As you probably figured by now, I love most stuff vintage-y, cute-sy, yumm-y and retro-y. Even baker-y. Yeah, all good things end with a Y. I’ve done a few cupcake rounds, and have grand plans of spending a day trawling cupcakeries in NYC later this year. So far, I’ve loved the Hummingbird as their cakes are not sweet, which is then nicely tampered by the super sugary icing. Bacon don’t like it as much – he thinks it slightly weird that the cakes demonstrate a total lack of sugar whilst the icing is sickly sweet. I don’t mind it as I can then scrape off most of the icing so I end up with a suitably sweet cupcake. And of course, the fact that their recipes always turn out well and tastes like what they serve in-store. BUT the Hummingbird Bakery is not the topic of my post today – the Leeds-born Sunshine Bakery is.

Most definately a welcome addition to Leeds, I had yet to find something quite like this in the Leeds area…or anywhere near. We popped in on our way to Mother’s Day lunch – very lucky as they are not usually open on Sundays- to pick up some cupcakes. I actually checked their twitter feed before I left to see if they’re open, and as luck would have it, off the back of Katie’s lovely review of their cakes, they were offering a free cupcake to anyone who said they love leedsgrub! How nice is that ??

It was very lovely inside the shop, a certain modern vintage feel to it, from the proper coffee machines to china cups. We chatted about twitter abit (i follow them) , and how more businessess should embrace it ect..I do love speaking to businessess on twitter, it’s very bizzare but lovely! It’s even more wonderful when you see the person behind the twitter account….and especially for a ‘small but perfectly formed’ local bakery like this which I would have otherwise not found out about if not for the fact it had been tweeted around by local tweeps.

More on the ‘small but perfectly formed’ part – they are looking into expanding back and front, with tables planned on the sidewalk and opening up of a secret garden up back now that spring is FINALLY upon us. Wow. I must return when that happens – I do love a good cuppa with cake in the garden! At the moment there are tables inside for you to have your cake, and if the mother in law hadn’t been waiting for us at the pub we would had probably sat down for a cuppa and continue chatting with the friendly cupcake maker behind the counter (which I had very rudely not got his name!!). So we had ours to go for after lunch, packed in a sturdy specially-made-for-cupcakes 4 hole box.

We went away with two double chocolate, one mango & passionfruit and one Eton Mess cupcake. The one with the white rose is Eton Mess

The Mango & Passionfruit is the one with choc bits on white frosting

And of course, the double chocolate

The Mango & Passionfruit was very summery – light, with the right amount of fruitininess. Bacon loved this – and for someone who dislike passionfruit & mango, this is high praise indeed. The MIL gave it her thumbs up as well – her favourite. The Eton Mess was also very, very lovely – a meringue-like frosting with the delicate white rose to top it off….and I love the delicate strawberry flavours that was in this pretty and delicious cupcake. yum yum good.

However, the best of them lot, in my opinion, was the double chocolate. The sponge was light and moist, without losing it’s chocolate gooeyness. The frosting was absolutely DIVINE – I believe it’s very whipped chocolate cream with a glaze of chocolate on top. Chocolate cupcakes tend to get slightly sickly for me with the frosting, however, I could have had 10 more of these. Mm mm good.

See how moist the sponge is? Ohmigod…

The verdict? Bacon gave it his double thumbs up, even going as far to say that this is the best cupcake he had had so far. He’s plotting to send me to one of the cupcake classes that they regularly run . As for me, I absolutely love how everything is so light and delicate, with the right amout of sugar and moistness.

The Sunshine Bakery
182 Harrogate Road
Chapel Allerton
Leeds LS7 4NZ

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*crossposted from notabrownbag - I have delayed posting this here due to having a sad week last week . It DOES close Monday, so if you’re interested, get clicking NOW!

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In conjunction with the fabulous girls from Culture Vultures ; THE local cultural & art website right here in Leeds, UK ; I am running a bento competition!!! Unfortunately it is only available for entry by denziens living and working in Leeds – but the gifts are definately fabulous as they’re handpicked by me!

