It’s already a few days into August and I’m only just getting to my round-up. So many blogs, so little time, as ever! Despite that though, I’m happy to say I think I’ve given you guys a LOT of reading material in July. Some were things I did last month, some were meals that were long overdue being written up for you guys. Here we go:

Eating out in August

First up was my trip to Korean Restaurant Modu in Birmingham with my blogging pal Laura from Full to the Brum. It was my first Korean food experience and our seemingly endless (and wonderfully great value) banquet included these fab chicken wings. Don’t just trust me on that – Laura’s a chicken wing expert and she said they were great too. She knows these things.

For another feast, I headed to Rofuto which has been making waves for a few months now, for an adventure through some Izakaya-style Japanese food. From sushi and sashimi to Japanese fish and chips, sake and fine wine, and this sock-knocking-off black cod dish, it really was an experience you all should have.

I pretty much booked to go straight back as soon as my friend and I walked out the door so Mr M and I are off back to Rofuto this week for a special treat. Can’t wait to get his verdict.

Slightly closer to home, we took a few friends to another of one from the Peach Pubs stable, the Almanack in Kenilworth. Now, Mr M and I had enjoyed our visits to the Rose & Crown in Warwick and the Star & Garter in Leamington, but I think the Almanack was my fave.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was really impressed. The food was tasty and well-executed. Not necessarily incredibly complicated, but still with a bit of flair about it. They had a good selection of drinks, including some fab wines, and the service was bang on.

I also finally managed to write about Lasan in Birmingham, after making it there with our pals. We spent a lovely Friday night there and, after about an hour struggling to decide between the tasting menu and the a la carte option, working our way through some of the popular starters and main courses on the latter.

The winners of the night were both one of our friend’s choices, and the softshell crab starter and Balmoral venison main course were really rather impressive. Mr M and I are quite keen to return to try the tasting menu, as we’re pretty sure there will be a few things on there that we wouldn’t usually order.

Doing this blogging and writing stuff, I do get the chance to have some awesome experiences, and one was trying out a new tasting menu that Rhubarb, the caterers at Goodwood Racecourse, came up with ahead of ‘Glorious Goodwood’ to mark more than 200 years of racing history.

It was a rather special afternoon of elegant dishes inspired by some of the food that people would have eaten at Goodwood over the last two centuries, and just a little taster of the kind of great stuff you can get if you go there now for a day at the races. Here’s the salmon course – how pretty is that!

Another little surprise was our trip to the White Horse in Balsall Common, where we took my mother-in-law on her first blogging meal. Again, I was pretty impressed. There were some interesting dishes using slightly out-of-the-ordinary ingredients (I’d never had ‘fregula’ before, have you?) and the service was good. Oh, and they did glittery prosecco! It might not be somewhere for a special occasion or a detour, but if you’re in the area, definitely worth a look.

Eating in

I know, it looks like we only ate out in fancy places all month, but I must remind you that not ALL of the above meals were eaten in July (although there were some others that I’m yet to blog about 😉 ). Seriously though, I did do a bit of cooking. I whipped up some healthy prawn skewers using Hellman’s new churrasco barbecue sauce in honour of the Olympics, and they were pretty darn good.

If you follow me on social media, you’ll also have seen that we whipped up a feast for some friends who visited at the weekend. I haven’t blogged about it, but it all went rather well. Homemade Friday night ‘build your own’ sliders with Aubrey Allen minced beef, eggs royale to which we managed to forget to add the poached eggs. And the piece de resistance, Saturday’s feast of grilled oysters, herb-crusted rack of lamb, and dark chocolate tart with salt flakes. All washed down with some fab wines, of course.

And last, but certainly not least, I finally managed to tell you all about our food-filled holiday to Kefalonia. Lots of sitting around, lying around, wandering around, with fabulous food at every turn. We did manage a bit of exploring so if you haven’t made it to Kefalonia yet and are thinking about it, check out my best for a little taster of what you’re missing. That’s if these pictures of beaches, seafood and swimming pools don’t tempt you.

Other stuff

You know there’s always stuff going on in the background. More I’ve been doing, more I’ve been writing, and plenty more I’ve been planning.

I was back on the radio again this month doing the newspaper review on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire, and I’ve also started writing for the fab magazine site Belle About Town. You’ll see me popping up there once a month with a little foodie round-up in and around London, and further afield.

I’ve also been writing for Mode.com, including pieces such as – a Midlands shout-out, a salute to Birmingham, and a piece on why canned food might not actually be that bad for you.

Speaking of Canned Food, I even came up with a recipe that was featured on Canned Food UK, made mainly of things you’ve probably got in tins in your cupboard. And yes, it was rather tasty!

What’s coming up in August?

So, in short, it’s been rather busy on the old blogging, writing, eating front. And there’s tonnes more to come and tonnes more to write. I’m yet to tell you all about foodie trip to the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall, and in August we’re off back down that way, no doubt for more tasty treats. I’ve already kicked off the month with a great bloggers event at Itihaas in Birmingham and this weekend Mr M and I are off to try the Highfield Townhouse in Birmingham.

Plus, there are a few little things in the pipeline that I’ll tell you about as soon as I can.

In short, watch this space peeps! And keep on eating!

xxx

As you probably know by now, some of the meals on this blog are complimentary. For full disclosure, read the individual posts where I tell you exactly what we paid for and what we didn’t.