I decided to make an impromptu visit to one of my favourite cafes today located in the Northern Quarter in Manchester.
When I first saw the Nexus, I didn't realise what it was. Out one night I walked past a peculiar building that had a set of stairs behind a glass window. On the stairs were various items, one being a kettle, the identity of the other items escapes me- I was transfixed on the kettle!
It was only when a friend invited me to her jewellery making workshop a few years back that I realised that strange building was the home of Nexus Art Cafe, and the set of stairs behind the glass window is used to exhibit various pieces of art. At the entrance to Nexus, you walk down a separate set of stairs into a basement and it is there you enter the Cafe.
Nexus is a not-for-profit creative community space and an exhibition centre for budding artists of many forms. Whenever I go in, there is always something new to look at, and even the design of the menu painted on the wall is constantly changing. It is the only place I will go if I am eating out alone, or fancy a drink, as I don't feel like a complete weirdo, and you can often find lots of other lone diners just relaxing in the little haven.
Today I found myself in the middle of town, stomach rumbling and decided to drop in for a bite to eat before embarking on the cycle journey home. I had my heart set on a F.O.S.H sandwich (Falafel, Olives, Spinach and Hummus), but then I spotted their new 'lite bites' menu, which consists of various mini dishes accompanied by rye bread and a salad, it was £2 for one dish but then £1.50 extra for each extra dishes. I settled on the spicy falafel and sweet onion hummus.
It arrived on a wooden slab; their was two rammikins- one containing falafel and the other sweet onion hummus. The falafel was disappointingly unspicy but were nice all the same. The sweet onion in the hummus was delicious, especially when spread on the brown rye bread (which there was plenty of). It was definitely chickpea heaven!
If you are in Manchester, and you fancy a bite to eat, a drink or just a sit down to read that book you've just purchased I would definitely recommend Nexus. The only downside is that it is a bit on the pricey side, but as it is a not-for-profit and the money goes towards it's charity work, I don't mind paying a little extra.
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Sunday, 8 April 2012
Chester Food and Drink Festival
This weekend was the Chester Food and Drink Festival, which actually finishes on Easter Monday (tomorrow). Me and The Boy's family managed to get tickets for the first day of the festival on Saturday.
As well as food and drink stalls and local independent suppliers selling various food and drink goods, there was also cooking demonstrations by celebrity chefs including Simon Rimmer, owner of Greens Restaurant and presenter of Sunday Brunch. We managed to catch his morning cooking demonstration, which was amazing; not only is he an amazing chef he is also a brilliant entertainer.
The festival itself was HUGE, with produce from some brilliant independent suppliers, including a company called The Gift of Oil, which sells infused olive oils and vinegars. I regret not buying their Lime infused olive oil or one of their matured balsamic vinegars (there is always the internet!) however The Boy's Mother did buy the pomegranate and fig infused balsamic vinegar which also tasted amazing- apparently it's very nice with ice cream!
The Cheshire Cheese Company was also there, a company I've seen before at Manchester Food Festival and Manchester Markets. They do a delicious sticky toffee flavour cheese- sounds weird but is surprisingly nice!
The only disappointing part of the festival I thought was the limited selection of vegetarian food, however I HAD been spoiled the weekend before by the Chorlton Green Festival where ALL the food was vegetarian or vegan. Plus, I had a craving for a falafel and tzatziki wrap, and I think I may have been slightly bitter that no one was selling it- maybe there is a gap in the market there??
All in all a good day, but don't expect to have a lot of choice of food options if you're a veggie. If you like pork, as Sarah Millican would say "You'll be champion"!
As well as food and drink stalls and local independent suppliers selling various food and drink goods, there was also cooking demonstrations by celebrity chefs including Simon Rimmer, owner of Greens Restaurant and presenter of Sunday Brunch. We managed to catch his morning cooking demonstration, which was amazing; not only is he an amazing chef he is also a brilliant entertainer.
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| Simon Rimmer |
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| Simon Rimmer |
The Cheshire Cheese Company was also there, a company I've seen before at Manchester Food Festival and Manchester Markets. They do a delicious sticky toffee flavour cheese- sounds weird but is surprisingly nice!
The only disappointing part of the festival I thought was the limited selection of vegetarian food, however I HAD been spoiled the weekend before by the Chorlton Green Festival where ALL the food was vegetarian or vegan. Plus, I had a craving for a falafel and tzatziki wrap, and I think I may have been slightly bitter that no one was selling it- maybe there is a gap in the market there??
All in all a good day, but don't expect to have a lot of choice of food options if you're a veggie. If you like pork, as Sarah Millican would say "You'll be champion"!
