Newport Food Festival

Saturday was the 5th annual Newport Food Festival, and by far the best the city has held, in my humble opinion. It's been a long time since I've seen it so busy, and hopefully a taste of things to come with the new developments opening in the coming months.

As per usual, Mr P and I headed in at lunchtime, sans breakfast and on the prowl for some great food. We were not disappointed! Last years festival was overrun by chutney stalls and not enough fresh cooking, whereas there was an abundance of choice this time around.

Trying to do the rounds first, the smell of the hotdogs coming from the Parc Pantry were just too good to resist, so we joined the queue. Deciding to share a 'Festival Dog' would turn out to be one of the best decisions of the day.

Usually I'm not a big hot dog fan, I cannot stand the pointless dry processed rolls that fall apart and the plastic 5% meat sausages that inevitably come with it. This was a complete game changer!

A 10" 'proper' sausage (with a crispy skin to boot) nestled in a pillowy soft seeded roll. Topped with Pastamore roasted pepper sauce, chunks of Caws Cenarth sundried tomato and chilli cheddar, with a generous helping of crunchy onions. This hot dog hit all the right spots, combining tastes and differing textures! I loved the fact that all the toppings are well publicised that they are local suppliers, especially as both of the above were also exhibiting at the festival.

All washed down with a 'Gingerella', which yes, I bought just for the name.

Satiated for a little while, we carried on for a wander up and down the stalls, picking up some really lovely treats along the way.

Macarons and flapjacks from Clams Cupcakes...

A couple of bottles from my favourite local brewery, Tiny Rebel...

And some vegetarian delights from The Parsnipship. Yeah, that's right, vegetarian. The Glamorgan Crumble was snaffled up so quickly by my devoted carnivore husband that I had to hide mine from him. I'll be looking out for these guys in the future, that's for sure.

We took a break from the shopping and ventured into the indoor market just in time to watch Simon Crockford from the Celtic Manor show just why he's head chef across the hotel's six restaurants. With a total coolness that wouldn't be out of place on Ready Steady Cook, he knocked up a pork sharing platter, including an incredible ham hock pie, loin, chop and accompaniments in about half an hour. Without breaking a sweat. Great to watch, and I'm looking forward to trying out the recipes for myself with the recipe cards that were handed out.

By this time, we were definitely ready to eat again, and I was more than happy to see that my favourite souvlaki crew, Meat & Greek were grilling up a storm.

I know I've gone on about these guys all summer, but the souvlaki pittas really are the bomb. Especially when you go all out, extra halloumi is a necessity. Tzatziki and houmous too... I promise you there's some pork under there!

We had a great few hours out, and picked up some wonderful drinks and nibbles of which I'm looking forward to finishing off! Well done Newport Food Fest, I'm looking forward to the next one!

Cheers!

 

Portobello Market

I'd planned our weekend with meticulous precision, and thought I'd organised everything. That was until the wonderful receptionist (with a wonderful name) Sara mentioned how close we were to Notting Hill, and the famous Portobello Market.

We dropped our plans for a day wandering the shopping centres, and headed on over to W11 early on Saturday morning.

Following signposts and groups of tourists until we started to spot the well known candy coloured houses and the markets started to materialise.

The first few streets of the market are full of antique shops and stalls, selling everything from old world maps, to war memorabilla. Fantastic hats and glittering jewelery at every step, and a smattering of creepy street performers.

I love looking at old, musty original books! There were some beauties to be had here.

We weaved our way in and out of the stalls, but not being able to get a very good look due to the crowds, we headed on down to the main event, food!

The stalls seemed to go on forever, and I don't think we ever did quite make it to the end. They run both sides of a street, that seems to run and flow into other streets like a river, make one long thin market gauntlet!

We discovered the stall above, upon which Mr P insisted that he had to try a 'smore crodough' - the baby of a doughnut and a croissant, apparently.

It was pretty good, I will admit. Flaky croissant pastry, but deep fried to give it that doughnut sturdiness, and of course, lashings of sugar.

However my tastes are a lot more...custardy!

The iddy biddy pastel de nata was a little mouthful of delight! A creamy cold egg tart with just the right amount of sweetness for an elevensy!

We countered this naughtiness with some fruit though, just to be on the safe side...

