Fancy a duck anyone?

I never thought I would ever put up a post about a pre-prepared 'nearly' ready meal but I just MUST! This was an absolute treat over Christmas thanks to mamma and pappa spoons' little Sainsbury discovery!

If you're like me and crave a bit of crispy duck now and again but can't be arsed to go to the chinese and spend a lump, well just get yourself off to Sainsburys and make this purchase!

My only tip would be is to roast the duck for a little longer, I think it say's about 40 mins but I did it for 50 mins to make sure the skin was extra crisp!

It's on offer at the mo for £4.49 and you get a mini recipe book, perfect for pre-NYE partying without the heaviness of a full dinner!

Honestly try it you'll be licking your fingers x

Thai Green Chicken Curry

This dinner was delicious the other night! Jamie Oliver inspired thai green curry, but as usual I didn't have all the ingredients and Jamie doesn't use chicken in his curry sauce base so I concocted this dish from one of my own recipes and a bit of Jamie's. (Jamie's 30 minute meals - page 86) And I even got to use my new blender! Woop woop!

Top Tip Essential: Blend the spices and onion to make a thick paste


Crucials:
One onion (I used red)
Three cloves of garlic
Three spring onions
One whole red chilli
Spoonfull of crushed chilli flakes
One small spoonfull of garam masala (optional)
One big spoonfull of  ground coriander (fresh would be preferable but i only had ground)
One whole lime squeezed  (I grated a frozen lime and used two big spoonfulls of the zest)
Glug of olive oil
One green pepper
Six mushrooms
Three chicken breasts
Half a pint of chicken stock
One tin of coconut milk
Fresh basil
Basmati rice


Mmmm curry!

• Chop the onion in chunks, peel the garlic and add to the blender with the chilli, chilli flakes, garam masala, chopped up spring onion, coriander and lime and blend until fine and a thick consistency
• Add a glug of oil to the blender and blend 
• Chop the chicken into small pieces
• Chop the mushroom and pepper into small pieces and leave to one side
• Gently fry the paste in a small glug of olive oil in a large frying pan 
• At the same time make the chicken stock in the blender bowl so you use up all the bits of paste!
• Add the chicken to the paste and fry gently for approx 5 mins until chicken looks white

• Add the mushrooms and the peppers to the chicken and fry gently for another 5 mins
• Pour in the chicken stock and cook till it starts to boil and then simmer for approx 5 mins
• Add the tin of coconut milk and stir in and gently simmer for at least 30mins
• Season with a little salt and pepper
• Chop up the fresh basil and mix it into the curry
• Make the rice and serve with a sprig of basil.

Soooo yummy! x

Paella..paella

Nothing better than a bit of rice following the Christmas meat'n cheese carnage! Having said that I can't believe I didn't actually have any cheese this Christmas apart from cheese on toast we had on Boxing Day! Not even one chunk of stilton, the good thing I suppose is that for once I didn't feel stuffed like the turkey and hopefully I can still get into my dress on NYE!

Paella has got to be one of my favourite things to make, not only cos it's easy (easier than risotto) but you don't need to cut anything before you eat you and the only thing you need to slightly chew is the chorizo and prawns! Absolute comfort food after days of boozing and crunching on roasties and sprouts!

Top Tip Essential: Buy a sachet of paella spice mix! They sell it now in Tesco, luckily I have been blessed with my parents going to spain and bringing me endless boxes of the spanish stuff! Thank you Mum!


