#kensington sourdough

[rouletteweekend]

The Sourdough Experiment Gone A-rye...

I’ve been getting more and more interested in food, fermenting, gut health and the like. The more research I do, the more I am pointed to whole food plant based eating and making your own food when possible. And fermented foods. Growing up we would always eat sauerkraut on New Year’s day with mashed potatoes and pork. Other than that, we were not fed fermented foods. I didn’t even know what…

[coughloop]

is there any other bread in the west end(ish) as good as blackbird because it absolutely fucks but im too lazy to go to kensington if I'm not already there for work

My absolute favourite bread in the city is at Ba Noi up on bloor just west of Christie pits An's sourdough is like pudding in your mouth its insane its maybe the best bread I've eve had Period and ALSO you need to get the butter tarts because they're the best butter tarts I've ever had and so are the chocolate chip cookies they're unbelievable and like honestly everything is incredible likes it genuinely the best bakery in the city

[trilliannnn]

Miket találok

[lamevegan]

tasty new bfast:

Jack & Annie's Breakfast Sausage

365 by Whole Foods Market, Gouda Non-Dairy Slices

Sir Kensington's Vegan Mayo Chipotle

J’s sourdough english muffins

Made them in a batch and warmed them wrapped in tinfoil in the oven

[theburgerlist]

𝗔𝗱 🍔 @oldswannottinghill have updated their menu and added lots of great new brunch items! This isn’t just regular pub food, you’ve got vegan wings from the legendary @biffs_uk and an amazing vegan burger with @beyondmeat. Plus their Turkish eggs are DELICIOUS, poached, and covered in whipped natural yoghurt, seeds, and Ezme dressing. The Meaty Bag Fries were really good too; Pulled pork, cheese, and beef dripping gravy which comes in a bag then you shake it all together! But for me the best item I had was the Chipuffalo Mac & Cheese toastie. Toasted sourdough, chipuffalo mac + cheese, Ayrshire dry-cured bacon. I never would have thought Mac & cheese would work in a toastie, but I’m here for it. Honestly as I said at the start, this isn’t regular pub food, this is a big step up in the quality you would be used to, plus with the addition of the nicest staff ever. Special shout out to Norah for being incredible. . . . . . #westlondon #nottinghill #london #londonfood #londonlife #londoneats #timeoutlondon #pubgrub #pubfood #gastropub #burger #burgers #burgertime #burgerlife #burgerlove #burgerlover #burgerlovers #beyondmeat #brunch #londonbrunch #londonfoodblogger #veganburger #veganwings #dirtyfries #eggs #kensington #burgermania #burgerking #burgerheaven #burgerporn (at Old Swan) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQsoUhNHIaZ/?utm_medium=tumblr

[fortheloveofnutrition]

Our friends over at Plantd have graciously given the world this mouth watering Spicy Tofu Grilled Cheese Recipe. These folks are all about Plant based recipes, sustainability, and healthy eating that’s good for you and the planet; which is something I can definitely get down with. For more information, check them out on Instagram @plantd.co and online at www.plantd.co 

Enough logistics, let’s eat!

 What’s great is you don’t need a lot of patience for this recipe as it takes about 30 total minutes to prep and cook everything. We start this recipe with sourdough bread, but I’m sure whatever you have is fine. I personally love the very Gluten Free breads from Little Northern Bakehouse. The recipe calls for using vegan butter like Follow Your Heart or Miyokos, but I know there are those among us who are Mayo enthusiasts for Grilled Cheeses. In that case, I highly recommend brands like Follow Your Heart, Sir Kensington’s, and Chosen Foods for vegan and plant based mayo’s. Next we add some peppers and jalapenos for that deep, forest green color and a firm texture. Crunchy and bright, green bell peppers not only taste great but add vitamins C,B6, and K as well as Protein to the meal. Most of us know Jalapenos add heat, but did you know they also contain Capsacin which is being studied for its anti cancer properties. As if that weren’t enough good news, Jalapenos also contain vitamins A, C, and Protein. 

The next two ingredients that elevate this from your basic and boring bread and cheese fest are the tofu and plant based/dairy free cheese. These two are really subject to change depending on your region, budget, and dietary needs. Generic store brands of dairy free tofu and cheeses are always acceptable. Make it work for you.  Tofu and soy have been the subject of much controversy. Between it’s highly GMO status and myths about men growing breasts, people have shied away from soy based products over the years; and that includes tofu.  However, not all soy is created equal.  In my house,  I am a big fan of the very tasty brand, Hodo Soy. Not only do they boast 50% more protein than the average tofu brand, they also hand make their tofu using certified organic soybeans grown on American farms. Tofu packs 11 grams of plant protein per serving and is a great source of calcium and iron.

It’s always kind of difficult to quantify cheese as a healthy thing, but brands like Daiya are cholesterol free in every serving and are wonderfully allergy friendly and free of the top 8 allergens. For the ultimate in taste and that creamy, gooey, textural experience, I highly recommend Chao (made with tofu) and Violoife, who is also allergen friendly. 

Now let's top this beast of vegan comfort food off with some refreshing chopped Cilantro. In addition to bringing all your flavors together, it helps bind toxic metals like aluminum, lead, and mercury from the body.

