The Sugar Bar

Picture from The Malthouse

Last weekend, I was in Shrewsbury visiting a friend and by the end of my visit, it had me purring like a cat (I’ll get to why I was purring later). When it comes to visiting friends I’ve not seen for a while or going countryside, there’s only two words on my mind. And that is: pub food. Somehow my brain immediately identifies the country with - not just the calming and beautiful landscape - pub grub. It doesn’t help that I probably think about food more than sex or shoes or clothes in the day. My whole nom nom obsession is simply exacerbated.

On the Saturday, we visited the first iron made structure ever constructed - the Ironbridge. The weather wasn’t too bad in the day but by the time we’d got there after a thorough walkabout through the Victorian town Blists Hill, the sky was just miserable. It was grey, it was freezing cold, the winds were so strong it was a real challenge to walk in a straight line and the rain was all pissy and furry - the type that was so thin and fine it soaked right through to your bones I bet. You couldn’t escape this sort of rain or you could die trying, really. Thankfully we had a bit of relief from the rain when we stopped at this lovely, comforting pub for lunch. It was one that appeared most welcoming to us (also because our car was parked very conveniently in their driveway) and called The Malthouse, beckoning us with these luscious, seductive interiors.

If you’ve seen the first picture, you’ve probably already gotten a general idea of what this was like and why I say it provided us our much sought-after escape from the outside icky weather. Think lush interiors, like really lush, bordering on decadent. Velvety surroundings and a boudoir-ish ambience, Victorian style furniture with animal print or flocked upholstery and lots of red candles and carpeting. Sounds tacky and a bit cheap? On a sunny day when I’m happy, dry and well-fed I might think just that. When I’m a sodding drowned rat, shoulders aching from hunching against the wind and ankles so cold they’d literally failed the rest of my body and stiffened into ice blocks, I think this was like coming home to a warm hearth and a plate of hot food after a long trek in the woods. The Malthouse was seriously like the light at the end of the tunnel for us. And I was nearly moved to tears when they sat us down at our table, all friendly and smiley and attentive to their windswept customers who’d arrived before the dinner crowd.

Like a cat, perfectly comfy in her skin, and luxuriously stretching its limbs, I did a nice big stretch after chucking aside my wet brolly and removing my coat still icy from the wind. Then, I took another look around and I think my face just lit up and glowed from being warm and dry and sat down. I was utterly comforted by the fact that we were about to be fed. And I simply couldn’t help being appreciative of the quirky bits in this pub house like, the day’s menu written on long panels of chalkboard, pictures of hearts framed and stuck on the walls and oh, this bit I thought was so cool - black chandeliers with opaque black beads dangling very sexily from the bulbs. I know I know…that’s not to everyone taste and it’s so flashy contemporary it kind of hurts your eyeballs. But I could have just thrown myself into the interiors, sinking into it like a waterbed with a sort of post-erh-hum satisfaction, so sue me.

Smoked Salmon Baguette

If I’ve made you quite jealous of our experience, then I’ve been quite successful. If I haven’t, don’t worry I won’t try again. Instead, I’ll change my tactic and move on to Plan B. The food.

Chicken & Onion Rings Stacked Burger & Chips

S’s mum had a nice smoked salmon baguette and the rest of us ordered some hot food - dramatic pause here - some hot proper pub food. It was real nice to see the menu being separated out into starters, pub food, mains, soups, salads, desserts (I think that was how it was for the last 3). What I’m trying to stress is the separate category the humble pub fare was given and that really brought a smile to us. I think we all privately reminisced the cheap student pub food from our undergrad years (which ended only just last year) and anyway, I think everyone has a special place in their heart and stomach for the simple yet very much loved pub grub. We’ve all had good pub food, and bad pub food. Even if at that point of time it was a real torture to swallow that plate of pure grease and cheap butter, I can only say that general entity known as ‘pub food’ is always quite fondly thought of. Of course there wasn’t much to worry about here because the food was excellent!

Bangers and Mash

My food was the last to arrive. Although the last, it was definitely not the least by miles! The picture of it might explain why. It was huge! The portion of chips was generous and the battered fish about the length of my forearm. My lunch partners were a little worried and all ready to ask for doggy bag to take home the leftovers.

