Category: Snacks

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Blog Desserts Snacks

Peanut Butter Acai Bowl

Is it a peanut butter Christmas tree? A model of Mount Everest sculpted out of chocolate ice cream, perhaps?

Understandable, if that’s what you’re guessing is in my photo above. You’d be wrong, however – it is in fact an Acai Bowl. I bought this at the Drip Bar in Melbourne. The purply-chocolatey coloured acai is topped with fresh banana, crushed cacao, coconut, ground almonds, granola and a drizzle of peanut butter.

Some of you will be very familiar with acai, and some may never have heard of it. Acai (pronounced ah – sa – ee) is a berry that is produced in Brazil. It is rich in antioxidants, fibre and healthy fats, and believed to support heart health and cognitive function, while being low in sugar and calories. It is also suitable for vegetarians and vegans. It therefore ticks all the boxes to be called a surefire superfood.

What’s more, it tastes really good! At the risk of sounding like some sozzled sommelier, I would describe the taste as having dark chocolate tones, with deep red wine and a hint of blueberries. When you hear that description, it’s hard not to at least give it a try.

In the UK, my experience is that acai is still mainly the preserve of specialist juice bars and health food shops. An internet search reveals that there are slightly more outlets than I was aware of, but it is still nowhere near the mainstream in the way it is here in Australia. Most towns have a cafe or takeaway in the high street selling a variety of acai bowls, with chains established for the purpose, such as Oakberry and Yo-Chi.

As far as I understand, the acai is blended with chopped banana and yoghurt (or coconut milk for a non-dairy version), giving it a rich texture with a beautiful purplish colour. It is eaten ice cold, swirled in a bowl, looking like ice cream or sorbet with toppings added. Fresh fruit is most common, while sprinkling over granola or muesli makes it an option for breakfast.

A danger with acai bowls is that the base is topped up with treats high in sugar or non-healthy fats, that cancel out the health benefits of the acai itself. However, this doesn’t need to be a problem as long as the toppings (such as a good quality peanut butter) are added with thought and moderation.

The berries do not travel well, so outside of Brazil they are sold in pulp form or as powder. I have bought a pack of powder from Coles Supermarket, where it was available on the shelf, in several varieties. I will be taking it home to make some acai bowls of my own. I also have an idea to sprinkle some into the mix when baking, to make blueberry and acai muffins. Watch out for future posts!

Due to its health benefits, great look and taste, I feel it is only a matter of time before more of us are eating acai as part of a normal diet. Do let me know, via the comments below, if you have tasted acai, and what you thought of it. I am interested to hear how readily it can be found and eaten in your part of the world.

Here’s a Melbourne band that was recommended to me by the assistant in a cool vinyl records shop and cafe in the Hawthorn district of the city (a big shout-out to Alley Tunes). This band play experimental electronic music, and go by the name of Big Yawn. Here they are with Ragazzo.

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Blog Snacks

Picnic at Hanging Rock

On my travels around Australia, I have been reading the famous story Picnic at Hanging Rock, by Melbourne’s Joan Lindsay. When I learned that Hanging Rock is, in fact, a real place about an hour’s drive north of Melbourne, I jumped at the chance to visit.

What’s more, being a dedicated foodblogger, I made sure our party of 4 took a picnic 😋. More about that, and the unexpected guest who turned up to it, in a moment.

The result of major volcanic activity thousands of years ago, Hanging Rock is bigger than I had anticipated. On arrival, one is greeted by vertical rock faces shooting up through the ferns and eucalypts.

The steep path winding to the summit traverses crevices and tunnels through a haphazard jumble of rocks and massive boulders, resting just wherever the volcanic eruption threw them as lava, all that time ago.

It is very easy to get lost, which is why it makes such a fitting setting for the famous story (which has also inspired a film and TV drama series of the same name). In summary (and without any plot spoilers), Picnic at Hanging Rock tells of a group of schoolgirls from a local college, who picnicked here on St. Valentine’s Day in the year 1900. Some of the girls then set off on a walk to the summit, and mysteriously go missing, never to be seen again.

While published as fiction, the author was very coy about whether it may actually be based on true events. Consequently, a whole legend has grown up around the place.

Some visitors have reported feeling the presence of the missing girls as they climb the Rock. Certainly, with a little imagination, the angles, pock marks and shadows in the rocks can give the impression of faces, with eyes and mouths, watching as you clamber over the stones.

I’m including a few photos, and will let you make up your own mind about that.

The eerie display in the Visitor Centre does its best to ramp up the feeling of unease.

And so to the picnic. We chose mainly local food from the surrounding Macedon Ranges area. I bought this savoury cheese and spinach muffin at the Trading Post in Mt. Macedon. It had the texture of a scone, with roast pumpkin (it’s coming into autumn here) and feta.

We stopped off along the way at the Farmer’s Market in Kyneton, and picked up some treats made in a Bendigo bakery: Anzac biscuits (an Aussie staple with coconut and chewy oats), and shortbread made with lemon myrtle (a bush plant) and chopped macadamia nuts.

We also had local olives and cheese from the King Island Dairy. The picnic reached a hurried end, however, when this intrepid kookaburra began showing too much interest in our spread for my liking.

I reckon he was after the hot cross buns 😉

The view from the summit over north Victoria is reward for the climb.

Hanging Rock is both beautiful and mysterious. With the lingering scent of eucalyptus on the gentle breeze, it needs to be experienced with all the senses.

Musical choice this time is a suitably haunting duo by Aussie pop royalty Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue: Where the Wild Roses Grow.

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Blog Snacks

Surfer’s Paradise

Most of Australia’s Pacific Coast could be described as a surfer’s paradise, given the seemingly never ending stretches of golden sandy bay with wave after crashing wave. However, Surfer’s Paradise is the actual name given to a beach front district in the city of Gold Coast, the next stop on our road trip (see the welcoming gate below).

I’m not a surfer, though I do enjoy jumping in the waves and swimming in the relatively warm sea, when the occasionally vicious currents and riptides here allow. All along the Pacific Coast, however, there is no shortage of people who do.

Take these diehard souls pictured at Noosa, walking their boards barefoot to the sand…

…and waiting patiently on the rocks for that perfect swell.

On the way here, we stopped off at Byron Bay, the upmarket surfing and wellness haven that is famously home to Chris Hemsworth, well known for playing Thor in Marvel’s Avengers.

We stayed a night and hung out for an evening amongst the beachfront bars and cafes. We enjoyed the surf vibe, though we didn’t bump into Chris. Maybe he was off on filming duties in Hollywood. Or possibly Asgard 😉

Back to the Gold Coast, and our latest foodie experience, amongst the skyscrapers that line the golden sands. O Bagel, in the Broadbeach area of the city where we are based, came highly recommended, and certainly lived up to its billing.

The bagels were freshly baked, and came with various coatings and flavours. The texture was just the right combination of soft and chewy.

I chose an everything bagel, generously filled with home made egg salad, wood smoked ham, swiss cheese, crunchy lettuce and smoky tomato relish. It tasted great, taken down to our picnic lunch stop at the beach.

Musical choice this time around comes from an Aussie indie band that I have featured before, and who I saw play live over in the UK supporting Queens of the Stone Age back in November. I like the fact that they have a good punk sound, while (as anyone who has seen their  videos on You Tube will know) do not take themselves too seriously.

They are from Queensland, so it seems right to play them while here on their home turf. This is The Chats, with their ode to chicken schnitty, parmi and all other great Australian pub fare: Pub Feed.

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Blog Mains Snacks

Pacific Coast

Leaving the Blue Mountains, our Australian road trip headed next through the Hunter Valley wine-growing region, to reach the Pacific Coast at Newcastle, just north of Sydney. The plan is to make our way along the Pacific Highway up to the Sunshine Coast in tropical Queensland, just north of Brisbane, over the next week or so.

First stop was at Merewether Ocean Baths, just outside Newcastle. Fed by water from the ocean, it is the size of 8 Olympic swimming pools. We parked the car across the road and enjoyed a refreshing swim. It was the perfect way to break up our journey in the 30C heat. The pool is free to use and open all year round – what an asset for the local community.

The onward journey has been one of discovering one glorious golden sandy bay after another. My main photo at the top of the post shows Nambucca Heads. My photo below is taken at Coffs Harbour.

