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Let’s talk FOOD: An interview with Mister Paste

The Greenwich Mummy Blog | Mister Paste Review
The Greenwich Mummy Blog | Mister Paste Review

Last month I wrote a review on two Mister Paste’s curry pastes that I tried out and boy were they tasty. This month I’m launching my new series “Let’s Talk…” which is all about interviewing small businesses to help support them, raise awareness for their business, and learning more about them.

To kickstart my series, we’re discussing about food so what better way that to interview the founder of Mister Paste, Ian…

1. Tell us a little bit more about yourself

“Spend most of the my working life in computing but then owned a Singaporean restaurant in the city for 4 years and following that ran a frozen yoghurt booth, creating my own flavours, inside a deli.”

2. Why did you decide to start up Mister Paste?

“When strapped for time, i used to use bottled sauces but I got fed up with the gloopy sauces and not being able to really tailor the taste to my liking. Knowing that they already pasteurised (i.e. cooked) and full of preservatives to be able to sit in a warehouse or on a shelf for up to 1.5 years, I started thinking about a way to get raw and preservative free sauces to the time strapped cook at home to really give that “made at home” taste. I also got fed up not knowing just how spicy a sauce would be and thought it would be good to be able to control that at cooking time. I then happened upon vacuum sealing at home and saw this as my route to getting raw clean food to the market. I could then make the paste, vacuum seal it for freshness and then also package sachets of added ingredients like chilli so you can control the heat to your level.”

3. How authentic are your pastes in terms of taste?

“As with all recipes, they are particular to the recipe writer and close as
 possible to the authentic taste. If you search out a recipe on the internet you will find tens of “authentic” recipes for the same dish that are all different.”

4. Where do you get your inspiration from for your paste recipes?

“I looked at what are the most known dishes ordered in restaurants and used them for the basis of my initial range of curry pastes. As for the sauces, I’ve not seen them in any restaurants so they are ones I have found and Developed the recipe for my own taste and hope that many will also share my taste. I’m lucky that i have friends who are Thai and Indian who were willing to taste test and comment my recipes.”

5. What’s your favourite paste (from your range) and why?

“It’s hard to choose a favourite curry but if i would like eat beef, I’d choose rendang and for chicken I’d pick vindaloo. For the sauces, I’d choose the spicy,sweet and sour mango which is due to be launched soon.”

Bonus Question: Do you have any other plans for Mister Paste in the future?

“Future plans at the moment are a) to get more people to visit and buy from www.misterpaste.co.uk  and b) to add more recipes and also add some snacks like prawn crackers with a home made sweet chilli sauce.”
A part of my new ‘Let’s Talk’ interview series
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Review: Fresh curry pastes and sauces delivered straight to your door with Mister Paste

The Greenwich Mummy Blog | Mister Paste Review

Love a good curry but don’t know how to make your own paste? Or maybe, like me, you just don’t have the time? 

Fear not because help is at hand. I love all these companies that deliver fresh food straight to your door – Hello Fresh, Fresh Fitness Food, and a new fresh curry paste company that I discovered last week called Mister Paste.

A former work colleague told me about Mister Paste (it’s her partner’s business) and she asked if I would like to try out some of their products – of course I said yes! 🙂

1) because I love food and 2) because helping out other small businesses is a good thing

She sent me a link to her partner’s website and I checked out the large range of pastes and sauces available. The site was really easy to navigate around and I was surprised with how cheap the pastes were as they’re made fresh. I chose the portion option for two people as I knew LO and Baby Girl would just be eating from our portion.

So I chose two curry pastes that I am very fond of; Thai Green Curry and Rogan Josh. For me, the balance of spices, sweetness and saltiness has to be on point in order for me to consider the recipe being a fantastic one. I had very high expectations for these curry pastes that I was going to try.

The kits arrived really quickly, around 2 working days, and there was a message on the packaging that said to refrigerate as soon as they’d arrived which I did. I originally wanted to save my Thai Curry for when I bought seafood but we only had chicken breast in the fridge that day so I made a chicken green curry instead. Continue reading “Review: Fresh curry pastes and sauces delivered straight to your door with Mister Paste”

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Two simple & healthy recipes for you to enjoy this Pancake Day!

The Greenwich Mummy Blog | Pancake Day 2017
(left) Oat pancakes with yoghurt and berries, (right) Chocolate protein pancakes with mint ice cream and chocolate drizzle

It’s Shrove Tuesday today aka Pancake Day and what better way to enjoy this day than bake up a fresh batch of pancakes to enjoy with the family… or all by yourself. 🙂

I’ve got TWO amazingly simple recipes for you today; the first one is a chocolate protein pancake one that I’ve dressed with a low-calorie mint choc ice cream and dark chocolate drizzle, and the second is a simple oat pancake with coconut yoghurt and berries. Yum!!

