Disastrous Lunch, Corporate Norm

Disastrous Lunch, Corporate Norm

   September 27, 2020       Vussey

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Let Me Explain...

Actually there will be those out there reading this to whom there needs no explanation, you know who you are, and those who don’t, well, you either don’t visit the corporate hotels very often, or you still don’t know what good food and good service is.

It is about time these hotels and restaurants were brought to account, but for now they get away with it, asking top rates for a second rate service.

Let down

I have learnt enough, over time, never to go to these corporate hotels for lunch or dinner, unless they’re places which have surprised me positively in the past, however on this occasion I had a business meeting at this particular hotel.

Started with the drinks

We ordered coffees when we arrived, and though nothing major, they were not great. I ordered the flat white, I like it, and who can get that wrong, but it was massive! Isn’t the flat white usually smaller than the cappuccino, latte and all the other gallon sized coffees? Another reason why I order it.

The drinks with lunch didn’t get any better. I ordered tonic water, and when it arrived in a pint glass when I hadn’t ordered a pint I guessed something was a awry.  I took a sip and although I had known anyway, swiftly asked if it was tonic or was it actually soda water he had given me. It was soda he had given me! Two orders down, waiting for the meal, I was wondering by now quite what that was going to be like, I had been nervous of ordering anyway, as I always am in these places, but the signs were already there.

Downhill From There

We ordered our food. The menu wasn’t extensive actually which is a good thing, right? This means they can keep on top of the cooking and the ingredients. My colleague had chosen already, then I decided to have the sourdough toasted sandwich. At that, my colleague changed their mind, saying they loved sourdough so this sounded great. We both plumped for that, I also ordered the sweet potato fries. 

The food arrived, and I looked at it in disbelief. The ‘sourdough’ was normal white bread! Not even home baked crusty loaf, uncut, thick cut, granary, wholemeal - Normal basic, cheap, white bread!!! He placed the plates down and walked away. Is this the state of the British nation that we have mug stamped on our foreheads when we dine out so we can be served anything and they don’t have to explain or take ownership for what they are serving up?

When I questioned the bread he told us that they had run out of the sourdough, simple as that - are we to believe that a top hotel (this is a very exclusive international chain) can change the main element of a dish and not even bother to inform or ask the diner? Absolutely unacceptable.

I wonder too, what their stance on wastage would be if it were published?

Service

And what about the service? If that wasn’t enough to give you an idea about the hotel ethics, their food and their service anyway, I would like to add again that the hotel this day was very quiet. The person serving us had made many mistakes, when asked for pepper for the table, he forgot to bring it. We did not bother to ask twice, the mistakes by now were becoming tedious, however I clocked him walking past our table at one point and he glanced over at us, we had nearly finished our meal, and at that point I said to my colleague ‘the penny has just dropped’. A moment later, not better late than never though, he came over with the pepper!

And, for the record, my sweet potato fries were hard in the middle, they couldn’t even get those right, so all in all, they scored a hat trick! Truly an awful meal, and an equally awful experience, and one that is becoming all too common.

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Food For Thought

Food For Thought

   September 14, 2020       Vussey

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Let Me Ask, Does Fast Food Leave You Fasting?

I travel around the country a lot and guess what? I am really fed up with the kinds of food, fast food, which is available to me on the go!

Food on the go has stayed pretty much the same for years now - the same suppliers in the market, the likes of burger restaurants, fried chicken drive-thru, coffee houses (Which now have drive-thrus), and these are just a few where you needn’t even leave your vehicle and can order your meal through your window!  There’s a problem though, they are not really for the discerning foodie or the health aware are they, I mean lets face it. Though, admittedly, the burger joints might have introduced the odd salad here and there and the chicken places have a rice bowl, but made with the same gusto as their chicken and burgers, they are not!

What’s the alternative?

Are we asking too much for good food which is also healthy, tasty, accessible and quick? I don’t think so, and how about a drive thru which could offer juices, smoothies or soup? I suppose what I personally am looking for is not the current fast food restaurants to offer me second rate salads as a spin off, but a new and exciting one offering what I believe should and could be a bigger demographic, a tasty alternative. Don’t knock it until you try it.

But that’s my point - I want it (by the way, I am screaming this point). I want an alternative to these high fat, high sugar foods on the road that make me feel tired and sluggish when I’ve eaten them.  What they don’t do is make me want to continue to drive and work, which is not good, so ultimately I don’t stop and have them, which ultimately means I go without food on the days I don’t take something from home, which ultimately means I go hungry most days!

Obviously I should, can and do take homemade food to work, but not always and anyway, why can’t I have the pleasure of finding good food out and about. It is crazy how much easier it is to get a pasty, burger, fried chicken, fish & chips, pizza, sandwiches, subs, rolls (they all come under the same bready category) - a bakery can be found in every village or town, but try and find something in there which is light and even slightly healthy.  Some may have a pre packed salad or two sitting in their chiller, or just one flavour of soup on offer but to be honest the ones that do, well, lets say no more.