Crucials:
One sachet of paella spices. I use x two sachets of 'El unico Paellero (Carmencita)
Two lemons
Half a pack of Paella Rice (you can buy at any supermarket)
One large red pepper
One tin of chopped tomatoes
One large chorizo sausage
Packet of raw king prawns
One big spoonfull of peas (frozen are fine)
One large onion
Two cloves of garlic
Two pints of chicken stock
Six mushrooms
One large glass of white wine
Glug of olive oil
Parmesan

Paella Paella

• Chop the onion and crush the garlic and fry gently in the oil in a large frying pan
• Add the mushrooms and red pepper once the onions have softened
• At the same time, chop up the chorizo into quarter chunks, each slice in four and fry in a separate pan, no oil needed, gently fry till a little bit crispy
• Squeeze half a lemon into the onion mix and fry for two mins
• Add the rice to the frying pan and mix until each piece is coated in the oil
• Mix in the sachets of paella mix and coat the paella rice, should be bright paella yellow
• Fry for approx three minutes
• Add the wine to the rice mix and let it gently boil until most of the wine is absorbed
• Pour in half the chicken stock and let it boil and then turn down to gently simmer
• You need to keep stirring  it regularly but not as often as risotto so the rice doesn't stick to the pan
• Add the peas straight from frozen into the rice 
• Add the tin of chopped tomatoes and stir in
• Let it cook for five/ten mins stirring occasionally
• Add the remainder of the chicken stock and place the prawns on top evenly around the pan, let it cook for a few minutes before stirring in to ensure all prawns are cooked through evenly
• Add salt and pepper
• Squeeze in the rest of the lemon juice and stir
• Add the chorizo but do not pour all the chorizo oil in, you can add a teaspoon in for taste 
• Cook gently until all liquid is absorbed and rice is plump and paella consistency

Serve with parmesan cheese and fresh basil and a chunk of lemon squeezed over the top! 

Social Eatworking

The Facebook for Food...Really??? 

I loved this article in the Evening Standard this week! Apparently 'Social Eatworking' is the way forward for 2012 with the launch of Foodie.fm - the facebook equivalent for food, where users can post recipes, photos and recommendations to others... sound familiar?

Well at least Foodie.fm is a community of similarly obsessed food fanatics so they'll  be no harm of me continuously and annoyingly posting up links and recipes of my dinners, thinking everyone and anyone is interested in my daily consumption...BRING IT ON I say!

The Perfect Hangover Cure - Chilli Con Carne

Lovely day & night at Rudi and Amy's wedding yesterday, she looked amazing! Great food, great company, great entertainment but a great big hangover this morning. I knew I'd feel like this, so I got the mince out the freezer at 2am this morning!

Top Tip: Keep a lemon and lime in the freezer then when you need to use for cooking you can grate it frozen 


Crucials
One red onion
500 grams of lean steak mince
Three hot red chillis
One teaspoon of dried chillis
Three cloves of garlic
One beef stock cube
One red or yellow pepper
Tomato purée
Spoonfull of plain flour
Half carton of Passata
Two tins of chopped tomatoes
Spoonful of ground coriander
Two tins of kidney beans (drained and rinsed)

Optional - (o)

Cherry tomatoes
Grated Lime zest
Glug of Lea Perrins
Grated mature cheddar
Sour cream

• Chop the onion and add to a mixing bowl with the garlic and the mince.
• Season with salt and pepper
• Chop and add the chillis to the bowl and a spoonful of coriander
• Mix it together with your hands so that everything combines 

• Fry the mixture in olive oil on a medium heat in a large saucepan (don't use too much oil)
• Grate in a small amount of lime zest and stir together (o)
• Add two heaped spoonfulls of tomato puree
• Stir in the spoonfull of flour
• Chop the pepper and cherry tomatoes (o) and add them to the mince and fry for approx two mins

• Add one tin of chopped tomatoes and break in the beef stock cube
• Add in half a carton of passata
• Add a glug of Lea Perrins (o)
• Add two tins of kidney beans
• Cook on a low heat for at least an hour, stirring regularly and season to taste

Serve with basmati rice and a sprinkle of grated cheddar and dollop of sour cream on the side.

How to make perfect fluffy rice

• Add the rice to a saucepan and add cold water to cover the rice by about a centimetre 
• Turn on a high heat and bring it to the boil (uncovered) , when you start to see it bubbling you need to let it boil for about a minute (no longer)
• Turn it right down to minimum heat and cover with a lid (do not uncover)
• Simmer for exactly 10 mins
• Take it off the heat and it should be perfect!

