On not mucking things up

I forgot my camera I'm afraid, but not sure that even pictures could convey just how unbelievably cheesy the food remains at the Beer Engine under its new ownership. I had a vegetable lasagne which had a layer of cheese (goat's cheese and cheddar I think) which would not have disgraced a cheese feast pizza. The dish was v tasty and super filling, with a simple salad on the side, just as was the case under the previous owners. The bread was a bit weird but other than that it was a tremendous relief to discover that the new owners have not tampered too much with what was a really winning formula of ultra-cheesy baked dishes and all round cosiness.

Still all about the yaki

What more can I say about okonmiyaki? I love it, and now have Suzy's recipe, for what is one of the greatest dishes of all time in my book, and certainly the cleverest use of white cabbage. And check out the breakfast bar in the new kitchen at SVR! And one other thing: some Japanese chilli is also a pretty cool addition to a cheese yaki.

Abu Zaad otro vez

A quick trip to Abu Zaad for a meal that was satisfactory in that it was nice and I was full of tasty things quite quickly, but less so for the fact that poor old b was feeling too ill to eat and was forced to watch me munch my way through many cheese sambousek, houmous, babha ghanous and tabbouleh. All of them were very good, esp the first mentioned, but those yummy lemon and mint juices were probably the real highlight again. Note to self: remember b's point that you can actually get mezze deals when you order three or so dishes, which works out much cheaper than ordering single plates. After the meal I went to see Water at the Hammersmith Lyric, which is a really good play about global warming, but not at all worthy and much more moving than one might imagine.

Under the weather food

I was feeling really drained and rubbish one night last week, so I decided some colourful comfort food was in order, centred on spinach and its powers of life-force enhancement. The dish in the photo consisted of a whole big bag of spinach, with yoghurt, olive oil, salt and pepper, and then some couscous with chilli, cheddar, tomatoes and chickpeas. Not one for the purists out there but it did the business in terms of making me feel better than I had when I started cooking. Much more spinach in my recipes this week I think, because, for some reason, I can feel something of an obsession coming on with Popeye's fuel: just add some Olive Oyl and all will be well (boom, boom!).

Sci-fi macro sushi shots

Suzy and the Moose very kindly brought sushi round to the Cross the other night. It came from the delectable selection available at the Japan Centre which is, to my taste, the best takeaway sushi I've had in London. I'm not quite sure what was in the first roll pictured and I must confess that I was at first slightly concerned that it might not be veggie, but I think it was and the mish-mash of colours is proof of the eclecticism you can find in Japanese sushi (the nicest thing about this variety was that it was full of something crunchy, which may have been toasted sesame seeds, but may have been something else entirely). The avocado makki is more explainable and no less yummy for its familiarity.

How do you make a parmesan crisp?

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You scatter grated parmesan in a disk on a frying pan (no oil), heat it up, start to worry a bit, turn the heat off, fail to notice to that you've actually turned the heat of the risotto off, ignore the extra work you are causing the risotto stirrer, and hey presto, after a few more minutes of cooking, and some cooling time, you have a parmesan crisp for the top of your risotto.

Hot Shots: Part Deux

Back to pudding shots inspired by eating out, and I think I've discovered a new one which is a fairly ridiculous and fun way to end a meal. I made my apple pie shots with cinammony yoghurt, but that seems quite staid next to a glass filled with, from the base, crunched up ginger biscuit, yoghurt with candied fruit, frozen lemonade, and then some watermelon Pop Rocks: zing, crinkle, crunkle, kapow, I like Pop Rocks and the specialist sweetie shop Cyber Candy, in Covent Garden, which supplied them.