Not enough excitement over Christmas? How about winning another cool prize. The lovely people at Olives From Spain have offered 2 kits to giveaway.

Olives from Spain have shared a few recipes for cooking with olives and I have shared one of the recipes here.

Each kit would include a t-shirt, apron, 2 x jars of olives and a mini cookbook.

Details of the Giveaway

• This giveaway ends at noon, Saturday 7th January 2012. Winners will be picked by Random.org and will be announced on this page.
• The winners will be contacted by email.
• This giveaway is being done on behalf of Olives From Spain and they will be sending out the prize directly to the winners.
• Their decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

How to Enter:

Multiple ways to enter including making a blog comment, tweeting, etc. See below for details. If you don’t see the box to enter, refresh the page or use a different browser that has javascript enabled.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!

Olives from Spain Kits Giveaway is another great food blog post from: Slow Food Kitchen

Slow Food Kitchen - A London Food Blog and Adventures of a Globetrotting Foodie

Atlantic Cod with leek fondue , smoked potato,yuzu and Champagne sauce

Just when we thought that the inventive combination of flavours could not be topped, the next dish of Poached Scottish Lobster with cep mushroom ravioli, chicken oyster and lobster bisque was just stuning. Interesting texture to the cep ravioli where it was fried rather than boiled providing a contrast to the poached lobster.

The Champagne that was paired with this dish was the favourite of the evening. It was the Laurent Perrier Grand Cuvee- Grand Siecle which was the only bottle to be poured from its sexy black bottle from its own cradle.

This is their first multi vintage prestige cuvee and has been aged from over 6 years. This Champagne has a long history and was inspired by old tasting notebooks of the cellar masters. Smooth, complex, more please.  All this being expertly served by The Greenhouse’s charming sommelier, Marc Piquet.

A couple of sweet course followed, starting with  Pineapple Sorbet with Coconut foam. This was paired with the Laurent Perrier Demi Sec.

The second was a delicious tangy Rhubard and Apple Millefeulle with pear sorbet, paired with the Laurent Perrier Cuvee Rose, made from pinot noir using the unique saignee method and tasting of berries. The perfect choice for special occassions.

To top off this superb evening of sophisticated food, excellent Champagne, we ended with a delightful selection of petit fours.

The Greenhouse is one of the restaurants in the stable of the Marc Group and seems to have positioned themselves perfectly for their clientele.

The Laurent-Perrier champagne-pairing menu will be available at The Greenhouse restaurant from 15 November until the end of December 2011, priced at £240 per person, including champagne.

Laurent Perrier’s Champagne Pairing Christmas Menu at The Greenhouse is another great food blog post from: Slow Food Kitchen

Slow Food Kitchen - A London Food Blog and Adventures of a Globetrotting Foodie

Pineapple tarts are little short crust pastry tarts with home made pineapple jam. In Malaysia, these are made for special ocassions like Chinese New Year, Deepavali and Hari Raya (Eid). Families used to make it but in this age of “I don’t know how she does it”, we tend to buy them from the many cottage industry vendors in town.

I made these for Vanessa Kimbell’s Let’s Make Christmas bloggers’ swap recently as they were suitably festive. The only concession that I made was to use a star shaped cookie cutter instead of the usual round ones.

Every one has their own favourite version of these tarts. I like them with crumbly buttery, short crust pastry and a sweet but tangy pineapple jam. You can cheat by buying in the jam instead of making it yourself but it is quite easy to make. It just takes a bit of time but well worth the satisfaction.

Make a massive batch to give away. They are always better than the shop bought ones.

Malaysian Pineapple Tarts is another great food blog post from: Slow Food Kitchen

Slow Food Kitchen - A London Food Blog and Adventures of a Globetrotting Foodie

I found this recipe on another food blog and they looked so lovely that I had it on my list to try. Then came along the Let’s Make Christmas event, so I made it for my swap contribution. See below for my adapted recipe.

They are really easy to make and the recipe makes about 30 balls, depending on how big you roll them. This could be a really fun job to involve kids in. Get a lot of different coloured sprinkles and create a whole range of amazing looking sweets.

Sidebar: In the process of making this, I discovered the world of glittery sprinkles in a cake supplies shop nearby. It’s like a kid being let loose in a toy shop. Now I need to find more recipes where I can use the colourful icing, the icing pens, glitter, etc. Fun!

Brazilian Chocolate Brigadeiros is another great food blog post from: Slow Food Kitchen

Slow Food Kitchen - A London Food Blog and Adventures of a Globetrotting Foodie

The fabulous Vanessa Kimbell started a conversation on Twitter to organise a Christmas gift swap between food bloggers, with handmade edible. This eventually turned into an event held at Fortnums and Masons and a very competitive competition judged by Dan Lepard.

