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Getting in the mood for a Sheffield Picnic

Decent food items at a picnic helps to make the event a memorable one

Picnic food – homemade quiche. Finger foods are the most comfortable to eat and serve.

I’ve always loved the thought of having and organising my own picnic. A small gathering amongst friends and family under the hazy sunshine. Having a picnic during the summer can be entertaining and a great social get together. A fantastic way to meet new people, eat some delicious food and play fun outdoor games. It would also be a great way for me to apologise to friends I’ve let down on dinner dates due to work commitments over the past month (sorry guys!) and to meet supportive followers and new foodies who have shown appreciation for what I do.

It doesn’t take more than a picnic basket, a few good food items, help from our city’s talented food producers, bakers and bakers; family members and friends to organise our very own tasty picnic! And we need to realise that it acts as a glue for community bonding.

I’ve never organised a picnic (so I’d probably need your help – hope that’s OK?) but surely they can’t be that difficult to organise?… These days I’m finding the most difficult thing is knowing when the sun will pop out to play. Now, I could go all out and prepare non-alcoholic fruity punch, bellini’s and cocktails. To me, the food plays a really important role to a successful picnic – the idea of tray loads of homemade finger sandwiches on Cat Lane Bakery granary, fruit scones served with Missie Cindz plum jam, PJ Taste Sheffield Eggs excites my taste buds. To enjoy for afters – Victoria Made’s light and wonderful fruity cupcakes, chocolatey Hash Brownies and light sorbets or Very Delicious Cheesecakes could all be sweet possibilities and finally, everything washed down with fresh pink lemonade or Sheffield’s Tea Box iced teas. Delicious.

So, what else would you like to see on our picnic food menu?

But in order to truly appreciate a good Sheffield picnic we need to find the perfect venue for our afternoon. This could be in a park (Endcliffe Park, Chelsea Park in Nether Edge or Hillsborough Park are all possibilities?), or near a reservoir, lake or creek or maybe we could venture out into the Peak District or Derbyshire? but it preferably needs to already have some people there just so a comfortable atmosphere bubbles in our surrounding area.

Missie Cindz Picnic Checklist
Here are just a few of the essential things we will need to make our picnic a success:

• homemade food and drink
• hampers or cool boxes
• plates, glasses and cutlery
• napkins
• wet-wipes for sticky mouths and fingers
• sun-screen and sun hats
• toys (e.g. bat and ball sets, hula hoops, football etc)
• chairs for people to sit in. They don’t have to be anything fancy just simple lawn or garden chairs
• blankets to lie out on the ground so that everyone will have a place to sit. Then we will be able to sit back and enjoy our picnic. Mats and cushions are also good (less awkward to carry than collapsible chairs)
• camera (strike a pose!)
• waterproofs (in case the weather decides not to co-operate – could be a good possibility!)
• bin bags for our rubbish
• music
• mobile phone (make sure we have all your guests’ numbers so that we can find each other and tweet about our delicious day for those who couldn’t join us)

Let’s make sure to have a good time and enjoy ourselves. After all, isn’t that what summer picnics are all about? I will have a think of a suitable date, time and location for our picnic in the next coming weeks. I’m looking forward to a game of rounders in the park (as long as I can be the bowler! :)

{Photos by Cindy Cheung and Meng He}

Missie Cindz Pud Inn - can't believe it's our THIRD dining session next month.

Get those spoons ready!! We can’t wait for this…

Missie Cindz ‘fruity’ themed Pud Inn comes to the Rutland Arms next month. We can’t believe our sweet tickets (spoons) were all sold out in ONE day! – you’re all so sweet for puddings that you’re giving us tooth ache :) Thank you for your interest in our Pud Inn gatherings and we’re really sorry to those who wanted to join but weren’t able to grab a ticket. If you would like to put your name on our waiting list or express your interest in future events then please sign up to our VIPees mailing list – where a colourful newsletter with tasty updates and happenings designed by our Cindy, will be pinged into your inbox monthly.

