Woke up this morning wanting very much to spend the last day of 2013 at Cafe Kino on Stokes Croft in Bristol. So that is where we made our way, currently enjoying sweet potato chips and falafel, and a relatively sunny view out over the Boycott Tesco mural. Also, listening to Big Fox. Back to Notts tomorrow, and into the New Year.
Tuesday, 31 December 2013
Ins Kino gehen
Woke up this morning wanting very much to spend the last day of 2013 at Cafe Kino on Stokes Croft in Bristol. So that is where we made our way, currently enjoying sweet potato chips and falafel, and a relatively sunny view out over the Boycott Tesco mural. Also, listening to Big Fox. Back to Notts tomorrow, and into the New Year.
Monday, 30 December 2013
The Weimar Republic Coffee Awards 2013
I sort of love the idea that the (actual) Weimar Republic might have had Coffee Awards, but I sort of also suspect they probably didn't. Which is a shame, but they were probably busy being more concerned about other things.
But let us not stop more important things getting in the way of this, the inaugural Weimar Republic Coffee Awards 2013. I have spent the past year conducting a completely unfair, unbalanced and not in any way thorough survey of the coffee available throughout our fine nation. And now the results are in.
To test coffee appropriately, my rules state you should order a flat white and an espresso. This will give you the best picture of both the quality and flavour of the coffee itself, how it works in a more complex (slightly) beverage, with milk, and also the coffee making skills of the establishment in question.
In practice, drinking a flat white and an espresso everywhere you go isn't practicable, particularly if you want to test more than one establishment's coffee in the same day and don't enjoy caffeine hallucinations. But still, I tried my best. Here are my favourites:
Flat White, Berwick Street, Soho, London
Possibly one of the first British cafes to bring the flat white to the UK? And how glad I was of this. When I first left the UK for Australia in 2008, I had never heard of the flat white. I was very much a tea drinker. And then I discovered the joyful flat white. Why couldn't English people make coffee like this? Why did we put up with those milky, bathtub sized travesties, with several inches of flavourless froth sat on top? When I came home, in 2011, I was overjoyed to see flat whites in English coffee shops. So, thank you, Flat White in Soho, and your fine flat whites.
The Bean, Stoney Street, Beeston, Nottinghamshire
My local. And fortunately so. We buy all our own coffee beans here and they grind them for us too! And they do a grand flat white.
Wired, Pelham Street, Nottingham
A new one in Nottingham. Excellent, and good food too.
Hot Numbers, Gwydir Street, Cambridge
Very fine coffee. These people are into coffee so much that I just felt like a person with a hot drink in comparison. I sampled two different espressos and several flat whites (on separate visits I must point out!).
Boston Tea Party, Park Street/Cheltenham Road/Gloucester Road, Bristol
There's a few of these around Bristol and the west, but those 3 are my favourites. Glorious rich, creamy flat whites. This one was made in the newest Gloucester Road branch, which I'm a bit in love with at the moment because it has opened up less than 5 minutes walk from my parents' house. Thanks, Boston Tea!
Well, the above are all fine contenders in the Coffee of the Year stakes. But none of them have won this coveted prize. "Who has won?" I hear you shout. Well let me tell you that the winner is *drumroll*........
..... Society Cafe, Kingsmead Square, Bath
One of the greatest espressos I have tasted, possible ever. And a fine flat white, and a wonderful establishment filled with lovely furniture and books and magazines. I wrote on the chalkboard in their toilets, to thank them. I'll thank them again. Thank you, Society Cafe. And well done!
But let us not stop more important things getting in the way of this, the inaugural Weimar Republic Coffee Awards 2013. I have spent the past year conducting a completely unfair, unbalanced and not in any way thorough survey of the coffee available throughout our fine nation. And now the results are in.
To test coffee appropriately, my rules state you should order a flat white and an espresso. This will give you the best picture of both the quality and flavour of the coffee itself, how it works in a more complex (slightly) beverage, with milk, and also the coffee making skills of the establishment in question.
