Latest foodie highlights

The past couple of weeks have seen me have some really enjoyable meals out. Featuring in this post is the Edinburgh Larder Bistro and Monteiths.

Edinburgh Larder Bistro

Website - http://www.edinburghlarder.co.uk/bistro

Location - Alva Street Edinburgh

Food:

Sea trout with herb potatoes, sprouting broccoli and capers - Edinburgh Larder Bistro

General comments - I've been to the Bistro before but only for a dinner. This visit was a lunch using an Itison voucher. Our deal was a two course lunch plus a hot drink each. We opted to share a starter of black pudding and poached egg, and share a cheeseboard after our mains. My main is above, and my friend opted for a pork, bean and cider stew. We were on a quick turnaround given we attended on our lunch hours, and the staff were very accommodating to our needs. Our food was lovely; the best fish I've had in ages. My friend isn't a pork man but rated his meal very highly indeed. My second visit was another pleasure, and I hope to return soon!

Monteiths

Website - http://www.monteithsrestaurant.co.uk/index.php

Location - High Street, Edinburgh

Food:

Monkfish with black pudding, bacon and cauliflower puree - Monteiths

General comments - my mother and I visited for dinner on a Saturday evening. It is definitely wise to book at Monteiths, because I don't think we would have got a table otherwise. We both opted for the same main as shown above. Although a little on the pricey side (£22 per portion), the meal was delicious. It was a fair sized portion, and the chef certainly didn't scrimp on the black pudding. The meal was hearty and wholesole but I could've done with a little more. That is a very minor downfall. All in all, the dining experience was brilliant and the food delicious. I hope to return to sample the Chateaubriand! 

Easy chocolate and banana loaf

Admittedly this loaf might not look like much, but my lovely boyfriend says this is the best banana bread he has ever had. Yes, he is both duty and morally bound to say that, but I do believe him. 

This is a very simple recipe with a couple of twists to ensure this is as squidgy and delicious as a banana loaf should be!

Recipe for Alannah's chocolate and banana loaf

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas

2 tablespoons of milk

100g butter (I just used light olive oil spread stuff - it worked fine!)

150g plain flour

150g caster sugar

1 teaspoon bicarb

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

100g bar of dark chocolate (I used cheapo dark chocolate. Again, it worked fine!)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160 fan and prepare a 1lb loaf tin (grease and line).

2. In a mixing bowl, mash the bananas up into a rough paste.

3. In the same bowl, add all the other ingredients apart from the chocolate and mix well until smooth and well combined.

4. Cut or grate the chocolate finely but roughly and stir this into the mixture until evenly distributed.

5. Pour the mixture into the baking tin and even it out.

6. Bake for 45 minutes, checking towards the end that it is not burning or conversely, taking too long.

7. If it is pretty much ready, what I did was put the oven off, leave the oven door a little ajar but leave the cake in the oven for 2-3 hours. We went to the cinema while the cake lay in the oven!

8. Remove from the oven and tin and enjoy!

In all honesty, I don't really know why this cake was so good. Maybe it was because it was super-flavoursome, or maybe it was the gooey texture we love in a banana loaf. I think the texture is attributable to the oven time at the end, so if you like your banana bread, like I do, give it a go :)

Hogmanay recipe - Beef Wellington

It was my plan to make my boyfriend and I a lovely sit-down Christmas dinner. One thing led to another, and we were both actually too busy to fit it in before Christmas. So we had a Hogmanay feast instead! For non-Scots readers, Hogmanay is, of course, New Year's Eve. Our dinner was three courses: smoked salmon with cucumber and fennel salad to start; beef wellington with mash, gravy and greens for the main; and an amaretti, peach and blueberry crunch pudding for dessert. And the drinks were flowing, naturally. The beef wellington was an absolute success, if I do say so myself, so I thought it would be a nice idea to share the secret of my success! Photos below, and recipe after the photos.

Alannah's Beef Wellington

Ingredients - to make a large wellington for 2 hungry people!

