After seeing this for the first time tonight on River Cottage, I nashed out to the garden & picked a few big, red, ripe strawberries. Then sliced them thickly into a bowl. Sprinkled over some sugar, poured over some raspberry vinegar then sprinkled some white pepper. Then I fell in love with Macerated Strawberries! The taste of these strawberries in a sweet & sour syrup was intensely divine.

Hugh said that instead of the strawberries lasting the usual 24 hrs after picking to be good eating, these will last for up to a few days ( NOT IN MY KITCHEN !! ) JUST TOO DAMN GOOD TO KEEP. Hugh also suggested serving these for breakfast on top of eggy bread. This I have to try.

You can get Hugh’s eggy bread with macerated strawberries here http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/chefs/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/eggy-bread-with-macerated-strawberries-recipe_p_1.html

I went to L’escargot Blue in Broughton Street Edinburgh on Saturday night to celebrate a good friends 40th birthday. We had intended to eat snails for starters & horse steaks as a main, but neither were on the menu that day. This, it turns out was not such a bad thing as the dishes we did have were delicious!

Importantly as well, all the ingredients were organic and ethically sourced which is annother important issue when choosing a fine place to eat.

The restaurant was very busy & quite load with happy chatter from other dinners. The service was attentive & friendly & the dishes were served at a good speed.

The decor was perfect for the place. Huge french posters, quaint table decor & fabulous lights made from old wooden wine boxes.

I chose a starter of pork head croquettes with a salad & mushrooms & my friend ordered rabbit & duck pates. All were very nice. The only thing that I would have liked in addition would have been a fruit jelly or compote for my croquettes as they were slightly dry, but good portion sizes and tasty none the less. A huge basket of bread was also served at the bread was really nice.

For the mains I chose something which I had not tried before, but would not hessitate have again. This was a wonderfully tasty & rustic braised  ox cheek dish, with pancetta & mushrooms that was very tender & delightful. Jay’s main was my favourite of the  night, a dish of pike with a squid sauce. The dish was cheesy with the pike made into a kind of mousseline with a cheese & squid crust. 10/10 for this dish.

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My ox cheeks were served in this dish and the amount of meat was more than plentiful. I asked for one of the cheeks to be taken home in a doggy bag, as I could not waste such good food and would have had no space at all for dessert. I also knew my greyhound would very much enjoy the other ox cheek but alas my friend ate it when I had gone to bed. Oh well, it was his birthday, so I took it as fair.

If I had not been so full after my starter & main  I would have chosen the bread & butter pudding with prunes & armagnac but chose a a pineapple & rum frangipagne tart with creme englaise & ice cream with a lovely 1976 armagnac to help the digestion. Jay had the chocolate torte that was sublime, nice & light, bitter and dark. He could not manage to finnish his which was such a shame, so I wolfed it down with no hessitation at all.

This is a restaurant I would very happily go back to & as their is a sister resaurant L’escargot Blanc I think that is going to be visited soon. The prices were very reasonable & all in all a very good dining experience. I would give this restaurant an overall 8.5 out of 10 for the evenings meal. Everything was exceptionally well cooked, with good service & a bustling ambience. It is good to have found a restaurant that sells offal & creates wonderful dishes from it.

I hope they do very well as I would like this restaurant to thrive and trade for a long time to come.

1. dingy means:
2. shabby
3. improvised
4. outstanding
5. representative

You have now donated
290 grains of rice.

I just remembered about a sit that I used to use to relax & exercise the mind.

www.freerice.com You have a word, with a miltiple choice of  answers to match the words definition. For each word you get correct they donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Programme.

Why not try it next time you have you find yourself next time your randomly surfing the net or updating your facebook status & get some food given to someone who badly needs it.

Below was sent to me via email today from compassion in world farming. There is a long way to go when it comes to ethical conduct within our supermarkets, but it’s progress. I think Hugh Fearnley Whittingstalls chicken out campaign has made a lot of people think a lot more about the welfare of chickens & has taught people a lot about consumers control with supply & demand.

MORRISONS GOES 100% BRITISH FREE-RANGE ON OWN-LABEL EGGS

Morrisons has announced that it has become the first top four retailer in the UK to switch to 100% British free-range on its own-label eggs.

