Coffee and doughnuts, what could be better first thing on a morning. Well, what about coffee in a doughnut?
The latest in culinary fusion masterpieces. Hollow a doughnut out, coat the insides with Nutella and then fill with a small latte.
They were launched in Australia by the folks at Kenilworth Bakery Though no doubt thet will spread around the globe like wildfire.
We are in the process of building a new coffee van, this time based on a vintage Citroen Acadiane van. We wanted to give this more of a 1970’s vibe so commissioned the rebuild of a vintage Cimbali lever pull espresso machine to fit in with the ‘vibe’.
We also needed a new coffee grinder and wanted a more utilitarian looking grinder to go with this. The modern stuff is all flashing lights and in built computers, we wanted something that looked, well, a bit more solid.
Some one recommended the German brand Mahlkönig. After a brief look online, it looked solid enough to fit the bill, and came with a fabulous recommendation. So we bought one.
Jeez, when I actually went to collect it I was stunned. This wasn’t just solid. This was the King Tiger Tank of grinders. I think it is actually heavier than the single group coffee machine we are having refurbed.
You have to actually see this in the flesh to appreciate just how friggin big it actually is.
The company was founded in Hamburg in 1924. Initially it concentrated on the production of electric motors. But in the 60’s made the decision to concentrate on the production of coffee grinders.
The company rapidly established an enviable reputation for quality coffee grinders, leading up to its present day position as one of the market leaders.
Anyway stay tuned for images of our little red coffee van as it is due to be launched in the next few weeks.
10 March is national popcorn lovers day in the UK. The legendary snack which is a mainstay of cinema’s the world over.
The earliest evidence of fossils in Peru suggests that humans have been popping corn since 4700B.C. Which must make it one of the oldest continuous snack foods in existence.
In the modern era they were popped on stoves, until the creation of Charles Cretors steam powered popcorn cart in 1880, which commercialised the process.
During the great depression, popcorn was so cheap that it became a massive seller. Indeed many farmers switched production to corn to take advantage of this. When WW2 rationing cut down on candy production, popcorn sales tripled. It’s initial introduction into movie theatres wasn’t welcomed by the owners, who felt it distracted from the films.
This changed however when they realised the profitability of it. The 1938 installation in to Dickinson’s theaters by the owner Glen W. Dickinson Sr. of popcorn machines led to the realisation that he could earn more from selling corn than tickets for the film. He eventually began buying up popcorn farms, and reduced the price of his tickets to get more people in to eat his corn.
Whether you like it sweet or salty, we can provide a fabulous popcorn service for any event. Happy popcorn lovers day.
It’s National Strawberry Day. Nothing screams British summertime like the clocks going forward, rain, Wimbledon and strawberries and cream.
Those little red fruits, bursting with juice. Perfect with sugar, cream and even chocolate. A strange fact is that despite the name, they are not actual berries. They are part of the Rose family.
Legend has it that if you split a strawberry in half, and share it with someone you are interested in, they will fall in love with you. The juice can also be used to sooth sunburn and whiten your teeth.
One of our most versatile fruits, being used in cakes, ice cream, milkshakes, jams, yoghurts, even alcoholic cocktails.
The garden strawberry, which is what we tend to eat. Was first bred in Brittany France in the 1750s. The fruit was a cross of two species, one from North America, and the other a variety introduced from Chile at the start of the 18th Century.
The fruit was however grown for hundreds of years before this. Ancient Roman literature mention the fruit, as do texts from numerous other European countries. And natives in Chile were cultivating the fruit long before producing the variety used in the garden strawberry.
The famous tennis championship at Wimbledon is known worldwide for its thrilling matches and classic games. It is also known for the 28 tonnes of strawberries covered in 7,000 litres of cream that is munched through every year.
There is no definite answer to why this is a tradition. Historians think that it was started by Thomas Wolsey, a powerful figure in King Henry VIII’s court. He held a banquet in 1509 where strawberries were served. This was unusual at the time, as dairy products were viewed as a food for the peasants. It just so happened that Wolsey’s palace, Hampton Court, had its own tennis court, where strawberries and cream was served to the spectators. So legend has it that the dish became associated with the game.
