Review – Bistro 95, Cannock

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Louise - Comida Y Vida

Another month, another meal out …. I could get used to this! After a week away from home with work, it was nice to come home and go out for a family meal. We went with my in-laws and the extended family to a new local restaurant in Cannock, Staffordshire. Bistro 95 is the lastest offering from Jo and John Ashmore of Wine & Dine. They have a gastro pub right here in my home town of Rugeley, the Yorkshireman, which just happens to be our “local”, and a bistro in Lichfield called 1709. The new addition Bistro 95 is to be ran very similar to 1709, offering brasserie style food for a great price – 2 course dinner for £10.90 and 3 courses for £12.90.

Now, I’ll be up front and tell you right away that my Brother-in-law, Lyndon Sims, just happens to be Head Chef at Bistro 95, but I assure you that will not influence my review in the slightest, in fact I’m probably more likely to be a bit harsher, just in case!!

It was the first weekend of Bistro 95 when 7 adults and 2 children decided to descend and put chef Lyndon through his paces. The bistro has been revamped and the restaurant opened up into a far more useable space from it’s previous life as 95 High Green. The restaurant is still based over two floors and we were shown to a table on the ground floor, with ample room to fit us, the high chairs and everything else dining out with little ones entails. A peruse of the menu and wine list, before we ordered and toasted to the Chef upstairs.

For my starter I had opted for the English asparagus and Goats Cheese tart with pickled red cabbage, one of the 3 vegetarian offerings.

The tart was a light quiche style offering which was delicatley flavoured with Goat’s cheese, which worked perfectly with the strong iron of the asparagus. It was served with lovely dressed salad leaves and a pot of pickled cabbage, which I liked but thought unneccesary.

For main’s I opted for the Salmon and rocket encroute with new potatoes, steamed broccoli and dill cream sauce. The salmon was cooked perfectly, as was the pastry surrounding it. The sauce was full of flavour and worked well with the fish and potatoes. Simple flavours, cooked well.

I wasn’t sure I could squeeze a pudding in but in the name of a complete and fair review I ordered the Vanilla Creme Brulee with shortbread biscuit and Rhubarb and Ginger compote.

The creme brulee was lovely, set perfectly and with the required crunch on top. Though not a typical shortbread, the biscuit was lovely and added a different texture, and the rhubarb was nicely stewed but I wouldn’t say the ginger was a noticable flavour, not that this mattered as it was lovely nonetheless.

With a bottle of wine and a couple of beers, not to mention the sides ordered for Little Miss Chief the bill came to a modest £50. This was great considering the size of the portions and the quality of the food and service.

I will definitely going back and that’s not just so I can get Brother in Law to cook for me (it only happens at his workplace!) but it really is another great eatery from the Ashmores.

Review – Aalto Restaurant at Hotel La-Tour

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Louise - Comida Y Vida

Whilst many moan about the reluctance of spring and summer to arrive as the last few weeks have been cold and wet, I personally cannot believe how quick 2012 is flying by. Life is full on at the moment with my new sales role at work by day and my Stampin’ Up business by night so when I was recently invited to go out for dinner I couldn’t resist – perfect chance to have a night off to relax and spend some quality time with hubs.

The venue for my night off was to be the newest addition to the Birmingham hotel scene, Hotel La-Tour, situated right in the heart of the city centre near to the Bullring shopping centre. On arrival it was clear to see the hotel has been designed with the utmost style and sophistication. It was modern but very classic too. After making our way up a very stylish staircase we arrived at the bar where we were greeted warmly by the restaurant manager, Daniel. Whilst we perused the menu for the Aalto Restaurant and the wine list helpfully categorised on an Ipad, we were served with one of their signature cocktails – the 1889, named after the year Birmingham was granted city status.

It was a fruity,light and refreshing drink made with gin, apple, elderflower, ginger and lime and was a perfect start to the evening by not only getting your taste buds going but also leaving your palate cleansed. We also had a pre dinner nibble of lemon and chilli infused popcorn that was strangely addictive.

The menu exemplifies the modern twist on classics that is the ethos of the hotel. It was inspired by michelin star chef Marcus Wareing who has worked closely with the team at Hotel La Tour and head chef Alex Penhaligon to develop the dishes using many local ingredients. There were also a couple of specials to choose from too, so making a decision did take a while as it was all so so tempting.