Not bad for Wednesday’s lunch, huh? 

[traveling-couch-potato]

London Day 10

My second to last day in London! Today had to start off with more food of course. My first stop was the Borough Market and oh boy I was a kid in a candy store. There were several stands selling cooked items but the real treasures were all the specialty foods they were selling from preserved meats to fancy cheeses. I was heartbroken that I couldn’t take any with my back to the US but I enthusiastically sampled everything I could find. 

Along with those samples I of course stopped by a few of the regular food booths to pick up a proper lunch too.

Spinach &Cheese Bourek from Balkan Bites, Burrata Truffle Tortelloni from La Tua Pasta and Chocolate & Ginger Goat Ice Cream from Greedy Goat.

After eating way too much, I headed to my next stop. One of my favorite parts about London is that even on a casual walk you’ll pass by so much history.

My casual trip to my next stop took me pass The Golden Hinde as well as Winchester Palace.

As much as I wanted to stop by both, I needed to leave as much time for my beloved Tate Modern. I didn’t get my fill of the museum last time so I tried to spend as much time here today as possible.

I never knew what a wonderful view the museum has from the upper floors of the Millennium Bridge.

I got a few more hours of museum time in but it still wasn’t quite enough. I had to meet up with Faaiz who had quite the spread out plan for us. First we stopped by Brywater Street which is known for its rows of colorful homes.

From there we headed over to Holland Park in Kensington.

I never would’ve thought to visit this spot as a tourist but it’s lovely and the Japanese garden is small but gorgeous.

And the final leg of our trip took us all the way out to The Angel & Islington area for a free improv show at the Camden Head. The upper floor offers free comedy shows 7 nights a week and honestly I was amazed with how good it was! Improv shows have a high risk of turning out...more than a bit awkward, but the troupe did a fantastic job.

The room was tiny and stuffy but the three performers from Angel Comedy had me in stitches all night.

Faaiz and I ended the night with a tour around the neighborhood where he pointed out various theaters he’d worked at. We eventually ended the night with some sourdough pizza at Franco Manca.

A nice peaceful end to a wonderful night. One last day tomorrow!

[shihongkun-blog]

Sustainability Checklist

(Source: Mazumder, Pexels.com)

Shi’s on It is an artisanal catering company specializing in providing sustainable food services for socially responsible companies and events. Bearing in mind that there is no fixed definition of sustainability (Ackers, n.d.), we have consulted the experts, reflected on our own values and practices, and come up with a definition that captures our values and, we hope, those of our customers. For us, sustainable food is food that it is grown, processed, transported, prepared, and recycled so as to:

support the local economies where it is produced, sold, and consumed,

safeguard biodiversity,

have minimal negative environmental impact and a positive impact wherever possible

respect the animals it makes use of

protect the health of everyone involved in its production and consumption (Spencer, 2014; Sustain 2020).

Our mission is to serve meals that satisfy the highest possible standards of social responsibility, healthfulness, and taste. The sustainability checklist we use to select our raw materials, producers, and suppliers is designed to ensure that our menus reflect our definition of sustainability and attract a clientele that wants to promote the same values.

Sustainability Checklist

(Source: Ehlers, Pexels.com)

Evaluation

As an example of how some of these criteria might be applied in practice, I want to compare two instances of one basic humble product, bread, that every caterer depends on as a staple.  Two well-known Toronto artisanal bakers are Blackbird Baking Company in Kensington Market and Mabel’s Bakery in the Junction. Both make artisan loaves that satisfy most of our criteria for grain-based products. Both use no additives, all natural organic ingredients, and whole grains. However, neither bakery specifies what kinds of suppliers they buy from or what policies and practices around sustainability, equity, and social responsibility they require or encourage in their suppliers. Neither website has a mission statement about the company’s values, hiring policies, or workplace practices. It is disappointing to find highly rated bakeries that clearly target a progressive customer based not taking the trouble to include such information on their websites. This makes it impossible for us to make a definitive decision about which bakery we should purchase from in a choice between the two. We would have to talk to the owners first to see what we could find out about these issues. At the moment, however, the balance leans toward Blackbird because we note that their Kensington Sourdough loaf contains organic Red Fife flour, a nineteenth-century local Canadian grain, which checks our criterion on using heritage grains. Mabel’s website makes no mention of heritage grains so in the absence of any other information, Blackbird’s bread gets the nod.

References

Ackers, K. (n.d.) What does food sustainability really mean? Eco & Beyond. Retrieved from https://www.ecoandbeyond.co/articles/food-sustainability/

Azadi, H., Schoonbeck, S., Mahmoudi, H., Derudder, B., De Maeyer, P., &

Witlox, F. (2011) “Organic agriculture and sustainable food production system: Main

potentials”. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 144 (1): 92–94.

