Le Beaujolais Nouveau est Arrivé!

Serious business, this wine tasting lark.

Excellent stuff, easily 4 and a half yums out of a possible 5.

Kooshti sante!

Save The Potato Shop

Here's a link to a post on my other blog Transition Town Tenterden. The reason it's here is because a local supplier of delicious and amazing spuds is under threat - a neighbour wants to restrict access to the farm they are part of, and this will directly impact their business. Have a read of the blog and then go sign the petition!

http://transitiontenterden.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/please-save-potato-shop.html

The Woolpack

A while ago Tenterden's most ancient (15th Century) and beloved public house The Woolpack reopened after an 18-month closure. After a refurb and new owners took over, I decided it might be worth going in and sampling its delights and taking a few pics for all to see and admire.

However, me being me, I promptly forgot all about these pictures and now, a few months later, I present them to you in all their glory.

You're welcome.

Jingle Bell Sammies

Every year the supermarkets add Christmassy extras to their ranges of ready-made sammies, and Waitrose have a couple of nice ones:

No explanation needed, just a well tasty sandwich.

The roll is made from soft pretzel dough, with a cross cut into the top before baking for the star shape. Salt beef and slices of pickled gherkin  make for a delicious roll on the go.

Of course as always I hope you guys are following my advice and only buying these sorts of things when it's (a) absolutely necessary; and (b) marked down to a reduced price. Waitrose is expensive, and you can sure as heck make sandwiches cheaper yourself. I just present these as examples - now go make your own (better) sammies!

Kooshti sante!

Costa, Caramella, Custard Cream

I suspect you folks are probably aware by now that I am a bit of a fan of coffee, and a fan of sweet things also. Not only that but I am somewhat of a nostalgia freak. So when I can get all three things in one big hit, I am a happy boy.

The other day we went into Costa. Now, I have to say this upfront: Costa is not my favourite coffee joint. There are others I prefer, but where our particular branch wins is ease of access. Ramp up to the big front door, ramp down to the lower seating level. And we had the baby stroller with us, so we were all over it.

While deciding what to have we noticed an ad on the board for a new drink - the Caramella. It sounded good, so we ordered one each. While waiting for it to be made I noticed in their cabinet something that made me drool. A custard cream biscuit. But not just any old custard cream biscuit. A humongous one. I had to have it. It was sitting next to some similar-sized bourbon creams too.

Now, normal custard creams are quite small - I could lay two of them on top of my cellphone. This custard cream, I can lay two cellphones on top of it.

See what I mean?

I placed it next to Rosie so you can see how huge.

Oh, and perhaps I should mention that it was quite delicious. The best Custard Cream I have ever tasted. Really authentic flavour, a real blast from the past.

The Caramella is basically a latte or flat white-type coffee with a shot of caramel syrup with a drizzle of caramel on top.

Not a bad coffee by any means, just not spectacular. But pair it with the giant cookie - BOOM!