Heinz Farmers' Market Lamb and Vegetable Soup

Tall thin can. Supposed to make you think it's classy and therefore pay a bit more for it. Do the ingredients come from farmers' markets? I doubt it. But I bought the lamb version anyway because it was the most intersting tinned soup on the shelf.

In fairness it was very tasty. Full of meat. Good depth of flavour. And was helped by giving it a healthy amount of seasoning. What I will say is that it is very explosive in the microwave. I spent several minutes wiping it clean which gave the soup a chance to cool down to a temperature that only just burnt my mouth.

Would I buy it again? Only infrequently.

Wahaca Chile Seeds

When we went to Wahaca in Covent Garden we filled our pockedts with what we thought were prettily coloured boxes of matches. But joy of joys they turned out to be little cardboard sticks with chile seeds attached to them.

I didn't take a picture of the seed book from Wahaca but I have found a website called Matchstick Garden which does them. They make a great alternative for restaurants and businesses instead of making boxes of matches.



So we planted our chile seeds about 2 weeks ago in some vague hope that they might sprout. And shock of shocks... they've only gone and sprouted! Our office is rapidly developing into a tropical garden with a bird of paradise, 2 Sauza agave plants, a small succulent and 8 nubile chile plants. In only a matter of months we'll be harvesting our crop of chiles!





Well done Wahaca. What a great example of new marketing. Essentially they have given away something surprising, interesting, relevant, good and talkworthy. On object of sociability that gives Wahaca a feeling of authenticity, goodness and engagement. Keep an eye out for updates on how the little chaps are getting on.

Nerdy Cup Cakes

Amazing cup cakes from Hello Naomi on Flickr via Boing Boing.




Here are some choice cup cakes from Clapham. Not quite up to the sheer style and quirkyness of Pacman and Mario, but good nonetheless.

Isn't cooking exhausting sometimes?

I saw this and got really excited given my new found interest in cooking using a car! This design for an exhaust pipe modification that cooks things won an award for the best idea that we could all be using come 2015! This extract is from Inventor Spot.

"Designed by an Iranian team, the "Exhaust Burger" transforms the tailpipe of your car into a mobile grill of sorts. Wow. Now that's creative, and also a little disturbing. The idea is that you stop the car when you are hungry, install the device (and pack some ground round into it - so hygenic) and you're on your way to a delicious hamburger, ready for you at your next destination."

The site also features some other brilliant ideas such as...

Wallet Cutlery





"Italian designer Alberto Ghiradello has come up with a creative solution to carting around cutlery. I don't know about you, but somehow I tend to find spoons hanging out in my bag all the time, and it can get quite annoying, especially when there's none in the kitchen drawer. This "Cutlery in a Wallet" set can be assembled whenever you need them, and then can be reinserted into the flat mold and housed in your wallet again, hopefully after a cleaning."

Bubble Wrap Tableware

"I always like when everyday objects take on new life with a different function, such as this unique crystal "china" modelled after bubble wrap. "Bubble" is made of cast polyester resin and looks like it would be a real pain in the butt to clean. This was a collaborative effort by U.S. artists."



And Musical Dining

"This piece, entitled "Musical Dining" was envisioned by Fumiaki Goto from the Netherlands and promises to bring some musical entertainment to your dining experience. It's made like a marimba, so when you place plates, glasses or different items on it at various points, different tones will emerge, transforming dinnertime into a jam session."



If you want to see even more weird and wonderful culinary inventions have a look here.

Shoredtich House

Shoredich House is the latest incarnation of Nick Jones' chain of private members clubs for young, trendy, media types. Tucked away in deepest darkest Shoreditch it is almost impossible to find. Deliberately tucked away behind hot shop ad agency Mother you are know you are there because the graffiti starts to get more artistic rather than just vandalism.

When, you've managed to find the way in you are greeted with a Damien Hirst print of a sign prohibiting people from wearing suits from entering. The Carlton Club this is not!

We were here for a creative workshop in one of their private rooms. It makes a great place to generate ideas in a communual environment. Much better than being stuck in an office all day. The room was great. Adorned with a huge Sony screen, bar, and oval table for 14 it couldn't have suited our needs any better.



Our waiter was charming, attentive and more discreet than an old fashioned Royal butler, as opposed to that weirdo Paul Burrell! He popped in and out of our room serving us the best coffee I have had this year. Creamy froth and deep powerful coffee. We spent the morning presenting mood boards and ideas before breaking for lunch.

