the wild food kitchen @ the arthaus

I feel extremely lucky to have been given the opportunity to work at Jimmy Garcia’s The Wild Food Kitchen last night at The Arthaus. An amazing menu was served to 60 guests in a beautiful space near London Fields. This pop up restaurant will be open tonight and tomorrow. Here’s a selection of photos from the evening.

On another note this bit of bling below was recently bought as Biscocho‘s new form of tranport for baking goods to this Sunday’s charity gig Doing it For The Kids 2012. If you haven’t bought tickets yet and would like to come along please click on this link. Hope to see you there.

a trip to the end of the world

On Friday I set off at 08:20 from London Waterloo to Falmouth Town with three girlfriends. After 8 hours of snacking, chatting, snoozing, playing cards and backgammon we finally reached Cornwall. Following on from this mammoth train journey we had a break and sat in a local pub before squeezing into a taxi and reaching our final destination around 17:30. It was well worth the trip.

21 girls stayed in an 8 bedroom house on a beautiful estuary just outside of Falmouth. The first night there we had a hog roast from Spitting Pig who had travelled down to the end of the world from Surrey. The pork was served with homemade apple sauce, stuffing and potato salad made by the bridesmaids. The crackling was amazing, really salty and crispy. There was enough meat to feed 50 people so it lasted us the rest of the weekend.

The following morning, after feasting on bacon and avocado sandwiches we went for a walk around the estuary. We passed lots of bluebells, walked through plenty of fields and hit some muddy patches. Wellie boots would have been a sensible thing to pack.

When we got back to the house we had a picnic with Pimms, beetroot hummus ( really want to make this), tomato and mozarella salad.

In the evening a table was set up for all of us. We each had napkins wrapped with feathers, raffia and a name tag. There were lots of wild flowers placed in an assortment of glass jars with tea lights and rose petal scattered all over the tablecloth. One of the bridesmaids is a photographer and had brought a polaroid down for the weekend. Lots of tiny snapshots lined one wall on a string with tiny heart hooks.

Alot of food and drink was consumed. We started with prawn cocktail, followed on by Baked Camembert with garlic and rosemary. Had a breather whilst speeches were made. Then on to Smoked salmon with dill and lemon, pulled pork with onion chutney, gerkins and chilli jam then ended with beetroot brownies.

On Sunday we had to check out early and our train wasn’t until 17:30 so we spent the day in Falmouth Town eating calamari and icecream, buying souvenirs ( lots of good fudge and shortbread down this end of the world) and soaking up the sun. We were really lucky to have amazing weather the whole time we were there and now back in London it is grey and rainy again. Fingers crossed the sun comes out again in 3 weeks time for the big day!

On another note a friend recently sent me a link to this blog which is really nice. It makes you appreciate the little things in life.

favourites: we were born with sun in our teeth and in our hair

This post has little reference to food or travel. Just a list of favourites at this very moment and a nice way to end this week. The next 15 days are going to be heavily focused on tying things up for Doing it for the Kids 2012 on Sunday 20 May at The Lexington, Angel. If you haven’t bought tickets yet and want to come please click on this link.

- Alabama Shakes ( photo above) performed last night at Electic Brixton. They sang Hold On quite early into their set but were great live. Really good atmosphere. A lot of bopping and swinging of hips going on.

- A couple of songs that have been played a lot on 6music this week and are brilliant; Mystery Jets’ Someone Purer and Best Coast’s The Only Place. Also The Hives are back!

- Galibardy’s gorilla earrings are awesome as are the vintage chain mail lace ones

- Diving with turtles in Koh Tao, Thailand

- The beautiful album cover for Joni Mitchell’s Hejira album from 1976

- Bestival 2012′s line-up is amazing with Stevie Wonder and New Order headlining. Very excited to be going this year and sharing a tent with the other half of Biscocho. Me gusta

- Ellie Grace & Rosie French aka French & Grace have their first cookery book, Kitchen & Co, coming out on 23 May

- Travelling from Santiago to Patagonia then ending in the world’s southernmost city, Ushuaia

- Joy The Baker’s post ‘Hello, London!’