In practice, drinking a flat white and an espresso everywhere you go isn't practicable, particularly if you want to test more than one establishment's coffee in the same day and don't enjoy caffeine hallucinations. But still, I tried my best. Here are my favourites:
Flat White, Berwick Street, Soho, London
Possibly one of the first British cafes to bring the flat white to the UK? And how glad I was of this. When I first left the UK for Australia in 2008, I had never heard of the flat white. I was very much a tea drinker. And then I discovered the joyful flat white. Why couldn't English people make coffee like this? Why did we put up with those milky, bathtub sized travesties, with several inches of flavourless froth sat on top? When I came home, in 2011, I was overjoyed to see flat whites in English coffee shops. So, thank you, Flat White in Soho, and your fine flat whites.
The Bean, Stoney Street, Beeston, Nottinghamshire
My local. And fortunately so. We buy all our own coffee beans here and they grind them for us too! And they do a grand flat white.
Wired, Pelham Street, Nottingham
A new one in Nottingham. Excellent, and good food too.
Hot Numbers, Gwydir Street, Cambridge
Very fine coffee. These people are into coffee so much that I just felt like a person with a hot drink in comparison. I sampled two different espressos and several flat whites (on separate visits I must point out!).
Boston Tea Party, Park Street/Cheltenham Road/Gloucester Road, Bristol
There's a few of these around Bristol and the west, but those 3 are my favourites. Glorious rich, creamy flat whites. This one was made in the newest Gloucester Road branch, which I'm a bit in love with at the moment because it has opened up less than 5 minutes walk from my parents' house. Thanks, Boston Tea!
Well, the above are all fine contenders in the Coffee of the Year stakes. But none of them have won this coveted prize. "Who has won?" I hear you shout. Well let me tell you that the winner is *drumroll*........
..... Society Cafe, Kingsmead Square, Bath
One of the greatest espressos I have tasted, possible ever. And a fine flat white, and a wonderful establishment filled with lovely furniture and books and magazines. I wrote on the chalkboard in their toilets, to thank them. I'll thank them again. Thank you, Society Cafe. And well done!
Monday, 2 December 2013
Christmas is coming...
The tree is up! To make up for last year, when we left it so late we ended up tree-less, we were ready this year on December the first! The Pretty Dandy flea market also happened the same weekend, so we went along and stocked up on all the lovely handmade decorations, including the ceramic 'love' heart and the little fabric Christmas tree you can see in the picture.
I'm enjoying the soothing glow of the lights right now after a pretty crazy day at work. All our IT systems went down just as I was frantically trying to meet a deadline, so that was a bit of a pain; all has been sorted now though and I feel back on track. To top it all off, the heating at the office was also suffering an engineering fault, meaning that when I arrived this morning the thermometers were showing 13.8 degrees! We all sat there painfully cold, bundled up in whatever we could find until the engineers came to sort it and it slowly returned to comfortable conditions this afternoon.
After all that, I wanted comfort food for dinner, so I turned to one of my favourites: smoked haddock topped with grated cheddar and breadcrumbs, with creamy garlic mash (and for ultimate joy I used 3 cloves!). Creamy, smokey, heartwarming joy on a plate.
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
Catching up
Wow, the last time I posted anything in this place there was snow on the ground. Well things couldn't be more different now and the weather is warm and sunny. I love this time of year, when the days are long long long, and early nights mean you rarely see the sky darken completely. I am so energised by the summer.
I am climbing/bouldering 2 or 3 times a week, and really working hard at yoga over the past few months too. I am enjoying learning to better control body and mind. It seems to help me maintain a general sense of positivity. If I can break through the anxiety that sometimes envelopes me, I am an optimistic little sausage at heart, a sunny pie! I am exploring meditation techniques lately too, and am getting the hang of controlling my thoughts a little better. Allllllll good.
We had a little jaunt to Hunstanton on the north Norfolk coast last month, blessed with lovely weather by the fates. Sand and sun, maybe some sea although it was quite far away most of the time. We also visited the Queen at Sandringham, which is a lovely lovely house.
I am climbing/bouldering 2 or 3 times a week, and really working hard at yoga over the past few months too. I am enjoying learning to better control body and mind. It seems to help me maintain a general sense of positivity. If I can break through the anxiety that sometimes envelopes me, I am an optimistic little sausage at heart, a sunny pie! I am exploring meditation techniques lately too, and am getting the hang of controlling my thoughts a little better. Allllllll good.
We had a little jaunt to Hunstanton on the north Norfolk coast last month, blessed with lovely weather by the fates. Sand and sun, maybe some sea although it was quite far away most of the time. We also visited the Queen at Sandringham, which is a lovely lovely house.