What are Missie’s Pud Inn events?
For those who aren’t too sure what our Missie Cindz Pud Inns are. Our Pud Inn gatherings serve up a five-course pudding set menu, with a different theme for each event. Our next dining event on Saturday 3rd March will have a ‘Fruity’ theme. Pud Inn events are seasonal (4 times a year) and we curate these gatherings to bring back the wholesome ‘Pudding/dessert’ – we liked the idea of a pudding event because they’re socially fun, you get to chat to people over mouthfuls of sweet goodness – plus, each Missie Cindz Pud Innings will also showcase at least TWO Puddings that are deliciously made by a Sheffield food-related business or artisan baker.

Our event next month, will be our third Inning and what we’ve done in the past is, the whole event takes place upstairs at The Rutland Arms, the session begins at 3pm and ends around 6pm. As guests make their way in, Cindy greets all 25 pudding diners, where they’re given a name badge, and can be seated where ever they find comfy – diners tend to buy drinks from the bar downstairs whilst other diners start trickling in. After a very brief welcome speech around 3.15pm by Cindy explaining to attendees a little bit about Pud Inn and introducing today’s 5 Pudding highlights – the serious business begins! – a lovely flow of 5 puddings will come to each diner, one after another – don’t worry, we do pace it, each pudding course has 20 minutes time slots to eat and digest.

Take me to the Pudding Club...Cindy busy talking about all things sweet to guests :)

Use of ‘Score and Comment’ sheets to get people more pudding 'involved' and mad!

We add our own dosage of Missie-ness to the pudding club by the use ‘Score and Comments’ sheets (see photo above) to get people talking and interacting with our five Puds they are eating (the event isn’t a competition and no-one is upset with any of the comments) and there will also be a special ‘Pud Quiz’ put on to get people in groups and talking about their favourite Puddings – all this helps to contribute a more playful, fun and ‘charming’ element to our Pud gatherings. You can find out more on the event on my blog – search for ‘Missie’s Pud Inn’. I hope this information helps our new diners/future interested attendees. If you’re unsure about anything you’ve read on the Blog – just get in touch.

Just like the old saying……”The proof of the pudding is in the eating” – we certainly try to make sure our 25 pudding guests will eat until their hearts are content and filled nicely with sweet Sheffield puddings. Remember, no skinny jeans allowed next month – we’d hate you to feel uncomfortable this afternoon with us.

Finally, keep updated on our activities and upcoming NEW Missie Cindz Take Away happenings by following us on Twitter: @CindzTakeAway

{photos by Cindy and Callum Biggin}

Win a yummy jar of Missie Cindz Sheffield Plum Jam

Farmhouse Breakfast Week begins on 23rd January and I would have to say one of my very simple breakfast ‘favourites’ is extra thick toasted granary bread with my Missie Cindz plum jam and peanut butter. Nothing can beat home made jam, especially at breakfast.

Here’s a Missie Cindz Vintage Preserves Facebook Competition. I have TWO tasty jars of my Sheffield plum jam co-produced with PJ taste using fresh plums grown in my garden (fresh, seasonal produce) to giveaway for your morning toast.

With a chance of winning a jar of the sweet stuff, pop over to my Missie Cindz Facebook page, find the photo as seen above and TAG YOURSELF OR SHARE the jammy photo with your friends. Go on, spread a little Missie-ness on your morning toast…it’s CinDilicious!

Closing Date: Sunday 22nd January 2011.
Winners will be picked at random.
Winner will be notified on Facebook and via email on Monday 23rd Jan. Posted first class for jam spreading the next day. Good luck everyone!

When is Farmhouse Breakfast Week?
Farmhouse Breakfast Week takes places between Sunday 22nd – Saturday 28th January 2012. The campaign is now in its 13th year so is well established and there’s many ways people can get involved in promoting such a nomful campaign and if food is your business, it’s a great opportunity to promote your breakfast offering, perhaps by running a competition, highlighting local suppliers or holding tasting sessions. There’s plenty of ideas and suggestions on the Shake Up Your Wake Up website. Now who said jam and toast was boring!?