Creamy Salmon and Pea Fusilli for you Miss Fisher

This one's for my Aussie friend Gina, she recently reminded me of this delicious recipe I shared with her while she was here in London. Sadly she's now back in Oz but hopefully every time she makes this dish she'll be reminded of me and I'll be reminded of our last night out to see a 'Man Like Me!' Amazing!

Crucials

One Lemon
Roasted honey salmon flakes (fresh) or you can use a seasoned cooked salmon fillet flaked
One small tub of creme fraiche
Chilli flakes
Fusilli pasta (or ideally fresh tagliatelle)
Knob of butter
Fresh peas (or frozen)
Parmesan

Creamy and flaky

• Fry the butter in a small frying pan and add the salmon flakes, break up so they are in small pieces and not too chunky
• At the same time boil the water for the pasta
• Squeeze in half a lemon (for two people and one lemon for four)
• Stir the salmon and lemon until it starts to golden (not too much)
• Add the tub of creme fraiche and mix together
• Season with salt and pepper
• Add a few chilli flakes
• Turn it off and wait for the water to boil
• Add the pasta and peas and boil until ready
• Once it's done, drain and stir in the creamy salmon (you may need to heat before you mix it in)
• Serve and sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan

Soooo delicious so easy, and great for a quick meal that everyone will love, just yummy! x

And I'm sure Anna even secretly liked it when I made it this summer, and she's not one for fishy dishes!

Double Scotch and....

It's been a while since my last blog and to be honest I haven't liked it at all partly because it's taken me away from the blog-flow I had, but mainly it all boils down to a few but 'BIG' reasons all of which I have listed in priority order below:

- One of the best loved 'booze' brands in the world
- The emptiest fridge in the 'Close'
- Some 'see you next tuesday' robbing our lovely home!
- Late nights
- Frost bite (slight exaggeration but it was bloody cold)
And one extremely tired Spoon! Who now comes with bags bigger than Primark!

It suddenly hit home the night that Mirek said, 'I can't remember the last time I took dinner  leftovers to work for lunch, what have we actually been eating??'
Oh gawd I thought I really can't remember? which was odd!

The closest I got to any blog post was this article which I found on my commute one late night home and one which I also just realised was rather apt considering...!

 But I didn't post it, nor did I rush out to Tesco to find it! I have since forgotten but today it's been added to the enormous shopping list that exists in my mind.

Ten Bells Pop Up....OMG!!!

Well well well I never! 

Can I just say this article that I perused today in the Metro on my way to work is about my fave pub in London and actually apart from it being part of Ripper history, as in Jack the Ripper.. horrible thought I know but so fascinating, i dont know why it's my fave!

I think it's the feeling you feel as you walk in and think you're taking a step back in history....or is that just my mental imagination.... maybe not so much now as they moved the bar to the centre of the pub! why would you do that??? I still don't understand!

Anyway this seriously was one pub that I encouraged everyone to experience, if you didn't feel it upstairs then you sure did when you walked down the teeny staircase to the lavatories! a combo of graffitied walls, low ceilings, piping, and awful toilets which felt you were a million miles away from anyone! But time and time again I wanted to go see it just one more time....to the point I used to make my friends just go in to go and walk downstairs how cruel was that, and I always wondered why they came back with that confused are you for real? look on their faces...like I said 'know the history live the experience!' and they sold Fruli's!! another big tick on the tickbox!

Once there was even a real stuffed dog on display on the bar! and as much as my love for dogs is widely known I still found it amazingly fascinating! and just odd!

So.... the article I read this morning reads like this:

Upstairs room? OMG really? now that's amazing and I want to see! like NOW!!!

But luckily....I have till January 2012! yes please .....please.... please! Mirek? please? I don't ask for much but this one thing would actually make my year!  x

Oh and for once I don't care about the food! Did I actually say that? But I must admit it would make a massive difference :-)

Pretty special!

