Holiday part 1

Instead of putting all pictures from this Summer holiday together in one long blog post, let's divide them into separate posts per events. That ought to save me some time and prevent me from postponing it until the next holiday.

We spent a few days in the nice rural counties in the South-East of England. While staying their, our friends S & O took us to one of their favourite Oxford restaurants: the Trout (map), situated in a lovely place near a water mill and a river. But of course we don't care about scenery at a food blog. We care about the food!

Let's state upfront that I didn't take any pictures of my own food. Why? Well, the food of the other three in our company was served first. So, while waiting for my course, I took pictures of the other three courses. When finally my food arrived, I was so hungry that I immediately dived in, without the slightest notion of taking a picture (the wait probably took only 1-2 minutes, but seeing the other food and having whetted our appetites with some bread and olives I guess I let myself go). For myself, I had ordered deepfried cod in Peroni beer batter with chips and pea puree and a tartare sauce, which in itself was good because it was prepared with fresh ingredients; the cod itself was a little tasteless unfortunately.

Now, for the pictures:

O had a burger with gherkin, mustard mayo, cheese, relish, extra bacon and chips.

S had a pasta dish, strozzapreti, with artichokes, olives, tomatoes, rocket and goats cheese

N had a ribeye steak, with balsamic roast onions, rocket, horseradish, parmesan and chips.

Burger King Mountain Burgers

At long last! After some Blogspot problems, I'm finally able to post a small review on the Burger King Mountain Burgers. They're the temporarily available trio of burgers at the BK over here. According to the commercials shown on TV, they're supposed to celebrate some kind of rugged outdoor life. You know, for those occasions when you're at the office and feel like making a campfire, or feel like canoe'ing down that flight of stairs because it resembles a river.

A and me went to sample two of the three varieties. A had the Blue Cheese variety, and for myself, I chose the Rocky Cheese. The third burger that completes the trio would be the Smoky Barbecue.

As so often is the case, the real deal is a far cry from the grand version pictured in the ads. In this case, the disappointment was not in the flavour, but in the size. The ads and also the pics shown on the menu displayed in the restaurant, made it look like the burgers would be Whopper-sized. Not so. Their diameter was that of a regular burger.


This one, shown above, is the Blue Cheese variety. It didn't have actual blue cheese on it, but instead came with a blue-cheese-sauce. A will post his thoughts on this one in the comments below.



The one shown here, is the Rocky Cheese. Flavourwise, it was A-okay! Each Mountain Burger comes with two patties. Then, on mine, there's a slice of fried cheese on top. That is topped with some kind of barbecue sauce, a slice of tomato and some lettuce. It makes for a very fine burger. The cheese is of a very lightly flavoured kind and provides more of an extra protein-boost than an additional flavour. It combines well though, with the overall experience. The bbq-sauce is very thin, it ran off the sandwich. It has a slight pinch of heat to it, which in turn helps spice up the overall burger-experience.

All in all, despite the fact that the burger comes smaller than expected, it's a nice one. I wouldn't mind ordering it again. One last note, both positive and negative, on the fries. Negative: I ordered Twister Fries, but I got regular ones. I didn't feel like going back to the counter to ask for the ones I ordered but instead just ate the regular ones. Positive: even the regular fries are so much better than the McDonald's variety (I won't even mention the soggy KFC ones). The crust is very thin and seems extra crispy. Twister Fries are even better than that, as they not only come twisted, but also with some additional flavour-enhancing spices. One might beg to differ (N does), but in my opinion these are the best fries.

Onion rings

Second post for catching up: Onion Rings.

McDonald's onion rings to be exact. Now, I don't want to digress on my lack of flavour or good taste for going to the Mac, but I just had to post these because they're great!

Okay, I'll digress just a little, just to state the reason for going there.

You see, yesterday I was working at a spot which was a two-hour-drive away from home, so when I had finished working at about 17:45, I couldn't help but notice those well-known yellow arches that seemed to point at a solution for my growling stomach and the prospect of still being two hours away from home.

I was rather starving, so anything would have tasted great at that moment, I think. I opted for the temporarily available Union Rings (the non-vegetarian (?!) onion rings) with chili sauce, a simple hamburger and a medium coke.

I first tried the onion rings, and they were the best onion rings I ever tasted. I thought they even tasted better than those of the BK... Also, they came with two cups of chili sauce. I saved one.

The first sip of coke I took tasted like it was the best drink I ever had. Likewise, the first bite of my hamburger tasted like... you get it, the best hamburger ever.

All in all, I think I must have been really hungry.

Anyway, when I got back in Groningen, I was still a little hungry, so I stopped again at the local McDonald's.

This time, I took two portions of the Union Rings, hoping to recreate the first taste-sensation, and the temporarily available 'California Classic' burger which went with the 'Great American Tastes' themed weeks.

The onion rings were a little disappointing. Obiously, not being entirely starved anymore, they didn't have that first-time taste-sensation. Also, they had been deep-fried a little too long, so they there were some burnt pieces. They were soggier, and also there were no chili sauce cups included. Good thing I had saved one of the other cups.

The burger then: it was good. An oblong shaped bun with a large patty, two types of sauces, some lettuce and bacon rashers. At least, that's what I could discern. There was some spiciness in either of the ingredients, couldn't quite figure out what exactly. I like to think it was a decent burger.

All in all, I guess the lesson learnt here is: when you're really starving, anything from the McDonald's will taste great. If you're just having a little appetite, just some things will taste good from the McDonald's.

Quinoa

Now there's a first time for everything. Today was my first time to sample some quinoa. N is still sick, so I decided to make some just for myself. I used beef stock to cook it in, and added some red bell pepper and feta cheese to spice it up. On the side a lamb burger to go with it.

It was a disappointment.

I read about it being compared to couscous or rice. I don't even like rice, but I know I'd pick rice over quinoa now. Maybe I didn't get the cooking method right, but the quinoa was still too tough. I also made the mistake of using one cube of beef stock (originally intended to be used with 1/2 L of water) on 200 mL of water to cook the quinoa in, resulting in way too salty stuff. I let it simmer for a quarter, with the lid on the pan just like I ought to.

The lamb burger was nice though.