The selected winner will be getting a specially made bento from my kitchen (yes, made from scratch!) in an adorable bento box that they get to keep and treasure. I have hand-picked a selection of envy-inducing ‘bento-gear’ for the winner to make their own bento lunches, as well as a how-to handbook on making superbly kawaii bento lunches and being the envy of all your colleagues!

It is my hope that this will start a lunch-volution, and the end of the sloppy sandwich on dry, stale bread that I see so many people stuff their mouths with during lunch time. To be able to go into a working lunch and not served a selection of sandwiches with unidentifiable fillings would be absolutely amazing. Having lived in blue-skies California, winters here in the north gets me depressed – but the thought of opening up a box of sunshine halfway through the work day brightens up my day to no end. Hey, maybe if everyone packs a bento, there will be no crime, peace on earth….and all that jazz…:D

…..my mock-interview, which was posted on their website:

What is a bento box?
“Portion control meets nutritionally complete work of art”.
Bento box is basically a box that you put your food in. If you’ve ever been to a Japanese restaurant, you would be familiar with the plastic mock-lacquer box with compartments that your dinner arrived in. In my opinion (and many others) the hinomaru is the classic bento, freshly cooked white short grained rice with an umeboshi (red pickled plum) in the centre – representing the Japanese flag.

In Japan, bentos are as widely available as Mcdonalds for the lunch-on-the-run, from vending machines to convenience stores (kombini) and railway stations. The credit-crunched version of assembling lunch at home and bringing it with you to eat at work/school has long been part and parcel of the Japanese culture – just as a brownbagged sandwich is to the Western culture.

However, the style of bento that is gaining somewhat of a cult status worldwide are the bentos made for children. This is instantly striking, from the rice molded into adorable shapes like rabbits and penguins. Go a step further and you’ll find great charaben/kyraben (character bento) practitioners recreating whole scenes of computer games into boxes of edible goodness – from a scene out of Mario to Professor Layton! There are competitions in Japan where accomplished charaben artists churn out their most adorably cute creations; from anime characters made out of ham to a whole zoo and Hello Kitty disguised as a penguin!

What do you put in it? Does it have to be Japanese food?
Two words; ANYTHING GOES! There are no hard and fast rules on this – I ensure I incorporate all food groups packed tightly in a box . Traditional bentos usually follow the rule of 4 parts starch, 1 parts fruit/veg and 2 part protein – but this is by no means a be all and end all. I generally try to lower my carbs intake whilst upping my fruit/veg intake, making it more 1:1:1. A bento for me has to tickle my tastebuds and fill me up enough so I do not succumb to a packet of crisps or a bar of chocolate. Fabulous bento practitioner-turned-author advises JUST NO JUNK, whilst another accomplished bento practitioner advises that nothing raw should be packed, and always ensure you use an icepack in summer….nobody wants a spoiled lunch!

Japanese food definitely helps, especially those that are designed to be eaten at room temperature, i.e. rice balls. Again, no hard and fast rules, I have previously packed hummus & crudites. Olives works well, so does cherry tomatoes and mini cheeses (think babybel) Some of the more refined bentoists have turned plain cheese and ham sandwiches into magnificent work of art. The key is to keep each individual item small, that way you are able to add a wider variety of foodstuff.

Is it for one greedy person or for two to share?
That’s the beauty with bentos – and the addiction that many bento makers face with purchasing as many bento boxes as they can possibly find! The variety of shapes and sizes of bento boxes available is astounding, from plain flat plastic containers (i.e. tupperware style) to elaborate cedarwoor crafted ovals and Hello Kitty shaped plastic boxes. Personally, my burger-shaped bento box gets the most laughter when I reveal it at lunchtime .There are boxes out there designed for all appetites, from tiny 350ml containers for toddlers or a snack to giant picnic boxes (kouraku) catering for a family picnic.

The rule of thumb is bento lunches are generally made for one – I keep my boxes tiny (below 600ml volume) to keep a strict tab on the portion size, but the husband gets a man-sized non-cute 1 litre box. Another note; bento boxes comes in all shape and sizes, but generally the cute ones are on the small side, catering to children and adolescent girls!

