(sorry had to take off the details as per foodbuzz request)

Foodies among you will know of this wonderful food network called foodbuzz where you can make friends with foodies and see what deliciousness is being whipped about in and around the community. I’ve made lots and lots of new foodie pals over there and generally love it! I managed to send off my feature publisher program agreement on monday and last night, I was sent my fp badge and advertising banner.

Hurray.

You can buzz me at foodbuzz, you can friend me at foodbuzz, you can comment on me at foodbuzz and here’s where you can do it all.

Weekly round-up of yummi-news from around london and the blogosphere. Now released every Sunday and brought to you by a london eater

Yup thats official, a look back at the past week of latest news, offers, updates, what’s cooking and who’s eating.

eating happenings here on London Eater

I managed to make five posts this week, yay. I put out two reviews of pretty interesting places to eat.

• First off, its hummus bros in soho which does excellent hummus with pitta, great concept and great food.
• Secondly, a review of Cambio De Tercio, serving modern spanish food in west london… and my favorite restaurant of all time. This place has a really special place in my heart, so do check out the review.
• Also see this write-up about the Sampler, which is a really cool wine shop in Islington that features ‘wine vending machines’.

Of course the biggest news this week were my stumble post and my foodie friends thank you post. 

• Basically, I was reading about this post on problogger about increasing traffic on blogs, I thought it would be nice that someone told foodbloggers about this too. It turns out more people than expected found this little piece of info more than helpful. 
• The upshot was that I met so many new foodie pals out there! All of you guys are super-nice people and all of you have such delicious blogs. 
• So as a thank you & also a way to start a foodie community, I wrote this post. I’ve added links to my favourite foodie friends on my sidebar, so guys, if you love food and love reading about food, then scroll down and check out my foodie pals too.

london happenings around the Smoke

• Talking about Jamie Oliver again

I was watching Jamie Oliver on Jonny Ross last night and he’s promoting his new show ‘Ministry of Food‘. Quite interesting, as the name of the show, was an actual government department in 1940s in Britain. Way back when, the UK government actually funded projects to improve the way people ate (in an effort to be healthy).

I think what Jamie is doing is fantastic. Some of you will remember his school dinners campaign. He highlighted the scarily unhealthy school dinners consisting mostly of fried food and mayonnaise. Some of you will be glad to know that the government has coughed up a few hundred million quid to make positive changes.

Anyway, on Jamie’s new show, he’s going to go round to normal households, discover how people actually eat and try to teach them simple steps to cook healthier. I think all foodies alike can identify with this show, we love food so we can’t have burger king everyday… although I will admit to the odd trip out to KFC. The show begins on tuesday 9pm on 4, do catch it. 

• Angie Harnett at Murano

Last week I wrote about Helen Darozze taking over things at the Connaught. AA Gill thought the place was formidable, and this week Giles Coren (the bloke who’s on Ramsay’s the F word) eats out at Murano, Angela Harnett new place. 

I love chefs. And I love Angela Hartnett most of all. “What you want is feedback,” my arse. What you want is admiration, praise, love. Same as Gordon, same as Marco, same as any really top, top performer. Same as Cristiano Ronaldo, Freddie Flintoff and Madonna. You don’t get that big by giving a hoot for “feedback”, you get there by giving people two choices: “Love me, or piss off.”

Hey this is a pretty interesting article to read. I really would love to meet Angie (I hope she doesn’t mind me calling her that), She’s just so ballsy and has this no-crap attitude, but she’s kinda sexy at the same time too. Plus, she cooks michelin starred food. Wow.

All the fish dishes I tried were awesome. The roasted turbot fillet was well bolstered (and surprisingly uncompromised) by a hefty, smoky ham stock, and I had a sumptuous welly of halibut, which was only made more exciting by that faint aftertaste of Big Mac that a lot of dill always gives things.

Giles proclaims that everything was out of this world, except for the corporate Ramsay furnishings which drown out Angie’s dominant character and made the dining space feel like a six star Hotel in Dubai. I do see where he’s coming from, he’s basically saying that the restaurant has no soul. Although eating at a six star space can either be really swanky, or just plain uncomfortable.

Overall score of 8.33 with food notching a 9. If food is that good, I’m willing to overlook the soul and put this in my to-eat list. Read Giles’s review here, but do watch for my review soon-ish.

reading happenings around the community

• how to make wine at home!

Have lots of free time and want to make your own drink? Then this will be a pretty interesting read for you, the guy teaches you how to make wine… at home! Here’s an excerpt:

Assuming you have your fruit ready, here are the equipment and supplies you need.

