Hello Lovelies, 

It’s fair to say 2 of my favourite things in life are Durham and Gin. Being a proud life long Durham girl, it is music to my ears that there is now such a thing as Durham Gin!

Durham Gin, based in Langley Park, is a small batch craft distillery which started producing it’s first batching in January 2014. 

We have a 400L handmade copper Gin still which was custom built for us in Portugal. It has a proper Gin basket and a worm tub -an old fashioned condensor like you would find in a traditional whisky distillery. We use 10 botanicals – some traditional Gin flavours like Juniper and Coriander – and some unique flavours like pink peppercorn. We also use natural spring water from Leasingholme drawn by our pal Alan Shoulder. The resulting Gin has a light floral nose, smooth on the pallette with a long finish. We do everything by hand adding the botanicals at 3 different stages in the process – some we macerate in cold alchohol, some we add into the still, and some we put in the Gin basket. We discard roughly 37% of everything that we make – to make sure that we have the smoothest cleanest taste. We do all of this by hand, tasting the Gin throughout the process to make sure it tastes right – it is a tough job, but we are dedicated.

Hello Lovelies,


This weeks Food Friday is a topical treat for Good Friday.

I am not a great fan of chocolate but Mr Tramp certainly is and I made this for him as a pre Easter treat.

You can of course use any kind of hollow egg, I just happened to have this one to hand as it was a gift for work and the cup made a handy base!

To make this more suitable to your taste and needs, substitute the milk for your choice as well as angel delight brand and flavour.

Ingredients

Hollow chocolate egg
Chocolate angel delight
Milk

Equipment

Sharp knife
Whisk
Mixing bowl
Cup


1. Carefully unwrap your hollow egg to expose the pointed end and balance the egg in the cup so that it is secure 

2. Gently warm your knife in the gas hob or in some boiling water and then ‘crack’ the top off the egg in one piece

3. Following the instructions for the pudding, whisk well and transfer to a jug to allow you to pour the mix in to the hollow egg. Fill the egg to the very top

4. Warm your knife again and run it over the rim of the egg to melt slightly. Whilst melted, place the lid back on and refrigerate to set.

5. Chill for up to an hour and re-wrap in the foil. 

You can go to town with switching up the flavours and sizes of egg. From individual bite size eggs to huge giant 30cm monsters!

Hello Lovelies,


At the recent Living North fair, Mother Tramp and I must have sampled every pickle and relish known to man. One stuck out above and beyond all others.

Gunpowder, by The Carved Angel, is labelled as a hot garlic pickle but is anything but hot. Garlicky, yes. Hot, no. Maybe I was expecting something H.O.T.T hot. It matters not! Gunpowder delivers a delicate dose of spice and a heavy hit of garlic that doesn’t over power yet doesn’t lack punch.

The Carved Angel, based in Devon, started like as a restaurant in 1974 opened by Joyce Molyneux before moving in to the food-for-home market.

I like to lash this on to a cheese sandwich or toasty or with grilled meats to give a kick while Mr Tramp enjoyed Gunpowder stirred in to some gravy.

Priced at £3.95, you can order online HERE or track down The Carved Angel at a local fair, which are listed here.