Let’s Make Christmas was born. 50 food bloggers, many, many amazing handmade foodie gifts from Christmas cookies, seasonal chutney, very professional chocolates and sweets and an impressive range of alcoholic infusions.

After Vanessa announced a list of prizes for each category of baked goods, drinks, sweets and preserves, the competitive gene kicked in. The star prize was a Kenwood K mix for the winner of the baked goods category, so of course I had to make one thing for that category. I chose to make some Malaysian Pineapple Tarts which is something that we make in Malaysia (or rather, buy in from some lovely lady who bakes millions for each festival) for Chinese New Year or for Hari Raya (Eid).

I have not done much baking or pastry for ages so this was a great opportunity to start again. I totally under estimated the time that this would take and it was a mad scramble to make short crust pastry at midnight, while stirring a pot of pineapple jam on the side.

I had to improvise with some star shaped cookie cutters to make it look more festive. We usually make these in a round shape with a specially designed cookie cutter that simultaneously cuts the pasty and creates the indent in the middle for the jam. There was much improvisation but it turned out quite well in the end.

I had originally planned to just make some Brazilian Chocolate Brigadeiros which are just simply sweets made with condensed milk.The making of these were quite easy but it took hours of shopping to find the colourful sprinkles, the little gold cups and a suitable sized box to put the sweets in. Here are the finished results. I fell in love with the colourful sprinkles in different shapes and colours and have discovered a whole work of cake and cookie decorating goodies at the local cake shop. Oh no, I feel a new addiction kicking in.

Here is an idea of the competition on the day.

These are some of the entries for the baked goods category. There was a lot of talent in the room.

Entries for the sweets category.

Much serious judging by Dan Lepard and the man from Fortnums.

There was much socialising, networking and meeting food bloggers that we only know by their Twitter handles. So many people had come down to London for this event, it was really an amazing gathering.

Helen (Fuss Free Flavours), don’t know, Vanessa, Sarah (Food For Think)  and not sure and didn’t have a chance to meet.

Fiona (London Unattached), Jackie (I am a Feeder) and not sure.

The winners: Jay (Jaynerly) , ?, ?, Urvashi (Botanical Baker), Dan and Vanessa. Sorry, can’t remember the names or the blogs of everyone I met that day.

These are the gifts I got from my swap. Chocolate Peppermint Crunch from Heidi Roberts and glittery Honeycomb rom Gail Doggett (One Million Gold Stars).

That was a really fun afternoon, met some new food blogger friends, got some delicious brownies from Michelle (Utterly Scrummy) and left with a little goodie bag from Fortnums. Big thanks for Vanessa for organising a really fab bloggers event.

Food Bloggers’ Swap at Let’s Make Christmas is another great food blog post from: Slow Food Kitchen

Slow Food Kitchen - A London Food Blog and Adventures of a Globetrotting Foodie

Slurping your food and drink loudly is seen as rude in some cultures but in tasting beverages like wine, tea and coffee, it’s quite essential as the oxygenation releases the flavours and aromas. Up to this point, I have never had much of an occassion to taste more than one coffee at a time and this would be a great tasting lesson.

At a recent Coffee Tasting Masterclass with Cafe Direct,  we were taught about the fine details of tasting coffee with coffee expert Thierry.

As part of the coffee matching, there was a mini competition to make a dessert to match one the 4  coffees, Kilimanjaro, Mayan Palenque, Machu Picchu or Cloud Forest.  Each coffee has its own distinct flavour and characteristics as coffees are much like wine, the flavours are influenced by terroir.

How to Taste Coffee, also called “Cupping”

There are 3 steps to tasting coffee:

When tasting we are looking for these characteristics, fragrance, aroma, acidity, body, flavour, balance, aftertaste.

Fragrance : Firstly, we had to smell each of the 3 ground coffees.

Aroma: This is what we get after adding water to the coffee. Each cup was left to brew for 4 minutes for the aroma to develop. We then had to use a spoon and scoop the liquid away from you and then inhale.

Tasting: Using 2 spoons, we scooped around the edges of the cup to remove the foam that has formed and then had to slurp the coffee to aerate it allowing us to discern more of the characteristics of each coffee. Unforunately, my tastebuds are so insensitive that it was hard to get more than bland, bitter, too strong.  Each coffee was quite different when tasted in succession and surprisingly, the flavour profiles changed a lot when we tasted the coffees at a cooler temperature.