Bhaskaran, S., Polonsky, M., Cary, J. and Fernandez, S. (2006), "Environmentally sustainable food production and marketing: Opportunity or hype?", British Food Journal, Vol. 108 No. 8, pp. 677-690. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1108/00070700610682355

Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB). (2018). Organic production systems: General principles and standards. Standard Council of Canada. Retrieved from http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2018/ongc-cgsb/P29-32-310-2018-eng.pdf

Henry Lawson High School. (2017). Sustainable grain farming. Retrieved from https://thlhsarchibull2017.wordpress.com/sustainable-grain-farming/

Herrero, M., Thornton, P. K., Notenbaert, A. M., Wood, S., Msangi, S., Freeman, H. A., … Rosegrant, M. (2010). Smart Investments in Sustainable Food Production: Revisiting Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems. Science, 327(5967), 822–825. Retrieved from doi:10.1126/science.1183725

Hobbs, P. R. (2007). Conservation agriculture: what is it and why is it important for future sustainable food production? Journal of Agricultural. Journal of Agricultural Science 145, 127–137.

Johnson, N. (2015, July 18). Here’s how you can make meat way more sustainable. Mother Jones. Retrieved from https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/07/meat-sustainability-fertilizer-feed/

Sustain. (2020d). Select fish only from sustainable sources. https://www.sustainweb.org/sustainablefood/plenty_more_fish_in_the_sea/

Sustain. (2020a). Buy local, seasonal and environmentally friendly food. https://www.sustainweb.org/sustainablefood/eat_the_seasons/

Sustain. (2020e). What is sustainable food? https://www.sustainweb.org/sustainablefood/what_is_sustainable_food/

Wells, S., and Salmon, R. (2012). Canadian organic aquaculture standard. Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance. Retrieved from http://www.aquaculture.ca/files/organic-standard.php

[lifeofmeggie]

everyone’s out there making the most beautiful sourdough loaves, but I’m too impatient and uneducated, so here’s my take on baking! 🍞🥯🥖😂 * * * #illustration #illustrator #illustratorsofinstagram #illustration_daily #childrensillustration #childrenbookart #kidlitart #digitalart #procreate #design #drawing #draw #doodle #doodles #illustratorsofinstagram #illustratorsofig #artistsofinstagram #artistsoninstagram (at West Kensington) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_t9sQHD6NN/?igshid=cwsuuoop1bd6

[shealwaysreads]

A soft drarry concept for you darling ❤️

Draco and Harry bond over tea and toast.

First it’s the tea. Served in fine china or chipped mugs, courtesy-fuelled offerings to smooth the edges of the awkwardness and discomfort of having to spend time together. For Teddy’s sake, they both stifle their misgivings, and ignore how they already know how the other takes his tea (they both watched, during their Hogwarts years.)

Then the toast. Harry didn’t like to cook. Draco had never tried. Toast was their halfway house. 

It started at Harry’s house, on New Year’s Day. Ginny and Blaise had hit it off at a Ministry party in the run up to the Quidditch World Cup, and that had been the beginning of the entanglement between the old Slytherins and Gryffindors. Harry didn’t know how it came to him hosting half of their old year at Grimmauld for a party but he did know that it was chaotic and loud and fun from the moment Daphne Greengrass broke the ice with the far too early suggestion of body shots. 

Most people stayed the night, too drunk to negotiate the Floo, never mind Apparition or muggle taxis. Harry woke early, but hung over. Finding Malfoy standing in his kitchen with a steaming cup of tea didn’t quite manage to break through Harry’s need for something to eat to quell the roll of his stomach. He might have still been a bit drunk though, because he made two slices. He ate his own with butter, Malfoy drizzled honey on his, and they both stared out of the window onto the frosty garden in strangely companiable silence as they ate.

Draco made the tea and toast the second time; after their first date. He had taken Harry to a posh new restaurant which was serving avant-garde food. Harry had wrinkled his nose at the set menu, then gone a little bit pale when the snail porridge had been served. Draco had taken one look at their plates, then at Harry’s face, then whisked them away to his flat in Kensington. They sat on the sofa with hot buttery sourdough and fragrant Ceylon, and Harry had relaxed and tucked his feet under Draco’s thigh.

Harry brought up a breakfast tray the first time Draco stayed the night; a mug of tea each (one sugar for him, two for Draco), and jars of marmite and marmalade to go with the pile of toasted wholegrain. Draco promised he’d never kiss him again if he ate the marmite, so Harry did, with glee, and grinned into Draco’s pout as he pressed their mouths together afterwards. There were crumbs in the bed, after, but neither of them complained, and both of them tasted butter on each others lips and fingertips.

Early mornings or late nights always called for tea and toast, and each other. 

Look, I still feel like a bus hit me in the head and I would love some soft Drarry headcanons pls

Or like hot Drarry headcanons, I'm not picky

[fitnesshealthyoga-blog]

New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/a-whole-day-from-start-to-finish/

a whole day, from start to finish

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these posts! When I reviewed survey results earlier this week – I look at them all year, so thank you so much to those of you who chimed in! I truly value all of your feedback and refer back to it often – there were a lot of requests for more posts like this. We had a day this week that was pretty *normal* (what does that even mean?) and I remembered to snap some pics, so here we go!

