Slow Cooker Curry Goat

It has long been my ambition to make this, and make it as tasty as I've tasted.  My husband's boss is Jamaican and hers is absolutely divine.   I'm aware that the recipe differs across Caribbean islands, and I'm certainly not trying to compete, just to be able to pull together a version I can throw in the slow cooker, and look forward to coming home to,

This one has come together beautifully.   I did it without the Scotch Bonnet (I had one, I chickened out).  It still had a great heat and taste, but will try it with next time and update.

I also used goat meat from our local butcher, which came some on the bone and some off.  I chose to use the meat off the bone.  Again, this is personal preference, but will do some on the bone as well to taste test it.   In the meantime however, this will be my go to.

3.5L Slow Cooker.
Serves 3-4

650g goat meat - off the bone (see comments above)

2 large potatoes, peeled and quartered

1-2 tbs medium curry powder

1 small onion diced

3 sprigs thyme

3 tsp garlic paste

2 tsp ginger paste

3 tsp allspice

1 tomato diced

Salt and pepper to taste, can check and adjust later

2 spring onions, sliced

2 tbs water

1 tbs Caribbean Green Seasoning, if you cannot buy, you can make your own (see below).

Throw it all in, mix it up, then cook for around 5-7hrs low.

Caribbean Green Seasoning:

Blend  handful of coriander, stalk of celery, whole head of garlic, 4 spring onions, handful of thyme, 60ml water, 2 shallots, 2 tsp allspice, salt.  Once blended, you can freeze in ice cube trays and  pop one straight into the slow cooker next time.

We served with rice and black beans, but you can mix it up how you like.

Enjoy! 

Annie x

Chocolate Cookies, basic recipe, bung it all in! #isolationbaking

A bung it all in recipe that needs minimal ingredients, but tastes great, and perfect for kids to
do, and enjoy the fruits of their labour.  The dough itself can also be frozen, so we baked half and froze the other for a rainy day).

Whole lot makes around 12 cookies, dependant on what size you are looking to make.

Ingredients
225g butter softened 
(I put ours in the microwave for a bit too long, but still worked, despite the initial stage looking runny, it came together with the flour)
110g caster sugar (I only had golden, which worked great)
275g plain flour 
Around 100g chocolate, we smashed up 2 twirl bars

Method
Preheat oven to 190.
Cream together the butter and sugar (as above, don't worry if it looks too runny).
Add the flour and chocolate, and bring it all together to form a dough.
Take balls of the dough, then put on a greased baking tray, and flatten with your palm onto your preferred cookie size.
Place with enough space between them as they will expand.
Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

Cool down and eat!
Enjoy!
Annie x

Lost Wedding Ring found in Defrosted Curry - RingDaLoo :)

About to move house, so had to go through fridge and freezer to get rid of stuff, and the long lost wedding ring appeared in a defrosted curry.  Still no clue how it got there.

Funny seeing our old kitchen too.
Annie x

St Albans City Youth FC U12 Girls North, isolation training during Covid-19 Lockdown

Gloomy (but sunny) April, and we are all locked down due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.  As I write this on 13th April 2020, deaths in the UK so far have reached over 10,000, with a forecast (or hope) that it won't go above 20,000!

Since all football has been cancelled, and schools are closed, our wonderful coach Ben Kilner organised and put together this video, made from the girls individual clips, and showcasing the wonderful City of St Albans.  One to look back on with a smile.

Go City, here's to getting back to playing and winning real soon.
Annie x

Mint Choc Chip Ice cream - no churn! No ice cream maker, no problem!

Ok, so it's April 2020 and we are in self isolation enduring this awful experience that is Covid-19.  Normally I'd be getting excited about going to Crete, but flights have been cancelled, and we are just doing our best to stay safe, and save the NHS! 

With that in mind, the one thing about Crete that I find frustrating, is the lack of mint choc chip ice cream.  You can get all sorts of exotic flavours, and delicious as they maybe, I can't remember how many times I thought I'd spotted it, only to be told it's pistachio.   So, with time on our hands, we set about trying to make our own, without owning an ice cream maker (it's on the list).  AND we nailed it, thumbs up from my sous chef Scarlett.

