This month’s edition of Finally Some Good Food comes to you after a lovely week at the Gladstone Library, where despite getting my first bout of food poisoning [would not recommend], I’ve actually managed to get a lot done. Turns out all a writer needs to write is a room of one’s own, no TV, having all her food and cleaning needs taken care of, and a beautiful historic library to silently work in. I can see how all those aristocrats did it back in the day. But, to business.
Firstly, one of the cool things I’ve been working on that I can finally announce is that I’m running a little summer writing school at Levenshulme Old Library! It’s my first writing workshops I’ve ever run, and I’m running individual sessions on fiction, non-fiction and performance which anyone can attend (and for an incredibly reasonable price!!) If you’ve ever wanted to write or but not had the confidence, or you’ve written before but you’re in need of some new inspiration, these workshops would be perfect for you. There’s going to be snacks and games and great vibes and it is going to be so lovely; but most importantly if these go well, not only will I be able to run some more, but I want to host some more niche workshops with potentially some guest teachers in the near future (including perhaps a food writing workshop 👀👀👀) so please do come along! You can either sign up for the whole course or book individual sessions here:
It’s going to be lush.
My second announcement is that in the midst of trying to finish not one but two literary projects, run my workshops and work my normal job, I need to do what I can over the next month to stay chill and not burn out completely as I’ve been threatening to do for a while. This means I will be taking a much-needed summer break from this roundup over July and will return at the end August. (Don’t worry, if you are missing me, I will be scheduling some content for all my paid subscribers in the meantime).
Finally, perhaps the most important announcement: it it is Strawberry Season, when all the British strawberries don’t taste shite and watery, so grab them while you can. I got a punnet for free as some sort of Co-Op promo event and I ate the entire thing in one go lying down on my couch.
[Also, there was apparently some election on this month which has been a dumpster fire? While there is complication and nuance to the results, I do finally understand sexual voyeurism as I woke up to watch the Tories getting absolutely fucked. So that’s the joy I will be taking into the summer.]
But it wasn’t just the strawberries that were good to eat this month.
Rustik Bites
Last time you saw us, my sibling Lola was visiting. As they brought in the new month with us, we spent the first day of the month really rather hungover. Luckily for us, we were guided towards Rustik bites by Deansgate station by our friend Nathaniel, and I can say it is a truly great recommendation for those suffering. So far I have not been let down by anywhere that does a blue cheese dip for fries yet and it was truly top tier fried goods. I got the onion rings, mozzarella sticks and fries and I was restored.
getting into the tapa mindset
Emma, newsletter regular and woman who admitted to me last week that she scans the newsletter for her own name before reading (are you happy now), hosted a Pedro Aldomovar movie night just before we went on holiday. It was meant to be a double bill but because it is impossible to find most of Aldomovar’s work on streaming platforms, we just ended up watching Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, which was truly excellent silly farce, and as an unplanned chaser, the equally silly Evil Dead II. We take movie nights very seriously in our group so we all brought some tapas to share, and I thought I’d list the highlights.
M&S labneh dip, which is a new addition to their summer picnic deli range and a lovely crowdpleasing dip.
Co-Op Manchego, which unlike some supermarket cured cheeses was creamy and punchy without being too dry.
Emma’s homemade churros which she deep fried herself. While they did not keep the traditional shape, they were not only an impressive feat of fire safety but they were so delicious I ate as many as possible until I felt sick.
Too Good to Go
In my new era of trying to save money and be more sustainable, I downloaded Too Good to Go an app to buy food that would go to waste from shops for cheap, which was recommended to me by my dad. So far, I’ve used it four times:
Bagel Factory: I ordered the vegetarian bag, which contained one fresh halloumi melt bagel, three unfilled bagels (plain, sesame seed and the most cursed, rainbow) and one raisin cookie. It was £4.33, which considering one bagel by itself is almost £6 and the bagel was just as nice, it was pretty good value.
Barburrito: For dinner I got two vegetarian ones for £3. You don’t get to choose the filling, they just picked one to have white rice, the other to have brown, but considering they are normally over £10, and they were tasty (even if I couldn’t describe to you what was in them), very good value if you happen to be in town quite late.
Caffe Nero: This one was a good haul. I got a brie and bacon panini, a mushroom and mascarpone toastie, two choc chip cookies and a lemon muffin for £3.09. Coffee chains seem to be the most prolific on Good to Go, so I’d say snap up if you can.