500g Chateaubriand

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 packet dried porcini mushrooms

1 packet chestnut mushrooms - roughly chopped

1 tablespoon truffle oil

2 cloves garlic - finely chopped

1 medium sized white onion - finely chopped

5-8 slices of Parma ham

1 sheet of ready rolled puff pastry (I used Jus-Rol)

1 egg or 1 tablespoon milk

Method - the night before

Step 1 - make the duxelles 

1. Steep the porcini mushrooms in boiling water per the packet instructions.

2. Heat some truffle oil in a frying pan. Don't worry if you can't get truffle oil - use normal olive oil. 

3. Add the finely chopped garlic and onion and fry for a few minutes.

4. Add all the mushrooms (not the stock from the porcinis) and cook until all the liquid has practically gone.

5. Once the mix has shrunk, stick it in a good blender or food processor and make it into a paste.

Step 2 - brown the meat

1. In the same pan you cooked the mushrooms, add a little butter or oil and get it quite hot.

2. Brown all sides of the meat until it is a nice golden caramel colour.

3. Drain the juices into the container where the mushroom stock is.

Keep your leftover mushroom stock to make the base for a gravy. Just add the beef juices from when you browned the meat, a little redcurrant jelly and reduce :)

Step 3 - prepare the filling

1. Allow the beef to fully cool.

2. Once cooled, coat it in a thin layer of Dijon mustard.

3. Lay out a piece of cling film which will be large enough to roll the whole of the joint up in.

 4. Lay and overlap 4-5 slices of Parma ham onto the cling film, and add a thin layer of duxelles.

5. Place the coated meat onto the Parma and duxelles layer.

6. Cover the rest of the meat with the remaining duxelles.

7. Using as much Parma ham that is necessary, cover the remainder of the beef.

8. Cover the joint firmly with the cling film.

9. Place in the fridge and leave to chill overnight so the beef and other fillings take shape.

On the day of cooking

Step 4 - pastry

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 fan.

 2. Bring the chilled meat of out the fridge.

3. Roll a sheet of pastry to fit the joint, if the ready-rolled pastry is not already large enough.

4. Unwrap the meat form the cling film and place onto the pastry.

5. Roll the pastry around the beef into your desired shape, crimping the edges to secure. You can just do this with a fork!

6. Egg wash or milk wash your parcel.

7. Place into your pre-heated and check after 30 minutes.

8. If the pastry is golden, the wellington is ready.

9. Leave to stand for a few minutes before serving.

10. Enjoy!

I really hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. It is time consuming but it really does taste fantastic and is a brilliant centrepiece if you're trying to impress.

Let me know how you get on :)

The best of Budapest

Another recent city break I went on (avec boyfriend) was Budapest. Here is another holiday photo blog, this time my best of Budapest. We went early December.

Old communist pillar

I think this is a war memorial, but I have to say I'm unsure

The Danube and Buda by night

The Danube and Buda by night

The Parliament by night. One of the most impressive buildings I've ever seen.

The church of St Steven

The Pest side from the top of a hill on Buda

The Church of St Matthias

The Parliament from our Danube cruise

My hero (awww) on Heroes Square

Food - confit duck with sauerkraut and mash

Food - beef cheeks with nut loaf, goulash sauce and sour cream

Szimpla - a ruin bar

Szimpla - a ruin bar

Szimpla - a ruin bar

They have Brewdog in Budapest! 

WWI memorial

WWI memorial 

Get fit tips

My recent exercise experiences got me thinking that there must be a lot of girls like me who are really keen to go to the gym often, but are maybe in a bit of a muddle as to what they should be doing there, in terms of what exercises are beneficial to them. I've had some help recently at the gym (kudos to aforementioned wonderful boyfriend) and thought it might be a good idea to share my gym plan.