My scallops with pancetta were stunningly good. Expertly cooked and stylishly presented. Simple but delicious. I followed this up with a bold bowl of Italian sausage papardelle with wild mushrooms. It was exactly what I wanted it to be. Big, friendly and the kind of dish that gives you a big warm hug. The rest of the team had things like roast suckling pig, lamb hot pot, thin crust pizza, beef carpaccio, risotto etc. Everything looked stunning and was sent back on plates that would have been licked clean had we not all been behaving ourselves!

We really liked the irregular crockery from South Africa which just added to the Wabi Sabi style that you feel wherever you go in the building. Everything is carefully thought out and has been designed by a team with flair, style, class and a sense of fun.

We went on a little tour after lunch to walk off all the goodies we'd just eaten. I was bowled over by their kitchen. They've got an awesome set up which has the informality of home kitchen but the always open nature of a canteen. The indoor BBQ and wood fired pizza oven caught my eye before it fell upon a steak cabinet! Basically it's a glass fronted chiller cabinet full of aged ribs of beef and prime cuts of steak! The kind of thing that I want to have in my house once I'm a millionaire!

The restaurant area is an informal set up with long refectory tables and chairs for people to spread out and join in together. Another nice touch is the way that they have a bowl of lemons wrapped in muslin on hand in case you fancy a squirt of lemon. This would be great on their incredible bowls of crispy fried cougettes. They've also got a constant supply of char-grilled burgers ready for you. Is there anything they haven't thought of? O... and they've got a roof top swimming pool. Who hasn't?

I'd love for them to open a Wandsworth House with all the frills they've got in Shoreditch. It's the kind of place that batchelors dream of. If Carlsberg did private members clubs, Shoreditch House wouldn't be far off!

Gilly's thoughts on M&S Tinned Soup

"the chorizo and tomato soup from M&S (tinned) needs alot of attention...far too bland ...shed loads of salt/pepper and some tabasco help...but my advice is don't buy it
so dissapointing as it sounds delicious". Robert Gillon.

Sounds like a case of over promising and under-delivering. Which has been the opposite experience for me over the past few weeks of soup eating.

Roast Chicken followed by White Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding

Mum and Suz cooked a delicious roast chicken for Sunday dinner. Stuffed with lemon and thyme it was tender, moist and beautifully brown. A joy to carve and very obviously free range/organic. You could tell by the taste and also by the texture of the skin. It just seemed like a bird with more integrity. Not like the battery chickens on Hugh's programme a week or so again.




Suz said that she has noticed a change in her local Tesco. Whereas there used to be a preference in store for cheap, battery chicken. Now people are shying away from the poor quality birds and are trading up to the free range option. This can be seen by the number of battery birds left on the shelf and the amount of space now given to free range chickens. I just hope this is the start of a movement that will be with us to stay and not just a flash in the pan.

We followed our chicken up with a similarly coloured dessert - a white chocolate brioche pudding with figs and orange which was stunning. There's something very special about these kind of meals. It's great to spend time as a family catching up and relaxing.

Salad: The Silent Killer

Cowie... you're not going to like this. But we aren't allowed any more salad. Apparently it's deadly because it is full of toxins. From Serious Eats.



Steaks and kebabs it is. Norris will be delighted!

Baxter's French Onion Soup

Having lived off soup at work 2 weeks now I am becoming a bit of a Soupaphile. And I love the tinned stuff. It's cheaper. Doesn't need a fridge and tastes great. Cartons of soup seem a bit of a waste of time.

My Baxter's French Onion soup was good. But not in the same league as its Waitrose cousin which was sweeter, smoother and less harsh. The Baxter's version was fine, but had a slightly artificial taste.



Would I have it again? Yes. But I'd always grab the Waitrose version if I could.

Store Cupboard Challenge No. 1 - Hot Chocalate Fondant

It was a gloomy Sunday afternoon outside so I decided it was time to do a spot of cooking.

One of Browny and my New Year Resolutions is to cook something out of one of our many many recipe books. As since we are somehow still struggling through January, I gave myself the added task of cooking something using only what is currently in my fridge or cupboards.

So here's what I came up with.

Cookery Book - Gordon Ramsay's EASY
Recipe - Hot Chocolate Fondant



The chocolate fondant is such a classic pud and something that I, well Browny, would only ever order in a restaurant. However, it really is much easier than it looks and everyone should have a go to impress your loved ones!

So here are the ingredients..



Chocolate, butter, caster sugar, cocoa, flour, 1 egg and 1 extra yoke.



Weigh, whiz, bake and most importantly eat!



And here are the mouth watering results. Go for it.. As Gordan says it is easy as pie!







Delicious.