Tag Archives: Lincoln

Festive food tidings

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I didn’t realise that I was in a Christmas mood until I noticed that my last few blog posts have been about it. I think I can live with that though. After last week’s special Food for Thought I still had plenty of interviews and ideas to make another special, and when else am I going to use it?

This week was a slightly different take as there was a history lesson from the Museum of Lincolnshire Life who helped me to find out what dinner Victorian families could expect on Christmas Day. There’s also Christmas sandwich reviews and help if you have a vegetarian coming round over the holidays.

You can listen to this week’s show in full here:

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A Christmas Carol | Photo: Brendan C via Flickr

A lot of our Christmas traditions come from the Victorians, and when I think of a Victorian Christmas Day I think of Scrooge from ‘A Christmas Carol’ asking for the biggest goose to share with those less fortunate than him. Talking to the Museum of Lincolnshire Life, who held a Victorian Christmas, the Dickens tale is close to reality. To find out more and hear some of the Dickens novel listen here.

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I do love what shops think a Christmas sandwich should be like, so in the run up to making these Christmas specials I was loving The Poke’s video reviews of said sandwiches.

Then when making programmes you get silly ideas. So I tweeted the guy who came up with the reviews and asked him onto Siren FM and he agreed. Reviewing sandwiches may sound like fun, but Adam takes it seriously as he explained to me.

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When I was thinking about all the important parts of a Christmas dinner I came to realise that if you aren’t a vegetarian you would be a bit stuffed. After chatting to some vegetarians it turns out nut roasts aren’t that nice either. Then I spoke to Karin Ridgers from Veggie Vision TV who gave the show plenty of ideas for vegetarians and vegans as well as pointing out mistakes that people make when catering for others.

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Hopefully you now have some ideas for what to make and eat over this Yuletide season. Food for Thought does carry on over the holidays on Siren FM on Wednesdays at 2pm and Saturdays at 3pm with some best bits.

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Deck the halls with bowls of food

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In my head it has been Christmas for a few months because I have been planning the festive edition of Food for Thought. There has been a lot of planning, thinking and editing and I am rather proud of what I created. I know it is only talking about food, but getting so many people to talk about the different aspects of the day has been really interesting.

To get yourself inspired for Christmas listen to Food for Thought in full here:

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To kick off this Christmas special is my trip to the Lincoln Christmas Market. The four day market has all sorts but this year I visited with my focus on food. The market also seems to have become synonymous with mulled wine, I didn’t grab a glass as I went at 11am by myself, but I did chat to some people serving it… dressed as monks.

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A few weeks ago Food for Thought regular Sam Pidoux and I went to a Christmas Food and Gift Fair at the Lincolnshire Showground. It was a chance for local producers to show off their Christmas foods. We went to find Christmas food essentials such as wine, cheese and the bird.

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Traditionally the panic of Christmas Day comes from cooking the turkey, so I chatted to Lincolnshire chef Rachel Green to get some tips. As well as passing on her advice for preparing the turkey she also has some recipes for what to do with any leftovers.

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I have chatted in the past few weeks, about how I am not a huge fan of Christmas cake. My favourite part is the marzipan, which doesn’t do many favours to the cake. However, I wanted to find out more about how to make it and decorate it so I chatted to a cake making professional.

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To end this week’s show was a brief chat with the organisers of the Lincoln Oktoberfest about what kinds of food Germans like to eat at Christmas time.

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If you haven’t had enough, then there is another Yuletide edition this week. Listen to Siren FM on Wednesday at 2pm or Saturday at 3pm. As well Christmas songs galore I have also been finding out about what to make for the Christmas Day meal if you are vegetarian and reviewing Christmas sandwiches.

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Chocolates and a reason to celebrate

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Some weeks working to get interviews and features for Food for Thought is tough, but somehow this week’s show came together like a dream. A few weekends ago at the Christmas Food and Gift Fair I got chatting to a local chocolatier called Rosella Gugliotta and her business is Okie Coco. While asking her about what chocolates she makes for Christmas we ended up chatting in general about making chocolate and she jokingly said that she should be on the show. The Monday after I emailed her to ask her on.

