I Know What I Ate This Summer: A FSGF roundup

+ WORKSHOP NEWS!

Oct 06, 2024

Did you miss me? As always, it’s been slightly longer than planned. I did actually draft a lot of this in August, but I’ll be honest - I became convinced I was beginning to go bald. At least, my hair was shedding at an alarming rate and the bathroom mirror was showing a surprising amount of scalp; I’ve never had the thickest locks to begin with, so losing what little I had presented a problem for my self-esteem I was not prepared for in the slightest. It turns out that you can be displeased with some part of yourself, and then it can get ‘worse’! (In your own opinion, that is).

NHS online will tell you that potential causes for hair loss include an illness, cancer treatment, weight loss, iron deficiency and stress; now I could easily rule out the illness and cancer treatment, and I deliberately don’t monitor my weight (but I hadn’t noticed anything obvious either), so as I was buying my brand new iron supplements, I thought back to the last month or so. I was using a new hair mousse. The weather had also changed. And it was also one of the most stressful Augusts I’ve had in recent memory, and this led to a completely inconsistent sleep schedule and barely a vegetable or a home cooked meal in sight. As I looked at yet another long brown strand that appeared without me even moving, I figured that’s one way to tell you to chill out.

After a deadline extension, a haircut and some time away at my mum’s, I am starting to feel a little less insane and my hair seems relatively back to normal (even if I am brushing it as if it’s a nervous horse). But I have decided for October I am taking some measures to officially Chill Out™. I am aiming for roughly eight hours of sleep a night. I am going to have days off where I don’t commit to anything. I am going to get a scheduling app for Instagram, so I can still post relevant stuff* but spend less time doomscrolling. I will try to replace my phone with more hobbies. And I am going to eat ‘better’.

Importantly, I should say ‘better’ in this context just means eating consistently, cooking more and eating more fruit and vegetables. So far, I have made:

Sweet potato, coconut and ginger soup - based from this Anthony Worrall Thompson recipe, I find adding a few strands of pickled ginger on top adds a nice bit of acidity.
Sundried tomatoes - turns out using quarters of normal size tomatoes and lots of oil gets better aka less burnt results. I also used these to make goats cheese and sundried tomato omelettes, which are a nice light veggie lunch if you don’t want to be too sleepy afterwards.
Plum jam and brown butter cake - based off this Benjamina Ebuehi recipe, the browning of the butter did take forever but possibly made the nicest buttercream I’ve had. Bake Off is back baby!
Blue cheese, mushroom and fake chicken gnocchi - Entirely improvised and inspired by italian ready meals of gorgonzola gnocchi, it tasted better on reheating, which was a surprise.
Smoky chickpea, pepper and quorn chicken fajitas - fairly straight forward, roasted it all in the oven with a smoky spice mix and added some guacamole and feta.
Ottolenghi’s tomato and ‘prawn’ orzo - based on a recipe in his Simple book, I made this very fennel heavy recipe as I’d heard great things, but used this slightly cursed looking ‘Shrimpiee’ fake prawns. They weren’t too bad actually! Weirdly smooth, but I guess prawns are too.

So far, so many vitamins. However I am still very much on the lookout for nice and easy veggie autumnal recipes so if you’re got a banging soup recipe locked away or know the perfect salad, do get in touch.

But before we can get onto our restaurant recommendations for the summer, I must talk about *the relevant stuff.

I am pleased to announce two things:

Firstly, I am running my first ever Food Writing Workshop! It is being held at Levenshulme Old Library on the 23rd of October! I had such a great time with the Writers Toolkit in August and I’m so delighted the space invited me back to do something so close to my heart. If you love reading this newsletter, I think you’ll really enjoy what I’ve got in store - there will be some tasty local treats to try, so I’d really love to see you guys there!! You can find more info and ticket booking here.

