We Won an Award!

As you might have guessed from the sudden trailing off of posts, my writing gig at The Mancunion has mostly come to an end. In fact, in less than a week my time at the University of Manchester will be over and then it's on to pastures new.

My last essay! And the most interesting

Currently I'm procrastinating grammar revision and thought I'd let you know about an exciting development. As you might know, Miriam and I are co-editors of the food and drink section at The Mancunion and a couple of weeks ago we won Best Section during the 2017 Celebrate Week Awards ceremony. This is quite impressive (and slightly surreal) when you consider the fact that we've only been editing the pages since January.

The award itself

Porky Dreams at Lunya

I first wrote this review for The Mancunion but liked it so much that I thought I'd post it here. I'm trying to develop my "voice" as taught by Karen Barnes (editor of delicious. magazine) on the All Hallows Farmhouse food writing course I went on back in October. What do you think? Have I struck the right note or would my report card say "could do better"?

- - -

There’s a little hotel tucked in the hills near Ronda in Southern Spain that my parents have been going to since before I was even a thought. In fact, my grandparents stayed there the first year Molino del Santo opened. We returned last Easter for some much needed R&R and to enjoy their phenomenal food. It was there that, for the first time, I ate secreto ibérico, a succulent cut of shoulder from acorn fed pigs.

The Perfect Temperature

Here's my review of 63 Degrees in Manchester's Northern Quarter. It's a great little place with an interesting set menu. This review was first published in my student newspaper, The Mancunion, of which I am now co-editor of the Food and Drink section. The student newspaper is the largest of its kind in the country and comments on everything from politics to films to food. If you want to keep up with what I write there then make sure to check out this link. If you're Manchester based then the paper comes out weekly on a Monday and is available from the Student Union and other locations around campus.

Photo credit: 63 Degrees

Any time a family member drops by Manchester for a visit it turns into a food extravaganza. I look at my restaurant wish list, pick one or two that are out of my price range and hope they’ve got a table free. Last weekend was no exception. Mum arrived on Friday to homemade mac and cheese (a guilty pleasure) before ramping up to The Day of Food. Saturday was to involve lunch at 63 Degrees, supper at El Gato Negro (chef’s table no less, although that did mean eating at the unfashionably early time of 6.15pm) and to top it all off, drinks at The Refuge. Believe you me, if I could have fitted brunch in there I would have! Instead we made do with croissants and homemade jam. Between all of this bounty, we explored the Christmas markets, nibbling on Dutch baby pancakes sprinkled prettily with icing sugar and shopped to our hearts content (ok, about 30 minutes before the crowds beat us).

Dipping Sauce

I've been back in Manchester for a fortnight now and having a blast. Classes start in a week, though I already have a ton of work to do for one module, Serialised Crime. So far though, I've mainly been hanging out around food. A friend and I went to a fair on Saturday, where the most amazing chocolate was being sold (dormouse chocolates). On Sunday I entered a baking competition in which I sadly didn't get though to the second round but I lost to some truly amazing looking cakes so I'm not too upset.

Pizza Party

I'm packing up my flat at the moment, ready to move back home for the summer, but I thought I'd take a break and quickly write a new recipe for you. I'm going to really miss Manchester when I leave, which, for those of you who knew my feelings before I arrived, is quite surprising. Coming from a small town and then a very safe big city (Singapore) I thought crime ridden Manchester would leave me refusing to leave my room apart from to go to lectures to stay safe. Well, one thing I learnt quickly is that Manchester and Greater Manchester are different and if you're sensible and somewhat cautious (not waving your phone around on street corners etc) then it's a great place to live and study. Summer is looking very busy and then my next adventure begins - I am studying in Poitiers for a year so you will have some French produce orientated recipes to come, as well as many of my favourites.

 

Baking Society

The finished article

I started my second year of university last week and it's going well, although I'm still getting used to the early mornings! There was a Baking Society meeting this evening and I went along (last year it clashed with Italian classes). I made a passionfruit and lime sponge cake and it went down a storm. In fact, it went so well that I came first in their impromptu competition! The cake also got demolished within the hour so I have to apologise to Sarah and Grace as I promised them a slice - if you come over next Wednesday to watch Les Enfants Du Paradis then there will be a replacement cake waiting for you to help the three hour film go down more easily.

Passionfruit curd

The passionfruit curd was bought from one of the many markets in Central Manchester (one of the ones in St Ann's Square last June and also from the Christmas market) and is made by The Cherry Tree. I highly recommend them as it tastes incredible and they have other lovely flavours, like raspberry curd. My lime icing involves the zest and juice of 2 limes and then enough icing sugar to make a thick water icing (I do it by eye and so can't tell you the weight of the sugar). I got a new citrus zester today and they're really hard to work out the correct angle but once you do they're awesome and much better than my blunt grater!

A purple rose

I also made a purple sugarpaste flower to top my cake as I got annoyed by the society's email asking us to bake something that shows off our skills - a little intimidating, I thought. Sugarpaste roses aren't as hard to make as they look but they do require patience. In a future post I hope to explain how to make them, with photos of course.

The demolished cake