Copenhagen Calling - Part 1: Aamanns Deli

I was in Copenhagen and had a wonderful time. The city is culturally rich and the has a fantastic food scene. My next few posts will cover a few of my favourite discoveries.

Denmark is known for its open sandwiches, 'smørrebrød', and I was keen to try some. Aamanns tops its smørrebrød with locally sourced produce. There is a deli and a restaurant. We visited the deli on route to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

A Christmas Party

I love Christmas, and since I now have my own flat, I thought I would use the opportunity to have a little get-together with some of my favourite people to catch-up, listen to Christmas songs, and eat - of course!

I made most of the food myself, so thought a blog post on it was in order incase anyone is throwing a party and looking for ideas.

I of course started the prep with mulled wine. I use my slow cooker for this (only thing I use it for currently - must go on the New Years Resolutions list!) as you can put it on in the morning and let it warm away. It creates the most amazing smell, and I think the slow cooker really lets the flavours work their magic. I was a bit lazy and bought bottled mulled wine, but then added sliced fresh oranges and lemons, cinnamon sticks and star anise to make sure it looked and tasted amazing. The other benefit of putting this on first is that you can help yourself to some while you work on the rest...

In terms of food, in addition to the usual crisps, dips, nuts etc, I decided to try my hand at some blinis. I would highly recommend these as they went down a storm, were really easy and cheap to assemble and I think they look pretty impressive too. You can top them with whatever you want - I went for smoked salmon and cream cheese, tomato and soured cream, and olives and guacamole. They were all delicious and every single one was eaten.

As you all know though, baking is my thing. I decided to do chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing and a good old-fashioned Christmas cake. For the cupcakes I used the Primrose Bakery recipe which I thought worked pretty well, and tried to put to use my knew icing skills!

I personally don't really like fruit cake, but I baked three huge Christmas cakes this year to give as presents, which worked out really well. I made them back in October and have been 'feeding' them with brandy ever since. I also iced them using brandy marzipan, so it was quite a boozy affair but the recipients seemed rather pleased!

And here are some mince pies, but I didn't bake them (shhhh - it's on my list for next year!)

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and filled yourself to the brim with delicious food and drink - I know I did!

Brunching in Bali - Part 3: Betelnut Cafe

Our final foodie stop in Bali was Betelnut Cafe, another popular Canggu hangout.  It serves healthy but attractive and pretty delicious meals.

Spot our new furry friend on the left!

Brunching in Bali - Part 2: Milk & Madu

Milk & Madu is something of a Canggu institution.  It serves hearty all-day breakfasts, lunches and dinners and is helmed by friendly and welcoming staff.

So naturally Deena and I made it a point to pay them a visit when we were in Bali this past October.

We started off with some delicious smoothies:

BATTLE OF THE BAO - ROUND 2 BAO

Now for Bao, the second contender in the battle of the bao, which you can find in the centre of Soho. You will probably see a long queue of people before you actually spot the restaurant, which does not take reservations. Before you join the long queue in the cold winter, here's a quick review.

Afternoon Tea on the Bluebell Railway

My parents live in Sussex, and we have often passed the turning to the Bluebell Railway and commented that we really should go and have a look one day! So we decided to do just that on my Dad's birthday this year.

The Bluebell Railway runs a number of steam trains between East and West Sussex. Just look at how majestic these things are. A far cry from the trains we frequently use nowadays.

My dad and I stood there and admired the engines for a while, asking questions about how it works (coal is burnt, which heats water, which turns into steam, which turns a motor - FYI), and watching the conductor and engineers at work. It's really heavy and very dirty work, and watching them frankly made me quite exhausted and very hungry.

Which was just as well, because we had booked Afternoon Tea on the Wealdon Rambler - an old fashioned dining car, which looks like this:

It had an old world charm, which I soaked up whilst perusing the menu.

Afternoon tea was served as we whizzed through the beautiful Sussex countryside, choo-choo-ing (and chewing!) away happily.

Lots of sandwiches...

Lots of cakes...

And more cakes! In honesty, it wasn't the best afternoon tea I've had. The sandwiches were nice enough, but the fillings were pretty unimaginative, and the cakes were definitely not homemade. I guess this is all you can expect on a train like this, but worth bearing in mind...

Overall though, it was a really good experience, and a lovely family day out. We gobbled and chattered away for a couple of hours, looking out at the fields and watching smoke of the engine shoot out. An absolute must if you have a train or engineering fan that you're looking to treat.

www.bluebell-railway.com/event/lounge-car

Brunching in Bali - Part 1: Monsieur Spoon

I holidayed in Bali over the weekend.  It was as idyllic as it sounds - I attended a friend's beautiful wedding on Saturday and the rest of the time was spent on the beach, in the spa and of course working our way through the wonderful restaurants & cafes Bali has to offer.

Monsieur Spoon stands out as probably the best brunch we had during our time there.  It's run by two Parisian cousins, and you can tell: the dishes on offer are simple but made with such skill and finesse.

Yes, that was for 2 people - don't judge!