We also learnt that different coffees should be drunk at different times of the day, like the Kilimanjaro blend is perfect for a breakfast coffee as it warms your tastebuds.

On the the baking competition

I paired up with the delightful Gill from Tales of Pigling Bland where we attempted a Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe from Ferran Adria’s new cookbook, The Family Meal. Our dessert was chosen to match the Machu Picchu coffee from Peru, which has a nutty and chocolatey flavour.  We were given a bag of ingredients to create our dessert.

The recipe is actually really easy and we were all quite anxious to see how it would turn out as there were so few ingredients and steps. The result was surprisingly superb, the recipe yielded a light, spongy and super chocolatey cake. Since we had a bit more time and ingredients, we made some nut brittle to go with the cake and did some fancy plating up, as seen in the picture.

Unfortunately, our dessert didn’t win the competition and the winner was a spiced honey cake made by Team April (aka Rhubarbandrose and 21^stCentury Housewife)

You can read my review of The Family Meal here and buy the book at Amazon.

The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adria

Cafe Direct buys their coffee directly from traders and not via Fairtrade or the non Fairtrade register. All the coffees are single estate blends. The coffees are available from leading supermarkets.

Coffee Tasting And Coffee Matching Masterclass is another great food blog post from: Slow Food Kitchen

Slow Food Kitchen - A London Food Blog and Adventures of a Globetrotting Foodie

At a recent meal at Patara, we sampled their Oyster menu kicking off with oysters both fresh and deep fried.  Being a weekend evening, the dining room was buzzing with couples on hot dates to big groups celebrating their birthdays.

The fresh oysters were served with a Shallot Vinaigrette or the delightful Thai Vinaigrette with mint, coriander, lemon, served with sweet crispy fried shallots and thinly sliced lemon grass. As a combination of flavours and texture, this was an absolute winner. If nothing else, you need to try this sauce. It’s flavours complimented rather than overwhelmed the sweet tasting fresh Maldon Rock oysters.

The second option was oysters deep fried in soda batter served with bean sprouts and chilli sauce. I thought that this version, after frying and doused in chilli sauce rather overwhelmed the flavour of the oysters and preferred the fresh ones.

Pineapple Rice

SlowFoodKitchen was invited to review Patara Soho.

Oysters Thai Style at Patara Soho is another great food blog post from: Slow Food Kitchen

Slow Food Kitchen - A London Food Blog and Adventures of a Globetrotting Foodie

A little corner of Park Lane has been revived with the transformation of the old International Casino into 45 Park Lane, a new luxury boutique hotel that is part of the Dorchester Collection. The hotel is a complete contrast to the Dorchester, it’s modern, contempary and has only 45 rooms. The site has been languishing and unloved for years in one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in London and nice to see that the Brunei Investment Agency has transformed this into a revenue generating asset.

The new 45 Park Lane Hotel is designed by Thierry Despont, with a lot of dark wood, subdued lighting and mirrored glass doors, positioning it for the business traveller. The stairs from the small lobby area leads to a stunning hotel bar, Bar 45. The bar in the centre of the long room delivers a large list of cocktails and wines and the bar food it sensational.  For a hotel bar, it is sophisticated and stylish and it’s open to non residents up to 12.30.

On this visit, we sampled the superb Mini Kobe  sliders which were perfect bite size pieces with multiple layers and some other small eats from the bar menu.

Adjourning downstairs to CUT, Wolfgang Puck’s first London outlet.  CUT is his high end American Steakhouse brand with branches around the world. The entrance to CUT is visually impressive, double height ceilings, bespoke chandeliers, dark wood pannelling, soft lighting and hung with 16 Damien Hirsts from his Psalm series. (The largest number of Damien Hirst shown in public in one place). The lighting is romantically dim but the dining room is busy, quite loud and seemed filled with suits, probably hedgies from around Mayfair.

We kicked off with a quick tour of the kitchen where we were introduced to the star of the kitchen, the specially imported Texan wood fire grill that cooks at 650C. The steaks are cooked with a charred surface and pink in the middle.

The menu centres around the steaks, is mainly American with a touch of Asian flavours like Big Eye Tuna Tartar with Wasabi Aioli.

A mini portion

For starters, we were served the Roasted baby beets with Dorstone Goats Cheese, toasted pistachios,  citrus, micro basil and mint (£11)  and A Tasting of Salads’, one a light, fresh mix of apple, endive, dates and Montgomery Cheddar, spiced almonds. Sweet beets with sweet and tangy dressing. Delicious.

The Wine List at Cut

The wine list at CUT has the largest selection of American wines in the UK, expertly managed by the Sommelier, Vanessa Cinti who has just moved over here from another of Wolfgang Pucks establishments in the US. She chose some spectacular wines for our meal including a sensational Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 (about £300) and is only available at CUT in the UK.

