Thailand

 EatingBritish was lucky enough to have the chance to visit Thailand recently, which was great! 

 This, of course, provided the perfect opportunity to try all sorts of new food, which was quite an adventure in itself.  There is a strong street food culture in Thailand, with vendors setting up stalls and cooking all sorts of wonderful things right there, in front of everyone.  Many of these stalls also provide a seating area for those wishing to 'dine-in', but many people seem to get food to 'take-away'.  This is a whole world away from the kind of take-away that we think of here in the UK.

 This particular street vendor was making Pad Mee Korat, which is noodles with egg and pork made with a sweet sauce, mixed with soy sauce.  I can personally vouch for the quality of this food - it was amazing!

 We also had breakfast at a traditional restaurant one morning, which was really good.  Especially for the price, just 35 Baht (less than £1 GBP), including a drink of freshly squeezed orange juice.

For that money, you get two eggs, deep fried pork and bread with two kinds of deep fried pork inside.  It really did the job.

 There are also so many different types of noodles available, I think I lost count of all the different types I had.  However, these were particularly good:

 This was actually at a Japanese restaurant, but this is a pork noodle soup, with egg, bamboo and bean sprouts.  Again, it was truly excellent!

 I was also fascinated to see bananas growing in people's gardens!  I don't know why, but somehow the banana still seems to be almost the definition of an exotic fruit, despite being so widely available.  Somehow, seeing them growing on trees seems quite irrationally exciting.  Thai people like to grow bananas because they believe that having them in the house can bring well being and good fortune.

 Sadly, these were not ripe at the time of visiting, so I couldn't try them.  Oh well, hopefully next time!  Of course, other interesting fruits grow quite readily in the garden in Thailand, such as chili peppers:

 The trip wasn't entirely about food of course, we did see and visit some non-food places as well!  Such as the Phu Pi Man resort in Korat, close to Bangkok, which provided some lovely views in the early morning:

 We also visited the Pimai Historical Park, which protects one of the most important Khmer temples in Thailand.  Most of the buildings here date from around the 11th century.

 It was great trip!  I do rather wish I had got more photographs of food though, as we really did have a great many wonderful dishes.  Just from a food perspective, Thailand is worth visiting, but there is a lot more than that!

Eggs for soldiers

 EatingBritish came across these in the supermarket a while back - seems a rather good idea!  After all, everyone likes egg and soldiers, don't they?

 Now, no longer just egg and soldiers, but eggs for soldiers, brilliant!  I wonder who came up with that?  Actually, there's a lot more information available here:

 http://www.eggsforsoldiers.co.uk/

Shrove Tuesday - Pancakes

 I mean to do this  post much nearer to the time, but as usual things conspired against me.  Anyway, pancakes were had by EatingBritish on Tuesday, as per tradition.  We went for the classic, with lemon juice and sugar, which I personally think is easily the best.  Some of my friends however, apparently opted for a more diverse range of toppings, including even savoury things like bacon and mushrooms.  I can imaging that would be very nice, but somehow wouldn't seem right to me to have on Shrove Tuesday.  Actually, it would probably be very appropriate, but somehow I've always had my Shrove Tuesday pancakes with lemon and sugar, so that's the only way that seems 'proper'.

 Pancakes, of course are super easy to make. All you need is plain flour, eggs, milk and a little water.  Put the flour, with a pinch of salt into a large bowl and make a well in the middle.  Add the eggs and mix together.  Then, slowly add the milk and beat in until you get a smooth, fairly runny batter.  I know I haven't quoted any quantities, but it depends on how many pancakes you want to make!  To be honest, quantities are not so important here, just aim for the right consistency of batter at the end.  With a bit of practice, you'll soon get it just right.  Then, just pour the mixture, in small quantities into a hot, oiled pan and allow to run to the edges:

 Allow to cook on one side for about a minute, then flip over and do the other side.  Serve and eat immediately!

Shrove Tuesday

 Just a reminder that tomorrow is pancake day!  :-)

Christmas roast chicken

 Well, I hope everyone had a super Christmas?  All was good here at EatingBritish, with plenty of time spent with friends and family, which is what Christmas should be all about really.  Of course, no Christmas would be complete without the traditional roast dinner.  Most people go for turkey, I think because they can get fairly large and if you're feeding a large family, that'll be a significant attraction.  However, we have always felt that chicken, despite being eaten throughout the year and therefore perhaps not as 'special', is simply more tasty than turkey.  For this reason, we have always opted for a good, free range chicken for our Christmas roast.  This year was no exception.

 The carrots and onion help to give plenty of flavor to the gravy.  I've blogged about roasting chicken and making gravy before, so I won't mention it in any more detail just here.  Anyway, it's important to remember to let the bird rest after removing it from the oven.

 And, then serve with the traditional seasonal vegetables.

  And yes, it tasted as good as it looks!  :-)  The traditional Christmas pudding is also a must, obviously.

 This is a home made pudding, made to a recipe I was given many years ago.  I will cover it in more detail some other time, probably in the run up to Christmas 2012, as it should be first prepared a couple of months before the big day.

 Best wishes for the New Year to you all!