PLACE TO GO > ICELAND

Land of Fire and Ice? You might mistake it as a place from Game of Thrones but I'm talking about Iceland. Iceland has everything I personally love; whale watching, midnight sun and a foraged food culture. Not only this but the capital city of Reykjavik offers circus festivals, Viking history and classic European nightlife. As the world's most northern capital city, Reykjavik is 'high' on my list of places to go. No but really, there's plenty to do both in and around the city. Dill Restaurant is a pioneer in the foraged foods movement offering unusual Icelandic concoctions. A room at the Reykjavik Marina- a converted factory, offers stunning views of the dock. The hotel displays industrial chintz at it's best; fishing net washing bags and pine covers galore. Directly outside of the city, short excursions can take you Humpback-whale watching or Puffin sighting. April-October is the best season for the bigger animals of course. Geothermal pools and spas are famous in Iceland; the Blue Lagoon is set in an atmospheric black lava field, warming waters at a toasty 38 degrees C. Locals apply the volcanic silica mud directly to their skin which is said to have excellent cleansing and exfoliating results. Alternatively you could talk a walking trip to the isolated island of Videy or go diving in Icelandic waters for some of the best visibility going and ship wrecks abound. Granted it might be a bit chilly but that's what the Geothermal pools are for after. 

RECIPE > OLIVE BREAD ROLLS

So this post comes in the midst of the two most stressful weeks of my life; exams, research proposals, visa applications...I could go on. Back in December I didn't realise how much paperwork would be involved in my move to Canada. Anyhow, I at least found the time to bake, important stuff I know. I had a little jar of black olive tapenade in my fridge which I'd nicked from home and I was wondering what to do with it. BBC GoodFood of course gave me the incentive to make a cheats version of their Olive Rolls using my tapenade. This recipe is basically an olivey swiss roll. Firstly mix 500g of white bread flour, with a tsp of salt, 1 tbsp, a packet of fast action yeast and 300ml of warm water. Mix and knead with your hands until ready (10 mins or so). Put the dough in a clean bowl with oiled Clingfilm covering and leave to rise. Go and revise for an hour. OR whatever you normal people do. When doubled in size, roll out onto a well floured surface. Spread your olive paste (bought or homemade) all over the dough and then roll this up into a swiss roll-shaped thingy. Cut the dough into even slices (around 10-12) and place these on a lined baking sheet. Generously brush over with oil and, covering, leave to rise again for another 20mins. When ready, remove the Clingfilm and put in a pre-heated oven at 220/200C fan. Cook for 25 mins- they may squish into each other a little bit, don't worry about this. Take out, leave to cool and enjoy later on whist cramming for stats. 

REVIEW > HANSAS, LEEDS

I will put this out there and say this may be the spiciest curry I ever had. So this week a friend of mine turned 21, bearing in mind that the birthday girl is vegan and we are just entering our pre-exam period, our choices for a relaxed, vegan-friendly meal were limited. Hansas, however, is a widely celebrated traditional Gujarati Indian restaurant, serving *no meat*. If you're looking for your average sweet and salty Saturday night chicken Korma...go somewhere else. Hansas food is traditional Gujarati cuisine, offering thali's with daal, chapati and sweet mango lassi's. Between us we ordered a huge range of dishes; the mixed platter came with a spicy stuffed pepper, vegetable koftas and a mini potato cake. For mains, I ordered a 'lightly spiced' Indian pumpkin dish. The pumpkin was something I'd never had before, light green in colour and tasting more like a pepper than pumpkin. 'Lightly spiced' was also an understatement. Everyone round the table was chugging water and wiping eye bag sweat whilst trying to remain cool and collected. In usual circumstances I am a fan of spice and as good as it tasted for the first couple of mouthfuls, the heat was a tad too much for me- next time I'll order a side of raita. The desserts were possibly the most interesting course. We shared a 'fudge pie', which from a Westernised point of view, was neither fudge nor pie. The 'Ghari' was a sweet pastry ball, filled with bright green pistachio and almond from what I can tell... The birthday girl ordered a sweet carrot dish, flavoured with almonds and sugar. Yes. It tasted like sweet carrots. Overall my dining experience at Hansas was unusual but a flavour experience. I arrived not really knowing what to expect and received just that. I would recommend this anyone who wants to try traditional Gujarati cuisine (but only if they like spice). I will hopefully return, next time armed with a pint of milk. 