Once we ordered we were taken through to the restaurant to our table, where we were positioned right behind the chef’s table with views into the open kitchen, allowing us to see our dishes being created by the kitchen.

After choosing our dishes, the lovely Daniel, came over to discuss wine choices. Daniel’s knowledge of the wines was impressive so we asked him to choose one for each of us that would complement the foods we had chosen. I was served with the Bodega Castro Martin Albarino which was a lovely surprise. I love this type of wine which I discovered on my many work trips to Galicia and it is not one you get in many establishments. Mr CYV was served the Frappato Nerello Mascalese, which was also a great choice as we don’t often choose Italian wines. Daniel explained how he had chosen wines that would work with both of the starters and mains we had chosen and what they would deliver to complement the food.

I opted for the Harrogate Loaf, terrine of veal, bacon, parsely and caper salad which was a beautifully dense meatloaf, studded with pistachio for added crunch and texture. The terrine was wrapped in bacon which gave a great salty edge to the loaf. Some croutons on the side The parsley and caper salad it was served with was a perfect accompaniment with the fresh flavours cutting through the meatiness.

Mr CYV opted for the Mulligatawny, haddock, curry spice, lentils which was a velvety smooth soup which was packed with beautifully cooked haddock and the lentils gave their usual bite to give some texture to the dish. It was perfectly spiced with such depth of flavour and enough spicy heat to give a warmth to the dish.

For mains I chose the Cornish sea bass, creamed leek, mussels, grain mustard. The fish was cooked to perfection with a crispy skin which I love and the sauce was rich and unctuous. I would never have dared to pair mustard with fish but this worked brilliantly.

Mr CYV opted for one of the specials Lamb Belly, green beans and peas, breaded sweetbread and red wine jus which was also cooked perfectly. the slow cooked belly melted in the mouth whilst the sweetbread was little nugget of delight and the jus brought the whole dish together.

We were amazed not only with the quality of the food but also how the chosen wines matched both courses perfectly.

When it came to dessert I was spoilt for choice but in the end decided on Jaffa cake pudding, warm chocolate, orange cake crumb, cream, which was something devised by Marcus Wareing. Now I expected a chocolate orange pudding but was so suprised to find it actually it tasted like those little biscuits you can buy. It was delicious, the sponge pudding was light whilst the chocolate sauce was rich and smooth.

Mr CYV opted for the savoury choice of British cheese selection, walnut crisps, pickle and was very happy with the selection of cheeses – a goats cheese from Oxford, stilton blue and an apple smoked cheese.

With our desserts Daniel yet again came to our aid and selected suitable wine to go with them. For my chocolate dessert the Nectar Jerez Pedro Jimenez sherry was perfect and hubs was given the Rivesaltes Ambre dessert wine to complement the cheese selection. Yet again they matched perfectly.

As we retired back to the bar with a coffee we couldn’t help but plan a return visit. I think we will definitely come back to try out the hotel itself too. The food was some of the best I have eaten and certainly deserves a spot in the top restaurants in Birmingham.

You can sign up to the newsletter here for all the latest offers and find Hotel La Tour on twitter and facebook.

I received the food and drink courtesy of the Hotel la Tour I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Two Greedy Italians and one Hungry Viewer

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Louise - Comida Y Vida

As a lover of Spanish food it stands to reason I am a fan of Italian cuisine too. The two countries share a love of fantastic seafood, beautiful cured hams and some meditteranean sunshine. We probably cook Italian food far more than Spanish, sometimes up to 3 times a week, and with it’s entry into the UK diet so pervasive, I think this is the same in most households. In fact I think Italian food is probably the most widespread of all cuisines with people the world over indulging in pasta and pizza.

Two of the godfathers of Italian cookery have shared their love of their home country in the BBC TV series Two Greedy Italians, namely Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo, mentors of the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. The series sees the two chefs return to Italy, after 50 years away, to cook and explore. More of a travel documentary than just a cookery programme I enjoyed the introduction to various regions of Italy, with an insight into the history and family cooking that enlightened me to a whole world of Italian cuisine far beyond pizza and pasta that regularly features in our weekly menu.