If you were making a bento box of beauty for your most beloved what key ingredients would you include and why?
Lots and lots of colours! There is nothing more stunning than opening up a box at lunchtime and having a riot of colours exploding from a deceptively simple box. Healthy bento euthusiasts live by the colour rule; Red, Green, Yellow and Orange. This means alot of fruit and vegetables…….but rest assured, I am a self-confessed carnivore, so you won’t be stuck with a vegan lunchbox – unless you want to!

To enter, please click here!

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So deep you can’t even see my snow angel!!

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Can’t really walk without wellies anymore..

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bacon pretending to be a snowman..

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Bacon shovelling our way into the house

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The farm enveloped by super deep snow

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We’re usually away for Christmas, so it was refreshing this year that we decided to stay home. This meant that the cat have the pleasure of our company (hehe), I was able to have an actual Christmas dinner on Christmas day, and got actual presents to open up! I got some speakers, a new sewing machine and other assorted knick knacks – Your Shape Wii game for one, chocolates, books ect ect…yay!

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Not to mention the magnificent snowfall! My first White Christmas – but thinking about it..I have not actually spent that many Christmases in countries that actually snow, so one in five is not too bad! Yep, I made the above on Christmas morning…

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And bacon made this, which is supposed to be a snow-cat

Unlike alot of people, I do not tend to get stressed out with making Christmas dinner. In fact, I quite enjoy it. It’s really not that difficult as well….and I do love making Christmas dinner with all the trimmings..

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My beautifully golden brown turkey. Yumm. My secret recipe is to brine it, let it swim in salt water for 24hours ; it makes the turkey wonderfully moist and flavourful. And NEVER follow the cooking time on the packaging. I cooked this for less than 2 hours (4.2kg bird), whilst the packaging reccomended about a 3 hour + cooking time. Of course, ALWAYS check the thickest part of the bird is not bloody before taking it out of the oven. To be honest, my bird could’ve done with only 1 hr & 30 mins, as I let it brown (without the bacon) for about 30 mins at 220deg before wrapping bacon all over the turkey for the remaining time at 180 deg. This browns up the turkey beautifully, whilst the bacon wrapping keeps it wonderfully moist. Lovely.

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I also made my fave festive red cabbage; with port, red wine vineger, cranberries, orange juice & rind, onions, cinnamon, nutmeg & star anise.

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And of course, the lovely trimmings – roast potatoes & parsnips, stuffing balls, pigs in blankets, sprouts with chipped bacon and assorted roast vegetables. I do love the trimmings.

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My piece de resistance – traditional American candied yam. This is the first time ever that I’m making it, but it is a very traditional American dish not to be missed with Thanksgiving & Christmas dinners. Fairly unknown outside of the US, this came from the 3 Thanksgiving that I spent in California. I have not had a full American Thanksgiving dinner for so long….and sorely missed the candied yams. Slightly misleading name – this is not a candy nor is it made out of what the rest of the world call yam. It is sweet potato, cooked in a lovely sauce of butter, maple syrup, spices and orange juice, it is then topped with marshmallows (yes, MARSHMALLOWS!) and baked till the marshmallows starts to toast – about 15 mins.

Serve immediately – the marshmallow crust looks deceptively hard, but its all soft and gooey inside, perfect mixed in with the sauce. I added some crushed walnuts to my sauce, and it tastes absolutely magnificent. Delicious. I like. Suprisingly enough, so did bacon – he had been apprehensive ever since I bought the sweet potato (sweet potato with my Christmas dinner??!! Never!!) . He was won over by this wonderful dish, the marshmallows just melting perfectly into the sauce. Bliss. Definately something that I will be repeating, with bacon’s seal of approval.

The whole spread – with homemade giblet gravy…. yummz.

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Until next year!!

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Tonight was their christmas special – with 20% discounts throughout the whole store, the place was HEAVING. I couldn’t even buy anything…as I could hardly move to the queue. Sigh. Anyway – as promised, here’s my goodies!

