Cheoff

A site about food, drink and other random stuff!

Has Bean - A Grown Up Selection Box

January 06, 2017  /  Geoff Griffiths

Not just for grown ups. Immediate apologies to anyone with children who already like coffee but I reckon the majority of youngsters were perfectly happy with much stickier, sweeter stuff than this.

It was an early gift, given on the day before Christmas Eve. Having gathered two sons and one of their partners safely in from Nottingham for five days of festivities I was (rather needlessly and reluctantly... oh, go on then) thanked for my driving duties by the appearance of this coffee treat.

A few days before, my Christmas top-up order had already been dispatched. Then I saw that excited tweet from Mr Has Bean, Stephen Leighton. A last-minute additional order beckoned but I managed to fend off temptation by completing a batch of peanut butter caramel truffles with a dusting of cocoa instead!

No wonder Steve was pleased with his creation. The presentation is just delightful and is a perfect tribute to an iconic Christmas tradition flipped into coffee form.

And I got my very own after all. Each product is packed a little smaller than the online order options but the most expensive of them weighs in generously at double any of the others. My favourite bean from Brazil is there, along with three which are new to me. The only problem with such a perfect gift was deciding how long to soak up those lovely, thoughtful design and presentation choices before ripping into the quality contents.

Here are links to what was on offer in this selection:

COSTA RICA SANTA TERESA 2000 LA MONTANA WHITE HONEY ETHIOPIA X GEISHA

COFFEE FLOWERS (not beans but worth trying for an interesting infusion... as is their Cascara)

NICARAGUA FINCA LA ESCONDIDA PULPED NATURAL LAURINA

 BRAZIL FAZENDA CACHOEIRA DA GRAMA PULPED NATURAL YELLOW BOURBON

NICARAGUA FINCA LIMONCILLO NATURAL ETHIOSAR

EL SALVADOR FINCA ARGENTINA ESTATE WASHED BOURBON

There are always great subscription offers along with the feast of single estate beans and blends to delight in at the Has Bean website. Bear in mind that the list varies as availability changes. Post-Christmas, all links to this selection box now draw blanks. I'm pretty certain it was a terrific innovation only added last December. If it was as well received elsewhere as it was here at 'Cheoff Towers' (son, James, added one for himself!) then it'll hopefully reappear at the end of this year. It might not have quite the surprise impact of 2016 but I'd still love to see a new version. Nostalgia, perfect presentation and great coffees... Excellent!

Must sign off now and email young Stephen to plea for the same in 2017 and ask him why he only has one bean from Brazil available at the moment. Ooh... and I'll pull a shot from my unexpected but very welcome extra espresso supply while I'm at it!

Of course Santa could be a redhead. Wanna make something of it?... cut out the bottom of the box and you can!

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tags / coffee, Has Bean, Christmas, espresso, coffee beans

Dinner with friends

December 01, 2016  /  Geoff Griffiths

Pop-up restaurants. They're a fairly recent phenomenon... but one which I hadn't experienced until going with Mrs Cheoff to eat at one of the latest to appear in Healing, Grimsby.

It would have been a feast for the senses without any of the ensuing food. We found ourselves in a converted and very tastefully modernised turn of the century house. That's the turn of the twentieth century, you understand. A lovely meshing of generous original living space with terrific additions of architectural space and truly classy Modernist furniture reproductions dotted around. Of course, Modernism was finding its expression at the same time as the fabric of this house was being built in a style which looked back at the Arts and Crafts movement. So, I enjoyed seeing the two approaches side by side and 'making friends' with each other.

The kitchen is given over to completely contemporary design. There are no barriers between chef and diners. And the chef is available for a running commentary on his cooking and for relaxed chatter as our meal is prepared. 

A prawn cocktail to start. I know... rather old-hat. But the dressing, with texture and flavour in abundance, elevated this beyond the realms of nostalgia and into the territory of "Why don't we do this more often?' Fab.

