Food Glorious Food - Recipes - Gingerbread Popcorn.

Hi!!!

Welcome to Blogmas Day Eighteen. Call me Jamie Oliver, because I'm back with another recipe and a questionable amount of skill (I hardly ever do posts like these but it is Christmas and Christmas is a time for food). Anyway, today I'm going to be sharing a recipe for the ultimate festive movie marathon snack - Gingerbread Popcorn. It does take a while to make, but it tastes great and so I think it's worth it if you have a bit of spare time.

This recipe will make two servings but feel free to scale up or down - you can never have too much popcorn, can you?

You Will Need:

50 grams of butter

40g of popcorn

70g of brown sugar

1 teaspoon of black treacle

2 and a half teaspoons of golden syrup

1 and a half teaspoons of ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons of ground ginger

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Here's How You Make It:

Preheat the over to 110°C or 90°C for fan ovens.

Grease a shallow roasting tin and a mixing bowl, so you have less of a battle on your hands later on.

Make the popcorn according to the instructions on the packet and allow to cool.

Heat the butter, sugar, treacle, syrup, spices and vanilla extract in a medium sized pan over a low heat until the butter melts.

Bring to the boil and cook for three minutes, stirring frequently.

Take the pan off the heat and pour the mixture over the popcorn.

Stir until the popcorn is coated in the mixture.

Spread the mixture over the prepared tray.

Bake for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool before eating all of it in one go - it's in the instructions so you officially have permission to do so.

Thanks for joining me for Blogmas Day Eighteen.

What are your favourite Christmas treats? Do you have any other comments or suggestions for posts you'd like to see as part of Blogmas? Leave a comment and let me know.

See you tomorrow!

I hope you have a brilliant day!

GingerSnaps xxx

Food Glorious Food - Food - Spiced Orange Pancakes.

Hi!!!

Welcome to Blogmas Day Thirteen. For today's post, I'm going to be sharing a recipe with you for the ideal Christmas-time brunch (or mid-afternoon snack) - Spiced Orange Pancakes.

These pancakes are so easy to make and taste lovely. Orange and cinnamon are two of my favourite festive flavours and they work so well in these pancakes.

This recipe makes at least 6 pancakes - although if you make smaller pancakes like I did, then it stretches rather a lot further.

You Will Need:

200g self raising flour, 300ml milk, 1 medium/large egg, 1 orange, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon.

(OPTIONAL - but totally recommended) orange segments/ice cream/cinnamon/sprinkles to serve.

You'll also need a large mixing bowl, a whisk (ideally an electric one) and a large spoon or small ladle.

You Will Need To:

Whisk together the flour, milk and egg in the large mixing bowl.

Finely grate the orange zest and add that to the bowl, followed by the cinnamon and the juice of the orange - I actually cut the segments into three and added the juice and the inside of the orange segment to the bowl which worked really well.

Whisk the mixture.

Let the mixture rest for at least 3-5 minutes (a boring step, but worth it).

Melt half a tablespoon of butter in a pan (I used a small pan because I wanted to keep the pancakes quite small).

Spoon or ladle some of the mixture into the pan, adding more depending on how big you want your pancakes to be.

Cook for 4 minutes on one side and then flip it and cook for another 4 minutes on the other side.

Keep going until you've made all your pancakes.

Serve warm with optional toppings of vanilla ice cream, orange segments, a sprinkle of cinnamon and/or some hundreds and thousands sprinkles.

Eat the pancakes, obviously.

Thanks for reading today's Blogmas post.

What are your favourite Christmas treats? Do you have any other comments or perhaps suggestions for future posts? Feel free to leave a comment to let me know.

I hope you enjoyed today's post - and that you enjoy the pancakes if you try them out.

I hope your day is delightful.

GingerSnaps xxx

Food Glorious Food! - Food - Places To Eat In Paphos.

Hi!!!

I think today's post will be the last one on Cyprus (for now), because hopefully I'll be able to write some more autumnal posts over the next few weeks, but I really did want to share this. I've gathered together a few food recomendations from my holiday in Paphos, to give you a heads up as to some great places and give a shout out to some awesome restaurants.

 

We went to Paphos Market on one of the days and went to a restaurant that is literally right beside it. I can't remember its name for the life of me and nor can I find it online but they did give us these home-grown figs for free at the end of our meal, and they were gorgeous so I wanted to mention them.

 

For lunch, I'd recommend:

King's Café at Paphos Harbour. You may well get a seat right by the water which is always nice, and you can see the castle from there. Try the Village Feta Salad.

 

Also, if you stay at the Avanti Village like we did, then I'd recommend:

The Avanti Village Taverna on the Avanti Village Complex - try the Halloumi and Lountza Pitta (it's the best halloumi I had all week!)

