Spicy roasted nuts

I sometimes really fancy savoury nuts. I eat raw cashews and almond quite a bit, but sometimes I want to eat spicy ones. Every time looking at them in shops (walking up and down isles many times), I give up buying, because they have sugar or some funny stuffs in them. 

Then this afternoon, walking along one of isles in my local supermarket, suddenly brain waved! Why don't I make my own. I quite often tell people to make their own, but I forget I should do that too. 

Once It got into my head, I quickly picked a bag of raw cashew nuts and almond. Feeling excited and cycled back home. 

Looking at my nuts, quickly opened them started roasting with some spices. I made 2 batches. Not too much, but just enough for next a couple of days, if they last....

I roasted in low temperature for about 20 mins or so. I kept checking, otherwise I burn them, just like I used to with roasted pine nuts and brandy snaps when I was cheffing. 

When they were done, they looked slightly dried, let them cool, then.... I tasted. It was delish, moorish and yummy. Why didn't make my own before, cheaper and I know what's in them. I know roasting isn't great, raw is much better, still, I love different flavours in foods and cooking methods, how they bring up flavours differently than eating raw. Anyway, this is what I did. Aaaand, much healthier than shop bought ones anyway.

200g nuts of your choice

1teaspoon Cumin

1teaspoon ground coriander

2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground chili

Almond oil

Put  all nut in a baking tray, drizzle some almond oil (not too much, need a about a half table spoon), mix all spices, sprinkle on nuts, with spoon, mix well till all nuts are well coated.

Place in oven at 120 , for about 15- 20 mins. Let cool in the tray. 

Apple & blackberry cake made with convenience food

Today at work, I made a lovely cake. It tasted nicer than what i expected. I personally wanted to make nice fresh apple cake but, we had nothing in our fridge, fruits wise..... I talked my boss y'day, they ere cutting on some fresh ingredients due to the wastage. We don't have many old people in the house till the main house gets refurbished. So, they started to get a little more convenience foods.

Well, if granny gives you tins of fruits from her cupboard because she is tidying up her old stocks, sometimes can't refuse, feels really rude not to accept... Then take them home, looking at them thinking, what am I guanna do with them, I only eat fresh fruits..... (^_^;)  She means well, doesn't she? Also, if you are on budget living like me, then decide to buy bargain tin fruits. This is the one of solutions for you.

I made "apple & blackberry cake". I used small tin of apple & blackberry (mixed), when I opened it, it was nice purple colour with cornflourly sauce. To be honest, I wasn't sure what the taste like, I decided to used the tin anyway. (o^^o)

This is how I made: 

1.5 cups flour ( half white flour, a half whole meal flour)
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup sugar
3 eggs---beaten
a half cup oil
1 tin blackberry and apple (250g can)
handful walnuts---chopped

sift all dry ingredients in a bowl
add sugar
add wet ingredients to the bowl and using bakers spatula, mix well
drop into 2 small loaf tins ( i think about 350-400g tin)
bake at 180℃ for 30mins or skewer comes out clean
*I always set 30mins to start off with, then, check every 5-10mins

Serve with drop of creme fraiche (if you take dairy products) on the side

This cake was really nice, craft was chewy, moist in the middle. I know it's not particularly healthy, but taste nice and turned up to be ideal cake with lovely brew. Rooibos or lapsang souchong  tea will well go with the cake. 

Hungry Norie --- Excalibur 4 trays dehydrator review "It Sucks!"

I only bought this products in last May 2013. Do you remember, I was soooo excited about my new purchase. I loved it and made crackers, "flapjacks", chocolate nutty squares, dried fruits and many more.

After 7 month using it on and off, it finally died on me. Last a couple of month, the temperature control stopped working, it got really hot (hotter than I set on temperature control), I had to lower the temperature, even that, couldn't get quite the temperature I wanted.

Now, it stopped to blow warm air, fan was still working, but didn't get even warm after 1 hour with max temperature. I already soaked lots of crackers mix for our snacks, I now BAKED in the oven with lowest temperature. It was too hot (my oven isn't very good for baking), I burned it! What a waste. 

I thought, well, the temperature control got broken, so I searched on the web for hours, how to fix, where to get the parts, manufacturer's guarantees, the distributor's page etc.

Then I came across "amazon.com /review the product" page. Apparently, I wasn't the only one having this problem after using less than 1 year / 6 month. Some people had it after using it ONCE! I'm sure there are people out there, quite happy using their purchase. But not me. 

I only could afford to buy this product at that time, also, I only have a small kitchen, I don't have a huge space for bigger models. But now, I wish I saved a bit more money to buy at least 5 trays or different brands. 4 trays sucks.... I'm really disappointed with the dehydrator. I was really looking forward to the purchase, after 3 years wanting it, I finally decided to invest into this. (Every time I had money, spent on holidays, can't have everything, I'm on a budget living!)

Then I came across this site: greensmoothie.com. The lady who owns the site did some blogs about this equipment for its specs. It was written on 19/Jan/2014. She clearly stated that it wasn't suitable for drying raw foods due to higher temperature. This hasn't got a proper thermostat, apparently even Roger Orton (who owns the company) doesn't even recommend to people who would like to do raw food. 

WHAT? Why the hell did they produce this model then? So, they more or less knew it had this issue, thermostat doesn't work properly. Yes, there were times during last 6 month, I wished I bought a bigger model, but I thought it was a good idea that time purchasing this 4 tray one. I wish I could come across this review before my purchase (really good site). I would recommend to anyone who are thinking of buying to read this blog/ review. I would defo NOT recommend, get some other ones!

