And sometimes I’m just having such a good time and enjoying being in the moment with loved ones that photos (of food at least) and blog posts are the furthest things from my mind. Instead photos of Carlo telling a funny story while pouring me yet another glass of wine, or Carlo and my brother Andrew laughing over a pint of a beer are what I want to remember and cherish instead.

So here is a list of places where I enjoyed eating on our trip to the UK and for whatever reason am not doing a full blog post about. But don’t worry, all recommendations come with two thumbs up from me if you ever find yourself over the pond.

London:

St. John Bread and Wine
The above photo of Carlo is from a really fun and delicious night at St. John Bread and Wine in Spitalfields. One of Fergus Henderson’s restaurants, it specializes in his nose-to-tail eating philosophy, but with smaller plates that are meant to be shared. Highlights of our meal included the thickest slathering of foie gras pate on toast, a whole brown crab that I bruised my finger nail eating because I just couldn’t crack it open fast enough with the crab cracker, and grilled ox heart. Oh, and they had the most amazing mince pie for dessert that finally made Carlo a convert to this British Christmas treat!

Pizza East
So I’m a tad bit embarrassed that I got this food recommendation from Gwyneth Paltrow’s newsletter GOOP, but considering she had St. John Bread and Wine and Ottolenghi on her list too, I figured it couldn’t hurt to try it out. Plus it was our last night in London and I was exhausted and didn’t want to travel far from our hotel. Turns out that Gwyneth (or at least someone on her editorial team) has good taste. The bar at Pizza East was the perfect place to grab a few antipasti, share a pizza, and drink a bottle of red wine. Anything with their burrata is divine!

Wagamama (national)
Okay, so technically I ate at Wagamama when I was in Liverpool visiting my family and they also have one in Edinburgh too, but I’ve eaten at Wagamama so many times in London that it counts as a London entry. Yes, it is a chain, but a chain that does noodles well. You aren’t going to have an authentic Asian experience here, but you can always rely on a tasty dinner at not too exorbitant a price in London. Plus it makes the perfect refuge on a really cold and wet day, as it was when we went there in Liverpool. And yes, I totally slurped the dregs of broth out of my bowl just like the Wagamama logo photo. If you want to experience Wagamama at home, check out this recipe for Chili-Marinated Vegetable Ramen.

EAT (national)
I’m super leery about prepackaged foods, especially prepackaged sandwiches, but for some reason I love EAT. Somehow they manage to make prepackaged sandwiches interesting, tasty, and (important for me) not soggy. There is pretty much an EAT on every corner in London. For those corners where there is no EAT, there is a Pret A Manager which is the same concept, but somehow just not as good to me (maybe it is a design thing). Or in most cases, there is a EAT right next to a Pret. If you are looking for a cheap and tasty lunch on the run, picking up a sandwich at EAT is the way to go. I love grabbing a sandwich and taking it to the park for an impromptu picnic, but perhaps my favourite time to stop by EAT is at Heathrow or Gatwick airport and pick up a sandwich or two for my flight back to Austin. I’m partial to the mature cheddar and Branston pickle baguette which I stuff full with an entire bag of salt and vinegar crisps and proceed to make a total mess of crumbs. I’m totally that person you want sitting next to you on a trans-Atlantic flight Why EAT has not conquered the USA is beyond me? Millionaire in the making if you bring that concept to America, or maybe everyone over here is scared of prepackaged sandwiches from their experiences with frightening looking gas station egg salad sandwiches?

