French cuisine...the best in the world?

Depends on the person of course, but the reputation of French chefs and their cooking is, deservedly, legendary.

But, what to do if you don't eat meat? Does that mean that one is confined to onion soup and crêpes?

Not if you make a point of searching out veggie restaurants, it doesn't!

ybunny and I ate last Tuesday night at a vegetarian restaurant on the Right Bank called Saveurs Végét'Halles.

While slightly tricky to find, it was worth the wander.

Everything was tasty and definitely a treat for the eyes as well.

I also discovered that seitan doesn't have to be disgusting. Hurrah.

ybunny decided to gross me out a little and go for carrot and ginger juice, I opted for The Rouge.



We started with hummus and an olive tapenade with cuts from a baguette.


the tapenade, the hummus was presented similarly

For mains, I had seitan steak while ybunny ordered the chicken fillet.
Mine came with lentils, mashed potatoes, mangetout and mushrooms, and a green salad. His came with lentils, bulgar wheat, and a green salad.



We ate in almost complete silence as there were no words to waste on the deliciousness of the moment.

Even though we were already quite full, we had to try their desserts.
I was disappointed that they'd run out of pear tart at lunch time, but ybunny was delighted that they still had some of the red berries crumble. I got chocolate cake as a consolation prize.



While mine was great, the crumble was perfection. Crunchy and crumbling on the crust and sweet yet tart for the filling with a mango sauce drizzled around it. Both were served with physalis.

Great...now I'm hungry again. :)

A good food blog contains lots of pictures.

Unfortunately, most of the time, I am without such niceties.

Recently, I can blame this on a connectivity problem with our Mac Mini, aka the computer the pictures live on.

I like food pr0n as much as the next person.

So, I'll give you a few links of where I get my fix.

Bento
Lunch in a Box

Bento Anarchy

Bento Lunches

No, I don't make bento lunches myself, I don't have the time or equipment, but I think the intricacy of some of them are awesome.

Cakes
Cupcake Bakeshop

Cupcakes Take the Cake

Jintrinsique

Gluten-free
Gluten-free girl

Gluten-free Goddess

Gluten-free Blog

Veggie
Vegetarian Organic Blog

Misc
Potlikkery

I come back to these, though I do peruse new ones every so often. :)

You know you wanna share. Where do you see gorgeous, drool-worthy food?

FYI, I'm tremendously sorry for the lag in replying to some of your comments. Lots is getting pushed to the side during this crunch time.

I was talking to drjoan about the rise in prices for food in the US. It's amazing that a 10lb bag of rice used to cost around $8.50, now is heading towards $25. It used to be that grocery shopping when I was back in the US made me despair of UK prices.

Jake noted that in Alabama a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk is around $5, before tax.
Here, for the rough equivalent of a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread, both organic, is $6.96. Yes, that's more, but it's starting to narrow.

An overall grocery shopping trip is still more in the UK, but again, it's narrowing as well.

Our usual modus operandi for groceries is to buy basic veg (cauliflower, potatoes, carrots, etc.) at the Aberdeen Market from the farmer's stand there. Sometimes the eggs come from there as well.

We buy milk, cheese, and yogurt at our local Somerfield.

We're trying to coordinate joining a farm share based in Aberdeenshire. (My schedule has made this difficult recently.)

But, the rest we have delivered via online groceries, usually from Sainsbury's. (Not that Tesco isn't good, so far their delivery people have irked me.)

We stock up on kitchen roll, toilet roll, cat food (wet and dry), kitty litter, tinned veg and soup, frozen sundries, and cleaning supplies.

For Sainsbury's, the delivery fee is £5. Considering the price hikes in bus fare over the last three years (a student day pass when I arrived was £2. It is now £2.30.), paying the delivery charge saves either bus fare for two people (for us both, £5.10) or for two days worth of me going back and forth (£4.60).

There was a grocery delivery service in Chicago as well. I don't remember the name, but I think it had a green pear as a logo. It seemed so decadent to get groceries delivered.

Now, it seems like the normal thing.

Recently, I've had two deliveries in two weeks time. Both were because we were offered £10 vouchers that had expiry dates. But usually, it's a monthly or even bi-monthly thing.

My friend C says that of course online groceries are normal. What's weird is that I bought groceries for Tom online before I moved here. She says it boggles her mind that we managed to 'live together' before we lived together. :)

Online groceries? Any thoughts?

I have a whale of a headache, but I suppose that's what I get for doing all my errands in one fell swoop.

One thing that seems to be a shared experience between dorms in the US and the UK is quick noodles.

