Sunday to Thursday - a round up of treats

Apologies for the slight sabbatical from the blog this week - we've been engaged with other things so this is a round up of Sunday to Thursday this week!  We're still trying to be relatively healthy, although I was making the most of finally being able to eat a full meal so you'll have to excuse Monday's fish and chips, but here it is...

On Sunday we had Joe's stir fried udon noodles with teriyaki salmon, and very nice it was too!  I love it when Joe cooks, and bless it seems to have fallen to him a bit more this week.

Teriyaki salmon and udon noodles

Monday was the naughty fish and chips.  Joe and I didn't really celebrate the bank holiday this year - whilst I had some work to do, Joe went home for the day to spend some time with the family.  By the time he came home the last thing we were in the mood for was cooking (how very unlike us!) so it was straight to the freezer for fish and chips.  At some point I'll cave and let him go the chippy for some real fish and chips, as the freezer version is always a bit disappointing, but that'll only be after A LOT of running and a very healthy week!

Fish, chips and peas

On Tuesday I was back in the kitchen, knocking up stir fried noodles with spicy black bean prawns with yellow pepper and spring onions.  It was pretty healthy and went down very well, especially with a nice glass of chenin blanc...woops.  I think the booze ban may be delayed until May after all!

Spicy black bean prawns

On Wednesday Joe was back in the kitchen.  Bless, he had run home after a long day at work so was already pretty tired, and then received a call from me saying I was going to be working late so dinner was up to him!  He did surprise me though, making a pasta bake with broccoli and cauliflower, which was very tasty.

Pasta baked with broccoli and cauliflower

And finally on Thursday we headed to the Adelphi for @homage2fromage's latest cheese night - challenging cheese!  I've been telling Nick for a while that I thought they should do some really filthy cheese.  My favourite cheeses tend towards the face-melting, walking off the plate variety, which is often difficult to locate in the UK.

Well Nick and Vickie certainly came up with some pretty challenging cheeses - there were 8 to try and I liked all but 2 of them.  My least favourites were the Stinking Bishop and the Oxford Isis, which had something of an air of cabbage/fish about it...gross!  The best one by far was the Epoisses, which is washed in brandy and is banned on public transport in France for being so whiffy and the Reblechon was also very nice (I can see a trend with the French cheeses here).  There were some superb varieties on offer and it was a great evening all round.

Just some of the rind washed cheeses

Homage2Fromage 5! Yorkshire Cheese @ The Adelphi

Tonight's Homage2Fromage was our favourite so far and not just because the focus was on delicious Yorkshire cheese!....I think the venue made all the difference - the Adelphi was spacious but not too big, which allowed for more relaxed and informal cheese munching. It was good to be able to catch up with some old and new twitter buddies - you know who you are!

A special mention goes to the man who makes Ruby Gold Rubarb cheese who gave us a very informative talk on......er.....CHEESE!!!

Barncliffe Brie

Buffalo Blue

Yorkshire Fine Fettle

My first plate - one of three!! (or four maybe)

Thursday - Homage2Fromage @ Primos!!!

On Thursday we ventured to Primo for January's Homage2Fromage event - Alpine cheese (and some Lancastrian).

We were a little late (my fault...delayed at work) and so missed the first cheese round of raclette, Vacherin Mont D'or and Lincolnshire Poacher.  It shows it pays to be on time at Homage2Fromage!

However we timed it perfectly for the fondue - a swirling mass of emmental and white wine.  Loading up on skewers of baguette (the trick is to put multiple pieces of bread on each skewer), we were in for quite a treat!  Nutty, slightly sharp, and the taste of the Swiss slopes, it was an excellent fondue.  Note to self though - eating fondue is never going to be the most graceful of looks - see below.

After ploughing our way through a considerable amount of baguette and cheese we were then treated to a talk by Conor from Dewlay, traditional Lancastrian cheese makers.  Conor brought four Lancastrian cheeses progressing from a mild, Creamy Lancashire, through Crumbly Lancashire and Tasty Lancashire to a Garstang Blue.  Dewlay's cheeses are "Beacon Fell Traditional Lancashire Cheeses", so are under the Protected Designation of Origin.

Now my preferred cheeses are truly eye watering: I like to feel like I'm being challenged by my cheeses so I'll usually go for a really ripe goat or a blue. The Creamy and Crumbly Lancashires were a little mild for my tastes - too soft and milky.  The Tasty Lancashire was getting more into my territory, but I was most impressed by the Garstang Blue - it was rich, creamy and nicely tangy.

All in, a great event and I'm very much looking forward to the next one.

A mound of Garstang Blue

Cheese munchers

As I said, there's no classy way to eat fondue

Gemma, attempting to be a delicate fondue eater

Tasting notes for Crumbly Lancashire - fun and educational

Conor from Dewlay - look at all the cheese!

Joe, very much proving my point about looking good eating fondue.

Thursday - Homage2Fromage @ Dock Street Market (and dinner)

Twitter is a great thing and I will not hear otherwise! How else would I hear about great events like the monthly Homage2Fromage that is basically a club for cheese lovers organised by enthusiastic Yorkshire folk - I'll let Millies explain more here.

Jo had plans already for the evening, so I headed to the Blue Cheese evening with Adam Work who was keen to come along but perhaps a little skeptical about eating blue cheese mince pies and blue cheese ice cream!

He needn't have worried; it was a great event with crackers, walnut bread and a couple of very tasty Pudsey Pickles to accompany the 5 different cheeses on offer. It was also a chance to put some faces to names of some fellow foodie tweeters, particularly Dine and the Manor whose supper club we are attending in 2012 and Mike from Indieices who makes the most excellent ice creams from his Kitchen just round the corner from us!!....all in it I had a really good time and Homage2Fomage gets a double thumbs up.

Work Adam stuffing his face

Indieices Mike

His blue cheese ice cream sample 10/10!

 I headed home for about 8.30pm and Jo had kept dinner warm for me - I am well looked after! Fajitas, wraps and all the sides!!!