A winter warmer pudding

My pops is also a big Bread and Butter fan so I cooked this recipe from an old pudding book, which I have cooked many times before. Again it is an easy recipe and tastes really good and goes very well with a big dollop of cream.
The recipe:
Eight slices of white bread, crusts removed, and buttered and cut into triangles
100g currants
1 Vanilla pod
500ml milk
50g caster sugar
3 eggs
1tbsp demerara sugar
Layer the bread in a shallow dish and sprinkle currants inbetween the layers. Meanwhile put the vanilla pod in the milk and bring to the boil then leave to infuse for an hour.
Mix together the caster sugar and eggs then pour the milk over the eggs and mix together.
 Pour onto the bread and butter then leave to stand for 45 minutes. Sprinkle with the demerara.
 Next cook for 35-45 minutes at 160 degrees celsius until it is crispy and golden.

The other pudding is a Christmas Pudding, which is a closely guarded family recipe!

An amazingly easy chocolate cake

It was my dad's birthday and he is a bit of a chocolate fan. So I went for a birthday cake of chocolate. This is so easy to make! There is no butter involved and you just throw everything into a bowl and stir.
It cooked well and then I decorated it the next day. I used Bournville dark chocolate which was fine. And then decorated with white and mike chocolate swirls, which worked a treat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/easy_chocolate_cake_31070

The result was moist and chocolatey and very rich so you only need a slither.

From a rather "hairy" breakfast to the delights of Betty's in York

Betty's Rosti

THE delights of York were on offer over the weekend, but it was a bit of a mixed bag from a rather ‘hairy’ breakfast to the delights of Betty’s Tea Room.

With a weekend away with the uni girls we arrived late on the Friday night, so headed out for breakfast on the Saturday. We found a cafe called Rioco in Feasegate. We weren’t too picky as we were pretty hungry but the menu seemed ok.

We ordered breakfast items which seemed reasonable. The drinks arrived pretty promptly but then the food took ages to come. When Natasha’s omelette breakfast arrived , it was complete with a hair which was sent back.

I had a bacon and tomato sandwich which was fine. The bacon wasn’t as crispy as I liked but it was only £2.80. Then the second omelette breakfast arrived, complete with egg shell.
When we complained it was handled really badly and the manager was rude and did not apologise. He just stormed out and blurted out something about he can help an egg shell then back to the kitchen again.

Not a good start and I wouldn’t recommend this place.

For dinner we went to The Punch Bowl in Stonegate, York. Everywhere was really busy and this place was no different but the service was excellent.

I went for the Wild Boar Burger (£9.50), which was topped with chorizo sausage and served with skin on chips. It was delicious- the burger was thick but not too dry and had a distinct but not overly strong flavour. The chorizo added to the flavour perfectly and it was served in a fresh bun with fresh lettuce. The chips were also good.

The others had Scampi and King Prawns (£7.50), Fish and Chips (£10.50), Cottage Pie (£8.95) and Smoked Haddock Risotto (£9.95), which all went down well. Excellent pub with good atmosphere and good food.

Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on toasted muffins at Betty's

The next day we went to the famous Betty’s Tea Room. We were told Sundays were a better bet in terms of how long we had to wait. We did have to queue but it wasn’t too long in the end, although I had a rather keen middle aged woman stood closely behind me. I had my rucksack on and she tapped me on the shoulder and sneeringly said: “Excuse Madame, You appear to have a lethal weapon on your back.” I looked at her in confusion and then she pointed at my bag.  But besides that the rest of the experience was very pleasant.

The waitress was neatly dressed and polite. We ate downstairs in the wood panelled room. The cup of tea was lovely and I went for one the specials, which was a potato rosti served with bacon and chicken and cranberry. The cranberry’s were large and juicy and the rosti was cooked perfectly. It was a good start to the day. It was about £10.50, which wasn’t too bad. A pot of tea was £3.25, which is a bit absurd, but it is all served very nicely. The others went for more breakfast things like Poached Egg on Toasted Muffins and Smoked Salmon and Scrambled Eggs on Toasted Muffins, which were all equally good. Betty’s is a great place to go and I can see why it is so popular.

Feeling sleepy we all headed home on the train with snacks. In conclusion Betty’s  = good, Rioco= not so much.