Factory Coffee - in the advert, there as potential sandwiches and salads advertised, but in reality I got a lot of cakes. I had one phenomenal choc chip cookie (which seems to be a theme this month) as well as some sort of coffee pistachio donut (too much coffee for me unfortunately), some sort of apple cake and a little pistachio cookie thing(?), for £5. It’s good value if you have enough people to eat it all to go stale, but it was a bit too much pudding for me and one diabetic to get through.
Overall, Too Good To Go is proving to be an interesting and sometimes quite economical venture, so I will continue to investigate new options and let you folks know.
Holy Grain choc hazelnut cookie with sea salt/Vakery white choc and pistachio cookie
I work near my favourite shop Eighth Day again, which means getting to peruse its veggie deli wares around lunch every so often. Since I’ve last been there, they have started stocking goods from one of my favourite bakeries in Manchester, Holy Grain, which is stunning behaviour and meant I got to have this delicious cookie. However, a couple of weeks later I went to get another Holy Grain cookie but they had run out, so I decided to try a white choc and pistachio one they sold from Vakery instead. I didn’t realise until I looked it up afterwards it was a vegan one, as the white chocolate was indistinguishable and it had that perfect chewy cookie texture. Both are great cookies and I would equally recommend.
Clippers chamomile peach and orange infusion
Speaking of Eighth Day recs, I will also give them the credit of being one of the few places that stocks a genuine wide variety of soft drinks aren’t just coke, juice, lemonade or iced tea. I’m always on the hunt for flat uncaffeinated drinks, so loved this little juicy can I found which, while being made by a tea company, doesn’t actually have any tea in it. It’s just nice fruity water with a slight floral note.
vegan pizza, Dominos
Through a work event I got to try some vegan cheese and tomato pizza from Dominos and considering some of the vegan cheese atrocities I have tried in the past, I was pleasantly surprised by this. It was very agreeable and the difference was only slight, and not the sort that leaves a bad taste in your mouth after.
It’s barbecue season baby!
Our Airbnb in Porto has a gas grill which was revolutionary, but also surprisingly turned out to be our first BBQ of the year, which is late by our standards. That meant the minute I saw there was a good weather report for the weather post-return, I had to suggest getting our English grill on. The good thing about being back in the UK is that the veggie barbecue options in supermarkets are far wider and I managed to snag a few goodies:
Beyond Burgers: I picked these up as they were on offer with a Nectar card and while they aren’t the most appealing looking, they do turn out a juicy burger. When I’ve had Beyond Burgers in restaurants they can sometimes be a bit dry, but that wasn’t the case here - sometimes DIY is truly better.
Sainsburys cheddar and truffle burger melts: Ready made discs of cheddar and truffle for that gourmet twist.
Holy Moli Aioli: a slightly fancy garlic sauce for those who want to continue in the Basque tradition.
San Pellegrino pomegranate and orange: In perhaps the biggest news of all, you can now buy multipacks of San Pellegrino pomegranate in the big Sainsburys and they are definitely too expensive, but I got too excited and bought them anyway.
Cofresh Caramel Sesame Peanuts, Sainsburys
Emma, once again the consummate host and newsletter feature, ran a little painting session at her flat recently and it turns out doing a hobby I enjoy that has nothing to do with my career makes me feel really nice! Also we painted with watercolours and I had no pencil to sketch beforehand, so I’m pleased with the results considering. I really enjoyed painting again
But the really important part for my mental health was these delicious nuts we were served beforehand. Apparently found in the world food section of Sainsburys, I’m pretty sure they are snack crack. I even made Ed buy us some for our trip to Gladstones. That's how much I liked them. More embarrassingly, I even said out loud that they were going straight into the newsletter, which may be cringe of me, but they had to know.
Cursed Review of the Month
Mac’n’cheese pizza, Sainsburys
I bought this out of the reduced section when I needed an easy dinner and I’ll be honest: it just tastes like a cheesy cheese and tomato pizza. However, it is a gargantuan task to get through all of it and will put you in a bigger than usual food coma.
That’s all for this June, I hope you are all enjoying your Brat girl summers and as always please feel free to share any bits you like or comment below.
As I try to use social media less, I’d love to connect with you guys on here as much as possible. Feel free to send me your veggie bbq hot tips, your go-to summer snacks, new restaurant recs or just something truly cursed to taste test.