodie scene springing up all over East London, with Love Leluu and The Secret Ingredient among my favourite local supperclub venues. So it was surely only a matter of time before our own trendy little corner of East London got in on the act. A couple of months ago I started to hear on the grapevine (twitter!) about a brand new E17-based supperclub, and I knew I would have to go along and check it out for myself. 

Last Friday evening, Jon and I went along to Alex and Salim's house in Walthamstow. We were greeted at the door with some lovely masala popcorn beautifully wrapped up in big green leaves, and several glasses of refreshing Mojito's from the fridge (non-alcoholic for me due to my ever-expanding baby bump!). Around 20 of us came along for dinner that night and we all sat around one long table in the living room, chatting away and greedily munching our way through the plentiful food that kept arriving from the kitchen. One favourite dish for me was mutton sagwalla, tender slow cooked chunks of meat in a vivid green spinach sauce. Another dish I really enjoyed was moong dal, I love eating all kinds of dal dishes but have absolutely no idea how to recreate them at home and get everything tasting so creamy and delicious! Luckily, Salim also runs cooking classes so I can always go along one day to learn all the secrets. After we were completely stuffed with our selection of main courses, we managed to find a little more room to squeeze in some chocolate cake before finishing off the night with some sparklers to add to the festive Diwali celebration theme. 

We all had a great time chatting to and mixing with the other like-minded E17'ers, so why not pop along one night and give it a try?

Alex and Salim currently run the supperclub on the first Friday of the month, check out their website for more details:http://pardes.posterous.com/ They also offer cooking classes and can deliver a weeks worth of home-cooked suppers to your home (which Jon and I tried out a few weeks ago when we didn't feel like cooking - much healthier than your average takeaway and tastier too!).
Also, check out Sonia's review on her blog here:

Sushi competition at Tsuru

The final five contestants

I've mentioned before my search for a new regular good-value sushi joint in London after my previous favourite, Zipangu on Little Newport Street, closed down a few years ago. Recently my favourite place to go has been Tsuru, originally with one branch near London Bridge but now expanded to open new branches at Mansion House and Bishopsgate. Tsuru is a hugely popular lunch spot for city workers, with its sleek wooden benches and beautiful sustainably sourced sushi on offer. As an out-of-town worker, I always visit in the evenings, where the lunchtime fridges are pushed back and the lights dimmed for a much more relaxed evening menu including hot dishes such as the gorgeous katsu curry. 

Recently, Tsuru held a competition to find a new idea for a sushi roll to add to their menu. Inspired by their katsu curry main dish, I suggested a chicken katsu roll, with a chicken and red pepper filling and a tempura flake coating to give the sushi roll a bit of added crunch. Jon decided to enter too, and went for a more korean-inspired recipe of slow cooked pulled pork with pak choi and ginger filling, and a black sesame seed coating. We thought nothing more of our entries until a few weeks ago when we were delighted to hear that both of our recipes had been chosen for the final! We were invited along to Tsuru Mansion House for the somewhat daunting task of making our recipes for the restaurant owners and other judges to see who would make it onto the menu.

The finalists assemble our creations

The evening was really good fun, with the guys at Tsuru having gone to a lot of effort to make sure all our different ingredients were sourced and ready, including some amazing pulled pork for Jon's recipe from Pittcue. One of the chef's demonstrated how to roll our sushi, before we nervously presented our creations to the judges and waited for the results whilst we tucked into our lovingly-made dishes. In the ended, the judges decided on two joint winning recipes, one of which was Jon's slow cooked pork dish! His recipe will be on the menu to buy at Tsuru for a month starting from now, and whoever sells the most sushi rolls will win a magnum of Bollinger and the honour of a permanent place on the menu

My crispy chicken katsu rolls!

You can find Tsuru at London Bridge, Bishopsgate or Mansion house, and online here. Please give the slow-cooked pork a try! Thanks to Emma and all at Tsuru for a great night.

ferdiesfoodlab

 I've been a fan of London supperclubs for a couple of years now, with my favourite one from the past year being the excellent Fernandez and Leluu in Hackney. Uyen (from leluu.com ) still runs the supper clubs and Vietnamese cookery courses from her flat as I previously mentioned here . Simon, the other half of what was Fernandez and Leluu, is about to launch his own dining venture, ferdiesfoodlab, from next Saturday. Jon and I were lucky enough to be invited along for the soft launch night last weekend for an evening of foodie fun.

About 30 intrepid food lovers from across London congregated at Toynbee hall in Aldgate, a beautiful historic building with a spacious main hall set out with a long banquet table. We were served 6 courses, all beautifully presented on large serving platters to be shared with the people around you which made for a great informal and sociable atmosphere which got the whole table talking to each other. One highlight for me was a course of King Crab and samphire, the huge crab legs looking particularly impressive as a table centrepiece. Another fantastic dish was huge slow-roasted shoulders of lamb served in antique copper pans, we were practically fighting each other to carve off the chunks of tender meat and perfectly crispy roast potatoes.