- James Ramsden’s The Secret Larder. They’re now taking bookings for June 2012.

- Erich Freid’s Love Poems. I recently saw this book at Ramsden’s supper club in April. I made a copy of some of the poems and here’s a section from one of my favourites:

IN ANOTHER LAND

…but your eyes i cannot copy in anything nor your voice nor your breath nor your smell and not one of your movements

and my hands and my lips and my teeth and my tongue and my sex too all of them want only you and nothing instead of you

That’s it for now. Bring on bank holiday weekend

sunshine on a rainy day

Recently I was informed I’m not a lover of sunsets. This was news to my ears. I don’t remember being asked if I was a fan or not. It’s strange when people make assumptions about you but I suppose we all do it. I hadn’t intended on making this blog personal but that’s really what blogs are about at the end of the day. People write about things they love and are passionate about. Now seems like a better time than never to rant a bit about this subject, the sun and all its glory, and hopefully tie it in as best as possible with travel (and food of course).

I’ve been very fortunate to have travelled a lot, especially in the past three years. To travel the world with someone you love and experience new cultures is one of the most amazing feelings. Looking back over holiday photos I realised a couple of things that have drawn me to places – colour and surprisingly enough food. When I googled sunsets this phrase came up which I found touching – I wonder why when you say goodbye beautiful colours paint the sky. Shades of orange, yellow and pink too all come out because of you.

A sunset to me has to be pretty spectacular for my bottom jaw to drop. Colour is essential, like the sky is on fire and it stops you in your tracks. It creates a mood that can make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. That is how I felt in the photo above. Two of us sandwiched between strangers all drawn together by music,content under the same pink sky.

This is the first time in my life (so far) I’ve appreciated rainy weather in the UK. Looking out the office window at constant rain for what feels like forever has been quite satisfying (now I really do sound like Ebenezer Scrooge). Today feels more tranquil yet rocky at the same time, a bit like the photo below. A good balance between the sky and the sea is needed. Sometimes it’s so beautiful to have a clear divide between the two, other times it’s magical not being able to identify where one begins and the other ends.

Morocco has been one of my favourite places to visit and hope to return to one day. Life and colour is everywhere. Two tourists wandering the streets, getting lost and discovering hidden treasures. We ate well and watched the buzzing Jemma El Fna square drinking many pots of sweet mint tea. Marrakech to me is a very romantic city filled with culture.

Paris of course is the city of love. Staying in Montmartre we were fortunate to look down on the city covered in bright lights, the Eiffel Tower appeared to be the size of a thimble in the distance. This view was one of the highlights of the trip.

Scotland hit me hard. The landscape here is breath taking and so moody. None of my photos do it justice. Climbing Ben Nevis was a real sense of achievement as we reached the top surrounded by clouds feeling like we’d made it to space. I’ll soon be going down rather than up though and exploring the underworld. At the moment scuba diving in a pool is as far as I’ve got but hopefully by July will be capable (touch wood) of swimming with these colourful guys.

Although not so sure about these fellas below. It’s a very different experience seeing them in Boston’s aquarium then having one float past your nose.I should start wrapping up now before this turns into an essay. London has been the hardest place for me to feel content. It took a year and a half to settle in trying to get used to the hustle and bustle, the craziness of it all. You can struggle to find the beauty in your surroundings until you find someone (or someone finds you). Suddenly colour engulfs you. The city’s landscapes are beautiful and from certain view points striking. London’s bridges are some of the best places to take it all in. Do a 360 degree turn and you realise wow this is where I live.

