Monday…it has to be simple

Monday is the day I dig out the house after the weekend…collecting stray cups and hoovering up the dust bunnies.

Some times I shop, but generally we eat up what we have. We converted to wholemeal bread over the weekend, so the feedback from packed lunches and dinner will be interesting…

Tonight shall be eggy bread, bacon and beans,(even I shall miss the white bread on this one 😦  Mushrooms for me too (the children wont even try them. grrr).

I shall light the wood burner and put clean sheets on the beds. There is something homely about the start of the week, when we return tired from school and work.

If I get my butt in gear there may be flapjack or cherry buns for supper (and packed lunches), but more likely bananas and custard for them…crisps for me. (hey I am not perfect and need some Mummy time..I might even have a glass of vino when they finally sleep.)

I must make sure I don’t sit down too soon and lose my momentum…

Happy Monday 🙂

Sky @ http://www.thesideplate.com

Friday spaghetti lunch…

I was a very good girl this morning and didn’t have my Friday bacon butty…
However, I am not that good and managed to make a lunch that still fulfilled my Friday cravings.

I cannot call this a carbonara…simply because I couldn’t be bothered, But this was quick, easy and just as good.

Happy Friday…egg and bacon spaghetti for one 🙂

Cook a handful of spaghetti in boiling salted water…I added a shake of garlic granules for good measure.

In a cup whisk an egg, a splash of cream and lots of black pepper.
Chop 2 rashers of good bacon, and fry until just starting to crisp.

Drain the spaghetti, then tip back into the pan (you can turn off the heat.)

Add the egg mixture and stir quickly to coat the pasta.
add the bacon and stir again.
Tip into a bowl and top with grated parmesan..Eat and enjoy 🙂

It could have only been more perfect if severed with a glass of white (wine..not milk)

Nearly the weekend YAY
love from Sky @ http://www.thesideplate.com

The perfect destination for my incredible journey

I have to say the best days @ thesideplate.com involve consuming the food that other people have made. I absolutely adore cooking, and some people may even agree I’m pretty good at it. However, this does make me ever so picky when I eat out. Be it a breakfast, lunch or Dinner. I need it to be at least as good as I can make at home.

I think we would all agree that we have had to tighten our belts a little recently (money wise I mean, jeez definitely not waist wise…that’s more of an expansion thing) So when we do part with our hard earned cash I think we need to get something worthy in its return. And I can happily say one of the first things I noticed on my first visit to the Bolster Moor farm shop was how reasonably priced it was.
http://www.bolstermoorfarmshop.co.uk

I will be honest, when my partner heard I was going to take a road trip that would end in the consuming bacon and sausage butties, he offered to drive. I am glad he did. My ability to follow directions and not actually reaching my destination are a great source of amusement to my family and friends. And I have to say it wasn’t the easiest place to locate, but Wow, it was worth it. And judging by the amount of folk up there on said Moor, I am not the only person to think so.

There was a queue to be seated, but we didn’t wait long, and I have to say the staff were incredibly welcoming and polite. Once we were settled we had a tough choice to make. We had arrived very late morning, so I almost wavered in my menu choice…it ALL sounded so good. However I had come on a mission…to try their award winning bacon sandwich (BBC Olive magazine 2013).

We decided to truly put them to the test and adored a sausage bap too (you can now see what I mean about the waistline…although for the record it wasn’t me that also had a Florentine!!) We also sampled their Café Ology coffee.

It is possibly wrong how thrilled I was by the coffee arriving not only bearing a complimentary fairy sized shortbread, but also a jug of cream. You would not believe how many outlets only provide milk. The coffee was divine…possibly the best I have been served in the UK. The shortbread was a perfect mixture of buttery, crumbly excellence. And then the sandwiches arrived….

So many places make rubbish bacon sandwiches…Bolster Moor is not one of them.

The bread was a soft, but not too soft, a white bap (breadcake, barm, roll, call it what you will.) The bacon was moist and tender, with a perfectly crispy edge. The sausage had texture and the most fantastic savoury taste. Seasoned to perfection. The fillings actually filled the bread, which to be honest is not always the case at other eateries I have visited. And they were big 😀 . I am sure you will agree at £3.25 for the bacon sandwich and £3.50 for the sausage, they were also great value.

I would love to tell you about the Florentine…. All I can say is I was told it was delicious.

Bolster Moor Farm & Coffee Shop…
Fantastic food, Well priced, Delightful staff.
I shall return.
It was well worth making the trip.

Smells like Home

Smells like home.

It tends to our subconscious that governs so many of our feelings, and boy are we creatures governed by emotion. Our sense of smell is so incredibly powerful; it is why supermarkets waft the smell of freshly baked bread towards our nostrils. Why we spend billions on perfume and why so many of us buy scented candles that remind us of home baked cookies and vanilla.
The smell of frying bacon and eggs always brings back the memory of Saturday teatime, the only meal of the week Dad cooked, and us having to be quiet whilst he listened to the football pools on the radio. I simply have to make a roast on a Sunday..Even if I am alone. Otherwise my house just smells and feels wrong. When I return from the school run I love the coffee machine to be on…it lifts my spirits after what is often a wet, windy and rushed start to our morning. And is there any better smell than a homemade cake, just ready to emerge from the oven.

I am going to be spending next week making sure all my baking recipes work well. I will feel like an earth mother as my children return home, (hopefully each day if my week goes to plan,) to the smell of brownie cake, flapjack and pineapple upside down cakes. It will be interesting to see if they notice the aromas and head for the kitchen before they decamp to the land of xbox and minecraft. I hope they do, and I hope we may make a happy sensory memory or two. Maybe every Tuesday will start to smell of cake, just as every Sunday dinner smells like home.

Warmest wishes

Sky @ thesideplate.com

new baking recipes

Mary Berry