There is the brotherly, almost husband and wife nagging style of relationship between these two friends which is on the whole quite entertaining. I don’t normally enjoy watching either of these two chefs on tv, but as a duo something just seems right. Not sure my eyes will ever recover from seeing Gennaro pull an octopus from his speedo’s and launch it Antonio though!

The series was originally aired on BBC during last summer but if you missed it now’s your chance to see it with the release of the DVD on 2nd April 2012. The Two Greedy Italians DVD features 4 great one hour long episodes, each of a different region in Italy, over 2 discs. The set also includes 4 recipe cards so you can cook along at home.

The recipes from the cards are taken from the accompanying book Two Greedy Italians, another thing to add to the wishlist!

You can pre-order your copy of the DVD here.

Thanks to Pete at PPR Publicity for the review copy. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I may earn from any purchases bought from my Amazon store.

Seabass at the Swan

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Louise - Comida Y Vida

With the return to work after maternity leave and the arrival of childcare costs, not to mention a general increased cost of living, finding money to eat out can be tough. Before Baby G arrived we used to eat out on a fairly regular basis – it was our way of keeping “date night” going after the honeymoon period of being newlyweds. Nowadays dining out is a rare treat so we try to make sure we go somewhere which serves freshly cooked good quality food which doesn’t hurt the finances too much.

When I heard about Sea Bass and Creme Brulee night at The Swan in Stafford it seemed like the perfect solution. I’ve dined a few times at The Swan and have never been disappointed, in fact you can read a review from an earlier visit here. The promise of two of my favourite foods for a bargainous price of £12.95 per person was ticking all the boxes.

So with date night set for this weekly event at The Swan, grandma booked for babysitting duty, all I had to do was decide what to wear. And then it happened …. hubby stood me up! He had forgotten that he had put himself down for the pub quiz and couldn’t make it. Not wanting to miss out I asked the next best man in my life to go with me … my dad.

After arriving and being shown to the table, we were greeted with a menu offering a choice of 4 ways to have our Sea Bass. Decisions made, wine picked and then it was time for some father and daughter quality time.

In addition to the expected two courses there was also a starter of Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella bruschetta.

This was a tasty little appetiser and a great way to begin. I know it’s not exactly a unique dish or one you couldn’t create at home, but when creating a starter for all to eat – well who wouldn’t like this tasty combination?

For my seabass dish I opted for the Pan seared seabass and roasted fennel topped with tapenade and sauce vierge.

The fish was filleted correctly, cooked beautifully and even the skin was crispy. I liked the salty tapenade as a contrast against the sauce vierge and the roasted fennel was a nice addition.

My dad chose the Grilled sesame crusted sea bass, vegetable and noodle salad with chilli and soy dressing, and whilst I managed to snap a quick photo before he dived in, I didn’t have a taste myself, so can’t describe how it was. What I can say though is that dad devoured the lot and seemed to enjoy it.

To accompany the mains we both had a dish of perfectly cooked vegetables including red cabbage, carrots and broccoli.

The third course of the evening was a classic crème brûlée served with shortbread biscuit and cream. Now I love a good crème brûlée and this one did not disapppoint, in fact even my dad who doesn’t really like them, enjoyed this.

We rounded the night off with a coffee which was served with a lovely square of fudgey, gooey chocolate.

The food was good, the service was good and for £12.95 a person I don’t think you can ask much more. I shall definitely be returning – dining out may be easier to do more regularly with offers like this, and who knows maybe hubby will join me next time?

I received the food courtesy of the Lewis Partnership – The Swan. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Thanks also to James Day of Leisure Marketing (Midlands) Ltd and Eat the Midlands

Review – Urban Coffee Connoisseurs

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Louise - Comida Y Vida

A wee while back I was asked to review the latest addition to Urban Coffee Company‘s offering – Urban Coffee Connoisseurs – a monthly coffee tasting club. I couldn’t resist as I do love my coffee and can’t function in the morning till I’ve had my first cuppa and also Urban Coffee Company is my favourite place to grab a hot beverage whenever I’m in Birmingham.

