Dessert Before Dinner

I was in London this weekend for a course, and met up with my lovely friend for dinner and drinks.

Following a successful pattern when another friend was visiting her, we first stopped for hot drinks and pastry at Paul's near Covent Garden.

While I've bought the odd pastry to go from Paul's, and have even bought macarons from Paul's in the south of France (Aix-en-Provence) during a memorable summer holiday, I've never sat down in Pauls. Was the wait worth it, even just for the luxuriously thick hot chocolate that reminded me why the UK is not my favourite food country in the world, but comes behind France and Belgium. This was pure heaven. The pear and cinnamon tart was also a triumph. It wasn't on the menu, but I was certain that I'd spied a pear tart from the corner of my eye when we came in. Flaky, light yet firm pastry under a pear filling, subtly spiced with the cinnamon. The pear was practically caramelised, and it was delicious, as well as generously portioned out. I could have died happily then, but after a couple of hours of conversation and catch-ups, it was time to actually eat dinner.

Wahaca. (Gezuntheit)

No, this south american street food restaurant on Southbank, situated in four shipping crates, sprayed with murals you'd expect in Sao Paolo, is an ode to the importance of ambiance. It is utterly cool. I am informed that this specific Wahaca was an experiment intended to be a pop up, but was far too popular to be denied and remained in business. We waited an hour to get in, but sat talking outside under the murals. 

My friend and I bought five tapas sized dishes between us, and both got the Hibiscus water to drink, my friend as she'd had it before, and myself because of the sudden smack of nostalgia for a West  Indian drink called Sorrel. It was a delicious and refreshing beginning to the meal.

The food was great, light enough to follow the large desserts we had, filling enough to satisfy. Though disappointed by the garlic prawns being a tad overcooked and lukewarm, the cool atmosphere and cool layout more than compensated for one mediocre dish.

Reasonably priced for London, though not cheap, I would definitely go again.

Happy Eating,

student_gourmand

Late Night Snacks

I have a very bad habit. In fact, it's become less of a habit and more of a tradition, an institution. The late night snack for me has become like breakfast, lunch and dinner: indispensible.

So my facebook posts invariably show the slogan "Today's late night snack was..." at around 10pm, and I figured why not blog it? Something quick but regular. Because I've had some interesting snacks. Things I find tasty, but maybe others haven't tried yet, or wouldn't anyway.

Tonight's late night snack consisted of a plain omelette, seasoned with milk, salt, pepper and parsley, in a toasted, buttered and mayonnaise-d pitta bread, with some fried tomatoes and tomato sauce.

Despite the frying and the mayonnaise, I like to think of this as a healthy snack. Everyone knows that eggs are good for you, and I once read that the majority of benefits carried by tomatoes need cooking to do any good. Plus, in general, I don't eat bread. The play dough that passes as white bread isn't fit for consumption, and the brown bread I do like tends to be too thin, falling apart on the slightest touch, or with the taste of nutty cardboard. So, pitta bread and tortilla wraps, and of course fried dumplings, are the closest I come to eating bread out of a restaurant setting. And let me tell you, even though my body loves me for avoiding bread, it also craves carbohydrates. So the pitta bread fulfilled these cravings nicely while being light enough not to affect my delicate constitution.

I blame my need for late night snacks on being nocturnal. It's like my body thinks I've already slept and my being awake means it's morning and time to eat. I'm feeling it now, even though I only ate that snack a couple of hours ago. When I was younger, and it was my mum's kitchen I'd sneak into to have my snack, I would usually make do with a cup of tea and an ungodly amount of biscuits, or even some cream crackers and mango juice, or peanut butter on toast. Looking back, I wonder how I'm not a size 20 right now.

Regardless, the late night snack has only been encouraged by moving out for university. Now I have my own kitchen and groceries bought with my own money, so there is no late night snack guilt. Especially when I tell myself I've been working, and so need sustenance.

In other news, I made a brownie cake for my friend's birthday tomorrow. Unfortunately I made the holes but couldn't make the ganache to fill them, because *someone* ran off with my whipping cream. Which I accidentally scanned twice while at Tesco. That soneone also happens to be the president of my Cooking Society actually. He and my flat mate, and technically, myself, were all making a chocolate ganache and rasperry tarte to practice before an event.

I hope my friend likes her holey cake.

Ooooh more good news: my piping set came in the post. Tala, very retro looking with a little pamphlet of piping tips. But this is good because it means I can make macaroons, macarons for the french lovers who, like me, prefer the french word because the english makes them think of racoons. (Nonetheless, I find it odd when English people in England speaking to English people call them "macarons". Even if their accents are good). So now my only question is if I should make them for my next visit home or if I should save them for mum's birthday, which I'm sure she'd appreaciate as a gift, and since I will probably be too broke to buy her anything nice. Maybe both? We'll see. To be honest, I've never been very moved by macaroons. Gourmande I may be; but almond lover, I am not. So it's not like when I cook them affects me besides the buying of ingredients, and the time needed for cooking. We shall see.

As it is late anyway, I'll wish you happy eating and be on my way,

student_gourmande