KIKKOMAN SOY SAUCE RECIPE CHALLENGE

I love cooking and pretty much cook from scratch every day. I find that even if it's only me, it's much nicer to sit down and eat something fresh, than eat a ready meal, a bowl of cereal or nothing at all.

So when I saw the information about a cookery challenge using soy sauce I thought I'd give it a try.

Most people have a bottle of soy sauce in the cupboard and we use it at least once a week. Stir fries are the obvious choice and then it goes really well in all sorts of marinades. We especially like the Nigella Lawson one that uses soy sauce, apple juice, star anise and maple syrup for a marinade for ribs and chicken. It also great to add a bit of a kick to gravy with the Sunday roast.

So a stir fry and rice dish...oh, then I looked at the criteria....the recipe had to be a "one pot" or "one pan" recipe and it couldn't be oriental in style.

So back to the drawing board!

I then set my own criteria.....

1. It had to be a recipe that the whole family would eat.
2. It had to be simple to prepare and cook.
3. It had to use tasty ingredients that were easily obtained and not expensive.
4. It had to be "one pot".

My teenagers are great fans of anything with a barbecue flavour, so I decided to make my own "pulled pork".

INGREDIENTS

A piece of boneless shoulder of pork (this recipe assumes it is a 1kg piece, but obviously you can just multiply up the other ingredients if you use a larger joint)

5 fl oz tomato ketchup

4 fl oz cider vinegar

1 fl oz apple balsamic vinegar

2 heaped tablespoons soft light brown sugar (you can use dark brown, but the pork will turn out darker)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Then the nice easy part (ideal to put on in the morning before you go to work). Mix all the sauce ingredients together with 5 fl oz warm water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Then put the piece of pork in a slow cooker, pour over the sauce, put on the lid and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, until the pork is soft and melting and will shred with a fork.

The sauce can be boiled down to a thick consistency in a pan to use as a barbecue sauce. You can use arrowroot to thicken if necessary, but I generally find that just boiling it up for 5 or 10 minutes is enough.

This pork can be served in a number of ways - with jacket potatoes and salad, in a bread roll, with pasta or rice. Whichever it is DELICIOUS!!

This blog post is my entry into the Kikkoman Best Blogger Recipe Competition 2014.

POTATOES - VERSATILE, EASY AND DELICIOUS

If like me you are always feeding hungry teenagers, then potatoes are a godsend. Easy to prepare and they can be used in so many different ways - baked, chipped, boiled, mashed....but sometimes when I look in the fridge there appears to only be a boring mixture of ingredients, so I started to look for a different way to use up potatoes and vegetables at the end of the week and this is one of the recipes I came up with.

Potato pastry pie with leeks and mushrooms

Ingredients

Shortcrust pastry - you need to make your own, so a standard recipe is twice the amount of plain flour to butter/margarine, but with this recipe you substitute half of the flour with mashed potato. So 4 oz flour, 4oz mashed potato and 4oz butter/margarine

Leeks - three good sized
Mushrooms - 6 to 8 oz
Cream cheese or mascarpone - three/four large tablespoons
Seasoning to taste

Method

This is a great recipe for using up mashed potato leftovers, but you can make fresh. DO NOT mash the potatoes with butter or milk if making fresh as the mash will be too soft.

Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs and then mix in the mashed potato, Mix with your hands (or a wooden spoon) until it forms a ball of pastry dough. If you like you can add some mustard to the mixture at this point, which gives a great flavour when cooked. I found some honey mustard in the cupboard and used a large heaped tablespoonful.

 Leave the dough in the fridge to chill for at least half an hour.

In the meantime, thinly slice the leeks and mushrooms. Fry the leeks gently until soft (about 5 minutes) but not brown and then add the mushrooms for another 3 to 4 minutes.

 Cool slightly and then stir in the cream cheese (a flavoured version if you like) or mascarpone.

