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Real Food Festival 2011

This is the 4th time that I've been to the Real Food Festival (read my 2010 round up here). The festival is built around the idea of bringing great tasting, sustainably and ethically produced food to as many people as possible.

I've been to so many food festivals in last five years that I thought I'd give my top ten tips for those wanting to make/eat the most of their day.

1. Look at the list of stalls before you go (if available). Get an idea of which ones are on your "must hit" list
2. I always find it best to arrive shortly after the festival opens. It's less busy and easier to look at stalls and chat to the people running them
3. Set a budget for buying food (I always try but end up blowing the budget!)
5. If you have a "favorite" like me, cake/desserts, don't fill up on bread, cracker and chutney samples (as tempting as they are) they are super filling
6. Check out the demonstration timetable when you arrive if you want to watch any
7. Bring a bag to carry your purchases and bring a Tupperware container for lose purchases that you don't want squished
8. Bring cash as most stalls won't be equipped to take cards
9. Bring water (you'll need it after all those samples)
10. For festivals that have restaurant tokens, look at the menus on line before you head out so you don't end up with and odd amount of tokens left over that can't buy anything

Some photos of what I ate and purchased

Fruit punch cocktail. My ticket came with a free cocktail.

Halen Mon Sea Salt from Anglesey, Wales (where Wills and Kate live). I bought some sea salt and smoked salt to use for roast potatoes and steak. I also bought a small tube of vanilla sea salt for fruit and fish.

Mini cake pop from Sweet Tooth Factory. I see them at every food festival and Brick Lane. This is the first time I've bought anything. I really like that they had minis for 50p. I got a vanilla but I honestly couldn't tell if it was vanilla or chocolate. The cake oddly tasted of nothing and was grayish inside. Good chocolate coating and moistness though. I'd maybe try one of their cupcakes next time.

I bought a set of rainbow colored tea spoons at Bellevue Tea

The Dessert Deli was one of my favorite of the day!

Seriously loving the mini cheesecakes in a shot glass for £1.50

I bought a marble whoopie pie from one of my favorite places, Outsider Tart.

Blueberry and Champagne macaron from Lorchidee

Hot chocolate and mini whisk from Jaz & Juls

I bought 2 mini cupcakes from Sweet Things as recommended by Anne

I also bought some chocolate tea from Premier's Tea Limited, a "snacking salami" from Serious Pig and some Freshburst Pearls for cocktails from Imaginative Cuisine (like the ones that were on top of my Choboba bubble tea).

I'm pumped for Taste of London 2011 now!

· cupcakes, festival, london, macarons, tea, whoopie pies

Bubble Tea Fever Hits London!

Bubble Tea is officially* the "it" thing this summer in London! Not one, but two dedicated bubble tea outlets have opened in the last two months. I started thinking about bubble tea when Ute went to Boba Jam back in January (there are also plenty of places in Chinatown that serve it and I've also had it in Ping Pong before) and a few weeks ago my interest was renewed when I found Bubbleology on twitter.

Bubbe tea was originated in Taiwan in the 1980's where it's as popular as soda in North America. I read somewhere that there are 8,000 bubble tea cafes in Taiwan! I used to live in Seattle and it's a common to find it there too.

Chaboba is in Camden Lock Market and opened two months ago. I am in love with this place. I was wandering around the market for about 40 minutes trying to find it but the crush bubble tea I had in the end was well worth it.

I ordered a mango crush bubble tea (a cross between a slushee and a smoothie) with the "bobas" or pearls at the bottom. I chose to have the strawberry "popping" bobbas on top (for an extra 50p). They are so awesome. They're made from natural seaweed extract and are filled with fruit juice. I think the popping bobas give Chaboba a bit of an edge over the competition. I am already hooked and will be back.

Bubbleology opened a few days ago in Soho. The shop is larger and a tad more intriguing.

The fun part about Bubbleology is their "Cruffins"! English muffins or crumpets with your choice of topping. I of course had a crumpet with cream cheese and m&m's. I'll be back for another Cruffin.