Urban Coffee Company is a locally based company with an ethos to admire – improve the quality of high street coffee available outside of London and offer an alternative to the uniquitous Starbucks and Costa. As an independent coffee place it aims to offer a unique experience for it’s customers and from my handful of visits at both of it’s current stores it certainly does. It offers not only great coffee but a community meeting place for all sorts, including knitters and bookreaders.

For those of us not able to pop into store on the way to and from work or for a Saturday afternoon shopping trip pit stop, there is now the Urban Coffee Connoisseurs. Each month members receive 2 different bags of 125g of freshly ground coffee or beans if you prefer to grind your own, tasting notes, instructions on how best to prepare your coffee and access to the online Connoisseur Academy.

The two coffees I received were Laurocaf Reserva Terruno Nayarita from Mexico and SHG – La Luz from Nicaragua. The notes included detailed descriptions of the origin of these coffees – did you know coffee is one of Mexico’s most lucrative exports with over a half a million small farmers relying on the crop for their survival? You also get Rich’s (the head barista’s) tasting notes to assist you in developing your connoisseurship!

The Mexican coffee was the first one I tried and as Rich helped to point out, it did have vanilla tones, though my palate struggled to identify the “sweet with sour Apple acidity”. My favourite was the Nicaraguan coffee with it’s chocolate and cinnamon spice flavours.

I prepared them in my coffee machine but would definitely recommend using a cafetiere to get the best out of the coffee.

I think a subscription to the Urban Coffee Connoisseurs is a great gift for coffee loving friends or to enable you to develop your and you can choose a sign up period from 3 months to 1 year. The cost works out to around £4.25 to £5.00 a bag, which is slightly expensive, but with the added delight of waiting for your package to turn up each month and the chance to try lots of different styles of coffee and knowing exactly where they come from, I think it is a great idea. Sadly not one my budget will stretch to at the moment, but I live in hope I might manage to join at some point.

I think the ability to interact with other members would be a great addition and bring the tasting club idea to life.

I received the coffee free from Urban Coffee Company. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Roasted Sea Bass in Hot, Sweet and Sour Sauce

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Louise - Comida Y Vida

After the excesses of the festive season often we crave something simple, healthy and light. Yet with the cold and blustery weather we yearn for comfort too. In the Comida y Vida household this means we often head east for some asian spice.

The most used and “abused” cookbook from my Bookshelf that features recipes for this region is Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey. This book was published back in 2009 to accompany one of this chef’s many tv series’. I purchased the book some time ago but have never written about it here on CYV, but it’s going to be the first post in my series of posts called My Cookbook Collection where I will share a few recipes and reviews of the cookbooks from my collection.

I love food from the east and where time and access to ingredients permit will happily spend hours toasting and grinding spices, pounding garlic and ginger into a paste and all the other detailed preparation that many asian recipes require. The time invested into making your own curry pastes is something I definitely consider to be worth it when you taste the final dish – such depth of flavour. That’s not to say that ready prepared pastes don’t feature in my store cupboard for when time is limited – we all need a little convenience in our lives.

That is kind of how this book feels too, if you have time to leisurely prepare the dishes and access to the wealth of ingredients needed you will be rewarded with some fabulous food. For me, whilst it is possible to stock up on the dried spices and condiments from trips into Birmingham to Wing Yip, getting hold of the fresh ingredients like galangal, kaffir lime leaves and pea aubergines in local supermarkets is nigh on impossible, so creating dishes from this book takes a bit more planning.

The recipes give you the ability to reproduce the true taste of dishes from this region and travel through SE Asia from the comfort of your kitchen. There are 7 chapters, each one devoted to a different country: Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Bali, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Every dish cooked so far has not disappointed, the Beef Kofta Curry is simply delicious and very moreish, the Babi Kecap is devine to name a couple of my favourites. Now I share with you the latest recipe I’ve tried.

Roasted Sea Bass with Hot, Sour and Sweet Sauce

2 seabass – gutted, scaled and trimmed
37ml of fish sauce
25g shallots, finely sliced
15g garlic, thinly sliced
1 bird’s eye chilli, thinly sliced
25g palm sugar
15g tamarind pulp

Preheat the oven to 220C. Make 3 slashes on each side of the fish and place in a shallow dish. Pour over the fish sauce and rub into the slashes.. Pour the excess into a small pan – should be about 25ml.

