pinot noir for lunch

pinot noir for lunch
Originally uploaded by silamuta

this is the wine we had with our christmas lunch today which was superb. further blog will explain all. hope you are all having a nice break from work etc. take care
kel and mel xxx

hampstead heath

hampstead heath
Originally uploaded by silamuta

when we are not cooking we are hanging out on the heath

dotori finsbury park

I met mel in The Crown pub on friday (work drink thang) which was heaving and not particularly enjoyable. We were also not in the mood to deal with Piccadilly circus and surrounding environment at that time so we hot footed it back up north to our patch. I had spied a Korean/Japanese place a few days earlier near Finsbury Park station and knowing that mel loves sushi we decided to give it a go. Research told me that Dotori had been open since the summer and seemed to be doing quite well for itself thank you very much despite its slightly dodgy location in Finsbury Park. On entering it looked busy and we overhead the one and only waitress say that people were having to share tables. I had already clocked a couple of "bar" seats by the street window so we asked for those. Drinks and menus came quickly enough and the choice looked good. The place was clearly crying out for more wait staff even tho it seemed like there was a random guy who came of the kitchen to serve food and take orders. Anyhoo we placed our orders and waited. I plumped for the variety of dumplings as a starter and Mel ordered the Agedashi tofu which is cubes of tofu fried in dashi (broth). Both very good, no complaints. Mel commented on that even tho fried tofu was a simple dish very often a lot of people do it wrong. In this case tho it was all good. Next up was the salmon, eel and tuna nigiri for mel and I ordered strips of beef served with soba noodles and vegetables. Red wine was also orderd which came slightly chilled. Mel's nigiri came fairly quickly and was quickly gobbled. Mel reckoned it was pretty fresh. I tried a piece and had to agree. No complaints there. However, I was still waiting for my strips of beef. And I waited and I waited. Mel had also ordered a spider crab roll which came and went while my strips of beef still eluded me. Okay enough was enough. I turned around and gave the struggling waitress one of my most pissed off looks and within seconds she produced another plate of on the house dumplings to apologise for the wait for the beef. The chef had clearly forgotton about it and they apologised. Fair enough. It arrived fairly soon after but I was pretty full after scoffing the extra dumplings so perhaps I didnt enjoy it as much as I could have. Despite the slow service we enjoyed the food and the experience and would definately try it again. The bill came to £43 which is pretty decent considering we had a beer and 2 glasses of wine each. Check it out!

Dotori Stroud Green Road Finsbury Park London, N4 2DF

our wordle

I like to read wendys blog which can be found here A wee bit of cooking
I was well impressed with her wordle so i did one too. see above. kewl huh? if you would like to do one too go here

the noble stroud green n4

I walked to finsbury park station last nite with our good friend julia (fellow crouch end inhabitant) in order to meet mel off the train. julia and mel wanted to talk shop so a drinkie was in order somewhere. there is a glut of places on crouch hill and on the way to and from finsbury park and crouch end and i had already eyed the noble. anywhere that advertises tapas will always catch my eye coz im an expert on tapas dammit and i like to give my two penith worth!!! so we went to the noble which can be found at 29 Crouch Hill Stroud Green N4 4AP tel.: 02072817444. First impressions were good. Blackboards advertising mains and wines that they sold by the glass and bottle. We seated ourselves and found the tapa/starter menu there. Prices seemed pretty hefty for a tapa but my hunch was that the portions would be bigger than yer average size spanish when in spain tapa. We ordered 5 which included white bait, duck pate, mezze meat selection, lime and chilli squid and crispy duck. Julia ordered a bottle of the house red which was decent enough and glugged quickly. We didnt have to wait too long for our food and we were suitably impressed. Mel particularly liked the whitebait and duck pate and I was well impressed with the squid and crispy duck. Our only complaint was that on two of the plates the side garnish rocket salad came without some kind of dressing. no excuse there really. Julia mentioned that she had been to this place before and liked it but she reckoned the owner/staff were a little bit too cool for school. When i went up to pay the bill I have to say I got the same impression. Still its a place i would definately check out again. I like the feel of the place; it has great art on the walls which is for sale and the tile effect wallpaper is fab!! They sell deuchars on tap and they have a good reputation for their cocktails. Further research of the place has led me to believe its a bit of a celeb hangout too. Ooooh wonder who ill see next?! (apologies for lack of food pics but i just a got a new phone and im still getting used to the camera on it!!)