Eat the best breakfast ever at the Hawksmoor

I totally have a mad crush on everything Ottolenghi

For serious food porn, check out the Harrods Food Hall and Borough Market

And you can’t leave London without experiencing the classic British roast dinner at Canteen

Edinburgh:

Rhubarb
My dad took me, Carlo, Andrew, and my mum on a lunch date to Rhubarb at Prestonfield House and it was quite the treat. Him and my mum had spotted this beautiful lodge and golf course on one of their walks through Holyrood Park and decided to investigate what it was. Turns out it is the most amazing amazing Scottish country boutique hotel with beautiful decor and a really great restaurant to match. The prix fixe lunch was amazing and had the most beautiful food presentation. Plus coffee came with macaroon lollipops and the most sinful fudge. Definitely a place for a decadent lunch and perhaps some celebrity sightings. My dad swears Sean Connery is a regular, and how awesome would that be to have James Bond sitting next to you! Oh, and check out the upstairs ladies bathroom–enough pink toile to make Marie Antoinette green with envy!

Beirut
On New Year’s Eve, my parents looked after my nieces and me, Carlo, Andrew, my sister Alison, and brother-in-law Craig went out on the town. We started our evening at Beirut, a Lebanese restaurant in the Old Town. Alison and Craig first met when both were living in Cyprus and I remember visiting Alison over there and discovering mezze at this Lebanese restaurant where my dad would always be really into the belly dancer. Sadly there are no good Lebanese restaurants in Austin, but Beirut filled that craving with an outstanding mezze full of all kinds of dips and kebabs. Plus you can smoke shisha outside after dinner which is one of Craig’s favourite past times and I don’t mind indulging every now and then again!

The Oxford Bar
Confession: I have read every single Rebus book published, seen Ian Rankin speak at Book People last spring, and Carlo got recommendations for good record stores to visit in Edinburgh from Rankin over Twitter (Avalanche Records and Vinyl Villains also come recommended from us). Even though I visited Edinburgh as young teenager with my family, it was through Rankin’s books that I really got to learn and explore Edinburgh, although an exploration that was distant and only through words on the page. It wasn’t until my parents moved to Edinburgh part time in September 2010 and my subsequent visits that I got to know all the places the Rankin so vividly describes in his novels. The Oxford Bar is a dive pub–very small, normally has a largely male clientele, and sells fairly crappy Scottish beers (sorry Deuchars is not my cup of tea). That said whenever I visit my parents, I always make the trip for a quick pint and try not to act like too much of a tourist or a Rebus junkie.

The Bon Vivant’s Companion
On our walk to the Oxford Bar, we happened upon the cutest street called Thistle Street in the New Town. Full of boutique shops and restaurants that I want to try on my next visit, we stopped by Bon Vivant’s Companion, a small wine and liquor shop next to its namesake bar which is renowned for its cocktails. Walking into this little shop felt a bit like walking into Cheers. Although we just stumbled across this place, we ended up talking to the people working and buying an incredible fortified Malbec and a few other bottles of wine to drink on Christmas. All the people that work here are super knowledgeable about their products and are willing to help you find the perfect bottle of wine or spirits.

At our first visit, we ended up talking about wanting to do a whisky tasting, but how we didn’t want to go to the touristy Whisky Experience on the Royal Mile. We came back a few days later for a whisky tasting, and despite freaking everyone out at the store because we called to schedule something, it ended up being an interesting experience. Not only did we learn about the different whisky producing areas in Scotland, but got to taste different samples from each area. Things that I learned: I love the taste of single malt Highland whisky and blended Lowlands whisky. And I really don’t like the peat taste of the Islay whiskys. But regardless of your poison, be sure to check out this fun shop whether it is to bring something interesting home or something to just enjoy on your travels.

For a pint in a beautiful Victorian pub, check out Cafe Royal, just don’t order the oysters).

Craving seafood? Go to The Ship on the Shore in Leith.

For the best roasted pork sandwiches EVER, go to Oink in the Grassmarket.

Supposedly oysters were once so abundant in the Firth that they were one of the most eaten foods in the city! Oysters also played an important role in the scientific and cultural life of Edinburgh during the end of the 18th century. The Oyster Club was founded by economist Adam Smith, philosopher David Hume, the father of geology James Hutton, and chemist Joseph Black, and included many other esteemed members during its existence like visiting thinker Benjamin Franklin. The Oyster Club met each week in a various taverns throughout the Old Town to discuss their thoughts on art, architecture, philosophy, politics, science, and economics while slurping down plentiful oysters and ale. It delights me to no end to imagine how this decadent pursuit of intellectual camaraderie impacted each of the participating thinkers in pushing their own research and inquiry forward!