Of course the more boring explanation is that when the tournament began, strawberries happened to be in season, and were in fashion in Victorian England. So it was a natural treat to partake in.
A fact about Wimbledon is that all of the strawberries are grown in the South of England. Many regard Wimbledon as being almost tennis in an English country garden.
During the pandemic when the tournament was cancelled, part of the crop was turned into jam. I suppose a version of when life gives you lemons make lemonade.
Cream is still our most requested topping, but we can supply strawberries with chocolate (milk, white, dark or coloured), ice cream and custard. A great summertime treat for your guests or clients, especially around Wimbledon time.
So happy National Strawberry Day
Enjoy our candy floss infographic, with some fun facts and figures about everyone, young and old’s favourite treat.
If you are looking to hire a candy floss cart let us know.
December is usually our busiest month, by quite a margin. This year it got even bigger. We picked up a contract with Amazon to provide their Peak Treats service.
Basically it consisted of visiting 70 Amazon’s in 4 countries over 6 weeks, dispensing over 66000 Salted Pretzels and 15,000 litres of mulled wine (Non alcoholic sadly)
So how did it go. On the surface all serene and everyone happy.
Underneath, our usual paddling madly like ducks to make it look all serene.
We were notified that we had won the tender for the event. However we had to provide a sample of the food and drink for a company tasting. So obviously we didn’t want to start spending money on stock etc until after the tasting just in case it all went Pete Tong.
Happily they loved the items on the tasting and everything was finally signed off, 8 days before we were due to begin. This meant we have roughly a week to design and build 6 new mini Christmas huts for the job. To buy and take delivery of high capacity boilers and pretzel warming cabinets, new mains, obtain enough stock and and sort out freezer facilities for tens of thousands of pretzels.
Luckily the local fabricator we use was a bit quiet on the work front. So we nipped some spare steel we had up to him and talked him through fabricating the frame we needed. This took best part of a day. Fortunately the cover guy we had found was in the vicinity that afternoon so he called and measured up for the covers we needed and promised to have them ready for Sunday teatime (The job started Monday morning gulp).
A quick trip to the woodyard to have the counters made, and then the paint shop to pick up our new favourite product Raptor with which to coat the steel. Nigel promised to have all the steel work ready for mid week so things were on track. Our resident wood guy measured up for the wooden panels we needed and promised to have them by Sunday as well.
We priced up a freezer trailer hire for the pretzels, but quickly worked out we could buy a second hand unit cheaper than hiring one, so that’s what we did. It was delivered about an hour before our first delivery of pretzels, so just in time, but hey, it was there. This proved to be a godsend. Not just for the pretzels, but a number of other jobs where we usually ended up disposing of stock, we suddenly found we had the storage capacity to keep it, so win win all around.
The pretzels came from a company we have used in the past who import them directly from Germany. The mulled wine was sourced initially from a localish company, which was handy, the problem was they only did them in bottles. So for the initial batch I ordered a thousand bottles. We went in one of our vans to collect the order. 2 pallets worth. The fork lift driver rubbed his beard, “Whats the payload of this van”.
“About a 1.2 tonne I think”, I replied.
“Ahh well 2 pallets is 1.2 tonne mate, and you too will take it a little over”
Oh FFS. “It’ll be OK, stick them in”
Only it wasn’t, once they were in the van towbar was touching the floor. Turns out that particular van was only a 1 tonne payload. We had to take one out and make another sodding trip. After that we sourced an alternative that came in 10 litre drums and was delivered direct to our yard.
The equipment we sourced started out pretty well. And worked pretty well for about a fortnight. Then the warming cabinets started blowing the electric at random times. Turns out they have a design fault. The U shaped heating element in the bottom expands as it heats up. As it expands it rubs against the ide of the cabinet. Luckily it is insulated. Unluckily continued rubbing removes the insulation and then blows the electric. Quick work bending the ends of the element sorted that out.
I had all 3 of our vans serviced before we started thinking this would ensure everything was OK. Only true to form Murphy bit us twice.
On the very first day the van i was driving suddenly flashed up a warning that it was no longer charging the battery half way to the site at Rugeley. Now having owned Citroen Dispatches for a number of years I know that a failed alternator or snapped fan belt doesn’t damage the engine. I also knew from past experience that as the battery voltage dropped the van computer would start to shut systems down.
