Breville Smoothie Maker - #BlendActive [by @NLi10]

This week has been a great one for parcels and things in the post - we also got a blender!  Long time readers will remember that during the Fuhrman weeks that I couldn't do some of the recipies as they called for a lot of blending - well now I can thanks to the nice people at Breville and their promotins for #BlendActive.  This changes nothing if it's a load of rubbish though - so lets get it out!

The box is well set up and everything is in its place.

..and it all looks quite professional in the kitchen.  The foot print is tiny too - it all stacks up out of the way.

So here we go - lets make a (reasonably) healthy smoothie!

So first we throw a load of Blueberries in the tub

Add some left over cream - and a bit of milk for good measure

Whack it on the blender and brace yourself for the loud noise ... that never comes! Back in my days blenders were a massive racket - but isn't much louder than a can opener.  That's progress!

It looked a bit like creamy blueberries so I decided to wack in  a banana - perfectly ripe and ready to spin.

The blade got a bit dirty and here we see the banana ready to go

And here we see the finished smoothie - ready to enjoy

and it's not bad! Its possibly a bit on the creamy side but I like that it's basically a fresh fruit milkshake.

The blade rinsed straight off - another worry of mine was just how much time I'd spend cleaning this.  Effortless cleaning means I can use this before work and take the cup with me.

Experiemnt number two was to just use fruit and see how it goes.

Note the red Clarkes sauce as a secret ingredient!  The plan here is two bananas and the rest of a box of raspberries.

its all looks quite healthy - but will it work?

Of course it does - this time its a very pleasing red colour after one banana and turns pink after the second is added.

I tried to add a little decorative touch with the sauce on top - I'm not sure it looked amazing, but it added a sweetness to the flavour at the top which was a nice touch.  I'd probably just save a few of the raspberries to make it look more presentable.

This one was a bit thick really - but a spoon helped get to the bottom.  The flavour was fantastic, but I think I may need to add some juicier fruit like grapes to make it into a drink.

Join us agin Thursday when I try something a bit more extreme...

 a

Yakinori Noodle & Bento - Grand Central [by @NLi10]

October 17th 2015 has been a long anticipated day. Since the original branch of Woktastic closed down due to the building site that is our old library we have been without express Japanese food.

Well that's a little bit of a lie - we will always have the lovely Mt. Fuji tucked round the back of the bullring and Yakinori themselves have opened a parallel branch in Selly Oak opposite a pub I frequent.  Neither of these have the night out atmosphere of the Woktastic restaurant - or the sushi-go-round seating arrangement.

While the Selly Oak store has made the wait easier (and Tuesdays a lot tastier) I decided that I should only do the review once the new Grand Central store opened, and that I should go on opening day.

As you can see they do a decent range of things - and believe me it took a well timed picture to get empty window seats - the place was packed!

I was tucked away round a corner with this sumo guy, but I was happy to be seated - it was VERY busy. If not there is always the take away bento box option which seemed really popular.

I went with the classic chicken Katsu (and a bottle of Aloe drink).

The reason for this was that it's always been my Woktastic/Yakinori go-to dish, being the meal that swapped me from being someone who agreed to go to Woktastic to someone who suggested we go.  It certainly didn't hurt that the staff have been fantastic over the years to several younger members of my family with specific health needs - making sure they get the food they can eat and never leave disapointed.  I guess it's this level of customer service that keeps people coming back - I am always amazed by just how many people who have made a special effort to go to the Selly Oak branch and today I've overheard several conversations with people saying they've been planning for opening day.

Sure - it's not the biggest of places, but I think it's got that important independant spirit that a lot of the eateries in Grand Central lack.  

If you need somewhere to hide away from the chaos then this possibly isn't it, but if you are looking for a quick meal at the station that will fill you up then have a look at the menu.

Yakinori is very personal, very Birmingham, and very good value for money.  Highly recomended.

Butchered Beer (@Brown_and_Green, Trentham) [By @spectreUK]

The crazy looking ‘John the Butcher’ on the front of the bottle reminds me of my barber, although you wouldn’t call him ‘John the barber’ to his face. Mainly because his name is Mary… okay, no he really is called John. When I first called him a barber over fifteen years ago he gave me a sinister glance through open scissors and tufts of freshly cut dark brown hair (okay, okay… so I was grey then too, even more grey now!). Good old John said to me, and I’ll never forget it; “I am not a barber, I can style women’s hair perfectly well!” and he pointed out his array of ‘hair stylist’ (barber) awards on the wall of his very traditional looking barber shop, before he started even more vigorously snipping at my hair making me more than slightly worried about my ears. Personally through all those years I’ve never seen a woman in his shop, or even one walk passed it. At the end of every cut John delights in producing his cutthroat razor to shave the back of my neck. It never fails to give me a shiver just before a deep breath and I stay as still as I possibly can…

The Wincle Beer Company in Cheshire produced this brown ale. At 4.3% volume this ale was brewed with Carafa Huskless and Crystal malts giving it an initial sweet creaminess on first taste. Lightly hopped with Northdown gives a bitter nutty character to the rich maltiness in the following flavour. I haven’t had the pleasure of drinking a pint of brown ale for quite a while. I usually have a habit of heading straight towards pale ales in the supermarket. This is a traditional flavoursome full-bodied brown ale that reminded me that there are other ales available on the market, and that I shouldn’t get too comfortable with just the one. Food wise John the Butcher would recommend you drink his brown ale, well rather one that he offers you as just taking his would result in you becoming his next victim… anyway a good hearty steak and chips would be wise to have this ale washed down with. And preferably sit at a table with your back against the wall closest the door...