My first stop in channeling a 21st century Oyster Club was Cafe Royal, just off the eastern end of Princes Street in the New Town. An Edinburgh landmark, Cafe Royal has been in existence since 1826 and has been in its “new” location since 1863. Both a bar and a restaurant, Carlo and I went to the bar just after it opened on Christmas Eve ready for some oysters and a pint of beer. My over enthusiasm to get a table since the bar is often packed meant that Carlo and I were the only people in the bar at 11:15!

We ordered a dozen oysters and while they looked and tasted good, whoever had shucked the oysters had not done the best or neatest job. Each slurp of briny goodness was followed by us spitting out a chip of oyster shell which is never pleasant. Maybe it was because we got there so early and the B-list oyster shucker was on duty? I’m not sure, but my recommendation is to skip the oysters and grab a beer at the bar with some of their game pate and enjoy the beautiful Victorian architecture and design instead at Cafe Royal.

In my quest to finally eat good oysters and to fulfill my insatiable desire for seafood, Carlo and I had a date a couple of days later at The Ship on the Shore on the docks in Leith. Purely found by a Google search and chosen by me because they had a Fruits de Mer platter (damn, those just might be the sexiest French words ever), this restaurant was amazing! Basically a cozy little pub with a very strategic use of mirrors, this restaurant knows its local seafood and doesn’t mess around. We ordered the regular Fruits de Mer platter for two (sans the bottle of Dom Perignon) and it was huge in the most awesome way ever: half a Scottish lobster, razor clams, brown crab salad, langoustines, clams, smoked salmon two ways, scallops, oysters, smokes mackerel, mussels, and then a Scottish flourish of some delicious fat chips (fries for people who only speak American).

I ate a lot of really good food on my 2 week trip to the UK, but this was perhaps my favourite dinner. Terroir is something bandied about in wine conversations, but I could taste the frigid terroir in this local seafood that captured the essence of Scotland from the biting wind we faced every day to the ever present threat of rain. It wasn’t a pretentious meal despite the French nomenclature of the dish and the £60 price tag, but just a celebration of Edinburgh’s local bounty and preparing them in the most simple of ways. Always a win-win situation for me and there were no bits of oyster shells to pick out of my teeth either! So The Ship on the Shore is going to be my go to place to eat oysters on all subsequent visits to see my parents in Edinburgh and I can’t wait.

In the front window of Oink lays a large roasted pig with the head still on and a thick layering of crackling covering a pile of pulled pork. It is from this pig that the restaurant makes its sandwiches until they run out of meat for the day. Despite only selling roasted pork sandwiches, you do have a few choices to customize your sandwich.

On a white or brown bun, you can opt to have sage and onion stuffing or haggis smeared onto the bottom of the bun. Since I’m in Scotland, I normally choose haggis and it is good. Then you can choose whether you want chili or apple sauce to top the roasted pork. Last but not least, ask for some crackling to put in your sandwich. The roasted skin of the pig adds a nice crunch to the sandwich and enhances the flavor of the pork. Just be sure to arrive at Oink on the early side as they often run out of of crackling and the sandwiches just aren’t the same without it.

I have fond memories of my mum making Sunday roasts of beef or pork with a thick layer of crackling when I was growing up. My favourite part of the Sunday roast was the super crispy roast potatoes, boiled and then roasted to perfection in lard. I also loved the Yorkshire puddings, large pillowy puffs of egg, milk, and flour which only taste better when drenched in gravy. Although they were once a weekly occurrence as a child, I only ever eat roast dinners on special occasions or at Christmas now, so I was super excited to have a roast dinner at Canteen in Spitalfields Market as our last meal in London.