Choice of Steaks at CUT

As we awaited our main course, we feasted our eyes on the beautifully attired wait staff who were seen carrying around a plate of raw beef swaddled in white napkins to show the other tables. This is how you choose your meat here.

We were served the Tasting of New York Sirloin (£48) , with 3 cuts, the USDA Prime Black Angus, the Casterbridge Angus and the Australian Wagyu Black Angus.  From the description, it was not really possible to guess what breed of cattle the meat is from as Angus is a generic American marketing name for beef and does not have anything to do with Aberdeen Angus at all.

Accompanying the steak were the outstanding Mac and Cheese and Creamed Spinach with egg which was prepared at the table. I would not normally order these side dishes with steak but they both worked really well with the steaks. The steaks varied in flavour with the Wagyu being the most tender and the USDA cut the most flavourful. Unfortunately the English steak lacked flavour and it seems the supplier was chosen out of a large selection as it was the closest in flavour to the US steaks and the UK grass fed beef was too gamey.

To round off the meal, we had the Banana Cream Pie with the intriguingly named 10 year old Chocolate Sauce. This prompted us to ask the waiter what this meant, old chocolate? The Ten Years actually refers to the Chocolate Sauce recipe that has taken 10 years to perfect. The second half of the pudding was a truly decadent Warm Chocolate Souffle with Gianduja Ice Cream served by our delightful waiter.

CUT is a great addition to the London Dining scene and will probably be a favorite with the US expats in town looking for a taste of home, albeit done in high style. In the first month of operation, it is already fully booked and I expect will continue in the same vein. Cut is a very well run machine (no opening snafus) , the staff are friendly and the service is impeccable and head chef David McIntyre leads the team is producing great dishes.

Great Service!

45 Park Lane is a stunning hotel and it feels cosy and inviting and not too impersonal. It is more like a little club than a hotel. Bar 45 would be a great venue for a quiet drink or a hot date as it is not very busy or noisy and CUT is well worth a second visit.

www.45parklane.com

SlowFoodKitchen was a guest of 45 Park Lane and CUT

Cut at 45 Park Lane – Wolfgang Puck’s Stylish American Steakhouse is another great food blog post from: Slow Food Kitchen

Slow Food Kitchen - A London Food Blog and Adventures of a Globetrotting Foodie

Nothing can beat a pub lunch on a Sunday, especially if it is from one of London’s top gastro pubs., The Sunday lunch is a quintessential British institution and as winter approaches, a nice pub with a fire place and a hot roast dinner is just the ticket. With some of the best restaurants in the world, London has a massive number of pubs to choose from. With so many aspiring chefs flocking to the capital, there are plenty of jobs for chefs who are looking to make their mark on the culinary world in the city. Some of these budding chefs have been making their mark on London’s pub food scene.

Gone are the days of the soggy sandwiches with plastic cheese and a bad ploughman’s with defrosted bread. So many London pubs now serve superb food and here are 5 favourites in London.
First up is the perennial favourite, The Ship in Wandsworth (South West London), located on the south side of Fulham. They have a massive dining room with a roaring wood fire in the winter and an outside kitchen serving barbecue favourites in the warmer months. To maximise their river location, they have a large sunny terrace overlooking the Thames. Food here is usually really good, except for a blip one time. Sunday lunches here are really popular, the servings are massive and they state quite clearly where the meat is sourced from which is a nice details for a pub. On a recent visit, we had the Roast Beef, nicely pink in the middle with a massive Yorkshire pudding and crispy roast potatoes. The service is friendly and on Sundays, the place turns into party central and seems to draw in a massive crowd. @shipwandsworth
Secondly, a new find in Richmond, The Shaftesbury Arms in Richmond (South West London). From the outside, it looks like a slightly faded pub of yesteryear but don’t overlook it. It is a Young’s establishment but has not had the beautification unlike of some other Young’s places in the area. The new restaurant kitchen is run by Lee Richardson who is a phenomenal cook and has a massive repertoire. On our recent visit on Sunday, she served up a brilliant clams and samphire dish followed by a massive roast beef with all the trimmings. Lee very kindly offered us an extra plate of roast pork to try and the meat was succulent and crackling was super crispy. All her meat is sourced from Macken Brothers in Turnham Green. Superb goose fat roast potatoes. For £15, you get a superb Sunday Roast with the pudding included. Great value. @ ShaftesburyKitc

Next, The Garrison, in the increasingly “too cool for school” Bermondsey near Tower Bridge (East London). This place is more restaurant than pub with prices a bit above average. This unusual building is crammed with knickknacks and the hodgepodge of furniture. They serve a mean Roast beef and the service is super friendly. A real local favourite and the atmosphere is always buzzing. www.thegarrison.co.uk

The fourth delicious offering is brought to you by Adam & Eve , just off Oxford Street (Central London) , an area that doesn’t have very many non chain eateries. The Sunday menu offers a couple of roasts and the Roast Rib of Beef was delivered in a good man sized serving. Service can be patchy when they are busy.