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Spring Vegetable Pasta
A good friend who I haven't seen in a while who lives in Birmingham is back up North for a few weeks, so we took the opportunity to catch up.
Both being a bit cash conscious at the moment I decided it would be nice to cook instead of spending a fortune on tea out and after spotting that it was asparagus season, I wanted to see what the fuss was about having never tried asparagus before.
I stumbled upon this recipe for Spring vegetable tagliatelle on the BBC Good Food site and decided to give it a go. You can also find the recipe, and other recipes I have collected from around the web on my scoop-it page. As I didn't have tagliatelle I used fusilli instead with asparagus and green beans.
As for my thoughts on asparagus, it was actually quite nice!
On a random point: an old A level Biology teacher once told me that asparagus contains a chemical that gives your urine a distinct smell. Only certain people have a specific gene that enables them to smell 'asparagus wee'.
Both being a bit cash conscious at the moment I decided it would be nice to cook instead of spending a fortune on tea out and after spotting that it was asparagus season, I wanted to see what the fuss was about having never tried asparagus before.
I stumbled upon this recipe for Spring vegetable tagliatelle on the BBC Good Food site and decided to give it a go. You can also find the recipe, and other recipes I have collected from around the web on my scoop-it page. As I didn't have tagliatelle I used fusilli instead with asparagus and green beans.
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| Image by KL |
On a random point: an old A level Biology teacher once told me that asparagus contains a chemical that gives your urine a distinct smell. Only certain people have a specific gene that enables them to smell 'asparagus wee'.
A cooking misadventure?
Yesterday I visited my local ASDA, and came across some reduced price cherry tomatoes and an avocado, although I knew that I could probably get these cheaper elsewhere, I just couldn't bring myself to walk past them so ended up buying them on a whim.
Only problem is, what to do with them? Its only the second time I've tried avocado (apart from in shop bought guacamole) and my trusty vegetarian student cook book didn't help (avocados are a bit too 'sophisticated' for the average student!). Then I remembered a book bought for me as a birthday present- Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food. I love Nigel Slater's programmes and find it refreshing just how simple his recipes are- I get really annoyed by chiefs who seem to use a thousand and one different items in their recipes- it's the reason why my kitchen is full of herbs and spices that were destined to only be used once. However I don't use the book that often as it has no pictures in it, and I like to see pictures of meals; it helps me decided if I want to cook it or not! The one thing that the book is useful for is that it lists recipes by the main ingredient which is what you need if you go out buying avocados on whims, so I though I would look to see if there was anything that took my fancy.
I stumbled upon a recipe for avocado with warm bacon vinaigrette, and decide to give it a go, it also required tomatoes so I could also use the cherry tomatoes I bought as well.
I decided to make some small adjustments to the recipe, it called for white wine vinegar but I already some balsamic in so decided to use that instead and I used Quorn bacon in replacement of the recommended streaky bacon.
Thoughts.
It was OK, didn't make me sick so that is always a plus, however I didn't eat it all as I got quite bored about 3/4 of the way through. I was surprised how hard the avocado actually was, and I'm not too sure if it was a good idea to use the balsamic instead of white wine vinegar. I'm not too sure if I would make this again, if I did I would probably try it with white wine vinegar.
You're probably wondering why I decided to put this up on the blog if I wasn't entirely convinced by it. I just wanted to shared my 'lessons learnt' and also show that everyone makes a hash of things sometimes- so don't worry if you carefully planned meal turns out like dog food!
Only problem is, what to do with them? Its only the second time I've tried avocado (apart from in shop bought guacamole) and my trusty vegetarian student cook book didn't help (avocados are a bit too 'sophisticated' for the average student!). Then I remembered a book bought for me as a birthday present- Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food. I love Nigel Slater's programmes and find it refreshing just how simple his recipes are- I get really annoyed by chiefs who seem to use a thousand and one different items in their recipes- it's the reason why my kitchen is full of herbs and spices that were destined to only be used once. However I don't use the book that often as it has no pictures in it, and I like to see pictures of meals; it helps me decided if I want to cook it or not! The one thing that the book is useful for is that it lists recipes by the main ingredient which is what you need if you go out buying avocados on whims, so I though I would look to see if there was anything that took my fancy.
I stumbled upon a recipe for avocado with warm bacon vinaigrette, and decide to give it a go, it also required tomatoes so I could also use the cherry tomatoes I bought as well.
I decided to make some small adjustments to the recipe, it called for white wine vinegar but I already some balsamic in so decided to use that instead and I used Quorn bacon in replacement of the recommended streaky bacon.
Thoughts.