7:15: I wake up feeling EXTREMELY rested. I reach down for my phone and see that it’s 7:15… an entire hour after I had set my alarm to go off. I had set it for “Every Saturday” so it didn’t go off and I just enjoyed a nice little slumber. We have exactly 30 minutes before we have to be out the door, so I throw on a lulu top and some leggings, some sneakers, run a brush through my hair, and blitz downstairs. The girls are hanging out on the couch watching a show, so I put their piles of clothes next to them to get dressed (feeling very thankful I put out their outfits the night before) and make them a quick breakfast. They have hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, and toast, and I put their lunches into their backpacks, fill water bottles, do their hair, make sure they have their teeth brushed, put sunscreen on them, and we’re out the door. 99% of the time, I make Bulletproof Decaf coffee in my Yeti mug to take with us, but I’m out of coffee. 

8:50: I’m done with school drop-offs, so I head to the Starbucks at the grocery store to grab a coffee. Decaf almond milk latte with 1 pump of vanilla.

9:10 Back at home, and I put some sourdough into the oven that I prepped the night before. While the first loaf is baking, I finishing writing my blog post for that day and hit publish before putting the second loaf into the oven. I know it’s kind of a busy day, which works out well since it’s my rest day from the gym. While the second loaf is in the oven, I head upstairs for 7 minutes of meditation, a quick journal exercise, and do some easy stretches and mobility work.

10:20 Bread is done, so I cut a couple of slices for myself and make breakfast: 6 scrambled liquid egg whites, 1 whole egg, sautéed spinach, nutritional yeast, and bread with Kite Hill everything cream cheese spread and Everything But the Bagel seasoning from Trader Joe’s + a side of strawberries.

In between eating, I run the eufy (still my favorite ever), clean up the kitchen from the girls’ breakfast and the bread adventures, throw some laundry into the washer, make the beds, and spray down the countertops. I also take my supplements and fill up my giant water bottle to take for the day’s adventures.

10:50 I pick up Nani to go visit Baby August! She hadn’t met him yet, and I wanted to take Kyle and Meg some bread, so it was perfect timing. I swoop Nani, and we have a wonderful visit with Kyle, Meg, EJ, and August. 

How perfect are his little toes???

I hang out outside playing games with EJ and get to hold sweet August again, and we have a lovely visit with them. 

12:30 I’m back from picking up P, and I grab her a quick snack (a Perfect bar and a sliced apple). We also play dolls and do a puzzle in the playroom for a bit. She settles down to watch a show – we try to let the girls stick to a “2 shows per day” rule – and I make myself some lunch and answer a couple of quick emails. I eat lunch outside while she swings on the swing set.

This is a frozen chicken burger from Whole Foods with Sir Kensington’s Mayo, roasted red bell pepper, spinach, mustard, on a brown rice tortilla. Notice the bite marks on the outside of the tortilla, courtesy of P, haha.

1:30 We take the dogs for a walk together around the neighborhood. The weather is so gorgeous and P is officially a pro dog walker. It’s crazy to think of how many walks I spent with her in the Ergo or in the stroller and now here she is, walking a dog completely by herself. 

I think it’s so cute that Bella lets her hold her, too. She doesn’t mind it at all. 

I switch the laundry out, and then P helps me make some cookie dough. I’ve been using this recipe and it’s INSANE (I just make the cookies smaller than the recipe suggests and skip the walnuts). 

I wish I could say I just had this tiny bit of cookie dough, but let’s be real here. After scooping spoonfuls onto the cookie sheets, I cleaned the bowl with a spoon. 😉 SO good.

After baking the cookies, we let them cool and head out to pick up Liv. 

3:15 We’re back home from picking up Liv. I make the girls a snack plate (bell pepper, carrots, hummus, pepperoni, cheese, and crackers) and they eat it outside playing while I make some dinner to take to Kyle and Meg’s house. While I’m cooking, I have a Larabar and some tea with collagen.

I put rice into the Instant Pot, and chop a quick Greek salad (romaine, spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, roasted red pepper, kalamata olives, and feta), then start on the Chicken Parmesan. Enchiladas are my go-to baby meal, but since I made them enchiladas a couple of weeks ago, I want to switch it up. I make doubles of everything and wrap it in the fridge since that will be the girls’ dinner that night, too. 

4:45 Everything is packed up and ready to go,

so we drive down to Kyle and Meg’s. The Pilot is there waiting for us, snuggling with August. <3

I watch the little cousins play outside while Kyle and Meg eat and the Pilot holds August. After a little while, we switch out. Usually we would be driving to gymnastics, but I let the girls skip class since they hadn’t met the baby yet. They loved holding their new little cousin. It’s hard to believe that he’ll be running around with all of them before we know it!

6:00 We’re back at home, so I make the girls their dinner plates, switch the dishes out, and clean up from the enormous mess I made baking cookies and frying chicken. Usually we would just all eat together, but I asked our babysitter to come over that night. (It wasn’t the best planning on my part. Usually when the Pilot and I go out, I make the girls something super easy, like meatballs, pasta, and some chopped fruit or sautéed veggies on the side.) I set out the girls’ pajamas and toothbrushes, and then we get ready to go. 🙂

7:00 Nerd date! The Pilot and I have a date once a week, and quite often they’re something we call “nerd dates.” Basically, we’ll grab a quick snack or glass of wine somewhere, and then head to a coffee shop to catch up on work stuff. We sit there with our computers and headphones on like nerds, but at least we’re together. 