One of these mouth-watering creations landed on my desk at the start of this week, Rainbow Cake. It was a smack in the face. So much vibrant colour contrasting with so much rain outside. It gave me a little bit of hope ( and a lot of sugar) to think that eventually this rain will stop and an optical phenomenan will appear against the dark moody sky.

music to my ears

I should start cooking properly again, soon. A lot of eating out has been done and with that has come a lot of different sounds being heard. On Friday a group of us from work went to the Grace Bar where our ears were filled with Rihanna and Maroon 5. Who doesn’t wish they had moves like Jagger. The food in this venue is average. Lots of burgers, risotto and pies. We’ve eaten here once before and had such bad service that they generously offered us 50% off our drinks bill if we wanted to come again. Four of us munched on chicken burgers, one had steak and ale pie and I chomped on a prawn mayonnaise sandwich.

On Saturday it was my sister’s birthday. 11 of us walked to Le Quecumbar which is a few streets away from our flat. I’ve walked past it many times always thinking it looked a little quirky. Once you step through the doors you feel like you’re in Paris. It’s a romantic setting with intimate tables and fairy lights. We shared anti pasta platters and had spinach tortellini for main. The food was quite pricey and not really worth it but the atmosphere was great and the music really set the scene. I imagine this would be a good place to go for a drink on a first date.

On Sunday I met up with a girlfriend for lunch. We walked around Brick Lane, had Cuban BBQ Pork with Mango Salsa, German sausage, and this plate of waffles with strawberries and chocolate. We also got to listen to live music from the three guys below.

and on the way back to Liverpool St we listened to another 2 guys who were the most amazing beat boxers. Very young and talented one of them sounded like he had about three instruments coming from his mouth at one point. Unfortunately the video recording I made won’t upload on to here. I should have taken a contact name for them as it would be fun to work with them at one of Xeth‘s future events.

the secret larder, 19 april 2012

Last night a friend and I were lucky enough to enjoy a Middle Eastern feast at The Secret Larder – a supper club run by James Ramsden in North London. I was first introduced to James’ cooking when friends bought me Small Adventures in Cooking for my birthday last year. A really beautiful book filled with delicious recipes, I turned to the back page and found out James was hailed by The Times in 2010 as ‘one of the bloggers who really count’.  I emailed him expressing an interest in assisting in the kitchen whenever he needs an extra pair of hands. Fingers crossed.

The living room sat twenty of us. On my left I had a very interesting man who worked as a freelance travel journalist. On my right I had a woman who recently started working for Cancer Research in the marketing department. It was a lovely evening meeting people with lots of different backgrounds all coming together to eat at this beautiful flat inside a School House.They had a huge collection of books and unusual art work. My iphone photos don’t do it enough justice.

Our first course was Turkish meze – roasted red peppers with marinated feta, tzatziki, moutabel and a tomato and cucumber salad served with fresh pitta.

Following on from that we had doner kebabs. A range of dishes were again laid out before us – spit-roasted shoulder of lamb, pickled red cabbage, smoked aubergine yoghurt and lavash.

We had a light dessert of fresh oranges , dates, and almonds drizzled with creme fraiche then home made baklava was served with coffee or mint tea. They also offered round the table a drink similar to Sambuca but much stronger in anise-flavour. I don’t like aniseed but made myself try it before we left. With it being freezing outside it was nice to have something warming even though my mouth was on fire.

american-style pancakes

American-style pancakes with bacon and maple syrup is one of the best breakfasts on a lazy Saturday morning. We cheated slightly using Bisquick to make the pancakes. Light and fluffy they tasted incredible with the salty bacon and sweet syrup.

Why is it the first pancake always turns to mush? It was the final pancake which looked the most appealing, that was number 12. Maybe it was the pan, maybe I put too much butter, maybe the mix was too thick or maybe I should be more patient.

