I am entering the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards 2013 and would love to ask for your vote in the Best Food Blog category. All you need to do is click on the link below to vote. Thanks so much to everyone that has supported me over the last few years. Here’s to the next few!

I was slightly dubious about some of the flavours – before last week I had never really ventured too far away from salty and sweet and salty, but every single flavour surprised and delighted me. My favourite was crispy bacon and maple syrup, a flavour combination that I only discovered on pancake day at The Breakfast Club and one that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about ever since. How did I turn my nose up at it for so long? The sweetness and crunch of the raw cane sugar complimented the smoky bacon and maple syrup flavours so well and as I finished the last mouthful I was almost begging for more!

Portlebay Kracklecorn is a relatively new product, born in Devon in 2012. I haven’t seen it in any shops yet but I can expect that will all change as more and more people try it. What I want to know now though is where can I sign up for more? LOTS more, please!

We started off with a Twisted GT – saffron gin, citrus twists, tonic water and lemonade and set upon deciding our dishes. The concept at Imli Street has been developed by Tamarind Collection’s multi-award winning Director of Cuisine, Alfred Prasad and all dishes are based on four distinct inspirations from the Indian street food arena: Coastal Shacks, Food Carts/ Dhaba’s, Railway Cuisine and Beyond Borders.

We chose one dish from each section, plus a side of Hyderabadi aubergine. Our favourite dishes were tandori paneer and a ground lamb with lettuce cups, a simple dish of spiced mince lamb and lettuce leaves to wrap the mince in.

We were full after dinner but our waiter insisted we try a dessert. I wasn’t so sure at the time but I’m so glad he persisted. It’s been a few weeks since we dined at Imli Street and I’m still thinking about the dessert – warm rice pudding with acai berries.

Imli Street is very Soho – perfect for a quick, delicious bite any night of the week. The cocktail list is different to anywhere else I’ve been and it’s worth the trip alone just for the desserts!

Imli Street
167-169 Wardour St
London
W1F 8WR
020 7287 4243

We were presented with a glass on arrival and topped up constantly for the duration of our meal. We enjoyed starters – I had beetroot cured salmon salad with a horseradish cream and Gabriela opted for the crunchy calamari. We both plumped for a Hereford rare breed fillet steak for main, which was served with skin on chips, mixed greens and a side salad to share. We also both had the rhubarb fool for dessert, which arrived in a tall glass and consisted of jelly, chantilly cream and crunchy poached rhubarb.

We were dining next to a group of girls and occasionally one would pipe up to exclaim ‘wow, this is just fantastic value’. They seemed to thoroughly enjoy their lunch and we were excited about what was in store for us. The main was excellent – the rare breed steak cooked just how I liked it – rare to medium and incredibly tender – my knife slid through the flesh with ease.

If you want to make the most of unlimited Prosecco, simply take along two or more friends, order anything off the brunch menu to be treated for the duration of your meal (maximum of two hours). With brunch dishes starting at just £9, the Grill on the Market’s bubbly brunch represents excellent value for money.

The Grill on the Market
2-3 West Smithfield
London
EC1A 9JX
020 7246 0900

The Nutribox team are a bunch of foodies and nutritionists based in Sheffield who have set up The Nutribox as an online, healthy snacks business with the mission of making it easier for people to eat more healthily.

All snacks included in the box are nutritionally dense, tasty and made from gluten-free ingredients, sourced typically from small artisan producers.

My box arrived quickly through the post and I was pleasantly surprised by the wide range of treats neatly lined up next to each other. Raw bars, cookies, nuts, mixed seeds and even a raw chocolate bar. I tucked into the raw chocolate covered mulberries straight away and was won over. I can’t wait to take it all to work and reach for this at 4pm, rather than the usual unhealthy and sugary chocolate bar.

The Nutribox team couldn’t make it easier for you – simply sign up online and they post out a box each month to your home or workplace. They adore variety, so each box contains a different selection of deliciously nutritious snacks.

Would you like to try a Nutribox? The first 10 people to sign up here using the following code will receive 35% off their first box. FOODFORTHINK35

As I’ve been so busy I seem to be leaving everything until the very last minute. Take this challenge, for example. Jack and I decided what recipe we were going to do a couple of weeks ago but I only had the chance to buy all of the ingredients to make the ice cream at 9pm last night – so you can imagine what kind of a night and morning I’ve had. Not complaining, though – I did get to eat the most delicious affogato for breakfast.

We used the Flavour Thesaurus by Nikki Segnit for inspiration. If you haven’t been out and bought a copy yet, I highly recommend you do. It is a must have in the kitchen if you want to be a little experimental with your food. I used it for my stint in Britain’s Best Dish and it got me to the semi-final.

This recipe is fantastic for anyone who is dairy intolerant and the best thing is that it tastes just like normal dairy ice cream. The hazlenut praline adds a welcome crunch and sweetness and the coffee, made by the fantastic and utterly beautiful De’Longhi Vintage Icona Bar Pump coffee machine, adds a caffeine punch that is oh so welcome at any time of day.

Ingredients

For the praline
100g golden caster sugar
100g whole hazlenuts

For the ice cream
2 pints of goat’s milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla paste
4 Burford Brown egg yolks
4 oz golden caster sugar
3 tsp cornflour

Method

Ice cream – first make the custard
1. Heat the goat’s milk and the vanilla paste over a low heat until simmering. Do not boil.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks, cornflour and sugar together for a couple of minutes or so until sugar is almost dissolved.

3. When the milk starts to simmer, take it off the stove and pour it in with the egg and sugar mixture, and whisk continually. Return to the pan and stir over low heat with a wooden spoon until thickened.