Heat 1cm oil in a frying pan and once hot, fry the sliced onions/shallots until crisp and golden. Lift out with slotted spoon and leave to drain. Add the garlic to the oil and repeat the same process. Finely do the same with the chilli.

Add the sugar, tamarind and 2 tablespoons of water to the pan of fish sauce. Bring to the boil and simmer for 1 minute till thickened.

Place the fish in a roasting dish and cook in the oven for 12 minutes until it is done – when the flesh flakes away. Reheat the sauce and stir in the fried shallots, garlic and chilli. Place the fish onto the plate, spoon over the sauce and scatter over the fried elements. Serve with rice and bok choi.

I used onions due to not having shallots, only 30ml of fish sauce and tamarind paste which I find a useful time-saver ingredient. If using tamarind pulp you will need to sieve the sauce before serving.

The delicate fish against the flavoursome sauce is just sublime. The sauce delivers all the usual hits to the tastebuds from this corner of the world – sweet, salty, sour and hot. It was the perfect dish to feel healthy and yet comforting too.

If you want a cookbook to give you a a true taste of SE Asia then I think this is the one. I’d advise it is not for a novice though and you would definitely need to invest into a few key store cupboard ingredients.

Hasta la proxima / until next time

Bite ‘N’ Write

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Louise - Comida Y Vida

An event for food bloggers right on my doorstop, a chance to learn to some information and get tips to improve my blog, and an opportunity to meet some of my fellow bloggers with whom I have tweeted with for a long time … well I couldn’t resist.

I booked the ticket for Bite ‘n’ Write so long ago, that by the time November 19th arrived I was too excited for words, if a little nervous at leaving Baby G with Daddy for the longest time yet …. 14 hours!!

So bright and breezy I jumped on a train to Birmingham and once in the lobby of New Street searched out a few of my fellow attendee’s. How to spot a blogger in a busy public place is perhaps a discussion for another day but I wouldn’t recommend walking up to a stranger and asking them if they are a blogger …. you will most certainly get a strange look!

Once the troops had gathered, including the my fellow MFB members Jules of Butcher, Baker, Julia of Wannabefoodie and Kath the Ordinary Cook, together with the very lovely Choclette of Chocolate Log Blog and Charlotte of Go Free foods, we set off for the venue. The event was held in the Old Library room at the Custard Factory.

I won’t go into detail regarding all the workshops that were held during the day as many other blogs have put it far better than I could including Louise at the Vegetarian Experience. I haven’t any decent photo’s to share with you either as was too busy taking in all the information, but here’s my highlights:

* The photography workshop by Craig Fraser of Frasershot was the best start to the day. An interesting look into how professional food photography is carried out and some simple tips to create stunning pictures at home. Who knew silver card and a tampon could be such useful tools?

* Judith Lewis of Mostly about Chocolate and SEO specialist gave an insight into optimising your blog which I found interesting but which was a tad too technical or not of interest for some of my fellow attendee’s.

* The tasting by Artisan du Chocolat was a particular high, a chocolate high that is! We got to learn all about chocolate and taste a wide range of their products. I particularly liked the mint one and the Masala Chai. I loved the look of the O’s too.

* Jeanne of Cook Sister gave a really interesting talk about writing and how to make your blog attractive to readers with tips on the design and content of the blog.

So those were my highlights, but for a fair review I must mention my disappointment with some aspects of the day. The main issue for me was the the lack of time and setting to mingle with the other food bloggers. Whilst I got to know the people on my table it was difficult to find time to meet everyone else. Also the venue was not the greatest with a serious heating problem leaving me drinking cups of coffee just to stop from turning blue, and the meaty non-indian lunch was a bit of a let-down.

I applaud Annie Ko for having the intrepidity to get up and organise something like this event, especially after such a short time blogging, and considering it was her first event it was good. However, there are many things to be improved upon and I would hope that these are put into place to make sure this can become an annual event.

I finished off the day with a get together with some of my tweeties for some delicious food and wine at Jamie’s Italian.

Slow Food Peak District & Staffordshire at Freedom Brewery

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Louise - Comida Y Vida

So after the hubby’s first forage into Beer reviews we thought we might indulge a little more and came up with a new series of posts to be called Bebida/Drink. So a few weeks ago when I saw there was a chance to attend a Brewery tour which was organised as the first event of Slow Food Peak District and Staffordshire, we could not resist.