No 80 today was smelliliciously good! A combination of spiced apple, cinnamon, cloves..roast lamb, potatoes and all the trimmings. Amazingly delicious and wow what a stuffing! No stuffing just literally satisfyingly stuffed..

It was my first pre-Christmas Christmas dinner with the Tillers and Prettys! What can I say? Two words...Pretty Spesh!

The biggest and juiceyist leg of lamb i have ever eaten, roasted garlic, shallots, potatoes and red wine gravy! As Mirek would say 'Yummas'! As I would say 'Thank you Steph, yes please!'
Followed by Kate's amazing Christmassy Crumble...ooooh naughty!

The kids were on top form, entertaining everyone, George told me my hair was the colour of custard..insult or compliment I wonder? Hmmm the fact that he's 4 is known for his Innocent Georgeisms and has the most interesting imagination meant i took it as a compliment ha how could I not! Thick and gloopy didn't even come to mind! How could it when it was said with this grin...

Just gorgeous! The kids ate like they had never eaten before...,more meat..more veg and please sir can i have some more! Aww just wonderful to see!

Lottie shyfully acted out her lines for her Christmas concert, and happily said that she no longer wanted to be Mary as she was quite happy to be Alien 4 because she had 5 more lines to learn than Mary did, then she sang what seemed to be the longest song ever and wasn't even her song in the hope that whoever had that part may pull out giving her the chance of stardom...bless her!

Joseph...oh Joseph was just Joseph... happy...excited and full of energy, considering he finished off the leg of lamb that was quite an achievement!

What a day and what brilliant quality company! My first taste of Tiller Christmas left me wanting lots more! x

OH Nigella!!!

Thought I'd do a quick little blog post in tribute of good ole Nigella for the silent laughter this little video brought to me this lunchtime... check this big beauty out

I also wanted to point out that the only thing this woman has ever made me wanna taste from her voluptuous innuendo filled presentation of dishes is her 'Marmite Spaghetti'...oh yes mamma!

This has got to be one of the simplest things I or you can or will ever make!

Crucials 

• Spaghetti
• One spoonfull of marmite
• Big knob (stop it!) of butter
• Salt and pepper
• Grated cheese

A Real Quickie

• Boil the spaghetti
• Drain and add a big knob of butter
• Add one spoonfull of marmite and stir
• Season with salt and pepper
• Top with grated cheese

That's it! 

Easy, tasty and something I'm quite sure can turn those Marmite Haters into Lovers!

Cottage Pie

What always confuses me about cottage pie and shepherds pie is which is with beef and which is with  lamb. It's one of those things you are always told "shepherds = sheep, cottage = beef" but I never seem to remember even when the above seems pretty straightforward.

This recipe is for cottage pie, simple, meaty and using up lots of things in my fridge :-)

Crucials

• One onion (i used half red and half white)
• Two cloves of garlic
• One leek
• One carrot
• Four chestnut mushrooms
• One beef stock cube
• Two big spoonfulls of Passata (or tomato purée)
• 500 grams of lean minced beef
• Salt and Pepper
• Glug of Lea Perrins
• One teeny pinch of sugar
• One tea spoonfull of mixed herbs
• Four medium potatoes
• Glug of milk
• Knob of butter
• Chunk of mature cheddar (optional)

Mincing

• Chop the onion, carrot, leek and mushrooms and fry gently in a big saucepan with crushed garlic
• Sauté so its soft
• Sprinkle the beef stock and stir in
• Add the tomato passata/purée
• Season with salt and pepper
• Add a glug of Lea & Perrins
• Cook till so the meat is cooked through and browned
• Sprinkle with sugar and add the herbs
• Continue to cook on a low heat and stir regularly

Mashing

• Peel and boil the potatoes
• When they're soft, drain and add the butter, put the lid on and shake so they break up
• Add a glug of milk and mash the potatoes till soft and fluffy 

Pie Pie

• Preheat the oven at 200degrees
• Add the mince into a pie dish and cover with mash potato

• Sprinkle strong cheddar over the top and bake in the oven for approx 30mins until cheese has melted and top has crisped and browned a little

Serve with peas or green side salad (iceberg lettuce, cucumber and celery) nom nom we both had more than second helpings!

