FENG SUSHI DELIVERY

As you may know, if you read my Tresco holidays post, I've broken 2 bones in my hand. This makes cooking particularly difficult at the moment, as I can't even hold or grip anything in that hand, so I'm really struggling in the kitchen! On top of this, I've barely been home recently as after our holiday, we went straight to Boomtown festival for a week, and then on to my little brother's incredible wedding. So when we got back home to London late yesterday evening, the last thing I felt like doing was fighting vegetables with a knife and no usable left hand! So we chose delivery instead. I've ordered a few deliveries recently, due to the one-handedness, but this was the best by far. I found Feng Sushi via hungryhouse, a website that locates your local food delivery companies. I'm always a little hesitant about ordering sushi for delivery as you can't guarantee the freshness that is essential for good sushi, but I read lots of good reviews and found out that they only use line caught tuna and sustainably sourced fish, and I really wanted fresh, raw, healthy food, so decided to go for it anyway.

We ordered at about 7pm, and our food was with us by 7.50, which is no mean feat, considering that Feng Sushi is about 4 miles from our house!

As usual I went completely over the top with the amount of food I ordered for 2 of us, but it was all so yummy we managed to eat most of it anyway!

I ordered a miso soup, which was just as miso should be; the "heavenly salmon spring roll" starter, that was a cooked salmon spring roll, which was nice but a little greasy and therefore not really what I wanted; an x ray salad, made up of peppers, edamame beans, pomegranate seeds, avocado and poppy seed, that was a big bowl of healthy freshness; the deluxe mixed sashimi selection of hand dived scallops salmon, tuna, yellow tail with kimchee, mackerel and MSC ikura (roe);

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TRESCO FOOD

One of my favorite things about Tresco and the Isles of Scilly is the food! There is such a diverse range of locally sourced, homegrown produce, the majority of which you can see growing and developing around you as you explore the islands.

On Tresco there are 2 shops. One is the main and official shop where you can buy toiletries, drinks, Cornish cheeses, cereals and all the normal things you'd find in a food shop, but you can also buy Tresco beef, that comes from the very free range cows on the island, and Troy Town Farm ice cream that's made on St Agnes, another of the islands. On the other side of Tresco, up a track is the other 'shop'. It's not your normal shop though, this is the Tresco Farm shop - an open shack stocking whatever has been pulled fresh from the ground that morning - there's new potatoes, fresh garlic, green beans, salads, strawberries, courgettes, homemade jam and lots more - and an honesty box where you leave your money.

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TRESCO HOLIDAYS

I've been a bad blogger and haven't posted recently but I've been away on holiday with very little access to computers. And although my holiday wasn't entirely food related I wanted to tell you about the magical island that I go to every summer with my family.

Tresco is a tiny island, about 2 miles long and 1 mile wide, off the end of Cornwall, that is part of a group of islands called the Isles of Scilly, 5 of which are inhabited. 

Last Friday night my boyfriend and I got the overnight sleeper train, the "Night Riviera", from Paddington to Penzance. If you're ever thinking of taking the sleeper train I really recommend booking a berth. The train journey's 8 hours long and sitting in a lit carriage for that long is not particularly comfortable!!

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LIEVITO BAKERY - SOMERSET

The residents of Somerset are very lucky people. The most wonderful artisan bakery has recently opened its doors to the public, to sell the amazing breads, pastries and puddings that they normally only sell wholesale.

In the tiny village of Lovington, in the old ice-cream factory, a young couple have set up bakers shop and are producing some of the best baked goods I've tried. I popped down there a month or so ago, and came back with arms full of seriously yummy sourdoughs, pain au chocolat, handmade chocolates and challah buns.

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BRUNCH at BARRIO EAST

I was thrilled to be invited to Barrio East, one of 3 Barrio restaurants, to try their new brunch and brunch cocktail menu recently. Breakfast/brunch is one of my favorite things, especially when there's time to enjoy it at the weekend. Barrio East is on Shoreditch High St and Sunday was the first time I'd been there since they took over from previous residents Avalon (apparently there's even still a swimming pool in the basement there!)

As you know, it was baking hot on Sunday in London, and getting the tube from West to East was almost unbearable, but arriving at Barrio East, into their cool, bright and funky venue, it all seemed worthwhile. We were seated on a table right by the window, which was perfect for watching the world go by outside.

  

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SALMON with STUFFED PEPPERS / SALAD DRESSING

I wasn't intending on posting this recipe up here, as it's more of a compilation of foods than an intricate recipe, but it tasted and looked so good that I felt I had to share! It's the perfect summer supper that's quick and easy to make. You can eat the red peppers with other fish than salmon, they're also great with sticky chicken, and they're brilliant to take to a picnic. 

