Toronto adventures

Hiya folks, just to let you know I haven't forgotten about you.
I'm in Toronto having a nice long holiday and I'm already missing home.
I love Canada though, the people here are so much more upbeat and friendly than those back in England. Also the nightlife is incredible - highlight of the trip for sure.
The mix of different cultures is so vast. I've had the tastiest muttar paneer and mango lassi from little India, passion-fruit and lychee bubble tea from Chinatown, cassava cake, bagels and ice tea, various unique flavoured frozen yoghurt and lots of home style Pakistani food. 
I've smelt beautiful incense and seen incredible displays in gold and every single other colour in amazing Hindu shops.
Memories of China were brought back to me when I went through smelly Chinese supermarkets with unique ingredients, live fish for sale and pet cats inside to greet me.
I've met family I didn't even know.
People go nuts for my accent over here, they are so lovely and just have the biggest smile whenever I ask for anything.
I saw a beach on a massive lake which had waves and a lifeguard. I made seedy carrot cake for my family which they loved.
I saw one of my favourite books in movie form at Toronto International Film Festival, caught the subway and air train, saw a live hip hop performance in a shopping mall, met a beautiful cat, seen black squirrels and wild bunnies, witnessed crazy people on public transport, bought some funky glasses from hot topic, been amazed by the excitement that is down-town, ridden a tiny bicycle past corn fields and got lost, seen people sitting on their porches in rocking chairs.
I also visited an amazing coffee and board games cafe called Snakes and Latte's... so much and I've still got another 6 days of exploring to do!
Friday and Saturday are for my Niagara Falls and CN tower visits.

Here are some photo's from my trip so far, mostly food of course!

First fro-yo was matcha with mochi

Sushi!

Immense toffee apples

Mango lassi and muttar paneer at little India

Seeded carrot cake

Pakistani mango heaven

The resident cat

Bulk barn! Anything you could ever want in mass amounts

Fro-yo no.2 was peanut butter and jelly flavour with various chocolatey delights

With the most incredible masala corn at a festival

At a fast food joint, those scone like things are called biscuits here, the fries were good

More fro-yo. mine was dulce de leche, creme caramel, vanilla and chocolate with fruit, brownies, yoghurt pretzels, blueberry mochi and peanut butter sauce. Ooh and lucky charms mmm

Honk Kong style egg waffle - very moreish and tasty.

You getting sick of fro-yo yet? This was healthy ish - greek yoghurt with honey, fruit and lychee popping boba (think salmon roe texture but filled with sweet liquid)

At snakes and lattes - the best cafe I have ever been to bar none. The walls are filled with all the board games ever invented with amazingly friendly staff who you can see playing games with people and fantastic coffee and cake.

I had cheesecake brownie, which I then swapped with my cousin for a raspberry white chocolate cheesecake as it was too raspberry-ish for her. I also drank a nutella latte and had amazingly buttery biscuits

At vegetarian restaurant Fresh - I had a tofu peanut buddha bowl

Toronto skyline at night

I'm incredibly inspired. Watch this space for lots more recipe's when I return home including the promised chai latte.

A day trip to Bridlington

Bridlington promenade

Me, my dad and sister all decided to go on a spontaneous trip to Bridlington.
We started with a walk along the promenade and me and my sister went on a couple of rides. I narrowly escaped my lung being crushed and exploded due to the rides violent and nauseating jumps and spins which resulted in my sister being continuously rammed into my side. Ouch.


After that torture I obviously needed comfort in some sort of fried sugar coated confectionery, but not yet!
First - a speedboat ride.

This was way more fun and not at all excruciatingly painful. The wing in my hair and the spray of the sea on my face, was very pleasant indeed.
Finally I enjoyed a couple of freshly made donuts. They were hot, sugary and stodgy. Just what you'd expect, perfect.

The fresh donuts being cooked

After a bit more walking and sightseeing we stopped to get fish and chips from a place called Captain Scotts. I chose scampi and shared some of my dads plaice. The scampi was particularly flavoursome and the fish nice and moist. Didn't manage too many of the chips as I had those donuts not so long previously.

Plaice, Scampi and chips

Didn't purchase any but this ice cream parlour was very extravagant and reminded me of a tv show I once saw about an ice cream store in Las Vegas

We then walked just enough for me to find eating again reasonable and stopped off at The Rowan Tree. This was a beautiful little cafe and my sister agreed that it was not the kind of place you'd expect to find in Bridlington. Gorgeous home made cakes and organic local produce. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.

Loved the style of this place, the counter with various tempting tea and cake

Carrot cake and a chocolate orange gateau

Real people's recipes - Vegetable and coconut curry!

