Wednesday & Thursday - with Joe moaning!!

For those who read this blog, you may know I get irrationally annoyed at 2 things.....

1. Finishing work late and then waiting for Jo to finish work even later!

2. Thinking (from my absolutely unimaginative point of view) that there is no food in the fridge and the only option is to eat out; otherwise I will starve!

The foul (but short lived) mood is usually when both these things are combined!....I rant and rave (sometimes with a little justification) but Jo knows that it is superficial and short lived and it leaves almost as quickly as it arrived....

Today we headed to work at 6.30am (me a finance recruiter to a networking event) and Jo (a trainee solicitor with a lot of work on her plate) and we got home together a 7.30pm - a long day! - luckily, as far as work goes, we enjoy what we do - most of the time anyway!

Tomorrow we are off to Jo's home town of Edinburgh and it will be great! Family to hang out with, lots of good food and relaxation. Jo is wedding dress shopping with her Mum so I get a free pass to go crazy in Edinburgh - woohooo!! At 32 and engaged to be married, my rock n roll plan is to grab a coffee and read the papers at Stag Espresso (on recommendation from Alex at La Bottega Milanese) followed by wandering about the place. We are also taking in a ghost tour which will be good craic.

Back to the food. I was home alone yesterday and this is what I knocked together. FISH FINGERS, BEANS AND TOAST;

Today Jo made a slightly better job of things with CHICKEN IN A RED WINE SAUCE, WITH BLACK PUDDING, EGG AND VEG.....

Tuesday - Leftovers (Jo Girl)

So I told yoiu there had been lots of late nights recently...today was another one with both of us leaving at 7.30.  To make up some lost time, we made the most of the leftover buffalo stew from the weekend, with some added spinach!  It was pretty good though - Joe makes a mean stew (even if he won't give me his recipe!)

The stew

And a bit of vin rouge - a reward for our hard work!

The finished product, with a sneaky dumpling too! Yum!

Monday - Hot, Sweet and Sour soup (by Jo Girl)

Joe and I seem to be making a habit of late nights at work these days, which is impacting on my cooking! Terrible!

So Monday this week was hot and sour soup, which is one of my favourite quickie meals - really good for you and pretty tasty!  I make mine with lots of ginger, chilli, tomatoes, turmeric and tamarind.  This one had some pineapple thrown in as well for a bit of a change, as well as prawns, chicken and some egg to thicken.  All good stuff.........

Because all of that sounds a bit too healthy, we also had some prawn crackers on the side!  We also made the most of having some World Foods dipping sauce on the side, which was very nice (website here).  We used it for a stir fry recently, but I much preferred it as a dipping sauce  - very tasty!

The soup

And some cheeky prawn crackers!  Always some naughtiness....

We also had a bit of the World Foods sauce on the side, which I much prefer as a dipping sauce

Sundays Buffalo Shin Stew with Herb Dumplings - By Joe!

I am happy to admit that I love our slow cooker. It was a Christmas gift from Hunter Pig a good few years ago now, and it is my joint favorite cooking kit alongside my coffee grinder which is this one.

Is is so simple to use and 99% of the time always comes up trumps - ours is a CrockPot but other varieties are available!

The plan on Saturday was to get some ox-tail from Kirkgate Market, but when we spotted the Water Buffalo shin on sale at the Corn Exchange Cornucopia event we had a change of heart! The recipe is based on one the first meals I cooked for Jo in the first of our six years together that was courtesy of Jamie Oliver.

I also managed to cobble togther some herb dumplings that turned out better than I though...all in I am not embarrassed to say it was a triumph!

A stewy close-up

My plate

As I am a lazy so and so, I am not going to put a recipe on unless people really want it, so let me know if you want it to go up......@foodandbiscuits x

Saturday & Sunday @ Cornucopia

On Saturday afternoon we headed to a Cornucopia event at the Corn Exchange in Leeds which took place over the weekend to show case some of the ace food and drink produced in our region. It goes without saying that we heartily support this sort of thing and we were were delighted to be able to go to a breakfast on the Sunday morning which gave us a. an opportunity to meet the producers before the day got going, and b. lots of treats!!! (I recorded the rugby and was able to avoid hearing the score....unlucky Frenchies - you gave it an almighty shot!). 