It was OK, didn't make me sick so that is always a plus, however I didn't eat it all as I got quite bored about 3/4 of the way through. I was surprised how hard the avocado actually was, and I'm not too sure if it was a good idea to use the balsamic instead of white wine vinegar. I'm not too sure if I would make this again, if I did I would probably try it with white wine vinegar.
You're probably wondering why I decided to put this up on the blog if I wasn't entirely convinced by it. I just wanted to shared my 'lessons learnt' and also show that everyone makes a hash of things sometimes- so don't worry if you carefully planned meal turns out like dog food!
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Popeye is a lie!?!
Ever since I made the conscious decision to cut down on meat, I have become more aware of the nutritional content of my meals, wanting to make sure that my diet wasn't going to damage my health. Not that I believe it would do, but more to arm me with the knowledge if anyone challenged me. See my last post as an example of what I mean.
I've actually found that my diet has improved since cutting down on meat, not necessarily due to the lack of meat, but more because I'm more aware of my diet and what I need. However, when I started to read up on sources of iron in my diet I started to get confused, there was no mention of spinach. Lots of other foods such as tofu, fortified breakfast cereals and cashews were given as examples, but not spinach.
Surely, this must have been a mistake? Who can forget the popular children's character of Popeye, who gulped down tins of spinach to transform his weedy little arms into masses of muscle in order to save a damsel in distress or two? But who am I to doubt nutritionists and dietitians? So I had no choice but to walk away from the issue scratching my head in puzzlement.
That is until today, when I was reading a book I recently bought from my local Oxfam called "The truth about food" which accompanies the BBC series with the same name. I came to a chapter on "Spinach: vision for the future?" and I thought, "at last my questions may be answered!".
And I was right, spinach DOES contain iron, and during the 1930s it was paraded as a wonder food due to this. However, in 1937 scientists discovered that due to a mathematical error, the concentration of iron in spinach wasn't as much as they first thought, however for a vegetable the iron concentration is quite high. The problem comes with our bodies inability to absorb the iron in spinach due to its binding with another chemical found in spinach called oxalic acid which makes the resulting compound indigestible and so most of the iron passes through us. Therefore, although we may still be able to get some iron from eating spinach, it is not enough for what we need. However spinach is rich in other nutrients, and the chapter focused on the benefits of eating spinach on our vision.
This goes to show something I'm beginning to learn as I look more into the topic of nutrition, is that it is not always simple. But at least I'm no longer scratching my head!
If you would like to learn more about getting iron in your diet without meat, visit the vegetarian society website.
I've actually found that my diet has improved since cutting down on meat, not necessarily due to the lack of meat, but more because I'm more aware of my diet and what I need. However, when I started to read up on sources of iron in my diet I started to get confused, there was no mention of spinach. Lots of other foods such as tofu, fortified breakfast cereals and cashews were given as examples, but not spinach.
Surely, this must have been a mistake? Who can forget the popular children's character of Popeye, who gulped down tins of spinach to transform his weedy little arms into masses of muscle in order to save a damsel in distress or two? But who am I to doubt nutritionists and dietitians? So I had no choice but to walk away from the issue scratching my head in puzzlement.
That is until today, when I was reading a book I recently bought from my local Oxfam called "The truth about food" which accompanies the BBC series with the same name. I came to a chapter on "Spinach: vision for the future?" and I thought, "at last my questions may be answered!".
And I was right, spinach DOES contain iron, and during the 1930s it was paraded as a wonder food due to this. However, in 1937 scientists discovered that due to a mathematical error, the concentration of iron in spinach wasn't as much as they first thought, however for a vegetable the iron concentration is quite high. The problem comes with our bodies inability to absorb the iron in spinach due to its binding with another chemical found in spinach called oxalic acid which makes the resulting compound indigestible and so most of the iron passes through us. Therefore, although we may still be able to get some iron from eating spinach, it is not enough for what we need. However spinach is rich in other nutrients, and the chapter focused on the benefits of eating spinach on our vision.
This goes to show something I'm beginning to learn as I look more into the topic of nutrition, is that it is not always simple. But at least I'm no longer scratching my head!
If you would like to learn more about getting iron in your diet without meat, visit the vegetarian society website.
Monday, 2 April 2012
You're a vegetarian? How do you get your protein?
Although I do not classify myself as a vegetarian, meat isn't something I eat on a daily basis. A common misconception is that vegetarians, or people like me who are cutting down on meat struggle to get the protein their body needs.
However, this isn't true.
What is protein?
We are made out of protein and our DNA codes for the various proteins that we need to exist.
What is protein made up of?