This week’s introduction of 100% British free-range comes nine months earlier than Morrisons had previously forecast and will see millions of laying hens become free-range two years before the EU-wide ban on battery cages comes into force.

The retailer, which currently sells more than 10 million own-label eggs every week, will offer four own-label ranges, all 100% British and free-range, providing even more customers with an ethical choice when purchasing eggs. (Morrisons lowest-priced free-range eggs will be £1.37 for six medium-sized).

Jamie Winter, Trading Manager from Morrisons said; “We have been working towards this goal for some time. As Britain’s fourth largest grocer, we have a responsibility to our customers, suppliers and their animals. We are unique in sourcing our food directly from the producers so we are able to introduce and maintain good farm animal welfare into our sourcing policies. We have a dedicated Farm Working Group which liaises with a network of farmer groups to shape our policies and set targets on farm animal welfare.”

Rowen West-Henzell of Compassion in World Farming comments; “Morrisons has achieved great strides over the last 12 months. Its move to 100% British free-range on own-label shell eggs demonstrates its commitment to improving animal welfare.”

If you wish to congratulate Morrisons on its free-range only policy for own-label shell eggs, you can do so via their website here:

http://www.morrisons.co.uk/Store-Finder/About-customer-services/Contact-Us/

I have had many prescriptions from my GP over the past 9 years to relieve pain & improve mobility after a fall off a building onto scaffolding that taught me a good lesson. ( Don’t be stupid & climb random objects when drunk )!

As I have never been too happy about taking prescription medication, I have looked into natural ways to control inflammation & when I cycled fro Vietnam to Cambodia last year, the doctor that accompanied us on the trip thought I was a bit mental at first when he saw me drinking bright yellow water & found that I was putting turmeric extract into most of my drinking water.

His attitude towards this really changed after a couple of days & then thought that my way of managing my body was ( although new to him ) a good way to curb inflammation.

I have also started giving some of my daily mug of turmeric tea to my greyhound, if she has had a sprain & this seems to help her too.

I found this recipe, that I have added to my daily diet from James Wongs, Grow Your Own Drugs. It is called Teh Halia & is a Malaysian recipe.

I buy my fresh ginger & turmeric roots from a local Thai supermarket & then make up a couple of weeks worth of base paste at a time. Even when wearing latex gloves when preparing the fresh root I often have yellow stained hands afterwards as I usually forget to don gloves again when washing my pestle & mortar.

Below is James Wongs recipe off his Grow Your Own Drugs website for Teh Halia ( stretched ginger tea ). The stretching part is explained in the recipe: a bit messy but fun, delicious & a massive help to those who suffer joint pain

TURMERIC ‘TEH HALIA’ FOR ARTHRITIS

3 sticks fresh turmeric or 4g dried
Thumb-sized piece fresh ginger root
Few pinches black pepper
250ml whole milk
250ml water
1 tsp black tea leaves
Palm sugar, to taste (or maple syrup or brown sugar)

1. Peel and chop the fresh turmeric, if using (being careful not to stain surfaces or hands). Peel and grate the ginger. Put into a mortar (with the dried turmeric, if using) and add a few pinches of black pepper, then pound with the pestle until you get a smooth paste.

2. Combine the paste with the milk, water and tea leaves in a pan and simmer on a low heat for 10-20 minutes, or until the liquid is reduced by half. Strain. Sweeten with palm sugar to taste, and stir.

3. Before drinking, pour the Teh between two containers, holding them the maximum width apart to aerate the tea as much as possible and produce a froth on top. Despite not having too much of a medicinal effect on the remedy, this is more than just a flamboyant whim. Aerating the mix improves its flavour by making it easier for your tongue to perceive the chemicals that give the drink its unique taste.

USE: Make the Teh up as you need it, and drink at once. Take daily to help with arthritis, aches and pains in the joints, psoriasis, Crohn’s disease and other inflammatory conditions.

STORAGE: The paste keeps for up to 1 month in the refrigerator.