More good, honest elements for our main. Essentially steak and chips, but brought to us only after perfect cooking of meat to our requested finish. I went for not quite as bloody as hell! How lovely to hear the sizzle of a pan under the command of the most attentive of chefs. Spicy wedges of potato and softer succulent mushrooms just needed a few salad leaves - which duly appeared. Accomplished planning and cooking was confirmed through each mouthful of perfectly seasoned flavour.

A lemon tart was the predictable but utterly welcome finale to the meal. Deep and tangy. You can't buy this sort of excellence from Tesco (I think this one was bought at Sainsbury's!)

Deep, dark Italian wine was terrific. Coffee quality was perfectly acceptable... you know how fussy I am with my coffee!

We were now truly relaxed, well fed and smiling fairly helplessly with the whole wonderful occasion.

I've left this most devastating information until the end. I am sorry to say that unless you have two friends as generous and as accomplished and as genuine as Michele and Paul you will have to make your own arrangements... sorry. There will be further reviews of 'proper' restaurants here but, for now, I sign off with the happiest of thoughts at having those truly good people in my life.

* I won't use these pages too often to extol the virtues of such personal relationships but I couldn't resist with this one. Thank you to our favourite Healing inhabitants!

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Ruby Wedding #3 - Family, Friends and Food

September 26, 2016  /  Geoff Griffiths

It's what we have done for years. Mrs Cheoff was always a terrific cook with the ability to plan, prepare and present great food to a big gathering of people. She has created lovely menus for oodles of special occasions... birthdays, anniversaries and celebrations of all sorts of success and achievement. Sometimes the only excuse was to entertain and please. A fine excuse if you ask me.

Eventually, I wasn't afraid to interfere and contribute.

With our combined love of cooking and the eagerness to share our results it seemed perfectly natural to offer a spot of afternoon delight to treasured family and friends as part of our Ruby Wedding celebrations. We managed to arrange this on the day of our anniversary. A buffet lunch.

After reviewing pictures of the main and dessert tables it behoves me to resort to uncustomary honesty. Both those tables are heaving under the strain of far more of my wife’s work than mine.

Looking at much of cheoff.com will give you a false impression. Yes, I do often spend time with more demanding recipes but the savoury and sweet spreads shown here represent the bedrock of what has come out of our kitchen for decades.

From this point on, you are gathered here today to view most of the food items on offer. Links are there for recipes where available. Salads were also homemade and the only one shop-bought ready-made was pork pies from our local Brown’s Family Butchers.

Exceptional gammon with cider and cinnamon 

Shooter’s Roll Our trusty - regularly tried and trusted - M&S cookbook recipe. Like a vulgar sausage roll. One which demands that you embrace any vulgarity after the very first bite!

We are asked for the recipe constantly. Here you go…

Shooter's Roll from our M&S cook book

Smoked Salmon and Dill Quiche/Tart/Thing Not - by a long shot - the last Delia recipe you will find here!

Coronation Chicken No idea (recollection of) which recipe we used. Perhaps something close to the ‘original’. You surely have your own favourite. It’s been tweaked for decades!

Black Forest Pavlova Three words which say, “EAT ME!”

Terrine of Summer Fruits From ‘Delia Smith’s Summer Collection’ Made by us since 1993 when the book of the TV series first appeared - a book which was reprinted twelve times in that year!

Deep Lemon Tart With cream to counteract that awfully sharp lemon attack! #winkemoji

Wimbledon Cheesecake This was a baked variety which followed swiftly on from the second time Andy Murray had lifted ‘The All England Lawn Tennis Club Single Handed Championship of the World’ trophy ten days before. Sorbet, ice cream and meringues* were all there if needed to help this go down the better. Ooh, oooh, I made two out of three of those!
*’Merigues’ according to our typo label!

Just ‘cake’ to finish.
My rich fruit cake richly decorated by Mrs Cheoff. Mrs Cheoff’s sponge cake with a restrained seasonal ‘coronet’.

Rather like the aftermath of Christmas cooking, our anniversary efforts for family and friends left us with extras which lasted well beyond the day itself.

