A Little Childhood Nostalgia

Do you remember thinking when you were a child that when you grow up you’ll buy all the sweets you want? Me too, and that’s exactly what I did when I discovered A Quarter Of, a wonderful on-line company which sources and stocks all the old favourites.

I was thrilled to discover this website which transported me back to my childhood. Browsing the site I squealed with delight at each new discovery. All my lovingly remembered sweets were there along with ones I’d completely forgotten about. I could hardly wait to place the order.

But then came the dilemma – what to choose? I had to give this some serious consideration and fight off the urge to order everything. Sherbet was always my favourite as a child, so I put a good selection in my basket. Rob’s requests were simple, winter mixture and bazooka bubblegum –lots of it.

There really is every sweet you could imagine here and in the unlikelihood that you don’t find something you’re looking for you can put in a request to see if it can be found. And sugar-free varieties are available to. How fantastic is that?

The idea for A Quarter Of came to Managing Director, Michael Parker, 4 years ago when he and his brother were in a pub reminiscing about all the sweets they used to buy from their local sweetshop. After some investigation Michael discovered that all the sweets he remembered were in fact still being manufactured. You can read the full story on the website.

Our order was delivered to Rob’s office, but he had to work very late on the day it was delivered so I had to wait all evening to taste the goodies. When he finally got home I was in my pyjamas and we opened the box on the bed. It was like Christmas had come early. We were absolutely delighted. Rob said the smell from the box was just how sweets should smell. The little white paper bags the sweets came in brought the memories flooding back to us. Suddenly we were seven years old again. The creamy white chocolate had that same distinct smell and taste as it did all those years ago. The twisty marshmallows, or flumps as I remember them, tasted even better than I remembered, the wham bars were fantastic and the parma violets, another of my favourites, were just as sweetly perfumed and delicious as they always were.

But the real fun came when we opened the popping candy, Space Dust as it used to be known or Fizz Wiz as it is now. I’d forgotten the sensation of the fizzing and popping in my mouth and it was fantastic to experience it again. We had great fun opening our mouths and hearing the loud crackling. To see us you never would have thought we were grown ups with sensible jobs and bills to pay.

The Night Sky Ablaze With Colour

Bonfire Night is upon us once again, the great British tradition celebrating the failure of an attempt by Guy Fawkes and fellow conspirators to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605.

People all over the country wrap up warm in gloves, scarves and hats and venture outside to watch spectacular fireworks, gather around blazing bonfires and eat hot food to keep them warm. Smoke fills the night sky long after the fireworks have ended and people are back in their warm houses.

Jacket potatoes, hot dogs with fried onions and soup are just some of the traditional foods eaten on this night and in fact, with firework displays and parties often taking place the weekend before or after, the celebrations stretch over more than one night.

Last night we went to Rob’s parents’ house for a barbecue and to watch the nearby fireworks display. Some of our group took a walk to watch the display and others stayed in the warm and watched from the upstairs window or the garden by the warmth of the barbeque.

I’ll leave you now with some more pictures from the night.

Bunny In A Pot

How do you feel about rabbit? I know a lot of people don’t like the thought of eating it, unable to get the thought of cute furry little animals out of their heads. I guess the fact that many people keep rabbits as pets makes it hard to think of them as food. I’ve never eating it myself (before tonight, that is), simply never having been presented with cooked rabbit and never feeling the desire to cook one myself. But now that I have a greater interest in food and game is becoming more popular, with TV chefs bringing it to our screens, rabbit is something that has been intriguing me. And anyway I really didn't think I could consider myself a proper foodie until I’d tried it!

Perhaps a few years back I, too, would have been unable to face the thought of eating rabbit. But now I’m a little older and have thought about it more I have to consider why it’s any different from eating a duck, a lamb or a cow. I guess at the end of the day it comes down to what you know and are used to. If you grew up on a farm or in the depths of the country and regularly ate rabbit growing up then I doubt you would see what all the fuss is about.

So with all this in mind when I went to the butchers the other day and saw that he had skinned and prepared rabbits I decided there and then that it was about time I tried one. So the butcher chopped one up for me and I brought it home, feeling rather brave and proud of myself. Then I got it home and I did start to feel a little funny about it. I’ve never had a rabbit in my fridge and the last time I was close to one I was stroking my friend’s house rabbit. Oh dear, there’s that image of the cute furry little animal again.

With that thought pushed out of my mind I started cooking and was actually taken a back by just how good it smelt. It put me in mind of Christmas, with the turkey cooking and making giblet gravy.

When I tasted the liquid in the stew I really was quite blown away. This was good, really good. Time to try the meat. The texture is like chicken but the taste is deeper, gamier, as you’d expect. It really is very nice. If you haven’t already, give it a go – you may be pleasantly surprised.




Rabbit Stew

Brown a jointed rabbit in olive oil. Remove from the pan and add 4 rashes of roughly chopped smoked bacon. Sauté until golden then add about 6 shallots (halved if they are large) and two crushed garlic cloves. Sauté for a few minutes more then deglaze the pan with a large glass of white wine. Add 1 litre of chicken stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and gently simmer on the hob on a very low heat for about 2 hours until the rabbit is tender and falling off the bone. Season to taste at the end of the cooking time.

Grey Mullet with Mashed Potato and Beurre Fondue Sauce

The weather has turned and it seems that the warmth we’ve been spoiled with this year has finally given way to cold air. The heating has been on and the clocks have gone back. Time for comfort food. White flaky fish, creamy mashed potato and lots of buttery, buttery sauce. Rick Stein’s Beurre Fondue Sauce made with shallot, white wine, fish stock and lots of butter was just the thing. All that butter - so bad but oh so good.