 

For evening meals, I'd recommend going to:

Bacchus Restaurant at Paphos Harbour. It has a lovely atmosphere and  great food. Try the Fresh Sea Bass, and the Banana Split.

Viva Cyprus. We were given a box to take the things we couldn't finish in, which was really helpful. Try the Mezze, which is huge, in particular the Moussaka and Stuffed Vine Leaves.

Theo's Restaurant at Paphos Harbour. The view of the sea is great, the staff are friendly and the fish is amazing - try the Fresh Swordfish, and the Banofee Pie.

Don Luigi's Trattoria Pizzeria (shown above). The staff are really friendly and have great banter and they serve delightful Italian food. Try the Pizza Pollo, the Pizza Con-Tutto, the Raspberry Cheesecake and the Tiramisu.

Fiesta Bar and Grill. They serve nice food and if you're staying at the Avanti Village then its super easy to go to. Try the Stifado.

 

 

My golden rules for eating in Paphos are to eat as much Greek/Cypriot Cheese as possible, eat as much fresh fish as possible, try a range of traditional Greek/Cypriot dishes, if there are fresh figs available then get them (as with watermelon and oranges), and finally get your hands on some delicious ice cream.

 

The ice cream above was bought at a shop on Paphos Harbour which I can't remember the name of but the flavours are pistachio and rose. ROSE ICE CREAM! So yeah, just keep your eye out for those flavours along the harbour and get some ice cream.

 

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed reading and finding out a little bit more about my holiday.

What kind of restaurants do you like to eat in on holiday? Have you been to Cyprus? Are you as amazed by rose ice cream as I am? Do you have any comments or suggestions for future posts? Drop me a line in the comments.

Speak to you all soon.

 

I hope your day is filled with loveliness!

 

 GingerSnaps xxx

Food Glorious Food! - Recipes - Three Festive Treat Recipes.

Hi!!!

Welcome to the fifth "A Dash Of Ginger Festive Five" post! It's Christmas Eve, you guys!!! I'm so excited for Christmas tomorrow. I'm my family's resident baker and I'm often in the kitchen at Christmas so I thought that I'd share some festive recipes with you for you to try out over the festive period. Since Christmas is a time for overindulgence when it comes to food, I thought that some cupcake recipes and a festive drink recipe would be the perfect fit. So, without further ado, here is my first ever recipe post!

Gingerbread Cupcakes (makes 12) Ingredients List.

• 125g butter
• 100g sugar
• 2 medium sized free range eggs
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla essence
• 125g self raising flour
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons black treacle

12 Gingerbread Cupcakes (makes 12) Method.

• Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius and put paper cases in a 12 hole muffin tray.
• Cream the butter and sugar together.
• Beat in the eggs one at a time.
• Add the vanilla essence.
• Fold in the flour, the ginger, the cinnamon, the nutmeg and the treacle.
• Put the mixture into the paper cases and cook for 20 minutes.
• Leave to cool.
• Enjoy!

Orange and Cherry Christmas Morning Muffins (makes 12) Ingredients List.

• 125g butter
• 100g sugar
• 2 medium sized free range eggs
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla essence
• 125g self raising flour
• The zest of 1 orange
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• A tub of glace cherries

Orange and Cherry Christmas Morning Muffins (makes 12) Method.
 
• Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius and put paper cases in a 12 hole muffin tray.
• Cream the butter and the sugar together.
• Beat in the eggs one at a time.
• Add the vanilla essence.
• Fold in the flour.
• Fold in the orange zest and the cinnamon.
• Put the mixture in the paper cases.
• Put two or three glace cherries on the top of each muffin and sprinkle an extra bit of sugar over the top.
• Bake for 25 minutes.
• Leave to cool.
• Enjoy!

White Chocolate and Peppermint Hot Chocolate (serves two) Ingredients List.

• 2 cups of milk
• 12 squares of white chocolate
•  2 peppermint candy canes
• Whipped cream/squirty cream (optional)
• 2 handfuls of mini marshmallows (optional)

White Chocolate and Peppermint Hot Chocolate (serves two) Method.

• Pour the milk into a small saucepan and warm over a low heat.
• Add the broken squares of chocolate in small amounts and stir until melted. Repeat until all the chocolate has been used up.
• Continue to heat the mixture until the milk/chocolate mix is hot.
• Pour the milk/chocolate mix into two mugs.
• If you are using the cream/marshmallows toppings, add those on top before hanging a candy cane over the side of each mug so that it sits in the hot chocolate.
• If you aren't using the toppings, simply hang the candy cane over the side.

