Author: Sarah Kemp

Andalucian tapas and sherry at Casa Brindisa

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Brindisa is one of those places in London that i’ve heard so much about but despite all of the glowing reviews and compliments, I have never made it – until last night that is. I embarked on my journey to South Kensington last night with high hopes – I was about to attend a Sherry and Andalucian tapas tasting evening at Casa Brindisa. One of my favourite cuisines is Spanish, probably due to the amount of time I spent in Spain when I was a child. Maybe not an awful lot in comparison to the more well seasoned traveller but nonetheless it gave my pallet and taste buds a firm grounding. So the point of the evening: to introduce a range of press and bloggers to the new supper clubs held at the venue plus the Andalucian menu that will run through the month of September. The venue itself, sweet and atmospheric with a bar area, tapas area, ham carving counter and a room at the bottom, which lets you look into the kitchen. Peter …

American pancakes with blueberries and maple syrup

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We’re having a heatwave at the moment. I can’t remember the last time we had so many scorching days and balmy evenings and I don’t know about you but the heat really takes it out of me. On days like this I dream of being sat by a cool swimming pool or lying on a beach listening to the waves lap up on the shore. But the reality is, I’m stuck in a clammy city with no air conditioning and the closest I get to that beach is the dirty, grotty Thames or a lido full to the brim with excited pasty (and lobster red) Brits. This weather calls for some energy food so I opted for American pancakes with blueberries and maple syrup this morning. I used a recipe by Louisa Carter. Check out her food photography, it’s pretty tasty. Ingredients 135g plain flour 2 tbsp golden caster sugar 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 130ml milk 1 egg, lightly beaten 2 tbsp melted butter lashings of maple syrup handful of juicy blueberries …

Vintage at Goodwood tea party in Hyde Park

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This Saturday, armed with flyers, cakes, music and deckchairs, a few of us trailed to Hyde Park to enjoy the glorious sunshine before the Stevie Wonder gig in Hyde Park. We set up camp with our picnic table beautifully dressed, right before the entrance gate and staged a mini Vintage at Goodwood tea party having encouraged people to come down, bring a cake and join us for a cuppa. Vintage at Goodwood will be a celebration of British popular culture from 1940 – 1989, set in the glorious surroundings of the Goodwood Estate in West Sussex. The festival, in it’s first year will take place on 13th-15th August and will play host to a plethora of bands, DJ’s, stalls, cafes and fashion shows to name but a few of the goings on. There will even be the worlds biggest vintage fare (so get saving your pocket money now) Expect to hear live music from Faces, Buzzcocks, Earth Wind and Fire, Noisettes and what will most likely be my favourite – The Sandy Shaw Review, which …

Taste of London 2010

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I only had two hours to hot foot it around Taste of London this year before jumping on a train to Nottingham and my aim was to try as many dishes as I could in a short amount of time. I was on a mission – the tube journey on the way consisted of revising the programme and circling every restaurant that I wanted to visit and every dish that I wanted to try. There were quite a few and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to try them all due to time, money and stomach restraints (I did however skip breakfast so I could fit a little more in). To me, there didn’t seem much point in choosing dishes from restaurants that I have either visited before or that are easily accessible to me in terms of price. I chose to ignore the four lip-synching Malaysian dancers that greeted punters and headded straight to The Grill at The Dorchester where I ordered Pan roasted scallop with sardine pie and a cauliflower puree. A …

Bluberry and Pecan Granola Bars

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Fed up with the usual boring bowl of milky cereal for breakfast? I am. I’ve been having a lot of porridge recently and it’s quite often ended up dry and yukky. It’s not the best to eat and certainly not the best to look at sitting on your desk half eaten. Bluberry and Pecan Granola Bars, originally uploaded by Food For Think. I’m not overly fond of pre packaged cereal bars because one just doesn’t satisfy me and if I eat two I feel like little miss piggy. So… I decided to make my very own granola bars using a few left overs from another baking sesh. They take hardly any time to make, are delicious and full you up until your stomach groans to tell you it’s hungry again at lunch time. Ingredients 100g butter 200g porridge oats (I like Jordan’s) 100g sunflower seeds 50g sesame seeds 50g chopped pecans 3 tbsp runny honey 100g unrefined light muscovado sugar 1 tsp ground cinnamon 100g dried blueberries Method 1. Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. …