Missie Asks: What’s your most favourite classic jam or chutney on toast? and if you’ve made jam, what fruit do you like to use for it?

{Photo by Tobey Dodwell at We Are Fine}

PJ taste's Chef Ian showing us how to stuff a Turkey (chicken) leg

PJ taste's Peter Moulan showing us how make cured salmon for Christmas

I reckon Our Cow Molly would be quite proud and happy with this shot!

John Lord showing us how hand-raised pork pies should be made

A big thanks to all the PJ taste team who put on a tasty event for us last Thursday at their shop on Glossop Road, which got me all in the mood for Christmas – I had a really enjoyable night with lots of tasty food and good company. With nibbles and drinks on fast flow, food demonstrations which included preparing cured salmon, stuffing a turkey (well, chicken) leg, along with brimming festive decorations at the venue – it was hard not to feel Christmas Day hadn’t arrived already! a special mention for the King of Pork Pies, John Lord (and his wife Jean) from Take and Bake Pork Pies for a great food performances on showing us how to pastry up nicely a wholesome pork pie. A very important thanks to all the guests who came along and helped to raise a fantastic sum of £146 for Cavendish Cancer Care – it was great to meet new people and to put faces to the food producers involved.

Cindy getting ready with the Missie Cindz for her Sheffield Hampers launch

Yup, I go on and on and on and on about.....food!

Things taste better at home – Missie Cindz Sheffield Hampers
At the event, I also unveiled my ‘Sheffield Favourites’ food hamper – where I did a 5 minutes presentation explaining who I was, how these items in the hamper were chosen and explaining how my journey with food led me to the curation of ‘Missie Cindz – the food enthusiast’ (my alter-ego) – this year’s enjoyable journey finding out and learning about food produced from my city, meeting the food producers who make it – has given me the opportunity to meet a range of new group of people who helps to build a real sense of community (I call this my ‘Sheffield Food Adventure’). Spending most of the year, ‘fooding around’ has led me to build on a visual directory of talented food producers whose artisan food and services I’m proud to know and be part of. I’ve been given a valuable insight on some of the obstacles independent food retailers face and struggle with against society’s changing taste, lifetstyle, income and multi-national supermarkets.

My Missie Cindz Sheffield Favourites hampers reflect my passionate view about artisan and local produce and I know that there are many people like me who share that passion too, whether they are buying it or making it, I’m sure we’re all intrigued about where our food comes from? You’ll find each hamper is in the Missie Cindz whimsical signature with, of course, to give pleasure to the hamper recipient’s taste buds. I believe it’s important to connect people with the producers – after all, who doesn’t want to know what we are really eating and where it comes from? plus, it’s only good manners to say thank you to the person who’s just spent their whole day in the kitchen, garden or farm for us.

How to order the Missie Cindz Food hampers
Hampers are available at all PJ taste stockists priced £22.95. Orders can be reserved now using the order form here: Missie’s Hamper Order Form or ready to collect at their shop, a £5.00 deposit confirms your order. Go on, end the year tastefully with some added Missie-ness and sparkle! :)

The PJ taste food menu
Welcome nibbles at the event included:

• Squash shots with a pumpkin garnish (using Woodhouse Grown Butternut Squash, Sheffield bottled Pumpkin Oil), Cured Salmon on Cat Lane Bakery sour dough, (Fish that was from Mann’s fishmongers)
• PJ taste pork rilletts made with Moss Valley Fine Meats pork
• To drink, we had a choice of Tea Box Sheffield Brew or local cider punch or Kelham Island Pride of Sheffield

One of the many key messages from PJ taste’s Taste of Christmas event were to highlight that we can all find ways to eat nutritiously amazing local food for each meal on Christmas Day – it might take a little bit of planning and organising but who said cooking a Christmas dinner would be easy!? There’s a post on the PJ taste blog with full recipes of the food made at their event along with meal suggestions to enjoy a real ‘Made in Sheffield’ Chrimbo dinner – click here to find their recipes: A taste of Christmas – the recipes, there’s also links to the suppliers they used as well. If you have any trouble or questions obtaining any of their produce I’m sure the PJ taste team will be more than happy to help.

Squash shots with a pumpkin garnish (using Woodhouse grown butternut squash, Sheffield bottled pumpkin oil)

PJ taste pork rilletts made with Moss Valley Fine Meats pork

Missie Cindz with John Lords enormous porkie pies – these were huge!

A beefy food test
Everyone also participated in PJ taste’s slow cooked Beef Stew Test, where attendees taste tested two beef stews, one made using beef from a leading supermarket brand and another using Rivelin Valley beef from Sheffield’s Coppice House Farm, both beef casserole dishes were made with Pride of Sheffield beer. PJ taste reassured us that they treated them identically and cooked/chilled/re-heated simultaneously with exactly the same times and temperature and ingredients through-out. I’m not usually a beef eater and to be honest, I was a little hesitant about the test (what if we voted the wrong dish!?) – but the result was almost every single adult in the room on the night voted for the Rivelin Valley beef!! (I only saw one hand go up for the alternative). You could definitely taste the difference, maybe not by looks as it was covered in the tasty tomato-flavoured sauce, but the Riv’ Valley beef was more succulent and moist (I didn’t even need to chew the meat to swallow it, quite bad of me though I know, I could’ve choked! :)

As a society, we are constantly being encouraged to source the basic ingredients locally – adopting a ‘grow local, buy local’ approach and hopefully with Missie Cindz (what i do) and collaborating with people like PJ taste will help to highlight the importance of Sheffield’s tasteful food scene – introducing to you a taste of the food range and producers we have available right on our door step…it’s important to start and experience our own unique food adventure. I’m enjoying mine, I hope you do too!

{Photos by Toby Dodwell at We Are Fine – thank you Toby!}

Missie Cindz at Bradfield Farmers Market

Missie Cindz with Sheffield's Tea Box tea – slurp!

Mmmm, spruce up your sprouts this Christmas with some pancetta?

Aww, Missie Cindz with Rebecca – what a great pair!

The festive season definitely sprung on us last weekend – who said Christmas and the German Markets were the ‘in’ things to attend this time of the year for food tastings and inspiring food? I drove up to Sheffield’s Bradfield Farmers’ Market up at Bradfield Farm last Saturday with another foodie, Rebecca Helen. With the aim to grab some groceries for filling up my empty pantry and as tasty Christmas presents. The farm is only about 20 minutes from the city centre and if you know me well enough by now, you’ll know, where Sheffield Food goes, the Missie Cindz will try her best to support and find her local Sheffield food gems. How can we resist when food’s involved?…I can’t! Fork please!

Held in Bradfield Village Hall to the northwest of the city, this monthly farmers market showcases the best in local, seasonal and artisan produced food and drink. Featuring over 15 different food exhibitors selling fab Sheffield produce ranging from beef, pork, chicken, milk, pies, ice cream, fruit, vegetables, beer, chutneys, bread, honey, cheesecake, jams and cakes. Other items on sale include soap, bird feeders and pumpkin oil. A Refreshments area is also available from their in-house cafe shop. I was indeed definitely spoilt for choice.

If you asked me last year to attend a Farmers’ market, I would probably laugh or ask you what these were like. Like I said to many of the food producers I said hello to (by the way, it was really lovely to see you all again, and to put a face to those food tweets), I’ve always been a very ‘city girl’, so to go out into the countryside it used to be very new to me (seriously, I used to get a bit anxious too!) but it’s now becoming an educational and familiar routine. For those who aren’t too sure what Farmers’ markets are (it’s OK – a year ago I was the same). Farmers’ Markets consist of individual vendors, mostly farmers but nowadays it’s quite common to find bakers, confectioners and talented craftmans too. They set up booths, tables or stands, outdoors or indoors, to sell produce, meat products, fruits and prepared foods and beverages. At places like this, half the fun is going around each stall and enjoying the free tasters :)

The Heavenly Cheesecake cake pops

I caught PJ taste's Peter stuffing his face with Our Cow Molly ice cream. Hahaha!!