All-in-all a great night out for food lovers looking for something a bit different to your usual Saturday night restaurant meal.  

You can find out more information and dates for the upcoming ferdiesfoodlab nights here.

Liquorice marinated beef fillet

Seville zebras and chocolate olive ganache

Walthamstow Short Film Club

Over the past week, I had spotted several posters around town and the village advertising a short film night at the Rose and Crown, so Jon and I went along on Friday night to check it out. These events have been running on the last Friday of the month since March and are held in the red room at the back of the pub.

On Friday we saw about eight or nine short films, covering a huge variety of styles from horror to comedy, with a couple of heartwarming and thought provoking documentaries thrown into the mix too. At the end of the night we voted for our favourite film, with this months winner being 'Billie' by Ana Pinheiro, the tale of an eccentric and charismatic Big Issue seller who told the story of her life on the streets and how she managed to turn her life around. You can see a clip of the film here. At only £3.50 each with sweets or popcorn thrown in, I would definitely recommend going along to the next film evening at the end of August.

Walthamstow short film club runs on the last Friday of the month at 7.30pm. You can find more details on their Facebook page here.

Walthamstow Farmers' Market

Walthamstow Farmers' Market

Every Walthamstow resident is familiar with Walthamstow market, the long bustling street full of 'paaand-a-bowl' fruit and veg stalls which sprawls all the way from Walthamstow Central station down to St James' Street, making it apparently one of the longest street markets in Europe.  Every Sunday since September 2007, the high street has also been home to a rather smaller but in my opinion more enticing selection of stalls that makes up the farmers' market. Every week, a group of farmers and producers come to show and sell their wares, everything from wild game, vegetables, organic meat, cakes, pastries and fresh herbs. Here are a few of my favourite stalls:

Seriously Italian: A fantastic selection of homemade pestos, gnocchi and other Italian dishes. Seriouslyitalian.com

Lincolnshire poacher cheese: Their signature poacher cheese is wonderful, as well as their fresh butter and raw milk. The also do gift boxes around Christmas time - a perfect present for that cheese lover in your family lincolnshirepoachercheese.com/

Radwinter Wild Game: Ideal for picking up those neglected British favourites such as rabbit, venison, pigeon and partridge. Today I picked up some Venison+mushroom sausages plus a pack of pheasant legs from these guys -can't wait to get cooking!  Radwinterwildgame.com

You can find the Farmers' market every Sunday from 10am-2pm in the square outside Walthamstow library, and more information on the full range of producers here: London Farmers' Markets - Walthamstow

Lunch at Sketch

Beef carpaccio

I like to think of myself as a foodie, I love trying all kinds of exotic foods, discovering new flavours and unusual ingredients. Sadly I don't have an unlimited food budget so I normally have to limit myself to the more affordable end of the London restaurant price scale, however, it is definitely good to push the boat out every now and then! So I didn't take much convincing to use my recent birthday as the perfect excuse to book a day off work and try out some Michelin star dining. We went to Sketch, on Conduit street, a quirky and unpretentious place with a fantastic reputation for fine food. On arrival, we were given a quick tour around the various rooms including the impressive gallery room, described by our host as a 'video art installation dining experience', but what I can only describe as a huge, all-white room filled with white sofas and tables, with a giant psychedelic pacman-style video running all around the upper walls of the room. We were then led upstairs where the doors were opened to the magnificent Lecture room, run by head chef Pierre Gagnaire. The decor was at all times modern and unusual, a fascinating mixture of antique furniture and modern abstract art. The service was incredible, but unaccustomed as I am to fine dining, I did feel slightly ridiculous when I returned from the bathroom to find my napkin re-folded into an origami sculpture and a waiter rushing over to help tuck my chair in under me. The bathrooms by the way were equally crazy, a darkened chamber full of floor-to-ceiling mirrors and crystalline spider webs.

Sea trout and shrimps with samphire

Now I must move onto the food!. We went for the gourmet lunch menu, which presented each person with four starters, a main course, two desserts, 1/2 bottle of wine and coffee for the very reasonable price of £48 a head. Everything was exquisitely presented, with the utmost care and attention to detail showing through in every dish. The photos here really don't do the food justice as I tried to hastily snap away without anyone noticing. My sea trout main course was amazing, a wonderful balance of the sweet fish with the salty samphire and the bitter Guiness jelly cubes. We left feeling full to the brim and very happy with the world.