Chicken, ham and leek pie ala'Tenby

OMG it took a lot for me to do this today considering the hangover from hell I have from Amy's hen night at Kanaloa. It was nearly substituted with ham egg and chips, but oh no i suddenly got my oompth  back and gave it a go.

Looked online at about 6 recipes and decided some were a little too simple and others were far too complicated for my brain and taste buds today so thought I'd take bits of each and do it my own way.

Here it goes, this one is sooooo good you really must try!

Crucials

• Two leeks
• Six chestnut mushrooms
• Chunk of Ham (as per my ham joint or use thick sliced ham approx 3 slices)
• Half an onion
• Two chicken breasts
• One centimetre slice of butter
• One Big Spoonfull of plain flour
• Three quarters of a pint of chicken stock
• Three big spoonfulls of thick double cream
• Half a lemon
• One sheet of ready rolled puff pastry
• Salt
• Pepper

Making the Filling

• Chop the onions, mushrooms and leeks
• Slice the chicken breasts into strips
• Cube the ham into small pieces
• In a large saucepan fry the mushrooms, onion and leeks and season with salt and pepper, fry slowly so it sautés and doesn't burn

• In a separate saucepan melt the butter and once melted add the flour stirring constantly, when it gets to a thick pulp add the chicken stock and stir rigorously, it helps using a whisk
• When it's smooth add the cream and continue to stir until all the lumps have gone and its a creamy sauce texture
• Stir it into the veg mix above
• Add the raw chicken and allow it all to boil, then reduce and let it simmer
• Squeeze in the lemon, add the ham and stir
• Simmer for approx 20mins until chicken has properly cooked through

Pie pie

• In a pie dish, add the filling
• Cover the pie dish with the pastry
• Whisk an egg up and brush the egg on the top of the pie 
• Bake for approx 35-40 mins until the pie is golden

Made with love for my hungover Mirek  x

Serve with creamy mash potato!

Pappa Spoon inspired Sweet Orange Honey Baked Ham

I tried this ham a week ago when my dad made it and I literally couldn't stop picking, it's absolutely delicious.

The only problem was that I didn't have all the right ingredients so had to improvise a bit with the cloves and spices.

Crucials

• One smoked gammon joint (I used a Tesco value joint about £3.50)
• One carton of orange juice
• One onion
• Cloves and Spices (which I didn't have but I did have a sachet/tea bag of mulled wine spices, so used two of them)
• 4 bay leaves
• Three big spoonfulls of Honey
• One spoonfull of wholegrain mustard
• Half a lemon
• Glug of orange juice
• Crushed chillis
• One spoonfull of soft brown sugar

Cooking the ham

• Put the ham in a large saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil
• Once it starts boiling, turn it off, drain the water and place back into the saucepan
• Pour over the carton of orange juice so it half covers the ham 
• Pour cold water over the top so it covers all of the ham
• Chop the onion in half and add it to the saucepan
• Add the bay leaves and one sachet of the cloves and spices

• Bring to the boil then turn it down and simmer for approx 3 hours
• Remove from the pan and cut off most of the fat and skin from the top, however make sure you leave a thin layer 
• Criss cross the top of the ham with a knife cutting through slightly to the meat
• Place into a roasting tray

Making the Glaze

• Mix the honey, lemon, glug of orange, chillis, brown sugar, cloves and spices and mustard together 
• Spoon over the glaze covering all of the ham and making sure it seeps in through the criss cross

Roasting the Ham

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees
• Place the glazed ham joint into the oven for approx 25-35 mins until the ham is roasted

• Make sure you baste the ham every 10 mins with the glaze and juices from the roasting tray
• If the juices and glaze start to burn a bit in the tray then transfer the ham to a clean roasting tray for the last 10 mins

So sweet and soooo delicious and perfect for Christmas.