Fish and Chips

I think my reaction to that was a big ‘errr…there’s no need’. I ate it all. It didn’t defeat me.

Am I disgusting or just a real trooper with a bottomless pit for a stomach? The fish was fab and so fresh. And thankfully it wasn’t just all made up of batter. The chips were nicely seasoned and real yum with a good bite to it. I quite dislike mushy peas. I think the look of it and the texture just puts me off completely so I never ask for it. If it’s on my plate, I push it away as far from my chips and fish as possible (and I really ain’t that kind of fussy eater. Just mushy peas, paté and black pudding I can’t stand). I don’t know if it was the red candle induced happiness or boudoir ambience that had gone to my head, I ate mushy peas.

Yes I really did. And I liked it. I normally don’t. But this one was good. And it had whole peas in it too. Maybe that’s what made it worked. I didn’t have it all, thank goodness. But I had some. And that’s progress. The Malthouse was a real success and I take the mushy peas as proof of that.

Even though the rain had let up and we were getting sleepy from being so well-fed, we were sad to leave and drive away from Ironbridge. Good times though. Great weekend.

The Malthouse
The Wharfage
Ironbridge
Shropshire
TF8 7NH
Bar-Lounge-Rooms-Live Music
Tel.: 01952 433712

The one most important thing which foodbloggers do best is giving/sharing food. Sometimes the effort put into that is enormous, requiring days of preparation or a massive journey, and sometimes it only takes the smallest bit of time. But even that shouldn’t be discounted because of the amount of thought that went into it. Either way, to see the recipient break into a big grin is the best reward and the happiest moment we can wish for. And an occasion without food is simply the end of the world for us, now isn’t it? Doesn’t food just make the occasion completely?

A fellow friend of mine, much loved and adored, is about to leave to travel the world in a couple of weeks. The next two weeks ahead are slightly busier than usual due to a research proposal deadline, of which I have very little confidence in successfully producing one I’m satisfied with due to the lack of preparation. Been too caught up with other things and my two presentations this week. Because a send-off at the airport just isn’t feasible and a farewell meet-up closer to her fly-off date wasn’t wise when the aforementioned deadline contributes a lot to my Masters degree and looms scarily close, I copied A’s move to train it up to Shrewsbury for the weekend with S. Felt wrong to go empty-handed, especially when I wouldn’t be seeing her for about half a year so I made some lemon curd-filled chocolates the day before and made a trip out to LOLA’s before uni on Thursday afternoon for some mini cupcakes. Sad to say, even though I’d gotten only the small ones, they got a little banged up on the train to and fro uni and home. The ‘epic’ cross-country journey up didn’t do them any good either. Buttercream bruises aside though, it seemed the taste and moistness wasn’t at all affected. Or at least, that’s how it seemed to me. Unless the folks were lying. Jokes.

On a cupcake note, I was surprised to find this month’s new flavour to be Pink Champagne: Pink Champagne-laced cupcake and buttercream frosting topped with a ball of coconut-covered white chocolate champagne truffle. LOLA’s always surprises me with simple, exquisite flavours. They’re never over-the-top and I quite like that they pull it off with quality ingredients and not whacky over-indulged combinations. I really enjoyed every bit of my pimped out Valentine’s Day cupcakes from Hummingbird but this pastel pink and lightly silver glittered cupcakes were a nice change and easier on the eye, I must admit. Also, it gave me a few more ideas for my contribution to Meeta’s Monthly Mingle. The ingredient for that is champagne and the deadline is 16 March. If the proposal goes well, I should be able to submit a post for that fingers crossed!

Although it was only a short stay that I had, we managed to pack in quite a bit. A lovely dinner with cocktails at a British restaurant Mad Jack’s, English pancakes (I had mine with golden syrup and bacon) the next morning with two lovely cuppas made by the bestie, and a good ol’ roadtrip with Mama S. behind the steering wheel in Shropshire. Oh and did I mention that getting away from the concrete jungle meant I finally could see some greenery? That helped majorly with my grey withdrawals I think. And my fav cat no.2 (no. 1 reserved for bestie’s black persian Mortimer) Jasper did bring quite a bit of sunshine and furballs into my life. Gave him a big kiss on the neck and felt a purr vibrate up through my lips (which resulted in quite a bit of fur stuck on the lips and down the throat). He might’ve taken part in some cupcake eating as well. What a cutie.