From left-right: leopard print linen scarf, Levis’ 501 cutoffs, set of 3 headbands, two pairs of pseudo Raybans, patchwork dress, purple thighs, LEE 120 years anniversary bag and salt-and-pepper shakers

Sooooo fab! The only glitch is that the cutoffs are way too tiny, and the thighs are definately not my size – I am not very tall, but it’s made to fit girls up to 5ft 3! So I’m going to have to figure out what to do with them – I see a giveaway coming up! I squeezed into the pretty patchwork dress that only came in one size….loved the salt&pepper shaker. Incidentally, I purchased the exact same salt and pepper shaker in Sydney back in 2006 as a gift . The pseudo-Raybans are cute – not something that I would ordinarily purhcase for myself, but I do think its cute. So is the scarf – I so really needed something like this but had just not gotten around to buying one.

Definately very random – but I love it nonetheless!

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@LadyRach was kind enough to send a me an invite for the press launch of Sesame; Leeds’ premier Urban Farm Deli. If you’ve been reading this blog for a few years, you would know that I had sadly but correctly predicted the demise of a few sushi/noodle places in Leeds…like Nooshi . I have a take-no-prisoners view on badly made sushi and imitation ingreddients, and nooshi was so far off the bat – so it was risky in my view to invite me to the press launch of Sesame! I decided that I would just not write about Sesame if it was as dissapointing as the others .So the fact that you are actually reading this now should give you an idea of things to come in this post.

Located in the haven of blood suckers lawyers in Leeds at St Paul’s Street, Sesame is an unassuming place from the outside. If you are looking for it and get kinda lost, it is not precisely opposite of Starbucks, but fairly close. Nothing showy or loud, high ceillings, airy and light, this is definately my sort of place. Just like one of the delis in Little Italy that I used to frequent in San Francisco…I like.

After saying hi to the lovely LadyRach and handed some champagne complete with pretty ribbons, I headed straight to…..what else, but the counter overflowing with these…

Cate’s Cupcakes are made by the lovely ‘cupcake fairy’ Cate…who suprisingly, is crazy about Tiffany jewelry as well. We had a natter over her delicious cupcakes and Tiffany’s suprisingly expensive enamel cupcakes.

Don’t you just love her cupcake tee!! She’s holding up a platter of her bite-size vanilla cupcakes in pink frosting, which I had a piece (would have just run off with the whole platter if she wasn’t there watching over her cake…very shrewd move indeed) . Very moist buttery sponge topped by the prettiest sparkly pink frosting. Yummz. Bacon even went as far as proclaiming this to be way better than @hummingbbakery’s (sorry, I can’t seem to stop using twitter speak) lovely cupcakes. Hmm. I shall reserve judgement until I try her version of red velvet…

The next person that I gravitated towards was this charming young lad who obliged my request for a photo

And just look at what he’s carrying!! Yay!! Salmon nigiri, New York Roto (smoked salmon, cream cheese & cucumber), California Roto (Whitby crab, avocado & cucumber), tuna maki….this is like my idea of heaven. The only thing I regret is not whipping out my own chopsticks (yes, I travel with chopsticks, so sue me) or the brains to ask for a disposable pair – eating sushi with fingers is a new experience for me.

Okay, now for the taste test. Fish is very fresh, no smelly fishmonger feel….rice has just the right amount of stickiness, and not too much rice to ‘pad it out’. All together very well made sushi – I had like 4 of these salmon nigiri in a space of 5 minutes…they were definately very delicious. I love the Whitby crab in the California roto as well, the sesame (obviously) were lightly toasted, giving it the extra nutty kick that most rotos need. I LIKE!

To be honest, I was relived to find that the sushi passed my taste test. I was dreading for another deluge of immitation wannabe sushi restaurant/store. Too many places sell pseudo sushi; instead of fresh fish, fried chicken & tuna sweetcorn ect are used. I guess it’s to cater to the British palate – I know of too many people who are terrified of raw fish. It’s nice enough, but just don’t try to pass it off as authentic sushi! I love the freshly made COLD rice (had salmon nigiri served on HOT rice before!). And the good folks at sesame are not afraid to flex their creative muscles as well….

