The Pig

Bank hol weekend took Non-Blog out of sexy South East London to the New Forest. Wooloo had a gig, so I packed up the trusty pop-up tent and headed to the country to perform my girlfriend roadie duties. Duties which consisted mainly of looking after the food vouchers. Yep, you heard it right - FREE food vouchers. Its First Class all the way for me. The festival was aptly named Festibelly so we decided to make 'belly' the theme of the weekend and gorge ourselves stupid. Forgot to take a pic of the watery chicken rice we obtained with our FREE vouchers and thank the lord I also forgot to snap the mountains of food we scoffed later after a few chill sticks and busting some moves to 90's jungle (one forgot how enjoyable jungle music is). A Burger, mini donuts, waffle with banana and the piece de resistance...a pork bap with crackling- yes Snake edible crackling! no chewing on a pigs ear for crackling thrills #grossestthingihaveeverseen.

Anyway, onto the pictures that I did remember to take. Next day to continue the theme we checked into foodie hotel heaven - The Pig. Watch out Babs house- the food is waaay better and its not full of fashion twats. We arrived with our pop up and sainso's carrier bags (tres chic) and were given a tour of the walled garden where they grow the restaurant veg. Then after a country walk and one too many pints of ale we were treated to this extravaganza...

More crackling. start of the pork overload mmmmmm

Melt in your mouth mini scotch eggs

Beetroot soup (beet for you yanks reading) Tastes as good as it looks and the pink complimented Wooloo's shirt just nicely.

Scallops with crispy bacon and carrot purée. An insane taste sensation. soz about the upside down pic

Wooloo's chop. Look at the size of it!
That's what all the girls say. Cheeky.

Bramble jelly and frozen yog.

Nothing 80's about this trifle. Posh ginger sponge and rhubarb.

We then retired to the lounge where Jeeves lit us a fire and we promptly fell into a food coma. Quite simply one of the best meals of my life. Over and out. Oink!

Veggie feast plus sausage and ribs

I decided to have a veggie themed dinner but being a meat lover there were some sausages and ribs on the braai on the sly #don'tjudgeme. Anyway the veggie feast included a gruyere and tomato tart. Easy but might have over done the mustard and I used pre made puff pastry (I'm no Mary Berry). Baked beetroot and mozzarella, and finally a spectacular mixed salad. Ok not that amazing just did strips of cucumber rather than chucks. Anyway it turned out pretty well even for a semi veggie supper and the fact I burnt the pie a little (I'm not great British bake off material clearly).

Gin Glorious Gin

We hit up Winslow country fair today.

The tombola, show jumping and craft tent faded into insignificance when me and Carrie clapped eyes on the Foxdenton Estate GIN STALL.

It may have been 11.30am but the free tasters were flowing thick and fast - straight up obvs, we don't mess around with mixers in the country.

My fave was Damson gin. Like Sloe gin but some other berry. On the downside it's only about 18% alcohol, but on the upside this was the only stall which took cards - dubbed as '21st Century Feteing' by Carrie.

Not so 21st century when we hit the beer tent and I had to repeat my order three times to the Rotary club member serving us. Ever so sweet but deaf as a post.

Cheers Winslow! Eichler x

Enjoy gin responsibly.

Eichler's Easy Spanish Omelet

I may herald from the beautiful German lands, but it doesn't mean I can't whip up a cracking Spanish omelet at a moments notice.

Boil up some new potatoes, and meanwhile fry onion, garlic and chilli in a little olive oil, then add in some peppers and tomatoes and fry until soft. When the potatoes are cooked, cut into chunky slices, and add to the frying pan. In a separate bowl, whisk two eggs with salt and pepper, then pour over the potato/pepper mix. Grate a copious amount of mature cheddar cheese on top, then place under the grill for a few minutes until cooked through and brown on top.

Buen apetito.

Getting Zesty with Stoli

Smirnoff can do one...there's a new booze cupboard basic hitting the shelves!

Stoli Citros premium vodka is like drinking a glass full of summer. Far from those sickly vodka based drinks available, Stoli Citros has a subtle lemon taste and is totally refreshing, perfect for giving summer cocktails a twist.

Stoli Citros Cosmo's were an instant hit at Chateau Gibbs, despite the fact i had to serve them up in champagne flutes in the absence of a martini glasses.

To make, pour 50ml Citros with 25ml triple sec, 25ml cranberry juice and two wedges fresh lime and ice cubes into a cocktail shaker/commuters coffee mug, and shake vigorously. Pour over crushed ice and garnish with a lime wedge.

I'd even go as far to say I'd drink this bad boy straight over ice - if I wasn't such a lightweight and had a penchant for falling asleep after too many, obvs.

Pick yourself up a cheeky bottle from thedrinkshop.com.

What Did You Have For Tea Last Night encourages responsible drinking.

Eichler x

Saturday Kitchen

There was a SERIOUS amount of cooking action at Gibbs house this weekend.

First, we made peanut butter biscuits, care of the Mary Berry book my beloved Godmother Jacqui bought me when I was 12. Think we had the oven up a bit too high though, the bloody things were like bullets. Then Luce made a goats cheese, red onion and pepper tart, whilst her lovely friend Michelle made raspberry filled fairy cakes (she has the baking patience of a saint).

Afterwards we popped down to Richmond park for a good old yomp amongst the deer. It was like a scene from a country casuals catalogue.