BEST FOR: MARKETS

 LOCAL: BOROUGH MARKET, LONDON

Borough Market is one of my favourite markets to visit when I'm back home, now resting in the shadow of the shard, it's the perfect place to pick up an al-fresco lunch or just a quick coffee. My favourite place to stop here is Spice Mountain; they've got a great selection of ready-mixed spices and I always pick up a couple of their jumbo cinnamon sticks to spice up a homemade chai. Not only this but there's always a great selection of in-season British produce. I had a nosey around last week and saw some perfect spring ingredients ranging from rhubarb to asparagus, rabbit, lamb, spring greens and lobster. 

EUROPE: BOQUERIA, BARCELONA

I actually didn't know about Boqueria's reputation until we stumbled across it one hungry Monday lunchtime. It was one of the busiest markets I'd ever visited, but avoided the feeling of being overcrowded at all. One of the things I remember about the market was how colourful it was; greens and yellows from fresh vegetables, dark reds from huge bouquets of dried chillies and bright pinks and oranges from freshly squeezed fruit juices all piled up on top of ice. The best thing was of course the Iberico ham, which you could buy shaved from the bone or sliced up and skewered on a stick with bits of bread and pepper. A perfect place to pick up some traditional Spanish produce!

     

INTERNATIONAL: FLOATING MARKETS, VIETNAM

This one I haven't been to, but I've been craving a trip to South East Asia and these photos of floating markets just made me crave it more! Floating Markets are traditional across Asia and are well known in Vietnam, Bangkok and Indonesia, originating from a time when water-transport was the easiest way to get around. Fresh fruit and vegetables are sold and bought from boats which cram into waterways making the water hardly visible. Nowadays, they are obviously major tourist attractions but I'd be happy to buy a mango and tuck into it for a mid-day snack.

RECIPE > WHITE CHOCOLATE AND RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE

I've mostly spent the last few weeks of my Easter holidays tucked away in my room lazily revising a mix of Ethnography, Regression Models and the Latin America Pink Block whilst listening Pink Floyd, but of course I made room to bake! To coincide with our Easter dinner (we had TURKEY...don't ask) I made a white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake; indulgent and rich, you don't need any extra cream on top of this. If you want a perfectly smooth and creamy cheesecake, look no further, this is the recipe for you.

For the base; blitz 200g of digestive biscuits, or oatcakes, shortbread etc- whatever you're feeling really and mix in 50g of melted butter, making sure it's all evenly distributed. Line a deep 20cm cake tin with some of the butter and press in the biscuit mixture to make an even base- use a spoon to flatten it out a bit. Then put this in the fridge to cool whilst you make the filling. 

Put 2 sheets of leaf gelatine in a bowl with water and leave to soften for 10 mins. Break up 300g of white chocolate and melt alongside 100ml of double cream in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water (we've gone over before why this is the best way eh). Take out the softened gelatine and squeeze the water out of it with your hands. Take the melted chocolate mix off of the heat and mix in the gelatine until all combined. Afterwards, whisk 200ml of double cream until stiff and in a separate bowl beat together 250g of cream cheese with 90g of caster sugar. Fold the cream and chocolate mix into the cheese mix and lastly pour in around 250g of raspberries; do this softly but it doesn't matter if they break up a little. Cover with Clingfilm and leave to set in the fridge over night. When ready to serve, decorate however the hell you want! I went with a small mountain of summer fruits and white chocolate shavings. Equally acceptable and for those who like a challenge is a model replica of the Taj Mahal made from only white chocolate. Good Luck!

REVIEW > DISHOOM

BRUNCH. The perfect appetiser pre-elevensies. This Monday, before a visit to the weirdly wonderful Martin Creed Exhibition currently at the Hayward Gallery. My Flatmate in Leeds and I went for a little (quite a lot) of brunch. The destination was a contested one, we hadn't pre-planned our destination, often a risky choice; what did we fancy? Traditional British fry-up? American-style pancakes loaded with maple syrup? Well considering I'll be having plenty of the latter soon (hehe) we went for something completely different- A Bombay Cafe serving Indian/British breakfast combos. Dishoom is tucked away at the back of St Martins Courtyard in Covent Garden, hidden behind the ever-popular Bills and my mum's go-to Jamie's Italian. When we got there, our Chai's arrived instantly. The taste was perfect; spicy, sugary tea, reminiscent of cold mornings huddling in newspaper tents in India. For brunch we got the blogger staple each; the infamous Sausage Naan. Probably one of the best breakfast goodies I've ever had. A Cumberland sausage wrapped in a soft naan bread, smothered with cream cheese and spicy chilli jam, it was mouth-wateringly good. To freshen our taste buds we got the granola and fruit bowl each. Both were served with lashings of honey, thick vanilla yoghurt and seasonal fruits (mine had raspberries, honeydew melon, raspberries and blueberries). Also on the menu there's similar stuff along the same lines with a bacon and egg naan on offer, as well as bigger cooked Indian-style breakfasts all at reasonable prices! The last time I had an 'Indian Breakfast' was a strong curry at 9am on a domestic flight from Leh to Dehli, Dishoom was a refreshing surprise for my delicate morning tastebuds. I would 100% go again, maybe next time try out their lunch menu!

