So what's happening at the Dark Horse then?

Never been here myself although of course we all know about it. It scored highly with my niece and her boyfriend, although they were a bit miffed to be recommended the most expensive bottle of wine when they asked what would be nice with their meal. Sometimes It's so predictable...

We are so OVER pop up restaurants at suffolkfoodie.  The food might be fantastic but not if it's served tepid. The service only pub-average and the final prices high. Let's try pop up + fun + cheap = a great night out - and then we might go to another one.

One of my favourite veggie pies uses cabbage. New seasons Sweetheart cabbage is best but white or Savoy will both work well. Use shortcrust pastry or buy ready rolled puff pastry. Sometimes I make pasties instead of a family size pie.

Stopped for a bite to eat at lunchtime on Friday, you have to duck your head to get in this quaint tea room on the edge of Suffolk at Oulton Broad. Home made cakes are their speciality and their ginger and carrot cakes were especially good, but we had ordered a cheese and tomato quiche before we saw the board with home-made sausage and onion pie or pea and ham soup on it .  You will need to be friendly with your neighbours as these tables are close together but when your coke comes on a saucer with a doily you know you are in the right place and the whole meal with a pot of tea was only  £10!

And here is Justin's recipe -

Saute of snails, bacon and bone marrow, flat parsley and capers.

4 pieces of short sawn bone marrow

12 ex large snails (tinned will do if you can't get fresh)

1/2 shallot chopped

2 slices of pancetta cut into lardons

100g fresh garlic butter

For the parsley salad:

small bunch of flat parsley, picked and washed

1/4 red onion thinly sliced and sprinkled with salt to withdraw moisture

20 baby capers

salt and pepper

drizzle of olive oil and squeeze of 1/4 lemon. Combine all ingredients together just before serving.

First roast your bone marrow in a medium oven, on a rack on a tray sprinkled with rock salt for 10 mins then turn the bones for another 5 minutes.

Gently colour the pancetta in a small frying pan, then add the chopped shallot, add the snails and gently fry without colouring the shallots.

Add the garlic butter and allow the butter to start to froth and gently colour.

Assemble by placing the parsley salad on a plate alongside the bone marrows and spoon the snails on top and around the marrows. Serve with a spoon to scoop out the marrow and good bread to soak the juices. Simple but delicious. And it has been on the menu since day one. Serves 2.

Ok, a blast from the past. A salmon mousse recipe, very 70's dinner party but also still good if you want to make an economical fish dish a day or two ahead for a party. I used to make these in a salmon shaped tin which is long gone; but I could buy back at great expense from a vintage cookware site.

Everyone around me is making marmalade but I have never liked it, so here are some pictures - you’ll have to find your own recipes.

.            

  My friend Rebekah kept her

  wedding cake top layer in her

  loft for four years and went to 

  look at it the other day for the first time.

  She says 'Oh well, it went the same way as the   marriage'...

Suffolkfoodie was created by my sister Claire in 2007.  Although Claire has lived and worked in the UK, nowadays she spends most of her time in the Caribbean with her family. Not in a 'living on a luxury yacht' kind of way, but on her smallholding where she raises goats and cattle. Claire is a great cook, a published writer and has a life-threatening addiction to hot sauce and makes it in Barbuda.

This leaves me to look after SuffolkFoodie. My name is Ruth and I've worked in the food and hospitality industry since I was 19; now I'm a Nonna! I still have the passion for cooking and good food that I had in my youth. Whether I've made it myself or someone else has cooked it I like good home-made food. I'm not fussy about what I eat; give me a good stew or a burger from a street food stall and I'm happy. You can see my food stories and recipes here! For those that would like to know even more about me I moved from catering, service and hospitality to the tourism sector when I got weary working behind a hot stove. I currently work as a freelance quality assessor within visiitor attractions and the leisure and sports industries. (My eight years as a full time hotel inspector taking their toll on my waistline and leaving me craving to eat my own cooking and sleep in my own bed again.) In my years as a cook/chef I've owned and run my own restaurant in Bury St Edmunds and also had my own outside event catering businesses. I've worked as a lecturer at West Suffolk College teaching cookery and life skills to vulnerable adults as well as teaching adult education evening cookery classes. I understand the complexities of running a food led business and the energy that it takes to keep all the plates spinning (literally). I love to keep up with food trends and writing the odd blog post or two. My relaxation pursuits include growing pumpkins, discovering more about wine and experimenting with my cocktail trolley - as Jimmy Buffet sang ... it's five o'clock somewhere; pour me another one!