Displaying items by tag: christmas

Here's a few ideas for Christmas presents to give the food lovers in your life. Mr SuffolkFoodie if you are looking .... I'd like all of these please.

Christmas cheese! A trio of East Anglian cheeses. £25. Check out cheese related Christmas gifts or join the Slate Cheese Club. Slate is a Suffolk based, specialist cheese retailer offering nationwide delivery. Book your December delivery slot quickly. (I've been sent a sample box and can confirm that the cheese arrives in fabulous condition.)

12 Christmas Classics Macarons £25. From Suffolk makers Hilton Macarons. I've eaten a box of these. Black Truffle. Brandy Butter. Christmas Pudding. Eggnog. Mulled Spice. Orange Chocolate. A colourful and delicious selection. My favourite? Christmas pudding. Liquorice and Blackcurrant are also superb if you fancy other flavours.

Something fishy. Sardines from The Tinned Fish Market. Madrid Tray £35.00. Don't you just love the tins?

Loose leaf tea from The Rare Tea Company. Fairly traded and directly sourced. Chinese Whole Leaf Green Tea (White Monkey Paw) is one of my favourites. 25g tin £5.99

Hotel Starlino Maraschino Cherries £9.50. Pop one of these Italian beauties into your Brandy and Babycham this Christmas. Gorrrgeous jar

 A Potato Printer Pawtatoes 2022 Calendar £15.00. Cute!

Ho Ho Ho Christmas Pork Pie from Bray's Cottage. Norfolk £29.95 (last orders 17th Dec) Our go to pork pie to send as a pressie. My family fight over them.

Sandlings Saffron Soap. £5.99 Beautiful hand made soap using Suffolk grown saffron. Grapefruit and Saffron or Aloe Cucumber and Saffron. Their saffron is top class and the Saffron Sea Salt £6 a perfect stocking filler. Just wait for the aroma when you open up an online delivery.

A Pump Street Chocolate Father Christmas £7.50. Big kids chocolate!

A Mostly Foodie Days of 2022 Tea Towel £20.50. You wouldn't want to forget World Trifle Day, would you?

And what better for the lady in your life than a pair of fur slippers with a removable lobster brooch.  £35.

Why not make some to give as a Christmas gift? Biscotti are very easy to make and keep in an airtight container for weeks. These Almond and Cranberry Biscotti are delicious but feel free to replace the cranberries in the recipe with more almonds or chocolate drops or experiment with other types of nuts of dried fruit. Just watch the temperature of the oven when drying out the biscotti so as to make sure the cranberries do not burn.

How do you like your eggs in the morning? How do you want your Brexit? Lovely gift here for a disagreeing couple.

From my foodie friends and family this year I received - A Cheesemonger's History of the British Isles by Ned Palmer. A selection of English cheese.. A bottle of Mancino Vermouth and a Nut Mug in a pear tree. All wonderful. Thank you!

• 'an informative romp through centuries of British cheesemaking'
• Wensum White - a Brie style Norfolk produced Goats cheese
• Who'se the nut then? Brought back from Abu Dhabi by my Alice
• A bittersweet and floral vermouth containing 37 botanicals. Delicious licquorice and angelica notes work perfectly with a slice of orange.
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Looking for a perfect Christmas party venue and activity, or hunting for that extra special Christmas present? The Stillery in Bury St Edmunds is planning to help you have a very merry gin-mas. From private hire to after work drinks or cocktail classes, The Stillery has something to offer every festive celebration. The Stillery’s gin and cocktail classes are suitable for any size party and budget. Try a one-hour gin tasting or a festive “Make a Christmas classic” as a pre or post-dinner activity. Here at SuffolkFoodie we like the sound of “Rumbunctious” – a course dedicated to all things rum – but there's also “Ginspiration”, where you’ll craft your very own unique bottle of gin.   As well as a venue and cocktail bar, The Stillery produce their own premium gin, which can be purchased as a gift this Christmas. The Stillery London Dry Gin is distilled on site, in the bar itself, using the traditional “One Shot” method, producing a modern, yet classic, juniper-led gin with playful spice and citrus flavours. Bottles can be purchased online or from the cocktail bar, but also keep an eye out for The Stillery at local Christmas events – including Blackthorpe Barn’s craft fayre and the Bury St Edmunds Christmas fayre in November. Bookings for courses and purchases of vouchers and bottles can be made online at www.stillery.co.uk. For private hire, contact the team directly by calling 01284 700577 or emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  The Stillery is open Fridays and Saturdays, 6pm to midnight. The Stillery, 3 Short Brackland, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 1EL.

Love it or hate it the chances are a Christmas Pudding will be making an appearance on your festive table. I was intrigued to try a Bunty's Christmas pudding created to win over the haters amongst you. The hand-made Waveney Valley pudding arrived so beautifully presented it was a shame to cut off the ribbons and bows from the muslin wrapped Mason Cash bowl. Steamed for one and half hours according to the instructions, the waft of fruit and spice was noticable when I cut the string and removed the paper to turn it out.The texture was quite different from any pudding I've tried before; soft and light without the whole fruits and crumbly texture of a traditional pud but a rich and dark colour, yet not stodgy. The balance of fruit and alcohol is excellent, with more than a hint of prune and raisins enhanced with Pedro Ximenez sherry. In fact this is a pudding where you might possibly manage seconds. Check out Bunty's website to find your local stockist.

• Smoother and not crumbly like a traditonal pud
• Traditionally wrapped in muslin for steaming
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It's got a little colder and we are into December so it's time to roll out the mulled wine, and of course a cheeky cherry brandy. Why not?

October 25th and we are all set up and ready to go. The Little House of Cooking Cafe will be open every day at Blackthorpe Barn until December 22nd.

Here's a very tasty Christmas party menu for you instead of the usual soggy sprouts and insipid catering quality turkey. The Giggling Squid in Bury St Edmunds invited me to try their Christmas menu last week so I went on the opening 'locals night' of the massive annual Christmas Market and Fayre. Feeling all festive and with the town buzzing, the restaurant was full to the brim. I took Mr SuffolkFoodie who loves Thai food and we both ate off the Christmas Evening menu, which priced at £29.95 a head including a glass of Prosecco is great value. By the way, where is all this Prosecco coming from, apparently us Brits drink a third of all produced. I hope it's not going to run out.

• Bags of gold ...crispy spiced chicken parcels
• Prawn satay ... I could just eat the peanut sauce by itself
• Beef rib Massaman ... the highlight of the meal
• Exotic mushrooms ... garlicky and chilli hot
• Prosecco and muddled berry cheesecake
• Molten honeycomb semi-freddo
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With the help of my amazing niece Afiya Frank (pictured) I'm in full swing with my Little House of Cooking Cafe. For those of you that don't know I get stuck in for a couple of months from the end of October until Christmas running the cafe during the Christmas Festival at Blackthorpe Barn, Rougham. It's been so busy, baking madly with no time to blog and hardly time to sleep. Come and visit us if you get time, we are open from 10am until 4pm everyday up until and including 22nd December. It's not just cakes, we serve a very good Welsh Rarebit too!

• Home made soup every day
• Citrus almond and polenta cake ( no gluten)
• Pecan tarts
• Hot chocolate ... the works
• Al fresco on craft weekends
• Mulled wine caravan for craft weekends
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