The tour was at Freedom Brewery, home to award winning hand-crafted English lager and luckily for us was just a few miles drive away in a beautiful countryside setting in Bagot’s Park Farm estate near Abbots Bromley. We have sampled Freedom beers at local food festivals and at our local gastro pub The Yorkshire Man and were eager to see how and where they were produced. The evening kicked off with a quick explanation of the Slow Food movement and what the new group was eager to achieve and then it was over to Edward and Susan Mayman, owners of Freedom Brewery for a tour.

Edward began by explaining the company history and how a micro-brewery for lager ended up in the heart of rural Staffordshire. The company was originally founded in London in 1995, but as brew pubs became obsolete the brand was bought and within a few years moved to it’s current location, just a few miles from the famous brewing town of Burton-on-Trent. The location we learnt is part of Freedom’s success, as they are able to tap into the same water source as all those famous large brewing companies just a few miles away, which is perfect for brewing and requires no chemical treatment or additives for the brew process.

it's in a cow shed don't you know!

Edward went on to explain how all their products are created with just 4 ingredients: water, barley, hops and yeast in the traditional way. Freedom are very keen on making sure they get the best key ingredients and along with that all important water source they also take care to acquire their barley and hops. They have also sourced organic materials to create their organic lagers.

the fermentation tanks

Most micro-breweries focus on ales and so it was interesting to hear how lager is made. The most memorable fact of the tour was that “lagering” is a german word meaning to store from when beer was stored in caves back in medieval times, and Freedom continue to do this important stage maturing the lager for 4-6 weeks before it is either bottled or transferred to kegs. This is in comparison to those large lager brands brewed down the road at Burton-On-Trent which are created in just a few days. It does raise the question can those ubiquitous brands really call themselves lager?

Courtesy of Freedom Brewery

Freedom Four – at 4% abv it has citrus notes and a long dry hoppy finish and one that I quite liked (pretty impressive for a non-lager drinker!)
Freedom Pilsner – a crisp refreshing lager to rival the continental offerings.
Freedom Organic – everything you want in a lager and Owen’s drink of choice, it has a subtle bitterness and is very drinkable. (thank goodness they have it on draught at our local!)
Freedom Organic Dark – brewed with blend of four malts it has multi-layered sweetness and a gentle bitterness.
Freedom Stout – due to a demand from their customers, Freedom created this stout to add to the range, with a rich and complex palate and just the right amount of bitterness and warmth.

With the sampling of beers we also got to try other local producers including some fabulous sausages specially made for the event by Denstone Hall Farm Shop using Packington Pork and some Freedom lager, sourdough baguettes from The Loaf in Crich and a range of Cottage Delight sauces and chutneys. A very tasty BBQ indeed.

It was an enjoyable evening, learning about a very local producer and we can’t wait for the next Slow Food event. For more details on this visit and any future events please have a look at the Slow Food Peak District and Staffordshire page.

Hasta la proxima / Until next time

Review: Grooms Cottage, Bosherston, Pembroke

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Louise - Comida Y Vida

With the arrival of Baby G into the family we decided to return to holidaying in the UK. The last few years have seen us jet abroad for our breaks from France to Canada and even a couple of weeks in the Carribbean with my family. This year my parents and sister were eager to spend some time with us and Baby G so we decided to go away for a short break and opted for the childhood holiday destination of South Pembrokeshire.

I scoured the internet for a cottage suitable for 5 adults, one 5 month old baby and a boxer dog for a period of 5 days in July. Many cottages do not do short breaks in the summer and many are not pet friendly but I did find a number suitable for our needs. We opted for Grooms Cottage based on the great location, price and modern but comfortable look of the place.

Grooms cottage is the middle of 3 cottages based on the site in the village of Bosherston set in the Pembrokshire National park – a true wildlife haven. There is the famous Bosherston Lily Ponds as featured on the BBC’s Autumn Watch just a couple of hundred yards from your doorstep. Go for a walk along the ponds and you will reach Broadhaven beach in less than a mile, which is just one of the fabulous beaches along this coastline.