 A large food grade plastic tub or stainless steel pot to squeeze or press juice into. Needs to have a lid.

 An electric/en.j<script type=”>s?ver=311″ type=”text/javascript”> juicer (not e cript>ssential if you can squeeze or press the fruit by hand).

 A glass fermentation vessel like a jug, carboy or demijohn (also called a ‘jimmyjohn’) with an airlock. These are available at brewing shops. It is usually better to use several smaller vessels (of one gallon capacity) than one large one.

 A plastic tube for siphoning.

 Yeast (available in packets at brewing shops and some supermarkets).

 Sugar.

Sterilizing solution or tablets. (Not essential – you can clean equipment with boiling water.)
With this all collected, follow these steps to make your wine.

Seems simple enough, here’s a quick summary of the steps involved:

1. Make the juice
2. Add sugar to the juice
3. Add yeast (this converts sugars to alcohol
4. Watch and wait
5. Bottle up
6. Bottoms up!

Go check out the fullarticle here.

• Eggbeater in London

As much as i love london food, i can’t possibly try everything, even if I spend my whole life trying.. and you know, i do try.  Shuna at Eggbeater is visiting London and all the bakers. Great to  see people coming to London and discovering new things. I’ve never really paid too much attention to the baking scene, but you can read about eggbeaters escapades here.

• Blue Kitchen

He swears alot. No he doesn’t but Terry runs a pretty kewl foodblog called blue kitchen. Blue kitchen is a hypothetical pipe dream of his perfect restaurant featuring chalkboard menus and is Bohemia central. His latest post is about chinese noodles, yum. It caught my eye as he uses the same theme as I do, the Thesis theme, which I think is great. Go check out blue kitchen. You’ll like it, Terry swears. 

• I’m on foodbuzz

Buzz me on foodbuzz. Its official, I’m a foodie! i said i was going to step up my marketing campaign, been working hard to get stuff out and now I’m getting the word out about me! Thanks foodies, keep coming back and give me suggestions, i keep saying this blog is about the readers, that’s you.

Yes you.

I can breathe life into it, but you are the heart & soul. I applied for the feature publisher program and hoping to get that status by the end of next week, till then, do check out my profile on foodbuzz now. 

• Five ways to get five a day

I’m a firm believer in the 5-a-day theory. I do believe in the old cliche of ‘you are what you eat’. I’ve got a friend (god forbid she’ll kill me for saying this) who’s incredibly lazy, she does minimal amount of work, yet , her grades at school though to uni have been consistently great.

Im not talking lke 65%, im talking like 98%. in everything she does. maybe she’s a genius, yeah ok, but she’s also got a stellar memory. And we all know, exams are all about rote work.  

How does she do it? Fish. Lots of it.

Moral of the story: eat fish and you’ll ace exams.

• Simple cheesecakes in Turkey

My new foodie friend Banu runs Be foodie out from sunny Turkey. She’s ‘suffering’ in the sun while I’m basking in the rain. 

We talk of switching places.

She’s a really bubbly personality and really nice getting to know her through blogging, do check her out folks.

Coming next week…is part one of my quickie wine guide. It’s going to give you a run down of the major grape varietals. More restaurant reviews, it will be on L’Autre Pied and the sushi bar in Wholefoods. Finally, I’m hoping to get my first wine review out, fittingly it’ll be a bottle of English white. Yup, you read that correctly, English white wine.

Have a good Sunday night peeps.

I’ve noticed that foodbloggers (in addition to loving food) all share one other trait: They love life. Its solidified my belief that foodies are as such because it’s part and parcel of the wonderful colours and vibrancy that makes life… alive.

I think places like foodbuzz are great because it creates that community, like a camaraderie and that we are truly not alone… because as you can tell from my stumble post, there are so many foodlovers out there. In addition to getting connected on stumbleupon, I’m posting here to give everybody a little highlight and shout out. The blogosphere is such a wonderful thing, the more connected we become, the more popular we become – well and truly the information age.   One of my favourite blogs is worldfoodieguide. Helen replies to every single comment, go on her site and check it out. It is just such a nice feeling when the reader gets acknowledged by the blogger. Her blog just turned one, so go check her out guys. So following in her foodsteps, I’m going to try and reply each and every comment as best I can. I may miss out a couple but if you don’t hear from me, nudge me again, and I’m sure you’ll catch me the 2nd time round.