Announcement Number Two! I am starting my own writing coaching service; after running my workshops over the last year and having many conversations, I have learnt that I love helping people bring all your cool ideas to life. so I wanted to open my editorial and advice services to the masses:

As I’m just getting started, I’m running a special first-time offer where for £45 per session, you get:

Editorial notes on 2000 words of your choice (and only £15 for every extra 2000 words)
A 90 minute meeting, either online or in person, to discuss your work, help with future planning and any other writing topics you want to discuss
Access to my secret weapon - The Master Sheet of Writing Deadlines to Apply To
Two followup emails for accountability checking
And an exclusive discount code for a future writing workshop of your choice

If you’re interested, you can email me at rubymartinwrites@gmail.com.

Right, now the shameless plugging is out of the way, it’s time to get to the good stuff:

Celeriac burger, The Glynne Arms

So let’s start where we left off. Last newsletter, you caught me right after some pretty horrific food poisoning shortly after arriving at the Gladstone Library. This was not a great culinary time for me, as the first few meals were a real struggle to keep anything down and Hawarden has very limited food options. However after a couple of days of the blandest food possible, we decided to finally treat ourselves to a proper meal in the restaurant in the The Glynne Arms down the road. This is not your normal pub as it is run by Hawarden’s local farm shop, so the venue is a little fancier than most. Luckily for us, on a Thursday they do a burger and a pint deal, so I ordered their one veggie burger offering; I was pleasantly surprised to not be presented with one dry Beyond burger and the bare minimum toppings, but instead a southern fried celeriac patty topped with garlic aioli and big pink slices of pickled onion. As a root vegetable, I wasn’t really sure what to expect texture wise, but it was surprisingly soft and chewy. The onion kept slipping out, but otherwise it was a much better good veggie alternative than I was expecting (if very messy). Also, while I cannot recommend getting food poisoning as an aperitif, it did probably taste even better after days of plain rolls and rice krispies.

Sips & Dips, Levenshulme

I was invited to Sips & Dips for my friends Rebecca and Clare’s birthday and you’ll be glad to know this restaurant does exactly what it says on the tin. It serves a lot of other food of course, but for my first visit, I had to get the dips platter, which is hummus, labneh, baba ghanoush and mutabbal served with fresh bread. We also ordered sides of cheese sambusak (fried cheese in pastry, what’s not to like) and falafels. This was all delightful, and I ordered the carrot and orange juice, which just tasted like nice fresh orange juice with an even healthier glow. If you like dips, and dare I say sips, you’ll love this restaurant.

Vegan Biscoff Cronut, Fig + Sparrow

For my friend Lucie’s birthday, we had originally planned to go to Companio’s new cafe for lunch, however, an important detail I often forget is that a lot of Manchester is closed on a Monday.. After a bit of wandering around the Northern Quarter, we found Fig + Sparrow, which I have walked by many times but never actually been inside. I bought their vegan Biscoff Cronut, which to be honest, sounded a bit much, but was much lighter and not as sweet as I anticipated. Also it didn’t taste like it was lacking butter at all, so definitely one for my vegans who are missing flaky buttery pastry!

Another Hand (again)

You guys probably already know how much I love Another Hand, and was chuffed to finally be able to take Ed’s mum and brother there. While there were some classics, we had some good newbies too. There was a lovely artichoke dish that was just artichoke cooked several different ways; the artichoke puree was particularly impressive, adding a lovely creamy earthiness to everything. Also, I had the smoothest mackerel pate of my life, which was delicious with the always good Holy Grain bread.

creamy pesto bucatini, Lucky Mama’s, Chorlton

After wandering around Chorlton on Sunday afternoon (and failing to get into Bar San Juan) we decided to spontaneously try an Italian restaurant called Lucky Mama’s. We were all quite hungry after all the walking, so I was definitely in the mood for a big bowl of pasta. So far, I’ve yet to find a bowl of pasta I’ve really been wowed by in Manchester. I think it's because I regularly make my own, which not to toot my own horn but is equally as good in my opinion and cost me a fraction of the price (please refer to my aforementioned blue cheese gnocchi). But scepticism aside, I got the creamy pesto pasta with bucatini, which was essentially thick spaghetti served with mushrooms and a cheese and pesto sauce. It seemed like an odd combo to me, but in retrospect I don’t know why. All these things are tasty and unsurprisingly, so was this pasta. The pasta is perfectly delicious and the portion hearty enough that the price feels reasonable. A fun addition is that you can also get your pasta served in a pizza dough bowl, but the pasta alone was enough to make you comatose, so we daren’t fly so close to the big pizza sun.