Sure enough ten mile from the destination, just as I hit twisty windy country roads, the electrically assisted power steering shut down. Followed by brake assistance, lights, indicators etc.
I actually got to the venue, pulled into the usual parking bay and applied the handbrake just as the engine shut down, phew.
Now the important thing was we had got there. Getting home should have been a problem, but one of our staff, Fred, had been late getting to work. So in temper he was told he was going to have to drive his own van and meet me at the job. So we had a spare van to tow me back.
The same sodding thing happened a week later with a totally different van. Only this time it was at Dunfermline in Scotland. This resulted in us having to call at Halfords and buy 2 new batteries so that we could keep changing them on the way home to keep the engine running.
Mentioning Fred, one of our regular staff members, we have officially changed his name to Frank Spencer (If you are too young to remember Frank, check him out here) . He left a trail of destruction throughout the duration of the contract. including;
Putting the plastic chocolate sauce bottles in the electric pretzel oven to warm them up. Cue an aroma of melted chocolate and plastic!
Faffing about with the gel packs in one of our ethanol gel pretzel warmers, managing to set his hand on fire, shaking it to get the burning gel off, and successfully setting fire to one of the brand new covers on our Christmas huts.
Deciding to move the fully loaded pretzel ovens on a job and forgetting to plug them back into the electric. Resulting in a panic to get everything warmed up in time of opening.
The only other real hiccup we had, was the fact that we would do an afternoon shift at Amazon, then go back for the evening shift. But for some reason, the night security never seemed to have been notified that we had been booked to do the job. Cue most evening trying to convince security to actually let us on site.
When you feel that urge to snack on something sweet, you know you’re in for a rough few hours. Sugar cravings can hit anytime, anywhere, and they can be intense. Instead of reaching for that bag of chips or cookies, try satisfying your sweet tooth with these helpful tips and helpful foods. Predominantly, when people say they have a sweet tooth, they mean that it is an intense and persistent craving for a sweet substance. Fortunately, you can healthily satisfy your sweet tooth, even by making small changes. Here are some helpful tips to help you do just that.
Foods are supposed to be enjoyed and part of an enjoyable meal. Chocolate is often enjoyed as a dessert and fruit or other healthy foods. If you do not enjoy sweet treats, you can always enjoy them in small amounts throughout the day rather than eating one big piece or bar of chocolate. You can also try eating dark chocolate, which contains more beneficial nutrients than milk chocolate and is known to help with weight loss and heart health. Ultra-chocolate brownies are also a healthier alternative to other sweet treats. Also, homemade brownies are a great way to satisfy your sweet tooth without the high sugar content of store-bought desserts and are often healthier.
If you have a sweet tooth, you must eat a healthy diet. Your body is made up of important nutrients and minerals, but it’s also made up of sugar. Sugar is an important nutrient for your body, but too much sugar can cause many problems for the body, like weight gain and heart disease. Eating healthy foods like fruit can help satisfy your sweet tooth without causing these problems. Eating fresh fruit will provide you with some nutrients and minerals to keep yourself healthy. It would help if you tried to eat fruits at least twice a day because they are so good for your body and delicious.
All kinds of things can cause your sweet tooth to go away, but nothing works better when it comes to water. The first step is to get yourself a water bottle and drink it all day long. Drinking water will help you feel full, so you won’t feel that intense urge to eat sweets. In addition, it will keep your body hydrated, which is important if you’re trying to lose weight.
If you have a sweet tooth and try to appease it, the best thing you can do is freeze some grapes. If you don’t like the taste of frozen grapes, try eating them after they’ve thawed or try them with a little bit of sugar. You can also try freezing strawberries and eat them as ice cream or add them to your smoothies. Also, if you have a sweet tooth, try eating some fresh fruit instead of sugary treats.
Brushing your teeth regularly is a great way to help keep your mouth healthy and clean. It also helps to remove plaque, a sticky substance that can cause dental problems. It is also a good idea to floss daily to prevent gum disease. In addition, flossing helps to remove the debris that can build up around your teeth, and it will help you keep them clean and healthy.