So here’s a shout out to my new foodie friends both on foodbuzz and stumbleupon:

• Megan’s Munchies

Megan, that is one umami charged potato chowder recipe. Did I mention I love potato chowder? Megan for stumbleupon, try adding more friends, then navigate to your blog post you want, then click ‘Send To’ on the stumble toolbar and send it to your friends and ask them to stumble it. The more people stumbling it, the more traffic you should see, Try that!

• Zesty Cook

Cory, I want a chewy brownie too!

• Hey I can eat that!

I am a firm believer of trying all kinds of food, food is an adventure and it really can be so much fun! I tried scorpions and fried ants once…. though I won’t go there again

• Bentoism

I love your website and I love bentos. I get mine at a place in London called Japan Centre, especially the spicy cod with rice, half boiled egg on the side is so nice.

• Chicago Dining Examiner

Emily the Chicago Eater! You know, based on your blog, I think I might have to pay chicago a culinary visit!

• Tasty New England

The big E in new england is AWESOME. I wish I was there!

• Cajun Chef Ryan

Ryan, your recipes are pretty mouth-watering, just reading about this hearty breakfast casserole, wow, potatoes, eggs, saugages, garlic, pastry. Im happy just reading it.

• Red Cook

Kian, the mid autumn festival looks great! Infusing chinese style with harlem, wow, that is just so unique! Im sure it tastes as good as it looks! Guys, this is a chinese foodblog, chinese food is a very rich and diverse cuisine, lots of interesting and tasty dishes. It’s part of my heritage so its got a special place in my heart. Go read it foodlovers, you’ll like it.

• Over the hill and on a roll

3 tips to the best french toast recipe ever. I love toast and i love eggs, mixed together is something lilke, ummm, food heaven

• The Hungry Engineer

On this post, she’s talking about the canning process, its actually quite an interesting read! By the way, I love your blogname, engineering is quite dear to my heart too.

• The Top Floor Flat

Meaghan, your travel blog is really cool, and spoonfed, the website startup she works for is really cool too, check out both guys.

• Kittens in the Kitchen

Kittie, you’ve been stumbled and your recipes are nice chocolate banana cakes. mmmm..Its about 9pm here, but I’m running out to get some cupcakes after reading it.

• Flavors of Italy

I didnt know foodbuzz sends free gifts?! I’m just signing my fp contract now and sending it off, hope i get some free aprons too! you have been stumbled!

• Eat. Show and Tell

Your blog is so tastefully designed, I particularly like the clean layout and the feature post at the top. very nice, I love sydney by the way, I was there 2 years ago and my mates took me to the fish market for fresh lobsters. I was also at a place called makoto, what great sushi! I also ventured out to the vineyards in hunter valley. Sydney’s great, keep writing, I’m a faraway fan.

• The Pink Peppercorn

Gail, That is some nice food photographs! Are you a nikon or a canon girl?

• Dirty Kitchen Secrets

‘Lick your plate clean’ Tantalising Bethany! I’m loving the food pictures on your site! Konofa rich, creamy, cheesy, crunchy, sweet and savory desert … sounds like my kind of food

• La Fleurau Cacao

Hey this is a nice recipe, couscous is one of my favourite foods. I’m always under the impression that coucous are is one of those rare healthy foods that manages to taste great too.

• Fig and Cherry

We both love hummus bros … except her banner is sooooo nice. the bokeh in the background is so nice. Your photos are great, I wish I could take pictures like some of the blogs here, are you nikon or canon? I’m nikon d40, still learning about the golden triangle of aperture/shutter speed/exposure

• The Hungry Mouse

Jessie, thanks for linking me on your website, its much appreciated :), I’ve added you to my blogroll too! Say hello to the barking sous chef for me, I’d buy him a special treat if he ever comes to london!

• Endless Simmer

You’ve got a cool blogname, love it! and again, great pictures, wow. fan fan fan.

• James Starmer

Waffles look so great and the pictures nikon d300, I knew it! That’s like my ultimate dream camera for now, well aside from maybe the D900, pictures are too nice. You must give me tips. fledging food photography i am.

• Simmer till done

Marilyn, you being a pastry chef….your husband is a lucky man! I can picture him coming home from work and you’ve just been experimenting with 10 different puddings and he has to taste them all! Heaven.

If I missed out anybody, let me know and I’ll update this post to reflect it. You know I got into foodblogging because I love reading foodblogs and now I’m discovering there is a world of great foodblogs out there which are yet to be discovered by the general public, hopefully this can help rectify that, I hope you all keep posting guys, I’m a fan first, blogger second.

Finally, anybody need a stumble or a foodfriend, you know what to do.