Curry udon, Koya

With train prices to London going up, my visits to London are sadly getting more scarce these days but Ed had gotten me tickets to see Spirited Away, the stage show for my birthday, so we had to go. This meant with what precious little time I had, we had to go to at least one of the restaurants that we don’t have in Manchester that I still miss from my London days. This time, it was the turn of Koya, which is a very snug ramen bar in Soho (although it has finally opened other locations). Specifically, I had to see if their curry udon was as good as I remember it. Spoiler: it was. It was slightly thicker than your usual broth, but if you like katsu curry, you’ll love this.

Vegitaliano, Dom’s Subs

The sub sandwich is definitely having a renaissance, with my Instagram feed constantly filling up with the latest sandwich business in Manchester (Bada Bing is definitely on my list to try!) I don’t know if it is a sign of the recession or just a desire to return to tradition/a portable lunch, but I don’t mind as I love sandwiches. While in London, we were actually blessed with sunshine for once, so me, Ed and my friend Tim went for a quick lunch to the very suspiciously named Dom’s Subs before we got on the train back. I got the vegitaliano, which is technically vegan but they kindly subbed in some real provolone for me. We ate them in the nearby park and while I was less a fan of the mess it caused, it did leave a really pleasant and moreish aftertaste.

Peach crumble cake, Pollen

Our friend Matt came to visit on Manchester Pride weekend and as they are vegan, we were on the hunt for good vegan food across Manchester. On the Saturday morning we walked to Pollen bakery, where we managed to snag the last two Peach Crumble cakes which were vegan, despite the large blob of cream on top. I didn’t know what to expect, but this was so good. The sponge was moist and just a little sticky, with just enough of a jammy and crunchy centre, and the cream was a welcome addition. This is the sort of thing that could persuade me there is a viable future for equally tasty vegan alternatives - please just figure out cheese!!

Solar Wave, Sterling

One of the evenings Matt was here, we decided to try Sterling, a cocktail bar which is owned by the same people who own Schofields. Not only is it bigger, but I had perhaps the most delicious cocktail I’ve ever had, the Solar Wave which is Grey Goose Vodka, Vanilla, Passionfruit, Aperol, Citrus and Clarified Milk. The result is an almost clear cocktail with a lovely sweet creamy taste without being cloying or too sickly. It took everything in my being not to drink it too quickly. The only downside was having to listen to the lounge singer do a slightly too-loud cover of Keane.

Veggie fry up, Caravan

So after hitting Deaf Institute for our Pride night out, we needed some big carbs to recover; luckily, our decision was made easy by the fact a new brunch place called Caravan opened up less than five minutes from our flat. I ordered their veggie fry up, which was a thick slice of toasted bread served with a wedge of halloumi, two fried eggs, smashed avocado, cooked mushroom and tomato and a very large heap of spiced black beans. I’m not exaggerating when I say it is probably the best veggie fry up I have ever had, and my friend Joe who had it said the same as well.

Caramel corn

I went to a pole class one Sunday as one of my teachers had just come back from Japan and in a very sweet gesture, she gave us all Japanese snacks after the class. I got a packet of ‘Caramel Corn’, which I assumed was going to be popcorn, but was in fact, like Toffee Butterkist crossed with a Wotsit (don’t worry, no cheese involved) which may sound strange but was actually really good - lightweight and crunchy, it’s perfect as a post-lunch sweet-but-not-too-sweet treat.

Cherelle’s homemade sourdough

Get friends who make their own bread. My DND group had their first proper DND session in a while, which was nice anyway, but being able to have a snack of homemade toasted bread with butter and slices of mature cheddar was a delicious cherry on top.

The brat donut, siop shop

As soon as I saw this on Instagram, I knew I had to try it. After all, what better way to truly celebrate Brat Girl Summer? As always Siop Shop donuts are so light and fluffy, but this tasted like a cross between a green starburst and a Solero with the tropical creme patisserie in the centre and the limey glaze marrying well for a refreshing summer dessert.

