Chicken Noodle Stir Fry

Chicken Noodle Stir Fry, a set on Flickr.

The assembled ingredients for a chinese stir fry with noodles and chicken, whole water chesnuts, and chopped vegetables. Then the meal is assembled in the wok, including a video of the sizzling tastiness.

Wanstead Farmers market

Did you know there is a Farmers Market on Wanstead High Street every 1st Sunday in the month? It's great because you can buy french cheeses pate and bread, or English game meat - venison mallard duck and rabbit. There's also a Breton crepe van that does real gallettes with buckwheat flour and a nice illy espresso to go with it. The apple juice stall has fantastic apple juice from Kent, and if you order in advance you can also get their amazing Hard Core cider which is just lovely.

Organic Vegetable Box Scheme

Organic Vegetable Box Scheme
Originally uploaded by AndyRob

Organic Vegetable Box Scheme available in North Fambridge

Tillingham grown organic vegetables

Organic vegetable Boxes

Kent Cider

Kent Cider found in a pub in Canterbury, which can now be visited much more easily from East London via Stratford East and the High Speed 1 rail link

Christmas Dinner Goose

Christmas Dinner Goose
Originally uploaded by AndyRob

Christmas Dinner Goose from Somerfield, soon to become the Coop at Wanstead.

Cider Tasting Heron Valley Devon cider

Tasting the Heron Valley Cider

The nice thing about this cider is that it's an all natural 100% organc cider that doesn't even contain sulphites. It tastes absolutely wonderful as well, full of fruit, sharp and wholesome.

Tasting video from Cider Workshop




The funny thing is that there are some people who say that you can't grow apples organically and you can't make good cider without sulphite.


I'm just glad the good people at Heron Valley cider didn't take any notice of them.

One More Cup of Coffee - Bob Dylan - Andy Roberts Music

One More Cup of Coffee - Bob Dylan - Andy Roberts Music

What's the best coffee you can get in London? I like straight espresso but the coffee you get served in London varies hugely from one coffee shop to another. There's a little cafe near me in Manor Park called the Mediterranean Cafe which is run by a Moroccan and Polish couple and the espressos there range from very acceptable to very good.

From the chain cafes my favourite is probably Cafe Nero but Cost can be OK. I wouldn't go anywhere near Starbucks - YUK!

Farmers Markets

Well I was happily surprised to discover a farmers market at Ilford yeseterday, Sunday 27th September in the delightfully restored grounds of the grand house in Ilford's Valentine Park. There;s a Rose garden, substantial walled English gardens, a tearoom, stalls and a Farmers Market where we bought some apples from Kent, fruit juice, cheese, chorizo and smoked garlic.

The Farmers market is at Valentines Park Ilford on the fourth Sunday of every month and also on the Highh street at Wanstead the following Sunday, probably because its the first Sunday in the month or something like that.

Chimes of Pimlico

Chimes of Pimlico
Originally uploaded by Andyrob

Good English cuisine ( and a bit of french and scottish) with cider at Chimes near Victoria

Organic Vegetable Boxes in London

Every week hundreds and thousands of organic vegetable boxes are delivered n London but what's in them and what do people do with them?

East London Food Markets

East London has some very special food markets, varying in style according to the melting pot of different ethnic groups that have moved into the areas over generations. These are just two in the London Borough of Newham:

Queens Market in Green Street

Eclectic mix of South Asian, Carribean and traditional cockney greengrocers with Halal butchers, tropical wet fish and the best value root vegetables, greens and salads you'll find anywhere. A large, noisy and smelly market with all sorts going on.

East Ham

A smaller covered market but with a range of food stalls and shops. Butcher, fishmonger, greengrocers and a great plant shop.

Harrods Food Hall -Fish Department Market Stall (London) 百貨公司 倫敦

Harrods Food Hall -Fish Department Market Stall (London) 百貨公司 倫敦
Originally uploaded by shorty_nz_2000

Harrods Food Hall is always worth a visit, especially the fresh fish department.

Roots and Greens Organic Vegetable Box

Roots and Greens Veg Box
Originally uploaded by Andyrob

We switched to the new Roots and Greens Organic Vegetable Box this week from Riverford. It's great for winter stews and casseroles because there is always enough potatoes, carrots parsnips and onions plus this week we had a cauliflower, leeks and that russian black kale that's really tender and delicious.

Organic Vegetable Boxes in London

I was just wondering which are the best Organic Vegetable Boxes you can get delievered in the London area. There are some listed in the link but What's the different between organic vegetables delivered on a regular weekly basis and a one-off order for an organic veg box?

Do you get fed up with the same vegetables arriving in teh boxes or do they vary a lot?

Are box delivered vegetables that much more expensive than supermarket veg from the organic section and are the the same quality?

So many questions, but it's important to get the right delivery scheme or whatever isn't it.

The Greenwich Union Meantime van

The Greenwich Union Meantime van
Originally uploaded by Andyrob

The Greenwich Union is the only pub operated by the Greenwich Meantime brewery although their interesting modern beers can be found in many other pubs and other outlets.

How to make Cider at home

An interesting way of making a home made apple press for anybody wanting to learn how to make cider at home.

Saving Money with Organic Boxes

Organic Boxes save money?

I've been having organic boxes delivered for many years on and off and I'm convinced that the advantages include saving money overall as well as all the other benefits. How can this be when organic vegetables are more expensive than non organic, and home delivery is an added luxury you may well ask. Well the way I see it, it's all about cultivating good habits. However independent, intelligent and resistent to advertising you might be, the big international supermarkets chains have spent millions on research into how to influence our behaviour. Once we step inside their stores we are vulnerable to all sorts of unconscious triggers and associations which will sooner of later cause us to by something that isnlt really needed, and will almost certainly fail to live up to its promise. So the less times you set foot inside a supermarket the more money you save, and having organic boxes delivered to the doorstep is one excellent defence mechanism.

Don't just believe me though, see this report as well, that backs up similar ideas and gives five good reasons why Organic Boxes save you money:

Organic Boxes Save Costs

Organic boxes can actually save you money as well as save the planet, according to the Manchester Evening News. A recent article suggests that many people are cutting back on buying organic in supermarkets and are looking round for cheaper solutions.

Organic Boxes - 5 ways they save you money

The Dartmouth Arms

I shall miss the Dartmouth Arms during September this year when the London Overground is having engineering works. We like to take what we call "the little train" to Gospel Oak and then walk across the bottom of Hampstead Heath to the Dartmouth and we invariably eat there as well as enjoying the fantastic range of draught and bottled ciders.

Favourite food items are

Six Oysters as a shared starter. Yum

Fish and Chips supper on a Friday

The Spanish Platter with serano ham and lovely pickles

Ah, and I've just remembered last time we ordered the English platter and this included a small mutton pie which was sublime. We'd like to know whose pie that was to see if its obtainable elsewhere at all.

Lebanese Food in London

photo by austinevan

Frogs legs

Frog
Originally uploaded by Andyrob

I don't eat frogs legs any more, frogs are my friends. They need their legs.