‘People don’t eat two bananas in one day’.

Yes We Can.

Eaten Today:

08.25 Toast and Marmite x2
11.00 Some Chocolate Popcorn
12.45 Ham, Egg and Tomato on Toast with 2 Bananas
16.05 Half a Skinny Starbucks Muffin
19.30 Steak Burger x3 with Salad and Olives
20.45 Chocolate Raisins

Cooking. It’s something that has throughout history always been part of the ‘woman’s role’ in the household. But as times change history changes too and the woman’s movement has gone a very long way, where largely in England sexism doesn’t exist anywhere near the scale it did back then. But one thing hasn’t changed… BBQ’s.

Wherever there is a BBQ you can be sure that a man won’t be too far away, it has always been that way, and I have never been to a BBQ cooked by a woman. Why?

One man and his BBQ

Answer in BBQ 2.1 (after I have conducted some further research with some very influential BBQ and gender figures.

08.10 Toast with Marmite
13.40 Chicken and Bacon Roll with rocky bar x3
14.50 Clementine x2 & Banana
19.35 BBQ – Sausage x3, Cheese and Leek Sausage x2, Burger in a bun, Lamb Kebab (all courtesy of my vintage friend’s mum)

Summer Season is officially upon us from Wednesday 1st June and today’s post is the first of many that will help enhance your summer culinary experience. Throughout the next few months Tom and I will be attending a number of foodie events from BBQ’s to food festivals and we’ll be linking up with our vintage friend to bring you food tips and treats from three continents; Europe, Africa and Australia.

To start the summer season off with a spark, I wanted to overcome one of my biggest gripes; boring, boring, tasteless BBQs. Essentially the BBQ offers the perfect opportunity to cook up a real treat and show off your cooking skills to a crowd of cronies in the hot summer sun. It’s no difficult task either to make the most of those charcoal burning flames and serve up something special…

So why then, do we all too often snap apart frozen meat and drop it on the metal grills? Well the truth is because we think it’s easier, and in truth it probably is… but only slightly. Microwave bolognese is easier than making it fresh, but that doesn’t stop us making that, so why should the BBQ be any different? It shouldn’t. So the aim of the summer season is to present to you some of the simplest recipes out there so you can dump the cheap frozen meat for good.

Steve Boss Man has already given us the recipes for the best burgers in the world, so I am going to post BBQ recipe number two - Lamb Kebabs!

Photo Credit: kaylacasey on Flickr

The first thing to remember is all of the ingredients add something, but as long as you have the main ones (lamb mince (!), oil, coriander and garlic), then the rest are bonuses and don’t let not having one put you off making this easy dish!

Ingredients

juice of half lemon
450g/1lb lamb mince
1 tablespoon oil
55g/2oz fresh coriander leaves (washed and chopped)
4 cloves garlic (crushed)
4 green chillies (de-seeded and chopped)
½ tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
½ tsp black peppercorns (crushed)
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp garam masala
2 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp salt

Method:

1) Mix the lemon juice and lamb mince in a bowl.
2) Chuck the rest of the ingredients into a blender and well… er… blend!
3) Stir the paste into the mince and shape into sausage shapes with wet hands and skewer.
4) Brush the lamb with a little oil and place on the grill for about 4/5 minutes on each side.

BBQ Tool of the day:

Digital Thermometer – for some peace of mind when cooking meat for amateur cooks.

And Today’s Food that follows on from UPSU Summer Ball hence some interesting eating times:

00.10 Fudge and a long strawberry straw
02.10 Chips
04.40 Cold Pizza x2
12.30 Toast x4 with a mix of Nutella, peanut butter and Marmite (not together)
13.40 Doughnut
16.20 Halloumi Pitta with Coriander Tomato Salsa and Onion & Garlic Dip with Crisps
21.00 Exotic Fruit Salad, Crust Bread, Cheese, Monster Munch

…it’s just a misunderstanding, or perhaps a PR stunt?

Danes Delight!

Whilst all the news still appears to be on the outlawed Marmite in Denmark, Brand Republic were first to present a different, perhaps less sexy sounding story. Here it is (all content from Brand Republic).

Danish govt says Marmite not banned By John Reynolds

Marketing today (25 May) reported the Unilever-owned savoury spread had been banned in Denmark because of a bizarre law introduced in 2004.

In response to the press reports, Danish government officials hurried out a press release. It said: “Neither Marmite, nor Vegemite and similar products, have been banned by the Danish Food and Veterinary Administration.”

According to a government spokesperson, the confusion arose after a retailer called Abigails in the Danish town of Aalborg, which sells British products, was found to be selling Marmite without a licence.

Danish law states that foods supplemented with vitamins, minerals or other substances, cannot be marketed in Denmark unless approved by the country’s food authorities. Other products have succesfully appllied for such an approval.

It is understood that officials were unaware that Marmite was being sold in the store and that the product has now been taken off its shelves.

It is unclear if Marmite is widely sold elsewhere in Denmark.

Danish officials said they had not received an application for marketing Marmite in Denmark from Unilever.

Unilever said it was looking into the issue, but it is unclear if the company has applied for approval in the country.

Instead, it pointed out that Danish fans could buy the brand from its UK website.

Unilever said: “We are sad to hear reports that our devoted fans may not be able to purchase Marmite in Denmark. We’re looking into way to ensure our Marmite lovers will not be left without their beloved spread.”

*ENDS*

Now I’m even more confused to be honest, although I was reliably informed by BBC News this morning that the official spokes person is ‘out of office’ until tomorrow, so I shall be tuning in first thing in anticipation!

