Review: Kooks Cafe, Brighton

I had some more visitors at the weekend - My best friends M&N came down on Sunday, it was the first time I had seen them in about 6 months and I couldn't wait to see them.

It was Pride in Brighton this weekend, which meant that the entire city was full of people. With that in mind, we decided to try and avoid the throngs and go out during the day for lunch, and then get a takeaway later in the evening.

We went for a stroll around the lanes, did a bit of shopping, and then went on a hunt for somewhere new for a brunch/light lunch before taking a quick (but windy!) walk along the seafront.

So, for lunch we ended up at KOOKS, situated in the North Lanes.

I had never been in this café before, but from walking by several times it always seemed busy, and the menu looked really good, if slightly expensive.

The menu boasted really simply prepared and cooked ingredients, so looked like it would be a good place.

Unfortunately, there was one thing that ruined our visit - the service.

I was surprised when we arrived, the café was nowhere near completely full, but many of the tables hadn't been cleared, and so we had to ask the very flustered looking waitres to clear the table before we sat down. To be honest, that should have been our first clue.

The second: the waitress was friendly and cleared the table straight away, but then disappeared before giving us any menus - quite a key thing for a group of people coming for lunch! And so we waited for a few minutes before reminding her.

There was a family sitting at the table next to us also looking very flustered - it seems that they were having the same experience as us although they were already seated when we arrived.

The menu itself looked really appetising - a few simple brunch items such as crispy bacon ciabattas, poached eggs with hollandaise, or full English, and then some bigger plates such as burger and chips, salads and pasta dishes.

Both myself and N ordered the crispy bacon ciabatta, and M decided on the poached eggs with spinach and hollandaise. We also ordered drinks, but we had to later chase these up as the waitress had forgotten to add them to our order!

Long story short on this one - we waited for nearly an HOUR after ordering before the food actually arrived. I think that may have been the longest I have ever waited when eating out. If it wasn't for the fact that we would have struggled to find anywhere else that wasn't packed, we probably would have walked out.

Hoever, when the food did eventually arrive, it was good and well cooked and prepared.

Here is the baocn ciabatta:

Although the sandwich was good, the bacon was very crispy without being fatty or greasy, with crispy lettuce and seasoned tomato, I wouldn't necessarily say that it was worth an hour wait.

I could have easily made something just as good at home for a fraction of the price. Two bacon sandwiches, poached egg and spinach, two (very small) cups of tea and one (again small) iced coffee came to just under £30!!! Very expensive for what we got, and especially given that the service was so terrible.

Unfortunately the service, or lack of it in this instance really tarred our experience of this place, it would have been a much more pleasant afternoon if the staff were a bit more on-the-ball.

This experience does put me off visiting again, and it does explain why it was one of the few places in Brighton that wasn't rammed to bursting on Pride weekend!

One would hope that they were just having an off day!

In a nutshell, satisfactory but overpriced food and terrible service means that its not an experience I would like to repeat.

Recipe: Bruschetta

I love Italian food. There is just something about Italian food that makes you feel warm inside. Its comforting, indulgent, but flavoursome and relatively healthy, and most Italian cooking is relatively simple, which makes it super-easy to cook at home.

I have a glut of Italian recipes that I cook on a regular basis, from a simple pizza base to a rich slow cooked ragu, or a simple carbonara-style pasta.

But, this recipe is something that I love, but very rarely cook at home. It only needs the simplest of ingredients, but makes a meal more packed with flavour, whilst still being filling, fresh, tasty and relatively healthy.

An Italian favourite - Bruschetta!

And the best thing about this recipe - it only calls for a few ingredients that most will have in the cupboard or the fridge anyway

The main ingredient for this recipe: Tomatoes. I just happened to have this punnet of cherry tomatoes in my fridge, and they ended up being the inspiration for this recipe.

Tomatoes really are an amazing ingredient - they are so versatile and can be used in so many things, and its wonderful how different varieties have such a vast amount of flavour.

These cherries were amazingly sweet, and perfect for a bruschetta.

I started by chopping about half of these into quarters and placing them in a large bowl. Drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and toss so that all the tomatoes are coated.

The next thing was the herbs. I added the following:

A teaspoon each of:

Garlic powder (or a couple of cloves of fresh garlic is even better if you have it, grated or finely chopped)

Chilli flakes

Basil

Oregano

(you could also add a finely chopped red onion at this point too, but I didn't have any in the cupboard at this point)

Obviously fresh herbs will always give you a more intense flavour, but dried herbs are much more cost effective.

Once again, toss the tomatoes so that the herbs are even distributed and all the tomatoes are coated in the oil and herb mixture. Set aside.

The next bit is easy - make some toast. I used two slices for my lunch, but I was feeling extra hungry!

Usually, one slice would be plenty.

Once your toast is done how you like it, put is on a plate and spoon the tomato mixture on top - don't forget the oily dressing at the bottom of the bowl - that's delicious when soaked into the toast!

A delicious lunch for me!

This obviously would work really well as a starter too, and you could make it look a lot prettier than I did if you wanted to impress...

I have also tried this with melted goat's cheese and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar....

A Really Busy Week

So this week, as the title suggests, has been so crazily busy I feel like I haven't even had time to breathe! Its been a good one though, lots of exciting things happening, as well as a few stressful things! But let's focus on the good things first:

The week has been really lovely and sunny, which at the beginning of the week really helped to lift my spirits. I love the warm weather and it just makes you feel happy - I think it must be the vitamin D!

So last Sunday, I had a friend come and visit me. I hadn't seen him in around a year and it was nice to have a good catch up! He's moving to the USA in about a month's time so I wont get as much opportunity to see him once he moves. He is having a leaving party at the end of August so I will get to see him one last time before he jets off!

We had a really lovely evening, took Prince out for a walk along the seafront and to The Lion and Lobster Pub in Hove for a meal. The food there was really amazing - cant believe I hadn't been there before but I will definitely be going again - Have even already recommended it to some people! Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of my meal, but I had a really delicious pan fried mullet served with samphire, new potatoes and a shrimp and butter sauce! YUM!!

Anyway, we had a really good catch up and chatted for hours, mostly about his moving plans, but he has given me an open invitation to go and visit him in Denver - So watch this space! There may be a blog post in the not too distant future.....

Then, on Tuesday I was out again with another friend (read: first date). Was a really lovely evening of cocktails, tapas and lovely company. The cocktails were from Twisted Lemon in Middle Street and the Tapas from Casa Don Carlos in the lanes. I saw him again on the following Friday, and I think (hope) to see him again this week as well. Watch this space!

Again, I didn't get any photos of the meal we had, as I thought that would be a bit weird for a first date to start taking snaps of the food! But it was really delicious - Sangria, calamari, artichokes, spicy chorizo flambéed at the table, meatballs and bread and olives. Just fantastic! And of course he was a complete gentleman and paid for the meal, despite my attempts to convince him that I would pay for my share!  It was a very pleasant evening. I may be speaking about this wonderful guy again, so we will be referring to him as Mr D.

But, that hasn't even touched on my busy week!! Tuesday was another meal out (this is not great for my diet!) with one of my best friends - Lady L! I don't get to see her very often as her job means she is away a lot, so it was nice to have a whole evening with her while she was back in town.

So we decided that we both wanted Mexican food - we both love it! We met outside the Theatre Royal in Brighton and decided that we would go to El Mexicana for dinner, which is practically right next door to the theatre in New Road.

This time I did manage to get some photos of the meal - My friend loves a selfie and foodie photos so we were both taking lots of snaps! Here are a few photos of our meal:

Sharing a Jug of Pimms....

Our starter: NACHOS to share

My Chicken Burrito!

Lady L's chicken enchiladas!

After our meal, it was still quite early, so I decided to take Lady L to Twisted Lemon, where Mr D had taken me the night before! We love a good cocktail so she was really excited to go with me - I had obviously told her how amazing it was in there.

We sampled 4 of the cocktails between us (2 each) and here is the photographic evidence:

Unfortunately I cant remember the names of these cocktails - it was a few days ago and they were rather strong! Although I do remember that the two in the first photo were made with gin, cucumber and apple (the green one) and the other had baileys, Kahlua, Dissaronno (the creamy looking one) and both were delicious.

The two in the second photo were cherry liquor, (cant remember what else was in it) and the pink one was raspberry and prosecco! Lovely!

Was a really lovely evening and I'm not sure when I will get to see Lady L again - hopefully it wont be too long!

So Friday I saw Mr D again. I went round to his flat in Brighton and he cooked me a lovely meal. We had a really nice evening. Don't want to give too much away at this early stage but hopefully I'll have more to say about him soon.

And now we are pretty much up to date, although I do have to talk about yesterday.

Unfortunately after really amazing week, yesterday brought me back down to earth with a rather nasty bump.