Carlo discovered Canteen a few years ago and whenever he goes to London for business alone, he makes sure to send me a photo of his roast dinner and it always looks incredible. The restaurant specializes in “Great British Food,” and its menu is a greatest hits of traditional English dishes from shepherd’s pie to bubble and squeak. The menu is jazzed up with locally sourced meats and vegetables, but at the heart of it, the food is the same food that convinced foreigners that the English couldn’t cook. Canteen takes that perception and throws it out the window. Their roast dinners showcase the best of British cooking and include a rotating cast of meats depending on what day you go, including pork, lamb, duck, and beef. I recommend going on a Thursday or Sunday as those are the roast beef and Yorskshire pudding days! My roast dinner was a simple affair with a few slices of tender roast beef, roast potatoes, boiled carrots, sautéed spring greens, and a Yorkshire pudding all topped with a delicate and flavourful gravy. Great British food indeed!

Situated in the basement of a non descript building, the restaurant looks like an old fashioned workers’ club although one currently inhabited by bankers and stock brokers dressed in suits and having power breakfast meetings. (There are other locations of The Hawksmoor, but the Guildhall location in the financial center of London was the only location open for breakfast on a Tuesday). If I wanted to impress/intimidate an important client, the special breakfast for two is totally the way to go. It includes a smoked bacon chop, sausages, black pudding, short rib bubble and squeak, grilled bone marrow, trotter baked beans, fried eggs, grilled mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, unlimited toast, and HP gravy, and at least says to me that you aren’t messing around!

Based on the traditional and ubiquitous full English breakfast that you can find at any greasy spoon cafe in England, The Hawksmoor elevates and refines each individual component into something magical. Forget Heinz beans from a can! Their house made baked beans included big chunks of trotter meat and were the perfect topping for the hearty freshly baked bread.

And that smoked bacon chop? I didn’t really believe that good thick sliced bacon could be beat, but this chop did just that. Made from an English heritage breed called Plum Pudding pigs, the chop had the right combination of salty loin and pork belly that made me wish that the plate came with two! And don’t even get me started on the pure decadence of bone marrow for breakfast. Wow, can that become a daily occurrence?

Combined with two outstanding ginger beer cocktails, this breakfast totally made me feel like I could eat up some financial markets or weak underlings during the course of my day.

And for the record in case you were wondering, we didn’t eat all of this plate. I don’t like blood sausage

I’ve decided that eating at a restaurant whose chef or cookbook you like is similar to meeting your favourite author or seeing your favourite band play live for the first time. Will the author be as funny as the words they write? Will the band sound even better live than the record you listen to at home? The questions for eating at a beloved in theory restaurant range from will the food taste as good as their cookbook makes it look to whether the restaurant’s ambiance will live up to how you imagine enjoying their food. On both fronts, Ottolenghi proved even better than my expectations.

This was our view as we entered Ottolenghi in Islington last night. A huge display of the most vibrant and beautiful prepared cold dishes. You can either buy them by the pound to go during the day, or at night, you can order them from a menu full of daily specials. From the cold menu, we ordered seared beef filet with a mustard-parsley sauce; roasted butternut squash with figs, feta, and arugula; and roasted eggplant with a spicy tomato sauce and pine nuts. Despite already being prepared and on display, each dish tasted like it had been freshly made and was rich with complex and varying flavors. In addition to the cold menu, you can also order hot items from the kitchen. We decided on tea smoked duck and the most perfect looking little lamb chops. Each plate is made for sharing and the casual but elegant ambiance encourages a fun and lively dinner, just how I like to dine.

In case the platters of cold dishes wasn’t enough to get your stomach racing, this was Ottolenghi’s dessert display!

I had to go back and look at this outrageous landscape of baked goods a few times in order to limit ourselves to only two desserts. We settled on a simple, yet perfect rhubarb cake with a side of warm vanilla cream and a ginormous raspberry merengue that we cracked open and filled with whipped cream. It was a decadent end to a fabulous dinner that makes me excited to crack open those cookbooks as soon as we get back to Austin, so I can relive our experience and share it with friends. Now that is the true goal to which every cookbook should aspire to achieve!