No idea what this is called and it’s not on their takeaway menu, but it is smoked salmon and cream cheese rolled in thinly sliced cucumber,held together by a strip of nori. Okay, fine, this is not traditionally sushi, but bacon promptly declared this was his absolute fave. It was definately very delicious, a twist on the New York roto. Love it love it!

This wonderful platter wandered up to me as well – tuna pate atop a slice of cucumber topped with a spiral of mooli and sprig of mint. Definately more canapes than sushi, but this place is definately not proclaiming itself as a traditional Japanese deli – soups, pies, cupcakes, noodles, rice salads…..so they defiantely have earned the creative license to go crazy and create. Again, fabulously presented lovely fresh fish; it contrasts beautifully with the fresh crisp cucumber and sprig of mint & mooli spiral. Just what the doctor ordered. (PS: those were my fingers going in for the kill..hehe)

I let bacon loose with the camera whilst I chatted with the charming Louise who owns Sesame. Bacon naturally gravitated towards the other heartier options on sale – those that were not doing the rounds as canapes.

The seared local beef carpaccio on fresh salad and sushi rice. I absolutely love carpaccio…and this beef carpaccio looks so lovely in pink…can you tell I love undercooked/uncooked food? I feel hungry just looking at this. Wonder how it would taste like with wagyu beef?

Their selection of yummilicious noodles. Large cartons go for £4.90, small cartons start at £3.50. Beef wonton, salmon teriyaki, chargilled chicken, spicy vegetable & spicy chicken are the varieties available. Bacon’s been going on and on about them since we left…I think I might need to make a side trip to the deli to stock up on my way back from work.

i’s Pies, made in Ripon by Anthony. Like everything else in the deli, all fresh local ingredients, no preservatives and all that E-numbered variety stuff found in retail pies.

The collection of takeaway sushi boxes. All freshly made on the day. I can just imagine sitting there all day just picking on all of it…

The lovely LadyRach with Louise, the founder of Sesame.

We left with cute little takeaway bags, filled with discount cards, takeaway menus, a bag of matcha (will be turning that into matcha cupcakes this weekend!) and most importantly, a small sampling of the sushi selection and a pack of the yummiest wasabi peas..

I think my favourite is the California roto – fresh Whitby crabs is just so damned good in a sushi (did I already say that?). The good people of Sesame definately know what to do with their sesame – what lovely nutty flavours!!! (hmm…repeating myself again I think..)

Sigh. Now I have to go back and spend all my money before I go home tonight. Actually, that is not exactly true. Louise have priced the selection very well – and I told her that. Prices are extremely reasonable, with my favourite cream cheese stuffed pepper going for £1.50 a pot. It is about £2 at Tescos. Okay, Tesco vs Sesame….no prizes for guessing the winner. Miso soup goes for £1.50 for a pretty big carton – I would be happy to have one of these for lunch. Or a sushi pack for £4 for lunch – miles better than the hard-as-bricks variety stocked in supermarkets with ‘fake’ raw fish. Sounds too good to be true, there’s gotta be something wrong with Sesame right?

yep

IT IS TOO FAR FOR ME TO WALK THERE FOR LUNCH!!

Sesame Urban Farm Deli
Enterprise House
16 St Paul’s Street
Leeds, LS1 2LE
www.ilovesesame.co.uk

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Bacon has been telling me about Ring O’ Bells’ prize winning pies for about 3 years now. We never actually went there together – bacon was under the impression that bookings were sorely needed and it was fairly expensive. It was quite untrue; most places in Leeds are actually more expensive than it, as we were to find out.

No bookings needed, even though it was 7.30pm on a Saturday.Excellent. I am not the type to make reservations; blame it on my can’t be arsed attitute.

We were presented with a mini-loaf of granary bread, complete with a pot of butter and a pot of garlic butter. It was crusty on the outside and soft on the inside…thinking of it is making me droolz…yumss.. Very delish. Love the presentation on the mini wooden chopping board as well. This item is on the menu for £2.95 for some reason; but they served it to us without us ordering anyway.