Aye, aye, lemon meringue pie

I had lemons, i had eggs and i thought, Mel, it's about time you tried making a lemon meringue pie. Never made one before, ate plenty and have fond memories of sitting in tacky new jersey diners watching them in the rotating cake display case. I don't know, until now lemon meringue pies have been something that somebody else makes. I just never thought to do it myself.

This particular pie was meant to make 8 individual pielets, but i don't yet have a set of individual tart tins (see i don't really have EVERYTHING in the kitchen yet). Instead i made one big pie, and well, being the piggies we are, kels and i finished this off in 2 days -- that's 2 portions x 2 days. Yup, that good.

This recipe is courtesy of one of last year's issues of
Olive Magazine.

Lemon meringue pie

For the pastry:
125g plain flour, plus extra for rolling out
75g unsalted butter,diced and chilled
1 tbsp icing sugar
1 egg yolk

For the lemon curd:
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
75g unsalted butter, diced
100g caster sugar
2 unwaxed lemons, zested and juiced

For the meringue:
2 egg whites
50g caster sugar

1. To make the pastry, put the flour, butter, icing sugar and a pinch of salt in a food processor and pulse until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. Whisk the egg yolk and 2 tsp cold water, add to the pastry mix and pulse until it comes together. Tip onto a lightly floured work surface, lightly knead then wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.


2. Dust the work surface with fiour and roll out each piece to thickness of a £1 coin. Carefully press the pastry into a 23cm loose bottomed tart tin and prick the base with a fork. Chill for 5 minutes.


3. Heat the oven to 180C/160C/gas mark 4. Line the pastry case with a square of foil and baking beans or rice. Cook for 20 minutes or until golden.


4. To make the lemon curd, beat the eggs and egg yolk together in a heatproof bowl. Add the butter, caster sugar and lemon juice. Put the bowl over (not in) a pan of simmering water. Stir until the mixture reaches the consistency of very thick custard. Take off the heat, strain into a clean bowl and add the lemon zest. Cover the surface of the lemon curd with clingfilm then cool. Fill each pastry case with lemon curd and chill for 20 minutes.


5. Turn up the oven to 230C/fan 210C/gas mark 8. To make the meringue, whisk the egg whites until they just hold stiff peaks. Gradually add the caster sugar, beating, until the meringue is stiff and glossy. Fill a piping bag with the meringue and pipe a generous swirl of meringue over the lemon curd (or just spoon it on top). Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the meringue is tinged golden brown at the edges. Cool before serving.

California sunshine in Crouchend?

We're all moved in, and the first week of the new job is history now. What better way to celebrate than an exploratory venture into the as yet undiscovered delights that our new hood offers.

Yesterday was sleety, gray, cold cold cold but still we made the three block trek to Pick more daisies. From the outside, and from the website it sounded like it could be a ray of sunshine on an otherwise bleak autumn day. What else does 'california cafe' make you think of?

When we got there at half eleven the place was packed and we resigned ourselves to an estimated 20 minute wait. Never mind, the seats were facing the open plan kitchen and I got to see the nimble chefs in action. I don't really know why, but the thing that always catches my eye is the various food containers that are used for mise in kitchens. I love to see what they prep beforehand and how it's stored. I don't know why?

Less than 20 minutes later we were seated in the front area and had a good look thru the menu. In addition to the breakfast offers there's a variety of other things on offer throughout the day. But breakfast was on the brain so we ordered.

Kelsie had freshly squeezed orange juice, and banana hotcakes. I had a cappuccino and huevos rancheros. Kelsie found the pancakes good, but (of course) not as good as mine. They were a bit dense, and she had to add lots of maple syrup to counteract the density. Remind me to post my banana pancake recipe. I swear it turns out the lightest, fluffiest pancakes i've ever had!

The huevos rancheros were a nice alternative to your traditional fry up, but, compared to other huevos rancheros i was a bit disappointed. Mostly i was disappointed by the slightly stale tortilla, which could have easily been revived by either a splash of water and zap in a microwave, or, a super quick toss in a lightly oiled frying pan. The salsa was a bit bland but that was easily counteracted with several dashes of habenero sauce.

All in all, we think we'd probably go back but not any time soon, as there's still so much to explore!

Here's our final ratings:
Atmosphere: 6/10 -- from the front room things seemed less lively than the back room and there was a mean draft from the front door which our host apologised for.
Food: 6.5/10 -- different offerings than your average caff but a bit mediocre in execution.
Service: 10/10 -- our host was really attentive and friendly and our server didn't leave us waiting.

Total score: 22.5/30

Pick More Daisies / 12 crouch end hill london n8 8aa / 020 8340 2288