THEN we returned, we had chicken breasts with a parmesan and lemon crust with smoked bacon and chunky chips, washed down with about ten bottles of red wine.

OK that last meal came courtesy of an M&S dine in for £10 - but at such excellent value and after a hard day of baking/walking you've got to cut our culinary expertise some slack.

Possibly the most middle class day I've had since moving to London 18 months ago, talk about house wife material (I spent Friday night cleaning the bathroom).

Eichler x

A Sunday Swoon

Cant stop thinking about him... wonder if he still likes me now I'm the wrong side of 30. crossing fingers. Nellist.

Cowboy Supper

Cowboy supper is legendary in the Eichler household.

It was invented by Mother Dear in the bleak mid winter circa 1990 when we didn't have central heating so we would all sit round the open fire on blankets. On occasion, (as a special treat) we were allowed to eat our supper whilst sat on said blankets in front of said fire, and the meal was always the same - sausage and bean bake and jacket potatoes, AKA cowboy supper.

Les has given me permission to share this treasured recipe with you...so listen well and listen good folks.

Drizzle your choice of sausages (we use home reared pork sausages from my sisters farm - email littleporkers@ymail.com) in olive oil and bake in the oven for ten minutes. Meanwhile, dice an onion, mushrooms and peppers, add to the sausages and cook for another 20 mins. Then stir in baked beans, kidney beans and butter beans, as well as a tea spoon of whole grain mustard. Put back in the oven for 5 mins to heat the beans through, and voila. A supper fit for cowboy royalty - whether you're 6 or 26.

Just as an FYI this meal is so authentic I felt inclined to put 'Australia' the film on and swig wine straight from the bottle - how's that for a themed evening.

Eichler, reporting from the outback x

Delicious Dune Dine

The lovely Laura at Dune introduced me to my new favourite breakfast joint today - HUNter486 at the arch.

It wasn't just the amazing coffee, the beyond yummy food and the brilliant natter we had, (I was late for my appointments it was that good) that made it so enjoyable. No no, what made this brekkie destination so unique was the fact I was offered CHEESE with my breakfast. As a die hard cheese fan, this was music to my ears, until of course it twigged that the waitress had merely misheard my request for "juice" for "a selection of cheese." Nevertheless she seemed more than happy to accommodate the mistaken request, but alas I had my skinny hat on and decided that a stack of blueberry pancakes, streaky bacon and maple syrup would suffice. This isn't out of the ordinary, folks - at Snap studio slices of cheddar come as breakfast standard. I really must shoot there more often.

Same time next week Laura??

Eichler x

P.S here is a handy map of how to find HUNter486. Go immediately.

My new favourite snack

I have recently found myself stopping by our local corner shop on the way home and loading up on lychees. I don't know if it's the fact they remind me of a being kid in SA or that they taste so good you don't feel like it's so effing virtuous. Either way I can't recommended them enough if you can find them. FYI tinned versions suck, they just don't cut the mustard.

An Epic Eichler BBQ

Mother Dear turned 58 (ssshh) this weekend, so the Eichler brood (sans Karl, bad son strike 1) made the pilgrimage back to Bucks for a BBQ, Eichler style.

Myself, Liz and nephew of dreams Oliver (he can smile now - although not so much when we put him IN the trolley) went a bit wild in Tesco, safe in the knowledge it would all get eaten by our too greedy for words family. So as well as the zillion sausages and spare ribs which came from Liz's home reared pigs (RIP Millie) we opted for: 20 burgers, 12 chicken legs, a whole salmon, 18 crusty rolls, two french sticks, corn on the cob, crisps and dip, olives and some token salad. Les also made her famous potato salad, home made coleslaw and even an apple pie.

To put this into perspective, there were 10 of us in attendance.

Someone get me an eating disorder, this is getting ridiculous.

Please note the slice of cheddar on the side of my plate, which was a tribute to Nellist as I couldn't make it to Hull for her birthday celebrations this weekend.

Anyway, we all sat round on hay bales, having a few wines and generally going gaga over the newest addition to the fold, Oliver James.

A lovely evening had by all, and true to form there were minimal leftovers.

Eichler x

P.S for anyone reading this in the Bucks area, you can buy Liz's home reared organic pork by emailing littleporkers@ymail.com

Turkish Delights

Me and CK had a lovely holibobs in Turkey. We spent most of our time doing our three favourite things: laying horizontal sunbathing, eating and drinking copious amounts of gin with the locals, who, it transpires, were the wrong side of 20. Well, the 90s are back in fashion....

Anyway, we had a lovely meal out by the sea one evening - tres romantic.

After perusing the 'craps' section of the menu, we settled on a shrimp salad to start, which by all accounts should be renamed cucumber salad, it was laced with the stuff. Then CK had a fish stew dans terracotta pot (not to be used as an ashtray, appaz), and I had a delicious sea bass. I loved that every meal came with garlic bread 'for the table.' For my growing stomach more like. 2 bottles of wine and a few beers later and it seems like a very good idea to bomb (never gets old) in the pool. Pretty depressing state of affairs when you're bikini gives you a muffin top, I can tell you.

We even learned a spot of the turkish language whilst away, by picking up essential words like hand, bracelet, thankyou and gin and tonic. Could never accuse us of not embracing foreign cultures.

Ooh ahh Antalya!

Eichler x