Proteins are made up of compounds called amino acids. There are twenty different amino acids and proteins are made up of combinations of these amino acids. If we think of amino acids as Lego blocks, they come in different shapes and sizes. We can use these "Lego blocks" to create various proteins, and these products can be used in the body for various tasks.
Why do we need protein in our diet?
The body is very good at producing most of the amino acids we need, however the body is unable to make all the twenty amino acids. Eight amino acids have to be taken in through our diet, we call these essential amino acids. By ingesting protein in our food, the body is able to break down this protein into amino acids by a process called catabolism. The amino acids produced by this process can be recycled to make new amino acids or be converted into other products.
So what are the other sources of protein?
When people think of dietary protein, they think of meat, however there are other sources of protein that are found in the vegetarian diet, the list below isn't exhaustive:
-Eggs
-Milk
-Cheese
-Soya
-Nuts
-Beans
So can all of the above provide me with all the eight essential amino acids?
Not necessarily, whereas meat contains all eight amino acids in the right ratios, only certain other food contain the same balance- such as soya, egg and quinola, however as long as you have a healthy and varied diet you should have no problem getting all the amino acids you need.
If you would like more information on Protein and the vegetarian diet, please visit the Vegetarian Society website.
However, this isn't true.
What is protein?
We are made out of protein and our DNA codes for the various proteins that we need to exist.
What is protein made up of?
Proteins are made up of compounds called amino acids. There are twenty different amino acids and proteins are made up of combinations of these amino acids. If we think of amino acids as Lego blocks, they come in different shapes and sizes. We can use these "Lego blocks" to create various proteins, and these products can be used in the body for various tasks.
Why do we need protein in our diet?
The body is very good at producing most of the amino acids we need, however the body is unable to make all the twenty amino acids. Eight amino acids have to be taken in through our diet, we call these essential amino acids. By ingesting protein in our food, the body is able to break down this protein into amino acids by a process called catabolism. The amino acids produced by this process can be recycled to make new amino acids or be converted into other products.
So what are the other sources of protein?
When people think of dietary protein, they think of meat, however there are other sources of protein that are found in the vegetarian diet, the list below isn't exhaustive:
-Eggs
-Milk
-Cheese
-Soya
-Nuts
-Beans
So can all of the above provide me with all the eight essential amino acids?
Not necessarily, whereas meat contains all eight amino acids in the right ratios, only certain other food contain the same balance- such as soya, egg and quinola, however as long as you have a healthy and varied diet you should have no problem getting all the amino acids you need.
If you would like more information on Protein and the vegetarian diet, please visit the Vegetarian Society website.
Sunday, 1 April 2012
Chorlton Green Festival
When I first moved away from my home 'village' of Little Hulton, which is on the Salford/Bolton border in Greater Manchester I spent a year and a half living in Chorlton, which was a far cry from the world I was use to. Chorlton seems to be in a world of it's own, a world that relishes in sustainable living (although surprisingly whilst still having quite a lot of cars), independent local shops and where to be vegetarian or even vegan is the norm. I remember my amazement when I first walked into Unicorn, Chorlton's dedicated vegan co-operative supermarket and being amazed by all the 'usual' food items, especially the various different milk alternatives. I come from a family of dedicated meat eaters, and the idea of vegetarianism was something that only hippies do, and in order to be one you had to be called Strawberry, never wash and go round with a with a sign proclaiming 'meat is murder', so obviously Chorlton was a shock to me and quite a revelation. You'll be happy to know that now of course, I am aware that not all vegetarians fit into the above stereotype!
Even now I no longer live in Chorlton, it still remains one of my favourite areas of Manchester, and I was excited to FINALLY be free on the day of the festival this year.
The day started with a group cycle ride into Chorlton via an old railway line that has now been converted into a shared pedestrian and cycle route know as the Fallowfield Loop. Having not cycled for several months this proved to be extremely tiring and as I type this I ache sitting down, getting up and even walking!
Once we got to the festival, we were pleasantly surprised to that ALL the food was either vegetarian or vegan. The boy was intrigued by the vegan fish and chip stall which smelt very authentic however was put of by the massive queue! He eventually ended up with a Halloumi kebab from Jam Street Cafe, and I settle on a Thali from The Tibetan Kitchen which was a collection of little samples of all the different items they were offering, including momos which are hand stuffed steamed dumplings filled with spinach, potato and cheese and Ngo Khatsa which is a Himalayan chickpea and spinach curry/stew.
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| Chorlton Green Festival- you can just see The Tibetan Kitchen |
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| I loved the design of this food van |
All in all it was a good day, and if you live near Manchester and would like to visit next year I would definitely recommend going, I will- and next year I will be braving the queue for the vegan fish and chips!
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