Thoughts on turning 30

 Today is a very special day for me. Today is my 30th birthday. For the last couple of years I have been slightly apprehensive about this moment, about leaving my twenties and my 'youth' behind, but as the fateful day grew closer I started to reflect on everything that I had experienced and acheived in the last ten years and began to feel a lot more at ease with the whole situation. I think if you can fill your life with as many happy and interesting experiences as possible then you don't need to fear the passing of time, just look back and think of all the good memories that you have created and the connections that you have made.

So here, in no particular order (apart from number 1!) are my top 20 memorable moments from my 20's.

1) Marrying the man of my dreams after five wonderful years together.
2) Buying our first flat together in Walthamstow.

3) Watching the sunrise over the Masaii Mara from a hot air balloon, peering down at a herd of giraffes galloping elegantly across the plain and a solitary lioness crouched drinking water from a stream.

4) Bathing in the plunge pool at the foot of Angel Falls, Venezuela, feeling the spray from the breathtaking kilometre-high cascade behind us.

5) Graduating with a first class honours degree in chemistry, the culmination of four years hard work and a lot of fun times.

6) Being offered my first proper job after graduation (The company where I still work!)

7) Watching mountain gorillas in Rwanda, scrambling up the side of a volcano to emerge onto a clearing where we watched in awe the majestic male silverback chewing on bamboo shoots while the baby gorillas swung on vines and tumbled in fluffy piles down the hill.

8) Spending four weekends at Barretstown, a beautiful and magical castle in Ireland, where children with terminal ilnesses and their families come for a weekend of theraputic recreation. Each time I have been there as a volunteer child carer has been a humbling, moving and heartwarming experience which I will never forget.
9) The spectacular view of Mount Fuji from our onsen spa on honeymoon in Japan.

10) Moving to London for the first time in 2004 and realising that I could never go back to live in some sleepy town or village.

11) Starting my own blog and discovering that people are interested in what I have to say!

12) Discovering a love for food and gastronomy, trying sushi for the first time, finding new restaurants, visiting secret supper clubs.
13) Buying my first car at the age of 22, a J-reg Ford Fiesta which I loved dearly but broke down on numerous occasions, most notably when the tyre blew out when I was driving up the M11 at 70mph.....and a few months later was broken into for someone to steal the radio.
14) Running a 10K with Paula Radcliffe. OK, so it was a charity run and Paula 'jogged' round in 40 minutes, but I still got to chat to her for a few seconds before she strode off into the distance. For me the real acheivement was getting my normally rather unfit self to the stage where I could happily run 10K without stopping (or dying).
15) Riding camels into the sand dunes of Morocco and spending the night under the stars.
16) Getting our cat Milo. When Jon and I went to the cat rescue centre and saw the fat grumpy cat  in the back room that no-one else wanted we knew we had to take him home.  Two years on he is a tiny bit less fat and still pretty grumpy.
17) Hiring a car and driving down highway 101 from San Francisco.

18) Staying best friends with Gemma + Kirsten throughout the whole decade and knowing that your best friends really will always be there for you!
19) Walking along a deserted beach in Thailand, riding elphants, rafting on bamboo rafts, learning how to make proper Thai green curry.
20) Spending the night in a buddhist temple at the top of a mountain near Kyoto, watching  geishas rush along the ancient streets.


Yep, its been a pretty good 10 years, I wonder what surprises the next 10 will have in store!

Vietnamese cookery class with Leluu

For the past couple of years, as part of my mission to seek out new and interesting dining experiences, I have been going to supper clubs in London. This is basically where someone opens up their home and transforms it into a mini restaurant for the night, and in exchange for a donation you are thrown together with other like-minded intrepid diners to enjoy a meal in a complete strangers living room. You get to hear about these places mainly by word of mouth, the best places flourishing though their good reputation and ending up over-subscribed every night. 

Beef Pho

The first supper club that I went to, back in late 2009 was Fernandez and Leluu in Hackney, shortly after they first started running. The food was fantastic, with the two chefs showcasing the best of their Vietnamese and Spanish heritages. I have tried several other supper clubs since, but always kept coming back to F&L every few months for the reliably excellent food. Uyen, the Vietnamese half of the pairing has gone solo now and still runs the supper clubs from her flat, along with numerous other projects such as a Vietnamese cookery class, that I persuaded Jon to try out with me yesterday. 

Summer Rolls

We spent the afternoon in Uyen's kitchen preparing and eating some of my favourite dishes such as Beef Pho, Bo La Lot (spicy beef in Betel leaves) and braised pork belly in cider and coconut juice. We learnt the proper way to balance all the elements of our dishes, and how to wrap the perfect summer roll. We also took a trip to the nearby Vietnamese supermarket, where I was able to stock up on all the essentials to recreate the dishes at home. It was a great afternoon, lots of fun and I definitely feel confident enough now to cook Vietnamese food for my next set of unsuspecting friends who come to visit! You can find out more about the cookery class and the supper club here: Love Leluu