Yelly-fi-felly-food-belly

I had never eaten out for Burns Night before, sure I'd had haggis, but that was accompanied by eggs, sausages, bacon, potato cakes and a hearty serving of baked beans. I kind of just assumed we'd just be served our Scottish themed food paired with an array of whiskys and that would be that. I was so wrong. Just to set the scene, I had won a competition last year on Twitter for a 4 course Burns Night meal at Plum + Spilt Milk for two. So jumping on the chance to truly celebrate Burns Night in style, I threw on my tartan dress and headed to the bustling Kings Cross station. Wading through the throng of Londoners returning to the city, heads bowed and full of Sunday night dread, we made our way up the escalators of the London underground. From the distance we hear the sound of bagpipes. "Must be something happening in the main station." Oh no, no those bagpipes were bellowing from the first floor of the Northern Hotel where Plum + Spilt Milk were getting ready...

From the rice, sesame and chilli fields we saw during our three day trek from Kalaw to Inle Lake, to the wet markets of Yangon, it seemed abundantly clear that much of the Burmese cuisine revolves around the fresh ingredients the land offers. Until now, I knew very little about Myanmar cuisine, and when trying the dishes I often struggled to work out what ingredients and flavours they were made up of. Unfortunately having not attended a cookery class, I am still none the wiser, however these flavours are something I am definitely keen to learn more of and experiment with when I get back to London. Perhaps the Burmese cookery book James bought me a while ago may get a bit of use! Why am I so keen? For one, they have oodles of noodles, which I absolutely love, and as through most of India my options were rice or bread, I was happy to be able to consume an alternative carb! My particular favourite were the Shan style noodle soups, with either minced pork or chicke...

With such an easy flight over from India, it was hard to believe we were actually in another country. But here we are in Myanmar, with at first literally no idea what to expect. We'd been so focussed on planning our first month around India, that we hadn't really thought about what Myanmar would present us with. Bags dropped at the hostel in Yangon, we headed to the nearest pagoda, the beautiful Sule Pagoda, and after wetting the Buddha's head, we wondered out for our first Burmese meal. We chose Danuphyu Daw Saw Yi in downtown Yangon. A fairly plain white wash cafe, completely open out to the street, with banterous men serving out front, and women with yellow thanakha painted faces in the kitchen (sandalwood-like paste used as suncream for women and young boys). There was no menu, only a lovely Burmese man (everyone here seems to be so nice and very apologetic!), who pointed at each of the dishes behind a glass counter with a brief explanation of what they were. ...

Stage one - dazed and confused Jet lag aside, arriving in any new city around the world with the need to find food can be a daunting task. Go with the guide books or TripAdvisor and you'll probably find hoards of tourists and you feel right at home. I'm not against using these methods, and in fact some of the best places we ate at came from these, however even with these and in a big city such as Delhi, your task may still be a tricky one. So not really with it to make a decision having arrived at 4am, our hostel gave us a recommendation of a place for lunch (sleep took priority over breakfast), to introduce our western tummies to the Indian cuisine. Yes they are referring to the dreaded Delhi belly, and we were told by an Indian guy on the plane, that even he has to give himself a few days to adjust after returning from university in the UK! The safe bet was Haldiram's, a bustling, brightly lit canteen near Connaught Place, offering fast food thalis and tandoori kebabs, ...

Sunday morning car boot, I pace up and down the rows of cars not really getting into the spirit of the early morning treasure hunt. I dip in here and there pretending to have a rummage when boom, a cute little 8-piece set of rice bowls, rice spoons and soy dishes catch my eye. I'm officially the worst haggler so leave the tough work to my boyfriend, and by the end of the morning I'm the owner of a lovely little set destined to be showcased at a dinner party. Best get practising then with these little numbers...  Ingredients (serves 2): For the pickled cucumber... 1/2 cucumber 1/2 inch of ginger, cut into batons 1 tbsp rice vinegar 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tsp sugar 1 tsp sesame seeds For the chicken teriyaki... 200g chicken thigh fillets, cut into chunks 1 tbsp sesame oil 1 leek, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces 3 tbsp teriyaki sauce 1 tsp sugar For the crispy pan fried sea bass... 2 fillets of seabass 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp fish sauce 1 tsp honey 1 red chilli,...

Ingredients (serves 2): 2 smoked trout fillets 200g mangetout, halved lengthways  100g peas 1 fennel bulb, shredded  2tbsp olive oil 1tbsp white wine vinegar  1tsp honey 1/2tsp wholegrain mustard 2tbsp chopped almonds 1. Cook the peas and mangetout in boiling water for 1 minute, drain and allow to cool. 2. Once cooled, mix the greens with the shredded fennel. 3. To make the dressing, mix the oil, vinegar, honey and mustard in a pot, and give it a thorough mix by fastening the lid of the pot and shaking. 4. Flake the trout into the greens mix, pour over the dressing and mix altogether. 5. Plate the salad and sprinkle over the chopped almonds. Enjoy! Yelly -fi-felly-food-belly x

London is a fantastic place for a foodie to live. You fancy Italian? We have plenty. You want street food? It's everywhere. Trouble is, that is the trouble. There is so much and it's hard to make a decision on a hungry stomach. So here are a couple of things I do when picking out somewhere to eat. 1. Keep a food bible Have you ever read TimeOut and thought, I DEFINITELY need to go to that restaurant and then two weeks later you find yourself with a free evening with no dinner reservations and can't think of anywhere to go? Annoying. So here's what I do, I collect clippings from TimeOut , Olive Magazine , The Times etc., and keep them all in a file to reference later. This includes recipes too, it's like my go to guide for all things food. Seems like a lot of effort? Then just create a Pintrest board. 2. My favourite app Dojo - great for finding out what's nearby: street food, markets or restaurants, they show it all. They do a regular ...