Garden, Steak and Bristol…
June 29, 2010
So the Boy and I have been sorting our garden, we have a terraced house so have a smallish shady spot, half-decked and now since the Boy laid it half lovely green grass…
I cannot wait till we are finished and we can sit and eat outside!
I also cannot wait to have things growing, to make my own pudding with fruit we have grown will be amazing.
So last week we paid yet another visit to the garden centre where we purchased a ton of berry plants as well as peppers, chillies and tomatoes…
Strawberries! Not many of these will make it into a recipe, they will probably be nibbled whilst sitting on the grass…
Plus another of compost (we seem to be going through a lot of this!) and some flowers…
Plus the Boy bought me this beautiful rose-bush… the roses are huge and pink and so so pretty!
And this could be the most perfect rose I have ever seen in my whole life…
So the Boy got busy planting and for a reward we had a steak dinner…
I kept it simple so there is no recipe as such in this post…
I pan-fried the steak, mine was medium rare and the Boy’s as rare as I could make it!
I also made sweet potato chips and a simple green salad with tomatoes and avocado…
To make these I used 1 large sweet potato, chopped into chunky chips roasted in olive oil, dried chilli flakes and paprika in the oven for about 30 minutes at about 180c…
if you use very little oil these are very healthy…
And to serve with the steak I made some lemon and black pepper creme fraiche, I wanted something light and fresh as it was such a hot evening but am still very new to eating red meat so needed something…
Just literally mix lemon zest from 1 lemon, half a lemon’s juice and as much black pepper as you like with two or three tbsp of half fat creme fraiche, it was yummy with both the steak and the chips… and much healthier than mayo…
The steaks were a purchase from the farmers market that day…
There are lots of farmers markets in Bristol and I am lucky to have one near where I work on Wednesdays, so as often as possible I pay it a visit and make a treat dinner…
They looked quite small when I bought them but they were not!
After what was a huge very filling meal on a beautiful evening we decided to go for a long walk and I just wanted to share some of the photographs I took, they are so Bristol they could be postcards… I had to share.
We stopped off at The Cottage, one of the greatest views a pub could have…
As we watched, the Matthew sailed past…
Then there were balloons, I have never taken a photograph that is more Bristol than this one, with the balloon and the colourful houses…
Then we walked back through the harbours, admiring all the boats…
Back home past the Ostrich (another gem in the sunshine)…
There were so many vapour trails in the sky, and although they are bad, they were very pretty that night…
And back south of the river…
Souk Me Up!
June 25, 2010
So since I seem to be having a week of recommendations I didn’t want to buck the trend so here’s another Bedminster gem… Souk on North Street.
This used to be called Cafe Centrica, serves really really really good middle eastern food and one of mine and the Boy’s favourite places to eat, when it closed for refurbishment we were very concerned…
However we needn’t have worried as it has reopened with a similar menu, but a revamped branding that I think is really good and will work wonders and hopefully mean that Souk is here for years to come.
I have been twice in the past week, once with a girl friend and once with the Boy so these photographs are a combination of those two visits, even I couldn’t eat all this food in one go.
This will show the range of what this unassuming but amazing little restaurant does…
I really have to recommend you go for the Souk it and See! tasting menu available during the week, it’s £9.95 for bread and dips, a starter, a main and a dessert.
Don’t worry they’re all slightly smaller than normal so you can do it… but it is a lot of food so go hungry!
The Boy and I started with bread and dips, we always get this the dips are so good, really fresh tasting and the hummus is GREAT!
We often get them to take away too if we have people coming for dinner and don’t have time to make our own.
This time we had hummus, a thick riata and a kind of green dhal, plus the standard olives and chillies and the amazing flatbread.
I missed the smokey tomato-chilli dip this time, that is worth the trip alone…
On this evening I decided to go for the tapas (3 starter dishes for £6.50) I had sardines, meatballs and the best falafel I have ever had (including my sweet potato recipe!).
The falafel was served with a smoked chilli jam, I really need to make this soon it is amazing.
That was more than enough for me, I didn’t quite finish it all, but is a great way to try lots of dishes if there are a few of you.
The Boy had halloumi skewers, they also do chicken and lamb, served with salad and rice… they are huge!
Now skipping to my visit with my friend Ania… we being girls with our eyes on the dessert menu skipped starters and went for a vegetable tagine with cous cous…
…and I had a Persian fish curry, this truly is one of my all time favourite meals and have had it countless times here, it’s so filling, but fresh tasting at the same time… do try it!
Then we decided to get two desserts as we couldn’t decide and just dig in… we had a flourless chocolate cake and a yogurt cake…
I loved the yogurt cake and am desperate to make my own, will give it a go soon and let you know how I get on…
I am also planning on visit Souk again very soon, I want to try a Turkish Pizza…
P.s They also do great breakfasts, I have only ever been once as they truly are HUGE!