"You really can't speak ANY Spanish?!"

Asked the taxi driver, astonished. This is after my attempts to ask "can you take me to the airport please?" failed comically with the last 5 taxis! Apparantly mainland Nicaragua isn't so touristy that English has filtered down to the majority. 

I may not have sampled much of the language in my week in Nicaragua but as you can bet I managed to sample a fair bit of the food! My culinary highlights include fried plantain, barracuda, breadfruit and freshly baked coconut bread 😊🍴

In addition to my lack of Spanish, I also shocked most people with my ratio of travel time to holiday time - 16 hour journey for a one week holiday! Add on two stop overs in the concrete jungle of Managua (the least visitor friendly capital city in Central America...), an extra hour and a half flight and 30 minute panga ride and it was a beast of a journey..

But once you reach the chilled out paradise which is Little Corn Island, it all becomes obvious why you made the trip. A week of hammocks, beer, beaches, rum, sun, coffee and snorkelling was a beautiful break from reality 😊

We stayed at the three brothers hostel, on the livelier west coast of the island - it was basic and had the worst stocked kitchen possible, but was a great spot and perfect for what we needed :) we scrambled around the south coast of the island and consistently got lost on every walk and stroll we embarked on, despite the island being small enough to walk around in less than an hour. But hey, where's the fun in staying on the path?! 

I got through a lot of firsts in my week trip...first time in Central America, doing (speedy!) stop overs, snorkelling and seeing sharks(!). 

I also tried loads of new food, no great surprise! - including two new fruits (my ambition is to try every fruit there is!) - plantain and breadfruit. Plantain is best served fried, and works well both sweet (with sugar) and savoury (with salt). Breadfruit was reminiscent of sweet potato wedges, but apparantly you can wait for the fruit to ripen further and squeeze out all of the sweet  flesh....sounds pretty mushy to me but is meant to taste great! I did decline the Noni fruit however, one whiff was enough to bring back memories of durian and put me off!

The classic Central American dish of Gallo pinto (dry rice and beans), as well as the coconut rice and juicy beans dish, was also delicious - which is good as there's almost no escaping rice as its served for breakfast lunch and dinner! 

Just in case I wasn't full enough on carbs already...there's a little bakery near the North of the island where a shy and beautiful women baked bread every day. In just a week I managed to sample almost all of her offerings: coconut bread (my absolute favourite, which I ate every day!), banana bread, ginger bread, cinnamon buns and cheese patties. Well worth a visit. Or several.

Before I finish my rambles I have to mention the fish. The fish so good even my vegetarian best friend succumbed and relished it! Trigger fish, king fish, barracuda and crayfish tails (which they call lobster) are just a few on offer. We are whole fish (beautiful if you can be bothered to pick out the bones) and fillets in curry, garlic or mushroom sauce. 

If you ever make the trip I recommend the lighthouse, tranquilios, Rosas and a tiny little house on the way to north beach...but I am pretty sure almost everywhere serves amazing food! 

Stock up on beer, rum and coconut bread and head to the north beach. Have fun in paradise, Oh! and send me a postcard.

C xx

Elma - Leamington's hidden Turkish house

As most couples have, we've got into the habit of eating out at weekends. Somehow the thought of cooking, a joyful task Monday-Thursday, seems mundane on those two days of freedom known as the weekend! Plus the cocktails aren't as good in my kitchen 👍🍸

So needless to say, we have visited most of the culinary spots of Leamington over the last two years of living here. However, while browsing through the suggestions of trip advisor I spotted a restaurant I didn't think I'd seen before..Elma. A Mediterranean Turkish restaurant in the centre of Leamington - perfect, I booked a table for two immediately! 

When we arrived I realised I had been before, two years ago when the restaurant had a different name (which I can no longer remember!), and potentially  under different ownership.. It was good then, albeit very quiet, but now it is fantastic.

We arrived to a mood-lit stained glass scene, with smartly dressed staff to take our coats. Despite this formality, Elma retained a friendly as opposed to pretentious feel - there was no 'tasting of the wine'- thank god as I can't cope with the embarrassment! We took our seats at our table, albeit not the best (but we did book last minute!).

With a bottle of wine (not as pricey as in other places given the quality) quickly quenching our thirst we tucked into our fish platter for starter...generous piles of calamari and prawns were followed by salmon, bread, dips (including the vibrant beetroot dip!) and more. A good start! After that Joe had the mixed grill, with a lamb steak that even I liked (and I don't usually like lamb..) while I had the sea bass - I never can resist sea bass on a menu! Once again, it was a good choice (though I wasn't sure the sauce was the best match) and fulfilled my attempts to be be healthy with a side of rice rather than chips. If you're into chips though, Joe did of course have a sample (complaining that he never gets to have tem at home..!) and confirmed them chunky and delicious. We resisted puddings (opting instead for more alcohol in the form of cocktails instead!) so I can't comment on them...but that'll give me a handy excuse to revisit soon 🍴

Overall...as my first score for my first restaurant review...I think I'll have to go with an impressive 8.5/10 - I'm already looking forward to returning. 