There are many forms of wildlife that call this coast their home. Flying foxes (large wing-spanned bats) are a regular sight overhead, as dusk settles. At the intriguingly named Look At Me Now headland we spotted some humpback whales out at sea, making their way north. Best of all, though, we came across this lovable family of kangaroos.

Foodwise, we’ve been keeping meals light and cool because of the heat, and making the most of Australian produce. My photo below shows Tasmanian (generally called Tazzie – the Australians abbreviate most things) smoked and hot-spiced salmon, with salads made from veg grown in tropical Queensland.

Most fruit and veg seems to grow well here and the choice in food shops and markets is plentiful. As a lifelong banana fan (banana on toast is a particular fave of mine) I loved seeing bananas actually growing on trees, for the first time.

This was on a banana plantation just outside Coffs Harbour. Next door is a family fun park called The Big Banana, where all the rides and attractions are (you guessed it) banana-themed. We stopped to sample their speciality dessert – a fresh banana on a stick, coated in chocolate and dipped in chopped nuts (or sprinkles) and then frozen.

It was delicious and helped us stay cool. The frozen fruity centre tastes like banana ice cream and, along with the dark chocolate and nuts, it is actually a relatively healthy snack. This is another piece of foodie heaven I shall be trying to recreate when I get back home.

Our Pacific Coast journey will continue in my next post. Time now, however, for another Aussie indie band to feature on the ADK Playlist. I very much like the exciting sound of this band. This is These New South Whales with Changes.

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Recipes Snacks

Peanut Butter, Oat & Apricot Bites

Having made my Peanut Butter Boosters recently, I found myself with half a jar of good quality peanut butter left. I wanted to come up with another bite-sized temptation to fill the annoying hunger gap that can open up after exercise, or simply when the next mealtime is still a little way away.

These fit the bill. What’s more, they don’t require any cooking and are very quick to make. There are only 5 ingredients, so you stay in control of exactly what is going into the snack. They are both vegetarian and vegan.

The best part however, is that making them requires the squidge technique i.e. getting your hands into the baking bowl and manipulating the mix with your fingers. Why is that the best bit? Well, when you’ve finished shaping the Bites, your reward is getting to lick your fingers clean. Mmm!

Convinced? Then give this a try…

Servings

Depending on your preferred size, this mix will make around 9 -10 Bites.

Timings

15 mins max to make, after which they are ready to eat. Keep them in the fridge and they’ll last for 2 – 3 days (if they’re not all eaten by then, that is 🙂 ).

You Will Need

  • 120g oats
  • 120g peanut butter
  • 60g maple syrup or runny honey
  • 40g dried apricots, finely chopped
  • a few splashes of milk (dairy or non-dairy)

Method

  1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, and squidge together between your fingers till you have a sticky mix.
  2. Pull off a piece of your desired size and roll into a ball between the palms of both hands. Set on a plate, and repeat till all the mixture is used up.
  3. Place in the fridge.
  4. Enjoy licking your fingers!

Customise It!

You could swap in another dried fruit for the apricots if you wish – dates would go well. Chuck in a handful of seeds if you like.

I’ve carried on listening to The 1975 this past week – their music is very uplifting and it reminds me of a great night in Birmingham with my friend – see The 1975. Here’s another track I particularly like, therefore: The Sound.

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Bakes Recipes Snacks

Peanut Butter Boosters

Here’s a wholesome and nutritious, home-made alternative to those commercially-produced cereal bars we often reach for, to cure the hunger pangs between meals. I wanted to see if I could create a version that gave greater control over the ingredients and, in particular, the carb and sugar levels.

The words ‘peanut butter’ are enough to bring a smile to most faces, so I decided to put that centre stage. I used a make that consists of 100% peanuts, with no palm oil (Meridian).

Taking inspiration from a recipe by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, I also cut out all flour and eggs, and brought in oats, seeds and honey. I used muscovado sugar instead of the refined variety, and reduced the amount of it by about a third from what is often found in sweet recipes.

The challenge with removing a number of staple ingredients from a bake is finding a mixture that holds together, and doesn’t descend into crumbs. The consistency of the peanut butter and the stickiness of the honey definitely helped with this, as did letting it cool completely in the tin, before cutting into slices.

The resulting booster bars do hold together – see my main photo above. They’re also vegetarian and vegan. They aren’t completely crumb-free, but that’s a small price to pay for having a box full of these tasty and nutritious boosters to plug that hunger gap.

And if you do get some crumbs – hey, just gather them up and sprinkle them over your breakfast cereal – they’re delicious!

Servings

16 booster bars.

Timings

15 mins to prepare, 30 mins to bake at 180C.

You Will Need:

  • 125g vegetable baking spread
  • 80g light muscovado sugar
  • 125g peanut butter
  • 75g runny honey
  • zest of 1 orange
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 200g oats
  • 100g dried apricots, finely chopped
  • 120g mixed seeds e.g. pumpkin, sunflower.

Method

  1. Grease and line a traybake tin – mine used is 20 cm square. Switch on the oven to 180C.
  2. Place the spread, brown sugar, peanut butter and honey in a saucepan and warm over a gentle heat. Stir until it melts into a thick mixture.
  3. Add in the other ingredients and stir well to combine.
  4. Tip into the prepared tin and level with a spoon. Place in the oven for 30 mins.
  5. Remove from the oven and let cool completely in the tin. Turn out carefully and cut into 16 squares.

Customise It!

Swap in other dried fruit for the apricot. The real nut fiends can swap in some different varieties of chopped nuts (e.g, pecans) for some of the seeds, if you wish. Do what’s necessary to give you the tasty energy boost you need.

This week in the ADK Kitchen I’ve been playing the new release by The Black Keys, a band from Ohio that I really like and who’ve already provided several tracks for the ADK Playlist. With all that energy from the Peanut Butter Boosters, this new track should have you up on your feet, singing and dancing along with its catchy chorus: Beautiful People (Stay High).

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Blog Snacks

Walk Out To Winter

After a fab few days in Slovenia, we have now arrived in a very chilly Austria, to meet up with a group of friends and family experiencing the Christmas Markets in the city of Graz.

With the start of Advent, wooden chalet stalls have popped up all over the city’s main public squares, selling a range of hot drinks to help insulate visitors against the effects of the freezing cold. A typical range is shown in my photo below.

I tended to stick with the Rot Gluhwein – a ceramic mug of hot red wine flavoured with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves – though there were also white and rose varieties available. The non-alcoholic offering included herbal and fruit teas, and the tantalisingly named Harry Potter – a hot mango punch.

I also enjoyed a hot chocolate, which was precisely that. I may have been expecting a mug of creamy cocoa, but what arrived had the volume and texture, no less, of a large, melted bar of dark chocolate in a cup. Needless to say, I had no trouble polishing that off.

The food options were simple, tasty and filling. Staples like Bratwurst (they really do love their sausages in this part of the world), or Kasekrainer (sausages with an inner lining of melted cheese), sizzled on the hot griddle in the chilly evening air – usually served up with a generous portion of Pommes (fries).

My favourite though was at the Racletthauschen. A log of Swiss Raclette cheese is placed under a flame until the top layer melts. The server then scrapes it off (see below) and spreads it on a slice of lightly toasted Ciabatta bread.

The choice of toppings included herbs, bacon lardons or prosciutto. I chose Kurbiskerne – roasted pumpkin seeds – adding a nutty crunch to the salty, melted cheese.

A delicious snack, washed down (of course) with another mug of Gluhwein.

The Markets are delightful to stroll around, enjoying the sights, sounds and scents of the seasonal displays, such as the gingerbread, below…

The choice of colourful ceramic decorations for the Christmas tree is bewildering…

The Austrians make it an event for the whole family, as this old, classic European fairground attraction shows. The traditional waltz music emanating from the barrel organ made for a perfect soundtrack.

I have really enjoyed my visit to the Graz Christmas Markets. Although we have had ice and snow, and the temperature has remained around freezing point, in some strange way I did not actually feel the cold – a combination of warm clothes, ample Gluhwein, simple and satisfying hot food, the festive cheer of the surroundings, and the bonhomie of family and friends.

