The Great Pumpkin

So in celebration of All Hallows Eve (and a belated Canadian Thanksgiving), I made pumpkin pie with canned pumpkin freshly brought from Canada by my lovely visiting sister. Came out a little funny looking but was just the taste of home I needed... Oddly enough, no one eats pumpkin pie over here and were all very weirded out by the idea of it. Sad, I know.

Eggplant or Aubergine?

So I managed to find eggplant quite cheap at LIDL across the street and have been wanting to try making breaded eggplant since having it at my aunt's birthday dinner over the summer at an Italian restaurant in St. Catharines, Ontario, called Lina Linguinis. (They have amazing salad there too, incase you're ever in the area.)

Found this recipe (and yes, I know the picture on the website is much better than mine) but I thought I would give it a try. It turned out quite tasty.

Oo-De-Lally

For the last few days, my sister has been visiting me and I've had the opportunity to check out some of what good ol Nottingham has to offer. She arrived Tuesday afternoon and I walked down from school to meet her at the Broadmarsh bus station. We then schlepped her luggage (which I have to admit, was mostly filled with things I had requested..) up the hill, through the Lace Market area, to the bus stop, and headed back to my flat.

The weather was rubbish so we settled on staying in for the night and ordering take away. This was the first time I had ordered anything remotely dirty since arriving here. For the most part, I've been going to actual pubs for my dirty food but this was a momentous occasion as I was actually trying take away from the road I live on.

We decided on Mario's Fast Food (which actually has a little Mario character on the door - I'm sure that violates some sort of copy right issue) on the recommendation of my flat mates because they apparently have great 'donners.' For you Canadians, a donner is actually a donair, and it does actually taste very similar, but I can't quite tell what the meat is. Lamb? Beef? Who knows.

Leanna got the Special Kebab, which included donner meat (of questionable origin, just like we like it), chicken kebab, chicken tikka, shish and sheek kebabs. I just got the usual donner to try, opting to play it safe to start. You pick your 'salad' (lettuce, tomatoes, onion, etc) and sauce (anything from ketchup to mint yoghurt) and you're off to go!

So once we got our food, we scuttled through the rain, back up the floor flights of stairs and, exhausted, plopped onto the floor and devoured our food. They were MASSIVE.

Here's Leanna's...

And mine!!

Beautiful, aren't they?

It was great to see her and I threatened to hold her hostage but she left anyway... While she was here, we went out and wandered the city, including Nottingham Castle (which isn't really a castle anymore - burned down, fell over, then sank into the swap...) and the oldest pub in England (which looks like its built into the side of a hill). Pictures of that will be posted on her blog soon, because she's got much better photog skills than me. We stopped at some Robin Hood points of interest, that had little stories and myths surrounding his life and posed like tacky tourists with the statues. Well, I posed like a tacky tourist with the statues... Leanna just took the pictures, and therefore, kept her dignity. We also watched Disney's Robin Hood, because it seemed only appropriate, given then circumstances. 

Wednesday night we went out to restaurant called Tamatanga (my first East Indian restaurant experience!) and I loved it. We took some pictures of the plates, so you can see those on her blog too, when she posts them. If you go before 6 pm on a weekday, you can choose off a special menu for only 6 quid. Since this was my first time, I got the thali and Leanna got the tamatanga thali and we shared so I could try lots of different types of curries. The following is a list of everything I tried...

mango lassi (yoghurt drink - I'm going to try making it at home)*

chicken tikka

chicken korma (chicken in a mild and creamy sauce)

paneer makhni (cubes of indian cheese in a creamy tomato sauce)*

poppadums and chutney*

garlic naan bread*

 daal makhni (creamy and flavorsome black lentils)

masala chickpeas (chickpeas in a rich sauce with onion and tomato)

 bombay aloo (baby potatoes in a masala sauce)

 raita (a mix of yoghurt and cucumber)

* the best of the bunch

I'm taking Sam there soon hopefully so she can give it a try and because I already want to go back. 

Speaking Of Cream....

Sam decided to make crepes as well so we both had them for dessert tonight. 

Sam had heated strawberries and raspberries with whipped double cream, dusted with icing sugar. 

She also made pecan puff cookies, which is the little guy up in the left corner (and they were deliciously buttery.)

I couldn't decide what to put in mine so I put cream cheese all over and strawberry jam on one side and lemon curd on the other, then topped with whipped double cream. I have to say, I am thoroughly enjoying the varieties of cream available, having used single cream in a few soups (and it gave a lovely, thick texture), double cream in desserts, and clotted cream on... (you guessed it) scones! I think I'll try whipping the cream cheese on its own next time, and skip the double cream, because it was really the cheese that gave it the flavor. 

I wrapped mine up and sprinkled it with 90% dark chocolate flakes. It was wonderful.

"If you’re afraid of butter, just use cream."

Note: Never watch food related movies right before bed. Last night, I watched Julie & Julia and all I could think about was all the recipes I wanted to try (including Julia Child's famous boeuf bourguignon - but that will have to wait for another day.) I finally settled on attempting crepes for breakfast the next day.

It is now Sunday morning. The crepe batter has been prepared and is waiting patiently in our over-stuffed fridge, until it is ready to be fried up into adulthood. Here goes...Should you wish to attempt this for yourself, here is the recipe I used.

Here's all the ingredients. 

P.S I love that eggs aren't refrigerated here.

