Ok I admit it I’m a bit of a coffee snob. I’m not a fan of instant coffee, it’s not coffee! I like a nice, fresh brewed coffee. I don’t mind if it’s a cappuccino, espresso, americano or just a filter coffee. Personally 90% of the time I don’t get instant coffee, why use it? To make a proper filter coffee you boil a kettle, put some coffee in a cafetiere add the water to it, let it brew a little, poor into cup. This process is not exactly complicated or time consuming.
Again I ask why would use instant? Well there is one time in my life it would be useful and that’s at work, I have very little spare time and instant definitely saves on washing up, etc. so I’m always on the look out for something decent I can have.
I’ve tried a couple of options and so far the best is the Starbucks instant which wasn’t too bad (in the taste department) but I found it a little expensive. When I saw Kenco had released a new product called ‘Kenco Millicano’ described by Kenco as “our first ‘Wholebean Instant coffee’: a clever combination of instant coffee
Continue reading …
Just a quick thought…….
After a trip to Germany a couple of years ago I discovered that lager can taste so much better than the standard lagers that we drink in England. Some supermarkets now how a selection of some less common lagers from around the world but I set about trying to find something a bit different. After scouting around farm shops I found a lot of UK based bitters but not many lagers. Eventually after much searching out I found a few different lagers my favourite being from Freedom. Freedom are based in Staffordshire, not a million miles away, so I went to take a look. They now have five different products, Organic Lager, Pilsner, Dark lager, Stout & Freedom Stout. My favourite is the Pilsner.
It is a little more expensive than ‘standard’ lager (when I bought a crate directly from the brewery I don’t actually think it was that much more expensive). If you like a drink it is well worth checking out the Freedom products, you’ll be support British Brewing but more importantly have a lovely drink!!
Continue reading …
I really fancied a curry last night and after trying my two local curry houses and not being over impressed, I decided to search further a field, but I was equally unimpressed, so what’s the problem, why can I not get a good curry?
I’m a pretty good cook, nothing special but I know my way around a kitchen fairly well. When I go out for an English meal I know what tastes good and what doesn’t. Over the years of restaurant visiting I’ve noticed a massive change in the quality of food you can now get when eating out and I suppose I’m now fairly choosy when I go out for food as I want something a bit different, otherwise I could have cooked it. This improvement quality has been down to more competition and more public awareness of restaurant food through the media. However there are still a lot of mediocre restaurants out there and I think this is the problem I have with finding a good curry, I expect all India restaurants to be good but why should they be when the English ones are not.
Continue reading …
I’m a big Coffee fan, I drink far too much of the lovely stuff. Last Christmas I wanted to update my coffee machine, there is such a range out there, in both price and quality. I wanted one that wasn’t too expensive but better than the cheap 20 quid jobs. I ended up with a Delonghi it cost me about 90 quid which is pretty good. It’s an espresso machine with a frothing attachment. So anyway my perfect coffee is a Cappuccino.
I really like Lavazza Caffe Espresso, it’s got a really intense flavour (it is available in bean form for a even better taste if you can get hold of a grinder). Whittard also have a nice range of coffee as well. Use filtered water as this makes such a difference to the taste.
The ratio for a Cappuccino is 1 espresso shot, 1/3 steamed milk, 1/3 foamed milk (The steam milk and foam is made by frothing the milk, adding the air by the frothing process makes the milk taste sweeter).
That’s all there is to it, if you get a machine and practice a few times you’ll be making Espresso, Caffé Latte, Cappuccino, etc for guests and they’ll
Continue reading …
I recently went to the cinema to watch Wall.e, as it’s a ‘family’ film and it’s currently the summer holidays I wasn’t surprised to see a lot of kids there. In fact, apart from my brother I think the only adults were parents! Anyway this complaint isn’t just at kids it’s just they were the problem this time.
My basic complaint is not about that it tastes like sweet polystyrene or that you always walk out of a cinema with it stuck to your shoes. To be honest it’s not just popcorn, its any sweets that make noise. I hate sitting listening to people eat for 2 hours non-stop. I’ve also noticed this not just at the cinema but the theatre and concerts as well.
My question is when did it become necessary to eat when watching entertainment and why do they always sell noisy food like sweets in wrappers that rustle or the dreaded squeaky popcorn? and finally why do these people who ever they are, choose a really quiet part of the show/film to open these rustle sweets or munch down a bag of popcorn.
Who ever you are please stop it! Thank you (rant over)
Continue reading …
