CONGRATULATIONS DAD!

Something completely off topic but my Dad called me this morning about 8am sounding like he'd just been woken up. I thought that there was something wrong and was about to get some bad news when he said that he had been awarded an MBE. Apparently he received the letter about a month ago but was sworn to secrecy until today.

So, Congratulations Dad, it's long overdue for all the hard work you've done for charity and to help those less fortunate. I know it's not just me but the whole family who are so very proud of you!

Edward Craig Stevenson, Formerly Engineer of Medical Physics, University of Aberdeen. For services to Healthcare and to Charity

- Excerpt from the Scotsman.com

Katie's Carbonara

Although the name suggests it, Katie did not cook this dish but I do want to say that Katie is a very good cook (we'll not mention her managing to burn instant noodles once. Not sure how long they were left on the hob to be able to get burnt?!)

The dish is one of her favourites but rarely gets it made well. It's so easy to get right that it's a complete mystery how any restaurant could muck it up.

Hyde Park Winter Wonderland /German Market

German Market? No it wasn't. I've never seen any churroz at a market in Germany. To be honest it looked like the 'International Market' held in Aberdeen every month or so. A bunch of people arrive from continental Europe, stop at Lidl and stock up on crappy biscuits and olives, ditch the wrappers and put them in dusty old wicker baskets and label them as 'Homemade, authentic Bavarian mountain cookies'

Sunday Brunch

As you can probably tell, I'm not posting these on the day I write them. I'm a bit lazy and just post when I get a spare 5 mins. Happens that I left work on time tonight so I thought I would catch up on some well needed posts (judging by the content bare blog we've got going here!)

Well this weekend was relatively free, we went down the the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland or German Market, I can't remember what they called it officially but German it certainly was not...more on that later.

Squeal, little piggy!

Pork...the other white meat, that is what this weeks experiment centred around. I really love pork, with its amazing versatility, ability to take on fantastic flavours from almost any herb/spice/marinade/sauce and finally I love it because it can come to the party all dressed up or arrive casual as you like and still be brilliant.

When we were in Padstow, Cornwall I had a great pork belly dish that the chef had apparently soaked in a cure/brine for 5 days. I decided to try my own version. So after researching numerous brines on the web and books on our shelf I opted for a simple water, salt, muscavado sugar, juniper berries, peppercorn, cloves, star anise and bay leaf solution.

I broke my tooth on a pretzel

I'm sitting in our front room, looking out at the torrents of water running down the street glad that I'm not the man sweeping the leaves out of the gutter. Fortunate as I am to be able to sit here eating a wonderfully soft piece of warm multiseed bread covered in slightly salty butter and sticky, sweet raspberry jam.

A seed is planted

We're into food in a big way; he loves to cook and I love to organise and host. We've both worked in the restaurant business before but never owned our own which, some day, we would like to do, however, we don't want to leave the security of our jobs just yet and restaurant rents are waaaay out of our budget.

The idea was simple, have people over for dinner. That's it! In times of recession (hate that word) we look to new and inspiring ideas. Big companies are opening "Pop-up" restaurants looking to make quick money from an exclusive one night only event. There are underground, anti-restaurants scattered across the capital serving up a variety of delights and we want to create something better, something permanent and something personal which we can build on. Where people can relax, eat, drink and enjoy an evening with new people.
We're not forcing anyone to socialise, this isn't a networking event or mixer party. This is, at it's heart...Dinner at ours.

Our dream is to eventually create a restaurant chain, but not like the restaurant chains you all know and hate. None of your Chiquito's, Frankie & Bennys boil-in-the-bag everything, Maccy-D's or KFC's mistreated chicken. No this is going to be different, a restaurant that you will be happy going to whether you are in Finsbury Park or Aberdeen because you'll know the quality will be top notch and the produce will be the best we can get our hands on.

Let us know what you think of the idea. We're going to be setting up our first Supper Club London night very soon so please give us any feedback/ideas/advice, it will all be taken on board and much appreciated.

The first one is going to have a slightly Oriental theme inspired from our travels around Asia. Some of the dishes on the menu will be our home made Thai Fish Cakes, moreish Black & White Sesame Prawn on Toast and Coriander Squid in Longjing Tea.

*By the by, the header isn't our house. Stunningly set on an island in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam where we went in 2008 I would dearly love to have a holiday home there but we actually live near Finsbury Park, London. We have the Victoria Line and the Piccadilly Line within a 10 minute walk and our front room looks into the park.