In the US, the most prevalent are the various one that fall under the general heading of ramen noodles and, in my experience, the ones I hear most remembered from dorm life in the UK are collectively known as pot noodle.

I started with ramen noodles when I went away to boarding school. I'd had them before then, but mostly as a something to eat when sick.

But, during my first stint in a dormitory they took on a pervasive aspect I never could have anticipated.

People used them for food, obviously, but they also have barter value (I'll lend you my new black heels if you give me those two packs of oriental flavor, etc).

While pot noodle seems to be a 'boil kettle, pour in water, stir' situation, ramen was best if made on a stove. This is converted to interesting and not entirely successful microwaving experimenting.

I honestly hated microwaved ramen, so, on a whim, I tried just eating the noodles dry.
And I discovered that they were EXCELLENT. Mmm.

Nowadays, with my dorm days behind me, I still like to have raw ramen on occasion.

Luckily, there's a grown up version.

( Cabbage and Ramen Salad )

I need to put 'beat illness lethargy' on my checklist. Sheesh.

Well, ybunny goes to Norway tomorrow.
So, as a send off, we made spoonbread.

Every wondered how to use cornmeal to your best advantage?

( Spoonbread recipe )

It's delish. :)

I'm such a foodie.

Saying that makes it a bit difficult to admit that, when I'm honest with myself, my favorite food is pizza.

That's not to say that I don't love all manner of casseroles, curries, stirfrys, soups, salads, desserts and so forth.

I think I realized that pizza was my favorite when started eating at Lupi's in Chattanooga. So very good.
It's a local pizzeria that makes their dough from scratch¹ and has a list of ingredients that covers most of their front wall.

Whether making my own crust and sauce to ordering takeaway and all levels of pizza preparation in between, I probably eat it three times a month.

But, when ybunny suggested it for supper last weekend, I felt a bit queasy.
The feeling continued up until today when we went for lunch to Pizza Express.

It wasn't just from being sick, although everything made me queasy while I was sick.
This was a specific aversion to pizza.

Even now, with lunch probably still cogitating in my stomach, thinking of pizza is still a little sick making. Such an odd development.² (Though, I only had to look at ybunny's, since I had cannaloni.)

Ever love a food and then go completely off it?

---

¹ - Once when I was there on a date, we stayed until just as they were closing. One of the guys working the ovens asked if we wanted the rest of the dough from the day. I took it to my dorm and baked it, except, I must not have worked it enough, because it rose...into a tower of baked pizza dough. Very odd.
² - Honestly, it would probably be best if the aversion stayed because it has continually been one of my diet breakers.

Regardless of how many people actually read Food Friday, I'd made a New Year's resolution to keep up Friday posting.

But, then, there were things that happened the last few weeks.

I can't even remember back to two Fridays ago.

However, last Friday was the beginning of most of this horribleness that is the flu/bronchitis/crawling death that ybunny and I have both had.

We've both been apathetic to food since then.
And, lemme tell you, it's hard to get excited about food when you're not really eating it.

So, fingers crossed that we'll be recovered by next Friday and I can go back to half-hazardly keeping my New Year's resolution.

I'm frantically writing. All research and no writing makes Jyll a very bad girl indeed.

If only research weren't so darn fascinating.

Today was the Kirking of the Trades at King's. They have a mace that could take the university's mace in a fight. Though, if the university mace and the student association mace were both up against the Incorporated Trades mace, then I'd give even odds.

There are seven trades traditionally represented. Their coat of arms shows one arm extending into the shield holding six arrows and another arm extending holding just one which is broken. I'm wondering if the broken arrow represents the non-fighting clergy? *ponders*

We sang Maurice Greene's 'Lord, Let Me Know Mine End' for the anthem and the 'Sanctus' from Missa XVIII for the introit. The Greene came out...interesting. Enough said.

After, there were sandwiches in the Linklater rooms (free food, ftw!) which they served to us on Royal Doulton china emblazoned with the university shield. They've done this before, but I'd not noticed that it was Royal Doulton until today. Boy, wouldn't that be exPENsive.

Now, I'm wondering what the heck possessed me to buy decaffinated coffee to keep in my office. I mean really, doesn't being a student mean caffiene toxicosis? It's my own fault for waiting until after the Hub closed. Bah.

In an hour an a half there's the Catholic service (Passion Sunday, but I don't think the liturgy will be any different than the rest of Lent).

Then, homewards for a wee cheeky curry since I don't feel like cooking.

Mother of a migraine today. But, productivity continues.