Mado

This recipe comes from my lovely auntie, Mado. I've asked her a few questions to give you a bit of background behind her, hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed hearing the answers!

Where abouts did you grow up and when did you move to Sheffield? In Kharian, Pakistan. I moved here when I was 16, March 1967. I came here to join my family, I had a headache for seven days and was depressed because of the lack of sun. The first time I saw snow, I fell over! I thought televisions were too small because I was used to watching cinema screens. the first thing I ate was toast with butter for breakfast and I thought it was awful because I couldn't taste the butter at all. I soon found out that food here had no taste or smell compared to back home.
Who do you like cooking for? Family and friends.
What is it that you enjoy about cooking? I find it really therapeutic and relaxing, and I enjoy it because I am good at it! It's easy for me. I also like the fact that people enjoy my food when they eat it.
What are the inspirations behind this dish? I wanted to make something different from my usual curries, this was an experiment that resulted in a dish that a lot of people really like. It's very healthy and it can be enjoyed by vegan and meat eaters alike. It's my own creation.
What would be your last meal? It would probably be a mixed lentil curry with a salad of cherry tomatoes, red onions, radishes, cucumber and quinoa. Pudding would be carrot halwa.

Sweet potato, courgette, green bean and coconut curry.
This is a delicious, rich and creamy recipe full of flavour. When served alongside salad and rice and beans it makes for a very satisying dish.

Ingredients
2 Large Onions
4 cloves Garlic
Thumb of Ginger
Tin Coconut milk
2 courgettes
Green beans
1 Sweet potato
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder

Method
Fry your onions, garlic and ginger together with salt until the onions have softened.
Add your veg and spices and fry for a few minutes longer, until the vegetables are slightly tender.
If it starts to stick add a splash of water.
Now add the coconut milk and cook until the potatoes are soft.

Sweet potato, coconut, courgette curry. Vegan, gluten free and delicious!

The Rude Shipyard

If you were to ask me for three qualities that make a perfect cafe I would say amazing cake, lovely staff and the observer newspaper with a proper home made breakfast on a Sunday. Oh and a unique charm,  and tranquil atmosphere...and new and interesting music every time you visit...and hundreds and hundreds of books! OK, I got slightly carried away there, the reason being is that The Rude Shipyard possess all of the above in abundance!

There is nothing as special as an independent local bookshop. The selection of books there is vast and varied with each one deserving an appreciative home. For me, its a 'home away from home' as I'm there almost every other day. No other place in Sheffield has such a relaxed ambiance with the most genuinely lovely staff. They make every visitor whether young, old, strange or curious feel like a valued friend. 

This oasis of bookish tranquillity also hosts regular live music gigs (including the incredibly popular cupids in nooses anti valentines festival), free wifi, a book club, whiskey and drinking songs nights and Thursday supper to name a few exciting happenings.

Back to the food...not only do they serve self proclaimed hugs made of cakes, they also do a amazing breakfast on a Sunday with local sausages and bacon and home made soda bread. In the week you can find varying delights always including unusual sandwiches, soups and salads, plus the greenest hummus and more substantial meals such as burritos, curries and tortillas. Vegan and gluten free options are available.

If that wasn't enough they also have a delicatessen where you can purchase home made dukkah or hot chocolate with mahlep, as well as aubergine pickle, hazelnut oil, smoked salt and paprika and much more.

The Rude Shipyard feels like one of those undiscovered gems that doesn't get nearly as much attention as it deserves. I want to keep it to myself and yet I feel it is only fair to share it with you. It never fails to intrigue, inform and refresh me with every visit so I'm sure you'll love it just as much as I do. Go check them out!

Noodle Inn Review

I feel as though I haven't written an actual review of a restaurant for ages. Don't get me wrong, I've eaten out a fair few times, but I've just been visiting the same places I always go, and have reviewed many times.

Sheffield is currently experiencing an amazingly beautiful heatwave. The last time I was able to go outdoors in just a vest and yet still remain warm, I was in China. It's probably due to this reason that I've been craving Chinese food, particularly black bean aubergine...I can't remember the name of this dish so I quickly searched google. This result is a variation but I'm mainly sharing it as the English translation made me giggle. "people should not eat the weak stomach cold old eggplant".

Inside the restaurant they have a huge pillar aquarium complete with large fish and a wide screen TV which was showing you've been framed complete with subtitles. They also have a section with descriptions and history of different types of noodles. Other clientèle include mainly families. One of which is Indian with a curious toddler. There are also few young couples and an older sunburnt and dazed couple.