Sunday, 24 March 2013
Springtime...snow
Well I can honestly say I wasn't expecting this:
That was the view on the University of Nottingham campus earlier this afternoon. We are under quite an unexpected amount of snow at the moment! Strange to think that this time last year, I was sitting in the garden in 25 degrees on my week off, with the magnolia in full blossom, drinking dandelion and burdock tea and watching the bees start to come out. I really hope the weather gets a bit nicer for next week and the Easter long weekend, as we are hoping to take a trip to Bristol. Then in two weeks time we are off to Paris!
Anyway, we did have two nice snowdays this weekend. I managed to persuade Mark to drive me to the library on Saturday afternoon (yes I know it's only round the corner but the pavement was iiiccceey!), I needed to return The Blue Flower and I managed to get my hands on two books I have been after for ages! Underground Time by Delphine de Vigan and Monkey Grip by Helen Garner.
I was actually planning to buy Underground Time (or rather, Les Heures souterraines) while we are in Paris but once I saw it I thought, nah, I'll read it now! I'll get another of her books in Paris.
Saturday evening was time to try out a new tart recipe, which was SO GOOD.
Lay puff pastry into the tart tin and crumble in some big chunks of stilton. Cover with some chopped walnuts. Layer with thinly sliced pear and bake the tarts for 30 minutes or thereabouts, on 180 degrees or thereabouts. The added bonus of this recipe is that the making process involves one of the GREATEST SINGLE PLEASURES OF HUMAN EXISTANCE: crumbling blue cheese with your hands and then licking your fingers. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
That was the view on the University of Nottingham campus earlier this afternoon. We are under quite an unexpected amount of snow at the moment! Strange to think that this time last year, I was sitting in the garden in 25 degrees on my week off, with the magnolia in full blossom, drinking dandelion and burdock tea and watching the bees start to come out. I really hope the weather gets a bit nicer for next week and the Easter long weekend, as we are hoping to take a trip to Bristol. Then in two weeks time we are off to Paris!
Anyway, we did have two nice snowdays this weekend. I managed to persuade Mark to drive me to the library on Saturday afternoon (yes I know it's only round the corner but the pavement was iiiccceey!), I needed to return The Blue Flower and I managed to get my hands on two books I have been after for ages! Underground Time by Delphine de Vigan and Monkey Grip by Helen Garner.
I was actually planning to buy Underground Time (or rather, Les Heures souterraines) while we are in Paris but once I saw it I thought, nah, I'll read it now! I'll get another of her books in Paris.
Saturday evening was time to try out a new tart recipe, which was SO GOOD.
Lay puff pastry into the tart tin and crumble in some big chunks of stilton. Cover with some chopped walnuts. Layer with thinly sliced pear and bake the tarts for 30 minutes or thereabouts, on 180 degrees or thereabouts. The added bonus of this recipe is that the making process involves one of the GREATEST SINGLE PLEASURES OF HUMAN EXISTANCE: crumbling blue cheese with your hands and then licking your fingers. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Sunday, 17 March 2013
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
The Blue Flower by Penelope FitzgeraldMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I found this by chance, while randomly searching through books in my local library, and was excited to see it was a historical fiction about 18th Century German romantic poet and philosopher Novalis (Georg Phillip Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg to his parents). Really, who doesn't love Novalis?
The novel is primarily concerned with Novalis/Hardenberg's relationship with Sophie von Kühn, whom he met when he was 22 and with whom he fell obsessively in love.
Sophie was 12. Awkward.
Fitzgerald tells the story through a series of short, snap-shot-like chapters in roughly chronological order. It begins with Hardenberg as a student, visiting his family for the summer, and ends in the midst of Sophie's illness, from which she would ultimately die a few months later, aged 15. The novel flows wonderfully and the prose is almost rich in its poise and simplicity.
I guess my enjoyment of the novel was enhanced by my interest in the real life story and historical figures. Fitzgerald does not pass judgment on the appropriateness (or otherwise) of Hardenberg's relationship with Sophie, but rather explores the influence it had on his life, beliefs and writing. I can understand why some may therefore be disappointed by the lack of drama in the novel, but even still, I can't see how this delicate retelling of a real life story of doomed love would fail to inspire at least some emotion.
This is also the first time I have read Penelope Fitzgerald and I will certainly look out for her other work now.
