dessert

Cambridge – 12 New Food Discoveries

| Emma Louise

Every time I go back home to Cambridge I love to visit my old favourites, obviously, but I also really enjoy trying new places and dishes too.

I always make a list of places that have opened that have tempted me to try, or recommendations from friends, or even places that are others’ tried and tested favourites that I haven’t had the chance to visit yet.

2018 was a good year of new food for me and although there was more than there is on this list, I’ve rounded it out to 12 of them. Plus, I’ve also added one of my boyfriend’s new favourites that he genuinely couldn’t get enough of while we were there. I’d like to say that a couple of these places are not new discoveries, but the dishes are and they just had to be shared. Continue reading →

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

| Emma Louise

Wow, so this week is a week celebrating the strongest women we know. All of us.

Yes. Today is International Women’s Day, when we as women, alongside continuously campaigning for equality and rights, can be celebrated, in all our walks of life, whatever we choose to do. However, this Sunday in the UK is Mother’s Day, when we say thank you to those specific women in our lives, our amazing mums, for all the work they’ve done for us over the years. And I do think that this Bill Granger recipe lends itself to an amazing Mother’s Day pressie. It’s handmade with love from you to her, plus they’re damn delicious. And who doesn’t like cookies?

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District Edit – Miraflores Highlights

| Emma Louise

This is the first neighbourhood guide for my favourite locations in Lima and it’s all about the tourist friendly, foodie district of Miraflores. There are so many amazing places to see here, so the list is pretty long. However, there are always places for me to add as new places pop up, so don’t forget to check back!

This guide partners with my list on Google Maps, ‘Distrcit Edit – Miraflores’ and it just explains my choices in slightly more detail and shares any extra information I may have written previously. Links for the different locations are available through the map. I hope this helps give you some inspiration for your next trip to Miraflores!

This is the link to the map to check out my recommendations and their location – https://www.google.com/maps/placelists/list/1BGz-v0YZ6RQLcsXJd8nL8y3ODLQ

These locations have been added to the list in no particular order…

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Peruvian Desserts – Torta de Chocolate

| Emma Louise

dolce cakeThis is not technically a specifically Peruvian dessert, however you won’t find a pasteleria here in Lima without their version of chocolate cake. Also, you might have heard that cacao here is a big deal so, you know, it’s only fair to include the cake in my list of Peruvian desserts. Oh, and I love chocolate cake.

Are you, like me, one of those people that always has hope at any parties or weddings that you attend that the cake is going to be a chocolate one? Yeah, thought so.

Chocolate cake here in Peru comes in many forms. From a two or three layer dense and sticky cake to a one layer chocolate packed wonder. From a manjar blanco-y (that is a word btw), fudgy icing, to a simple chocolate ganache. And just about everything in between. Oh yes, everything. On the bad side, I’ve eaten chocolate cake that just tasted of cake….no chocolate, just cake. On the positive, some bakeries like to twist it up a notch adding truffles, liqueurs, and other fancy items, which do not often disappoint.

However, I have decided that for my recommendations I want to focus on the old favourite of chocolate cake + icing. Now in my search for said perfect cake, I have found that there were certain criteria.

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Peruvian Desserts – Suspiro de Limeña

| Emma Louise

Maga....mis suspirosSuspiro de Limeña (or Limeño, or without the ‘de’, or with ‘a la’ instead of ‘de’, etc …..) literally translates as ‘sigh of a Limeña’, (Limeña meaning a woman from Lima). I’m not sure where the name comes from but I think it’s quite beautiful and original!

The dessert is made up of two parts. The top is a soft meringue (think Italian meringue) flavoured delicately with port, and the bottom is a base of manjar blanco (a caramel made from milk and sugar) mixed with egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla.

It is a very sweet dessert. No joke.

I actually really, really love the soft, fluffy meringue that sits on the top. It is definitely my favourite part and I probably could just eat a bowl of that. Isn’t it amazing what egg whites become when they are whisked, with a little sugar, to within an inch of their lives!

The dessert in general is scrumptious, but I am super fussy with the particular ones that I will eat. Although, essentially, this dessert is made from  milk, I do not much like the taste of it, and therefore do not like tasting milk in my desserts. In addition to this, a shortcut to make manjar blanco is to boil condensed milk  until it becomes manjar, but the taste of condensed milk is a million times worse than regular milk. For me, a good manjar blanco shouldn’t taste like condensed milk, and therefore neither should any dessert with it in. Therefore, I am always super happy when I find a suspiro that fits the bill!

Here is a list of some of the best in the city that I have tasted so far, but I’m sure there are many more yet to be tested!

Where would I recommend in Lima to eat Suspiro de Limeña?

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Sunday Lunch // La Vista at JW Marriott

| Emma Louise

Sunday lunches are my kind of lunches. Long, lazy and with a lot of food.

And at The Marriott, ‘a lot of food’ is just what they’re offering.

The Marriott Hotel is situated just behind the Malecon (the path that follows the clifftop) and Larcomar shopping centre in Miraflores, and their restaurant ‘La Vista’ has beautiful views of the ocean in front of it.

sparkles and the view

La Vista has 4 types of buffet throughout the week; breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea (amazing) and a Sunday lunch buffet.

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Sunday Lunch // Tanta

| Emma Louise

Sundays are days for relaxing.

Days for Skype-ing. For eating. For drinking. And then later, for lying in bed with Netflix.

I love Sundays. And I love Tanta.

Tanta sign
tanta entrance

 Tanta is one of Gaston Acurio’s restaurant chains, with a few branches within Lima and Peru, and then the rest dotted across the globe, even as far afield as Barcelona. For those who may not know, Gaston is an ambassador for Peruvian cuisine and has helped to promote it, alongside other chefs, all over the world. He has been a big influence in Peru gaining worldwide accolades for their incredible food scene, both in the restaurants and the raw ingredients that are produced here.

Tanta serves typical, traditional Peruvian (or Peruvian fusion) cuisine, but often in a modern way. However, just because Tanta was started by Gaston and is very fresh and modern, does not mean the restaurant is overly fancy or expensive. The dishes here are not tiny morsels in the middle of large plates, which is obviously perfect for me, and the prices are so reasonable (main dishes are between S/25 and S/50).

tanta inside

Due to the fact that it is summer in Lima, restaurants are normally fairly empty as everyone heads to the nearby beaches. However, arriving at 2pm, we found Tanta its normal, popular, busy self.

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