I chose the steak tartare for a starter that we could share. Yes, steak tartare makes it to one of my eew food list – raw beef??! Rest assured I have not fallen sick before with a steak tartare. Their version is different from the regular minced beef – this is actually well marinaded sirloin cubed into bite size pieces and shaped into a burger patty. It came with thin silvers of what is supposed to be melba toast – this has gotta be the yummiest melba toast that I’ve ever had before. Ever. It goes so well with the fresh and yummilicious steak tartare. Ooolala…suprisingly better than the ones I’ve had in Prague & Paris.

Yum yum to raw beef. Love the marinade, seems to be herbs with a generous dash of worcester sauce.

For mains, I went for the Duo of English Pork – slow cooked belly with roasted filet – complete with sage mash & apple gravy. The sage mash was superb, and the apple gravy had no noticable pieces of apples in it, only a slight tinge. The fillet was well cooked, but not overly cooked like most of the pork fillets I’ve tasted, therefore it remained moist instead of the dry, tough texture it usually adopts.

Just look at the absurd yumminess of the belly pork. It was extremely melt-in-your-mouth tender, topped with the yummiest piece of crispy crackling I have ever tasted..ahh I love crispy pork skin.

Bacon settled for the traditional Steak & Kidney, complete with suet pastry with herbs. It came with a full boat of gravy – I love it when the chef is not stingy with his gravy. The kidney was slightly too strong for me (I don’t usually mind it) but bacon throughly enjoyed it. The suet pastry was very filling – don’t be fooled by the size of the pie, it is very filling!

The inside of the pie is filled to the brim with steak and kidney pieces, leaving very little room for the gravy. Ah…now I understand the logic of a separate gravy boat.

The above comes with portions of steamed vegs and really really yummy hand cut chips. We were so filled at the end of it that we skipped dessert. I know, me, skipping dessert? We didn’t even order two starters! The service was excellent as well – I have an adversion to lazy bar staff, but the staff here were pleasant, helpful and friendly. What a huge change.

An ordinary looking pub, with exordinary good food. For the two of us it came up to just under £40 with beer. Bacon admitted that he might have been earning much, much less when he last visited Ring O bells – the period where going to McDonalds is a treat . They do a bargin price set price three course meals as well for £19, but as I couldn’t even fit a shared dessert in, am glad I didn’t get that.

The Ring O Bells
Hill Top Road
Thornton ,Bradford
West Yorkshire, BD13 3QL

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This is how slow I am in posting – my guest have packed up and left about two weeks ago and I am still blogging! Really, it’s not my fault, blame it on the Twilight saga – I have been too busy reading up on all four books of the series AND watching and rewatching the dvd. Lame-o, I know.

Anyway, as you can probably tell, in the beginning of May we had a guest over from Malaysia, contributing to the endless eating out expeditions. We did not only feed (and ply her with drinks!) Mandy, we did some good ole traditional Yorkshire site seeing as well

On one her weekends here, we headed up towards the North Yorkshire Moors. No hiking involved – wind chill factor made it subzero temperatures up at the moors.

It always amuses me to see random signs like the above. It was only later that we realised there were signs before it saying PLEASE, DO NOT and STEP ON.

The whalebones at Whitby overlooking the Whitby Abbey…I love Whitby, one of my most favourite place in the UK. Actually, I love the sea in general so this is not suprising.

Lunch at the famous Magpie Cafe – takeaway of course, can’t be arsed lining up – just look at the queue! Crispy battered cod with a serving of chips – it doesn’t get more british seaside than this. Had to fight with the crazy amount of seagulls though..I don’t remember the last time I want to shoot down a bird. Oh yeah I do, hugeass piegons fly into Leeds Bus Station whilst I wait for my bus on a near-daily basis…all I can think of is yum yum deep fried piegon. How sick am I?

Seas in the UK are slightly different from what I’m used to….toe-curling chills in the North Sea! Probably the only place you’ll see me in jeans for a day out in the seaside. The water was suprisingly hovering around 10degrees, I was expecting much, much colder waters

Ahh. The traditional day-out by the sea, complete with moody grey skies, lighthouses and the promenade.

