Eating out again and sourdough

Went to Potiger in Skerries, trying and mostly succeeding at fine dining in North County Dublin.  Service was a little bit haphazard and although I liked it, a fair bit of offal, if you don't

Also went to Shouk in Drumcondra, absolutely lovely Middle  Eastern and it's BYOB (€8 corkage), will defo be back and recommended it to everyone, especially good for veggies, but meat dishes lovely.  Gorgeous coffee in a glass to finish and all reasonably priced.

I have started making sourdough to get me out of a funk, three loaves in, takes time and a bit hit and miss, still trying different recipes and feeding the starter every day.

Back in Maputo

So - after another long hiatus from posting anything...
We are back in Maputo with the family, cooking most days, interesting ingredients, as I am using what is in A's house and trying not to buy things they'll never use.  Decent store cupboard, less than at home, but we have made Indian (dahl, veg curry, chicken tandoori, rice) Italian (spaghetti and ragu), Mexican (refried beans, cheese, sweetcorn relish, chili salsa, rice, cheese, flatbead, BBQ chicken) British (cottage pie), cheese scones, pasta (recipes later).

Eaten out a couple of times,  Txhapo Txhapo, excellent as always, A Nossa Tasca, just around the corner from A's, may go back v nice, some nice coffee and cakes, every visit I think Maputo improves, but maybe that's the company.  We stayed in  Hotel Cardoso for a night, (ate over the road in excellent A Casa Da Maria),took grandaughter to pool and had lovely breakfast

Cheese scones:
110g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
(if not for babies a sprinkle of paprika is good)
Mix together

45g butter in as small as pieces as possible, into the dry ingredients, then rub in to make a breadcrumb like mixture, grate in as much cheese as you want and mix a bit more. Stir in a tablespoon of milk and knead, only add more milk if still powdery. Flatten, add  grated cheese over top, cut into shapes, batons best for babies, bake for about 20 mins medium over on a greaseproof paper lined tray.


Broccoli and almond pasta.

Chop broccoli into small bite size florets, drop into boiling water for about 90 -120 seconds then into cold water
Add pasta to a pan if salted boiling water

Bring a tablespoon of butter up to nearly foaming in a frying pan then add a tablespoon of olive oil, handful of flaked almonds and broccoli (sage leaves if you have them, and maybe raisins if you want to try)
When the pasta is not quite done, add it (slotted spoon, so you get some of the pasta liquid) into the pan, season and let cook for a minute or so to finish cooking the pasta, turn onto dish, add generous shavings of Parmesan

Instagram

I was listening to Radio 4's The Food Program about Instagram this morning and found it really arresting, as someone who photos food, mostly for myself and a couple of friends, obviously some for this (unread) blog and occasionally, though now rarely, Facebook.  As I don't use Instagram, it's a bit of a mystery to me, although the contributors seemed to suggest it was a nicer place than Twitter, so obviously nicer than FB as well, as they tend to both be miserable and / or shouty cesspits.

I thought the talk of influencers and people teaching how to take photos for Instagram - and being paid for it, were something of a revelation,  though I am too old and miserable for a bright and happy place - I did smile at the thought of a specifically Instagram friendly brand of pasta and trying to get seated at the the tables with the best light for photography

When I'm in the gym on a morning, there is a very fit attrative couple, there everyday who do a huge amount of work and document it as they go in a notebook, I've noticed now and again the they pause to take pictures / videos of eah other, I guess it is part of the same Insta-thing I'm just not with - but being old and fat as well as more interested in taste than looks in food, hardly surprising I'm out of touch

South Africa: winelands and Capetown

We flew up to Capetown from Joburg, picked up a car and drove to Franschhoek, wine train was fantastic value, ate lunch at Glen Carlou, very cheap and very fine dining:

TukTuk bewpub in Franschhoek was good, had a lunch in Boschendal:

Franschhoek is nice, if a little genteel and quiet, popped into Stellenbosch on way back to Capetown and thought it looked lovely, would stay there next time

Capetown was good, felt safer than Joburg, and Uber was v cheap, had great food, wine and beer, staayed in the best AirBnB we've had:

Would recommend Fork Tapas, Tiger's Milk and Beerhouse on Long St, Clerkes on Bree St and had a wonderful meal in Chef's warehouse (walk-in only)

Weather was great for the month, sites and scenery in Capetown were lovely, although a bit short of Art Galleries and Museums - went to Districk 6 Museum (and also Apartied Museum in JB), good, powerful, but really fucking depressing, like Schindler's Factory in Krakow.