Ingredients
500ml double (whipping) cream
397g can Condensed milk
1/2 tsp peppermint extract (dependent on taste, Scarlett wants to put more in next time)
3 drops green food colouring - optional, again Scarlett would have preferred more
100g choc chips (minimum), or bash up your favourite bar

Method
Whip up the cream until it forms soft peaks (we used the food mixer)
In a separate bowl combine the rest of the ingredients.
Take time to fold in the cream to the other ingredients, this will ensure that it remains light and the choc chips won't all fall to the bottom during freezing.
Freeze, for at least 6 hours.
EAT!

Enjoy!
Annie x

Soda Bread (by hand) - no yeast required! #Isolationbaking

It's March 2020, and we are currently in isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  Hopefully there'll be a time in the not too distant future that I can look back on this, and appreciate our new normal's, and new connections to the outside world (drama Queen...moi haha)!

Served with soup, yummy

In the meantime, I thought I'd try my hand at making soda bread.  Coming from Irish stock, I grew up with mum making this, so, whilst I have the ingredients to hand, why not.   Have to say I was very impressed with myself.   

Back in the day our family owned Morton Flour Mill, but that's for another day...

Ingredients
350g wholemeal flour (I had strong wholemeal flour in the pantry, aka baking cupboard)
1tsp salt
1tsp bircarbonate of soda
About 280ml buttermilk (if you haven't got buttermilk, you can use same amount and add a tbs of white wine vinegar, stir and rest for around 5 mins, creates the same effect).

Method
1.  Preheat the oven to 220 electric/200 fan
2.  Mix all the dry ingredients together thoroughly.
3.  Tip in enough of the buttermilk to combine, and stir until the ingredients came together as a dough.   (You may not need all of the buttermilk, mine was quite wet, but still baked well).
4.  Place the ball of dough on a floured baking tray, and make a big cross on the dough, almost through to the bottom, helps the centre of the bread cook properly.
5.  Bake for 30mins.

Best served warm, I served it with a lovely soup for lunch.

Enjoy!
Annie x

Bogota with Kids (yes Colombia) - family travels

It was certainly a long haul flying to Colombia, we flew Turkish Airlines, via Istanbul, and arrived early in the morning, tired, hungry and as a consequence a little grumpy.

I make a point of never judging a country by it's capital, and certainly not after just getting off the plane.  The same way you can't judge England on arrival in London, or France by visiting Paris.

not quite embracing our
surroundings

The taxi journey to our accommodation was unremarkable, with no spectacular sights along route, but then why should there be?   This is a country living in the shadows of the infamous drug barons, and cartels, and picking up the pieces after being finally clear of the drug lords, who had "allegedly" been pushed over the border into Mexico (or at least that was what we were told)!!!!!!

Our accommodation wasn't ready for us yet, so we set off looking for some breakfast.   We had in mind some eggs and bread etc. so with tomales as the offering - huge, unrecognisable, and a tad greasy, am sure we all looked a bit crestfallen.  Queue the the owner trying to cheer us up, making us wear quirky hats to take pictures and "smile", we must have looked like a right family of miseries!


Thankfully, after settling into our accommodation, and chilling for a bit, we wandered into the centre of Bogota, which was just at the end of the road we were staying in.  Immediately we got a sense of the City itself, vibrant, bohemian, edgy and arty, with a mix of normality running through it.  There happened to be a festival happening that Saturday too (or so we thought), which was vibrant and noisy, with great street artists, including "snake man" and a Michael Jackson tribute.   Turns out this was normal weekend entertainment in Bogota, so the sense of excitement began to grow as we realised what an amazing adventure lay ahead of us.

Having done our homework before travelling, we already had an idea of what to see whilst here.   We had booked the Street Food safari from home.    We found out details of the Graffiti tour, bicycle tours, and how to get to the other attractions on offer.   There is certainly lots to do in Bogota, and thankfully we were flying back here before flying home, so didn't need to try and cover it all in our first part of the holiday.

Day 2 - Montserrate Bogota Funicular
A great day out, with a breathtaking funicular, amazing views across Bogota at 3.127 m.a.s.l.  Wonderful stations of the cross on the way around, then some more amazing street food, and a market full of colourful souvenirs to buy.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

 

 

 

The ever present "coca" tea that we came across in Peru, apparently is helpful if you suffer from altitude sickness.
Our first time eating the street food, I had the corn on the cob above, the kernals were so big, and so meaty, quite unlike any corn I'd eaten before.
So much to enjoy on this day out, views, history, food, shopping, and the breathtaking ride itself.
A must see.