The Raclette experience has inspired me particularly – it never occurred to me before to sprinkle roasted pumpkin seeds on melted cheese for a tasty snack, but this is something I shall try to recreate at home in the ADK kitchen, whenever I have pangs of hunger. Maybe, to get the full authentic Austrian effect, I will even turn all the heating off, don my hat, scarf and gloves, and raise a tea cup of mulled wine in salute to the citizens of Graz. Prost!

Here are Aztec Camera with Walk Out To Winter.

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Blog Snacks

I Sat By The Ocean

This week I’ve spent a few days down in Poole, on the Dorset coast, in connection with a very important event. I will tell you more about it in a moment, though the musically astute of you may be able to guess what it is, given the clue in the title of this post.

While you’re puzzling on that conundrum, I will tell you about the terrific place we visited for the morning coffees and pastries, shown in my main photo above.

It is a place called Rockwater, on the beach at Branksome Chine. It has been under construction for many months, and opened just recently. There was a cafe here before, but I do not recall it being anywhere near as stylish as this.

As you can see, it is right next to the golden beach. Look carefully and you may even spot some of the sand that the recent Storm Ciaran blew up against its entrance.

We sat on the upstairs terrace, which has terrific views right across the bay, from the hotels of Bournemouth and Hengistbury Head to the east, out to Sandbanks and Old Harry Rocks to the west.

Although it is mid-November, the sun was warm on the terrace. My pumpkin spice latte and croissant went down a treat. We discovered they serve breakfasts here on the terrace, and will definitely be back to sample those.

So have you solved my teaser yet? You may have guessed it is music-related. The main reason for my visit here was to see the California rockers, Queens of the Stone Age at the nearby Bournemouth International Centre. They arrived in the UK last week on this leg of their tour, which they have called The End is Nero. The band have been receiving top, top reviews so far, which I can confirm are fully justified.

I have liked QOTSA a lot for many years, and have now seen them live on four occasions. That puts them level with U2 as the group I have seen in concert the most times.

They played for 1 hour 45 minutes, with a setlist comprising tracks from across all 8 studio albums. They encored with Go With The Flow, and an electrifying version of Song For The Dead.

I also enjoyed the Aussie support act, The Chats, a punk trio from the Sunshine Coast which, incidentally, I will be visiting in Spring 2024. They have an energetic sound and don’t take themselves too seriously. I shall try to feature a track in a future post.

That is it now for live music for me in 2023. It has been a pretty good year, seeing many of my favourite bands including Fatboy Slim, Elton John, Inspiral Carpets, Arctic Monkeys, The Hives, Muse, Royal Blood, Billy Joel, and now QOTSA. I will try hard to equal that line-up in 2024.

In the meantime, here is a track from the 2013 album, …Like Clockwork. Something tells me Josh Homme didn’t write these lyrics about sitting in the sun by a beach, on a roof terrace with a terrific view, munching on a croissant and drinking a pumpkin spice latte. Then again, you never know 🙂

Here are QOTSA with I Sat By The Ocean.

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Blog Snacks

Autumn at Stourhead

Time for a relaxing break from your busy day? Grab yourself a chamomile tea and settle down for a mindful 5 minutes, taking in this latest post.

Stourhead in Wiltshire is no ordinary landscape garden. We greatly enjoyed a visit there recently, while motorhoming in the west of England.

First opened in the 1740s, it was originally the brainchild of landowner Henry Hoare, who travelled widely and developed a taste for classical architecture. He commissioned the finest artists and designers of the day to create a series of temples, follies and curios that are scattered around the edges of a vast lake.

My main photo above shows the Palladian Bridge, with the Pantheon (modelled on the original in Rome) in the distance. My photo below shows the Temple of Apollo.

Stourhead has been impressing visitors for nearly 300 years, and the massive estate is managed nowadays by the National Trust. There is an accessible walk that goes right around the lake, and visitors can enter the idiosyncratic buildings along the way to discover the art and statues they hold. Here is the Temple of Flora looking particularly fine in the afternoon sun.

The mature trees and plants change colours with the seasons, meaning there are always new elements to experience and explore, whatever time of year you come. Autumn is special here, when the buildings nestle alongside shades of red, amber and gold.

The Gothic Cottage looked splendid with this blazing carpet of autumn leaf fall.