Some that we chatted to include Lottie Shaws Yorkshire Parkin, Everything Goes With Toast, Thistlemist Farm, Swillington Farm, Pudsey Jams, The Blessed Olive, The Yummy Yank, Snowden Hill, Gormet Kitchenware, Lauden Chocolate, Casa Espresso, Fayre by Alley, The Sunshine Bakery and the Chilli Jam Man....they all work very hard to produce great stuff so deserve support! (click the names to go to the websites)

I mentioned to some that I am planning a session of questions and answers (maybe via twitter or email - not sure yet) so if you would like to get involved then let me know - some of the above have said it is a good idea and I'll be in touch soon!

Bought for tonight's stew

The breakfast spread

By Fayre by Alley

Smoothie from Primos

The spread x 2

We shared this. 10/10 for the brownie from the Yummy Yank

Buffalo sausages with Pudsey Ketchup & Chilli Sauce

Savory delights from The Sunshine Bakery

Chocolate by Lauden Chocolate

Saturday Lunch at Dock Street Market - Review

Before moving to rural Roundhay, Joe and I lived in the Quays building in the centre of town, and the area around Lower Briggate, the Calls and Brewery Wharf were our local patch.  There are lots of good bars and places to eat in the area, but one of my favourite selling points was Simpsons, a local shop selling fun gourmet treats and booze.  Roll on two years, and Simpsons has gone, a victim of these hard times.  In its place is the Dock Street Market, a relaxed cafe/bar selling food and drink in a chilled out setting.

We ventured there for lunch on Saturday to give its food a whirl, spurred on by a sneaky Groupon voucher purchase a few months ago.

The Groupon deal was for a meat and treats platter, served with a couple of glasses of wine and some coffees.  The platter means you can try a couple of the sharing dishes on the menu, including the breads with oil and balsamic, cheese, meats and chutneys, and humous, babaganoush, slow roasted tomatoes and olives.  It was a good tasting plate, and I was a particular fan of the babaganoush and humous, both of which were rich with garlic and lemon.  The oil was a Yorkshire oil rather than olive, and a little tasteless, but that was a very small part of the overall meal.    The wines were nice, as were the double espressos so it was a good lunch all in.

Dock Street Market also sell a selection of sandwiches, salads and other deli treats, including a very delicious looking range of cakes.  They also have a bread counter for fresh sourdoughs and an interesting selection of draught beers.  I'll definitely head back for a few afternoon drinks at some point and to sample some more of the menu and would recommend others do the same.

The Dock Street Market menu

Our platter - breads, meats, cheese, chutneys, olives, tomatoes, humous and babaganoush.  Good stuff.

The slow roasted tomatoes, which had a deep, rich flavour

Babaganoush.  It turns out Joe is not a fan of aubergines, whereas I am...how will we ever get over this?!

Humous

The chutneys, including one which tasted just like mince pies

Me enjoying my wine and my papers - a perfect Saturday!

Joe really enjoying his wine - a good noseful there!

The double espresso - a much needed, very tasty,  caffeine kick

After this, we headed straight for Cornucopia, a food festival at the Corn Exchange, more of which on Sunday's post.....

And this is what is on offer at the Dock Street Market....

Friday night in - Left Over Curry

We we both feeling a little delicate still after our night at Chino Latino, so we both decided a night in was the best course of action! We didn't go crazy, but we would both readily admit that we can't hack the pace anymore!

Jo used both the left over veggie curry and added some of the chicken from Thursday too. On the way home she also picked up some starters from the bargain section of the Co-Op!....nothing wrong that!!

The refreshments

The side

The bargain starters!

Two left-overs combined