REVIEW | FRIENDS OF HAM

Upon entering you are greeted by a busy bustling upstairs bar and will notice upon peering at the counter that you are instantly spoilt for choice.

 A fabulous selection of craft beers and ales from all round with several local breweries featuring on tap.

Not only does this place serve ham… (although the ham is pretty darn good!), they serve a fantastic selection of charcuterie, cheeses, breads, scotch eggs, nibbles etc.

 I happily munched my way through what I can say was a rather impeccably handmade scotch egg (complete with salad and spicy wholegrain mustard) and a half pint of cornichons whilst gazing upon a Wensleydale Blue cheeseboard (complete with olive oil drizzled bread and fresh olives) at a friend opposite.

As well as the upstairs bar there is a downstairs area (complete with board games and even a shuffleboard!) where you are greeted with long-end tables, the kind you can fit a good sized party around or at least feel unawkwardly obliged to talk to the group who perches next to you.

The staff (and their impressive confidence/passion/knowledge) were great. On both occasions I went to purchase beer I was helped  to choose the beer to suit me. I found myself provided with several tastings before even purchasing. I started off with the record store day special by the local West Yorkshire Revolutions Brewing Company, followed by the Amaro IPA.

I really enjoyed the passion and service of the staff, it really does make a difference in my book. Being a student and in my final year it is not ideal to go partying every night, but ideally it’s nice to know after a hard week of uni work and library study that I can spend what’s left of my student loan in the company of good friends with good beer and good food on offer. I’d much rather push my pennies towards this than a full on night out... but maybe that's the fact that being in my twenty-somethings is kicking in.

A friend of ham is a friend of mine. I will definitely be back. 

RECIPE | SLUTTY BROWNIES

Are you ready for an even MORE naughty and indulgent brownie than the Cheesecake Brownie?

Well here you go... say HELLO to the SLUTTY BROWNIE.

Layer #1 = Cookie Dough

Layer #2 - Your favourite biscuit, cookie or chocolate bar!

Layer #3 = Ooey gooey BROWNIE!

Ingredients:

For the Cookie Dough base:

100g Butter (or Margarine)

120g Sugar

1 Egg

240g Plain Flour

1/2tsp Vanilla Essence

1/2tsp Baking Powder

100g of Chocolate Chips

Middle Layer:

A pack of cookies/biscuits/chocolate bars that will cover the cookie dough surface.

Brownie Topping:

175g Dark Chocolate

130g Butter (or Margarine)

230g Sugar

2 Eggs

75g Plain Flour

1/2tsp Vanilla Essence

Instructions:

1.  Grease and line a traybake/brownie tin with butter and baking paper. Preheat your oven to 180.

2.  First up is the cookie dough base... cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl with an electric whisk or a stern arm and a wooden spoon until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla essence and beat until mixed.

3.  Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mix and combine with the chocolate chips until the mixture is well folded.

4.  Spread the cookie dough to form a smooth layer in the bottom of the cake tin, followed by a topping of your chosen biscuity/chocolately middle layer!

5.  To make the brownie mix, melt the chocolate and the butter together on a low heat on the hob or in the microwave. Set aside and leave to cool.

6.  In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar, vanilla essence and the eggs until their size has increased around three times in volume.

7.  Sieve the flour into the brownie mix, followed by the melted butter and chocolate and stir all ingredients together.

8.  Top the two layers in your cake tin with a generous serving of brownie mix (there are no raising agents so it will not rise) and then place the cake tin in the oven on the middle shelf and bake for 40-50 minutes.

LIFESTYLE | FINAL COUNTDOWN

It's the final month of student life for me and it's all kicked off!

On Wednesday I handed in my hefty dissertation and now I am working towards my final essay and exam of the semester.

I've been busy baking in the Inkwell kitchen, over the last few weeks these beauties have been baked:

Toffee, Pecan and Banana Loaf

Orange and Poppyseed Cake with Chocolate Drizzle and Homemade Candy Peel

Raspberry Bakewell Cake (only got an Instagram pic - sorry!)

I've also started working in the kitchens at Opposite Cafe in Leeds - renound for it's superb coffee and amazing food with an always lively and buzzing atmosphere. I'm loving it. I am however very busy but still managing to fit in a good work/uni/life/playtime balance so GO ME.

Some highlights of "playtime" over the past few weeks have been...

#1   Losing my Brewdog Leeds virginity!

#2   Going to the preview for the new exhibition "Feast" at the Leeds Gallery and getting to try out the incredible Whisky Tornado creation by Bompas and Parr.

#3   Feeling 10 again and going bowling - dodgy dj, cheap drinks and £1.50 games... What could be better?

#4   Accidentally ending up at the new Jewish Artists in Yorkshire exhibition at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery in the University of Leeds Parkinson building on my library break... free wine and a live klezmer band!

#5   Post-dissertation drinks and buffet. More free wine...

RECIPE | CHEESECAKE BROWNIES

Cheesecake vs. Brownie.

A brilliantly dense and fudgey, gooey, oozey, creamy combo.

Decadently rich chocolate brownies complimented by a generous swirling of cheesecake mix.

Ingredients:

125g Butter (or Margarine)

250g Dark Chocolate

200g Sugar

3 Eggs

1tsp Vanilla Essence

75g Plain Flour

1/2tsp Baking Powder

200g Cream Cheese

50g Caster Sugar

Instructions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 180 and grease and line a baking tin with baking paper.

2.  Place the butter, sugar and 150g of the chocolate into a pan and melt on a low heat. Leave the mixture to cool for 5 minutes and then whisk in the eggs and vanilla essence.

3.  Add the flour and baking powder to the wet ingredients, along with the rest of the left over dark chocolate chopped up into small chunks. Fold together until it is is mixed well. Pour 3/4s of the mixture into the baking tin.

4.  In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese and the caster sugar together and then dollop the mixture into the baking tin on top of the brownie mix.

5.  Pour the rest of the brownie mixture into the baking tin and then using a skewer or a sharp knife swirl the mixture around so the brownie mixture combines with the cream cheese mixture to create a marbling effect.

6.  Place in the centre shelf of your oven and bake for 35 minutes.

EVENTS | AMAZING GRAZE - REVIEWED

I'm back in lovely Leeds!

Busy busy, just how I like it.

Lots of uni work, some actual REAL work, volunteering, lots of art exhibitions and events to keep me occupied with. A nice mix if I say so myself.

Yesterday I was down at the fabulous street food event Amazing Graze down at Left Bank in Leeds (see HERE for a post I did on the event last week).

 I was tweeting live for the Amazing Graze Twitter account in the afternoon and taking pictures of the event.

 

I certainly tickled my taste buds with some drool worthy street food, with much to my enjoyment some delightful buskers for entertainment and the presence of the GLORIOUS British sunshine! 

 

All the traders went down a treat.
Particularly popular were Fish&, El Kantina, Manjit's Kitchen and Ginger's Comfort Emporium.

Did you go to AMAZING GRAZE this weekend? What did you think?