Desperation

The truth of the matter is this, having driven past fast food outlets deciding against going in, but deciding instead that upon entering the town they lay on the outskirts of I will find something more suitable there, I have actually been bereft of anything after walking up and down the high street searching for something ‘nice’.  Just ‘nice’.  I try to be less fussy than usual on so many occasions so I can at least be satisfied, but all I find is that well known bakery chain, or an independent which fares no better, a local supermarket or a deli which, come on, that’s a whole other story - when did we put a few jars of chutney on a shelf and a couple of hams in a cabinet and call it a deli in this country?

So hungry I go until one of two things happen - 1) either I get desperate (unusual), or 2) I come across a gem, a small independent cafe usually, where they have actually thought about the food they want to offer, make fresh salads with great ingredients, have an interesting appetising take-away menu and soups which are homemade and taste it! 

If you too have found this all a bit of a problem, then let me know what you have found, and more importantly, let me know about the little ‘gems’ you have come across, it would help me a great deal when I’m out and about.

So keep watching this space as I will be making note of these little gems, yours and mine, along the way, so keep following to find out where they are.

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A Real Crowd Pleaser, Pulled Pork - Perfect!

A Real Crowd Pleaser, Pulled Pork - Perfect!

   September 02, 2020       Vussey

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 No Time For Faff?  No Problem, Make Pulled Pork

Easy yet so satisfying and a versatile dish too. If you have a busy day, the oven does all the cooking and the end result is a dish which tastes as though you have been slaving away for hours! 

Exceptional flavours that can only come from long low slow cooking - those flavours you put together with the pork is up to you, but I have given my recommendation below in the recipe here for Spicy Pulled Pork.  I like a hit of heat to cut through the unctuous melting pork.

For more information on the added ingredient I chose to give a twist and depth to the mix, look at Daily Dose, the 60ml cold pressed ginger, which is actually a blend of ginger, lemon cayenne and agave. This is lovely and fiery, which is why I decided to add it, though this is entirely optional. 

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Victory Tower

Victory Tower

   August 31, 2020       Vussey

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Standing Elegantly Tall It Gave Me An Idea...

Walking through the grounds of the beautiful Blenheim Palace, I felt inspired to make my very own Victory Tower - the Victory Plait.

I felt what I made should remind me of the tower, have some elegance about the flavours and be popular with everyone.  

So that being said, If you make nothing else from this blog then make this Victory Plait. You will find you’ll make it time and again, not only to snack on at home, for lunch or dinner, but also to take to friends, parties, or make for a special occasion. It truly is versatile, as it looks good and has flavours which elevate it to the next level. 

Try it for yourself, find the recipe below.

For info:

The sausagemeat I have used was really good quality packet sausagemeat however, depending on where I shop, I might buy really good quality sausages and skin them.

For those of you that are disappointed I haven’t made my own pastry - I really like to use puff pastry for this, and ready made is best unless you have loads of time on your hands.

 

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You Are What You Eat

You Are What You Eat

   August 29, 2020       Vussey

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Let Me Ask, Do We Know How What We Eat Is Affecting Us?

Brain Health

Did you know that your brain uses more energy than any other organ!  

Did you also know that what we eat affects how we feel and who we are, especially our emotions and lifestyle, like depression, anxiety, and our memory functions like dementia for example.

Many foods can affect our brain function, even in their most simple form. An additive which we are all aware of, is MSG, Monosodium Glutamate.  Myself especially, as you will by now know, I am a Migraineur, and as such, MSG is my nemesis!  Why is this?  It is actually a poison, a toxin which acts on the nervous system, which in turn encourages nerve cells to fire more rapidly and more frequently. Basically, the brain cells are overstimulated, and all this rapid firing means a migraine may result.  In children this could mean an emotional outburst perhaps, which is where ADHD comes in.

However, as with many things in food these days, these ingredients are very difficult to identify as they come in all different guises.

What should we do? 

Bottom line is we want to protect our brain and brain health so we need to eat more protein.  Protein breaks down into amino acids, and in turn makes a key neurotransmitter called dopamine which is incredibly important for focus and memory.

In addition, the brain is approx. 65% fat, so good fats, omega 3 especially, are very good for our brains, so we need to support this by eating good healthy fats. Egg yolks are perfect for our brains, as well as nutty butters and avocados.

Gut Health

“Death begins in the colon“ - Élie Metchnikoff

Extensive research shows that Children with brain, immune and gut disorders which are interlinked, are also being affected with disorders such as ADHD, allergies, depression, delays in learning, behaviour problems, and some chronic illnesses. There is no surprise then, that these groups are also found to have a poor diet, low in nutritional values.