All sugared up and ready to face the world, we wrapped up as warm as we could (I forget it’s always freezing up north), bundled away into Mama S’s snazzy black car and zipped back in time - into the Victorian town of Blists Hill. I like period dramas. I like anything historical. So this was so much fun! A, a geographer by degree, was thrilled! Stepping back into a Victorian village, visiting the old pub (bestie got serenaded to), peering through the glass into the grocer’s, chatting to the nice lady in the local draper’s, teasing the piggies by the pork pie shop, discovering the clever magic of the candlemaker in his dark workshop, etc. There was so much to learn and see - it was both entertaining and educational. We sound like geeks now don’t we? I suppose we are! But it was such good fun. And yes, the people who work or volunteer at Blists Hill are in full costume and character! It’s so brilliant!

The local drapers and the bakery were my two favourite, not surprisingly. The blacksmith’s was pretty cool too. Although I’m not going to share with you my giant haul of photographs because that may simply bore you, check out the rustic homeliness of the local bakery. With 2 ovens the size of single beds, this bakery could churn out enough cakes, breads and biscuits to feed the whole town! The candlemaker makes 1000 animal fat candles (which are a lot brighter and wind-resistant than our usual parafin ones) in 90mins. The level of subsistence of the town to self-provide was amazing. When we visited the bakery, there wasn’t much left on the shelves but the pretty baker was busy cutting up some sort of cake or flapjack. We stood eagerly by the door hoping to be the first ones to buy those warm treats but to no avail. She ignored us. Gah, so gutted!

We waited and waited. But she didn’t get those cakes out. So we settled for what was already on the shelves. As if we would have been disappointed anyway!

Cinnamon-perfumed Fruit cob for S.

Light and crunchy Ginger biscuit for moi

Despite the grey, the wet and the freezing cold, we had such a great time. I honestly had a really good back-to-the-past experience in Blists Hill and it made me forget about the depressing drudgery of the big smoke. Felt a little Jane Austen-y as well. That always helps with a bit of literary inspiration I hope which is much needed at the moment. And because it’s about time I continue working on tonight’s presentation, I must love you and leave you.

Watch out for the next post on some yum country pub grub.

In the last post, I made it clear that I wasn’t a fan of Valentine’s Day (other than the fact that feasting for moi-self is allowed) and the most ironic thing was, the couples I knew weren’t even doing anything to celebrate it. It is totally agreed upon that the whole (I won’t even call it a festival) ‘event’ is simply a construction of contrived social imagination. As much as I dislike the fuss and the hype, the commercial exploitation of it all, I do love the fact that it’s a day where I can eat pretty things (like the cupcakes aforementioned) and not feel guilty about it at all.

Chocolates are so clichéd. At least for Valentine’s day.

But when would I ever make chocolates anyway? Might as well just put all my whining in a bag and throw it away, enjoy myself making them instead, no? And if I was envious of anybody about anything, it wouldn’t over my dead body be the fact that these smug couples were coupled up at all. Really,the issue lies in what they were cooking and eating to celebrate the day. So here, I messed about to make these chocolates for myself, friends and colleagues. Not beautiful. Not perfect. But you don’t gotta be with someone to be able to feast! And eat chocolates. And if you’re single, you don’t have to settle for a giant Cadbury’s bar that’s selling for a quid from Tesco. Honestly, I’m quite glad I attempted chocolates and de-virgined my new silicone chocolate mould.

I had fun making these, with a couple of heart attacks from failed samples and broken chocolates. Whilst photographing this in a hurry before rushing to work, I dropped my chocolates and broke quite a few of the good ones. Scared the daylights out of me, got depressed about the ones that died on the kitchen floor but very pleased that the ones which made it into the mouths of friends were finely appreciated.