Today the reprinter of this post ate:

08.50 Toast and Marmite (had it on the mind for some reason)
13.00 Noodles
16.10 Twix
19.20 Filled pasta with ‘all the herbs’* sauce.
19.40 Skinny Cow Ice Cream

*all the herb sauce will be featured in tomorrow’s post.

Some things in life are just better toasted – but not everything. Take Marmite for example, today I tried it on bread and it simply didn’t compare to the crusty heat of a piece of white toasted bread.

Then there is a beef and horseradish sandwich or afternoon tea and you wouldn’t really consider crisping the mouthwatering soft mouth cushion.

But the killer question lies with the bacon sandwich. Would you rather have it toasted or on soft bread?

Eaten Today:

10.15 Penguin x2
Nibbled Weetabix Minis
14.20 A truly exceptional ham, cheese and tomato baguette with sweet chilli mayo.
18.10 Marmite on bread
19.45 Lemon Cod, Rice and Baked Tomato
20.10 Penguin

Today at work we were interviewing students for a new placement. As it was one of the first real competency based interviews for most of them, we wanted to make them feel really comfortable and relaxed and so needed a really good icebreaker. Icebreakers occasionally work well, but on the whole tend to be a little bit awkward, weird and a total waste of time.

Steve Boss Man came up with the one we used and initially I thought it could be one of those uncomfortable moments above:

As with many workplaces, in the office, we often end up talking about tv and food. So the icebreaker is, if you could sit down with any meal and tv program, what would it be?

But it wasn’t to be one of those painful moments. Instead it was one of those icebreakers that worked, and it worked because the topic of conversation was short and snappy, provided a brief insight to the interview panel’s lives (humanised us even!) and most importantly it was based around food and TV. It was also an easy first question to ask the students because food and TV are the two things we all share in common!

As it was students responding you might have expected pizza or Indian to be the most common response, but the most common response was mummy’s home-made speciality.

Not all of the responses were as good, and two of my least favourite and commonly cited responses to questions were:

1) Can you give an example of how you have utilised social media in a marketing campaign?

Almost all candidates talked about social media as if it was only Facebook and a few mentioned Twitter, but, and I quote, “no one really uses Twitter”. My two top tips for those people are, firstly read up on what social media is, and second, Twitter has 200 million user worldwide!

2) How would you explain sporadic attendance figures at our events?

At least three students said it was because students have no time as they are so busy with their studies and therefore can’t attend events outside of their degree’s.

This has got to be the most ill informed answer to the question, all sprawling out of student’s mouths. I accept that during deadline periods, student’s time can be scarce, but come on, as a student myself, when it’s not a deadline period, the disposable time that students have is comparable to holiday makers or the unemployed, hence the success of this group on Facebook…

Anyway, on that note, here is day 139 of the Food Experiment:

07.40 Toast and Marmite x2
10.00-12.30 Skittles (Pictures)
13.10 A truly exceptional ham, cheese and tomato baguette with sweet chilli mayo.
13.30-16.00 Peanut M&M’s and Berry Mix
19.50 Spaghetti in a tomato based sauce with chocolate soufflé

It seems these days everyone is a food photographer. Whether the focus of the food photo is artistic, for reviews, recipes, food diaries or to capture those special occasions and family moments, food photography has relatively quickly grown out of nowhere into something we all love.

Source: Mashable

Today, Mashable reported the staggering ‘foodtography’ stats and the potential for brands to use some of this user engagement…

Source: Mashable

Photo Credit: plumpiecooks.com (today's FoodPornDaily)

And with foodtography groups popping up everywhere, from Flickr to Facebook to specific foodie websites and blogs there is no evident sign of this epidemic slowing! So here is my top 5 favourite food photography sites on the web:

#5 – Lick My Spoon on Blogspot
#4 – Foodtography Group on Flickr.
#3 – FoodPorn.net
#2 – Smitten Kitchen

And the winner is…

#1 – Food Porn Daily

Onto today’s food post:

08.17 Toast with Marmite x1
10.35 Twix
12.10 Mushroom Stroganoff
16.10 Some yogurt peanuts, danish pastry and fruit fruit pastilles
19.00 Cod and vegetable rice followed by a magnum

Do Revision.

Go to that little red cross in the right hand corner of your browser and click it. Don’t even think about it, just stop reading this page and do it. Good Luck!

If you are reading this, either you don’t have exams, or you have failed the ‘close browser’ mission.

08.00 Peanut Butter then Marmite on toast
14.50 Cheese and Ham Sandwich with Quavers, Pumpkin Seeds, Clementine and Blueberries
20.00 A whole pizza followed by angel delight

Special Exam tip for those still here – eating too much makes you really tired!

I’ve become a fan of grilled wraps recently… First put thick slices of Halloumi on the George Foreman. Once cooked take the Halloumi off and put the wrap on. Fill it with Greek yogurt, lettuce, red onion and coriander and wrap it all up!

Eaten Today:

11.25 Toast with Marmite and Croissant with nutella x2
15.10 Halloumi and red onion wraps with Greek yogurt.
18.15 Selection of group work nibbles – Galaxy, Pizza, Crisps and dip.

Tonight I had Galaxy – which is chocolate. Therefore I am happy.

This simple recipe was given to me by a good friend many years ago, and as bizarre as it sounds, it tastes pretty good and I think it’s well worth a try.

And much like biscuits dipped in Nutella, it’s pretty simple to make too:

1. Cook the toast and slice your banana about a cm thick.
2. Butter the toast and coat with a good amount of marmite (more than normal).
3. Layer the banana slices and enjoy!

Honestly, don’t just look at it and think it’s not for you – that’s what I did at first and I missed out on this delicacy for years!

Don’t just take my word for it, Laura described it as ‘quite good actually’.

Enjoy!

Eaten today: