What better way to enjoy my last day of ‘freedom’ before starting a new job than a bit of retail therapy and mischief with ‘official partner in crime’. Destination: Ilkley, West Yorkshire. It was a very cold winters’ day and this photograph doesn’t do justice to how pretty The Grove can look with all the…
Month: March 2013
My all cocoa brownies
I would have defied anyone who would have suggested that brownies are just as rich and fudgy without using melted dark chocolate as an ingredient. I couldn’t imagine that cocoa powder would deliver anything like the gooey, rich finish one looks for in these chocolate delightfuls. I had recently made one of my ‘usual’ brownie…
Baked tomatoes with pearl barley, olive & caper stuffing
Tomatoes take on a rich, sweet, flavour when baked and I love the colourfulness of this dish. I was inspired to make concoct this recipe one weekend lunch time as I had some olives and lemons that needed using up along with some cupboard staples. If you don’t have pearl barley, you can always substitute…
The Angel Inn, Hetton
A visit here for both lunch and dinner confirmed that this is still stacking up to its reputation of delicious Yorkshire pub food. It’s certainly not your bog standard pub food by any stretch of the imagination. Rather, it’s of the refined end of the range, well presented and above all delicious! Here are my…
Lemon curd cream cake
I had to think of a cake to make for a recent Saltaire Clandestine Cake Club event. The theme was ‘All Things Bright & Beautiful’ and, as I had some spare lemons in the fridge that needed using up, I thought something using lemon curd would do just fine. Maybe I had the image of…
The Prashad: food fit for kings & queens
The introduction in the menu quotes Kaushy Patel, the executive chef as saying “you are what you eat so sit back and relax and dine elated for today you are Kings and Queens”. We certainly did we dine well! The Prashad has recently moved to its new premises in Drighlington, on the outskirts of Leeds,…
All Things Bright & Beautiful
March has all the signs of spring with the days getting longer and the colourfulness of bright yellow daffodils starting to make a welcome appearance. The theme for this months’ Clandestine Cake Club in Saltaire was designed to conjure up such images of all things bright and beautiful. It didn’t feel much like spring though…
The Design House, Halifax – more art than food?
It must be a good 9 years ago that I first went this upmarket establishment but don’t remember much about it at all. Consequently, this visit was a ‘clean sheet of paper’ so to speak. I did have a quick sneak preview of their website to give me an idea of what one might expect. …
Sunday lunch at Hipping Hall
My excursion takes me across the border into Lancashire from my West Yorkshire home base. As a keen fell walker I have driven past Hipping Hall zillions of times on my way to and from the Lake District. Today, there are no walking boots in sight; the sole objective is to indulge in what I…
Apple & calvados cake
This recipe by Frances Atkins (of The Yorke Arms) caught my eye in a recent article in The Yorkshire Post and I decided to try it. Her notes were that this was a versatile cake to be used as either sweet or savoury – the article was illustrated with the latter where, having been toasted…