Hello everyone,
Caroline Oldham
I hope you are all having a lovely Easter weekend and getting stuck into some chocolate, it will be gluten and dairy free for me so usually something dark. I promised you all I would report on my holiday from Thailand, unfortunately, we had to cancel our trip the day before due to some tragic and unexpected personal circumstances, everyone is safe which is the main thing and we are looking to rebook our holiday towards the end of the year so I will keep you updated.
I have a few delicious Easter recipes that I can share with you including this lovely gluten and dairy free chocolate cake. It is a great one if you have children as you can get them involved in the decorating. Easter is a great time to spend with the family so make the most of it.
http://blog.biteappy.com/blog/gluten-free-and-dairy-free-chocolate-cake/
A few tips for chocolate at Easter, there are some wonderful companies out there making delicious ranges of 'free from' chocolate, they all offer different things and are all different in terms of taste so you can always find one that suits you. My top three come from Moo Free (dairy free, gluten free, vegan and soya free), No Muu (dairy free, gluten free and vegan) and Essy & Bella (dairy free, gluten free and vegan).
They have fun shapes which are great if you are planning on doing an Easter egg hunt, no one needs to be left out this year. I remember Easter egg hunts so well from my childhood, it was always a big deal and was always so well thought out by the parents and a lot of fun, I hope to re-create the same experience when I have children.
Restaurant Hangout of the Week
On a recent trip to London, I managed to catch up with a friend for dinner in Central. She likes the finer food in life so she chose Novikov, a five-star restaurant with five-star prices I can assure you. The restaurant itself is split into two levels with two types of cuisine, Asian and Italian. We opted for the Asian side, the staff were very welcoming and we were quickly seated. I informed my waitress about my allergies and she was very helpful. Some of the menu is labelled with gluten free but they will be happy to adapt most dishes if they can.
I decided to go for the crab and avocado mayonnaise to start with which was so beautifully presented with edible flowers. The mayonnaise contains egg but had no dairy in it, so tasty and delicious. For the main course I had market fish which was lovely but eye watering expensive, they even cooked it in chickpea flour for me and served it will a delicious garlic mayonnaise. For dessert they had gluten free Blueberry cake on the menu, was nice to see that the chef was being adventurous with the puddings, not many people dare make gluten free cake!
Top Tip of the Week
If you struggle to find a restaurant that serves dairy free or lactose-free, remember you can always visit a vegan restaurant instead so make sure you don't limit yourself. To find the perfect restaurant visit the biteappy website or download the free app.
Tagged in Caroline Oldham