Food highlights from New York City

Its been a while since my last blog!  I’ve been off sampling the foodie delights in New York City!

My not so favourite things.

I love food.  I’d like to say that I’m pretty adventurous but actually that would probably be a bit of a lie.  As a child, I was a very fussy eater and my diet pretty much consisted of weetabix, cheese sandwiches, and yogurts.  It wasn’t until I moved out and went to uni that I started trying new things and appreciating new flavours.

Now, I’d like to think that I’m a bit more of experimental but there are still a few very silly things on my ‘don’t like’ list that I feel I need to overcome to become a true foodie.  I probably haven’t eaten any of these since I was a child so really should make the effort to appreciate them given that they come up in dishes so often!

I’m eating it for my health….Honest!

So I was skimming through the headlines this morning as usual when I came across a story on the beeb that cheered up my post bank holiday blues mood.

BBC News reports that scientists have found that eating high levels of chocolate could reduce the risk of heart disease and strokes!  The news I’ve been waiting for!  I can finally justify my afternoon chocolate fix and eat it guilt free

Recipe test: Gordon Ramsay’s Strawberry Tart

My brother had a Birthday this week and this weekend, him and his family came over for a Birthday meal.  I wanted to make something in advance for dessert that was reasonably simple but looked great to.  I had a flick through some of my cook books and settled on Gordon Ramsay‘s Strawberry Tart from his book ‘Great British Pub Food‘

Cookbook and product review: Gino’s Pasta and Sharpham Park Artisan Pasta

I was recently sent a new pasta product from Sharpham Park to try out and it gave me the perfect opportunity to finally try a recipe from Gino D’acampo’s ‘Gino’s Pasta’ book.

As any regular reader will know, I’m a big pasta fan and have been making a lot of fresh pasta recently.  I was a bit unsure about this product as it is made from spelt – an alternative to regular grains and suitable for people with a wheat intolerance.  Not knowing much about spelt I wasn’t sure what to expect, but reading up, spelt is reported to have certain health benefits and is also a superfood.  I used the Spelt Campanelle Artisan Pasta. It cooks in 7 mins, a little quicker than conventional dried pasta and it also looked really pretty too

Review: Cox cookies and cake

Last week, I came across a fabulous cookbook – Cox cookies and cake.  It’s a great looking book and it caught my eye because of its unique cupcake designs.  The book is actually from fashion designer Patrick Cox and features recipes from his cupcake range.  Making the move from fashion to baking is obviously an interesting one so upon discovering that his cupcake store was just round the corner from the office I had to pay them a visit!

Recipe test: Raspberry and Yoghurt Cheesecake

On the baking agenda today was a Raspberry and Yoghurt Cheesecake courtesy of Stylist Magazine

The recipe comes from the book French Kitchen by Serge Dansereau and was published in the magazine a couple a weeks ago.  I tore it out and added it to my pile of recipes to try (the ever expanding pile that is!) but finally got round to it this morning.