Spicy roast chicken, rice and a bit on the side

I nicked this idea from Jamie's Great Britain, having watched him make it and considering how much it made us dribble I thought I'd give it ago but slightly adapted of course.

Top Tip Essential: Marinade for at least one hour

Crucials

• One whole chicken
• Three big cloves of garlic
• Thumb size piece of ginger
• Three small fresh red chillis
• Two big spoonfulls of tomato puree
• One spoonfull of ground coriander
• One spoonfull of turmeric
• One spoonfull of garam masala
• One spoonfull of curry powder
• One tea-spoonfull of dry chilli
• Two lemon
• One spoonfull of sea salt
• One tea-spoonfull of pepper
• Two big spoonfulls of natural yoghurt
• Half a red onion
• A quarter of cucumber
• 10 small plum tomatoes
• Glug of olive oil
• Glug of white wine vinegar

Making the marinade

• Grate the garlic cloves and the ginger into a mixing bowl
• Squeeze in one whole lemon
• Add the chillis, coriander, tomato puree, turmeric, garam masala, curry powder, sea salt, pepper and yoghurt and stir into a thick paste
• Place the chicken into a dish and slice through the skin and the chicken meat all over the breast and legs
• Make pockets under the skin and deepen the slices
• Fill the pockets with the marinade and work it into the chicken and over and under the skin so it's covered
• Marinade for as long as possible in the fridge

A good roasting

• Heat the oven on 225 degrees
• Place the chicken into a roasting tray and shove half a lemon squeezed slightly into the cavity
• Place on the middle of the oven and roast for approx 1.5-2  hours
• Baste the chicken every half hour with the juices
• It needs to look burnt on the outside because of the yoghurt, which you can scrape off after

A bit on the Side

• Chop the tomatoes, red onion and cucumber into small pieces
• Season with salt and pepper
• Add a glug of white wine vinegar
• Add a glug of olive oil
• Stir and serve

Serve with basmati rice and a squeeze of lemon...delicious

So annoyed, it looked so delicious i couldn't wait to cut into it and so forgot to take a pic of the whole chicken straight from the oven!

It was soooo good, we had second helpings and there's plenty left over for lunch tomorrow x

Time for a forking spoonfull

Oh and how could I forget! The clock! Another little Tenby discovery..how apt!

Tasty Tenby

Wow what a beautiful place! I really didn't expect it to be as nice as it was when I booked our 2 nights away in Tenby, took us long enough to decide that's where we wanted to go and do you know what confirmed it? An article we saw in the Metro on the way to work one morning about a guy who caught the biggest cod (think it was cod) and it would have been a world record if he hadn't of eaten half of it haha!.

4 hours from London, the hotel was lovely, people so friendly, nice hilly walk to the beach, little bit windy so grateful for ear muffs and Barbours and when we got to the coast we were gob-smacked, breathtaking views, the most amazing beaches, beautiful houses and just so tranquil it's exactly what we needed.

Discoveries galore, every corner we turned was aww look at that, wow look over there...just beautiful (that's been my fave word for the last few days).

I'm not going to write about our whole time away but I do want to share some of the best bits....

We found the most amazing hidden restaurant/pub it's called The Plantagenet with open fires, candles and vintage delights..

There we had our first taste of Tenby..delicious, local seafood fish cakes and mussels mariniere..Mmm Mmm Mmmmmm

Wanted to go back the next day but it was closed and instead we got stalked by the chef haha 

That night we went back to the hotel for dinner as the reviews had been so good and we had the best steak we've ever had ever! It really doesn't look that great in this pic so I wasn't going to share  but I had to just cos it was :-)

Sorry upside down couldn't rotate for some bizarre reason!

Next day we went back to the beach to explore the caves and look for crabs...plenty of caves but no crabs! Check this out...

