Archive for June, 2009

Calling All Home Cooks

by Andrew on June 30, 2009 in Television, Radio, Video, Film with No comments

bbc_home_cooksRDF Television is about to start the production of a brand new cookery series for BBC2, called Home Cooks (working title).

The project is still a little under wraps, but I can tell you that production will be kicking off shortly. We need to find Britain’s most passionate home cooks, people who love to cook, and to entertain, and who would be willing to open up their home to guests to put their skills to the test.

The show will be very different to cookery shows currently on television and it takes inspiration from the current trend for Pop up restaurants

Are you a passionate Home Cook?
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Do you have a talent for entertaining your friends and family?
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Would you like to cook for guests in your own home?

RDF Television and the BBC are looking for Britain’s most talented home cooks to take part in a new BBC series. In each show our hosts compete against each other by putting their cooking and hosting skills to the test. This show will take home cooking to impress to a whole new level.

For more information please visit www.meontv.co.uk/homecooks, contact us on 0117 970 7629, write to us at RDF Television West, Regent House, Regent Street, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 4HG or email us at homecooks@rdfmedia.com.

The Good Pub Guide Online

by Andrew on June 29, 2009 in On The Web with No comments

good_pub_guide_2009Now available – The Good Pub Guide interactive website which provides an on-the-move and up-to-the-minute guide to all UK pubs. So even without the book, you can get the invaluable guidance of its decades of expertise and hot tips from its many thousand reader-reporters, free from its new website www.thegoodpubguide.co.uk.

“Over one in four of our thousand-plus top pub recommendations has a really nice garden,” says editor Fiona Stapley. “So if the weather turns up trumps, you can enjoy all the best of British pubbing outside, in appealing surroundings. But if it turns grey, what you’ll find inside will be top-notch too.” The Guide’s spot-on descriptions take you to good waterside pubs, too – around one in twelve of the better pubs is well placed by river, sea or lake.

Backed up by countless reader reports, The Good Pub Guide 2009 is easily the UK’s bestselling guidebook to British pubs and is the only truly independent guide of its kind. The accompanying website provides browsers with access to over 55,000 pubs with features that help find the perfect destination for that special outing.

The entire list of carefully selected Good Pub Guide recommendations and descriptions from the UK’s annual guidebook is on the site with the added bonus of latest news, customer ratings and comments with space for publicans to announce ‘what’s on’ every week. Each entry has full contact details and an integrated Google map.

Bottle of Chardonnay Goes for 180 Trillion Dollars

by Andrew on June 28, 2009 in Eating Out with No comments

One-hundred-trillion-dollarNeleen Strauss, co-owner of City wine dining restaurant High Timber, currently has 180 trillion Zimbabwean dollar notes at the restaurant, which have become a real talking point amongst diners bemused and unused to seeing such colossal figures on bank notes.

She has even been getting offers from some of her diners to purchase the notes with hard UK currency, with the irony of the GBP equivalent versus the high face value not lost. The notes are made up of a 100 trillion, 50 trillion, 20 trillion and 10 trillion and were acquired when a customer recently made an unconventional request to purchase a bottle of the Thelema Chardonnay 2007 with the Zimbabwean notes.

Yu-foria Frozen Yoghurt Co. Opens First Ever Store in London

by Andrew on June 25, 2009 in food, Specialist Shops with No comments

yuforiaThis June, Covent Garden will see the launch of the UK’s first ever Yu-foria frozen yoghurt store join the ever-growing array of delicious food offerings in the Covent Garden Market Building.

Yu-foria will offer delicious 100% fat free, natural frozen yogurt, available in three mouth-watering flavours; original, chocolate and a surprise flavour that will change each week. As if they weren’t good enough on their own, all flavours can be topped off with a selection of toppings- with healthy options ranging from fresh fruit and granola, to marshmallow, chocolate and fudge sauces, for those of us with a sweet-tooth!

Yu-foria’s frozen yoghurt is made from an original, top-secret recipe with ingredients entirely sourced from within the UK. The ultimate guilt-free summer snack, it will satisfy the health conscious as the yoghurt is packed full of live cultures with NO artificial ingredients, flavourings, colourings or other nasties and contains only 74 calories in a normal serving. Not only good for you but good for the planet, all of Yu-foria’s packaging is made from 100% recycled or biodegradable materials and if left in the shop, will even be recycled for you.

Yu-foria’s first ever shop will be in keeping with the theme of the frozen yoghurt’s natural goodness, as 28 feet of living wheatgrass makes its home throughout the store, along with a giant 21 square foot living plant wall, complemented by natural wood, timber and exposed brick décor.

Yu-foria is the first food venture for young entrepreneur Leo Bedford. Leo says: “Food has always been a real passion of mine and we’re so excited that the first ever Yu-foria store will be opening up in such an iconic London location like Covent Garden, in the heart of the West End. We believe in a no-nonsense approach to frozen yoghurt and Yu-foria will be exactly what people want this summer- a delicious, simple, healthy treat that is completely natural.”

The Yu-foria Frozen Yoghurt Co. will be opening in Covent Garden:
Unit 19a
South Wells
Covent Garden Market, WC2E 8RB

Teff, A Gluten Free Grain

by Andrew on June 24, 2009 in food, In Search Of... with No comments

teff flourTeff, a gluten free grain, is now available from Tobia-Teff and is ideal for those looking to reduce their wheat intake or those suffering fromcoeliac disease.Teff is an ancient grain from Ethiopia.The company is owned by Sophie Sirak Kebede, former owner of Tobia Ethiopian Restaurant.

With many people striving to reduce their wheat consumption but still wanting to eat bread and cakes, teff, a gluten free grain, which in flour form can be used as a wheatflour substitute, is available from Tobia-Teff. Those suffering from coeliac disease can also now get a prescription for a supply of the grain from the NHS. For more information, to download an NHS form, get recipe ideas or place an order visit www.tobiateff.co.uk

Teff is the smallest grain in the world and supplies more fibre rich bran and nutritious germ than any other grain. It also packs a high mineral content, with 17 times the calcium of wholewheat or barley. It takes 150 grains of teff to weigh as much as one grain of wheat which accounts for its high nutritional value. Teff flour can be cooked as porridge, added to baked goods such as bread and cakes instead of wheat flour, or even made into ‘teff polenta’. A number of recipes using teff are available on the Tobia-Teff website including gingerbread men and bread.

As it is gluten free, it is ideal for those suffering with coeliac disease (a serious, lifelong auto-immune condition triggered by eating gluten). However, it is also recommended for those participating in a lot of sport, and pregnant women, amongst others, as it has a very high iron content. It is also ideal for those looking to reduce their wheat consumption as it is widely reported that people feel positive benefits of doing so.

Sophie Sirak Kebede, Managing Director of Tobia-Teff, explains “in my homeland of Ethiopia, teff is widely used for its nutritional value, being one of the most ancient grains that grows. It is most commonly used in injera, the pancake-like base of traditional Ethiopian meals and when I owned Tobia, an Ethiopian restaurant, diners frequently commented how healthy the food made them feel and would ask to buy some of the grain. I have since spoken to nutritionists and researched the health benefits of teff and am a big advocate of substituting it in more traditional Western dishes to enable everyone to enjoy the associated health improvements.”

Tobia-Teff sells three types of teff flour – brown (£3.60 per kg), white (£3.60 per kg) and organic white (£4.50 per kg). Larger orders (20kg bags) can also be placed for businesses such as restaurants and cafes and it is also possible to buy ready made injera.

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