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ROCK LOBSTA at MAHIKI

On Tuesday night the boy and I went to Carl Clarke’s new venture, Rock Lobsta at Mahiki, near Green Park. Mahiki is not somewhere I would normally choose to spend my evenings, but stick one of my favourite chefs in there, cooking up a seafood feast, and I was there like a shot!! The last time I ate Carl’s food was in a beach hut on top of a roof in East London, on what was meant to be a sunny evening last summer, when in fact, it poured rain all night, and rather than enjoy the food as I should’ve done, I sat shuddering from the rain and cold in the corner of the roof top hut. However, Tuesday night was a much warmer, more enjoyable experience.

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THTC - SAMPLE SALE SAT 13th JULY!!

So, this post doesn't really have anything to do with food.... but hear me out, because I have an invitation for you! And although it's nothing to do with food, the company I'm writing about has a lot to do with what I believe in when it comes to clothes and their production.

My lovely boyfriend runs a company called THTC, The Hemp Trading Company, who for the last 14 years have been producing and selling ethically made clothing, primarily to men. THTC was set up to target those who wouldn't normally think about or care where their clothes have come from; making cool, printed t-shirts, sweats, hoodies, caps and more from ethically sourced and produced, organic and fairtrade materials. The majority of their printing is done with water based inks, which in turn do much less damage to the environment. All in all, whether he's my boyfriend or not, I think what THTC do is brilliant, and a great way to engage people in understanding responsible fashion.

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JUNE IN PHOTOS...

Here's a little selection of what I got up to in June...

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SUMMER PRAWN and PEA SOUP

This isn't actually a soup. Well it is, but normally soup has more liquid than other ingredients, so I suppose this more of a broth. Either way, it's the perfect lightweight, healthy meal that's quick and easy to cook. The original recipe came from Lyndsey Bareham's column in The Times, but I've made a few tweaks to give it my own twist.

Serves 2.

250g Jersey Royal new potatoes
1/4 vegetable stock cube
1-2 cups of water
1 lemon, zest and juice
200g raw king prawns, peeled
200g peas

100g green beans, chopped into 2cm pieces
1 tbsp creme fraiche

Rinse the new potatoes and chop into bite size pieces (about 2cm square). Put the potatoes in a wide saucepan (I actually use the wok to cook this in) and pour over enough water to just cover them. Sprinkle with a tiny corner of vegetable stock cube. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook uncovered for 8 minutes or so, or until the potatoes feel slightly soft when poked with a knife.

Add the zest and juice of the lemon and the prawns, stir, and cook for another 2 minutes. Now add the peas and beans and cook for 1 minute.

Remove from the pan, and stir the creme fraiche into the juice.

Serve in bowls with plenty of the liquid, a grind of black pepper, and a big wedge of lemon.

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HOMEMADE ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL

Elderflower cordial is one of my favorite soft drinks. I've never been one to drink fizzy drinks and occasionally have a Ribena, but I always make sure we have a bottle of elderflower cordial at home. So last year, when the elderflowers were out and blooming I was determined to make some cordial. Unfortunately it rained and rained and rained during their flowering season, so the flowers didn't seem as fragrant as they normally do, and I left it, promising myself I would make some this year. Which is exactly what I've done.

Elderflowers are best picked on a sunny late May/early June day, when the flowers are creamy white.

Elderflower cordial is pretty easy to make. Other than the initial mixing process, all it then involves is the patience to let the flowers stew in the syrup for 48 hours - our fridge smells delicious when I open the door!

You want your flowers as fresh

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CHOCOLATE CHERRY COOKIES

Cookies are something I rarely eat. I never buy them from shops, and hardly ever make them, but I whipped up a batch to take with us to a rented cottage in the New Forest a couple of weeks ago. And they were really yummy! They're full of nuts, fruit and chocolate and are nicely soft and chewy.

You want to make the cookie dough about half an hour before you cook it, as the dough's better after a quick chill in the fridge.

Makes 15 palm size cookies

130g unsalted butter
125g light brown soft sugar
75g caster sugar
1 large egg
Zest of 1 orange
200g plain flour
1 slightly heaped teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 flat teaspoon table salt
20g almonds
30g orange chocolate
20g golden sultanas
20g dried cherries

Mix the butter with the sugars and beat until light and creamy. Add the egg and stir in with the sugar mix. Zest the orange into the mix. 

Put the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a separate bowl and mix. Pour into the sugar mix and stir until all combined. 

Chop the almonds, chocolate orange, sultanas and dried cherries and add to the cookie dough mixture.

Lay a piece of cling film out and tip the cookie mix onto it. Flatten out and roll into a long cylinder, wrapping the cling film tightly around it. Refrigerate this for half an hour or so.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Once chilled, slice the cookie dough into discs, about an inch thick. Place 6 discs on each well greased baking tray, spread out as much as possible.

Cook for 8-9 mins until lightly golden at the edges.

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