P.S. Visit the Martin Creed Exhibition! There's a room packed full of balloons! There's also some other stuff and er...it's very modern. 

TRAVEL > BELGRADE

Serbia wasn't necessarily on my bucket list for travel experiences and Belgrade hardly tops the list of city weekender destinations, but my weeklong visit made me wish I'd stayed for longer. The initial purpose of the trip was for geographical research and fieldwork (an odd choice you might say) intended to understand the city and immerse our self in Serbian culture and urban society. I'm not sure what my initial expectations of Serbian life were, but I found Serbian people to be welcoming and friendly and the city in general to radiate community spirit generating a sense of homeliness and comfort. Belgrade was therefore such as revelation and shattered my initial pre-dispositions of the post-war Balkan capital. 

Firstly there's the food; cheap, meaty and...cheap. This place isn't for veggies. As best said by our waiter on the first night 'Serbian kitchen is meat'. Speaking of which, Sta Ja Tu Je, near the tramway offers an amazing game goulash of rabbit, venison and wild boar with half a pint of Lav (local Serbian) beer for under a tenner! Serbian food itself is a strange mix of Austrian influenced and Turkish food; expect sauerkraut style cabbage mixed with kebabs and Turkish coffee. If you're getting the meat sweats (as we did halfway through the week) visit Supermarket for edgy Serbian sushi or Radost for communal veggie and vegan delights. Bear in mind Radost looks like it's someone's apartment room- there will be a sticker of an animated broccoli on the door as a marker and that's about it!

For all you history buffs, Belgrade is rich in sites of historical interest. Visit Tito's mausoleum to see about 500 differently engraved relay batons (?). Then there's the bombed out government building in the city centre, still standing as a corpse of its formal self, left as a reminder to the NATO bombings of 99'. Architecture is key in Belgrade, contrast New and Old Belgrade for a fine mix of well-preserved pre and post modernist architecture, demonstrating some of the best socialist planning of the modern era. Lastly take a day trip to Novi Sad; probably one of the prettiest European-esque towns in Serbia; the main square bears a strong resemblance to Vienna and the neo-classical architecture evokes a strong Parisian feel. 

Initially you may be put off the sheer scale of graffiti in Belgrade; most buildings have a scribble somewhere or other. In fact; much of this graffiti is paid for; used to represent and celebrate specific communities. Visit New Belgrade for beautiful painted memorials and references to 1999. Otherwise explore the city yourself; there are some great gems hidden away in residential areas and back streets and slightly less-offensive messages than you'd see in the UK; such as 'Go Vegan!' scrawled away elsewhere.   

     

Also don't get this place confused with Siberia; you won't need a fur coat in spring! Bring sandals, shades and sunscreen; I spent many an afternoon lazing in the sun in the park (plenty of which offer free wifi). Over summer; the riverside comes to life and floating restaurants, bars and clubs pop up all along the Sava. The locals all have beach-houses on Belgrade island and Kalmegdan (Belgrade fortress and surrounding park) holds huge concerts in the outdoor heat. 

Nightlife, like the food is also very cheap. Cheap cocktails, wine and beer are offered at almost every pub and bar along the cobbled Bohemian district. Live music is also highly popular in Belgrade where traditional pubs play Serbian songs, all of which have lively, drunken atmospheres. If you're into clubbing; house and techno seem to be the main Eurotrash genre of the region. The most popular clubs of which are all situated in abandoned nuclear bunkers or dis-used supermarkets. 

It was possibly one of the surrealist places I'd ever visited; where else can you find a man walking a rabbit down the main high street or a pensioner washing an umbrella in 26 degree heat? Not to mention Disney wine marketed to children and Beer sold in McDonalds. Saying all of that; I want to go back.