Both of the pancakes came out super fluffy. I added baking powder but I am sure they would still be quite fluffy without it. Out of the two, I think the chocolate protein pancake was the best – I have a sweet tooth so to be able to enjoy something sweet but in a healthy way is a wonderful win-win situation haha!  Continue reading “Two simple & healthy recipes for you to enjoy this Pancake Day!”

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Recipe: Low-carb Prawn Pad Thai Salad

The Greenwich Mummy Blog | Easy Prawn Pad Thai Salad Recipe

Since I started my fitness journey last August 2016 I’ve been eating much healthier than before. I’ve cut out a lot of the processed foods I used to eat before and try to consciously opt for complex carbohydrates over simple carbs. The reason for this is because of my high-risk for developing Type II Diabetes later in life. Diabetes runs in my family, both on my maternal and paternal side then to top it off I had Gestational Diabetes in both pregnancies.

So yeah… really high risk.

I am human and sometimes I do slip up and have chocolates, cakes and biscuits but try to have a really small portion. After all, eating a healthy diet doesn’t mean eliminating treats 100% out of your diet. Healthy eating is about balance, sustainability and having a positive association with food. Basically if you eat a large slice of pizza (or the whole pizza), don’t put yourself on a massive guilt trip for it and ‘punish yourself’ by eating less the next day or putting your body through hours of cardio trying to ‘burn off’ the added calories. Instead acknowledge that you’ve been able to enjoy yourself that day with that meal and eat a little better the week ahead to balance it out. Remember, one pizza won’t make you fat nor will one salad make you healthy.

I’m currently increasing my calorie intake to build up my muscle size and strength. As my weight loss stalled in December (plateaued at 51.8kg despite me increasing workouts and cutting a few more calories) I decided to reverse diet (where your aim is to gradually add back the cals in an attempt to kickstart your metabolism) which is going well. I’ll be writing up a progress post soon and will be going in more detail about this on there. Look out for it! Continue reading “Recipe: Low-carb Prawn Pad Thai Salad”

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Food Review | My amazing vegetarian lunch at the Ethos Restaurant in London

The Greenwich Mummy Blog | Ethos Foods Restaurant Review
The Greenwich Mummy Blog | Ethos Foods Restaurant Review
Breakfast at Ethos / Photo Credit: Ethos Foods

Okay this post is long and overdue I do apologise but having Ethos on my mind for the past couple of days, I decided I needed to post this instead of leaving it to sit in my drafts folder.

A few months back (Oct/Nov times) I decided to try out this popular vegetarian restaurant with my bestie Coco who turned pescatarian almost a year ago. She hadn’t really ate out at vegetarian or vegan restaurants so I wanted us to try out a new dining experience which didn’t involve me stuffing my face with meat and her watching me. She has said a few times she misses meat and poultry so I wanted us to be on the same page this time. I found out about this trendy little restaurant called Ethos through another friend who’s pescatarian. It had just opened up earlier in 2016 I believe and became really popular for non-meat eaters. There’s loads of vegetarian and more vegan restaurants popping up now which I think is great. It’s not everyday eat meat (and this comes from someone who loves meat). 🙂 Continue reading “Food Review | My amazing vegetarian lunch at the Ethos Restaurant in London”

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Marks & Spencer Foodhall returns to Woolwich in time for Christmas!

The Greenwich Mummy Blog Exclusive - M&S Foodhall reopens in Woolwich
The Greenwich Mummy Blog - Marks and Spencer Woolwich Reopens
Image courtesy of Grayling

Everybody loves M&S Foods, it’s a well-known fact. I’ve yet to hear someone telling me that they don’t like their food or drink. When I found out that Marks and Spencer were returning to Woolwich I was so happy. I’ve only been a Greenwich Mummy for a couple of years, I’ve actually been a Plumstead Common/Woolwich resident for over a decade so knew the old M&S store very well. I was very fond of it too, as was my dad.

When LO was born, we were still living in Plumstead Common. It’s not the greatest area to live in and the estate was practically derelict but the one thing it had a lot of was the sense of belonging – feeling like a part of a community. Something a lot of these flashy new-build flats and estates lack. Anywho, for as long as I can remember there was always a Marks and Spencer in Woolwich so when it closed its doors in 2014, we all felt a little very disappointed.

Marks & Spencer Christmas Food To Order: Last day for orders is December 15th by 5PM
Don’t forget you can choose delivery or collection at your local store

Last Wednesday 7th December 2016 at 10am M&S store manager, Calvin Sheridan reopened the doors of the high street store. What I loved most about this reopening was that a lot (maybe even the majority) of the staff members were from the original store that closed down. To me that demonstrates that M&S cares for the community and its employees. As an ex-M&S Foods employee, it makes me happy to know that the values and ethics of the company are still be upheld by new management.

The Greenwich Mummy Blog - Marks and Spencer Woolwich Reopens
Store manager, Calvin alongside his team cutting the store opening ribbon / Image courtesy of Grayling

Continue reading “Marks & Spencer Foodhall returns to Woolwich in time for Christmas!”