I felt like I was ripped off ( didn't feel like that for long time.) I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling like this. There's a lady who wrote one of the reviews on amazon.com, she even had to pay for the return shipping and repair parts, wasn't it under warranty? Sounded like the machine was only under a year from the date she purchased. Doesn't it come with 5 year manufacturer's guarantee in USA? Sounds really wrong. 

Anyway, My dehydrator not only temperature control stopped working, front door doesn't even shut properly, black cover which protects the motor came away, (bits fell off), when I lifted up, it had a big hole on the far right corner? What the hell is going on my dehydrator? It doesn't look safe, so I packed away. 

I do look after my kitchen equipments. I came from cheffing back ground, I was taught by my head chefs and sous chefs to look after own knives and all the equipments. Otherwise they nag you like a mum.  That's why I was really shocked what happened to my poor dehydrator. These are photos I took last night before packing away.

The motor got really hot even just blowing cold air. It doesn't do anything else but blowing cold air

One day after using a few months, plastic held the case and screw bit came off. I thought I could get the spare parts, but Excalibur don't seem to have this in their on-line shop.

I didn't realise till last night, when I lifted up, there was a big hole! How did it happened?
This is really bad. All plastics came off & feel really crumbly. Thank God, it didn't blow up!

Looks really wonky. It doesn't even shut properly, air leaked from the gap on the top. It has a slight dent. Apparently air should escape from the front door in order to dry out. Still, how the door shut, how much air escapes etc, is it supposed to be like this? 

I emailed the distributor I bought this machine from. I'm currently awaiting for the reply. It's Sunday today, hopefully I'll hear from them what I should do tomorrow. Also, ring them too. I'm really not happy. I wonder if there are some people out there who got same experience as me with this model???

Day in Norwich, Norfolk with My friend Emma

Last Tuesday, I went up to see my friend who lives in Norwich in Norfolk, England. It's a beautiful county, Norfolk has a huge broad, wet land. Full of wild life. Its city is called Norwich. It's my favo city in U.K. 

Norwich had cute shops, cafes and restaurants, they are independent as well as chains and franchise. I love it because of packed with independent shops and cafes. And just walking in the town, is fun. my favo ones are markets, health food shops, vegan/vegetarian cafe, fair trade cafe, and of course, charity shops.
Charity shops there are excellent, some looks really charity shops ie: use supermarkets carrier bags, old mis matching hungers, reasonable prices (very important), lots of dump baskets, weird bric-a-bracs, old clothes, rustic inside... fun after fun. Every time I go there, I buy a bag full of clothes for my eBay.

Why these shops are good? to me, too many franchise shops everywhere I go, they all look the same. Same shops, same cafes and restaurant. Might as well, not going anywhere else but staying your local town. Whereas lots of independent shops make shopping experience (even just window shopping ) & cuppa experience more enjoyable and exciting. Make me want to go back and back and back....

It takes about 1 hour from where I live. Get connection line at the Stowmarket (small Suffolk town). 20mins walk from the Norwich station to Emma's. I just walk along the Norwich cathedral, river and high street. I love walking there. Feels like I become a local person!

We went out after our cuppa into the town, usual round, charity shops then lunch at a cafe. She took me to a fair trade cafe just 5 mins from the market square. Cute cafe, I liked it. It had a shop attached to it, selling health foods. I bought a few goodies. 

Food.... mmmmm, Emma had tomato and veggie soup for £4, I had yellow lentil stew with sun dried tomato sauce. Sorry to say, but it wasn't good. I don't normally complain other people's food, I much appreciate when someone else cooks and happy eating it. It was worse than my quick wacky dinner. It was half mashed yellow spilt peas with sun dried tomato sauce (fat too tomatoy, and lentils were really bland, no herbs, no garnish, no flavour, I didn't like it) on the top, served in a small bowl, and charged £6. It was very expensive for what it was. I would charge for £4 or even less. It wasn't even "stew". Not quite sure why it was called "stew". If they wanted to serve foods and charged how they wanted to price, they need to think presentation of their products (could easily do without spending lots of money) and I think they need a proper cook/chef cooking in their kitchen. 

That is sometimes problems with vegan/ vegetarian food. Some people STILL tends to use mainly cheese, tomato, wheat flour pasta and lentils, nowadays, there are so many untold numbers of  good recipes and ideas out there, surely, be able to use different ingredients to make up a yummy dish.

After that, Emma wanted to have sos roll, so we popped into a cute deli cafe on one of the side street. We both had one of each and they were the last ones. They were yummy, but I felt it was a bit too much on my stomach. But I enjoyed it.

We did some more charity shop round till our tea and cake time. I really shouldn't, but I still can't resist a good cake and a cuppa, so she took me to "the Britons Arms". Oh, it was very old fashioned, quaky place. cute and all! 

I had a apple cake with a pot of rooibos tea, Emma had cream teas with a pot of earl grey tea. Yum Yum. It was delicious, I felt like I hadn't had good cakes like that for ages. (about 1 a month or less I eat a cake now by the way, I'm doing really well. last time I had a piece was last month when I went to see Emma. That was also delish!) 

 By the time we finished our cakes, it started getting really dark, it was only just after 5pm ish, we walked back to Emma's flat. The moon was behind the misty clouds, it looked very pretty. This part of town, I felt like spirit people everywhere! It was beautiful!

Next time, I go there, we would like to go to a vegan/vegetarian cafe. Can't wait. apparently, they have raw foods too! Hooray!



"The Britons Arms"
9 Elm Hill
Norwich
NR3 1HN

Phone: 01603623367