Real food....

One of the things I hate about commuting around London from studio to studio,

is that despite my best efforts i normally end up picking food up 'on-the-go'.

London is the King of 'on-the-go' food.

Everything is packaged and processed to be eaten on the tube,

and dont get me wrong some of it is not just crappy junk food,

but probably fairly enough nice and healthy stuff....

but it all adds up and i end up spending a fortune everytime i just walk past a shop.

I liked this little video i saw on a Cup of Joe.

I try to prepare food at home, 

but so often i just run out of time, or am too tired

and why should i bother when its all there in front of me.

But i agree,

the best food is food that you know what is in it.

The other day i was going to buy a spinach and ricotta pasta sauce,

and i thought to myself  wait a sec,

i could make that easy.

so i bought the ingredients and it took a few minutes,

and i made it.

and it was delicious,

and the level of satisfaction and appreciation for my food was 

far more.

and i had leftovers that i froze for another meal....

Also this month i stopped drinking Fizzy Drinks.

i think its the first time in my life i've gone more than a week with out some form of soda.

(or even a few days, my parents had us drinking it young!)

and sure there have been a couple of days when

i've really really fancied one,

but more often than not i've had a really nice time

buying fresh fruit juices instead....

but dont get me wrong,

i'm counting down the days till

my next can of Irn Bru!

Cambodia- Food!

One of the fun things we did in Cambodia 

was go to a Cambodian cooking class

with Le Tigre de Papier restaurant in Siem Reap.

There was another couple on their honeymoon in the class

and 4 women college professors 

who had taken the night off from their student tour group 

in the class with us.

Each of us picked whichever Cambodian starter and main course

from the restaurant menu that we wanted and we

cooked up a feast.

It was great to learn new ingredients to cook with,

and before we left i popped into the supermarket

and bought a few spices for my cupboard.

I've had a go at cooking Amok since i've been back

and i'm going to try me some Beef Loc lac this week.

Cambodian food was delicious,

we enjoyed nearly every meal that we had

and it was great to learn how to imitate it

(i wont profess to be an expert!)

One night in Siem Reap we went to 

the Cambodian Grill on Pub Street.

Here they put a little grill on your table and 

you pick a variety of meats and cook them up yourself

(my husband kept asking why we 

were going to restaurants to cook our own dinners!)

We grilled ourselves some

crocodile, 

kanagroo,

snake,

ostrich

 

Yum yum....

I love that feeling that you get when you cook a new recipe and its a success.

Pride, satisfaction and a full stomach....

I'm loving Pinterest for all the new cooking tips i'm finding.

With recipe books there are normally so many things in there that i'd never eat...but now i'm compiling my very own recipe book with things that i'd actually like to eat and cook.

Anyhows today i made a simple tomato sauce for my pasta...

from scratch.

(picture is totally not mine but from the website i took the recipe from)

from here

and it was delicious, and simple, and made me feel

accomplished and healthy at the same time.

And okay,

so i realise that this recipe had like 3 ingredients and was not rocket science,

and i've cooked harder things in the past...

but i feel at the moment like i'll never have to buy a jar of pasta sauce ever again...

Dancers Diets....

One of the most common questions

i get asked as a dancer is if i have to have a special diet?

I've never had a weight issue,

so the answer to that is normally no.

But here is what i have eaten today -

a home made apple cake

(yes the whole thing, i had half for lunch and half for dinner,

i was originally going to make it to share with my roommates until

i tasted how good it was)

half a tub of cream cheese eaten with breadsticks.

a can of mountain dew.

yeah....

thats it....

hehe...

i promise this isnt my

normal daily intake of food.

Normally there are some carbs, some veggies

and what not.

i'm pretty sensible.

But every now and then a girl ought to be

allowed to eat a whole cake and enjoy it

without a shred of remorse....

Right?

The flavour of Scotland ....

so i'm not normally one of these people who

take pictures of their dinner and blog about their food....

normally i like my food in my stomach.

But today i was so excited by my lunch

that it was indeed photographed....

and then devoured.

Todays lunch was a haggis and black pudding roll.

The double-layered combination was immense.

It was like the flavour of Scotland

captured in a white buttered roll.

The only thing to i should have done to complete

the meal should have to have washed it down with some irn-bru,

(there's always a re-try tomorrow.)

The last time i got this excited about food was

when i had Fried Pizza and chips from the local chippy....

oh, wait,

that was last night....

Food makes me your friend....

Yesterday my new roommate arrived from America.

And just casually sitting in the front room getting aquainted

she pulled out a Rice Crispies Squares Bar

(although i think that it had some other American name)

from her hand bag and offered it to me.

I cant even begin to describe to you the ridiculous sounds

i started making. First I squealed with joy,

and then oohed and aahed whilst i unwrapped it

and then oooooeeed and mmmmed whilst i ate it.

It was bliss.

I'm like a small child,

give me candy and i'm your friend for life.

And then i remembered how earlier on in the week i had danced

with excitement as i poured myself a class of Robinson's Orange Cordial

that i had found in a shop here.

And how last week when in a restaurant when everyone was sampling

each others desserts i was wolfing mine down in glee,

and day-dreamed about it for the rest of the night.

i quite enjoy the fact that it doesnt take a lot to excite me,

i told my new roommate to hold onto the second Rice Crispie Bar

for when serious housemate issues began to arise....

Fast Food Nation...

I have recently discovered that the Egyptian sim card

for my mobile phone here comes with automatic speed dial for

MacDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut.

Good to know who to call in an emergency.

and by the by a MacDonalds take-away is called a MacDelivery....

of course what else?

Pigeon Haggis....

On our trip to the market we stopped to

eat at what can only be described as a tourist trap restaurant....

but i was a tourist and therefore prime to be trapped,

i readily gave in when i saw pigeon on the menu, it tickled my taste buds.

and then it turned up and it looked like this.

and i asked Captain Tim where do you think they got the pigeon from,

which to he replied, 'well i dont see any on the streets'

which left my taste buds feeling slightly untickilish.

But then we managed to Pop it open (yes pop being the operative word)

and i discovered that inside was pigeon haggis.

just like us Scots cook sheep ofal and oats in a sheeps stomach and love to eat it, it seems the Egyptians seem to like to do the same with pigeon.

It was delicious, but i did leave Captain Tim to eat the liver/kidneys

and whatever other organs that were cooked inside, i'm not that hardcore.

and yes i've also tried camel,

it was good a bit like venison.

Yum.