Bonjour ma petit filous, as my not-French father used to say and welcome back to another week’s edition to FSGF! (catchy, I know.)
Luckily for you all this week, whilst the UK government continues its negligent and awful behaviour, there isn’t anything specific to food which gives me reason to rant, so no long monologues for you all this week. However, if you are keen to read an excellent piece about injustice and worker’s rights in the food industry, then read this article by Lewis Bassett for Vittles to whet your appetite, comrades!
This week I decided apropo of nothing to watch the first series of The Trip, a comedy based around fictionalised versions of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon going around fancy restaurants in the North. Whilst it is obviously a good look at masculinity, aging and friendship etc etc it is also just very funny and features lots of nice meals, so I would highly recommend watching with an alcoholic beverage of choice and a meal to recreate that feeling of hearing people chat shit in a restaurant.
I also watched Gregory’s Girl, which is a charming and very funny film about being a silly teenage boy in love and had an ending that I think most Hollywood films could learn from. However, I mainly mention it here not just because you should all watch it (you should) but as there is a schoolboy character who loves cooking and seems to be able to make doughnuts, which I am highly jealous of. I will pick a fresh doughnut over most desserts, so does anyone know any good easy doughnut recipes??? especially one which doesn’t involve a deep fat fryer, which I do not have???
Now before we get onto the good stuff, some admin.
Since it is the last Tuesday of January, I need to start thinking of the future of these little newsletter. I plan on releasing another one next week as lessons still haven’t started, but since from the week of the 8th classes resume as will the Mancunion, so I am planning on taking a break that week. Do not despair though, as this little series has become more popular* than expected, and frankly I love having this weird little food diary, so despite my initial plans, FSGF shall live on! I’ll have to play around with what works, probably moving to either Thursday or Friday and it may have to become fortnightly, but like how I have dealt with the entirety of the pandemic, we will (forcibly) go with the flow!
*we have over 20 subscribers now! And last week, some very nice and fancy academic people read it, so I cannot disappoint my community** now.
**that’s you 20 or so nerds reading this.
Anyway, time for the main event.
Food I liked this week:
- Poached egg and avocado on a cheese scone
I was very excited to have my first reader suggestion this week as if you remember, I called out for ideas for cheese scone toppings. This suggestion came from Alys Robinson, who is not only a dear friend but a far superior cook than I and let me tell you something: it bangs. Admittedly the house I am in is very cold 90% of the time and therefore the avocadoes here are taking about a millennia to ripen, so I jumped at the chance of making this when they seemed even vaguely ripe. (I am very impatient.) For best results, if the avocado isn’t fully ripe, wait.
I am also obsessed with Brianna’s Home Style Dijon Honey Mustard Dressing, which is annoyingly only available at Waitrose at the moment but I would recommend to almost anyone. (I am not sponsored although am more than willing to be, especially as I actually managed to convince my boyfriend to buy it because I am an influencer now). So, I tried one side without any and the other with a little dollop of the dressing on top of the avocado and underneath the egg and whilst good without, with it it was truly superb. It adds a necessary zing of flavour, although if honey and mustard is not to your taste, I’m sure there’s loads of different dressings you can try it with. (Some form of sweet chilli or hot sauce comes to mind, or alternatively perhaps something quite citrusy?)
- Ed’s blue cheese and mushroom pappardelle
This is very similar to the mac and cheese I made the other week but as I wasn’t baking it I made the sauce all in one pan, so the ratio of mushroom filling to creamy cheese sauce was more 50/50. Also pappardelle is possibly my favourite time of pasta – what can I say? I like a thick noodle.
- Peach and Hibiscus Flavour FuzeTea
Another case of not being sponsored but probably would be (although sadly owned by Coca-Cola so less sure on ethical grounds if I could do it), this has to be my favourite ice tea drink sold in the UK. You may not know but I lived in Venice for a year (yes I’m one of those study abroad people) and one of the less obvious things I learnt about food and drink over there is that Europeans love ice tea. Most supermarkets you can get 2 litre bottles for under a euro and they are incredibly sweet. I ended up drinking a lot over there as it was one of the few non-fizzy soft drinks you can get out there for cheap, and unfortunately that taste stuck once I came home.
To be fair to Britain, I actually prefer Lipton to most brands as it is not as overly sugary whilst still refreshing. Also, there is a rare Japanese peach iced tea you can buy in the world foods section of Sainsburys which I cannot currently find online but is extremely good!! I had to stop drinking it as I think it was giving me stomach pains but as I am sensitive to both caffeine and I think some kinds of e-numbers, I cannot condemn this entirely. In fact, I probably shouldn’t drink ice tea at all, but like Miley Cyrus sang once, I Can’t Be Tamed.
However, I did find this one last week and parched after my one long daily walk to a big shop, I decided to give it a go after a fond memory of trying it in the summer and wanting to see if it was good as I remember.
Honestly, I prefer this to Lipton as it is slightly sweeter (although not European sickly sweet) and tastes juicier in my opinion and it didn’t give me any stomach pain, so we can only take that as a plus!
- Homemade sundried tomato and spinach cream cheese
This is a classic which I have referred to in my newsletter last year, but honestly, I have learnt that this cream cheese is equally good on cheese scones and probably most thick toasted bread you can get your hands on as well as bagels. It is also very easy to make vegan as I’ve heard there are quite a few decent vegan cream cheeses now.
- Cornershop Pizza with toppings
This week I learnt that if you add enough cheese, pesto and some homemade roasted tomatoes on top, most cornershop pizzas will taste exactly like the Marks and Spencer pizza you meant to buy but didn’t as you forgot it was Sunday and got there after it closed.
Aims for the future
– So I’ve been subscribing to more and more food newsletters both for inspiration , and I found this cool vegan one called YOU COOK PLANTS GOOD, MAN by Karl Thomas Smith. He kicked off with a nice personal piece on how he became vegan, followed with this one for the vegan “lox”/smoked salmon.
Now I consider myself an “emergency pescatarian”, an option I took up mainly for holidays abroad in certain countries where they think fish counts as a veggie option, but the one fish I actually like is smoked salmon. If I am in Brick Lane, I cannot help myself for going into Beigel Bake and ordering at least two smoked salmon and cream bagels. However, it’s not a habit I’m super proud of morally, so if I could find some delicious substitute that would be perfect. I didn’t think it was possible until I saw this recipe, so I am determined to try it just in case, because if so, that would be a real gamechanger. I don’t have any of the required ingredients yet so may take a while to get around to it, but it is one of my aims.
Anyway, that’s it for this week, but I love any form of suggestions so do get in touch if you have anything you think I should check out.
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