Roll out the chilled dough into an approximate circle and place on a baking tray. Pinch the sides to make a saucer shape and add the filling. If you prefer to use a flan dish that makes it slightly easier, but there is no real need. If you like the base really crispy you can bake blind before adding the filling for about 10 minutes.

Bake in a hot oven - 180° C - for about 20 minutes until the top is browned and the potato case crispy.

I like to eat this with a green salad and a sharp tasting chutney ( I had some homemade apple chutney that was just right), but it is also a good accompaniment for sausages or chops.

This post is an entry for #FluffyMarisPiper Linky Challenge sponsored by Potato Council. Learn more at bit.ly/18rWnaB.

PACT COFFEE - fresh coffee delivered to your door

I love to drink fresh coffee. It was a habit that I picked up whilst living in Austria many years ago as a student.

Austria (and Vienna in particular) are famous for their coffee houses and Austrians like nothing better than to sit with a cup of coffee ....and usually a delicious pastry or cake of some sort. Sitting in a coffee house in Vienna is a luxurious unhurried pastime. There is always a newspaper to hand and the waiter will bring you a fresh glass of iced water to accompany your coffee. Many coffee houses in Austria open in the evenings with piano music and some host literary evenings. Very cultured.

When ordering coffee in Austria you are generally given a menu and get to choose the bean type as well as the way it arrives - espresso, cappuccino, mocha, latte, ristretto. I found this a complete novelty at first, but I ended up trying out many different coffee bean types than I would ever have done had I been buying the beans myself. One of my favourite drinks on a cold Winter's day was the Einspaenner - a strong black coffee served in a glass with lots of whipped cream on top and a small bowl of powdered sugar on the side.

Finding good quality coffee has been a bit hit and miss in the UK, although it has improved tremendously over the years and there are now specialist shops that will grind beans to your taste. The range in some of these shops (especially in the larger towns) is excellent, but it is not always possible to travel to buy the coffee and the cost of travel can often offset the value of the purchase. I believe that fresh coffee should be bought in small sizes, so that it is used at its freshest and has no opportunity to go stale.

I was quite excited then to see a leaflet in a magazine for a company that offers fresh coffee delivered to your door. PACT say that their mission is to get us all drinking better quality coffee by making it accessible to everyone. They roast in small batches and post out within seven days so that the coffee is at its very freshest.

The leaflet I saw offered a trial first order for £1.00 (usual price £6.95) so I thought "Why not? At that price it has to be worth it". 

The process of ordering coffee is very straightforward and you can choose to receive beans or ground coffee (tailored to your own type of machine). The frequency of deliveries is again your choice and there is no ongoing commitment. I elected to receive different coffee every time and to let the team choose for me. I was a bit concerned when I saw the first choice was El Retiro (Roasted hazelnuts) as I don't like hazelnuts (!!), but I decided that I should give it a try. And I'm glad I did.

The coffee arrived two days later in a brown bag suitable for storage. The label clearly shows both when it was roasted and ground, so you can be sure it is fresh as can be.

I am glad I stuck with this choice of coffee as it is very smooth and flavoursome. Not too nutty and very mellow. It's a great breakfast choice with a warm croissant and some homemade jam.

The coffee arrived with a little coffee magazine - the first edition as it happens - that contains some great tips for improving your cup of coffee.

I was just thinking about writing this post when I received a call from Brendan at Pact checking I had received the coffee and that I was happy with it. We had a discussion about how I liked the strength of my coffee and he offered to adjust the type of grind of the coffee sent to me to suit my particular liking. He also suggested a different coffee for the next time than the one originally chosen for me following our discussion. Truly a personalised service!

I will definitely be continuing with this service and am already looking forward to the next package!

If you would like to take advantage of the same £1.00 trial that I used, then just leave me a comment with an email address and I will send you a code.

Happy coffee drinking!!

FRONT DOORS

The first time I opened my front door was the start of a new phase of my life – just me and my two children. I walked through to what I hoped would be happiness and a bright new future. The door was shiny and clean – gleaming in the Spring sunshine and with reflections from the glass hitting the driveway to the delight of my dancing three year old daughter.

