I've also just been feeling a little tired - we are in to the last few weeks before Eggy's appearance now (she's apparently the length of a swiss chard!) and I also have about a million name tags to sew into school uniform before D gets started at school which I'm also successfully procrastinating about. Anyway this week should see a few more posts go up. Hopefully!
Quorn Kievs
(Image from www.quorn.co.uk)
I love the idea of kievs - a crunchy outer and a beautiful oozy garlicky centre. As a vegetarian though, it's not something that I can often find. I do have a recipe for kidney bean kievs that I keep meaning to try but in the meantime, these Quorn ones will do the trick. I've actually gone off Quorn quite a bit in the last few years - I find their chicken replacement is just beginning to taste a bit too much like chicken for me and so pieces just don't really feature on the food plan very often these days.
These worked well though. They have a good little hit of garlic butter in the middle and a reasonably crispy crumb. They cook pretty quickly too - perfect for an evening when you're not quite sure what you are going to make. I suspect I might keep a bag of these in the freezer for those newborn evenings when cooking is about the last thing on my mind!
Lindt Pistachio
(Image from Waitrose's website)
This was a bit of a treat eked out square by square over the space of a week or so. This has little nibs of almond throughout it to add to the crunch and some amount of pistachio, well paired with the dark chocolate. It could do with a little more of that flavour to be honest but it still felt like a bit of a treat. Lindt Pistachio Creation is available on Ocado at £2.50 a bar.
Harris and Hoole
I pretty much avoid using Tesco after a particularly awful delivery about eighteen months ago. I stick to Ocado for deliveries and if we do the food shop by going there, we tend to visit Morrisons (the range of vegetables alone is amazing. Anyway, for some reason, I took D to Tescos in Reading and discovered Harris and Hoole had moved in to the café space. The transformation is simply amazing. No more the slightly canteen-like offering with the Costa coffee that was never really made as well as it should be. Although the store had tried to make some improvements to the arrangement it still looked tired and not somewhere that anyone would really want to go.
Now, the place is completely fresh and new - the decor much more stylish and the furniture much more comfortable.
D with his mini cheese sandwiches. They offer a good value lunch selection with Pom Bears, fruit and good quality fruit juice.
The beautiful coffees - they taste good too!
Babyccino for D - a good size for him, not quite so tiny that he feels he is being belittled but not quite so large that he needs the toilet instantly after finishing.
The noticeboards - the idea is to make it feel like the heart of the community - although it is sadly short on actual information at the moment.
Portugese custard tart - D really enjoyed this and I have to say I can see why.
The chargrilled aubergine and halloumi foccaccia. I can highly recommend this one. Although it seems that sometimes you have to nudge them to warm things up for you - in a second visit I had a wrap served cold and it was a little disappointing. This offering however, had good slightly chewy aubergine and everyone's favourite squeaky cheese.
This is by far the highlight of the visit - the cheese scones are pretty good. They could perhaps do with a little bit of mustard/a little bit in the way of herbs but otherwise, these are a pretty good option for the cheese scone craver.
The only trouble with the babyccino...
The interior - looking swish and smart.
Harris and Hoole is a much better offering than I've seen from any of the supermarkets. The coffee is good and the food is pretty good too. Mr K really enjoyed his smoothie and D is currently telling me that it's his favourite place to go. The service is warm and friendly and personalised - and they will deliver your food to your table for you and when it isn't busy, they'll extend the same to the drinks. Something else that really impressed me is that they have water available for free and it has lemon slices in it too, making a really refreshing option to go alongside the coffee - and for free.
Harris and Hoole seem to have moved in to a good amount of Tescos in the South-East - I'd recommend giving them a try.
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