I decided to test their bold declaration when I was in this hospital this spring pumped with IV antibiotics and even bland hospital food made my stomach turn. Perhaps Baby A’s soup could have magic healing powers? As soon as I opened the big brown paper sack that Carlo brought me, I knew that this soup was what I imagined my Mexican grandmother would make for me if I did indeed have a Mexican grandmother.

The chicken broth is clear but flavourful and has obviously been made in house recently. The shredded chicken actually resembles real meat that has only just been pulled from the bone. Add little containers full of cilantro, chopped red onion, shredded cheese, tortilla strips, limes, avocado, Mexican rice, and three tortillas of your choosing and you are quickly in tortilla soup heaven! You can mix and match all the ingredients to create your perfect version of tortilla soup.

Me? I like adding a bit of everything and then dipping my flour tortillas into the soup and picking up the remaining bits of chicken from the bottom of my bowl. Each order of soup is ridiculously low priced at $8 or something and has enough to fill two decent size bowls. Although I always somehow find myself eating the entire thing to myself, it is just that damn good. Plus it really does have magic healing powers. Every time I’m starting to feel under the weather, I go pick up some soup and I feel better as soon as I’ve eaten it. Last week I even ended up picking it up twice in a matter of days! I just could not get enough.

My only recommendation is to call in your order and pick up the soup. In fact, get there a few minutes late, so you can be sure that you don’t have to wait for your order. While Baby A’s may make a fabulous tortilla soup, they don’t have a pleasant atmosphere or even a pleasant smell to be honest, but damn that soup is worth a couple minutes of yuck while you check out. Trust me.

Carlo and I often make Korean bbq at home and even though I’ve gotten pretty handy at making kimchi pancakes and a green salad with chili dressing, it just isn’t the same without all of those little bowls filled with mostly unidentifiable foods that you just can’t stop eating or at least I can’t.

Cue Mom’s Taste, a small Korean shop on north Airport in Austin. Like all worthy Asian restaurants and stores (in my opinion), Mom’s Taste is in a non-descript strip mall that is easy to drive by and never notice. But once you open the door, you are hit with the seductively pungent smells of fermented cabbage, shrimp paste, and chili. The store is tiny with a front shop of a few shelves of chili sauce, noodles, and soy sauce, and a series of large fridges with glass doors. It is in these fridges where the real treasures are to be found!

Stacks of clear plastic containers are housed filled with various kinds of house made banchan and kimchi. We stocked up on pickled cucumbers, marinated garlic stalks, seaweed salad, pickled summer radishes, and my favourite, strips of marinated fish cakes! With each container of banchan priced around $4, it makes no sense trying to make your own Korean side dishes at home, especially when Mom’s Taste does it so well. In addition, they also sell containers of marinated meats for you to create a Korean bbq feast at home. We didn’t get any this time, but I’ll definitely be checking out their galbi and bulgogi selections next time I’m in the mood for Korean food. Just make sure to pick up some Hite beer to enjoy with your banchan!

Mom’s Taste
6613 Airport Boulevard
Austin, Texas 78752

We also did a lot of eating; hitting up old favourites like Lamberts, Magnolia Cafe, and El Chilito, and exploring new restaurants like La Condesa and Frank, which was probably the most fun and original meal we had all week: hello, hot dog covered with bbq sauce and mac & cheese, plus they had bloody marys with bacon-infused bourbon and a strip of fried bacon as a stirrer!

