Hello Friends, today we are time tripping back to October 2004.  Our menu is brought to us by Delicious Magazine and the letter B.  And if that has a vaguely Sesame Street ring to it, then you might also enjoy this! And whilst we are delving into nostalgia, let’s take a look at what was topping the film, book and movie charts in October 2004.  

October 2004 – Pop Culture

Films

If you remember last month, I was underwhelmed by the movies on offer.  How the world can change in 30 days!  October 2004 was an absolute belter of a month for movies.  Team America World Police was #8, The Motorcycle Diaries was #13 and one of my very favourites, Shaun of the Dead was at #14.  

Books

For what seems like the first time since I have been doing these posts, The Da Vinci code was not at #1 on the book charts.  The start of the month saw Trace by Patricia Cornwall take that spot and later in the month the 7th instalment of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series, The Dark Tower top the best sellers.

Music

Just Lose It by Eminem was top of the charts, followed by She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5 and Lose my Breath by Destiny’s Child.  Losing things was big in October 2004! My favourite, Bowling for Soup’s 1985 was still at #8.  

Having set the scene, now lets turn our attention to the menu.  

The Menu  – October 2004

This was another AI assisted menu design.  Still super frustrating to do! I’m sure I will get better at it, the more I do it, but for the moment it is really difficult!

Broad Bean Bruschetta

Well, if we’re gong to feature the letter B, why not start with a  triple!  I love broad beans – their bright green colour  and the velvety feel of their pods give me a sense of joy that is hard to describe.  And their appearance signals the start or spring and longer warmer days. The tarragon, which came from my garden,  was an unexpected delight in this!  I really want to grow my own broad beans too but keep missing the growing season.  I would love to be able to make these again with both of the main items home grown.  I’ll file that one for next year!  

My one complaint with this is that there was nothing to “stick” the beans to the bread.  The minute I picked it up and took a bite, there was a rain of broad beans off the bread!   I think maybe a goat’s cheese or a whipped feta would have worked here to help the broad beans stay on the bread.  

Broad Bean Bruschetta Recipe

Lamb Burger

This was billed as the best lamb burger.  Now, we all know that the actual ultimate lamb burger is my Spic(e)y Feta Burger but these were pretty good! 

Lamb Burger Recipe

Berry Tiramisu

Who doesn’t love a Tiramisu?  And the berries brought a fresh note into this Italian classic.  This was SENSATIONAL.  I don’t love a coffee dessert but I would eat this every and any night of the week!

Berry Tiramisu Recipe

My Nigella Moment – Crumpets

For first-time readers, this refers to the moment at the end of Nigella Lawson’s cooking shows when she sneaks back to the fridge to have another bite of something delicious.  In the context of these Twenty Years Ago posts, it is something contained in the magazine that may not fit with the overall menu theme but I’m sneaking it in because it is too good not to share. 

Possibly inspired by my Welsh Rarebit Crumpets of a few weeks ago, I was very excited to make my own crumpets.   They were somewhat successful.  They were quite tasteless which was not so much of an issue because I could add flavour with the toppings but I could not get the really crumpet like top on them.  This one was probably the most recognisably crumpetty one:

They did have the crumpet like texture on the inside though!  Would i make these again?  Probably not.  They were quite a bit of work and when bought crumpets are cheap and delicious I think I will stick to them in future.  Still, at last I can say I gave them a go! 

Crumpets Recipe