Sophs made sure the bacon was perfectly crispy. We kept all the pancakes in the oven until everything was ready to serve then sat the bacon on top so all the juices were absorbed. It’s making me hungry thinking about it. Next time I have a lazy morning on the weekend Hollow Legs‘ Blueberry Pancakes with Maple Syrup & Bacon looks like the one to go for.

sportsday music video in collaboration with xeth creative arts

Copyright Nicola O’Reilly

I’m writing with some exciting news about XETH Creative Arts’ latest project. We are a voluntary arts association and have been working on a music video for Sportsday’s recent single ‘School Bus Blues’ over the past few months. We have been very fortunate to have a lot of support from many people and the opportunity to film at two great sites; Goodenough College and SE1 Studios. We would very much like to share with you the final piece and hope you enjoy it.

SPORTSDAY ‘School Bus Blues’

On another note the next event we have coming up is our second charity gig ‘Doing It For The Kids 2012′ on Sunday 20 May at The Lexington, Angel which will be raising money for Kids Company; an organisation who works with vulnerable children and young adults. For further information please visit our website and we hope you can make what hopes to be a spectacular evening of live music.

XETH Creative Arts

 

it’s been a long time coming

You’re probably thinking what the hell is that, trust me it tastes better than it looks. It probably could have looked more appetizing also if I had bought nicer bread but we worked with what we had. Finally blue cheese, bacon and dark chocolate all ended up in my fridge at the same time. It’s been about two years since I tore out Paul A.Young’s recipe for Honey Cured Bacon, Stilton and Chocolate Sandwich out of a newspaper ( which one I’ve forgotten, possibly The Times). On more than one occasion I’ve said we’ve got to make this recipe and for some reason or another we never got round to it. Maybe it was fate that led all those ingredients into my fridge, maybe a happy coincidence, but the morning finally arrived when two people sat content in bed munching on these sarnies. It’s been a long time coming Mr Young but glad we got there in the end.

biscocho

A belated Happy Easter! It’s been a bit of a bumpy couple of weeks but I made a last minute decision to visit Mallorca with a close friend over the bank holiday. A bit spontaneous for me but that’s not saying much. We spent 5 days enjoying the sunshine and lots of yummy food. I wasn’t ready to leave and it probably hasn’t quite sunk in yet as I’ve managed to do very little work today other than personal projects.

I meant to post the picture above before I went away. Pop and I finally got our Easter baking evening last week and made a selection of shortbreads and macarons which we bundled up in the beautiful packaging we recently bought. I think we’ve finally made a decision on our name – Biscocho. Say it out loud, it rolls off the tongue nicely. More news and hopefully a new blog for our label is soon to follow.

Going back to Mallorca, here are some of the photos I took whilst we were out there staying with my friend’s parents. I lived there for two years and finished my A Levels before moving to the UK for university. I haven’t been back a lot since I left. The last time was about 2 years ago when we went over with our boyfriends and had one of the best holidays I’ve been on. We stayed in a beautiful house up in Puigpunyent, ate a lot of food, lay on the beach, played pool and cards, and slowly got closer and closer to the multicoloured kittens that had taken over the garden. Unfortunately we couldn’t take them home with us.

We passed these piglets on one of our walks. The little pinky one at the back was accidentally stood on when all the larger pigs rushed over to the gate to see us.

I’ve forgotten the name of the first pastry. I want to say it’s a sweet empanada but think that’s wrong. It’s a light crumbly pastry, more like a biscuit texture, stuffed with angel hair. The bottom picture is a Crespe which tastes like a heavy almond shortbread.

These bunnies and puppies were being sold at Santa Maria market. The bunnies looked content sunbathing on the top.

I stocked up on Sobrassada and bought a picante one at the market. We got to sample some before heading home. Me gusta!

I was tempted to buy capers and honey but didn’t know how strict they would be at the airport so gave it a miss in the end.

Fig icecream is a new favourite flavour. Pop pointed out it tastes similar to the activia yoghurts. Not sure if that may put some people off or not but it’s really worth trying if its available at a gelateria.

We got to test some of the strawberries growing in her parents’ garden, along with swiss chard and mange tout. They’re very lucky to have so much land to grow things on. I was given a sample of sage and bay leaves which I’ve now put in soil in a mug in my kitchen hoping that they will grow and will be new additions to the balcony.