If you want to satisfy your sweet tooth, try some ice cream. You can choose from various flavours and types of ice cream, so there is bound to be something that will suit your tastes. When you sample some ice cream, you will notice how good it is. You will also get to try some new flavors that you may not have tried before. If you want to satisfy your sweet tooth healthily, try sampling some ice cream.
Dried dates are an excellent choice for people with a sweet tooth because of their high fiber content. Eating dried dates will keep your blood sugar levels steady, which will prevent you from having cravings for sweets. Dried dates are a great choice if you like to snack on nuts since they have the same crunchy texture as nuts. These tiny fruits are packed with nutrients and contain a healthy amount of fiber, so many people choose them to satisfy their sweet tooth.
The above tips are great ways to satisfy your sweet tooth healthily. Although you may feel tempted to eat sweets, you can always choose to satisfy your sweet tooth healthily. It is good to know that you can make healthy choices for your sweet tooth and have some fun. Hopefully, the above tips will help you have a happy and healthy sweet tooth.
Sports commentator and broadcaster Ian ‘Moose’ Abrahams has recently broke twitter with his latest weird food fetish tweet, about the filling he likes in his savoury crepes.
In the many years that we have been experienced crepe makers we have found that Nutella and strawberries or lemon and sugar are the top choices for sweet fillings and recently having offered savoury option cheese and ham or a tomato and pesto being the top choices there. Now the fillings are all down to personal choice and were not judging here however the twitter trolls have been out in full force judging poor Abrahams for having one particular savoury filling in his crepes.
TUNA!!! Is the culprit of the twitter agg! So someone out there –perhaps some warped and weird cook – is out there cooking crepes and filling them with tinned tuna chunks and people like Abrahams is loving it.
I mean as I said before we don’t judge here and tuna chunks are nice aren’t they? But many of the social media population don’t agree. The Sports Commentator has attracted a lot of attention for sharing his love on savory crepes on twitter. Many people are angry, many concerned and many are relieved that they can finally admit the same.
One tweet read ‘Ian mate you need locking up for this’ whilst another quoted “That’s the sort of thing a stoned student would eat. What’s for second course? Porridge with cheese spread?”
Take a walk on the wild side. Not your usual beef (now we have nothing against beef, and are very partial to a good juicy beef burger, but beef is a bit, erm vanilla). We now have a range of exotic wild meat burgers.
During the after Christmas part of the year, when our work load drops rapidly for a couple of months. We use the time for maintaining and refreshing our equipment. Improving what we do, and adding new lines to our services.
With the new found spirit of democracy permeating the business. We now hold group sessions to actually discuss things. Truth be told, I still prefer the old system of benevolent dictatorship, but I am co-operating at the minute.
In the interests of bringing you the tastiest burgers possible we undertook a series of ‘tastings’ to check out the potential contenders. Here is a round up of what the butcher told us, and what Emmerson and I thought of the meat.
Now I admit, this one is unusual, I mean, usually its the crocodile doing the eating.
They Said; This one has the look and texture of chicken with a bit of a shellfish taste to it.
Jason Said; This one wasn’t bad, it was more chicken like than beef, but had a faint tang of prawns in the aftertaste. Not my favourite, but edible.
Emmerson Said; Not a big fan, too fishy tasting for me.
Just in case you don’t know, an Ostrich is a bird. Now I know this conjures up images of a robin or something. That’s about as far away as you can get from this bird. Its big. Bloody big in fact, upto 9ft tall in some cases. It is also bloody heavy, weighing as much as 2 adult humans. Oh, and its also bloody fast. Reaching 40m.p.h in bursts and being able to maintain about 35 m.p.h over long distance runs. Makes you wonder how they catch the bloody things.
This one is quite healthy. Well, for meat. It is a red meat (ha, bet you were expecting white like a chicken, which is also a bird). It is lower in fat than beef and high in protein. During the mad cow disease days, or Bovine spongiform encephalopathy to give it its true title (for the record I can actually pronounce that). There were a number of initiatives to replace beef with ostrich, but it seemed to fizzle out after a couple of years.
They Said: A great healthy alternative, low in fat, high in protein and taste delicious
Jason Said; Weird being red meat, cos you really expect a bird to be white. Not bad, similar to beef.
