Tesco Sells American Beef

While British Farmers are outraged that Tesco is selling American beef, I am overjoyed.  I have lived in Europe for 12 years now and find eating continental and UK beef a challenge.  I find it is tougher and less flavourful than American Beef.  The reason is that American beef is grain (corn) feed and British beef is grass fed. Supposedly the Americans also use hormones and tenderizing agents, although the Tesco imports are supposedly free of these. I ordered my American (branded Black Angus Sirloin or Ribeye) beef online.( Only some of the bigger Tescos carry it in store).  It is about $18 a pound (£24.99 per kilo) for the rib eye and a little less for the sirloin.  Definitely a bit dearer than buying a British ribeye which is around $11.50 per pound (£15.99 per kilo) and a whole lot dearer than American supermarket prices that range from $6-10 a pound.  Mind you, I won't be eating American steak every week but now prefer the every once in a while treat of a steak, at home with a baked potato and Caesar salad.  

Lands End Outlet

Finally months of gentle persuasion (nagging) paid off with hubby taking me to a day out to the Lands' End outlet this past weekend. Truth be know, I've never shopped at Lands' End before but had looked on it's online catalogue.  It had a feel of a sportier Gap.  In the end, we spent 2 hours in Lands' End and didn't make it to any of the other shops. We had hoped to find some winter coats for the girls but their coat stock seemed low. Most of the tags said they were catalogue returns but we were pleased with the quality. My husband got 2 jeans for £20 and the kids still got some reasonably priced jeans, t-shirts and shoes. Nothing for me this time, except the experience and unexpectedly an A & W root beer from an oriental cafe' across the way.   
May 2013 Update- as Land's End no longer in Maidenhead, Check out this website to see the location nearest to you..http://www.landsend.co.uk/Outlet-Stores/cs-outlet-stores,en_GB,pg.html 
Also, have a look at Debenhams next time you are in, as they are starting to carry Lands' End merchandise.

Whoopie pies

Just a little bloggie about a whoopie pie I found the other day.  It was at our local Co op. made by the cutely named United Cakes of America.  It is the first whoopie pie I've ever tried, so I don't have much to go on but I thought it was pretty nice.  It wasn't too sweet (which is usually my complaint when it comes to buying store bought) and had a nice caramel flavor.

Country Markets

Country markets are a much smaller version (think church hall) of a farmers market but sell a lot of the same things.  It took me over 5 years to discover the one in my town ,so it is almost a word of mouth kind of place.  It was originally started by the W.I. and some have been around for 25+ years. There are over 250 country markets throughout the U.K. with 10 markets in Oxfordshire.  Some of the slightly bigger ones in Oxfordshire are Wallingford, Abingdon and Eynsham. I started baking for the country markets this past spring. A friend of a friend was already doing it, so that helped to get me going.  I had visions of having a little homebaking business and also selling American kitchen products. Fastforward to now and I bake once a week for our local market.  I cover my costs and make a little but it is really just a hobby for now. I do mostly brownies and recently started doing pies.  I've done apple and pear, summer fruits, wild plum and apple and hoping to do wild blackberry and apple this week.   I've had some weeks where it has been slow and not much has sold and then other weeks where I sell out.  My kids think its great because they know at least once a week the house will smell gorgeous with baking and have deemed themselves the official tasters!  I can recommend country markets as either joining as a baker or trying it out as a consumer. For even more info go to www.country-markets.co.uk  

Rah Rah to Cheerleading!

I have decided to try my youngest daughter in a cheerleading club in the fall.  They cheer for a local rugby club.  I have had her on the waitlist for gymnastics at the local leisure center for some time and thought this might be a good second option.  Supposedly, cheerleading is one of the fastest growing 'sports' in the U.K.  We have a handful of university squads in our area and a few dance schools offer it up as well.  There however seems to be some controversy on whether cheerleading is actually considered a sport though.  It's unique combination of dance, gymnastics and drama doesn't equate to sport in

some peoples mind. I look forward to my daughter learning the positive cheers,

 tumbles, splits and dance routines.    

Happy 4th of July

Most 4th of July's I've spent away from the U.S. have been quiet. We might frequent a KFC and call it a day. This year we decided to have a little 4th of July celebration.  On the menu was chicken wings, hot dogs and pulled pork, with some mac n cheese and potato salad.  For desserts, brownie cake and key lime pie.

The Key Lime Pie was the star.  I can't remember the last time I made it, but the Joy of Baking recipe I used this time was simple and fool proof......digestive cracker crust (instead of graham cracker) , topped with a mix of 3 egg yolks, 1 can sweetened condensed milk and 150ml fresh lime juice. (I opted out of the whipped cream topping this time).  I did have to bake it a bit longer than the 15 minutes it said, but I find that quite common with my oven over here for some reason.  Both the kids had 2 helpings so no leftovers, I'm afraid. 

                                       Happy 4th of July!

Polony Bologna

My favorite sandwich as a kid was bologna with mayo and pickle.  I had a revelation this morning when I opened a small sausage like package of Pologny Slicing Sausage and found out it is just like a good American Bologna. Evidently, the Brits have been eating it since about the 16th Century.  It was the Tesco Value Brand (I love Supermarket value brands)....150g for 54p.  My bologna has a 'new' first name.