QUICK-FIX TEH HALIA

112g dried turmeric
28g dried ginger
½ tsp black pepper
25g black tea leaves
140g brown granulated sugar

Stir together, then store in a dry, airtight tin. Makes 14 cups - or one a day. To make up into a Teh, place 5-6 teaspoons of the mixture in a pan with 250ml whole milk and 250ml water, then simmer over a low heat for 10-20 minutes, or until reduced by half. Strain and serve. The mixture will keep in an airtight tin for 2 weeks.

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This is a fabulous place, situated in Abbeyhill is a gem of a place  to have a slightly different dining experience in Edinburgh. When I first heard of this eatery, run single handedly by an Armenian monk, I had to try & book a table for a group of friends & myself to see what it was like.

Initially, I called to enquire about costs & how many were needed to make the evening worth wile for him. I called and left a message & got a reply about 3 weeks later. He was calling from a telephone box & said he only had 20p. I said to hang up & I would call back & he seemed very surprised at the technology of me being able to call back to a phone box!!!

He was delightful to talk to & we arranged an evening for me to take 9 quests. I think it was £20 a head & he would not disclose what would be served.

When we got there, ( on time, as we were warned that late commers were normally refused entry ) we were led through a dark & cluttered hallway, full of old bicycle parts, carpets & fishing nets, to the dining room with the most dusty, ecclectic collection of Armenian posters, more carpets, fishing nets & parts of bicycles.

Were served dish after dish after dish, each one fairly rustic, & very delicious.

Unfortunately I cannot find the photographs that I took that night, but that does give me more reason to book there again. For great food & unusal & brilliant service I give this quirky eatery 10/10. It was just like I had imagined  except for the fact that the said monk was a total sweet gentleman & not the grumpy individual that we were expecting after seeing other reviews prior to our fantastic dinner date. I hope to add photos to this blog post later in the hopes that I can find them sometime.

Below is a review by one of our friends who was dining with us that night.

The Armenian Aghtmar Lake Van Monastry in Exile is a place, once eaten at, never forgotten.

: We were greeted by the proprietor and led through a candle-lit passageway to a cavernous room decorated with enormous flags, rusty bicycles, traffic cones, church pewes and a moose head staring down on our table. The room itself was quite cold but thankfully a candle was provided for us to sit round- when it got really cold, we lit it. The walls were festooned with various images/photos/ of Armenian culture ( sheet music, stern looking soviet faces, “Visit aRMENIA tURISTIC ADVERTS ETC). The toilets were very atmospheric, retaining a kind of ‘never been painted in 30yrs feel’, a tin of ‘VIM’ which had sort of morphed itself to the window sill, beneath the most cobwebbed net curtain this side of the iron curtain itself, completed the scene. Once seated our host appeared & disappeared over and over again, each time arriving with a different course of fayre ranging from traditional Armenian bread to stewd brussel sprouts, an amazing mixed sald, stuffed peppers, chicken risotto, and others before climaxing with a fresh summer fruit ( Armenian style) sorbet followed by (non) turkish coffee. Halfway through the meal our host asked if we would “like to listen to some music”? we agreed and were treated to a medley of traditional Armenian marching music from his impressive selection of old 78’s. Later one of our party asked our host if he would like to listen to some of our music? replying ‘yes’, my friend granted his wish by playing a medley of classic KISS songs on his “flying V” Ukelele! - I’m sure you will agree, a truly unforgettable experience! The possibly 10 course ( I lost count) banquet was washed down with a couple of bottles of Spanish laughing juice, making the whole affair most agreeable indeed. Recommended. PS be patient, it took us half a dozen phone calls to pin him down/agree a date & time, well worth the wait tho!

Last month I nipped down to London to see a gig. I had not been to London since I was a young child & as I have a healthy obsession for food my focus the next day was to seek out a good dining experience before getting the bus back to Scotland.

I headed for China Town & was delighted with the eatery that I came across and could not recommend the place higher for quality, taste, service & value.

The Young Cheng is a great refueling pit stop if you are ever in the vicinity.

The food certainly looked good from the other side of the window so I went in and got myself a plate.

The inside is very clean, with friendly staff. A bit bare & basic inside for decor, but it was the food I was there for and I rate this 10/10 for the food. Every single thing I tasted was fantastic. No thrills, no spills just good honest, well cooked chinese buffet experience.

