Bacon Infographic about Bacon, yes 25 Bacon Facts from the USA!

Rotten Subway Coffee !

Subway are really shockingly bad at coffee and customer service!

Maybe this is something you already know but the Sandwich chain Subway are really shockingly bad! thank god I only visited for a coffee.  I was sober and the coffee was rank, no sorry the coffee was off! latte with sour milk! yum! the whole place when approached sober on a Saturday night is really rather frightening, it’s grubby, dirty, with curled ham and salad that has seen a better day, just really, really awful! thank goodness it was just the sour coffee & that I only had one sip! yuk!

I returned the same stagnant coffee to the charming operative behind the counter…   in return I was offered a small apology and a black coffee – “that’s all the milk we have!”….

OK so this is not good but it’s not the end of the world, maybe even what I should have expected on a Saturday night, but it’s just not good, not good enough at all.

So this is where it get’s interesting, I  think maybe Subway HQ should know how poor Subway Skipton actually is on a Saturday night, so I complained to SUBway – head office, via the email/form submission on the www.subway.com website, ha ha ha !!!  lol sorry I am really Laughing out loud as I type this! A big sarcastic grin! I just cannot help myself……….

This is the actual reply I got!………..(copy & pasted)

“Dear complainant,

 REFERANCE YOUR COMPLAINT ABOUT CLEANLINESS ON SATURDAY NIGHT IN SUBWAY SKIPTON WE HEREBY APOLOGISE FOR THAT AND WILL TRY TO MAKE THINGS BETTER AND MEET THE STANDARD AS PER DEMAND OF CUSTOMERS .

MANY THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR EXPERIANCE WITH US CUSTOMERS LIKE YOU CAN REALLY HELP US IMPROVE PERFORMANCE .WE WILL MAKE SURE THAT SUCH SITUATION NEVER ARISE IN FUTURE

REGARDS

MANAGER

SUBWAY SKIPTON”

So maybe the moral of the story is to go with your first instinct and just stay away from the big chain franchises but any feedback appreciated, what do YOU think of this reply! and what should I do next to raise awareness of rotten Subway coffee!!!!

ITV The Dales, Series 2, Paganum & Malham Show

During the course of 2011 Ade Edmondson and the ITV film crew popped in to see how the new Butchery & Curing room build was progressing and followed our day at Malham Show, not sure how much if any will survive the cut but I am sure eldest son William will get a mention with his Sheep!

The Dales starts on February the 28th 2012 on ITV at 8pm, a 12 part series.

We attended the World red carpet Premiere at Skipton Plaza February the 20th, with Real Yorkshire Dales Ice Cream & Nibbles including Yorkshire Puddings with Roast Beef & Horseradish, Fountains Gold Profiteroles and Yorkshire Chorizo & tomato tarts, a friendly event with lots of the production team and cast present, hosted by Gary Verity of Welcome to Yorkshire.

Cornucopia Leeds Corn Exchange

My first time at Cornucopia at Leeds Corn Exchange for the February event, a great day with some fab producers in a superb location that gives the event a wonderful feel and vibe, some lovely customers visited new and old and all with a great feel good factor, thanks to everyone for organising, attending and making the event a success.

It did start snowing in the afternoon as forecast and to say the journey back to Malham in the snow was interesting would be an understatement, front wheel drive van sideways several times, 20mph & 2nd gear for what seemed like hours and eventually had to abandon ship, luckily only about 100 yards from home!

Some links to other reviews of Cornucopia at Leeds Corn Exchange:-

• Jo Blogs – Lamb Bacon & Pumpkin Oil
• Munchy Medic – A Cornucopia of Treats
• Nameless Baker – Pin up’s Pantry at Cornucopia
• Tonight’s Menu – Chorizo & Bean Stew with Gurnard
• Good Food Shops Blog Visit’s Cornucopia

Forbidden Fruit – Illegal Foods Infographic

Another random infographic to delight…  Haggis is illegal in The USA ! I didn’t know that…

Infographic by Culinary Schools.org

One Man and his Campervan back on TV

During the summer of 2010 we were invited to help Martin Dorey author of The Campervan Cookbook to cook up a treat in his VW van whilst he was camping in Malham. One Man & his Campervan is a BBC2 series first aired in February 2011. Repeated in January 2012, starting on the 3rd Jan BBC2 at 1pm & shown every day that week, our episode should be on Friday the 6th, camping and eating Yorkshire Chorizo at Gordale Scar, Malham in the Yorkshire Dales.

Check out our previous post here Yorkshire Dales Food Blog for more info or you can see the recipe on the Yorkshire Chorizo Website here www.yorkshirechorizo.co.uk.

One Man and his Campervan, Martin Dorey is now available to download from iTunes.

Festive tipples – Christmas Drinks made easy with wine expert Olly Smith

What drinks to serve at Christmas is always a challenge.  What goes with Christmas dinner? What’s the best fizz to get everyone in the party mood and is it Sherry, Port or mulled wine with  those delicious mince pies?