So much to see and discover, so quiet and so romantic..loved every second.

For lunch we stepped into The Bay Tree, now from first impressions I reckon it could have been pretty basic but once again the taste of Tenby didn't fail to surprise us..Mirek must have had the best homemade chicken, ham and leek pie i have ever tasted something I would never have chosen but has now been added to my list of 'must makes'..buttery and so full of flavour it really was amazing!

I was still longing for my Plantagenet mussels so had some again, not quite as good but good!

The rest of the holiday we spent on the juke box in local pubs, warming up next to log fires and chasing the tide. I can't wait to go back, especially for the sail out to see the seals.

12 Bellys, 6 Rellys and Aunty Hanna

Wow...what a feast and a great toast to Beryl! Still can't believe I never met her, but I feel like I have with all the wonderful stories and anecdotes.

Aunty Hanna's new home was special, my eyes wandered round transfixed at all the ornate trinkets and treasures, two tables beautifully dressed like a vintage tea party, olives, pistachios and mini cheddars on the side...aww Beryl would have loved it!

Funny funny night, my still mouth hurts from laughing...Mirek on top form.. Stephen and his bum arms...and PA trying to force feed us with 48 bottles of the best red wine..and books about the Nigerian Civil War..think I might give that one a miss!

The meal was delicious...Pea mousse and bacon shavings with asparagus and baby gem for starters.

Main was sooooo tasty, paprika pork, rice, green bean salad and mini gherkins yum yum, going to make this one Ala'Spoons and share on here soon...

Now I'm not a great fan of desserts, give me a cheese board any day but Mmmm Mmmm mmmm zesty lemon mousse and sweet orange sponge tart to finish the evening was a perfect Topper!

Lovely evening had by all x

Porking Lovely!

The Scotch Hen Egg was delish! The peppery pork, perfectly cooked egg just YUM!  The Pork Pie was lovely but not delicious the pastry a little bit too soft, lacking the buttery crunch when freshly cooked ...would have been YUM if we bought it 3 days earlier! 

But overall we were happy with our F&M delights...even if it was a little bit too early...

Forking & Mason

Lovely afternoon in London, first stop 'Jo Loves' new pop up shop in Mayfair...gorgeous! Next stop..shop..2nd stop..more shop...3rd Fortnum & Mason in search of truffles and goddess olives! No truffle man and no goddam olives.. of all the places I would have expected them but Oh No..and I never would have expected to see these......

BBQ Flavour Worm Crisps, Chocolate Covered Ants and Thai Green Curry Crickets...WTF!! Do people really buy and eat these??? Get me out of here I say, until I saw these....

4 plump pork pies...Mmmmm now you're talking! £14 for 4! Shall we? Oooh yes please thank you sir...just one to share and one Scotch Hen Egg! Picture to follow after brunch tomorrow....

We continued to explore the amazing food hall on the ground floor amidst the champagne n cheese chitter chatter from the rather posh bar, we soooo didn't want to go and join them we'd much rather be the annoying tourists taking pictures of all the amazing discoveries, being smiled at by jealous fellow tourists wanting and contemplating doing the same and then we found this....

Being Polish I've had my fair share of vodka or have I? Scorpion Vodka?? Edible Scorpion Vodka? Why???  Really? Yes really! Could you enjoy that? The only fun I can see in enjoying that bottle is nervously playing a drinking game and getting to the last bit and seeing what poor forker will get to crunch on that beast??? Pure josie grossy gross!

Disgusted we continue our F&M exploration.....but where's Mirek gone?? Found him! With the biggest bottle of Tabasco sauce I have ever seen..WOW that's one hot muther forker!

Amazing and I still can't actually believe that was my first trip to F&M in 36 years??? the fact that it's a 10 min walk from work is actually quite delightfull..I was more excited in there then i was in Selfridges...I'm so glad I don't have a sweet tooth cos if I did I think I would actually be obese!