I hope that you've enjoyed this post with the very first recipes post on this blog.

Are you going to try out any of these recipes? Which one do you most like the sound of? Would you like to see more posts like this? Do you have any comments or suggestions for future posts? Let me know in the comments.

I hope you're all having a magical Christmas Eve! Thanks for reading.

 

Have an exceedingly good day!

GingerSnaps xxx





Food Glorious Food! - Restaurant Review - Viva, Leeds.

Hi!!!

Woah there, another restaurant review? What on earth is happening?

This one is another one from my trip to Leeds, which was the first weekend in December. This was actually on the same day as when we went to The Botanist (post HERE). We went in the evening, and it was great to go out and eat some good food. As far as a lot of people are concerned, Viva is the best. Its on Bridge End, and that's as central as you can really get.

 

Looks and Appearance.

 

 

I didn't actually get that many pictures inside the restaurant. We were too busy chatting and eating, and the restaurant was fairly busy with people who had made reservations so I didn't want to be taking pictures with unsuspecting people's faces in them - especially not when they were eating. The interior was unique and inviting with a personal feel. There was also a very, as stupid as it sounds, Italian feel to it. It was a very homely place in general, and the minute you walk through the door it feels like walking into a friend's house or a family member's house, it has such an atmosphere.

There are loads of paintings and pictures everywhere, and every table has roses in a glass vase.

The little touches are what make this restaurant special.

 

The Food.

We began with a flatbread type thing - I'm really sorry that I don't know specifically what it was, but it was just brought out to us, we didn't order it. Despite my illiteracy there, whatever it was, it was really tasty and very light. It had a very Mediterranean flavouring, and I'm glad we had it.

 

I ordered Spaghetti alla Carbonara. Carbonara is one of my favourite dishes of all time. This was a really good Carbonara. It had lovely flavours and textures, and it wasn't too rich or sickly as some Carbonara's can be. It was comfort food made at an excellent quality. I highly recommend you try this if you go.

 

 

 

We ordered dessert to share between us all, however I will admit I was the one who ate the most of them.

We selected the Homemade Tiramisu, and it was beautiful. It was well presented and the textures and flavours were great.

As if we hadn't eaten enough, we also ordered a Homemade Crème Brulee. It was a perfect texture - not sloppy, just right. The flavouring was great and it was rich yet light.

 

When we paid the bill, they gave us all Dark Chocolate Truffles, which was a nice touch.

The Final Summary.

Visiting Viva was great, and I would happily go back there for dinner. There was a welcoming atmosphere, and the service was great with dishes altered to suit us, and all dishes made fresh. The staff made us feel like family and were very helpful.

The Final Words.

Viva have a website (HERE).

I hope that this post was enjoyable for you. Have you been to Viva? Would you like to go? If you have any restaurant recommendations for me, let me know. Also, if you have any ideas for upcoming posts, then tell me.

I hope that you have a nice day!

GingerSnaps xxx

Food Glorious Food! - Restaurant Review - The Botanist, Leeds.

Hi!!!

I haven't done a resturant review in absolute donkeys. I do, however, love food, and eating out so I think a review is in order.

The first weekend in December, my Mom, my Nan, and me went to Leeds. We stayed with my Auntie, and had a brilliant time. On the Saturday, we went out shopping and the like and obviously had to stop for lunch. My Auntie recommended The Botanist, which is physically underneath the Trinity Centre.

 

 

Looks and Appearance.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm sure you can understand what I mean about it being underneath the Trinity Centre from the last photo in this section. It's down a little set of steps. There is outdoor seating, and there are some rather efficient heaters out there, so you should be OK. We however went inside.

The interior of The Botanist is something else, it really is, or at least I think so. It is very inviting and welcoming. It has a rustic, indie kind of charm, which really appeals to me, and there are some really innovative uses of space and unique decorative features, like a chandelier made from different glasses, cups, ect. That chandelier happens to be the one thing I didn't get a picture of. There were also lots of random little features, which made everything feel as though it was collected over time by someone, and they had no idea where to put it, so put it wherever they thought it looked good.

 

The Food.

 

 

 

We'd been out and about all day and had meal plans for the evening so decided that it would be best to just have some "nibble-y" type foods. We noticed the Deli Boards, and decided to give them a go. The idea is that you choose four things from any parts of the list to make up your board.

 

 

My Mom and I chose to share a board. We selected some Parma Ham, which was really tasty and had little to no fat on it. We had some Lancashire Cheese, which had strong flavouring and a great texture. The Roast Chicken was chicken, really, although it was very nice and complemented the rest of the platter dishes. The Home-dried Tomatoes were rich and luxurious but not oily or greasy as some dried tomatoes can be.