Now for the praline

4. Heat the sugar and hazlenuts in a pan on a low heat and stir continuously until the sugar begins to caramelise and the nuts are coated. Once you reach this stage, pour out onto a greaseproof paper-covered baking sheet, sprinkle with sea salt flakes and leave to cool. Once set, smash the praline into pieces with a rolling pin.

5. Once you have a custard, place in the fridge until completely cool. Prepare your ice cream machine, mix the custard and praline together and churn to your machines instructions.

And to finish

6. Scoop the ice cream into a glass. Prepare a shot of espresso and pour over the ice cream straight away.

7. Enjoy!

I crumpled towards the end of last year when I went on holiday to Barcelona but from today I will be going gluten free again.

One snack that I don’t have to say goodbye to is popcorn. I was sent a bag of the newest flavour from Metcalfe’s skinny topcorn a couple of weeks ago and I think I have found my new favourite flavour – Sweet Cinnamon Spice. I love it because it satisfies my sweet tooth and the bonus is that it comes in at only 117 calories.

Metcalfe’s skinny topcorn Sweet Cinnamon Spice is exclusively available at Waitrose.

Now in its second year, Propstore features a collection of props and scenery from recent National Theatre productions.

We REALLY enjoyed the range of street food on offer, including pulled pork buns, sweet potato and chickpea falafel and literally the best fish finger sandwich I have ever had the pleasure of tasting.

We sipped on Sipsmith Summer Cup cocktails, sat on House of Commons benches from This House, followed Luke Treadaway’s original train sets from The Captain of Kopenick around the track and recognised Cillian Murphy’s tape deck from the Misterman production that we saw last year, all whilst watching the world go by on the Southbank and the rippling waves on the Thames.

Whether you’re passing by and fancy a quick drink, need a delicious bite to eat or fancy listening to a live band or DJ (Friday and Saturday until 2am), Propstore is a must visit destination this summer.

Propstore, in partnership with American Express, is open until 28th September.

Watch the video of Lauren Laverne’s visit and chat with the curators here.

Opening hours
Monday – Thursday 12 noon – 11pm
Friday, Saturday 12 noon – 2am
Sunday 12 noon – 6pm

Friday and Saturday nights will see Propstore transformed with DJ’s and live music until 2am.

Fire & Stone has been around for a few years. I visited a while back to enter a competition to create a pizza named after a European city – the winner got to go on holiday to the city. Mine wasn’t the winning pizza unfortunately so I didn’t get to jet off to Seville but I thought I’d head back to try a couple of new additions to the menu.

Fire & Stone Spitalfields was buzzing on a mid week evening with post workers enjoying pizzas inspired by and named after cities from around the world. The new pizzas we were there to try included the Canberra and Trinidad and Tobago. We were offered thin and crispy for £1.25 extra so we opted for the Canberra to come on that base, following the waitresses recommendation.

Fire & Stone pizzas are hand stretched, topped with parmesan and stone baked, something I hadn’t been too fond of before but my mind was changed on Wednesday. The Canberra was my favourite with a topping of roast chicken breast, garlic & rosemary potatoes, marinated mushrooms, mozzarella, sour cream, sweet chilli sauce and chives. The Trinidad and Tobago was topped with spicy pepperoni, fresh red and green chillies, jalapeno peppers, mozzarella and tomato salsa and despite enjoying it, I felt that it didn’t have the same depth of flavour – it was extremely spicy but we both had to peel off a fair few chillies so that we could actually taste everything else.

The pudding list landed in front of us as soon as we had wiped the last crust in chilli oil but neither of us could face it – the pizzas had well and truly won the battle.

Fire & Stone wins against Pizza Express any day, but I still have my reservations whether it can beat the Italian sour dough kings, Franco Manca and Santa Maria, that I love so much.

Fire & Stone
4 Horner Square
Old Spitalfields Market
London
E1 6EW

I know exactly what to eat should be I wanted to become honed and toned like Gwyneth Paltrow. Pain au chocolat’s and full fat coffees certainly shouldn’t be a part of my diet. But they are and what’s more, they’re staying. My post workout choices aren’t always the best either. Wembley’s version of Nando’s does a great chicken, chips and nan bread combo that I have succumbed to a couple of times, or I’ll go home and cook pasta with tonnes of olive oil. I don’t want to stop but I sometimes ask myself whether I’m feeding my body the right foods post workout.

Enter Nakd and Trek bars. I have long been a fan of Nakd bars. Last year I went gluten free for three months after taking a food intolerance test and Nakd bars were a staple in my diet. I only came across them because my boyfriends sister is vegan and I saw a few in the cupboard once but it wasn’t the actual bar that caught my eye, it was the packaging. Each bar has its own fun name, such as Pecan Pie, Ginger Bread, Rhubarb and Custard or Cashew Cookie. They are wheat, dairy and gluten free and only contain dried fruit and nuts ‘smooshed together’, as they say and what’s more, they’re utterly delicious and the perfect (and very healthy) snack.

I only tried Trek bars for the first time this week and I am impressed. They are marketed at the health conscious cereal bar lovers who are looking for a healthier option. Instead of syrups and sugar, the bars only contain natural ingredients and are again wheat and dairy free. The other good thing about these bars is that they also contain 11g of protein so they are the perfect choice for a post workout snack. I tried one after a grueling Friday evening body attack class and I was hoping to replace dinner with the bar but I was getting the train down to Chichester and sushi literally called my name when I arrived at the station. Nevertheless I felt good that I was giving my body the protein that it needed after a workout.

Go and buy a Nakd or Trek bar, or both, and let me know what you think.