Posts by: Joff

Shipwrecked 2008

With the rain hammering it down outside it’s nice to be able to dream of a far away place where the sun beats down on white sandy beaches, with blue seas lapping at the shore. Add a sprinkling of beautiful people and you’re not far off Channel 4′s Shipwrecked reality TV series which has just returned for the 3rd time under it’s “Battle of the Islands” guise.

Since getting the V+ box, I’ve found my TV viewing habits a lot more selective, so I (thankfully) miss most of what T4 has to offer however I’ve always enjoyed Shipwrecked (what’s not to like about tanned girls in bikinis?) so will be adding this outing of Shipwrecked to series record.

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Hacienda Iara Organic Dark 100%

With the nation going crazy for Willie Harcourt-Cooze’s Venezuelan Black range of 100% chocolate (cacao), I thought it was odd that one of the UK’s more mainstream chocolatiers didn’t have a similar product that was pure chocolate without all the added sugar and fats.

To my surprise, a recent browse through the Hotel Chocolat website found just the product I was looking for – Hacienda Iara Organic Dark 100%. Ok, the name is a bit long winded but if it’s like the other products in the Hotel Chocolat range, every vowel and consonant will be worth it.
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A long, long weekend

Frosties kidIt seems like we booked it ages ago but come Monday, I’ll be jetting off to sunny Dubai and then onto India for two weeks of doing absolutely naff all.

Well, that and sampling the cuisine, sitting out in the sun whilst blighty suffers from yet more snow/rain/floods/wind.

It’s going to be grrreat!

Venezuelan Black Chocolate Recipes

Since my earlier post on Willie Harcourt-Cooze’s chocolate exploits proved so popular I thought it would be appropriate to post up some of the recipes mentioned in the Channel 4 TV show including the much sought-after, Venezuelan Black Chocolate truffles!

All of these Venezuelan Black recipes are currently available on the Channel 4 website, however I’ve taken the liberty to post them here too should the link to the recipes page change.

Wondering where to buy Venezuelan Black Chocolate? Well Selfridges are the “official” stockist and they offer a mail order service but they’re out of stock as the time of writing this so some enterprising souls have listed bars of the lovely 100% cacao on eBay too.

…whichever you choose, the food you make is going to be chocolate heaven!

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Edoya Noodle Bar Review

On a busy Saturday afternoon in the middle of Peterborough city centre, where the order of the day is a greasy burger and people just a few doors down are queuing into the street to get a “French” sandwich and a cup of tea, I’m sitting with the girlfriend in a bustling Edoya hidden away down Wentworth Street.

I’ve blogged about this Japanese noodle bar and sushi restaurant before but this time I managed to tear myself away from the food just long enough to take a photo of my meal so that I can share it with all of you.

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Dodo Juice Supernatural – The Ultimate Wax?

When you hear that Dom at Dodo Juice has created a high end car wax and that it’s called Supernatural, you just know it’s going to be bloody good, but in typical crazy dodo style, they’ve gone one further and created a highly desirable product not just for it’s impeccable list of ingredients but because it’s the complete high end wax package.

With all their new paint cleaners and shampoos you wouldn’t have thought they had enough time to worry about waxes but Dodo Juice are dedicated and wouldn’t let a little thing like time get in their way.

This limited availability wax will compete directly with high end waxes that are so prestigious within the car detailing industry I can’t mention their names for fear of lawyers hunting me down.

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Venezuelan Black Chocolate

Any TV addict out there will probably be suffering from an intense chocolate craving right about now thanks to one Wonky Willie and his slightly crazy mission to bring the ultimate cacao to the UK.

I’m not convinced that chocolate as an ingredient is right for most meals although anyone that’s watched an episode of the Channel 4 series Willies Wonky Chocolate Factory will testify, most of the show revolves around Willie Harcourt-Cooze adding helpings of his Venezuelan Black chocolate stuff into just about every meal of the day.

But is he just adding chocolate for the sake of adding chocolate? With a strap line of “From bean to bar”, the series shows the Harcourt-Coozes travelling from the UK to Venezuela, to their Hacienda farm.
Update!!  Chocolate Factory cookbook now available!

Since originally writing this article, I’ve discovered Willie’s released his own cookery book titled Willie’s Chocolate Factory Cookbook.  Combining biographical content with recipes and such, the book will battle for a place on both your coffee table and in the kitchen!  My personal favourite is the Chicken Mole recipe which reminds me of when the Hairy Bikers visited Mexico.  Lets hope Willie will put his name to more books and start a series on cooking with his chocolate.

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Automotive Photography

As a web developer, I never claim to be at the forefront of cutting edge website design but I know what I like and what (I think) works.

When one of my projects needed some nifty automotive photography, I knew it had to be something a bit special. The first thing I did was head over to iStockphoto and stock.xchng to see if anything met the bill, which as per usual didn’t because I wasn’t looking for American cars or garish hatchbacks with spoilers on spoilers.

So with all my freeloading sources exhausted, I got in touch with an automotive photographer I’ve used in the past up in Glasgow and gave him the brief.
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