http://food.rasga.co.uk the musings of a guy, in birmingham, about food Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:56:22 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en What a title.  As Rolf would say, "can you guess what it is yet?" - simply, an event to celebrate the wonders of beef, and blokes. On one fateful night, a group of girls were expressing their adoration of steak - and came upon the idea of a 'Girls Steak Club'. ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2010/02/04/blokes-eat-beef/ London, our beautiful capital city - a business hub, cultural centre and a wonder for food. I'm off there next weekend, and some of the weekdays for what will hopefully be a culinary adventure.  Who says you need to go to the continent!  The main event is 'Blokes Eat Beef' [More ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2010/01/25/london-the-place-of-choices/ So, I disappear for a month long jaunt round south america and come back to see the foodies in my twitter stream talking about a 'Blaggers Banquet'.  Much confusion ensues until I find some information from Niamh at eatlikeagirl.com, which explains that the concept is to host a banquet where ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/11/17/blaggers-banquet-15th-november-09/ Folks, It's been quiet round here, thats partly because my friend Gin has been over.   Therefore, I've declared Saturday 13th June 2009 to be Gin Day. Check it out, spread the word, and lets all enjoy a drink this weekend: http://ginday.tumblr.com/ http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/06/09/gin-day/ Back with the chocolate theme (at this rate the blogs more about sweet things than savoury, though I'm not saying that it is a bad thing!) For those who like chocolate, things need to be simple, nothing too fancy.  I adore chocolate truffles, you get the luxurious flavour of chocolate melting ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/05/04/delightful-chocolate-truffles/ Who can resist chocolate?  Not many people for sure, there are those of us who like the dark deep flavour of high cocoa chocolate.  Whilst others amongst us love the light rich flavour of white.  Of course, some prefer the middleground of milk.  Where do you fall, let me know ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/05/01/unadulterated-chocolate-making/ There are so many nice things about this time of year, whether it's the evenings being brighter or the sun attempting to shine through and tempt us into shorts.  Though of course, we have just had easter past. Therefore, no doubt people have indulged with a gluttony of chocolate based goodies.  I'm no ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/04/20/chocolate-tarts-easter-treats/ I love food, and I really enjoy visiting local markets.  Last weekend I had the opportunity to see the Birmingham wholesale markets.  There was one slight issue, I had to wake up at 3.40AM to meetup at 4AM.  [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Neil - Interviewed for Big Paws by @Bounder - ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/04/07/early-morning-markets/ The guy in Birmingham had to head south to the lights of London recently.  Luckily these gave me a chance to sample some new restaurants/bars that I've had food envy from after seeing other food bloggers posts, as well as reviews on Tipped. So it's been week 12 (time is certainly ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/03/28/food-drink-frolics-in-london/ Right, It appears that I've come down with something since early monday morning, and still at the tail end now (hoping the rest will get rid of the final symptoms). Unfortunately, my kitchen hasn't really been brim full of anything of late.  A combination of being away at the weekends (my usual ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/03/05/food-for-when-you-are-ill/ So, when you like baking and like challenges, then the only thing that seems to be needed is to join the daring bakers.  And I did.   The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. They chose a Chocolate Valentino cake ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/02/28/daring-bakers-chocolate-valentino/ It's that time of year, when the card shops are full of hearts, flower sellers having ordered in lots of roses; and the restaurants all have 'special' valentines menus.  These are of course no doubt filled with menus combining aphrodisiacs of oysters, asparagus and viagra. Rather than face the town, I've been in ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/02/14/pizza-bismarck/ Week 6: 2 February - 8 February Well, what a week.  The UK officially broke down, though whilst the snow started off in the south it didn't allow me to get away with a snow day.  Sometimes being based in Birmingham has its downsides, I had to get in the car ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/02/10/week-6-summary/ Steak, nothing seems so simple as a steak.  Though I must admit that I usually don't cook it, yet I'm always choosing a lovely sirloin or fillet in restaurants. So, for a change and with some rib-eye streaks from the lovely folks at Paganum (the people I lovingly refer to as my meat ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/02/07/rib-eye-steak/ Well, things have been a little chaotic in the world of Neil lately.  So I thought I'd do a quick brain summary as to things I've eaten for dinner as of late.  Pictures and some more details of bits will come up soon. Think of it like DinnerDiary, but for someone ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/02/01/week-5-summary/ It's been a bit of a 'red meat fest' lately, so I've changed my tune.  Time for seafood to reign supreme, at least for a while. Using the left over salsa from the chorizo pizza, I decided to spice things up a bit.  So I added in half a chopped chili, ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/01/28/scallops-salsa-healthy-too/ I've noticed that people who like food (and blog about it), tend to have a weekness for all things pork.  Usually it succumbs to being about pork belly, or the other fine meat product that is chorizo (whether fresh or cured). After having a quick wander round the freezer on the ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/01/26/chorizo-pizza/ When the rain appears, it's time to run back home.  That's exactly what I did after visiting London at the weekend, on return to the flat  I still had a nice amount of Sunday afternoon cooking time. Time to bring out the casserole dish, and make some more traditional British comfort ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/01/25/cottage-pie/ Ever get those days where you just want something quick to eat, not too much prep, and as long as you can watch the clock (aka time by TV breaks) you end up with a pretty good dish. It was all about the sausage, like the taster with the lamb chops ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/01/22/toad-in-the-hole/ Now, to start us off, let's just think about where did the lamb chops come from (well an animal, I'm assuming a lamb).  Though it was from no supermarket, instead after much research and looking around online I found myself a 'meat dealer'; well more like an online farmers market.  Thanks ... http://food.rasga.co.uk/2009/01/21/yorkshire-lamb-chops/