August has seen Selfridges celebrating their Food Halls. I can’t really blame them – the selection is food porn almost personified, with oodles of fantastic goodies, including Godiva Chocolates (the orangettes are my weakness), L’Armandier Macarons, and Black Circle Coffee.
Arranging a series of events where the public could Meet the Makers, there have been vodka tastings, coffee samplings, sushi demonstrations, meringue making and hot chocolate sipping.
Tempted by the idea of being able to decorate our own cheesecakes with the Lancashire Cheesecake Company, Mr GFB and I were eager to head in to play at the Trafford Centre.
We arrived a little early and were soon distracted.
Ohh pretty.
And then. Oh then, there were cookies.
Oh yes. There were cookies from Ken and Jesse.
American style peanut butter cookies. Double chocolate cookies. Chocolate cookies. Samples were had, with a little sip of milk. A full pack of 5 were purchased. And I can categorically state I wish we’d bought 10. Or 15.
I now have a cookie problem.
Oh and a little Mr Trotter’s fun. Pork scratchings, crisps and stashes of their Chestnut Ale – a particular favourite of ours.
For those in need of something healthier, there were fruit crisps from Nim’s – the apple and pineapple are particular favourites in our house.
And then, well, I got a little more distracted.
Yes, there was gin.
And one I hadn’t tried yet and so of course it was essential that I sample some delightfully crisp and dry Gilpin’s Gin.
Perhaps not essential that the lovely chap from the Graucho Club make me a classic Gibson Martini to sample as well, but my goodness, it does make a fine one.
And then, because we weren’t tipsy enough, there was Tequila – Patron to be precise. Along with their Silver, there was also XO Cafe and their Citronge Orange Liqueur.
I must admit, having tried the Citronge, I’ve got an idea for a cake in my head. I just need to get myself a bottle – but at £37.99, that’s definitely waiting until payday.
Because we hadn’t had enough alcohol (you know, on top of the large glasses of wine we had with our lunch) we sampled Koko Kanu rum too. I had to admit, I’d only had this in cocktails before, rather than on it’s own, so was more than eager to give it a try. Rich, coconutty, delicious and when mixed with a touch of the XO Patron, created something deliciously chocolatey that warrants further exploration…
As our host was nearly our of Koko Kanu (two bottles left in the whole shop), we finally sampled Blackwell Rum – an almost molasses flavoured rum, but not hard hitting at all, a very very easy drinker. Perhaps dangerously so.
Slightly wobbly, and laden with goodies, we headed home.
And the cheesecake?
Oops.