Over the first few years, that door saw my children coming in and out – tiny in their nursery and first school uniforms, clutching teddies to help them get through the day at school; bringing “Piggy Wiggy” home from school for the weekend!! It saw my daughter pirouetting through in ballet gear, tap dancing through in her noisy tap shoes and trying to somersault through after gymnastics classes. It saw my son in his football boots, knocking off the mud against the uncomplaining glass front, smashing his tennis racquet against its frame to demonstrate his winning volley.

School bags have bashed its shiny surface; shopping bags full of clothes have been delightedly brought in and then there have been the shopping bags full of food, food and more food!!!

The door has stood firm when we have been away – letting the suitcases bash against its sides with no murmur of complaint, but keeping out all unwelcome visitors until our return home.

The seasons come and go, but as the years have passed my faithful door likes the changes less and less. In the Summer the heat makes the door expand so it is hard to close fully and in the Winter the cold contracts and its very frame creaks and moans; and however valiantly it tries, my lovely door can no longer keep out all the chill winds. It has protected us against the Autumn rain and the Winter snow, the ice and the hail, but has always let in the welcoming Spring sunshine and the warming Summer breezes.

A few more years passed but the door still did good service – opening to friends and family – a new sister-in-law, then a nephew and two nieces with prams, car seats and changing bags. The postman came every day, sometimes with cards and presents for birthdays and Christmases, flowers from admirers (oh well a bit of wishful thinking never hurt anyone!), but more often bills, bills and yet more bills.

One day it opened to let in a girl hammering frantically on the door. She had been beaten up on the street by her boyfriend and the closing door provided her (and us) with the comfort of security and warmth. It then later opened again to the policeman who came to take her to safety.

Now my children are teenagers the door seems to open more and more – friends  coming and going, me popping in and out being a taxi driver. The door opens later and later each morning (teenagers should get a prize for sleeping) and later and later at night.

But the door never complains …much….a new lively puppy has finally seen the seal on the door give up and give in. Where it had become worn out, now it is broken in two – a puppy’s sharp teeth are no match for the long suffering rubber seal on the old door. A well aimed stone – kicked to show me a football move!! – has left a large chip in the glass front. And the framework needs a lot more tender care than in the past – the lustre has gone from the frame, the sheen has disappeared…my door is slowly getting old and losing its joie de vivre.

It is sadly time to say goodbye to this door – it has seen laughter and tears over the years, but I will always remember it fondly as the beginning of new times. Farewell my wonderful door – you have done us proud over the years.

This is my entry for a blogger competition being run on the blog page Yale Doors.

NONABOX - IDEAL FOR ALL THOSE NEW BABIES

I haven't had much time to write any posts recently as I have been so busy at work, but this competition prize that has just arrived really captured my imagination.

My children are teenagers now, but some of my friends' children are now having children of their own and so I do enter competitions for baby items.

Nonabox is an established Spanish company that specialises in putting together a box of items that any new mother would love. They have now set up a UK company and I think you can order just one box or set up a subscription.

The box arrived beautifully packaged with a grey ribbon (that my daughter took for her hair!) and as you can see from the photos looks amazing. Lots of detail even in the lid.

The contents of the box are lovely - a really fabulous selection.

• Muslins - rolled and tied with a ribbon
• Lamaze Bend and Squeak Penguin
• Dr Brown's dummy
• First Choice bottle
• Pasito a pasito bib
• Bag of 20 quick clean microwave bags - sterilising bags for use in the microwave
• Baby lotion
• Baby cream

As you can see the items in my box are pink as chosen for a girl, but you can choose blue or unisex.

I think this is a great idea and is just a little bit different to a teddy or a sleepsuit for a newborn.

CAMERA CASES

As some of you might have realised recently, we have been having a bit of a tidy up with our gadgets. Getting covers for the Kindle and looking at accessories for tablets.