Day 3 - The Street Food Safari
One of the top recommended trips in Colombia is a street food tour - or food safari as we booked.  It would make sense to do this early on too as when we arrived the first morning from the airport looking for breakfast, we were surprised to be offered such hearty food - akin to a winters Tea - as opposed to the tea and toast we are used to.

Chris found our host Loon from the uk (link from the title), and we were booked to meet him on our 3rd morning.  We met at 9am beside a mall - we got a cab there, using our Uber account - best way to get around if you don't want to attempt the busses.

We walked around the corner to a buzzing outdoor flower market.  Loon explained that after coffee, flowers were Colombia's largest export.  Mainly to the USA.  The flowers looked awesome (as you can see), but it turns out the trend is to dye or spray them these bright colours, dashing my hopes of some awesome hybrid.

Anyhow, onto the food. We walked through an indoor market full of little cafes, all full of Colombians eating their breakfast.  The smells were incredible, and Loom explained that a lot of these workers start very early in the morning, and their jobs are highly labour intensive, so they are ready for their soups and tomales.  The soup idea reminded me of the pho in Vietnam.  The age old phrase of "breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper" is the principle here, and translates into Spanish too!

breakfast!

So for our breakfast, we were presented with fresh nectarine juice, tomales and catfish soup, with a homemade salsa on the side.  The tomales was made with chicken and pork, including a few bones and fat for flavouring, with corn and rice, wrapped in plantain leaves.  It tasted good, but even better when we added some salsa - the fresh chilli, lime and coriander coming through beautifully.  A much better experience of the dish than when presented to us on the first morning.

We ate fruits we'd never heard of, and Loon was so knowledgeable, the whole combination of walking through the streets to each experience was fabulous.  It was also all so local, so we could come back again off our own backs.   I mean who would want to miss trying the "big bottomed ants"!!!!

happy days

drinks and cake to finish off a perfect day

Day 4 - Botero Museum

What a find this was, I'm not normally one for art, but wow this was amazing, even the kids loved it.  Botero is a Colombian national treasure, born in Medellin, and we spent hours here.  His style is kinda fat things, that's from a simpleton's point of view, but what's not to love about a fat horse!  This museum also houses art by Renoir, Toulouse Leutrec, Leger and Monet - possibly other famous artists, but these were the ones I had heard of.

 

Day 5 - Walking Graffiti Tour

We have a copy of this in
our living room at home.

We met in the centre of Bogota, having seen stickers all over the City advertising this walking Grafitti tour, and thought it would be perfect for the kids too.   The tour is free, with a suggested donation at the end, and it was well worth it. 
he guide was chatty and engaging, and told us all about the artists, some of whom travel around the world making their mark.  He also told us about the little stickers and "marks" you see, what they mean, and what to look out for as we wander around ourselves,   A wonderful day, yet again,
I can't believe we did so much, looking back, but the smile on my face whilst writing this, and looking through pictures, my face is actually starting to ache, and we didn't even know what was yet to look ahead to.

never knew what these apparent "random"
stickers meant.

This was on the side of a hotel.

 

There was so much detail given, but I don't want to give too much away either, but I love the fact that artists respect each other, and would not dream of going over another artist's work. 

The lady with the butterfly in her mouth, that was apparently due to this grattifi artists' boyfriend went off with another grafitti artist known for her butterflies. you can work the rest out!

We were able to get ice creams for the kids during it, just nipping into a shop, and still keeping up.  All ages were covered, and you get the bonus (again) of walking round the streets and getting to know more of the City at the same time.

Suffice to say we saw a lot of Bogota, and got the most out of it.  I've only really skimmed the surface, there was also a Gold museum, big bottomed ants to eat, a lot of fried food (not liked so much), tried my first Subway, amazing buildings, colours, and the Pope was due to visit so you could buy various paraphanalia!   We came back again towards the end of our trip,  So will update again with the cycling tour that Chris and the kids did.

But from here we said goodbye to Bogota, and looked forward to our next Colombian adventure.  Watch this space......
Annie x