I have to admit, I have seen on many occasions scenes such as a young child mis-behaving with the parent struggling to keep control and though the child is very young, they are drinking ‘liquid candy’ as I like to call it, a sweet fizzy drink, and I have seen very young toddlers in pushchairs eating crisps and sweets. Is it really no surprise then that obesity hit an all time high among 10 and 11 year olds in 2019, over 20% being obese, when we are conditioning our very young children to these very high in sugar treats? What are we doing to our children?  

What If We Set Ourselves A Task?

The next time you talk to a young person, ask them what they ate last, it’ll give you an idea of what is going on and, if you would like to go a step further, quiz them on some foods, I guarantee they’ll not know what you’re talking about. It’s very sad, and we need to determine what our priorities are, I think as a nation we focus on all the wrong things.

What does it all mean?

 

 

What it comes down to it, what you put in, is what you get out - the basic philosophy for everything. When we load our bodies full of carbohydrates which are high in starch and high in sugars, it makes us sluggish and tired, and eventually too much of these bad carbohydrates, turn into sugars which in turn cause us to be fat. 

Fats, good healthy fats, don’t cause us to be fat. Sugars cause us to be fat. A high intake of bad carbohydrates, and especially sugar, will weaken our immune function too, and now more than ever we need to ensure our immune systems are functioning at their optimum levels.

It is my opinion that we should eat everything in moderation. Good carbs, like fruit and veg are good for us, and even the breads and the pastas can provide energy for the body. We will know when we’re not burning the sugar into energy and it’s getting turned instead into body fat as it will sit in the tummy area, as this is where the problem will first start.  Our bodies not using those carbohydrates as they should leads to obesity, because it means we are not using the insulin hormone efficiently, leading to insulin resistance, therefore leading to obesity.

It’s not difficult to follow a good healthy lifestyle and its not boring at all. In fact it is absolutely scrumptious (can I use that word and still keep my credibility?) - the problem is discipline actually. If we don’t get ourselves into a good enough cycle, eating the right foods at the right times then we crave the wrong foods. Our body, brain chemicals quite literally crave sugar and encourage us to grab the nearest junk food we can get our hands on for energy and satisfaction.  That’s when we look for that food, buy it, and eat it as usually this is a quick fix alternative.

The good thing about protein is it keeps us fuller for longer and stops us from craving those high sugar foods throughout the day.

So if we are what we eat then we need to seriously start to think more about the foods we are putting into our bodies because the food industry are too slow to act for us, so we need to take ownership.

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Really Satisfying, This Soup Will Please For Any Occasion

Really Satisfying, This Soup Will Please For Any Occasion

   August 16, 2020       Vussey

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 Not Just Comforting, So Good

Soup is probably one of my favourite meals to make as I find it an incredibly easy and interesting dish to do, not to mention that you can change it up each time so it’s an experiment and you never know how it’s going to turn out which makes it all the more exciting. 

There are so many different flavour combinations you can try, it is endless, so it really is a good meal to make when you have leftovers in the fridge.

I like to add a little twist each time too, something I have in my store cupboard or fridge, so this time I have added the Pelagonia aivar which I really like as an accompaniment with all different foods, and something I use occasionally in dishes.

Thought I would share this particular soup with you this time as it has a great depth of flavour I think you’ll love!  By the way, the sweet stands for the sweet potato, for those who haven’t guessed, and the soup is not sweet, just succulent. Try it.

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Fantastic Potato Mash Topped Fish Pie

Fantastic Potato Mash Topped Fish Pie

   August 12, 2020       Vussey

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Piled With Fish and Packed Full Of Flavour

This is one of my favourite dishes and is a family favourite too. Fish pie is one of those recipes which most people will have done at one time or another and I’m  almost certain that most will make it differently - one thing is for sure though,  when thinking of making this dish, ensure the following:

• The ingredients are easy to come by
• The method is easy enough to follow
• The end result is fabulous

If you want to ensure all those three points, then look no further, and follow my recipe, you will not be disappointed. 

Once you have tried and tested it, you may then want to change up the fish - occasionally,  when I feel like making more of a luxurious version, I will use monkfish and when I can’t get hold of undyed smoked haddock (I don’t like to use the dyed, yellow smoked haddock), I will use smoked cod.  I will also change the sauce and herb variation on occasion. 

I like to add the sweet potato to my mash as white potato has no real flavour all on it’s own, and if I were making it for me only, I would make the mash with just sweet potato and butter beans.

However, I will always use raw fish. I never cook the fish beforehand, as I find that this way I end up with the fish perfectly cooked and not overdone as it’s cooked twice, and the juices from the fish whilst cooking blend in with the sauce - for this reason, keep the sauce very thick. 

So, try it, taste it, and let me know what you think.

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