By Spectre

Covent Garden Scream of Pumpkin Soup (Sainsburys) [By @Cinabar]

As Halloween is coming we thought we'd try out the new seasonal soup from Covent Garden; Scream of Pumpkin. Loving the name! Just for good measure the other main ingredient other than pumpkin is blood orange, just to keep things up with the theme.
The soup is a lovely orange colour and although the there aren't pieces of pumpkin in it, it is still quite a hearty thickness. The taste wasn't what I was expecting at all. The dominant taste was that of curry and spices, it isn't hot with chilli, but the warm of Indian style spices shone through. The next taste to appear was a citrus twang, not sweet like you might expect from the aforementioned blood orange, but sour and bitey. The autumnal taste of pumpkin only came through as a bit of an aftertaste, hidden because of all the complex flavours.
The first spoon I had of this didn't work for me. I was expecting that wholesome pumpkin flavour and it didn't appear and I was left trying to work out what my taste buds were interpreting. By the end of the bowl I had grown accustomed to the spices and sour taste and was really enjoying it. Strange I know, I did really like the soup, it just didn't taste at all like I was expecting. I would happily have this again, despite my initial reaction. It would probably be fun to have this on Halloween night, it might not be aimed at children's tastebuds, but adults could have some fun with the theming and trying to guess the flavour.

By Cinabar

Giovanni Rana - Butter & Sage sauce - with mushrooms [by @NLi10]

It's always nice to get a big box in the post. Even if the couriers have cracked the box and then had a peek inside to check its not broken! Luckily it was all in tact and fine.

So what goodies do we have here then?

Oh dear. It's mushrooms. The one food that I'm slightly afraid of! Well it is Halloween week, and I have a partner who absolutely adores them so it should go fine. I think I must have had a traumatic experience with a mushroom as a child, it isn't a rational fear. It's how I presume other people think of spiders and heights and clowns, it's my body trying to protect me from something harmless and covered in horrible fins and oddness.

For the first attempt we needed something quick and easy. The review request called for recipes, but with a quick and easy sauce you want a quick and easy recipe to go with it. 

This recipie called for good quality farm shop cheese (the really strong stuff), lots of fresh herbs, pine nuts, and the two biggest mushrooms in the box which my partner prepared and cooked.

I was in charge of the real focus of the review - butter and sage sauce by Giovanni Rana.  Regular readers will know how ridiculously evangelical I got about the meaty stuffed pastas when they first came on the market - being that they actually had soft runny centres when cooked perfectly and a wonderful flavour. They are a great lunch or part of dinner. I'd assumed that these sauces were to go with those too, but we can get to that later.

This is the wonderful creation that resulted. I heated the sauce separately as per instructions and attempted to drizzle it over the mushrooms in a Masterchef style.  

And the verdict was good, my partner praised the way the deep, creamy flavour of the sauce complemented the mushrooms. She said that it made a filling meal (with a few bits from below) and that it was definitely something she'd consider making again.

I however declined the frilly cheesy monstrosities and opted to make something more refined.  Usually we cook two meals as one is for the veggie and one for me, this time it was two veggie meals - but one completely mushroom free.

I went for the simple option of heating the sauce up and then pouring over (admittedly quite generic) pasta. I wanted to challenge the sauce to see exactly what it tasted like without all the extras.

I did however take the focaccia bread out of the parcel, heat it up and have a rather generous helping with my meal.

I sprinkled with a few scissor cut sun-dried tomatoes and ate away! 

I agreed that the sauce was a lot darker in flavour than I'd expected, not so carbonara and more strong herbs. It clung to the pasta well and was a great consistancy neither being to thick nor too runny. I'm glad I added the tomatoes for a little pizzaz as it didn't have enough chunky bits to vary the flavour, but I guess that's why we are using it as an ingredient and not the final sauce.  With the bread to mop up the remaining bits it was a pleasure to eat and something I'd actively look out for in future - and probably look for the other flavour which is the Creamy Carbonara - but I wouldn't be able to share that one.

Through out the rest of the week we progressed through the food parcel - that is to say my partner and her friends ate a lot of mushrooms, and I enjoyed the bread pasta and sauce.

She used a selection of the button mushrooms chopped up small and heated in the sauce to make an accompanyment to pasta.

This gave the mushrooms a nice texture and the sauces herby nature really got a chance to shine.

I however opted to try the new sauce with the old favourite of the Giovanni Rana filled pasta.

Sauce in the microwave, 1 min boiling pasta, instant gourmet meal for one.

Yes - my service skills aren't up to par here, but you get the idea. This is Italian elegance simplified so that even I can get all the flavours and textures I love at home.  Well worth picking up.