Tuesday 19 June 2007

Exciting developments

A couple of exciting things happened today, one of which was a visit to the very chi-chi "The Hospital". A delicious Rose Prosecco was served, which came from the family vineyards of the CEO of the company who was doing the schmoozing - located in Naples, the cellar has 15th centaury frescos and has been in his family for centuries.

The canapés included some of the usual run-of-the-mill sort, chicken on sticks, which, other than being far too oily is just a weird concept in itself. I know it's supposed to make it easier to eat, but has anyone actually thought about the concept? A few dim sum, feta, cherry tomatoes and feta (again, on sticks) and an odd looking chicken "meatball" served on a Chinese dishing spoon that had a sauce that looked a bit like pureed strawberries. But what was rather interesting and tasty was the broccoli tempura. I'm guessing that the broccoli was cooked a great deal softer than usual, and then dipped in the tempura and very quickly deep-fried, giving it a crunchy shell and a soft and tasty centre. The combination took me rather by surprise, as I was not expecting it to be that good.


I’ve been really keen to make my own Gnocchi from scratch as I have a rather delicious recipe for gnocchi, which is served with roasted butternut, rocket, buffalo mozzarella and fresh baby pomodoro tomatoes. This evening I came home to see that one of my favourite foodie blogs, http://www.101cookbooks.com/ had just posted a an entry on making homemade gnocchi. Am considering giving it a go for my housewarming party in two weeks time.

The third exciting thing today was the announcement that from Thursday many of London’s top restaurants are going half price as part of the annual Taste of London festival in Regents Park. Evidentially this requires more research. Watch this space.

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