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Sunday 26 May 2013

CHEAP EATS OF EUROPE

WHERE TO EAT IN...PRAGUE

 

PASTICKA

Pasticka (translated as mouse-trap) is a must for anyone who loves Czech Beer and meaty dishes. This little pub, situated in a 'trendy' part of Prague serves big portions of steak and pork, with only 3 options in the 'meat missing dishes' part of the menu.  Veggies stay away.

WHERE TO EAT IN...FLORENCE



ILL FRATELLINI

Ill Fratellini is less of a restaurant or cafe and more of a hole in the wall sandwich bar. Just off the main square, Ill Fratellini sells popular panini's with fresh, tasty ingredients. We visited on more than one occasion for the 'pecorino truffles wild lettuce panini' and the 'soft goats cheese, tuscan salami and fennel panini'. Although my personal favourite was the fresh sausage and aubergine panini. Huge choice on the menu, for reasonable student-friendly prices.

WHERE TO EAT IN...GRAZ



ALTSTIERISCHE SCHMANKERLSTUBE

We stumbled across this place on a rainy Austrian night after a long trip from Vienna. It's warm, cosy, barn-like interior complimented the range of traditional Austrian cuisine. The salads offer pumpkin-seed oil dressing and the Schnitzels are accompanied with scrumptious buttered potatoes and cranberry sauce. Slightly more pricey but worth it for the authenticity.

Wednesday 22 May 2013

PLACE TO GO > CROATIA



I remember when I was planning my trip around Europe, my geographer teacher insisted that I visited Croatia and advised that I travel down the coastline ending up in Dubrovnik. However, whilst planning it became increasingly apparent that getting to Croatia, let alone getting around Croatia was going to be a bit tough. Getting to and from Croatia via airplane is relatively simple, however there are no trains running down the coast and most travelling within the country or to nearby islands is done by ferry or personal transport. So, alas I never visited Croatia saldly. But this has made me more determined to visit next year and here are a couple of reasons why. My first attraction has got to be the Coastline, especially visiting all of those gorgeous coastal cities; Dubrovnik, Split and Pula initially come to mind. Can you imagine just driving up the coastline in a little convertable, stopping off in little villages on the way for fresh Dalmatian (a historical region not to be confused with the coveted spotty dog) Lobster or for a spontaneous cliff jump into the crystal blue waters of the Adriatic. And for anyone who enjoys sailing, or is rich enough to own a boat, this is a perfect opportunity to sail to some of the nearby islands. 


I'm also very attracted to inland Croatia, one place I've always wanted to visit is the Plitvice Lakes National Park, which is home to some of the most stunning lakes and waterfalls in the world. This gorgeous National Park is in Northern Croatia and is near the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina (also worth visiting for Mostar). The Plitvcie Lakes remind me in many ways of something out of a fairytale, especially with the cascades of waterfalls toppling onto one another, encircled by leafy surroundings, creating something very fairy-grotto and Rapunzel-esque about it. However, for those of you a bit more down to earth, the National Park also offers some great hiking and walking routes for all you keen outdoorsey people as well. Overall, I can't wait to visit, when I visit that is... and I hope this has inspired some other people to think of visiting for their future summer holidays!

RECIPE > PEANUT BUTTER SALTED CARAMEL SHORTBREAD

Peanut butter and salted caramel- probably two of the most 'trendy' flavours going around at the moment. Combine this with buttery shortbread and a chocolate-toffee topping and you've got my GoodFood adapted recipe for millionaires/billionaires/trillionaires shortbread. This recipe is slightly more complicated than just a 4 step layering of ingredients and also involves a lot of waiting and cooling time. However, I see this as perfect for anyone currently stuck in a revision period as the 2 hour chilling times gives you an opportunity to revise in between stages. In addition to this, it gives you something absolutely heavenly to look forward to as a post-revision treat!


(Adapted from Goodfood magazine)
Ingredients needed:
225g flour
225g unsalted butter chopped into little pieced/softened
50g cornflour
85g golden caster sugar

1. Blitz these ingredients together in a food processor until combined  then roll out into dough and press into a greased and lined 20x30 baking tray. Bake in a pre-heated 160 fan oven for 25min and then leave to cool at room temperature for at least 20min.

140g unsalted butter
225 peanut butter
140g best quality icing sugar

2. Melt the peanut butter and butter over a gentle heat in a pan. Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and then pour the smooth melted butter mixture into the sugar. Combine until smooth then pour onto the cooled shortbread. Leave to chill in fridge for 2 hours.

2 cans of Carnation Caramel
half teaspoon of salt/sea salt flakes (a little more if necessary)

3. Bring the caramel and salt combination to a boil and then simmer for 2-3 min whilst whisking to ensure a smooth caramel finish. Let caramel cool for 20-25 mins before pouring onto peanut butter layer, as to not melt the butter. Repeat 2 hour cooling process.

3 x 100g bars of dark chocolate
140g of dairy toffees
3 tbsp of milk

4. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Meanwhile melt the toffees and the milk over low heat to form a toffee sauce. Pour melted chocolate onto caramel layer smoothing it evenly with a spatula. Then take a spoon and decorate chocolate layer with toffee sauce topping! I drizzled my toffee sauce into a swirly pattern but you can be as creative as you like with this. Chill again for another 2 hours.

Before slicing and eating the shortbread, bring out the fridge for 15min or so to make sure the chocolate doesn't crack when cutting into the topping. Enjoy with a cuppa or a glass of milk.

Saturday 4 May 2013

VISIT: MOZAMBIQUE

Mozambique may not stand out as a bucket-list place to visit, but if you're looking for a beach holiday with a bit of a difference, Mozambique may just be for you. I visited two places in Mozambique: Tofu Beach, which was my main residence for my month over there and Vilankulos, which was the nearest town to the coral reefs of the Bazaruto Archipegalo. Tofu was an absolute paradise for me, the beach was quiet, the waves were great for surfers and you could go walking for miles along the coastline past the sand dunes. However, the most appealing thing for me (and the reason why I initially visited) is the rich variety of marine life available for scuba divers and snorkellers. You can pretty much see anything on the ocean floor from turtles to moray eels, 'corpse bride' jellyfish and of course hundreds of brightly coloured nemo's and dory's. On the ocean surface it's even better; whale sharks, giant manta rays and dolphins. I would say that snorkellers would prefer Vilankulos as the reefs are much shallower than those in Tofu, which can be up to 20m deep.





Unfortunately, after the civil war ended in Mozambique, all of the great land mammals were wiped out and so those looking for an 'African-experience' Safari may be a little disappointed. On a positive note if you travel further inland, the famous Kruger national park straddles the border of Mozambique and South Africa, which is an option some of my friends took when visiting. There were only a few downsides to living in Tofu, but it's always important to be aware if any of this caught your fancy! Bluebottle jellyfish are rife in these waters and getting one slapped across your face is not a pleasant experience. Also seasonal variations occur meaning that if your planning on seeing a whale shark, don't get your hopes up as sometimes they can disappear for months and lastly, getting a taxi into town is a sardine-can experience including the fishy smell. Seriously the fishermen and the fish share the taxi with you. Overall, my stay in Mozambique was very pleasant  the locals were very friendly and there is more than enough to do there, as well as a few good bars to visit.





Places to stay: Fatima's Nest (hammocks woo), Tofu Beach Backpackers and Bamboozi Backpackers. There was also a great little shared house that had kittens I can't remember the name of.
Places to Eat: Casa Barry, Tofo Tofo and Black and White. (Also the local samosa's are amazing)
Places to Drink: Dino's and Fatima's
Dive and Surf: Peri Peri Divers and The Waterworks