C 

Nutty quinoa salad

Ever have a craving for peanut butter and also want to be able to kid yourself your being healthy (ie. not just eating the peanut butter straight from the jar with a spoon.....yeah don't pretend you've never done it!!)

Anyway...here's a pretty scrummy salad with peanut sauce and cashews, vaguely inspired by Thai food which is one of my favourite cuisines :)

Ingredients:

50g quinoa

One small carrot

A handful each of broad beans, and chopped tomatoes, cucumber and celery

A slice of red cabbage, chopped

One tbsp of peanut butter

A squeeze of honey

One tbsp of lemon juice

Aha ful of cashew nuts

Recipe:

1. Rinse the quinoa in cold water then boil for 15-20mins

2. Mix the peanut butter and honey and microwave for 10 seconds, then mix in the lemon juice and season to taste

3. Chop the salad vegetables and place in a bowl with the cashew nuts

4. Once cooked, drain the quinoa and add to the bowl - mix thoroughly 

5. Plate up a portion of salad and top with the peanutty sauce. Enjoy!

Chorizo and butter bean hot pot with flatbread

This was my speedy 'grabbing stuff from the cupboard before rushing out for the evening' dinner. I wasn't planning on blogging it, but it was too tasty not to share! 

Ingredients:

Half a can of butter beans, drained

Half a can of plum tomatoes

50g chorizo, roughly chopped 

Half an onion, chopped

One egg

Flatbread mix (see previous post on flatbreads!)

Seasonings

Recipe:

1. Heat oil in a frying pan and gently fry the onions, then add in the chorizo and cook until it's crispy and letting off oils 

2. Add the plum tomatoes and crush slightly, season to taste

3. Add the butter beans and cook for 5 mins

4. Boil water in a small pan then reduce to a simmer and swirl the water slightly (add a drop of vinegar if you need to) then poach the egg for 3 mins

5. Roll out a lemon-sized handful of dough and cook in a frying pan over a high heat for 2 mins on each side until brown spots appear

6. Serve up the butter bean and chorizo in a bowl, topped with the egg and with the flatbread on the side for dipping :)

Cajun chicken with salsa

So my housemate has gone away for a week and left me to attempt 'cooking for one' for the first time in months...this has led to me eating essentially enough for two people for the past few times! However, tonight I managed to cook a one person sized portion and my celebrations were doubly exciting as it was also fabbbbbbulous!!

Ingredients:

One chicken breast

One small sweet potato and carrott

Half an avocado 

A handful of cherry tomatoes

50g sweet corn

Balsamic vinegar

Cajun spice mix

Seasonings

Recipe:

1. Season the chicken breat with the Cajun spices and pound with a rolling pin to flatten it

2. Chop the sweet potato and carrott into small chunks and boil for 10 mins, then mash with seasonings and milk

3. Heat a griddle pan and then cook the chicken on a high heat, 2 mins each side

4. Chop all of the salsa ingredients and place in a bowl, season and dress with balsamic vinegar 

5. Serve by placing the mash onto a plate and place the chicken on top and the salsa around the edge

Tuna steak nicoise

In

I know it's getting winters now so it's not really the time for a salad, but when I spotted a tuna steak in the reduced section I had to have it! I'm probably one of the few people in England who prefer a tuna steak to a normal steak....contraversial :P

I'm not a big fan of potatoes either so you won't find any of them in this recipe either - but if you wanted to boil a few new potatoes you could easily add them in.

Ingredients:

1 tuna steak

1 egg

A handful of olives

Lettuce

A handful of cherry tomatoes

Salt, pepper

Chilli flakes

Soy sauce 

Recipe:

1. Start by seasoning your tuna steak with salt, pepper, chilli flakes and a dash of soy sauce and heating up your griddle pan

2. Place the egg in boiling water and cook for 3 mins (I like mine soft boiled)

3. Place the tuna into the griddle pan and cook for around 2 mins on each side 

4. Chop up all of your salad and plate up

5. Peel the egg and add to the plate

6. Slice the tuna diagonally and place on top of the salad, dress if you fancy

Smoked salmon, avocado and egg bagels

This is the ultimate Sunday brunch :)

2 of my favourite things are scrambled eggs and avocado so this was always going to be a winning combination!

Ingredients:

1 bagel

2 slices of smoked salmon, chopped

Half a avocado, chopped

2 eggs

A splash of milk

Salt and pepper

Recipe:

1. Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk with milk, salt and pepper

2. Scramble in a frying pan

3. Meanwhile, toast the bagel and butter

4. Spread the chunky avocado onto the bagel and top with the scrambled egg

5. Top the bagels with the smoked salmon and season

6. Serve (with ketchup if you're like me!)