Yesterday was clairdeluney's birthday!

We had a birthday dinner over at her student flat. I offered to make the cake.

My favorite birthday cake is angel food, especially with a raspberry sauce.

She suggested a new one on me: chocolate-banana cake.

Here's what it turned out to look like-



( and naked cake under the cut )

It's super easy, though, I'm sure it could be made more exciting. I was on a schedule. :)

Chocolate-Banana Cake

1. Bake a cake from a mix. As you can see above, I made two loaves. Make the cake however you like, but you need to have layers, the more the better.

2. Slice the cake into whatever layers you're going to have.

3. Place a layer of sliced bananas onto the bottom layer then squirt/spoon cream all over the layer of banana.

4. Slap the next layer on top.

5. Repeat 3.

It would probably be just as good without the outer layer of icing, but it kept the moisture of the banana and cream in.

I ran out of time, but I'm guessing this would be lovely covered in nuts. :)

What's your favorite birthday cake?

One of the highlights of our trip to the US was a stop in the area where I grew up.

I grew up in Eastern North Carolina in a very poor, rural area. It hasn't changed much since I was little. In fact, with the closing of the textile mill in town, I'm not sure how they're still making it.

We rang my godparents to tell them we'd be in town for supper and wanted to take them out.

My godfather out did himself: not only did he call ahead for reservations for us, but he also convinced the head chef to come back into town to cook for us personally.

The head cook, Peter, is someone I've known since I was about 6 or 7 years old. Unfortunately, I'd not been back to Eastern NC for 15 years and I was afraid he wouldn't remember me.

He did, and it was good to catch up.

Our association with Peter and his family goes back to a chance encounter in Chapel Hill.

My grandmother was in the area and wanted Chinese. She picked a place, seemingly at random, called Hunam Chinese. Whenever we were in 'the big city' we always had some sort of ethnic food.
The reason for this custom was that Roanoke Rapids, the nearest town to us, was not known for its cuisine choices in the 80s. The best one could hope for was a salad at a steakhouse, if one were vegetarian.

My grandmother raved about Hunam and we made it one of our regular spots on trips.

We were absolutely ecstatic when we discovered that the owner of Hunam was sending his son-in-law, Peter, to open a restaurant in Roanoke Rapids.

Even though it was a ~30 minute drive from our house (yes, we lived in the country!) into town, we made a point of eating at the new restaurant as often as possible.

In a town where so many were satisfied simply to continue going to the steakhouse and only wanted sweet and sour pork when at a Chinese place, we were a big exception.

Peter created dishes especially for us and would often send out his most recent idea as a complimentary addition to our meals.

During the summers, his kids came out and swam with us at the lake. I remember that his oldest son was scared of the fish that we used to feed in the lake. I also remember that Peter wanted to cook our prize pet carp. :)

I was definitely not disappointed with the food that Peter cooked for us that night in January. There was Singapore Noodles, Crispy Tofu with Red Garlic Sauce, Vegetable Delight, Velvet Tofu, Garlic Green Beans, and a dish I'd not had before, Ginger Broccoli.

I ate until I simply couldn't put another bite in my mouth. I'd remembered the food nostalgically, but it was as good, if not better, than I remember. I wish I could apprentice to that man.

Any restaurants that you remember nostalgically?

( Some photos from the evening )

I have to say that I'm happier to review this place more than any other so far.

Corona Express
Mexican Grill
44 Bridge Street
Aberdeen AB11 6JN

01224 211266

I found this place completely by accident. I imagine I'd have found it eventually, but never you mind.

I was walking along Union Street and stepped on a flyer. I thought it said 'Mexican' on it, so I doubled back and picked it up.

Indeed it was.

I have to take a moment to go on a tangent.
In the US, good Mexican food comes from places that are staffed by Mexicans. In North Carolina, which has a high volume of immigration, it isn't difficult to find such a thing.
So, there are subtle clues to let you know that the place will be good.*

1. Misspellings in the menu.
Stuffed spelled with three 'f's...American spelled without an 'i'...Corona with three 'o's.
This is not a hard and fast rule, however. Thus, there are more guidelines.

2. Inexplicable logos.
Is the logo seemingly a German girl in dirndl holding a kitten dresses at Mr. T? You're in business. The odder, the better.

3. Speed of food delivery.
Estimated time seem impossible? The food will be ambrosia.

This said, I really like Mexican food of all varieties, west coast...east coast...central...hot...mild...full of beans...full of corn...bring it on.

Back to Corona Express.
I was delighted to see that the first item on the menu was misspelled.

ybunny and I headed down to check it out on Saturday night.