The day started off well, the plan was to join Cuckoo's Nest Morris and Brighton Morris Men for another afternoon of dancing and general larking about. I decided that I would take Prince with me on this Stand as it would be a long time for me to leave him on his own at home, and I didn't have anyone who could watch him for me. The weather didn't look like it was going to be too hot - around 18 degrees, so I wasn't worried about taking him with me.

Anyway, the plan was this: To meet at a pub in Falmer, (The Swan), dance for a bit, and then have a walk across the downs, stopping halfway for a picnic and a game of rounders, and then to carry on walking to Lewes, where we do more dancing at another pub (also The Swan). All sounded good and we were really looking forward to it.

Unfortunately during the walk across the downs, Prince was taken very ill and collapsed. We suspected it was dehydration and managed to get some fluids in him. We hadn't been walking too long, probably only about half an hour, but he was really very poorly.

Luckily one of the hubbies is a vet and was helping me to tend to him and get him to drink lots of water, and we eventually managed to get him into a car and drive him to the vet. The vet kept him in for around 10 hours and put him on a drip, and luckily he made a full recovery and I was able to pick him up and bring him home in the early hours of this morning.

I am so pleased that he is alright, but I was really worried and stressed and upset about the whole thing.

So, we didn't actually make it to the second pub in Lewes, but I hear that everyone had a really good time, which is good.

So, in short, the week started off fantastically, and ended on a bum note, but looking forward to more exciting things to come. I'm off to Cropredy festival next week and then it will only be around 4 weeks until I go on my travels......

Review: Green Kitchen

Its been another hot day in Brighton and a perfect day for a bit of shopping, a wander through the lanes and soaking up the amazing Brighton atmosphere. Have I mentioned that I really love living here....?

I popped into town this afternoon to run a few errands - I am going to a festival in a few weeks, my annual music Pilgrimage, and needed to invest in a new waterproof jacket to take with me. At the moment the weather forecast for that weekend looks good, sunny and around 20-23 degrees which will be amazing, but it will be sod's law that if I don't take a waterproof with me, it will rain.

Unfortunately I didn't come home with a waterproof today - but the one I want has been ordered online after trying a few on in-store (much cheaper online than in the store!)

However, the jacket wasn't my only reason for going into town....

A couple of my friends have recently begun a very new and exciting venture, they have opened up their very own Vegan Café in the middle of Preston Circus.

Although I am not a vegan myself - far from it in fact, I am really impressed with their ideas for the café and thought today would be a good time to pop my head round the door and sample some of the fare.

Green Kitchen in Brighton is located in Preston Road, about a minute's walk from the Preston Circus Fire Station, and the Duke of York's Cinema. It's run by the lovely Katie and Catherine and has only been open for around a week.

I must admit, the thought of trying to maintain a vegan diet is something that I find absolutely overwhelming - I just wouldn't know where to start! A meat-eater to the core, I think I could probably cope with being a plain ol' veggie, but I could never cut out dairy, eggs, etc for an extended period. I would really struggle to cook a vegan meal. In fact, thanks to Green Kitchen, today was my first ever experience of Vegan Cooking.

I have to say, I am really impressed with the menu!

Today, they were serving from the breakfast menu only, but usually there is a larger menu that includes soups, sandwiches, and burgers that all sound delicious, and a real variety of different flavours.

The breakfast menu is extensive too, includes a full English, French toast, muesli and yogurt to name a few....

And did I mention that everything on the menu is 100 % vegan?! I'm impressed by that alone....

So after a quick look at the menu, I decided on a light Brunch of the Roasted field mushroom, which was served with crème fraiche and artisan bacon. (again, 100% vegan)

When it arrived in front of me, the dish looked really appetising and fresh - a good start, Girls!

I must say I was intrigued with trying the artisan bacon. One of the things that has always puzzled me about imitation meats, is not the taste necessarily - there is nothing wrong with the taste of things like Quorn or vegetarian sausages etc, but when I have tried them in the past, the aspect that has put me off the most is the texture. Quorn tends to have a bit more of a rubbery, spongy texture compared with actual meat - which I don't find particularly appetising.

I was pleasantly surprised with the artisan bacon - the texture was spot on! The taste, although not like eating real bacon - reminded me of smokey bacon flavour crisps!! It was definitely an artificial sort of taste, but certainly gave enough of a meaty flavour and bacony-saltiness to please even hardened meat-eaters like myself!