Now it is the turn of the cameras. It was high time that instead of using carrier bags or a sock (a compact camera fits well into a sock, but you do get some strange looks.....) we bought camera cases.

My son has a very nice Canon camera that he has been using for work towards his GCSE photography exam. Quite a "large" camera - well compared to my compact one - and then there are the lenses, the remote control switch, the lens filters, cleaning kit, charger....

He had been carrying it all around in the box that the camera came in, but we had to look for something that would hold all the kit and at the same time look "trendy" enough for a teenage boy to want to carry around.

As you can see from the pictures this is a stylish bag that has plenty of separate compartments for the various bits and pieces that he needs to carry around. There is also the zipped meshed pocket at the top - handy for the SD cards and filters and you can easily see what you are carrying. There is a zipped pocket at the front into which the charger will fit.

The colours are great for a teenage boy. The bag can either be carried by hand, or there is a shoulder strap that can be attached. There are also two straps for attaching a tripod.

All in all a sturdy, waterproof, nice looking case of good quality and at a reasonable price.

So, my son is all sorted out!! Now my compact camera. I have a Nikon Coolpix and all I really wanted was a case that would protect my camera and fit into my handbag. Being a girl I obviously wanted a nice bright colour, rather than the masculine greys and blacks that proliferate the camera accessories industry.

I looked at many, but finally settled on a Case Logic case in turquoise. The case is also available in black (of course!), red, blue and purple. The case has a compact design and fits the camera exactly. There is a stiffened front panel to protect the lens and a handy carrying strap. For a price of around £10.00 this is a real bargain and I don't lose it in my bag due to the lovely colour.

WIN A NEXUS 4

GOOGLE NEXUS 4

2013  is the year that Google has teamed up with LG to release a new Nexus phone that will include all the most up to date software. This phone has an Android 4.2 operating system,, a 4.7-inch HD screen and 1.5GHz quad-core processor. Best of all it’s reasonably priced at £239.00.

Android 4.2 has a number of  improvements over 4.1 -  notifications you can open in the pull down tray and read and  there’s a new settings menu in the notification drawer you can use to toggle everything.

There’s a new camera experience – Photo Sphere Camera – you can take photos in every direction and then bring them together in a photo sphere that puts you right into the scene. I can envisage lots of fun on holidays with this. You can view the sphere on your phone, share them on Google+ or even add them to Google Maps …if you wanted the whole world to see your amazing pictures!!

Android 4.2 allows devices to enable wireless display. You can share movies, YouTube videos, and anything that’s on your screen on an HDTV. All you need to do is connect a wireless display adapter to any HDMI-enabled TV and it will display what’s on your screen on the television screen. How to bore people with your holiday photos on the large screen!!!

With Android Beam on Jelly Bean you can now easily share your photos and videos with just a simple tap,  A really fun feature is the ability to  touch two NFC-enabled Android devices back-to-back, then tap to beam whatever's on the screen to your friend.

A new fabulous way of typing that's brilliant for those with few typing skills. Instead of having to type each letter individually you can simply slide your fingers from letter to letter and then lift at the end of the word. This is so much quicker on a phone than by using the traditional keyboard it will speed up your messaging hugely. The keyboard anticipates and suggests the next word, speeding things up even more.

Android's dictionaries are now more accurate as well so the predictive text is more useful than it was. There is also an improved speech-to-text capability so voice typing on Android is even better. It works even when you don't have a data connection, so you can type with your voice everywhere you go. You may get some strange looks on the train when other passengers think you are talking to your phone, but if that’s the price you have to pay for rapid messaging….

Well, I’d love one of these, but I can’t really justify buying another new phone at the moment, so what better than a competition to win one.

Our friends over at Mobilefun.co.uk have one of these great phones available to win in a draw that ends on May 1^st 2013. So why not hop over to their giveaway page and enter this competition today. You can enter with your Facebook account or by email.

Don’t wait. Enter now!!