Eating Out: PUB FOOTBALL + PUB FOOD

Yesterday was a proper sunday with super sunday football and sunday food in the pub.

It was blue v red yesterday on super sunday, everton v liverpool and chelsea v manchester united. and what else can you do for a sunday like that than go to the pub and enjoy the football properly with the greatest atmosphere you'll get for a football game (other than at the stadium obviously). 
so we went to the Poet's Corner in Cardiff and spend quite a few hours there. and spending that amount of time in a pub, you just can't go without having at least a little bit of that lovely pub food they serve. 
you know it's not healthy but sometimes that's just the way it has to be. can't really sit in a pub with a pint and a carrot can you, so a lovely bacon and cheese burger with chips and a pint of chicken goujons was just the perfect choice. 

and not just the pub food turned out really well, the football luckily went our way too. united beat chelsea away with it being their first defeat this season. somehow this premier league table is getting back to the way it should be. 
unfortunately liverpool didn't lose, but they're still not really managing wins this season, not that they're any danger to us anyway.

all in all, a wonderful pub day, could spend every sunday like that.

Magdalena.

Away Days: BRISTOL

On Friday we went to Bristol to spend the day there and see an amazing gig in the night. 

I had never been to Bristol and I always enjoy seeing new places, one thing I love about going to the UK is that everytime I'm here I get the chance to go to places I hadn't seen before.

The weather was really british that day but I think I got used to it by now and you can't really expect it to be all nice and warm in the UK at the end of october can you. 

So after a bit of walking around in the city we ended up in with a warm cup of coffee and hot chocolate in The Commercial Rooms.

And somehow they happened to have Austrian Wafers there! I'm always surprised how you find austrian things in the UK but it's a nice surprise most of the time. Unfortunately I still haven't found proper bread or pumpkin seed oil. but I'll update you about that!

delicious austrian wafers
at the commercial rooms bristol

After walking around a bit more and some shopping and chilling we wanted to get some food before the gig because we hadn't really had anything.

It was difficult to decide where to go, as always, but we ended up in a really nice place in the shopping centre called Coal grill and bar. 

And as always it was difficult to decide what to eat but in the end we decided on a Duck Paté as a starter and the "Chicken Schnitzel" as a main course. for all of you austrians on here, it wasn't a Schnitzel like we know it. it was more a Cordon Bleu but filled with mozzarella cheese and then wrapped in parma ham and coated in breadcrumbs (like a schnitzel). it was served with spinach and mash which was really nice aswell.

With all that we had a lovely cocktail (2 for 1!).

they have Coal in other places too, so if you every find yourself there, you should check it out, even if it's just for a cocktail, they do 2 for 1 everyday from 4 until close (11).

Chicken Schnitzel
at Coal Grill + Bar Bristol

White Peach and Amaretto Sour
at Coal Grill + Bar Bristol

After this lovely meal, we went to The Exchange to see François And The Atlas Mountains, which was the main reason we came to Bristol for.

it was an amazing gig and just a very lovely day alltogether. thank you Bristol. and thank you Fraçois! it was truly incredible!

Magdalena.

Review #1 JAMIE'S SANDWICH

Back in the UK and already loving the food here,

I don't know why some people still think that british food is inedible or boring.

in a country where they show Jamie Oliver on TV and you can buy all kinds of fruit and vegatbles in the supermarket, you just can't do anything but be inspired.

I get inspired easily here anyway. and today the UK showed me again how cool they can be. we went to Boots and the first thing we saw was this poster about them selling Jamie Oliver sandwiches and then this woman came up to us and asked if we wanted to try the sandwich. and wow it was lovely!

since we were hungry anyway, we decided to try a whole one and they now have this whole section of Jamie Oliver stuff with the sandwiches. but it's not just sandwiches, it's flatbread and wraps and salads and focaccia and stuff so it's really cool.

as you can guess, it took a while to decide which sandwich to go for, but we decided to get a smoky chicken one with bbq sauce and peppers and onions and all, really lovely!

a bit spicy but sweet aswell so it was a great snack for this kinda british day.

will be making some proper food after. if it's anything exciting I'll let you know.

but for now, here's a picture of the sandwich.

Really Smoky Chicken
image by geraint
 

Magdalena.

Away Days #4: BACK IN THE UK

hello everyone,

yes it's me, I bet you can't believe it. 
I am really sorry I have been lazy blogging lately, but it's just because I haven't been lazy otherwise. I started university and it's going well but just taking up a lot of my time.

but now I am back in the UK for two weeks, I've missed Cardiff and it's just so good to be back. 
this means that I will have time to cook and go out and eat and tell you all about it!

Today was my first day here and I've been a little lazy since I only got here at around midnight yesterday. so there's not much to report today. had a lovely salad and pizza.
but there is hope! don't know what we'll be making tomorrow but on sunday we're going to make a lovely sunday lunch which I'm really looking forward to because it's something so british and it's going to be so much fun to make. 

so I will most definitely let you know about that and hopefully post a recipe aswell. 

it's just so good to be back. and I'm looking forward to some more blogging.


Magdalena.

#14 SALMON STEAK WITH COURGETTE-CHIPS

hello everyone,

first of all I have to apologise to everyone of you who has been checking my blog only to realise that I haven't posted anything for weeks. 
It's not that I stopped cooking, but I haven't really had the chance to cook anything that's worth putting on here.
I started uni two weeks ago and I'm still getting used to it so when I come home I'm tired most of the time and I cook but all I cook is some rice with some chicken breast or some pasta with some vegetables, and I know all of you can think of these things themselves.
I write this blog because I want to inspire you with things that you might not think of yourself or that you might not make everyday.

so I promise you that I will try my best to keep doing that, I need the cooking anyway to relax and just forget about everything else, so I really hope you'll keep reading it and keep giving me feedback like you did before. thank you all.


well about the salmon, I love salmon, and me and my mum usually buy a fillet but this time we decided to try the steak.
so I think it was wednesday when I came home from uni and I remembered that there was this lovely salmon in the fridge, all I had to do was figure out what to do with it.
since I had never made a steak before I figured I'd try something simple...

Salmon Steak with Courgette-Chips
(for two people)

2 salmon steaks
1 glove of garlic
1/2 lemon (juice)
coconut fat

1 courgette
olive oil

first of all, simply marinate the salmon steaks
in the lemon juice and the minced garlic.
set the salmon aside.

preheat the oven to about 180°C

cut the courgette to make equal pieces
(I just cut whole rounds but if you want
something else..be creative)
grease a baking sheet with the olive oil
and put the courgette on there aswell.
put in the oven for about 10 minutes each side
don't forget to turn them around!

(if you're making rice with it aswell you'll want
to start cooking it about now)

heat a pan with the coconut fat (or whatever you're
using).
carefully remove the garlic bits from the salmon
so they don't burn.
roast the salmon over high heat on one side
for about 3-5 minutes (depending how thick the steak is)
then turn around carefully and leave on the other side
for about 3 minutes.

the courgette chips should be done by then and if
you're making rice it should be aswell.
arrange everything on a plate and enjoy!

Magdalena.