---
Coincidentally, if you have a Kindle, Novalis's unfinished novel Heinrich von Ofterdingen (containing the symbolic Blue Flower) is available as a free ebook in both German and English translation!
View all my reviews
Thursday, 17 January 2013
A super-speedy sort-of pizza
An ABSURDLY busy week at work this week, but on the whole not a bad one. I can't wait for the weekend to relax and breathe though. Only one day left.
When I'm busy and late home from work, dinner is usually just whatever can be thrown together in the quickest time. So thank the powers of food-production for that ready-rolled puff pastry you can buy in the supermarket. I love to just chuck stuff on it, shove it in the oven, and devour the resulting feast.
Just shove it on a tray and score round with a knife about in inch in from the edge. Brush some milk over it and bake for 15 mins or so, so it puffs a bit. While this is happening, chop up whatever you want on top. Get the pastry out and squash down the middle (within the lines you have scored) with a fork. Chuck toppings on. Bake again for 20-30 mins (depending on what you've put on top, some things need a bit longer). Favourite toppings include courgette, tomatoes, aubergines, peppers, feta cheese, halloumi, spinach, mushrooms...pretty much anything goes!
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
Winnie ille Pu
One of my favourite surprises I got for Christmas was this copy of Winnie the Pooh in Latin, from Mark's mum.
My 2 years of secondary school latin have not really equipped me to understand very much of it, but I can't stop reading it for its endless joyfulness! The joy of Winnie the Pooh is enhanced by the Latin language, I'm sure. Such as in this scene, where Piglet (Porcellus) dreams of the Heffalump (Heffalumpus...of course):
Some parts, however, do not need translating...
My 2 years of secondary school latin have not really equipped me to understand very much of it, but I can't stop reading it for its endless joyfulness! The joy of Winnie the Pooh is enhanced by the Latin language, I'm sure. Such as in this scene, where Piglet (Porcellus) dreams of the Heffalump (Heffalumpus...of course):
Some parts, however, do not need translating...
Monday, 7 January 2013
A little brown stew and some healthy living
Happy New Year!
It seems ages ago now, but New Year's Eve passed in a cheerful and relaxing way in our house. We cooked up a lovely stew from mushroom and pearl barley (thanks to Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries vol.2!), eaten with a little crusty roll I baked in a hurry (and therefore wasn't perfect, but hey!), and a bottle of the perennial favourite wine of our household, Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
I baked a quick apple cake, which went from nought to oven in less than 15 minutes thanks to the wonders of the Magimix, and Mark delved into the Nigellissima book and came out with 'Tiramisini' - a sort of rudimentary tiramisu and utterly delicious.
We watched On Her Majesty's Secret Service and then Jools Holland, and danced along to perennial favourite band of our household, Dexy's Midnight Runners.
------
Back at work, I was scoffing my leftover mushroom stew with some colleagues, who had salads from our little office cafe. One commented that it had been some time since she had seen a salad and I had to agree. And all of a sudden I was craving fresh, simple food.
I came home that night and tossed quinoa, spinach, beetroot and grated carrot in a bowl with a bit of lemon juice, honey, olive oil and grated manchego. We ate it with great big tuna steaks, just slightly seared so they were deep red and rich in the middle. A healthier start to 2013.
It seems ages ago now, but New Year's Eve passed in a cheerful and relaxing way in our house. We cooked up a lovely stew from mushroom and pearl barley (thanks to Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries vol.2!), eaten with a little crusty roll I baked in a hurry (and therefore wasn't perfect, but hey!), and a bottle of the perennial favourite wine of our household, Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
I baked a quick apple cake, which went from nought to oven in less than 15 minutes thanks to the wonders of the Magimix, and Mark delved into the Nigellissima book and came out with 'Tiramisini' - a sort of rudimentary tiramisu and utterly delicious.
We watched On Her Majesty's Secret Service and then Jools Holland, and danced along to perennial favourite band of our household, Dexy's Midnight Runners.
------
Back at work, I was scoffing my leftover mushroom stew with some colleagues, who had salads from our little office cafe. One commented that it had been some time since she had seen a salad and I had to agree. And all of a sudden I was craving fresh, simple food.
I came home that night and tossed quinoa, spinach, beetroot and grated carrot in a bowl with a bit of lemon juice, honey, olive oil and grated manchego. We ate it with great big tuna steaks, just slightly seared so they were deep red and rich in the middle. A healthier start to 2013.
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