I was also pleased with the ethics of this restaurant, as they displayed small notices requesting that people do not put more food on their plates than they could manage, but could go back to top up their plates as much as they wanted, but wasted food on the plates may incur extra charges. ( Great idea & very, very fair ).

They charge a bargain £5.90 per person, with a 10% service charge. So, £6.50 for a great meal & wonderful selection.

I gave a small tip on top of the service charge and I think the staff could see how happy I was with my luch. I still had several hours to waste so had a very thorough look around the Chinese supermarkets & checked out Soho & Carnaby Street ( now that was a disappointment ). I imagined Carnaby street to be buzzing with buskers & great retro clothes shopping, but I was bored of it within minutes & ended up having much more fun twisting round the side streets & ally ways  & found myself being drawn back into China Town. And also visited for the second time that day, a fab Chinese patisserie & stocked up on munchies for the journey home.

I found myself almost on the point of drooling at Young Cheng’s window , when I saw a delicious looking, sticky crab dish. Unable to resist I popped in and asked how much I could pay them to just try a crab claw ( I had not tried crab for ages ). I was recognised from lunchtime from one of the girls and was promptly asked to sit down & she asked a colleague to dish me up some crab. It was a sizeable plateful !

It was absolutely delicious, in a sweet ginger & chilli sticky sauce. Messy to eat but so worth it.

I offered them a £10 note when I had finished, & was told I had to pay nothing & was welcome to try the crab.

WOW. What a great place. Any time  I go back to London I will have to make re visiting this restaurant an absolute must. A wee gem of a place.

Well, it seems that this is not exactly breaking news, but I can no longer enjoy a guilt free bar of Green & Black’s chocolate either!

Whilst looking at a forum today on the subject of ” boycott Nestle this Easter ” I read that THE BODY SHOP sold itself to L’oreal in 2006 and L’oreal is part owned by NESTLE.

When cross checking this information on other site’s on the net, I came across this report in The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2006/jun/08/ethicalbusiness.money

and also found that Green & Blacks is owned by Cadbury’s - Schweppes.

It seems to be the case now, that if you want to buy truly ethical products, not only do you have to check the conduct of the immediate company that the product is made from but, also to look deeper into the spiders web of which other companies have any sort of involvement in shares / partnership.

Well, at least I will have a damn good excuse to not attend any future Body Shop parties that I am asked along to in the future.

I thought that Anita Roddick had higher standards.

A couple of days ago, like thousands of other people, I received a Facebook invite, to join the group ” have a Nestle free Easter “. I joined without any hessitation, along with 14,766 other people.

I commend anyone’s actions, who chooses to buy a chocolate bar, displaying the “FAIR TRADE” logo, instead of a bar that does not have this ” it’s o.k to buy this as it has been ethically produced ” product.

BUT:

IS THAT WHAT THE LOGO REALLY REPRESENTS ?

Well, I had thought this to be the case, but after watching a recent Panorama documentary, ” Chocolate, The bitter truth “, I am not convinced. There does not appear to be any real change in Nestle’s, Cadbury’s or others conduct on this issue as we may believe, by the visual image of the fair trade logo on packaging.

Most of the world’s cocoa beans are grown in West Africa, predominantly in Ghana & The Ivory Coast.

Paul Timothy, went to West Africa to reveal how ” the worst forms of child labour ” was still being used in cocoa bean harvesting & had a website ” Paul Timothy Chocolate “, set up, so he could act as a credible dealer to conduct his investigations.

This is very dodgy territory for journalists, as there have been cases of journalists ” going missing ” in the past when reporting ” child trafficking ” in the past.

10 million people in Ghana & The Ivory Coast depend on the growing & harvesting of Cocoa.   Both Governments profit from taxation from the industry. And the chocolate industry relies on both countries as together they produce 60% of the worlds cocoa.

In the very small country of Burkina Faso, which boarders Ghana & The Ivory Coast, the incomes are amongst the lowest in the world. Thousands of kids disappear from Burkina Faso each year.

