Archive for September, 2009

Australian Wine and Italian Food Dinner

aus_winesAuswineonline, in conjunction with Ransome’s Dock and TV Celebrity Chef, Valentina Harris are combining to produce an epicurean event. A Dinner of “Italian food matched with Australian wine” on Thursday 15th October 2009 7.30pm at Ransome’s Dock.

Ransome’s Dock is the winner of the AA Wine Award 2009 for England, as well as overall UK winner.

Each wine will be matched with some wonderful Italian dishes prepared by the expert Italian Chef and Author, Valentina Harris. The inclusive price will be £75 per person.

The evening will present some exceptional boutique wines from Western Australia, including a Cabernet Merlot from Flametree. Flametree last year won the prestigious “Jimmy Watson Memorial” trophy for the best 1 year old wine in Australia. There will also be a “sticky” from Talijancich Wines that won best wine in Western Australia.

We will have available to Diners a reduced price offer on a mixed case of our wines.

Contact AusWine for further details.


Having Your Meat And Eating It Too

meat_mattersWe all know times are tough, but that doesn’t mean the meat you eat has to be too. Smart shoppers throughout the UK have been hording discount aisles and experimenting with cheaper cuts of meat in recent months to make the household budgets go that much further. There are easy steps everyone can take to tell the difference between cuts of meat and substitute different cuts, without a change in taste or quality.

You can join Julia Bradbury, host of Kill it, Cook it, Eat it, and Keith Fisher an award-winning butcher via video where they will delve into eating meat in today’s difficult environment. From common sense advice on budgeting and finding the best deals to knowing how to pick your meaty bits, Julia and Keith will have all the answers to all your questions.

Those of you who are particularly cash-conscious won’t want to miss out on Julia’s top tips and MeatMATTERS delicious suggestions for recipes on a shoestring budget. So for all those and much more, log on the webTV show

Julia Bradbury and Keith Fisher live online at http://www.webchats.tv/ Wednesday 30th September at 3:30pm

Win a Luxury Cookery Weekend in Ireland

irish_beefWhen we think of Ireland, we think of rolling green hills and lush pastures, so it’s no surprise to hear that the emerald isle is the grass capital of Europe. Ireland has a fantastic reputation for good quality produce, in particular its grass fed beef; the cattle are reared on grass almost all year round, they thrive on the clover rich pastures, and the combination of the grass and the moist environment provides beef that has a superb taste, just as nature intended. Natural food is good for you. Grass-fed beef is available in most supermarkets in a variety of different cuts to suit all budgets.

And what’s more, for the next three weeks, there’s a chance to win a luxury cookery weekend for two at the Ballyknocken Cookery School in Wicklow, Ireland.

Just look out for promotional packs of grass-fed beef with the Bord Bia (Irish Food Board) Quality Assurance Symbol whilst stocks last. To help you decide which cut to go for, visit www.irishbeef.co.uk for some fantastic recipes and top tips on how to cook and store your beef.

Restaurant In Our Living Room

restaurant_in_our_living_roVirgin1 unveils hot new series Restaurant In Our Living Room Premieres tonight (September 24th) at 9pm, a programme truly designed to tickle your tastebuds. This new concept in competitive dining sees culinary couples going head-to-head to create the ultimate dining experience in their own homes.

However, this is no intimate dinner party – this is dining out credit-crunch style. Couples will be opening their homes to complete strangers but will they decide to cater for 60 diners or just a table of 2? All contestants know is that they have a strict budget and just three days to transform their homes into a fully-functioning restaurant, and it’s really not as easy as it looks! This is dining out with a difference, guests only have to pay what they think the meal is worth and the winning couple is the one which takes the most on the night.

In each episode two pairs of food fanatics are pitted against each other to create the best Restaurant In Our Living Room. The series is inspired by real underground restaurants, or supper clubs, where disillusioned foodies, fed up with over-priced, over-hyped restaurants, are fighting the recession by opening their kitchens to paying customers. Even celebrities are tucking in, with Jo Wood creating her own home restaurant this summer serving customers organic fare straight from her Richmond garden.

It’s up to each couple what they serve, and the pressure of catering in their own home leads contestants to draw upon a range of innovative tactics to win. Viewers will see everything from outrageous themed nights and seven course gastronomy to the ruthlessly practical. From pet hairs in the wine and tongue-reading at an organic health themed night to a drive-thru diner with a chuck-wagon, a Bollywood evening and an Italian feast complete with opera singers, whatever is on the menu these couples will go to almost any lengths to get diners opening their wallets.

Everything is at stake as guests take everything from service, entertainment and restaurant design into account when paying their bill. Was the food more greasy spoon than Michelin star? Or the service closer to Fawlty Towers than Oxo Tower? It’s up to the diners to decide.

When service closes, the two couples meet to share their experiences from the heat of the kitchen. Once takings have been counted the winning restaurant and ultimate foodie prize are revealed – a meal anywhere in the world at one of the globe’s finest restaurants.

There is a trailer on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKxbP1R4_4k there is also a facebook fan page which will be featuring handy recipes and hints and tips each week. The link for this is: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Restaurant-In-Our-Living-Room/129468470689

Regulator Squashes Smoothie Doubts

innocent_smoothiesWith so many conflicting messages in the press these days about what is and isn’t good for you, it’s no wonder we feel confused about what we can do to keep our bodies healthy.

And with less than one third of Brits actually getting their 5-a-day (27% of males, 31% of females*), it seems getting your five recommended daily portions of fruit and veg a day is still a bit of a struggle.

Today the Advertising Standards Authority has finally put to bed a dispute over whether a smoothie can count for one or two portions of someone’s 5-a-day. The regulator joins the Food Standards Agency, the British Nutrition Foundation and the Department of Health (which updated its guidelines earlier this year) in confirming that innocent smoothies can count for two of a person’s 5-a-day as each 250ml serving contains the crushed pulp as well as juices of two portions of different types of fruit.

The Department of Health’s 5 A DAY website states: “smoothies may count as a maximum of 2 of your 5 A DAY where they contain both pure 100% fruit juice and all of the edible pulped fruit and/or vegetable … one portion is defined as at least 150mls of fruit juice or 80g of fruit or vegetable.”

With each bottle making up not one but two of your 5-a-day, innocent smoothies are an easy and convenient way to help you get your daily portions of fruit and be a little bit healthier too.

Dr Shilpee Aggarwal, nutritionist for innocent drinks, says “This is good news for the consumer as now The Food Standards Agency, The British Nutrition Foundation, the ASA and most importantly the Department of Health all agree that smoothies can count as two portions of fruit. Smoothies are an easy and tasty way to help people reach their 5-a-day target.”