Penny's Top Ten Tips: Autumn Activities:Part 2 With Friends

 Hello and welcome to the second part of the Autumn Activities post I did last week, however this week are ten fun things to do with other people while the weather is not at its best.

1. Dinner Party-
Inviting friends for a dinner party is a good way of chilling out while the weather is cold. Mulled wine is optional. 

2. Get Cooking-
Or if cooking is your thing then get your friends to cook a meal together for a dinner party instead. 

3. Book Club- 
Starting a book club with you friends is a good excuse to chill with a good book. Once a month, a group of us discuss a book over Skype and to have a general catch up. 

4. D and D night-
I have a secret to tell you... I love playing Dungeons and Dragons! It's my latest obsession and again its a great excuse to grab your party and go on an adventure, without even leaving your living room. (If your interested I'm a level 4 Gnome Sorcerer called Elphaba.) 
  5.Movie or Series Binge-
Watching a set of movies like the Alien franchise or binging on American Horror Story is a good way to spend time as a group. Just grab some blankets, pillows and plonk on the sofa.

6. Game Night-
Get some snacks ready, and grab that deck of Cards Against Humanity and Articulate set up for a night of laughs.   

7. Spa Evening-
Instead of having a pamper evening on your own, grab a couple of friends and have an old school sleepover style girly evening. 

8. Coffee Morning-
or tea morning if you're not a coffee lover or strapped for time. A quick catch up is nice on its own. 

9. Cake decorating-
Bake a batch of cupcakes, whip up a some various buttercreams or whipped creams, good some food safe colours and grab some edible decorations. Then simply decorate! You can all experiment with colours, different piping skills or go nuts with sprinkles.

10. Chill and Catch up-
This is kind of an obvious one, but invite your friends over, order a take-away and just catch up. This also works if you both don't want to go anywhere, just use a phone. (Pyjamas are optional.) 

Happy Baking!

Insta-Salmon! (Easy Salmon Dinner with green beans, spinach and white wine)

This meal is very easy to make and its suitable for freezing. Just ensure that you get the meal out from the freezer, in the morning and leave in the fridge to defrost for the day. You can serve with cooked new potatoes or fries, if you want to be really naughty.

Recipe: Serves 1 hungry student (Student Cookbook by Sam Stern)

• 1 fillet of salmon weighing 225g
• 2 cloves of garlic, diced
• 6 black olives
• 4 cherry tomatoes
• (Optional: 2 tablespoons white wine) 
• Pinch a of salt and pepper
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• Olive oil
• 50g Spinach
• 50g Green beans

Equipment:

• Foil
• Oven
• Tablespoon
• Chopping board
• Knife
• Baking Sheet

1. Chop the garlic and cherry tomatoes.  
2. Cut one piece of foil per fish meal. It needs to be large enough to take all the food items plus a little extra.
3. Lay the foil out on a baking tray.

4.Scrunch the edges up slightly and place the fish in the middle.Season.

5.Cover with the garlic, lemon juice and oil.

6.Arrange the potatoes, spinach, green beans, olives and tomatoes around the fish.
7. Drizzle over a little wine if using or more lemon juice and olive oil.
8.Pull the foil up and over the meal. Pinch the edges firmly to close.

9. Put in fridge for later or bake in the oven at 200c/ 400f/Gas Mark 6 10-15 minutes.

Penny's Top Ten Tips #4 How to Write a Restaurant Review

Its Thursday! You know what that means? Its time for Penny's Top Ten Tips! This week its: How to write a restaurant review! 

1. Know a little about the place your eating at-
You most likely do this already but check out and research your restaurant before you go. Do they have an interesting back story? What is the chefs inspirational story? (because all chefs have stories like that..) Keep a note of all of these things when writing up the review.

2. Book a window seat to maximise light-
Unless its really cold that is. By sitting near the window you'll be able to fully use natural light to your advantage when taking a picture with your smartphone or camera. By the way, turn the flash off. There's nothing more frustrating when you've got a snap happy dinner guest taking pictures using a flash. I want to see my food not little bright spots in my face.

3.Keep the palate arranging to a minimum-
Don't mess with the chefs work. Leave the plate as it is. Whether its picture perfect or otherwise, just leave the plate alone if you want an honest representation of your dish.