Last, but by no means least, the newly revamped Alexandra in Wimbledon (South West London). It is yet another Youngs’ pub that now offer great pub grub. This pub takes its food very seriously.  Dave Ahern (@corkgourmetguy) is the new head chef and he has recently launched their new menu where the ham hock is outstanding. Sunday lunch here comes with home made Yorkshire pudding and gravy. Servings are hearty and the careful and cooking is creative. You can opt for one of their burgers instead of a roast which are equally good. @TheAlexSW19

There are so many more pubs to check out in London, but for now, these are the top picks. Please feel free to share your favourite pubs for Sunday lunch in the comments.

Five Fab Pubs for Sunday Lunch in London is another great food blog post from: Slow Food Kitchen

Slow Food Kitchen - A London Food Blog and Adventures of a Globetrotting Foodie

London is such a stunning city when seen from different vantage points. The view from the top of the Royal Festival Hall is particularly stunning as you can see all the famous landmarks of London along the river like the London Eye, the Houses of Parliamenet, Big Ben and St Pauls further down the river. We recently were invited an event by Magners Cider where they launched the ‘Bee Aid Campaign” held on The Deck overlooking the Thames.

For our close encounter with the bees, we all had to don the space like bee keeping suits, complete with mesh helmet to inspect the 2 hives that they have placed on the roof terrace.

Bee keeping is a totally human created pastime and involves creating a false environment for honeybees to survive and procreate. In the US, beekeeping is multi million dollar industry where hive owners are known to travel with massive trucks of hive, driving around the country providing pollinating services to farms.

About 1.5 m hives are shipped in to California each year to pollinate the almond trees as there are no natural pollinators. Hive owner can charge up to US$150 per hive for a 2 week service. In the UK, we don’t have similar practices although bee keepers are known to locate their hives within orchards or near farms with the suitable vegetation.

Cider brand Magners has launched its ‘Magners Bee Aid’ campaign to help save 1.5m urban bees in the UK and Ireland. In association with the British Beekeepers Association, they are working to save the 1.5 million bees in UK and Ireland. Magners allow local beekeepers in Clomell to keep their honeybees among the trees in the apple orchard to help pollinate the trees that produce the apples that goes into the cider. hey are highly aware of the importance of honeybees and is launching this campaign to get more people interested in Beekeeping.

Why are Bees important to the economy.

Bee pollination is essential in helping to pollinate crops that produce over 60% of food crops, that generate up £200m revenue for the UK economy of enhanced productivity. In Europe, it is €10bn and worldwide the number is a staggering $200bn. With the decline in bee population due to the recent diseases, the population of bees are slowly declining.

The British Beekeepers Association are trying to encourage more urbanites to take up beekeeping. In London alone, there are over 2,500 beehives and but the numbers have been slowly declining. All you need is about 2 square meters of clear space in your garden or roof top to put in a beehive. It must be easily accessible and preferably with a lot of flowers and bee friendly plants around. The BBKA holds beekeeping classes around the country and you can get details here.

After spending an afternoon learning about the cultivation of bees, I am totally enamoured with the idea. It is not very difficult to do, as all you need is a queen bee and some soldier bees to help her collect pollen and food and to fertilise the eggs. Once the hive is built, it is just a mtter of maintenance. It’s like having thousand of pets who also make you delicious honey.

Win a Beekeeping Scholarship

Magners has teamed up with the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) and the Federation of Irish Beekeepers Associations (FIBKA) to offer twenty-five Magners Facebook fans the chance to become fully-fledged urban beekeepers.

You can get involved and make a difference – for every action taken below Magners will make a donation that will save 50 honey bees:

• ‘Like’ the Magners ‘Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/magnerscider
• Download the free Magners iPhone or Android Bee Beard phone app (Terms and Conditions apply)
• Enter the competition to win one of the Magners Beekeeping Scholarships on facebook

More information on Beekeeping at British Beekeepers Association.

Urban Beekeeping with Magners is another great food blog post from: Slow Food Kitchen

Slow Food Kitchen - A London Food Blog and Adventures of a Globetrotting Foodie