The mushroom was cooked perfectly, juicy and warm and well seasoned, which worked well with the lovely rich and creamy crème fraiche that accompanied it.

So, my first vegan experience - Absolutely Fantastic!

I honestly wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did!

In fact, I was so busy enjoying it, that I completely forgot to get a photo of my lunch, but here is the empty plate, practically licked clean! If that's not high praise then I don't know what is!!! :)

I really enjoyed it and am really looking forward to visiting again in the future.

A few people in the café were having the full English breakfast when I was there, and it looked really delicious - I think I may have to try that next time!

I have a feeling that this little café is going to be a very popular spot for vegans and meat-eaters alike!

Oh, and I very nearly forgot - Green Kitchen is also Dog-Friendly! I didn't have Prince with me today because of my errands in town, but I think he may end up being a regular visitor to the café too!

To view the full menu, opening times and contact details, visit www.greenkitchenbrighton.com

Cuckoo's Nest Dances in Ditchling

Its been incredibly hot in Sunny Brighton this week - temperatures have reached up to 30 degrees, which has been lovely, but also very, very sticky! I love being in Brighton when its hot and summery - the water is absolutely beautiful and its amazing how BLUE it looks when the sun is shining so intensely!

Unfortunately earlier in the week it was just far too hot to do anything, when its still 25 degrees at 9 o'clock at night - makes it very difficult to sleep and walk around. It has meant that Prince, my dog (an ex-racing greyhound) has been stuck inside and hasn't had the walkies that he normally gets - its just far too hot for him :(

Luckily though, although the weather is still beautiful, the temperatures have dropped to a much more manageable 21 degrees, just in time for a night out with some wonderful people!

So, yesterday evening (21st July) was a time for dancing, and for singing, and merriment!

Cuckoo's Nest Morris, the women's side that I dance with, were invited by our good friends Ditchling Morris, to join them for a stand at The Bull Pub in Ditchling. The Brighton Morris Men were invited along too!

We had a fantastic night! Here is just a few of the photos from the course of the evening:

This first photo is of Cuckoo's Nest Morris dancing one of my favourite dances: TIDE.

Unfortunately I was running a little late and so didn't get in this one in time, which was good because it meant that I could take some photos.

I love this photo with Lucy at the front (in red) mid-yell!

Here is another from TIDE - Nice lines on this shot, Ladies!

Ruth doesn't look too happy to be stood next to Roz the Drummer in this photo! Roz looks like she is having fun though! 

Brighton Morris Men

A Ditchling-er, with BMM dancing in the background!

Getting me Bells on!

After we had done a bit of dancing for a couple of hours, we went off down the lane to the next pub in the village, The White Horse. This was a really cosy looking pub that was very traditional-looking from the outside, but big and quite modern on the inside. The staff were amazing and so were the punters - and they didn't mind us gate crashing their evening by making lots of noise and doing a bit of singing!

I love this part of the evening, a few drinks (although lime and soda for me yesterday as I was driving) and a good old sing-song and listening to a bit of music. Love the atmosphere that it creates in the pub too!

Here are some photos from the music session at The White Horse

All in all, a fantastic night out, although it was a bit of a late one - I didn't get home until gone 1am but it was completely worth it! Had a fantastic time!

(photos with permission from Roz Bassford-South)

Here goes nothing....

Hi There,

I suppose I should really start things off my introducing myself a little bit, and to tell you a bit about myself and why I have decided to start this blog.

Well, My name is Vicky, I am a single soon-to-be 30-something living in Brighton in the UK. I live alone with my dog, Prince who is a retired racing Greyhound.

I guess I have decided to write this blog mainly for myself, to document my life and what I get up to. I have so many different things going round in my head that its sometimes difficult to make sense of it all, so I think a blog would help me with that a little.

So this is gong to be a place to document many things: days out, recipes, things I have been up to, restaurant reviews, book reviews and gigs, an outlet for my thoughts - a diary mainly I guess.

I have always tried to keep a diary for so long but have never actually stuck to it, so hopefully this will help with things.

There is so much that I want to do and many things that I like doing, often these moments are only documented by a Facebook post or a few texts, and very often when I look back on these things, I either don't remember what the original post was about, or it doesn't give me enough detail about it.

So, a blog will certainly help with that.

So I guess that's it for now. I have a few things planned for the next couple of weeks, and for the remainder of the year, so hopefully this page will get full up pretty quickly.

TTFN,

Vicky x