Celebrity wine expert & top bloke, Olly Smith, who we did The C4 Secret Supper Club TV program up at Malham Tarn with in 2011 is also involved with The Glass House wine bar and restaurant on the P&O Cruises ship Azura and in this capacity is here to help and recommend some of this year’s festive tipples that will truly get you prepared for the party season.

In the video Olly Smith makes wine recommendations to accompany Christmas lunch. He chooses interesting “off the beaten track” wines which will pair well with the celebratory meal.  Sponsored by P&O Cruises but as I’m a fan of both P&O & Olly and the wine recommendations look great, I will let this blatant advertorial onto the blog!

Some of the wines recommended by Olly include

• Coates and Seely Rosé Hampshire sparkling wine £29.90, available from www.slurp.co.uk
• Frog’s Leap Zinfandel 2008, California £22.79, available from Waitrose
• Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference 12 year old sweet Pedro Ximenez sherry (with Christmas pudding) £7.99, available from Sainsbury’s

Breakfast with Rosemary Shrager at Fodder

Fodder in Harrogate the Local Food Shop run by The Yorkshire Agricultural Society is a shining example of how a local food store should be, with a fantastic selection of Yorkshire’s finest foods and a great Café to boot.  I was lucky enough to be invited along to enjoy Breakfast with our host Rosemary Shrager who delighted us with her tales and anecdotes about The Great Yorkshire Breakfast, the subject of her new book, (this sounds a bit like the One Ronnie Parkinson show sketch!)

Rosemary demonstrated the perfect scrambled egg (slowly – slowly), poached quail eggs (cut the top off), Hollandaise sauce, potato scones (very easy, I promise not to buy them ready made again) and one of her childhood favourites kedgeree, whilst all the time keeping us amused with her stories, experiences & still having time to berate Fodders Head Chef from time to time.

Breakfast followed the demo and included eggs benedict, kedgeree and stewed fruit with ice cream.

Rosemary’s book is available now and includes sections on the Full English, Healthy Breakfasts, Brunch, Munchies, Special Occasion Breakfasts, Indulgence, Breads, Jams & Preserves and Drinks.

Rosemary Shrager’s Yorkshire Breakfast

Beef Rissoles with Creamed Horseradish

After a wonderful Family Sunday Lunch of Best Yorkshire Beef, Yorkshire Puddings, carrot & turnip, green beans, roast potatoes,  mash, lashings of gravy and my own creamed horseradish what to do with the leftover beef! I know, who has leftover beef! I did choose quite a large joint deliberately as we do usually love cold beef salad or beef sandwiches.  I wanted to try homemade rissoles, something I have not had for many a year and brings back fond memories of one of dads more unusual but classic lines, whilst I was working in the Family butchers shop I got caught taking a breather, sitting atop a bench “that counters for rissoles not a***holes” says my mild mannered father!

So here is my attempt at a modified Delia recipe for Beef Rissoles.

Ingredients:-

• 8oz/225g leftover beef or lamb (I used leftover Silverside of Beef)
• 1 small onion
• 1½ oz/40g fresh white breadcrumbs
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 level tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1 clove garlic, crushed/chopped
• 1 egg
• salt & pepper
• wholewheat flour
• rapeseed oil

Method:-

1. chop trimmed meat & onion finely in food processor
2. place in bowl and add rest of ingredients
3. mix well until well blended and form in your hands into balls and then flatten into a fishcake/burger shape
4. coat each rissole in flour
5. hot shallow fry in a little oil

We served with home-made chips, onion rings, beans and creamed horseradish, delicious.

Kong’s Cantonese Restaurant, Skipton

Earlier in 2011 The Commercial Pub on Water Street, Skipton was transformed into a Chinese Restaurant or Cantonese to be precise, an improvement on the tired pub? The boys decided I should take them to try it out!

The restaruant boasts an a la carte menu and are happy to prepare specific dishes off menu with notice, we tried the buffet, which was extensive and with many well know dishes to keep the kids happy such as hot & sour soup, salt & pepper ribs, crispy won-tons, chicken satay, prawn toast, oyster sauce wings, sweet & sour chicken, chicken in black bean, king prawn with spring onion & ginger and many more but it also boasts some more unusual dishes like Mongolian chicken, green lip mussels, a lamb dish and spicy kung bo.  Some great dishes at an affordable price, good value, quality and super hosts, well worth a visit for a better than the norm Chinese style buffet.

We did have a laugh at the china plates made by that famous fine bone china manufacture “Cathay Pacific” no less!

Kong’s Cantonese Buffet, Water Street, Skipton, North Yorkshire is the Sister restaurant to Kong’s in Bradford. We visited on a Wednesday evening, 1 adult, 2 kids, 2 rounds of 3 drinks, Total bill £33.

www.kongsbuffet.com