Tag Archives: Introduction

New Zealand Food Exploration: Introduction

When me and the boyfriend decided to visit New Zealand as part of our “We’re Having an Early Mid-life Crisis Freak-out Tour 2011”, I fell to researching straight away.

I devoted perhaps 25% of my time to hotels and tourist attractions, and the rest to tracking down must-eat food tips. From Chowhound to random Google searches combining place names and cunning key words such as “food” and “blog”, I gradually created lists of restaurants and notes on treats to try.

Our strict budget meant many delicious-sounding venues were discarded, but for the benefit of fellow cash-strapped food lovers, I’ll be posting on some of the thriftier edibles we’ve sampled.

Scottish Bakery Treats: Introduction

I recently moved to Ayrshire in Scotland. Having only been north of the border a handful of times before, my food encounters here were limited.

I knew about haggis, neeps and tatties, I’d heard about cranachan, and I’d eaten unlimited amounts of shortbread, but while strolling past a local bakery, I glanced in the window to see a number of unfamiliar items.

I only caught a glimpse, and one of them made me think of a yellow marshmallow peep chick. Walking on a bit further, I pondered what it could have been. A meringue-topped cake? A lemon tart of some sort? A version of that odd ice-cream cone filled with marshmallow one sometimes finds? Continue reading Scottish Bakery Treats: Introduction

Escaping from Oxford to Eat Out: Introduction

Being lucky enough to have a car, occasional spare cash and a like-minded boyfriend, I often get to explore the wilds of Oxfordshire for exciting places to eat. Each trip is begun with some ritual agonising over whether to risk a bad dinner in the name of exploration or to return to an old favourite where we know we’ll eat well. Continue reading Escaping from Oxford to Eat Out: Introduction

First things first…

Whenever I decide to visit a new town, city or country, the first thing I research is the food. Shallow and stomach-focused that may make me, but normally a place has only a limited number of attractions compared to an endless supply of eateries.

I devote hours to hunting out restaurants, cafes, stalls, delis, food halls and markets. Even if it isn’t practical to lug home bags of ingredients, I just love eying up the foodstuffs available, and where possible, cramming them into my mouth. Even the maligned supermarket provides a glimpse into a country’s staples, and it always fascinates me to compare these with the offerings back home.

This site, then, will hopefully become an abridged chronicle of some of the places I have found along the way. I know there are other people out there like me, and if a suggestion on here frees up a little more time for one of you to eat something great, then my work is done.