When it came to the interview Rosella was brilliant and I ended up with almost 20 minutes of a lovely interview. Then one of the scariest things in radio happened — the software froze just as I was saving. I thought that there might be some way to save the interview without having to do it all over again but eventually I conceeded. Thankfully Rosella understood and was happy to do the interview again. Then after all that she has even offered to help out again for the show and suggested the idea of a chocolate special.

You can listen to the interview with Rosella from Okie Coco in full here:

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Also on this week’s show I had been invited to Stokes of Lincoln’s VIP Party to celebrate 75 years of the High Bridge cafe. Stokes has been serving tea and coffee to the people of Lincoln since 1902 but they moved to that beautiful building in the 1930s.

To set the tone of the evening staff were dressed up in 1930s outfits as well as people dancing and a fortune teller. I had my future told to me and apparently I am going to become a weather presenter in Hull.

You can listen to my fortune and the staff of Stokes explaining why they think it is important to celebrate their company’s history here.

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If you want to listen to the show in full then make sure you listen to Siren 107.3FM on Wednesdays at 2pm or Saturdays at 3pm. Alternatively you can listen online here as well.

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The next two shows are Christmas specials which I have been working hard on so I really hope they come out well. As well as looking at the Christmas Food and Gift Fair, the Lincoln Christmas Market and there are also tips on how to make Christmas cake from a local cake professional as well as finding out about a traditional Victorian Christmas dinner.

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Christmas time is coming to Food for Thought

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I have been against talking about Christmas yet, but it has slowly dawned on me that we are less than a month away from the day itself. There have been a few signs, the Christmas lights being switched on in Lincoln, seeing the Coca-Cola advert and I found myself at a Christmas Food and Gift fair last weekend.

The Lincolnshire Showground was hosting the fair and it was a great day. It was all for my food show on Lincoln’s first community radio station, Siren FM. My friend Sam came along with me, and we were genuinely excited about the amount of seasonal, local food products available. We found a man in Yorkshire (so unfortunately just out of the area for Siren FM) who makes his own chorizo, there was also tasting sessions of chocolate wine as well as orders taking place for Lincolnshire geese and turkey. I also found the largest hog roast sandwiches ever.

I also met some great new people to feature and profile on my Siren show who will be turning up in the next few weeks and hopefully into 2013.

This is merely a bit of a tease though. I am currently working on the Christmas special of Food for Thought, which has plenty of fun ideas including the upcoming Lincoln Christmas Market.

Also on this week’s show I was invited to go try out Lincoln’s latest restaurant Wagamamas. Myself, and my plus one Jon, spent most of the evening trying to figure out if the waiters knew we were reviewing them or not. Turns out they didn’t, which was a relief. The service was lovely and the food very good. Verdict is that it is great that Lincoln has something new which doesn’t offer pizza. As a result the place is really busy so plan when you are going, lunchtime seems to be less frantic.

To entice you further here are some images of the dishes we tried, which Wagamamas kindly gave to me.

Interested? Well you can listen to the edited highlights here, or listen to the show in full on Siren FM on Wednesdays at 2pm or Saturdays at 3pm.

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A trip to London’s Borough Market

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Borough Market | Photo: Charlotte ReidThis week Food for Thought has travelled to London. The idea is to find food related day trips for the upcoming summer holidays, but I think most people can see through that thinly veiled excuse for a day in London.

It all started when Food for Thought regular Sam Pidoux asked me if I had ever been to Borough Market. The answer was no. She began to tell me all about the variety of stalls, food and drink all housed in one little market in London. So to find out what was so different about this market to all other markets Sam acted as my tour guide.

You can listen to our Borough Market special right here:

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If you get chatting to people who have been to Borough Market you will find they will not stop talking about how great the place is and how it is a real highlight of living in London. Yet when you get there and walk between aisles of cakes, fresh fruit and then find yourself inside a Spanish deli you do understand their enthusiasm.

A lot of the food you find in Borough Market you could find at any other kind of market, but the difference is they are the best. You need to win your spot at the market and explain why your stall needs to be there to represent the food make up of the UK.