 

We also ordered some Properly Seasoned Chips - that is what they are actually called, its not just me commenting early. They were actually very nicely seasoned, so I didn't have to do anything.

 

The Final Summary.

 

I really enjoyed visiting The Botanist, and would happily return. It was a very relaxed atmosphere. The staff were helpful and friendly, and I enjoyed the food. I'd advise you to check it out, if you are ever in Leeds.

 

The Final Words.

 

The Botanist have a website (HERE).

 

 

So, that's all for today then folks. I hope you enjoyed the review, I know I haven't done one like this in a really long time, but I do have a bunch lined up, so fear not dear Foodies. Have you been to The Botanist? Are you interested in going? Let me know your thoughts.

 

Have a really good day!

 

GingerSnaps xxx

 



 

 

 



Food Glorious Food! - Restaurant Review - Havana, Leamington Spa.

Hi!!!

Before I begin this post, I'd like to just have a chat with you. When I logged on today, I noticed how many people had viewed this blog in just this week... 97!!! It's a pretty big number! Thank you so, so, so, much for reading my blog!

Anyway - back to business.

A few weeks ago now (before I started blogging), I went to a restaurant called "Havana". It's in Leamington Spa in the West Midlands. Those of you who have read my "Getting to Know You... 25 Facts About Me" post will know it's one of my favourite restaurants. It offers a range of the most beautiful Cuban food. There's some photography in this post - woah there!!! - and so I'll talk more as we go...

 

 

 

 

 

I love the décor of Havana. As you can see from the above photos, it's very relaxed. The exposed bricks add a really rustic charm and the muted browns and greens contribute to the Cuban theme.

It genuinely does feel like you *have* stepped into a little bistro in Cuba with the sun spilling in from the windows and not like your on the high street of Leamington Spa about 5 minutes walk from the Shopping Centre.

 

We went on a boiling hot day but inside it was cool and a welcome retreat.

 

 

 

 

I started the meal with a Homemade Elderflower Presse. I love Elderflower but some Elderflower  drinks can be quite dry and taste very flat. However this was absolutely amazing! It tasted beautiful and the flavour was just strong enough to be noticeable without being overbearing. Very refreshing.

 

I was out and about with my parents that day and that is why there are three dishes - I'm not that greedy...

 

My Mom had the Chorizo and Crayfish Salad with Croutons and Tobaccos Dressing (the dish on the left). She loved it. Now, my family and friends are of a "Let me share or I'll pinch it anyway" culture when it comes to food and so I got to try some as did my Dad. It was fantastic! The flavours really complemented each other and it was nice and light but, as my Mom told me, still rather filling. Big thumbs up for that salad.

 

My lovely Dad had the Meat Board (the dish on the right). Again, I did give this a bit of a try too. I thought it was great. Sometimes, you don't want a big lunch and so the boards are a wise choice. There's a wide variety of boards but the Meat Board is well worth checking out. It features Serrano Ham, Chorizo, Salami, Mixed Olives, Bread and Pickles. This is basically my dream on a wooden board. Very moreish.

 

 

 

I had a Crepes with Lemon and Sugar. I wasn't massively hungry (I'm never particularly hungry when it's hot outside), but they were just right to fill me up. Crepes can be a bit stodgy sometimes which I hate but these were very light. They were possibly the best Crepes I've ever had and they were perfect. Yum.

 

After spending the afternoon walking round Leamington, we went *back* to Havana for more.

 

I had a Lemon and Seed Muffin and more Elderflower Presse. It was AMAZING. It was beautifully baked and was delicious. The best part though was the surprise core of a lemon-y substance (possibly Lemon Curd?) which was not only a surprise but very enjoyable too.

 

 

 

 

 

My Mom had some form of Coffee (it might have been a Cappuccino). With it she had a slice of Coffee and Walnut Cake (again I seagulled some  tried some). It was a great bit of cake. It was wonderfully flavoured and was not dry at all. Beautiful.

 

My Dad had the Chorizo and Crayfish Salad that you saw earlier. I'll show you again because the previous picture wasn't great.  He also had some fabulous apple juice very refreshing.

 

 

 

So, all in all, I adore Havana. They are an amazing restaurant with the most friendly staff ever. They have seating outside and inside - both very comfortable.  It now holds a place in my Top Five Places To Eat because of its absolutely stunning food and it's relaxed atmosphere.

Seriously guys, go and check it out. You won't be disappointed. I promise.

 

Havana have a WEBSITE. Just click on the link and have a butchers.

 

Feel free to leave a comment down below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Are you interested in going to Havana? Have you been?

 

That's all for now then, have a lovely day.

 

 

GingerSnaps xxx