We have poke bowls and wine at Ra, and then go to Cartel for tea and nerd time. He’s studying like crazy for airline interviews, and I have a ton of blog stuff to catch up on, especially since I didn’t spend much time working during the day. (Usually when the girls are at school, I blitz on as much work stuff as possible!)

9:30 We’re back home! The Pilot packs Livi’s lunch for the next day – P only stays for lunch at preschool a couple of times each week – and I head upstairs to fold laundry. I used to go to bed super late – easily midnight or 1am – but ever since the girls have been going to sleep at a normal time and staying in their beds (!!!) I’ve felt like I can go to sleep much earlier. I’m tired now by about 10, and ready to wake up around 6 most days. It’s amazing to meditate a little, catch up on work, or even take a Peloton class before we start on the morning chaos. I set out the girls outfits for the next day, set out my clothes and fill up a water bottle for a morning Peloton class, and crawl into bed to read for a few minutes until my eyes start to droop. 

10:15 Bed.. and ready to do it all over again. 

Source link

[anamorales]

a whole day, from start to finish

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these posts! When I reviewed survey results earlier this week – I look at them all year, so thank you so much to those of you who chimed in! I truly value all of your feedback and refer back to it often – there were a lot of requests for more posts like this. We had a day this week that was pretty *normal* (what does that even mean?) and I remembered to snap some pics, so here we go!

7:15: I wake up feeling EXTREMELY rested. I reach down for my phone and see that it’s 7:15… an entire hour after I had set my alarm to go off. I had set it for “Every Saturday” so it didn’t go off and I just enjoyed a nice little slumber. We have exactly 30 minutes before we have to be out the door, so I throw on a lulu top and some leggings, some sneakers, run a brush through my hair, and blitz downstairs. The girls are hanging out on the couch watching a show, so I put their piles of clothes next to them to get dressed (feeling very thankful I put out their outfits the night before) and make them a quick breakfast. They have hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, and toast, and I put their lunches into their backpacks, fill water bottles, do their hair, make sure they have their teeth brushed, put sunscreen on them, and we’re out the door. 99% of the time, I make Bulletproof Decaf coffee in my Yeti mug to take with us, but I’m out of coffee. 

8:50: I’m done with school drop-offs, so I head to the Starbucks at the grocery store to grab a coffee. Decaf almond milk latte with 1 pump of vanilla.

9:10 Back at home, and I put some sourdough into the oven that I prepped the night before. While the first loaf is baking, I finishing writing my blog post for that day and hit publish before putting the second loaf into the oven. I know it’s kind of a busy day, which works out well since it’s my rest day from the gym. While the second loaf is in the oven, I head upstairs for 7 minutes of meditation, a quick journal exercise, and do some easy stretches and mobility work.

10:20 Bread is done, so I cut a couple of slices for myself and make breakfast: 6 scrambled liquid egg whites, 1 whole egg, sautéed spinach, nutritional yeast, and bread with Kite Hill everything cream cheese spread and Everything But the Bagel seasoning from Trader Joe’s + a side of strawberries.

In between eating, I run the eufy (still my favorite ever), clean up the kitchen from the girls’ breakfast and the bread adventures, throw some laundry into the washer, make the beds, and spray down the countertops. I also take my supplements and fill up my giant water bottle to take for the day’s adventures.

10:50 I pick up Nani to go visit Baby August! She hadn’t met him yet, and I wanted to take Kyle and Meg some bread, so it was perfect timing. I swoop Nani, and we have a wonderful visit with Kyle, Meg, EJ, and August. 

How perfect are his little toes???

I hang out outside playing games with EJ and get to hold sweet August again, and we have a lovely visit with them. 

12:30 I’m back from picking up P, and I grab her a quick snack (a Perfect bar and a sliced apple). We also play dolls and do a puzzle in the playroom for a bit. She settles down to watch a show – we try to let the girls stick to a “2 shows per day” rule – and I make myself some lunch and answer a couple of quick emails. I eat lunch outside while she swings on the swing set.

This is a frozen chicken burger from Whole Foods with Sir Kensington’s Mayo, roasted red bell pepper, spinach, mustard, on a brown rice tortilla. Notice the bite marks on the outside of the tortilla, courtesy of P, haha.

1:30 We take the dogs for a walk together around the neighborhood. The weather is so gorgeous and P is officially a pro dog walker. It’s crazy to think of how many walks I spent with her in the Ergo or in the stroller and now here she is, walking a dog completely by herself. 

I think it’s so cute that Bella lets her hold her, too. She doesn’t mind it at all. 

I switch the laundry out, and then P helps me make some cookie dough. I’ve been using this recipe and it’s INSANE (I just make the cookies smaller than the recipe suggests and skip the walnuts). 

I wish I could say I just had this tiny bit of cookie dough, but let’s be real here. After scooping spoonfuls onto the cookie sheets, I cleaned the bowl with a spoon. SO good.

After baking the cookies, we let them cool and head out to pick up Liv. 