I had a passion fruit bubble tea.

A bubble tea will set you back about the same price as a frappacino so I thought, I've seen the stuff in china town how hard would it be to make my own? I bought some supplies for £5 and made 3 different kinds.

First step is to prepare the tapioca pearls according to the pack. A whole bag cost me £1.70. They come in black or rainbow. Only make as much as you need for the day. They don't keep well.

The pearls need to be boiled for 5-25 minutes and then rested for the same amount of time. You can boil the pearls in tea to give them more flavor and add some sugar or honey to them after as well.

Simple Bubble Tea

Powdered or already prepared iced tea

3-4 tbs pearls

1. Make the ice tea and pour it into a glass and drop the pearls in. Enjoy!

Lavender Bubble Tea

1 pot brewed Ceylon tea

1 cup sugar

1/2 water

2 tbs dried lavender

3-4 tbs pearls

1. Brew the Ceylon tea and place it in the fridge to get cold.

2. Make a lavender simple syrup by boiling the water, sugar and lavender in a saucepan. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Pour into a suitable container and place in the fridge to cool (I used a french press so I could separate the lavender later).

3. Once everything is cool pour a small amount of sugar syrup in a glass and top up with tea and pearls. The sugar syrup can be kept in the fridge for awhile.

Raspberry Green Bubble Tea

Iced green tea

Raspberry Coulis

3-4 tbs Pearls

1. Make the green tea according to box or brew some green tea fresh and refrigerate.

2. Once chilled pour the tea into a glass with a few tablespoons of the coulis, stir and top with the pearls.

I think my home attempt was successful and I will continue to make it inbetween trips to the various outlets! Has anyone else been for bubble tea this summer or tried to make it themselves?
-

*By officially I mean I made it up

· london, tea, yummy places

Tea Tasting at East India Company

Early last week I attended a tea tasting at the new East India Company store in Mayfair. If you read my blog often enough you'll know that tea is my second love after cake so I was pretty excited! I love drinking tea but didn't know that much about the different varieties. Andrea from Made With Pink was also there!

Jane Pettigrew gave the lecture. She's written seven books on tea! Seven! I had no idea there was so much to say about tea.

Due to the company's heritage it takes it's tea seriously. They have their own master tea blender that can help you chose any tea you could possibly need and he makes the blends they sell in store.

We tasted six different kinds of tea ranging from a delicate white tea to a black early gray tea. White tea has the most antioxidants and is great for having after lunch. It was interesting tasting each tea and then trying to guess the tones (a lot like a wine tasting). Tea comes from a variety of different tea plants and herbal teas such as chamomile aren't actually tea at all!

These were the varieties we had

Golden Tips (white)
Dragonwell Lung Ching (green)
Chun Me (green)
Sencha (green)
Sacred Heart (green)
Earl Gray (black)

Hopefully I've got all my facts right (I didn't take any notes). For white tea the leaves are not oxidized at all, slightly oxidized for green tea and completely oxidized in black tea. Certain kinds of tea are also protected. Dragonwell tea can only come from a special town in China. I really liked all of the blends we tasted. I am partial to a good earl gray though!

The Dragonwell tea is also know as eyebrow tea as the leaves are all twisted.

The store is pretty posh! This is the perfect place to get, as the store manager put it, the person that has everything. Also beware, it is all delicious and a tad pricey. They sell gold leaf orange marmalade, sea salt chocolate and chocolate cherry and chili biscuits (I bought these along with some tea and they are hot!). They served some snacks after, and as usual I ate till I felt stuffed.

Chocolate covered coffee beans were amazing! I really liked the shop as the products have interesting flavor combinations. Not just plain marmelade and plain black tea. I think they'll give Fortnum & Mason a bit of competition.

Thanks to the East India Company for inviting me! I was a guest for the lecture and purchased some goodies from the shop after.

· chocolate, fruit, tea, yummy places

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Real Food Festival 2011

Bubble Tea Fever Hits London!

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