4. Take a notebook, pen and camera-
Obviously, so you can make some tasting notes...

5. Make notes as you go-
I'm not joking with this one. I've eaten a 3-course meal and stuffed it so fast I didn't put pen to paper and didn't make a single note. I wanted to write up a good review and couldn't remember the names of dishes or what I enjoyed the most about the experience.  

6. Aim for independent restaurants-
Again this is a no brainer but avoid branded chain restaurants such as Loch Fyne. There are some great places to dine out that are just down the road from you, just itching to be discovered!

7. Grab a dictionary-
Everyone is guilty of this. We all use repetitive words such as yummy, delicious, scrummy etc. It may take a couple of reviews to expand your vocabulary and really get into the swing of things. 

8. Be honest- not harsh or too fluffy
When I used to write reviews I was too nice and kind. I could be smacked in the back of my head with a plate in a restaurant, without an apology [its happened], had sub-par food and flat atmosphere AND I still tipped and written a decent review because I'm a soft spot... but on the other-hand, that doesn't mean I can a totally arse-butt about it! You can't then stream out really bad stuff because your outraged about your white wine being too cold.... 
It's best to keep yourself balanced and the review will remain balanced.  

9. Try something different-
Your going out for a meal, scanning the menu and do you often find yourself leaning to something comfortable and familiar? Well push the boat out and order something you can't make at home or don't normally have. This will then give you something interesting to write and hopefully, you can find a new foodie favourite. 

10. Enjoy the experience-
Try not to get too bogged down in the reviewing process. Enjoy the meal for what it is. Its a fun food review not an essay

Have you written a restaurant review? Share in comments!

Caramelised Onion Tart (Pissaladiere)

Traditional, a pissaladiere is pizza-like based caramelised onion tart, topped with anchovies and olives, which is often served in Italy and France. The tart itself makes an excellent packed lunch or dinner (served with a salad). All I'm saying is give it a try, I know caramelised onions sounds like it will take ages to cook, and yes it does when you're starving, and the end result is worth the effort.

Serves 2 (or one greedy person-like me) (Recipe Adapted from Little Book of Lunch)

• 1/3 sheet puff pastry, you can used pre-made or make your own (if using pre-made puff pastry, remove from the freezer a day before)
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 large onions, thinly sliced
• knob of butter (about a 1 tbsp)
• 1 large tbsp. dark brown sugar
• 2 spring thyme
• 6 anchovies
• 6 black olives
• A little milk for brushing
• a glass of water
• salt and pepper

Equipment Needed:

• Baking sheet lined with baking paper
• Frying Pan
• Wooden Spoon
• Pastry Brush
• Small bowl
• Glass
• Rolling Pin
• Fork
• Chopping board
• Knife

1.Turn the oven to 400f/200c/Gas Mark 6 and remove the pastry from the fridge. Grease and line your baking sheet.

2.Add the oil to the frying pan, place on medium heat and add the onions. Stir occasionally.
3.Add the butter, sugar, salt and pepper to the onions. Add the water to create a saucy consistency and to prevent burning.
4.Add the thyme and leave to cook for 15-20 minutes. Keep topping up the water occasionally and adding it to the pan.

Once the butter, sugar, salt and pepper has been added, the colour should start changing:

 

After 6 minutes

After 15 minutes

After 20 minutes

Ta-Duh! Done! Brown colour and soft onions that have reduced in size.

5.Meanwhile, roll out the puff pastry to fit your baking sheet. Trim or cut to fit. Place on the baking sheet and fold over the sides about 1cm to create an edge. Prick (or if you want to be all expert and pastry about 'dock') the base with a fork to let the steam out and prevent rising.
6.When the onion are soft and a dark brown colour (as seen in the last onion picture), take off the heat and spoon the mixture onto the pastry base taking care no to go over the 1cm edges. Smooth this with a knife.

7.Place the anchovies on top with a criss-cross pattern and add the olives in the middle of the pattern.

8.Brush the edges (with a pastry brush, not an old paintbrush. Don't worry its my version of a pastry brush so its clean.) with milk for a nice colour and bake for 12 minutes, until the pastry is crispy and golden.

Variation:

Ok if you're not a fan of anchovy or olives then that's fine. You can make a nice alternative by skipping out the thyme during cooking and crumbling over 50g feta cheese and THEN adding the thyme by sprinkling it on top.