Flew home via Istanbul, in two minds about visiting it, maybe a bit dodgy still and lots of others on the long list...

Mozambique, South Africa and babies

October was a trip to Mozambique and South Africa.  With family and baby in Maputo, so eating out was ex-pat, little bit cheaper than Dublin, nothing special, other than the company and some views

Local food is very dimple, maize and greens, apart from the bread pau (pauzinho is little rolls),  Prego Nao Pau is a minute steak sandwich, usually with a very hot piri-piri sauce on the side and I do like the beer, 2M and especially Lagunita Preta

She is bringing up the baby trying baby-led weaning, surprisingly (I though) going very well, different from her sister who is doing old school spoon feeding.  I cannot really talk as a young and terrible parent, anyone and any method is better than I did with Jack.

Made a fair bit of food for the baby and family, keeping salt and spice down and tring to make things Aoife could try herself when we left.

We all went into South Africa, a night in an AirBnB, with a couscous salad , cheese, fruit etc, the AirBnB hadd a great herb garden, so couscous was v good.

We then spent a few days in Johannesburg, bit dodgy, but around Fox St it's safe and very secured, food very cheap, beer and wine excellent.  We had a decent Mexican, an OK Italian, soom good food at Neighbourgoods Market  Che was fantastic,:

 They went back home to Maputo then and we few to Capetown - next post

Cloud egg

Saw a Cloud egg on a cooking program this week, had never heard of it, so looked it up ad made one will the oven was on today:

V simple, make a meringue, add a bit of salt when whisking, fold in some grated cheese (Gruyère in recipe, I used Cheshire). Onto greaseproof paper on a baking tray, make a well in middle, three minutes in hot oven, add the yolk into well, 3 or 4 more minutes in oven.  Lovely.

Was listening to Radio4 Food program, retrospective on Rowley Leigh, I though both the simple pasta recipe and the aquacotta sound lovely and will try both when I can.

Tomatoes, bread and pizza

Garden pots going very well, a few more gherkin and chillies, loads of tomatoes

A few different varieties, made some salads and a roasted tomato sauce for pizza and ragu.

I made my best every bread yesterday, a simple brown bread with fennel seeds and sliced up sun dried tomatoes (Lidl, not my own - not enough sun)

Does look anything special, but I really liked it

Made mini-pizzas last nigh, tuna & red onion, roast courgette, blue cheese & rocket, salami and rocket and jamon & a baked egg

Obvo, egg looked the winner, even San photo-ed it

Barcelona

We went to Barcelona for the long weekend, haven't been there for years, flights are better than Madrid at the moment, so will be back soon.

First difference I noticed, it seemed a lot less grubby and it seemed safer than before, I know they've put a huge effort into fighting the perceived pick-pocket threat and I know people who were mugged.

From a going out point of view the first difference is in Spain there are usually three beer sizes, cana, copa / tubo and jarra.  Barcelona doesn't seem to have cana (~20cl), if you ask for one, you get a copa.  They also don't have alcohol free beer on draft and I only saw one person drinking a bottle of it in 4 days.

The markets were great, food perfect, Vinitus ( Carrer del Consell de Cent) no website,  Ciutat Comtal (Ramblas), same menu, so obviously owned by the same team were both stand-outs.

and
El National was both a stunning building and great food, its a very upmarket food court, we would love to try some of the other sections, we ate in the Taperia, great fun

Great long weekend, not cheap, hotel up and down, but really enjoyed  rooftop pool and would definitely stay in Eixample again