The cottage itself was fabulous, recently refurbished it was comfortable and modern but in keeping with countryside location. It sleeps 6 with 2 double rooms and one twin, perfect for a large family or to take the Grandparents away with you. We were also provided with a travel cot for Baby G and just had to take along her own bedding. The upstairs Master bedroom was a fabulous size complete with skylight windows for gazing at the stars. The only little problem we had was we could hear a small scratching ….. yep wasps had started to nest in the roof and as the bedroom is in the loft space we could hear them through the ceiling, but a quick call to the owners and they were getting it sorted.

There was a large open living space downstairs with a lounge, dining area for 6 and a kitchen complete with modern appliances. This was great as we could prepare our meals whilst still being able socialise and keep an eye on Baby G playing on her Jungle gym in the living room.

Courtesy of Capell Creative

Each cottage has it’s own private garden. For Grooms cottage the access was from the end of the driveway and not directly from the building. This was fine. the only slight disadvantage was that we were not able just to let the dog outside without accompanying him. One of the other cottages at the site, The Mews, has patio doors that open directly onto their private garden.

The garden itself was absolutely picture perfect, a typical country cottage garden complete with herbs, fruit trees and rhubarb growing. The garden for Grooms cottage is the biggest of the three and Samson was in heaven exploring it. It has a summer house and BBQ too. We were lucky enough to have lovely weather during our visit so could take full advantage of the garden and did have a BBQ one afternoon. Though we did buy a disposable BBQ to use on top of the garden one as the grills were a little rusty due to being left out.

We had such a lovely time at Grooms Cottage, enjoying making use of the self-catering accommodation with a couple of fried breakfasts and a Mexican feast. We also sampled the fabulous food at a local gastro pub The Stackpole Inn and of course the obligatory fish and chips at the seaside.

It was a lovely family holiday and I would definitely return to Grooms cottage for another.

Hasta la proxima / Until next time

The Domino’s Challenge

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Louise - Comida Y Vida

You know those nights where you get home late and can’t be bothered to cook? Do you be naughty on the purse and the waistline and order takeaway? Do you pop to the supermarket and grab a ready meal or do you get home and try and whip up something quick like an omelette that often leaves you hungry?

We have had many of those nights here since Baby G has arrived and often resort to our favourite type of ready meal – pizza. It’s quick and easy to cook and generally satisfies that need for food. We don’t often order takeaway pizza but when Domino’s offered me a challenge to order some of their pizza’s to sample and then try to recreate them with my homemade version – well I couldn’t resist!

So with a couple of friends invited round for the evening we decided to give it a go. Ordering the pizza was easy. Domino’s have the ability to order pizza online, with a simple entry of your post code it will select your nearest store and then away you go. Unfortunately due to our random location in the depths of Staffordshire we were unable have the pizza delivered so we arranged for collection. We selected 3 large pizza’s from the menu but if you can’t find something that you fancy then you can also just create your own.and picked a couple of the types of pizza’s that you can only get in establishments like Domino’s.

Reggae Reggae – Reggae Reggae sauce, roast chicken, tomatoes, green peppers and pineapple
Americano with a stuffed crust – BBQ sauce, pepperoni, chicken, onion and herbs
Chicken Feast – chicken, mushrooms, sweetcorn

The Reggae Reggae was good. I liked the heat and various elements of the toppings. For my friends it was too spicy and one of them totally disapproves of pineapple on pizza! Owen enjoyed the spicy kick from the sauce which is used as the base.

The Americano with a stuffed crust was probably the overall favourite of the night. Lots of smoky barbecue sauce and lots of pepperoni. I love pepperoni on pizza but am often disappointed with the measly few slice scattered on many pizzas and their haphazard and unfair distribution, making me rearrange the topping before cooking. This pizza did not suffer this problem, lots of pepperoni covering the whole pizza. Have to say did not particularly notice the other toppings of chicken and onion due to the wealth of pepperoni, but I’m sure they added to what was a universal success for us.

The last pizza we tried was a rather tame Chicken Feast and this was my least favourite. There was nothing wrong with it all, lots of topping and the tomato base was nice but after the other two taste bud tingling pizza’s, this one was slightly bland in taste for me. However it was the favourite of two of my guests as they don’t like spicy foods so I suppose it’s all down to personal preference.