Bran’s chocolate strawberries

I’m very glad that I’ve made friends with the sort of people who provide lots of food at parties, and my friend Bran’s birthday was no exception. A particular shoutout has to go for the fact she had ready-made chocolate dipped strawberries ready to serve for our arrival. White chocolate strawberries is perhaps a combo of two of my favourite things but I haven’t eaten the combo since wandering the streets of Verona in 2015. Genuinely an inspired choice which I will definitely do for my birthday next year (and probably sooner tbh).

Tequila and Mezcal festival, Manchester Cathedral

Years and years ago, my partner went to a whisky festival without me and got perhaps the most hammered he’s been, thanks to being able to test limitless whisky samples; he then turned up at my door around 8pm with nowhere else to go and ate some carbs while slowly slumping back into sobriety on my couch. So when I saw this tequila festival advertised in Manchester, I had to share this opportunity to beat the buffet once again, alcohol edition. In the end six of us went and we were the only group who stayed from beginning to end, proceeding to get silly drunk and against the odds, still learning a lot about tequila (with the hosts who were also definitely smashed too). The two bottles I want to shout out in particular are the Cazcabel Tequila Blanco, which was perhaps the easiest to drink, and the 818 Tequila Anejo which was a lovely aged tequila. I would give you more specific tasting notes, but if you couldn’t tell, I got very drunk. But in a fun way!

Cheese Party

As you may remember, earlier this year we held a potato themed party for St Patricks Day which was a massive success; ever since then, we had been debating what the next theme of our potluck could be. So, once we had booked our tequila tickets, we were lucky that our consummate host as always, Emma, chose the Sunday the day after the festival for us to indulge in a cheese themed party. Anticipating the tequila hangover, I managed to actually not give myself too much work to do, instead making Laura Goodman’s Honey and Mustard Cheeseballs from her book The Joy of Snacks. We also got:

A delightful cheesy truffled gratin from Emma herself
Made-to-order grilled cheese from Jake
Classic mac’n’cheese from Will
A spanokopita from Ed
A very welcome salad from Joe
And the best basque cheesecake I’ve had from Master Baker Cherelle

All of which we chased with a viewing of White House Down, which made for very good Sunday couch sobriety slumping. What more could you want to cure a hangover? (Our next theme is still undecided, but if you guys have any ideas do let me know)

Vanilla Crown, General Stores Deansgate

And to end on a lovely full-circle moment, the one thing that got me through the awful days post-food poisoning at the Gladstone Library were the miniature vanilla crowns they served at breakfast. Before I thought they were two bland, but post-digestive system working again they were sweet mana from heaven. Since then, I have found myself picking up the full-size versions from supermarkets more often.

So flash forward three months, as a woman in my late twenties, it came that special time where I had to go get my cervical smear - as fun as it isn’t, it’s really important to get tested! It wasn’t until I was walking over there, getting really anxious, that I realised the experience of previously getting the coil was somewhat physically harrowing, and to be honest, my first smear hadn’t been great, and maybe women’s healthcare is a bit fucked. But this time, my nurse was clearly in some sort of endearing and relatable tizz about being moved offices unexpectedly, which while it probably wasn’t what she intended, it did distract me from what was about to happen. And then the actual test was done as quickly as it started, which was a nice surprise. Turns out getting the smear post-coil is a piece of piss! But I still needed a reward for the emotional stress and happened to be walking past the Deansgate Convenience Store on the way home. I dropped in and what’s the first thing I see on the bakery counter? A vanilla crown! It was meant to be! Their version is definitely the nicest version I’ve had so far, and a much better ending to my morning than I expected.

And that’s it for the summer roundup. It’s a long one, but I hope some of you may genuinely find it useful. The next free roundup should be back around the beginning of November, and in the next week or so I’ll be bringing back the paid edition with something completely different to what I normally do, so keep an eye out for that!

Otherwise, if you’ve got any recipes or restaurants to recommend, as always please do get in touch!

Finally Some Good Food

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