In Burkina Faso, they understand French, so Paul Timothy was able to speak to some of the children working  in Ghana , who the farmers claimed were from Ghanaian.

If a child is working on a cocoa farm, that is o.k if, they are not trafficked & they also get schooling, but the reality is that a very large number of kids are trafficked & have no schooling, they are not paid & they are often told that their parents are dead!

Most of the children seem to have a very well rehearsed line, if interviewed  they say ” All children go to school & none of them work “.

Unfortunately, a lot of these children are trafficked by other family members, such as uncles, who are paid for the child’s labour at the end of a harvest. Some of the children are as young as 7 years old and are often working from 6am ’til 4pm using machete’s to cut down & split the cocoa husks.

The ILO, ( International Labour Organization ), states that trafficking is illegal & a serious breach of global standards. It also prohibits what it calls ” the worst forms of child labour “. It also prohibits any work ” likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children “, the use of ” hazardous tools “, and prohibits work that interferes with schooling.

A farmer, that was interviewed on Panorama, was suspended ( as well as other farmers ) after  being found to be using child labour, to supply a large fair trade co-operative KUAPA KOKOO, who supplies cocoa for Cadbury’s fair trade chocolate.

Cadbury’s stated , it has not… ” sourced from any of the implicated societies, either prior to or during the suspension “. ” The fact that child labour issues were identified…is the evidence that fair trade certification process is working “.

Fair trade kit kats use cocoa purchased from several co-operatives around the Ivory Coast including the co-operative KAVOKIVA. One farmer who has supplied this co-operative said ” lot’s of farmers use child labour, it is normal. Some go to school, some don’t “.

Paul Timothy went to San Pedro, a major port where the majority of the worlds cocoa is shipped from, to see how easily the traceability of the beans he had acquired, could be sold on, to end up in our high street brands, with the source of the cocoa being untraceable”. This was easily done buy selling the cocoa onto licenced dealers along the roadside who did not need paperwork.

Wall Street Traders, can sell the cocoa, several times over, before it even reaches the Country. Some making $100 a minute & sometimes up to 1/2 a million dollars on a good day.

This would be o.k if the people growing & harvesting the crops for our luxury item had at least the basics that we take for granted, such as, electricity, running water & sanitation. Paul Timothy gave some cocoa workers, adult & children a kit kat to try. They liked it, but they had never even tasted chocolate before & live in very desperate conditions.

Paul Timothy took some of the cocoa back home to make some of his own label chocolate bars & brilliantly put the bars into his own wrappers, displaying on the front & back of the bars,  a logo with a stick drawing of a child with a machete with child labour written on the logo and a tick beside the logo. On the back is written ” Every bar of this chocolate, has been made, at least in part, using the worst forms of child labour.” as defined by ILO ( convention 182 ).

When he showed members of the public, his chocolate bars & pointed out the logo, everyone responded with a shock reaction & they ALL said that they would boycott any chocolate if they KNEW it was made using child labour.

Eliot L Engel ( U.S Congressman ), when he was shown the wrapper said ” it was probably not a bad idea “.

Peter McAllister from the  ( International Cocoa Initiative ), responded with a less than impressed response & a long winded spiel about traceability. But, the International Cocoa Initiative is partly funded by the chocolate industry, so not much surprise there.

Personally, I think the bottom line here is, should we have some kind of tax perhaps on our chocolate treat luxuries ? Would we all be happy to pay a few pence extra to have our chocolate fairly produced ? But how can this be done, in such a way, that we KNOW that it really is FAIR TRADE ???

A few weeks ago, I started to collect milk bottles for growing a herb garden.

A friend looked at me curiously when she asked what all the bottles were for.

She is now collecting milk bottles & passing this easy recycling tip on.

If you get a plastic milk bottle, ( cut out as pictured below ) & put a few holes in the bottom by sticking a sharp knife into the base, you can get plant propagators with carry handles for free.

Also if you have the handles South facing, the plant can enjoy extra warmth from the sun shining through the plastic handle.

Another advantage of using these recycled milk bottle pots, is that you can easily see when the roots are well established enough to plant out.

With the left overs of the empty milk jug, you can cut strips for labelling your pots.