I also chose salt and pepper tofu as a starter. My family went for a set menu. I washed this down with a refreshing lemon iced tea.

The tofu was, without doubt the best tofu I have ever eaten. It was crunchy, spongy, salty and spicy. Everything you'd want from a lump of bean curd. My family has crispy duck with pancakes. I stole a pancake and filled it with a couple of chunks of tofu and garnished with the leek, cucumber and plum sauce. It was a nice combination! 

Soon a wave of massive plates of food arrived on our table: Crispy sweet and sour chicken, beef in sizzling sauce, king prawns, egg fried rice, cooked lettuce with a dark sauce and my black bean aubergine on a bed of fluffy white rice.

I was already salivating, even though the tofu was rather filling. I greedily scooped mine into my small bowl and plucked out a strip of shiny aubergine with my chopsticks. It was silky and tender and exactly like how I remembered it from China. This pleased me very much, clearly as I  filled up my bowl twice more and happily munched my way through the perfectly cooked rice and rich savoury sauce. The rice was tender the grains had just the right amount of clingy-ness.

My family made various comments in regards to how fantastic their food was too.

They end their meal with complimentary ice cream. I buy two scoops of Yeekwan's mango sorbet. If you read my last post you'll understand my immense love of this fruit and this sorbet does not disappoint.

The menu for all four of us was £57, with drinks. If I ate this in China, the bill wouldn't be more than £15 worth of Yuan. But then I probably would eat all my meals there and be vastly overweight so it's probably best saved for the occasional treat!

To sum it all up, check this establishment out for some delicious and authentic Chinese food! 

Food - 10/10

Service - 9/10

Value - 8/10

Vegan peanut butter brownies recipe

Woohoo! This recipe was recently published in Now Then magazine!
This makes me happy. These brownies are seriously good, no one will know they are vegan.
Cook them and put them all in your mouth....mmm, nice.

If you can't quite read the text in the photo, here is the recipe

250g dark chocolate
250g soya margerine
100g flour
350g sugar
3 tbsp gram flour
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
200g peanut butter
1 cup (give or take) of soya or other alternative to milk

1. Melt the chocolate and margerine together in a bain marie.
2. Beat together sugar and peanut butter
3. Gradually add rest of ingredients, adding the milk last.
4. You may need more milk, it should be easy to stir.
5. Bake at 180 for 20 minutes, so its still gooey and delicious!

Sharrow Marrow

I first visited Sharrow Marrow when it was newly opened, and wow its changed a lot!
In fact I enjoyed my stay so much I decided to write a whole post about it.
The shop owners were taking full advantage of the fact that today was the farmers market, and had a dazzling display of colourful and enticing products outside. Such delights included chutneys, watermelons and yellow courgettes, with lots of free tasters!

 

 

 

I nibbled on a slice of dewy and refreshing watermelon, picked up some plums, a bulb of smoked garlic and a yellow courgette and went inside.

 

This place is full of gorgeous tempting fresh fruits and vegetables plus loads more goodies. The daughter of the shop owner has her own company - brambles, and makes such delights as cakes, jams and cordials here too.

The range of high quality nuts, spices and other store cupboard essentials make Nigella's larder pale in comparison.You'll find Sheffield honey, tempting snack bars and a vast selection of local cheeses.

The lovely ladies were happy to pose for a photo and were keen to hear more about what I had to say, even though they were super busy!

So its definitely worth popping by when you are in the area. I'll be coming up specially to visit and I'd even go as far to say its my new favourite place on sharrow vale road!

Sharrow Vale Farmers Market

Today the residents of hunters bar plus visitors, came together to celebrate and enjoy food!
Sharrow vale road is already full of treasures for the adventurous foodie to discover and so it comes as no surprise that the local businesses clearly benefited from this quarterly event.
People were sat outside the greedy Greek, enjoying slovakis and falafel and cafe Ceres's and Fancie were rammed to the rafters with happy faces spectating the hustle and bustle, whilst simultaneously being stuffed with delicious goodies.

Most of the traders will be very familiar to those who frequent these kind of events, much like myself and others keen on the local Sheffield food scene. I've visited before and photographed those people so this time I did my best to take some snaps of a few new folk...

The rather suave Italian foccacia guy.

This lady is super friendly, has refreshing drinks and advised me where to visit in Mexico! Oaxaca apparently!

These fooled me for a second...they are bath products!

This is gorgeous pumpkin oil. I'd love to experiment with it in a cake...

Friendly and familiar mushroom stall.

Newcomers on the scene. A German bratwurst van.

Lastly, the famous cat that sleeps in the window of that shop..I always forget its name but this soporific feline always makes me smile.