The Question of Thai Basil

Well hello again folks, it's been a quiet week on the old foodie front! We haven't been out even for a coffee, however, we did have friends over last night and my husband cooked a really nice Thai Red Chicken Curry.

Ok, here's a question for any foodies out there. We did have a pot of dried Thai Sweet Basil from Waitrose, but it seems to have been discontinued.  We did find a large bag of whole dried Thai Basil leaves in a deli which crush easily, but don't seem to soften enough to be edible.  At the moment we're using the whole leaves as you would bay leaves and taking them out at the end of the cooking time - anyone got any suggestions on how they're best used?

Anyone who wants to try a nice, simple pud that tastes divine - try this, again we had it last night after the thai curry.

Recipe
Greek yoghurt, about 15 - 20 cardamom pods crushed, caster sugar to taste - mix it all together (the smell will knock your socks off!!) and serve spooned over fresh mango chunks/slices.  Sounds like it shouldn't work, but believe me it does!

Tonight we're having pork braised with apples in cider - yum! See you next week!

Thai Basil
Product of the week

Chilli Hot Chocolate!

Hello again everyone!

I was planning to blog about the new River Cottage Canteen and Deli in Royal William Yard, Plymouth, this week, however I've found out that it doesn't open until the 15th!! Doh!  Never mind, it's looking good through the windows, and staff are clearly in and being trained. We shall wait with baited breath!

Of course, as it wasn't open to sample, we had to pop back in to the Royal William Bakery, because it would have been rude not to! Two lattes and two shortbread biscuits the size of teaplates (one stem ginger and one chocolate chip) we staggered out and ended up having lunch for dinner because we were still so full!

I was really sad earlier on this year to see the doors of one of my favourite stores, Whittards, close in Plymouth - so imagine my joy now that they've reopended for business inside Drakes Circus shopping centre.  This has to be my product recommendation of the week.  You must try their tub of Chilli Hot Chocolate, it really is heaven in a cup and guaranteed to warm you up on a cold winters night.

Recommendation of the week

So, what else has been happening on the foodie front?  Well, we've caught up on I Player with all of Nigel Slater's current series and have already tried a number of recipes (we can recommend the prawn, noodle, chilli and coconut soup) and we have more planned for the coming week.  My husband made the best thai red chicken and butternut squash curry the other night, it really was amazing. Today's my day though and we're having roast pork with roasted veg - let's hope the crackling is successful!

Well, I shall see you next week with some more foodie news, but if you want to see more of my blogs and you have any interest in jewellery and gifts, why not take a look at my other blog because next week (Thursday) I will be featuring a great artist Phiona Richards of Rare Notions, who makes the most amazing book scultputres and jewellery from damaged and unwanted books.
http://slicksilverjewellery.blogspot.com/