Perhaps it’s the imminent collapse of free-market capitalism, the melting of the polar ice caps, the influence of our reptilian Illuminati shapeshifting overlords, the demise of the bumble bee, or just our shameful lack of regular posts, but of late freebies have been few and far between here at Yumblog. So when our new best friends at Elizabeth Shaw got …
Reviews
A Taste of Yorkshire: Jam Round
The woman at the market who sold us our Jam Round informed us that it is sometimes also referred to as a Brighton Tart. Asking the obvious question as to why this traditional local treat is named after an East Sussex town caused much debate among the staff which, even after one had tweeted her friends, came up blank. Further …
In praise of … Hedgerow Foods
A few Sundays back (BT*) we travelled out east to Walthamstow where we came upon Belinda and her lovely stall of tasties. Once upon a time Belinda was ‘Gavin’s sister Belinda who’s in a band and is an Arsenal fan’. Now she’s Belinda who makes lovely jams and chutneys and cordial too. Special mention also to her father John who …
A Taste of Yorkshire: (Fatty) Dab
Waiting in the Tudor Chippy for the haddock component of our chippy tea to be cooked, I noticed ‘Dab – 30p’ chalked up on the menu board. Enquiring on your behalf, dear reader, I was told it was a lump of mashed potato deep fried in batter. Before I had time to ask for one to be added to my …
A Taste of Yorkshire: Fat Rascal
A Fat Rascal is essentially a flat dry fruit scone/Garibaldi biscuit hybrid which, after a disappointing tasting, was fed to the ducks.
A Taste of Yorkshire: Yorkshire Curd Tart
This is another traditional regional delicacy which ended up being a teatime treat for a appreciative family of local ducks. Unlike us, they didn’t seem to mind it being a dry and heavy approximation of cheesecake.
A Taste of Yorkshire: Sad Cake
Regular readers may be surprised to hear this but neither of us are trained psychologists and so wouldn’t presume to make a judgement on the mental disposition of this particular baked treat, melancholic or otherwise. However we do feel (humbly) that we are qualified to make an impartial assessment of its overall cakiness and, similar to the Barm Cake below …
A Taste of Yorkshire: Barm Cake
Hello again dear reader and sorry for the brief interruption in transmission but the logistics of relocating the entire Yumblog Corporate Empire Inc. from fashionable East London to its new HQ in the even more fashionable outskirts of Media City, plus the switch over from analogue to digital (can you see the difference in quality?), has meant that only now …
Bermondsey Frier
The weekend here at Yumblog Towers begins peasant-like with a simple and humble Friday evening meal of bread and cheese. Mind you, the bread is an alarmingly expensive sour dough from St John which we lightly toast and rub with garlic and the cheese is a hand-picked selection from Neal’s Yard and represents the best of UK artisan producers. There’ll …
Forman & Field
London Cure Smoked Scottish Salmon On a grey and damp Saturday last October all of us here at Yumblog Towers boarded the Globe Town charabanc and trundled eastwards to the annual Forman & Field open day. It transpired to be a great day out with talks and demonstrations from farmers and food producers, a tour of the smokery, and most …
Review: l’Artisan du Chocolat Couture Chocolates
Living as we do on the very crux of the nucleus at the epicentre of the heart of London’s fashionable East End*, we are lucky to be a brisk Lambeth walk away from the Smokery and epicurean nirvana that is Forman & Field. We were therefore rightly chuffed when they got in touch and asked if we’d like to sample …
Review: Interflora Merry Christmas Tray
Now we had no idea Interflora sold anything other than flora, so when they got in touch and asked if we’d like try one of their Christmas hampers we thought we owed it to you, dear reader, to say ‘Yes please’. Two days later we were sent the ‘Merry Christmas Tray‘ which we greedily hurried to the secret yumblog laboratory …
Review: Abel & Cole Godminster Vintage Cheddar
We were so impressed by the chocolate coloured wax casing of this fine cheddar when it arrived from our friends at A&C that we immediately took it down to north meadow and photographed it among the wild fritillaries. We have a particular fondness for cheese here at Yumblog Hall so we stayed pure and did nothing fancy with this Godminster …
Review: Abel & Cole Salmon Fillets
Our new chums at Abel & Cole have been sending us more delicious treats to cook, scoff and review. This week our stash included organic Scottish Salmon which if you follow that link you will find out live in remote and spacious cages off the coast of the Orkneys. It goes on to report that our fish had been coerced …
Review: Abel & Cole Gorgonzola Dolce
If you follow the link you’ll discover this young Gorgonzola came to us from Sardinia via Acton. Roasted Tomato and Gorgonzola Tarts with Balsamic Vinegar Caramel
In Praise of… Gwydwr’s Turnips
A lovely lady called Gwydwr came up to the big smoke and gave us some handsome home grown turnips and a pair of socks each. We ate them thinly sliced and raw in a salad. They were peppery and delicious. The turnips weren’t half bad either. Ha.
Review: Abel & Cole Large Organic Chicken (with giblets)
Our Abel & Cole large organic chicken arrived well protected and coddled with ice to keep it fresh, which was a fairly good plan since it was one of the hottest days of the year. It was a good-sized beast, weighing in at 1.8 kg. In the interests of getting a fair evaluation of said beast it was decided that …
Fresh & Friendly
In the light of ongoing shenanigans at Westminster and with the desire to be always open and transparent with you, dear reader, perhaps this posting should be called an ‘Advertorial’ or possibly a ‘Blogvert’. This is because the mixed organic fruit’n’veg box below was supplied to us completely free of charge; in a complimentary manner; gratis; or if you like, …