On and on we plodded, taking in more of the sights and sights of the busy market. It's unbelievably busy on a Saturday morning, but it's definitely worth persevering, and going as early as you can helps.

After a while, our feet got weary and it felt like we'd seen all there was to see, so we headed on into central London to do the typical touristy thing of Oxford Street and Covent Garden.

Not without picking up some lunch first, however. It took me a while strutting up and down to decide what I wanted, but the hot chorizo salad was a definite winner. Look at all that lovely orange oil!

If you're in London on a long weekend, then this one is definitely worth breaking the itinerary for!

November Recap

It feels like just yesterday that I was taking down the Halloween decorations, and now the Christmas tree has just gone up!

Plenty of baking occurred in November in the form of birthday cupcakes for my brother-in-law's 30th birthday party. Ferrero Rocher cupcakes with a dark chocolate ganache, and Guinness gingerbread cupcakes with a Baileys mascarpone topping. Pretty grown up cupcakes for me, although I haven't retired the edible glitter just yet.

Lots of walks in the morning sunshine to burn off the calories were then obviously needed. I spent a lovely weekend with my mum and brother down the caravan in Fontygary. Unfortunately the clouds weren't playing ball with my camera, but the sea air was all that I needed anyway.

Cold nights and blustery days mean only one thing. Comfort food! The first thing I run to when the nights draw in is a good old carb-tastic cheese and potato pie.

Washed down with my new favourite find, Tesco's Finest Salted Caramel Irish liqueur!

Like any good Welsh girl, I also managed to make it to two of Wales's Autumn International rugby games! Very excited that I got to see Wales v New Zealand, and witness the Haka, even if the result didn't quite go our way. Lunch at the Jazz Club, Cardiff was fantastic beforehand too. Brilliant pre-match atmosphere and a good selection of beers on tap, what more do you need on a match day?

Poached egg starter, on a chunky slice of black pudding, tomato and a drizzle of hollandaise was beautiful. I could have eaten this forever, and in fact I was enjoying my food so much I completely forgot to take any more food photos. Bad blogger.

Mr P and I also got tickets to the final game of the series, South Africa. Which we won, 12-6! We had an awesome day full of beer, bratwursts and Boks! Especially South African Santa!

After all that excitement I'm looking forward to chilling out over the Christmas period. In between the shopping, wrapping, partying, decorating...

Cappuccino Cupcakes

I'm finally attempting my first recipe post! I'm currently raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support, for which I'm doing a zipwire challenge in September, and inspired by the Great British Bake Off, I decided the best way to raise some funds is to ply the public with sugar.

I'm not a very big baker by any means. I generally lack the patience. I love everyday savoury cooking but every now and then I do like to indulge in an afternoon of cupcake baking! Who doesn't love a cupcake?

To make 12 cupcakes you'll need:

110g self raising flour

110g margarine

110g caster sugar

1 tsp baking powder

2 large free range eggs (I demand free range eggs. Happy hens = better cakes)

For the icing:

425g icing sugar

200g unsalted softened butter

4 teaspoons of instant coffee, dissolved in as little amount of boiling water as possible

A grating of dark or white chocolate

First things first, whack your oven up to 160c and line your cupcake tin ready with the funkiest cases you can find.

Then chuck all the cake ingredients in a bowl, mixer or food processor. Having first started in my tiny flat kitchen making cupcakes, I seem to always get my best results with a wooden spoon and a big ol' bowl. Either way, it gives my arms a good work out! Keep at it until it's nice, fluffy and really well mixed.

Divide the batter evenly between the cases, and bake for about 15-20 minutes. They need to be nicely golden brown on the top, and spring back at you when you give them a poke. Let them cool a bit while you have a cup of tea.

When the cakes are ready for you, it's time for the fun bit. Beat all the icing sugar and butter together in a bowl or food processor to make the buttercream icing. Add in the coffee a teaspoonful at a time, until both the flavour and the consistency are correct.

Then it's up to you to decorate your cakes how you want! I've gone for big swirls of piped coffee buttercream, topped with a dark chocolate disk and a sprinkling of white chocolate to give that cappuccino look! You can do this or pile on a smooth buttercream layer topped with dark chocolate. Let your creativity run with these!

If any of you lovely people wanted to check out my fundraising for Macmillan, then please visit www.justgiving.com/guilfoylesage.