Whitby abbey from afar – £4 for entrance, we didn’t think it was worth it. Yeah, call me a cheapskate, but I needed to cap my day off with my favourite lemon-top sundae!

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The UK is well-known world over for their love of afternoon tea – scones and cucumber finger sandwiches on a three layer cake stand? To be honest, this is more a front – no one I know regularly have afternoon teas. It is usually treated like a treat rather than a way of life, but it is the epitome of the days gone by where people actually stop and take a breather. Being the busy tourists, we kept running out of time trying to get in line for scones and tea at tourist traps like Betty’s ect. So we were pleasantly suprised when we found a twee teashoppe right smack in the middle of Whitby, a seaside town in North Yorkshire.

More famous for its fish & chips (I will cover this in a separate post!) than hot buttered scones, we were wandering around Whitby when I saw a sign saying ‘There is always time for tea’. Inspired, I turned my head, and saw Sherlock’s across the street. We were enticed by their window display – home made cakes, cookies, scones were all on display complete with a wooden 1920s cash register. Unable to resist, we stepped into this:

It does look like someone’s living room with mish mashed furnishing. I love it! I prefer the shabby chic bohemian style to the polished silver look which is so prevalent in so many teashoppes. Classy is not really my middle name. A rickety stairs leads to more seating upstairs, but all in all I think it holds about 30 covers max. I think it is designed to look like Sherlock Holmes’ front room, with books stacked haphazardly everywhere and bookshelves all over the shop.

There is really no guessing what we ordered, and as I was not very hungry, we just ordered two cream tea sets between the three of us. Their cream tea sets come with a humungous fruit scone with currants, clotted cream and strawberry preserves. It was freshly baked and tasted absolutely heavenly, even better than the crowd favourite of Betty’s of Harrogate. It is not crumbly and dry like most, but moist and buttery like it is supposed to be. The fresh clotted cream is a welcomed change from the whipped cream that is served in Malaysia.

I honestly do not remember the last time I had such delicious scones. It might be the freshness, it might be the lovely huge size, but I am still salivating thinking of it now…I love the currants as well, and I do not usually like currants due to their dryness.

My newly developed addiction to traditional english builders’ tea reckons that this is an excellent cuppa! I hate weak tea, and would much rather make my own at home. It is very hard to be served a cuppa that I really enjoy, and I did with this. The huge pot for two is enough to provide the three of us two cups each…I think there were still some left in the pot when we left.

At £3.75 per set, this was a bargin. I would happily miss lunch the next time and just have their scones. Other than the traditional english, they also offer a variety of tisanes, coffees and old fashioned pop like dandelion & burdock or elderflower presse. Food-wise, they also do panninis and baked potatoes, which can then be polished off with a slice of cake. They specialise in what they called Baker St. Ice …some sort of ice blended drink with dollops of ice cream.

Sherlocks Café
10 Flowergate
Whitby, YO21 3B

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Continuing on our ‘Visit Yorkshire’ theme, I thought it might be time to do something traditional over the weekend. So off we went to the Theakston’s Brewery, which is in Masham, about 1hr 15 mins away from Leeds. Masham boasts not just one, but two breweries, both making real ales (a.k.a dark beer) in the traditional way. We’ve been to the black sheep before, but didn’t take actually took the time to go around the brewrey.

At £5.50, both breweries offers a tour around the brewery on weekends and also on weekdays when brewing occurs. The price comes with a free pint, which you can divvy up to two half-pints at Theakstons. They would also very kindly give you 100ml taster of any of their ales. Bacon insisted on going around Theakston’s – not-so-secretly I kept announcing that I hate Theakstons’ … the only ale I’ve tasted from Theakstons is the Old Peculier…which is very peculier indeed, and fairly disgusting. I think it’s abit like marmite – hate it or love it. T&R Theakston Ltd. was founded in 1827 by Robert Theakston and John Wood who ran The Black Bull pub in Masham. The original building is still intact, but it is now the village post office instead of the local piss-up.