I was definitely not disappointed. I had a bean burrito and a cheese quesadilla. Both were fantastic. Not too hot to start out with, but not unflavourful. There was hot sauce for free and pico available for an extra 80p.

I've been twice in a week. I don't want them to think I'm a weird stalker, so more people need to go. Go, go!

---

* Void in CA, NV, AZ, TX, FL. Guidelines require proof of purchase in HI, MI, IL, NY, MA, MD, VA, SC, and GA. So there.

Me: I'm going to have an omelet for lunch. *heads to cooker holding eggs in one hand and cheese in the other*

ybunny: *goes in for a kiss, suddenly*

Me: Don't make me drop my eggs!

ybunny: ...

Me: ...

*hilarity*



We're pretty tired. Sigh.

I get really sick of fruit in the winter. I'm such a berry fan that I am never happy with the usual round of oranges, apples, and bananas that are reasonably priced in winter.

One way to make apples more appealing to me after 3 months of winter is to bake them.

Baked Apples

Ingredients
Apples, Granny Smith work really well, I used Fuji.
1 Tablespoon of brown or white sugar per apple
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon per apple
Nuts or Raisins to taste.

Method
( Pictures of the method --> )

Cooked fruit: yea or nay?

Here's a double issue of Food Friday to make up for my lapse over the last two Fridays.

The Witchery
by the castle
Castlehill
The Royal Mile
Edinburgh
EH1 2NF

The Witchery is run by James Thomson, OBE. The restaurant is only part of the Witchery which includes accomodation and more than one private dining room.

The website gives tantalizing glimpses of the history of the building and its furnishings. For example, some of the wood panelling was salvaged from St. Giles at some point in the past.

There might be more information at the restaurant itself, but the company was too interesting to permit me much time to poke around.

As part of the wedding party, we were given a set meal. However, if this is a sampling of what they are capable of, it is indeed a good omen.

The wait staff were efficient and unobtrusive and gave us time to chat a little before taking our orders and bringing around fresh bread.

The vegetarian options from the set menu were Soup of Haricot Blanc and Aubergine wrapped Cannaloni with Courgettes. From the dessert menu, I chose the cheese plate and sampled a bit of ybunny's Chocolate Torte.

The one odd moment was upon tasting the soup. While a very decent mushroom, it was curiously without any beans. Which is what I've been given to believe Haricot Blanc is usually considered.

The cannaloni was exquisite. I'm not a huge fan of Aubergine/Eggplant or Courgette/Zucchini, but cooking method left both with a different texture than I'm used to. I've never seen aubergine cut so thinly.

The cheese plate was good as expected and the chocolate torte was far too chocolate-y for me (which made it perfect for ybunny).

The regular menu posted outside was not long, but everything sounded really nice. This restaurant is one of those places you come on anniversaries, to propose, or any other special occasion. The ambiance could have made up for many errors in food judgement.

( A few pictures of the food. )

ybunny and I are off to Edinburgh after church today.

While I did slack off on Food Friday on the first Friday of the year, I intentionally put off this one in order to give you a restaurant review of The Witchery. That's where the wedding meal will be.

*zooms*

Egg nog.

I miss it.

I suppose I could make my own. There's a whole domain dedicated to making up a batch.

Honestly, though, I couldn't ignore the fact that it's made of raw eggs if I made it myself.

Apparently, the terminology is a corruption of 'eggs and grog' since grog was slang for rum.

I've never actually had egg nog with rum in before. My usual egg nog fix comes from Mayfield. Their egg nog is brilliant. But, then again, I really don't dislike anything they make.

I've found it interesting that the regular Christmas offering in the US¹ is cookies and egg nog while in the UK it is mince pies and mulled wine.

The thing is that mulled wine includes cloves on its ingredient list. I cannot stand cloves.² So, festive treats are pretty much a take it or leave it situation for me.

After the University Carol Service, we were invited to the Vice-Chancellor's house for mince pies and sparkling wine (and orange juice!). Even if they had said that they were serving cloves with clove icing, I still would have gone. Curiosity killed the cat...but seeing what the Vice-Chancellor looked like and having a peek at his library brought the errr...cat...back.

My favorite festive gathering however wasn't either of the two traditional variations. It was always the hot chocolate and doughnuts that my undergraduate university gave out near the end of the autumn term. Cold outside + hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts = Brilliant

What are your favorite Christmas (or other winter holiday) nibbles?

---

¹- In my experience. I can't say what yours has been, because...well...I'm not you.
²- I suppose it is beside the point that I really don't like red wine...