Mix all the dry ingredients.

Mix all the wet ingredients. 

Blend. Then put in a bowl and cover. 

Refrigerate for 1 hour.

When the mix is ready, heat up a non-stick skillet until very hot and pour about 1/4 cup of mixture into the pan, immediately maneuvering the pan to get the dough to spread thinly across the whole surface. This, is what the recipe told me to do, and for the first 4 crepes, I couldn't quite do it quick enough and always ended up with a little hole or two..

But being me, and determined to get it right, by the fifth crepe, I had the technique down. 

10 crepes later, I was ready for breakfast. I set one aside and froze the rest, with plastic in between each one. They can be kept frozen for up to two months. 

I cooked some bacon and scrambled eggs (done properly with butter instead of Pam) and tucked them inside. I also roasted some tomatoes (wash, halve, cover in olive oil/salt/pepper/oregano/basil/garlic, and place in a 190 degree Celsius oven for about 45 minutes until shriveled and slightly browned) and had them on the side.

Then just wrap it up and serve with tea (of course.)

The Old Market Square

The main open area downtown is the Old Market Square. Its the largest such square in the country and is often used for fairs and the like. Sam and I were downtown, doing research for a project, and decided to stop by the Fine Food Market for some treats. There were a lot of meat booths, offering pork pies and sausage, as well as several dessert spots with cupcakes, flapjacks, and Guinness chocolate cake. There was a steak and ale stew with duck fat roasted potatoes that looked delicious but I opted for a beautiful little fruit tart with custard and Sam got a Pina Colada cupcake. 

Fruit tarty goodness.

The booths of the fair. 

Some of the old buildings surrounding the square.

Afternoon Tea (Reprise)

Having gushed about afternoon tea at M&S to Sam on several occasions, we finally decided to go together.  We were going fairly late in the day so they, unfortunately, only had one scone left so we picked another dessert out from the selection and shared the two.

Sticky toffee tart. Should never be attempted alone. We needed to get a ham and cheese toastie afterwards just so that we weren't surviving on sugar alone. 

Zucchini Pancake Day

One of my new favorite recipes came from a book I found while at the library. The book, called The Pleasures of Cooking for One, by Judith Jones, includes a variety of excellent recipes, specifically for one or two people. Judith is the senior editor and vice president at Knopf publishing house. She became Julia Child's editor for Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and has written a few other cookbooks of her own as well. After her husband passed away, she wasn't sure she would enjoy cooking again. Eventually she began to take pleasure in cooking on her own and thus, this book was born.

Here's a picture of her zucchini pancake recipe, with a poached egg on top. I'd highly recommend picking up this cookbook!

A Walk In The Park

Needing to escape my dorm for a little while, I stepped out for an aimless walk through the area. Deciding to go left on the road I always go right on, I ended up at another University, the University of Nottingham, that put my Uni's campus to shame. Not only was it closer than my current Uni, its campus including fountains, wildlife, and a river. Oh, and most importantly, buildings that look like UFOs. 

Not to get all hopeless romantic on you but I really do love autumn. Calgary never really has a proper one, skipping straight from summer to winter in about a day, so I revel in the crunchy leaves and the chilly wind whenever I have the chance. 

This guy was feeding the fishies bread, which I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to do but the fish were clamoring so eagerly to get the food, and the water looked so murky, their flipping tails made it look like sea snakes were infesting the water. 

Now are they still called Canadian geese when not found on Canadian soil?

Yup, thats a UFO and...err..well, I'm not really sure what the red thing is. When in doubt, call it art. 

Goose Fair

Sam and I decided to head down to the Goose Fair today, which, despite the name, had absolutely no geese. It was similar to the Midway at the Stampede (for any Calgarians in the house) or to the Ex (for you Torontonians.) There were a bunch of rides, greasy fair food, and kiddies to boot.

Some of the most common food available included huge vats of mushy peas that were spooned into cups on tossed over chips. They also had full roasts with stuffing available. Now that's class. 

Saw this little yellow afro man sitting in one of the carny trucks and made Sam take a picture. Just had to. 

Proving that the rubber ducky game is a universal happiness inducer. 

We were meandering past the game stalls when this lovely little treasure, tucked inconspicuously in between an 'I Love You' bear and a stuffed pink pig, caught my eye.

Something about their faces reminds me of Glottis from Grim Fandango...

Jiminy cricket!

Somehow not as threatening when you realize it looks like a Bionicle. 

 The prices for the rides were ridiculous at 2 quid a pop, which, considering most of them were so similar to Stampede rides, I would've thought they'd flown the same ones in, weren't really worth it. So we meandered and people-watched instead, stopping to have some interesting food along the way... Sam had some chips and gravy, as well as a toffee apple. I opted for something a little more unusual...

...an Ostrich burger!! I chose the cherry tomato relish which was fab, and I fully intend to try making it soon. It tasted similar to beef, but less fatty so a little drier, similar to bison but with a bit of a spice to it. 

The lovely ladies of Dinky Donuts. 

I'm pretty sure it was my sister that told me to buy a coconut from a street vendor so on our way back, we picked one up. I was so excited to try it, we asked the vendor to crack it open for our walk home and he found a rather knife to do the trick. After worrying that he was going to whack his fingers off, he eventually got it open and we spent the half hour walk back trying to pry bits off with our fingernails. 

Totally worth the 80p.