Emmerson Said; I liked this one, not too strong a taste, but different.
Another iconic animal, hailing from the land down under. I know we all tend to think of them as cute and cuddly, but an Aussie friend tells me they are a real pest. Oh, and they are definitely not cuddly, being heavily muscled and potentially quite dangerous. Personally I voted against this one as it would feel too much like eating Skippy. (If you don’t know who Skippy is, ask your mum, or possibly grandma).
They Said: This one is a very tender, heavily flavoured meat.
Jason Said: I liked this a lot, a strong taste that stood out.
Emmerson Said:The bold earthy flavour definitely puts a bounce in your taste buds.
This one is another animal, that if you haven’t seen one tends to get associated with a pig. These can be huge. Like, massively huge. Weighing upto around 330kg (about 4 average sized humans). These can be aggressive, are heavily muscled and bloody heavy. There are plenty of documented cases of people being killed by boars.
They Said : A nutty, sweet flavour, but lower in fat than pork.
Jason Said: Another flavoursome meat that stood out.
Emmerson Said: Eatable, but not my favourite.
Now we also have another entry to the menu that has been democratically voted on. I wish to go on record as being dead against this one. But sadly, not everyone is as sensitive and deeply caring as me. This one is the;
I think it smacks of cannibalism. We choose an anthropomorphic zebra for our company logo, then decide to eat him.
They Said; “This one has a subtle taste compared to the others”
Emmerson Said : the taste is similar to a beef burger but different , slightly disappointed the burger didn’t have the stripes in.
Jason Said : OH MY GOD! I can’t believe we just ate Ziggy!!!!
Weighing anything upto almost a ton. This is one big chunk of meat. Gawd knows how many burgers is walking around in this image.
They Said; A very health and tasty alternative to beef. The burger is high in nutrients such as protein.
Emmerson Said; Definite liked this, stronger than beef but very similar.
Jason Said; Loved this one, very beef tasting, but a stronger flavour.
If fancy a walk on the wild side and would like to book our Exotic Burgers Service, then check out our burger services.
One of our most popular lines this summer has been the humble hamburger. Though perhaps humble is the wrong description given just how pervasive this simple dish is throughout much of the world. A staple of fast food establishments, and synonymous with American culture.
However have you ever given any thought to how we came to eat the dish and why it was called a hamburger.
Like many things the origins are hotly disputed. The two main schools of thought are that the dish either came from the German city of Hamburg, or the good ole US of A.
The contender for the American side is that it was alternatively invented by Charlie Nagreen, Frank and Charles Menches, Oscar Weber Bilby, Fletcher Davis, or Louis Lassen, and with it being advertised in newspapers from New york to Hawaii since at least the 1890’s puts up a good claim.
The alternative argument postulates the invention of the Hamburgh Sausage in the Art Of Cookery Made Plain And Easy. A cookbook by Hannah Glasse published around 1747.
The burger gained national recognition throughout the States when they were offered at the 1904 St Louis World Fair, so it is an argument that will rumble on without conclusive proof for either claim.
One of the earliest nationwide (USA) vendors was White Castle chain based in Wichita Kansas. They launched a square beef patty called a slider, which had 5 holes in each patty to relieve the necessity for flipping the burger over to cook both sides.
In 1937 Bob Wian created a double decker burger at his stand in California. It was called the Big Boy and would go on to become the name of his restaurant chain. They expanded nationally before gradually contracting, but a few do remain with the signature double deck hamburger.
Perhaps the most famous exponent of the burger world wide is the ubiquitous McDonalds. Originally established by the McDonalds brothers in 1940. The chain was eventually acquired by Ray Kroc who undertook a massive expansion which built the behemoth we know today.
Along with Burger King, McDonalds dominate the market in the UK and USA. A number of local chains put a brave showing on, they are all only bit players in the market.
Of course if you are planning an event and need burgers you can always have the burgers come to you. We offer a nice line in 100% beef patties, with cheese, salad and a range of gourmet toppings, basted in our special orange and cognac sauce and served in a brioche bun. Great for small events such as weddings or parties. But equally scalable to serve upto 2000 guests at major corporate events.