Tomorrow is the carol service for our church.

I'm not sure how the stars aligned to produce the state of affairs for tomorrow. I'm not only preaching the sermon, but as the minister of music, I'm in charge of getting something for the kidlets to sing.

We've thankfully decided not to have them sing during the nativity scene. Instead, I suggested Christingles.

I found out about them while reading through the hymnal during the Sunday service one week at King's Chapel.¹ One of the hymns was called 'It's rounded like an orange' set to the tune of 'The Holly and the Ivy'. As a non-Brit/non-Anglican, I'd never heard of Christingle services before.

It seemed like something visual, tangible, and easy that the kids could get involved with during the Advent season.

In theory.

In reality, dates for the carol service got moved about and it ended up a week early, which is why it is tomorrow and not the 22nd. So, the kids won't have a chance to make them.

So, yesterday I spent a while wrapping 70 oranges with red ribbon and sealing them with a candle-image stamped bit of sticker. Sticker doesn't really stick terrifically well to orange peel.²

Tomorrow, everyone in church will get an orange. The kids will hand them out before singing the hymn I mentioned above. Honestly, I hope the congregation eats their gift of citrus during the sermon. It will stop them paying attention to me.

And then my plan will be complete.

---

¹- I don't feel I should have to listen to more than one sermon a week. *shrugs*
²- This did give me a fantastic chance to watch some TV absolutely guilt free. :)

Last night's Thanksgiving dinner included two pumpkin pies, an apple pie and a treacle pie. I kind of wish I'd tried the treacle pie now, but I figured that two slices of pumpkin were plenty.

I was told that instead of making the one pumpkin pie for the Christmas social, that I'll need to make at least 4.

I usually throw together the recipe from the back of the Libby's can if I'm rushed.

I had planned on making a more savoury version of pumpkin pie and mixing in pecans.

However, I'd be much obliged if anyone has any other variations they can recommend. (I've gotten a maple pumpkin recipe off graphxgrrl that I'll be trying now as well.)

So, your favorite variety of pumpkin pie?

Oh, and fyi for people in Aberdeen: you can get Libby's Pumpkin Puree at Costcutter/Kelly of Cults. :)

I wrote this last Wednesday, but forgot to post it on Friday. Well done, me. Hungarian restaurant review next Friday.

I'm disappointed to see that this year's round of holiday drinks at Starbucks doesn't include the Peppermint Mocha that it has in year's past.

I spent from August 2003 to May 2004 at the University of Chicago in an aborted foray at the Oriental Institute.

While there, I spent several weekends and rushed afternoons with confutatis. She was working as a barista at Starbucks at the time and the discounted coffee that we scored together was just what a grad student needed.

I have always been a caffe latte girl, I order it with unsurprising regularity and rarely branch out. confutatis convinced me to try a peppermint mocha when the signature red cups arrived around Thanksgiving time and I subsequently changed my mind about my favorite drink.

Chicago is known for pizza. Sloppy, gooey pizza. I'm not a fan. Though, I'm not really a fan of anything that makes me feel like I need a bib to eat.

For me, Chicago is a peppermint mocha. Especially if the drink is bought just off Michigan Avenue and imbibed to ward off the incessant winds that freeze you to the bone if you're wearing less than 6 layers.

I won't be indulging in too many peppermint mochas this year. Mostly because I have to explain it as an off menu item, but also because it's £3.05 for a medium sized cup.

I'd never go back to Chicago to study, but if I want to be nostalgic, I know what to order.

Peppermint Mocha anyone?

Another Friday draws to a close. This is my second Friday in a row sick, albeit I'm sicker this round than last.

Other than coughing until I make myself sick, I've also discovered that I have some sort of allergy.

Most likely this is a food allergy.

On Wednesday evening, I was having a hard time breathing. I thought it was just the bronchitis making itself known.

I absently scratched my stomach...and then scratched it again...and again.

I looked down and saw that there were bright red hives all over my stomach.

And they were spreading. Within 15 minutes, and despite a Benedryl, the hives spread until they were on my stomach, knees, hands, upper lip, and wrists.

My breathing got more and more labored. drjoan did a quick telephone consult and off to A&E I went.

By the time I arrived, I simply couldn't breathe and was in the midst of an asthma attack.

I am very rarely affected by my asthma as I can usually control it with breathing exercises. The most effective is to force myself not to breathe for 30 seconds. Because of the coughing brought on by the bronchitis, it was impossible to go more than 5 seconds before gaspin