Homemade Review

I'd heard very good things about homemade and after passing it at nether edge autumn market I had to go inside and try their food.
I met my friend Sarah there and we were the only customers at 2:30. They were preparing one side of the cafe for a private booking. As we sat down a few more people came in and this half of the cafe soon got full.
The decor is really unique and kitsch with vintage newspaper clippings along the wall and plastic polka dot table cloths . This gives the place a really good atmosphere and the friendly staff make you feel very welcome.

The menu looks nice and decently priced. I order a aubergine, courgette and tomato lasagna off the specials board whilst Sarah opts for a chicken wrap with sweet chilli jam.
I get to choose two salads with mine from the five salads of the day which include a tabbouleh, beetroot, puy lentil, kiwi and rocket and a mixed leaves one. I go for the tabbouleh and the kiwi and rocket.

The food arrives and we both dig in. My lasagna is really tasty and wholesome and gave me that warm feeling that home made food tends to do. I like the tabbouleh and the kiwi and rocket but then remember that I'm slightly allergic to kiwi so I leave it, apart from the kiwi me and Sarah both practically lick our plates clean and start to eye up the lovely looking cakes.

I can't decide and the helpful waitress recommends the chocolate yoghurt cake so I have that. Its served with Greek yoghurt which surprisingly works well as it counteracts the richness of the chocolate with its creamy tangyness. I try some of Sarah's lemon polenta which is also delicious.

After paying we wander through to the other room to check out their deli and its wonderful! Like a dream pantry full of local Sheffield treats like nattys welsh rarebit, our cow molly ice cream and even local pate!

I don't purchase anything today but I'll definitely be back, especially for their famous burger nights with seven different delicious sounding burgers and coke floats! Amazing!

Nether edge farmers market...again!

This Sunday I attended the nether edge autumn market.
Unfortunately I was working at a bar the night before and didn't get home until 5:30am! The market started at 12 so I was rather tired and nursing a little bit of a hangover when I left the house just after 12.

I met up with my friend and we walked around, taking in all the wonderful sights and smells ranging from the interesting pedal powered smoothie maker to a whole roast pig and lots and lots of cupcakes...including savoury ones!

We nibbled a little bit of free cheese, pate and cheesecake, and purchased a few goodies to take home for later and each decided on a roast pork sandwich with all the trimmings but it was a bit too apple sauce-ey for my liking.

I bought some hand-patted butter, Waterloo cheese and eggs from the lincolshire poacher stand as well as some oyster mushrooms and a pear and ginger cake from the feel good cake stall which also had carrots in..or butternut squash, I'm not sure but all the cakes looked lovely and had various vegetables in and were very healthy I'm sure. Mine was tasty but quite stodgy..perhaps it wasn't cooked quite long enough.
I also bought an aubergine and mozzarella foccacia from the Italian bread stall which was delicious!

I was tempted by the cheesecakes and the savoury muffins but with my hangover getting worse and my wallet getting lighter I decided to call it a day and head home. All in all it was a lovely afternoon and its always nice to go along. I saw lots of friends I don't see very often which is always lovely.

Ooh and next month I'll be heading down to Dartmouth food festival !

Free Fruit!

This month I have been taking advantage of all the wonderful fruits nature has to offer...and best of all they are free! I've braved brambles for fresh juicy blackberries all for the price of a few scratches. I've picked the tastiest plums from my grans back garden as well as lots of delicious apples and pears. I even took a few photos for you lovely people.

(seen outside a neighbours house - free cooking apples!)

If you are interested in picking free fruit of your own and learning more then go here to read about Abundance.

"Abundance is a project to harvest the seasonal glut of local fruit like apples, pear and plums. Each year hundreds of fruit trees go unpicked either because people don’t notice them, may not be physically able to harvest them or there are just too many fruits at one time. Abundance is a team of volunteers who have been helping harvest city fruit and redistributing the surplus to the community on a non-profit basis - to community cafes, nurseries, Surestarts and individuals."

Fancie

When the lovely ladies from Fancie invited me and two friends down for some tea and cake we just couldn't refuse.
I have seen Fancie cupcakes all around Sheffield, they did a stall at the food festival and I used to see them a year or so ago at vintage clothes fairs as well, they are pretty popular!

We go inside and are greeted by two very smiley members of staff and a huge pile of beautifully decorated cupcakes. All of them different colours, flavours and sizes. They even do gluten free cakes. They have a few specials of the day that half of the profits from selling go to the Macmillan cancer charity.

The decoration is very dolls house-esque, very dainty with doilies and delicate china plates and tea cups.
I'm delighted that they stock tea pig teas and I choose rooibos creme caramel tea which one of the smiley cupcake ladies tells me is her favourite. It doesn't disappoint!

After much decision I finally decide on the chocolate cherry cupcake with sour cream frosting from the specials of the day. My friends choose lemon and snickerlicious.
I try some of my cake and it is very good. The sour cherries in the cake mean the whole thing isn't too sickly sweet and compliment the chocolate as does the sour cream frosting.
I try some of the snickerlicious and its very sweet I don't think I could manage more than two mouthfuls of that! I'm very happy I chose mine.

So that's another wonderful shop to be found on and around ecclesall road I'll definitely be back when I'm in the area for a cup of lovely tea and another tasty cupcake...