Seasonal Eryngi mushrooms – I love mushrooms. So versatile and tasty.

It was great to bump into a few familiar faces too, such as another food blogger, Clare Tollick (@FeastAndGlory), I caught Peter from PJ taste stuffing himself on Our Cow Molly ice cream – I asked Peter which flavour he was scoffing, he replied ‘Christmas Pud’ with his mouth full (I don’t blame him too!). Was lovely to catch up with Just Preserves again – these pair are either busy making preserves and chutney OR sunnying it up on holiday, I managed to stock up on my fave Apple and Blueberry jam and bought a few jars as xmas presents too. Finally, I also tried the new cake pops from The Heavenly Cheesecake Co – Cheesecake Pops are balls of real cheesecake, covered in chocolate and served on a lollipop stick – the pictured and I bought were raspberry. Mmm, a really nice winter treats!

DATES TO REMEMBER
Eating seasonal produce is also rather educational – I’d never seen sprouts on their stalk before! (see photo above) saves us money and is a tasty way to cut your CO2 – I bought bag loads of food stuff for all under £20.00. This month has seen me getting festive with seasonal fresh produce that includes mushrooms, brussel sprouts and the good ol’ winter squash (I love squash). The next Bradfield Farmers Market will be on Saturday 17th December and runs from 10 am to 4pm. The Nether Edge Farmer’s Markets will be on the 4th December and Heeley City Farm Winter Festival will be on Saturday December 3rd, hosting their last of its four seasonal festivals this year. I’ve heard the Winter Festival is going to be fantastic, with enjoyable entertainment, festive food, and an excellent array of stalls and activities. Come along to all of them and get your Chrimbo meal’s ingredients and meet the producers of some great local food including locally grown fruit and vegetables, locally reared meat, homemade jams, pickles and chutneys and lots more.

Oh finally don’t forget about the Missie Cindz ‘Sheffield Favourites’ Food Hampers – great Christmas present ideas. These little boxes of treats are bound to brighten and colour up any foodies tums! and  I hope you enjoy them as much as I’ve enjoyed putting them togther for you :) Please email me or get in touch for more information or to reserve your box of Sheffield treats. My Christmas-illustrated hampers are only available until the 24th December – very limited editions!

Missie Cindz ‘A Star’ Cherry Scones served with plum jam

Recipes using Missie Cindz Preserves
Next week, a very limited edition of  Missie Cindz Vintage Preserves (co-produced with PJ Taste) hit the PJ taste shelves and leading up to their release I will be providing a range of delicious recipe suggestions you could accompany our sweet Preserves.

Classic ‘A Star’ shaped scones with Missie Cindz (MC) Sheffield Plum Jam and clotted cream would work well as a Friday afternoon treat and if you don’t have clotted cream, these scones are delicious with softly whipped cream and MC jam, or even with butter and MC jam. Other times you might just want to spread them with JUST Missie Cindz jam. Just split the scones in half and spread generously :)

I’m a fan of making classic scones (weekends mainly, afterall the Bake In, is the new going out right!?). When I bake scones  – I turn the ‘Classic’ bit to ‘Stars’, I like to add a little twist of course to recipes by adding a ‘monsterous’ heap of glacé cherries, vanilla essence and lemon Juice and having them an interesting star shape! They’re nommingly good stuff.

Please download the Missie ‘A Star’ Cherry Scones recipe here and let me know how it goes – post me pictures of your Starry Scones – they’re ideal as home-made gifts for friends and family. Try making these this weekend perhaps?

Another tasty recipe idea involving Missie Cindz Vintage Preserves are Baked Brie with Plum Jam – my twitter friend Meng He calls this – Food Porn!