3:15 We’re back home from picking up Liv. I make the girls a snack plate (bell pepper, carrots, hummus, pepperoni, cheese, and crackers) and they eat it outside playing while I make some dinner to take to Kyle and Meg’s house. While I’m cooking, I have a Larabar and some tea with collagen.

I put rice into the Instant Pot, and chop a quick Greek salad (romaine, spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, roasted red pepper, kalamata olives, and feta), then start on the Chicken Parmesan. Enchiladas are my go-to baby meal, but since I made them enchiladas a couple of weeks ago, I want to switch it up. I make doubles of everything and wrap it in the fridge since that will be the girls’ dinner that night, too. 

4:45 Everything is packed up and ready to go,

so we drive down to Kyle and Meg’s. The Pilot is there waiting for us, snuggling with August. <3

I watch the little cousins play outside while Kyle and Meg eat and the Pilot holds August. After a little while, we switch out. Usually we would be driving to gymnastics, but I let the girls skip class since they hadn’t met the baby yet. They loved holding their new little cousin. It’s hard to believe that he’ll be running around with all of them before we know it!

6:00 We’re back at home, so I make the girls their dinner plates, switch the dishes out, and clean up from the enormous mess I made baking cookies and frying chicken. Usually we would just all eat together, but I asked our babysitter to come over that night. (It wasn’t the best planning on my part. Usually when the Pilot and I go out, I make the girls something super easy, like meatballs, pasta, and some chopped fruit or sautéed veggies on the side.) I set out the girls’ pajamas and toothbrushes, and then we get ready to go.

7:00 Nerd date! The Pilot and I have a date once a week, and quite often they’re something we call “nerd dates.” Basically, we’ll grab a quick snack or glass of wine somewhere, and then head to a coffee shop to catch up on work stuff. We sit there with our computers and headphones on like nerds, but at least we’re together. 

We have poke bowls and wine at Ra, and then go to Cartel for tea and nerd time. He’s studying like crazy for airline interviews, and I have a ton of blog stuff to catch up on, especially since I didn’t spend much time working during the day. (Usually when the girls are at school, I blitz on as much work stuff as possible!)

9:30 We’re back home! The Pilot packs Livi’s lunch for the next day – P only stays for lunch at preschool a couple of times each week – and I head upstairs to fold laundry. I used to go to bed super late – easily midnight or 1am – but ever since the girls have been going to sleep at a normal time and staying in their beds (!!!) I’ve felt like I can go to sleep much earlier. I’m tired now by about 10, and ready to wake up around 6 most days. It’s amazing to meditate a little, catch up on work, or even take a Peloton class before we start on the morning chaos. I set out the girls outfits for the next day, set out my clothes and fill up a water bottle for a morning Peloton class, and crawl into bed to read for a few minutes until my eyes start to droop. 

10:15 Bed.. and ready to do it all over again. 

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[hellogoodonpaper]

A huge @basecamp.bakery sourdough focaccia fan right here #sogood (at Kensington Farmers' Market) https://www.instagram.com/p/Btb7UdaAJ5V/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1mo6qxb3tk11o

[flissok]

Happy Friday 😋🍻🍕#francomanca #friyay #pizza #sourdough #southkensington #herstylehermind (at South Kensington)

[quieteating]

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Core

There seems to be something strangely attractive about Notting Hill Gate.  It seems to be running on a different time from the rest of London with stately mansions, high end cars parked on the side of the road and particularly well shod citizens in the street.  Not a place for a person like me.  I just don’t have the presence or goods to make up for lack of such.  Yet a man can dream.

It also seems to attract rather good eateries.  Ledbury, I am looking at you.  So when the patron of this particular restaurant choose to set up her own shop, why not do so near the competition.  Now, it also has managed to gain something restaurants crave and that’s not a sparkly star.  Instead, it is a line.  Not a horribly uncouth line that lines the sidewalk but instead an annoying virtual one.  In order to have the privilege of dining at Core, you need to make a booking almost 3 months in advance.  That was of course not building up my expectations, one little bit.  

Jellied eels with olive oil.  An interesting little bite but perhaps gone too fast to make an impact on my sometimes coarse palate.

Foie gras tart with madare jelly.  Nestled carefully on top of such greenery, these were light but tasteful with the base adding a lovely foundation.

Smoked chicken wings.  The way that these were presented, appearing in a glass container filled with smoke before being whipped up before my eyes to reveal deboned chicken wings seemed fairly familiar to what I had experienced at Royal Hospital Road, Clare Smyth’s previous home.  These were nice but in the end, they were just chicken wings.  Although perhaps the most expensive chicken wings I have ever had.

  Mint pea tart.  Served on its own little pedestal, this reminded me of a pineapple tart.  With flaky outside crust and luscious textured pea inside, this was a nice prelude to the main meal.

Sourdough bread.

Whipped butter.  Together the bread and butter were decent if a bit too earthy in taste for me.  I would have liked there to have been some choice in the bread.  Not everyone (well at least a non-hippy like me) lives on brown nowadays.  I know that the media portrays green and brown as healthy but I’m not particularly convinced.  Even if it was true, sometimes you need to live a little.  

Isle of Mull scallop tartare, sea vegetable consommé.  Delicate taste with sweet flesh, this was a good dish if not particularly hard to prepare.  Perhaps this explains the amount of effort that went into the foliage it arrived on.  If anything, an example of how excellent ingredients can sometimes speak for themselves.