me grabbing my 1/2 pint double quick with hand shadow action

It is a short walk from the village car park to the Theakstons Visitor centre. The short alleyway had creeping hops growing on it, making for a very atmospheric walk.I did not take many pictures as the heavens opened up as we arrived; and the camera was more important. After paying our £5.50, we sat at the bar for our first 1/2 pint – between us we had Theakstons XB, Old Peculier and Coopers Ale. I went for Coopers Ale Bottom – the tap featured a fat man with his pants hanging out…only I will pick beer by that! It was way better than the Old Peculier, light with a slight bitterness, I think this is more of a spring ale – they have seasonal ales and Coopers Ale Bottom was what was available on taps that day.

I have not been around a brewery before….even though no pictures were taken, this was what I learnt:

Cask Ales are ‘alive’ and is still reacting – they do not last very long and therefore do not travel well. It needs to be kept at cellar temperature of about 10 degrees for optimum freshness. Once opened,it only lasts a couple of days before going off. So it is available in a variety of sizes, with the smallest being 9 gallons, apparently perfect for a weekend of sales in a pub.

This is why ales are known to be so regional..what you get up in Yorkshire may not be available in London and vice versa. For example, one of my fave ales is London Pride – I have only had it once out of London.

Theakstons is an independent brewery; currently run by Simon Theakston, 5th generation

They sold out to Scottish & Newcastle ( currently part of the heineken group) in the late 80s, but have since been purchased back by the family.

The family (not sure if they’re actually on speaking terms) also consists of Paul Theakston – who founded the Black Sheep Brewery.

The only pasteurised bottled beers they do are Old Peculier & XB

XB, their most famous and popular ale, is actually outsourced to John Smiths’ in Tadcaster.

Do you know hops look lovely suspended in soap??!!

After the 45 minute tour in which we were taken around the brewery, we were heralded back to the bar, where the fun begins. She was happy to let us have taster-size of the ales, but most people chose to just go for a full pint of something – I guess most of them were already fans of Theakstons ale. I eventually found a brew I like – the Traditional Mild tastes excitingly like coffee, even have the same dark look! Being an addicted caffine slugger, I was delighted and giddy with joy – at last, alcohol that tastes like breakfast!

Seeing that it was already 1.30pm, we decided to cap off the Yorkshire experience with lunch at the local pub. We were recommended to head towards the White Bear, a Theakstons owned pub that is located next to the Black Sheep. Hmm.

I love it how menus are on a blackboard instead of a book..I always knew there was a lil bit of country in me! I think the food is slightly expensive, and was initially apprehensive about spending £10 on my Sunday roast dinner (yes, I am a cheapskate, so shoot me) . However, we were hungry and really couldnt be bothered to go anywhere else, so we sat down and ordered our grub. It was a choice of roast pork, lamb or beef – or all three.

I had the lamb, which came with startlingly fresh mint sauce. It was so fresh it tasted like toothpaste! The lamb was not pink, the way I like it, but I like how it was not fatty either. Most roast lambs here are very fatty, I think they must’ve used the shoulder for this one. Comes with yorkshire pud, roast potatoes and lashings of gravy.

Sunday dinners traditionally comes with servings of veg, and I love their veg. Swede & carrot mash, with baby potatoes, brocolli and the best ever red cabbage. I make my own festive red cabbage, but this one is so much nicer than mine! I reckon its the crunch in the cabbage. Yummz. Portions were perfect as well – we had been overstuffing ourselves silly over the past few days and this was just the perfect size for our appetite.

My favourite pix of the day..I love the look of hand-pulled taps. According to bacon (who had worked as a bartender; one of his many reincarnations) one pull is supposed to fill 1/2 pint. This don’t happen in most pubs due to their clogged pipes – reckon they need some prunes .

Theakstons’ Brewery
Masham, Ripon
HG4 4YD
Tel: 01765 680000
E-mail: info@theakstons.co.uk

The White Bear Hotel & Pub
Wellgarth Masham, Ripon HG4 4EN
Tel: 01765 689319
E-mail: sue@whitebearmasham.co.uk

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