The Boston Sausage stall at Borough Market | Photo: Charlotte Reid

Even in London we found food stalls representing the best of the East Midlands with the Boston Sausage stall as well as a lady selling the famous Melton Mowbray pork pie.

I also liked how the whole area around the market embraced the idea of food. There was all sorts of fancy restaurants, local pubs and delis in all the streets surrounding the market. Sam grew up in Germany and when leaving the market we stumbled across a German deli. Inside was all sorts of spices, chocolates and snacks that I had never heard of but Sam instantly recognised. It was great to find a shop so dedicated to showcasing genuine German foods, even though most people nearby would have no idea that these products existed.

M and M World | Photo: Charlotte ReidWhile we were in London we found a couple of other food attractions to pass the time. A quick tube ride away from Borough Market, we entered M&M World in Leicester Square. If you had ever wanted to know how many items of clothing and pieces of stationary could have the M&M logo on then this is place to visit.

However, the best bit is just the tubes of every colour of M&M. You pick up a bag and are free to pour yourself as many sweets as you want. If you really want you could buy a bag that consists of only grey M&Ms. But there is a childlike feeling that overcomes you when you are given the power of making your own bag of sweets.

To end the day we went to the Haagen-Dazs restaurant, which is dedicated to serving icecream. Flicking through the menu it is amazing to look at the yummy combinations they have made. It is also very decadent to be sitting in a restaurant in central London to only order a scoop of icecream, but it is enjoyable.

If you have enjoyed this rambling food tour of London, then make sure you listen to Siren FM on Wednesdays at 2pm for new episodes of Food for Thought.

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A Lincolnshire Show special of Food for Thought

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The 2012 Lincolnshire Show | Photo: Jon CresswellEvery year the Lincolnshire Showground plays host to the county show. All county shows are pretty much the same. There is a section to look at large tractors, an area to pet the farm animals and, the bit that I was interested in, stalls of local food.

As well as chatting to some of the stallholders to find out what it is like to be at the Lincolnshire Show, I also caught a cooking session with celebrity chef Colin McGurran.

Listen to the podcast of this week’s programme below:

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A cooking session with Colin McGurran | Photo: Jon Cresswell

The Lincolnshire Show was a chance for people to get a cooking lesson from some top local chefs. I popped into a session with Colin McGurran, who has recently starred in The Great British Menu. He cooked a few dishes that he would ordinarily serve up in his restaurant in Scunthorpe.

Afterwards I chatted to Colin to find out some of his top tips when it comes to cooking.

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I walked round the food court of the county show to see what other food is available locally. One thing I found a bit strange was for an event that was promoting Lincolnshire there was a lot of stalls showcasing food from Yorkshire and even Norfolk. However, these are some of the best Lincolnshire stalls I found.

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If you have enjoyed these snippets from my show then make sure you listen to Siren FM on Wednesday at 2pm for a new episode.

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Sweet business and Lincoln goes continental

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I reckon one of the best jobs in the world would be making fudge. The fun of creating new flavours and varieties would be something worth waking up to each day. To find out if the job lived up to my expectations I chatted to the man Behind Deeping Fudge, Les Green.

I also explored Lincoln’s continental market to find out what European treats were available on the city’s high street.

You can listen to the podcast for this programme below:

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Deeping Fudge logoLes Green is in charge of Deeping Fudge so spends his days making, selling and eating fudge. It sounds like an enviable life. Chatting to Les I found out how to make fudge as well as how to come up with different flavours of fudge.

Although Les admits that it isn’t always that hard as one of his award winning flavours, chocolate and chilli, was created by accident. I also asked the crucial question of if you can ever get fed up of eating fudge.

You can listen to that interview with Les Green of Deeping Fudge below:

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Lincoln's continental market | Photo: Charlotte Reid

Every few months Lincoln’s high street gets treated by the continental market. It is organised by Lincoln BIG so to find out more I spoke to Michael Armstrong, who was responsible for the event. You can listen to the interview with him right here:

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If you happened to miss out on the market though you can listen to my audio postcard (a fancy term for a bit of a radio tour). Hopefully it will give you an idea of what stalls were there as well what different types of European food.

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If you have liked what you have seen, and listened to, here then make sure you listen to Siren FM on Wednesday at 2pm.

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