‘Potato and roe’, dulse beurre blanc, herring and trout roe.  Outstanding.  If I was a potato and I could choose how I could go.  This would be near the top of the totem pole.  Texture was firm yet delightfully yielding once you got past the initial layer.  The sauce and roe, when combined with the garden of vegetables on top created something special.  Especially good.

Roasted monkfish, Morecambe bay shrimps, Swiss chard, brown butter.  Carefully cooked, this meaty chunk avoided the dryness of other monkfish I have had.  Again, although decent, I found that particular care was taken in presentation.  

‘Lamb carrot’, braised lamb, sheep’s milk yoghurt.  A lone carrot given the VIP treatment, here it was dressed fastidiously with lamb, herbs and on the side with yoghurt perhaps from its mum.  Apart from the slightly morbid idea of presenting a dish combining elements of mother and child on the same plate, this was interesting.  Clean taste of the carrot with light juice and complementary smoothness of the diary.  

Bread with embedded lamb.  Which was even better with this bread with lamb buried inside.  Yet, it would have been nice to have lamb dressed with carrot rather than carrot dressed with lamb.

Duck and red grapes, thyme, honey, Timut pepper.  This was a timely arrival as my dining companion and I were waiting for signs of the meat.  This was to be the other highlight dish as the duck was carefully pink in the centre, juicy and delightfully soft as my knife easily carved through it.  However, it was the tart on the left which was inspired.  The small pastry filo with carefully carved fruit on top combined with the bird in my mouth to create a symposium of taste.  

  ‘Core apple’.  As a pre-dessert comes this carefully sculptured apple.  Inside, was a custard?  A cream?  Or perhaps I should just say, something that tasted rather good.  It reminded me of a savoury version of the meat fruit from Dinner, shaped as it was to resemble a fruit.

Wild strawberry, lemon verbena.  Delicately arranged and again showing the minutiae of attention to detail, this was a joy to behold.  Just look at those delicately arranged leaves amongst the white and red.  I would have preferred a heavier dessert but this was a clean way to finish.  It left very little lingering taste.  I admit to feeling a bit peckish at the end, much in the same way I did at Royal Hospital Road.  Yet, perhaps this was because I didn’t stuff my face with the bread as I longed (and wished) for much but was ultimately disappointed.

Wine gums.  Presented on a twisted piece of wood, these were nothing special.  Then again, I do not professes to have much taste and discernment for gums.  

Chocolate tart.  Nothing special for the final act of this meal even with the perfunctory sprig of herbs on the side.  Looked a bit sad hanging out as it did all by itself.  

Soon after I had popped this tart into my mouth and so cleared the table, the bill arrived without a word.  Now, I am used to having such a passive aggressive action happen in Chinese restaurants but not so when I am having a meal which costs close to 10x the price.  I would hope that that amount of cash would buy me a little bit of time to tarry.  Yet, when we asked the waiter what the hurry was, we were informed that we would have to leave by 9:15pm, so presumably another patron head over heels with giddy delight at scoring a table at Clare’s could sample the delights.  

Although we left before having to be unseemingly forcibly escorted out past the next eager patrons, if I had passed them I could have saved them the time (and expense) with two whispered words.  “Only once”.  

  A quiet eating 7.5/10.

Dinner (tasting menu) was GBP 125 excluding drinks and service.

  Core

92 Kensington Park Rd, Notting Hill, London W11 2PN

[jonasmaurer]

a whole day, from start to finish

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these posts! When I reviewed survey results earlier this week – I look at them all year, so thank you so much to those of you who chimed in! I truly value all of your feedback and refer back to it often – there were a lot of requests for more posts like this. We had a day this week that was pretty *normal* (what does that even mean?) and I remembered to snap some pics, so here we go!

7:15: I wake up feeling EXTREMELY rested. I reach down for my phone and see that it’s 7:15… an entire hour after I had set my alarm to go off. I had set it for “Every Saturday” so it didn’t go off and I just enjoyed a nice little slumber. We have exactly 30 minutes before we have to be out the door, so I throw on a lulu top and some leggings, some sneakers, run a brush through my hair, and blitz downstairs. The girls are hanging out on the couch watching a show, so I put their piles of clothes next to them to get dressed (feeling very thankful I put out their outfits the night before) and make them a quick breakfast. They have hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, and toast, and I put their lunches into their backpacks, fill water bottles, do their hair, make sure they have their teeth brushed, put sunscreen on them, and we’re out the door. 99% of the time, I make Bulletproof Decaf coffee in my Yeti mug to take with us, but I’m out of coffee. 

8:50: I’m done with school drop-offs, so I head to the Starbucks at the grocery store to grab a coffee. Decaf almond milk latte with 1 pump of vanilla.

9:10 Back at home, and I put some sourdough into the oven that I prepped the night before. While the first loaf is baking, I finishing writing my blog post for that day and hit publish before putting the second loaf into the oven. I know it’s kind of a busy day, which works out well since it’s my rest day from the gym. While the second loaf is in the oven, I head upstairs for 7 minutes of meditation, a quick journal exercise, and do some easy stretches and mobility work.