This isn't what I do every time, but it is a rough guide to what, on average, I focus most on. I would say this type of plan is most suitable for strong girls who don't realise their own strength, therefore don't know how to apply it! In my case, I have strong legs but have only really found this out recently. So follow my plan, and find your strength :)  Do it at your own pace, but this usually takes me around an hour.

Warm up - 2 minutes of cardio - either bike or cross trainer on a high level.

Legs - 73kg on leg press - 3 sets of 6 reps. This is quite a large weight to start off with, so take it down a little if need be.

Arms -  32kg on seated dip - 3 sets of 12 reps.

Abs - 32kg on ab crunch machine - 3 sets of 6 reps. This doesn't seem like a lot, but I sometimes struggle with this!

Cardio - 5 minutes of treadmill - walking at 5kph on level 10 incline (fairly steep hill).

Legs - 32kg on forward leg curl - 3 sets of 6 reps. This is the machine where you lie facing down on your stomach and bring the weights up towards your bum with your legs.

Arms - 25kg on rear delt - 3 sets of 6 reps.

Abs - floor exercises - either 3 sets of 12 reps sit ups, 3 sets of 12 reps scissors or 3 sets of 12 reps side to side with 4kg kettle bell

Cardio - 5 minutes of cardio - either bike, treadmill or cross trainer - 10 minutes at a moderate level.

Any questions, feel free to ask. I appreciate some of my exercise descriptions aren't exactly technical!

Happy exercising :)

Cracking Krakow

My last post made mention of this year's travels. October saw a trip to Krakow; here are my highlights in the form of a photo post :)

First night pierogis (Russian dumplings)

An atmospheric first night on the main square

Polish breakfast - stew and salad!

Vodka sharing platter - Starka Restaurant

A selection from the Salt Mines: 

St Mary's Church - side view

St Mary's Church

Bell tower

Local art on the main square

University courtyard

Starka Restaurant - amazing place

Artwork in the Jewish quarter

Steak tartare

Wawel Castle royal courtyard

Back to blogging

First things first. Well, two things actually. Firstly, Happy New Year! Secondly, I cannot believe I haven't posted a single item since August. It is disappointing given so much has happened since then. I've had holidays, lots of great food, made new friends, started a new job, and most importantly, grown closer and closer to my wonderful boyfriend. I suppose it is fair to say the latter has contributed to my distraction, thus my lack of blogging. Apologies for that.

It is, however, a new year, I hope 2016 will hold all the joy that 2015 did. With that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to officially announce my 2016 goals. This isn't because I think everyone is super-interested in my life aims, but because I feel I need some channel to make them known, and so I can look back at the end of the year and hopefully tick them off!

So here we are, my 2016 goals:

1. Lose weight. Readers who have read my blog before or know me personally know that I am very calorie conscious. I also attend the gym as often as I can. You'll also know that I love my grub. 2016 is time to knuckle down. Back to 1400 maximum calorie days, and going to the gym every day, where possible. I don't know how much I weigh, and I'm not too bothered, but I want to look better. Actually, I want to be the best I can be.

2. Keep the flat clean, tidy, and in general good order. My aforementioned wonderful relationship (soppy, I know), has meant I have, admittedly, taken my eye off the ball when it comes to household tasks. My flat before was fairly minimal and clutter-free but there are now things dotted around that get on my nerves. You know how it goes. I have already started with working on a fresher feel in the flat - Air Wick machine in the bathroom, reed diffuser in the hallway and scented candles on every evening in the bedroom and livingroom. I've done a car boot sale to de-clutter, and am in the process of a big eBay sale. Long may this continue!

3. Blog once a week. I don't know why I let this go. I want to get back into it. I really enjoy it. Simple as that.

4. Go to Croatia. I'll settle for another country I haven't been to before, but Croatia is high, if not top of my list. My friend, Emma, and her boyfriend went recently and it has cemented my longing to visit it. I really hope Chris and I can go later on this year. Viva Croatia!

And that's that. It seems realistic and do-able, so I really hope I don't let myself down. Now to complete all those blog posts I didn't finish last year...

Cheerio!