In my next shot, the Pantheon is seen from across the lake. Considerable thought has gone into the planning of the site, to create beautiful, ever-changing views from different perspectives.

This photo below shows the view across the lake from the window of the Grotto – a little cave built into the lake’s shore. The stillness of the lake made for superb reflections.

The sensory overload even continues into lunchtime…

A real highlight of visiting a National Trust property is a visit to the tea room. I opted for a cream tea, pictured below – a freshly baked fruit scone spread with clotted cream from Cornwall and strawberry jam, served of course with a pot of tea. It is a classic combo that is very difficult to beat, and was delicious.

Incidentally, I was reading about a lady who has visited all the National Trust properties in the UK that have a tea room – there are 244 of them – and eaten a scone at each. She has written a blog about them, rating each scone, and produced an overall Top 5. Her top prize went to the one tasted at the Treasurer’s House in York.

244 is a lot of scones, by anyone’s standards. I can only assume she accompanied this pursuit with 244 brisk walks around the grounds of said properties, to burn off all those calories.

My visit to Stourhead really was a feast for all the senses – an 18th Century theme park devoted to mindfulness, if you like. I can’t wait to go back again in Spring, when the trees are in blossom and there will be a totally new colour palate to enjoy.

And another cream tea.

Musically, places like this always make me think of Kate Bush for some reason – probably something to do with classical, romantic England at its finest. So here’s a track by her that is suitably mellow and contemplative: Mrs. Bartolozzi.

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Blog Snacks

Higher Ground

This week we have been away again in the motorhome, enjoying walks and views like this one in my photo above, at Cranborne Chase.

On the edge of England’s west country, it is officially designated an AONB – Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – and it isn’t difficult to see why. Rolling countryside provides a backdrop for long autumn walks and close-up interaction with wildlife.

You may think my photo below shows a random wide ranging picture of the English countryside. Well, that’s true – but if you zoom in on the white speck, slap bang in the middle of the shot, you will have located our motorhome. We were on a small campsite that is part of a sheep farm.

I took this shot after hiking high up on the ridge that hosts a long distance footpath from Shaftesbury to Salisbury. It demonstrates how remote we were: just us, our caravanning next door neighbour, and a flock of sheep to the east.

Incidentally, I did try counting the number of sheep, but fell asleep before I could finish 🙂

Cranborne Chase is also an International Dark Sky Reserve, which means that, when night falls, it is bloomin’ dark. There is, literally, no artificial light from anywhere around on this vast landscape, and so the star gazing is first class. There was also the twit-twoo of the local owl to keep us company.

Way out here, the only local shop is a farm shop, doing a great line in west country cheese. Regular followers will know that I require little persuasion to put together a regional cheese board, such as this one below. The best of England’s west country is represented here with (from left to right) Dorset Blue Vinny, Somerset Brie and Garlic Yarg, from Cornwall.

A few years ago I visited the farm in Cornwall where they make Yarg. The garlic variety is hard to come by outside of the west country. They wrap the cheese in leaves from local wild garlic plants, and these infuse it with the flavour and scent of garlic as it ripens.

The oatcakes are from Bath and the apples local.

An interesting feature in the landscape is the Fovant Badges. At the time of the First World War, the British Army were stationed here, for final training before travelling over the Channel to the trenches in France. The young soldiers amused themselves (or kept their nerves at bay) by carving large scale versions of their regimental badges into the chalk grassland on the side of local hills. Through careful maintenance and restoration, they are still visible today.

The lady (and sheep farmer) who owned our campsite told me that her father-in-law was one of those young men stationed here, while waiting for the call to fight in what became the Battle of the Somme, where thousands of young soldiers tragically died. On the morning when he was due to travel to France, he required emergency dental treatment, and was excused from going. He went on to live and have a son, that she had been married to for 60 years, and with whom she’d had a family. Ain’t it strange, sometimes, how life works out.

You can find out more, here, about the Fovant Badges.

This weekend is, of course, Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday, when we honour all those who weren’t quite so fortunate to escape with their lives. I have been wearing my poppy with pride this week, and will leave you with some fittingly inspirational music from Stevie Wonder: Higher Ground.