The last time I made chocolates, I was a kid. My elder sis A and I had been given little plastic moulds, brushes and edible paints one Christmas I think. Our chocolates were pretty crude and garishly painted but we were so proud of them. Thinking back on those proud chocolates, I wish my sis and I (this time with C my younger sis) will make chocolates soon together some time. Hopefully when I’m a little more skilled and have completely mastered the art of chocolate-making (she says. pffft).

I had quite a few failures. Having 5 researches going on at once, CNY dim sum lunch planned, work at AA and this dumb romance drama I was all worked up about really had my head going full speed at all directions. Confused and totally not with it was moi this weekend. That really showed up in my chocolates. I also needed a brush to paint the chocolate mould, about 2 layers after setting each in the freezer for a minute or two to get the chocolate casing even but all my paint brushes (used to paint back in the days) were at home. I was slightly unprepared but made do with my MAC lipbrush. Probably the funniest thing I’ve done all week but it sorta worked. In addition to that, I had a bit of a problem with my chocolate candy melts solidifying too quick in my icy cold kitchen. So some came out with uneven surfaces, air pockets, cracked surfaces which were too thinly painted. But soon realized that a 10 sec microwave blast of my candy melts before each use made for a smooth, glossy and easy-to-work-with chocolate candy.

Gotta say these may not look like much, but they tasted pretty good. I’d probably swap milk chocolate candy melt for dark chocolate in the future. I’m just not that big a fan of milk chocolate and I’d probably have my rhubarb ganache a little more tart since I love sour flavours. But that’s just me. The taste testers thought the ganache was just right and luckily enough, they only got to see the good chocolates. You guys unfortunately get to see the rough ones that didn’t make it into the pretty box photographed in a hurry before rushing to work. Oops. Nevertheless, hope the weekend went by beautifully for everyone! More feasting on its way as it’s still Chinese lunar new year for another 14 days and Shrove’s Tuesday tomorrow. Hip hip hurray.

How to make these chocolates:
Ingredients

milk chocolate candy melts
chocolate mould
paintbrush
filling of choice

Depending on how many chocolates you’ll be making, the amount of candy melts needed will differ. I purchased a 300g bag of candy melts and found I used about 1/3 for 20 chocolates.

Follow directions for melting the chocolate (normally a 1 minute full power blast, followed by a quick mix with small whisk or fork. Then series of 10 second blasts followed by mixing until completely melted and smooth).

Wash and clean chocolate mould. Ensure the mould is completely dry and dust-free before using. Some recommend cleaning it til glossy to get the professional smooth finish. I was too lazy to and so suffered the consequences!

Fill 1/4 of each mould with melted chocolates and working quickly, paint the sides up with chocolate. Place in freezer for about a minute or two to set. Then paint one more time thinly with chocolate so the insides are smoothly covered. Some of mine weren’t properly coated which meant ganache filling oozing out in strange places. Place in fridge to set the 2nd wet layer.

Remove from fridge. Add ganache to fill about 3/4 of the way and then pour melted chocolate over to seal the chocolate completely. Ensure that the sides are sealed and wipe off any excess that spills over onto the mould surface. Leave in fridge to set for 30mins or more.

If using a silicone mould, gently press out the formed chocolates. Successful ones should have no cracks, oozing ganache filling and visible air pockets on candy surface.

White Chocolate & Rhubarb Ganache
Ingredients

255g white couverture
1/2 cup extra thick double cream
1/2 cup rhubarb sauce (see below for recipe)

Break up white chocolate in bowl.

In a small saucepan or milkpan, heat the cream until small bubbles begin to form. Remove from heat and pour over broken chocolate. Leave for 5 mins then mix with a rubber spatula until melted. Add the rhubarb sauce and gently fold in.

Leave in refrigerator for about 1-2 hours until well set. Remove, mix again before using.

Rhubarb Sauce
Ingredients

1 package fresh rhubarb, washed and chopped
2 tbs butter
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of ground ginger
2-3 tbs caster sugar, or to taste

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter then add the rhubarb to sauté. Once it softens, add the sugar and spices. Mix with wooden spoon and lower heat to simmer until it attains a sauce-like consistency.

If sauce is still too tart, sweeten to taste. Serve with pancakes, in pancake batter, with toast, etc. There are so many ways to serve this. Reserve sauce can be stored in jam jars in the fridge for about a week.