Overall we enjoyed the Domino’s experience, all pizzas were full of toppings and the base was still crispy. The only downside for us is due to the distance of the nearest store they were warm by the time we started and pretty cold by the time we finished.

Now onto the challenge, could we recreate them ourselves? Well we have recently begun to make homemade pizza, not sure why we didn’t do it before as the dough is very simple to make. Until the domino’s challenge though our toppings were pretty standard affair of tomato and mozzarella or pepperoni.

So we set about creating our own versions of the 3 Domino’s pizzas trying to stick to the toppings where possible. Here is how we got on:

The Pizza Dough – for three 10 inch pizzas.

4 teaspoons of dried yeast
360ml warm water
630g strong plain flour
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil

Mix the yeast with 8 tablespoons of the water and soak for 1 minute. Whisk lightly with a fork till dissolved. Put the yeast mix, flour, salt and olive oil in a blender and mix for 30 seconds, then add the remaining water a little at a time until the dough comes together in a ball – you may not need the whole quantity of water. Once in a ball knead the dough for 5 minutes and then place in an oiled bowl, covered with clingfilm and in a warm place until it has doubled in size. Then simply divide into 3 and roll out into circular or square shapes.

The toppings:
1 large chicken breast – roasted in the oven, chopped into small pieces.
1 tomato, deseeded and finely chopped.
1 green pepper, diced
1 tin of pineapple chunks
Reggae reggae sauce
Pepperoni slices
half small onion, finely diced
Jack Daniels BBQ sauce
1 tin of sweetcorn
50g of mushrooms, sliced
1 carton of Passata
lots of grated cheddar cheese

The Reggae Reggae – mix a couple of tablespoons of Reggae Reggae sauce with a couple tablespoons of passata and spread over the base. Then add all the rest of the toppings – tomato, pineapple, chicken and green peppers and top off with a sprinkling of cheese.

The Americano – mix a couple of tablespoons of the BBQ sauce with a couple of tablespoons of passata to spread over the base. Then add a sprinkling of cheese and top with chicken and onion and lastly the pepperoni ensuring complete coverage.

The Chicken Feast – cover the base with passata and add chicken, sweetcorn and mushrooms and a sprinkling of cheese.

All pizza’s were cooked in a hot oven, placed on a hot baking tray, for 20 minutes.

Overall we enjoyed the homemade versions of the Domino’s pizzas and got a pretty good likeness to the “real deal”.

The verdict:

Taste

As far as the toppings go I think our homemade versions were pretty much spot on to match the Domino’s, maybe a touch more seasoning on the Chicken Feast next time. As for the base whilst I thought the homemade version was good it did not match up to the crispiness of the Domino’s bases, I am wondering if a pizza stone would help achieve the allusive crispiness? Also it may be some time before I have a go at a stuffed crust. The only reason Domino’s is not scoring top marks for taste is that due to them not being piping hot, the stuffed crust had solidified and was not that lovely gooey melting cheese it should have been.
Domino’s – 9/10
Homemade – 8/10

Speed

For the Domino’s pizzas it was 40 minutes from ordering to eating – able to collect in 15 minutes but travelling time delayed it. For those with a Domino’s branch closer it would no doubt be much quicker. For the homemade version 1 hour 30 minutes due to he hour needed for dough to rise and 20 minutes cooking time.
Domino’s – 9/10
Homemade – 7/10

Price

The benefit of collection was that we only paid £9.99 per large pizza when the normal price for is £16.99. Total cost including £2.00 extra for one with a stuffed crust was £31.97 which was not too bad considering there was 4 of us. The cost of preparing the 3 pizzas at home did not exceed £10 and we have plenty of the sauces and some of the toppings left over too.
Domino’s – 8/10
Homemade – 10/10

So overall Domino’s scored 26/30 and homemade pizzas scored 25/30 making it a very close call. I guess if you really can’t be bothered to cook then Domino’s online pizza service is the way to go, but for those with tighter purse strings then it is possible to create a homemade version with a little effort and time.

For me, this challenge has opened up my eyes to a wealth of toppings and flavours for pizzas so thanks Domino’s.

Disfrutas/Enjoy!

The Domino’s pizza’s were provided by Domino’s and Arena Quantum. Homemade pizza costs covered by myself.