On Saturday, I went to the Techmunch food blogging workshop hosted by Babette of Bakespace and Jaden of Steamy Kitchen. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but wow, what an inspirational and educational afternoon! There were a whole slew of experts discussing how to make your food blog better from selecting content to developing your brand in an effort to one day monetize your blog. My mind was just racing the entire time with different ideas and changes that I want to make to improve Recession Recipes. One of the first changes is going to be regular posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Perhaps the panel that resonated with me the most was Jaden’s discussion of Creating Personal Buzz. She talked about her decision to make food and blogging her livelihood and how she created a visual inspiration board of her goals and the life that she wanted to lead. Three years later, she has achieved the life that she dreamed of and now uses her inspiration board to remind her of her journey and why she does what she does. As someone on the brink of a huge change with our impending move this summer and me still figuring out what I want to do career-wise, Jaden’s talk hit home and I’m going to make my own visual inspiration board to reimagine the life that I really want. If you want to learn more about all of the different sessions, the Austin-based food blog Setted does an excellent job of recapping the workshop: Part One and Part Two.

When we got back to Vegas, our bodies were craving healthy food and vegetables. In fact, I bet I was the only person on my flight to Vegas who was actually looking forward to lots of sleep, no drinking, and working out once I arrived! I made this Chickpea Tagine for our first dinner back as a way to atone for our trip to Austin. We both loved the hot and sweet combination of harissa and honey in the dish, which has inspired Carlo to make some harissa and honey chicken wings tonight (so much for the health kick ). Anyway this tasty and good for you dish makes enough for 6 generous dinners at $2.02 per serving.

Chickpea Tagine, adapted from Fitness Magazine, February 2010
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 red onions, halved and thickly sliced
4 small carrots, sliced lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch slices
12 ounces cubed and peeled butternut squash
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 inches peeled fresh ginger, grated
1 tablespoon harissa paste, plus additional to taste
1 tablespoon honey, plus additional to taste
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 cans 14-ounce chopped tomatoes
2 medium zucchini, quartered and cut into 1/2-inch slices
20 dried apricots, sliced
water
2 cans 14-ounce chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 lemon
salt and pepper
2 cups couscous, cooked according to package directions

In a large heavy pot over medium-low heat, warm up the olive oil and and add the onions and a little bit of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, then add the carrots and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the butternut squash, garlic, and ginger, and raise the heat to medium. Cook everything, while still stirring for 5 minutes.

Add the harissa, honey, cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, and stir the spices until they become fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, zucchini, apricots and stir well. Fill up 1 of the cans of tomatoes with water and add it to the pot and bring everything to a simmer over medium heat. If the tagine is too thick, add a bit more water until the mix is juicy but not too liquidy. Cover and reduce the heat as needed to let the tagine simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and not mushy, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Add the chickpeas and lemon juice to the pot. Raise the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the chickpeas are heated through and the liquid has thickened slightly, 5 to 10 minutes. Season the tagine to taste with salt, pepper and additional harissa and honey. Serve the tagine over couscous for a delicious dinner that perhaps tastes even better the next day as leftovers.

In addition to the spectacular location, Firefly has some tasty food. I think the best way to experience their menu is to order lots of tapas plates and share them among your party. One of my favourite things on the Firefly menu are the Bacon-Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Almonds. When we went with my sister and brother-in-law, we ate the first order so fast that we had to order another because they are just that good. They are the perfect combination of salty and sweet with the contrast of flavours between the bacon and the date.

These wrapped dates are really simple to make at home as a quick appetizer or as part of a larger array of tapas dishes. Here is a really basic recipe that you can adjust according to how many you would like to make.  My only advice is to make more than you think you will need  because they will go fast! I promise.

Bacon-Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Almonds
bacon strips
dates
whole almonds (we used raw almonds, but I bet roasted almonds would taste just as good)
toothpicks

Remove the seeds from the dates and insert the almonds into the hole left behind by the seed. Cut the strips of bacon in half or into thirds depending upon the size of your dates. Wrap a small slice of bacon around each date and secure it by using a toothpick to pierce the bacon and date. Cook the bacon-wrapped dates in a frying pan over a medium heat until the bacon is cooked and crispy on all sides. Serve and watch them disappear!