10:20 Bread is done, so I cut a couple of slices for myself and make breakfast: 6 scrambled liquid egg whites, 1 whole egg, sautéed spinach, nutritional yeast, and bread with Kite Hill everything cream cheese spread and Everything But the Bagel seasoning from Trader Joe’s + a side of strawberries.

In between eating, I run the eufy (still my favorite ever), clean up the kitchen from the girls’ breakfast and the bread adventures, throw some laundry into the washer, make the beds, and spray down the countertops. I also take my supplements and fill up my giant water bottle to take for the day’s adventures.

10:50 I pick up Nani to go visit Baby August! She hadn’t met him yet, and I wanted to take Kyle and Meg some bread, so it was perfect timing. I swoop Nani, and we have a wonderful visit with Kyle, Meg, EJ, and August. 

How perfect are his little toes???

I hang out outside playing games with EJ and get to hold sweet August again, and we have a lovely visit with them. 

12:30 I’m back from picking up P, and I grab her a quick snack (a Perfect bar and a sliced apple). We also play dolls and do a puzzle in the playroom for a bit. She settles down to watch a show – we try to let the girls stick to a “2 shows per day” rule – and I make myself some lunch and answer a couple of quick emails. I eat lunch outside while she swings on the swing set.

This is a frozen chicken burger from Whole Foods with Sir Kensington’s Mayo, roasted red bell pepper, spinach, mustard, on a brown rice tortilla. Notice the bite marks on the outside of the tortilla, courtesy of P, haha.

1:30 We take the dogs for a walk together around the neighborhood. The weather is so gorgeous and P is officially a pro dog walker. It’s crazy to think of how many walks I spent with her in the Ergo or in the stroller and now here she is, walking a dog completely by herself. 

I think it’s so cute that Bella lets her hold her, too. She doesn’t mind it at all. 

I switch the laundry out, and then P helps me make some cookie dough. I’ve been using this recipe and it’s INSANE (I just make the cookies smaller than the recipe suggests and skip the walnuts). 

I wish I could say I just had this tiny bit of cookie dough, but let’s be real here. After scooping spoonfuls onto the cookie sheets, I cleaned the bowl with a spoon. SO good.

After baking the cookies, we let them cool and head out to pick up Liv. 

3:15 We’re back home from picking up Liv. I make the girls a snack plate (bell pepper, carrots, hummus, pepperoni, cheese, and crackers) and they eat it outside playing while I make some dinner to take to Kyle and Meg’s house. While I’m cooking, I have a Larabar and some tea with collagen.

I put rice into the Instant Pot, and chop a quick Greek salad (romaine, spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, roasted red pepper, kalamata olives, and feta), then start on the Chicken Parmesan. Enchiladas are my go-to baby meal, but since I made them enchiladas a couple of weeks ago, I want to switch it up. I make doubles of everything and wrap it in the fridge since that will be the girls’ dinner that night, too. 

4:45 Everything is packed up and ready to go,

so we drive down to Kyle and Meg’s. The Pilot is there waiting for us, snuggling with August. <3

I watch the little cousins play outside while Kyle and Meg eat and the Pilot holds August. After a little while, we switch out. Usually we would be driving to gymnastics, but I let the girls skip class since they hadn’t met the baby yet. They loved holding their new little cousin. It’s hard to believe that he’ll be running around with all of them before we know it!

6:00 We’re back at home, so I make the girls their dinner plates, switch the dishes out, and clean up from the enormous mess I made baking cookies and frying chicken. Usually we would just all eat together, but I asked our babysitter to come over that night. (It wasn’t the best planning on my part. Usually when the Pilot and I go out, I make the girls something super easy, like meatballs, pasta, and some chopped fruit or sautéed veggies on the side.) I set out the girls’ pajamas and toothbrushes, and then we get ready to go.

7:00 Nerd date! The Pilot and I have a date once a week, and quite often they’re something we call “nerd dates.” Basically, we’ll grab a quick snack or glass of wine somewhere, and then head to a coffee shop to catch up on work stuff. We sit there with our computers and headphones on like nerds, but at least we’re together. 

We have poke bowls and wine at Ra, and then go to Cartel for tea and nerd time. He’s studying like crazy for airline interviews, and I have a ton of blog stuff to catch up on, especially since I didn’t spend much time working during the day. (Usually when the girls are at school, I blitz on as much work stuff as possible!)

9:30 We’re back home! The Pilot packs Livi’s lunch for the next day – P only stays for lunch at preschool a couple of times each week – and I head upstairs to fold laundry. I used to go to bed super late – easily midnight or 1am – but ever since the girls have been going to sleep at a normal time and staying in their beds (!!!) I’ve felt like I can go to sleep much earlier. I’m tired now by about 10, and ready to wake up around 6 most days. It’s amazing to meditate a little, catch up on work, or even take a Peloton class before we start on the morning chaos. I set out the girls outfits for the next day, set out my clothes and fill up a water bottle for a morning Peloton class, and crawl into bed to read for a few minutes until my eyes start to droop. 

10:15 Bed.. and ready to do it all over again. 

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