Other options - outside caterers, hospitality venues and the like - were available. We chose the cheaper and totally daft alternative. Without any regrets. All the work put in had left us a little weary but, rather like the effort put into our forty (and a bit) year relationship, a tiredness overlaid with huge satisfaction and happiness. With hardly any regrets!
-xx-

Savoury and Dessert labels by Mrs Cheoff

I'll drift off now into a reverie filled with nostalgia. I prefaced a short speech to our assembled guests by accessing and playing a recording of this piece of music. It's the tune to which Jan entered the church on our wedding day...

website http://www.gertvanhoef.nl/. Water Music of Wassermusik is een van de bekendste composities van Georg Friedrich Händel. Hij schreef deze in opdracht van een diplomaat, baron Von Kielmansegg, om op 17 juli 1717 uitgevoerd te worden ter gelegenheid van een boottocht op de Theems. 'Alla Hornpipe' een prachtig deel uit deze Watermusic, wordt hier uitgevoerd door Gert van Hoef tijdens zijn concert in Harlingen.

“Phwoooar!” he ejaculated.
(I do hope readers will recognise my old-fashioned turn of phrase. I remain a devotee of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Doctor Watson. And a permanently big fan of Mrs. G!)

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tags / ruby wedding, anniversary, buffet, Food, entertaining, feeding friends, celebration, Delia, recipes, main course, dessert, love, marriage

Ruby Wedding #2 Norfolk Preliminaries

September 20, 2016  /  Geoff Griffiths

Our celebration of so many (FORTY!) years of marriage started in June with a trip back to Norwich where Jan and I met. This could have involved a bit of soppy nostalgia but the city is so darned vibrant and interesting that, whenever we visit, we have no need to mush over student days. 
Instead we discover what has changed (Oswald Sebley Jewellers ceased trading a while ago) or what is brand new. We did include familiar ground by visiting the university campus. The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts opened four years after we left but we have explored it since and this time viewed the latest in a fine series of exhibitions which are aimed at distracting from the fabulous regular collection. 

It was terrific to see the Cartier-Bresson photographs lined up. Many of them are iconic images but having the chance to view them outside the pages of a printed book was refreshing.

The Giacometti 'Line Through Time' was our favourite of the two exhibitions. As a 'retired' history of art student, I found out much fresh information about an artist whose work, although comfortably familiar, had all sorts of nuances which had previously escaped me. Alberto's work is shown world-wide. You can see how transfixed Jan was by a quintet of the sculptor's figures when we walked round the Maeght Foundation seven years ago. I still insist that her expression here reveals a magnificent pout rather than a scowl.

Picture not taken in Norwich

At the Sainsbury Centre our visit was supplemented and enhanced by a hugely knowledgeable attendant. He also alerted me to a lovely publication, giving a fascinating, sometimes rambling, history of the building itself... on sale at a knock-down price in the SCVA shop.

Both exhibitions are finished now but the Centre, along with the rest of the city of Norwich will continue to offer lovely things for any visitor.

We had already tried one of the newest, loveliest things in Norwich last November.  We rounded off our summer 2016 trip with a revisit.

'Benedicts' is now a year old and has developed at breakneck speed into a compulsory place to book for anyone who loves great food. Our bill tells very little about the delights which we enjoyed a second time round. I will provide a link to my proper review as soon as it's ready. Suffice to say that, after making impressive first impressions back in November, the Bainbridge Brigade still managed to raise the bar with the quality of food and service.

We wandered around parts of the rest of the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and made good use of our National Trust membership. One of their properties proved to be the source of a special item which we took home. More of that in a future post.

We haven't had any break beyond five days so far this year but that's not been a bad thing. Spring in Barcelona was vibrant and intense. Different areas of Britain have provided new bursts of historical, artistic and geographical interest but Norwich will remain most likely to draw us back again soon. 

It's a great place to meet someone very special.

 

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tags / ruby wedding, Norwich, National Trust, SCVA, Norfolk, Benedicts, fine dining

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