Cook up Middle Eastern delights with chef Pat Chapman

Whether you’re a sucker for a Friday curry takeaway, love the fragrancy of Thai food or fancy extending your tastebuds to try out some Middle Eastern dishes, we’re sure these three brand new cookery courses with the inimitable Pat Chapman will leave you inspired to turn your hand to cook up some more Eastern delights.

Now, we love a good curry as much as the next person, but we can’t help thinking it’d be nice to be able to cook Britain’s favourite adopted dish ourselves. After experimenting the other week with making our own Naan bread and nearly burning the kitchen down (result: a quick trip to the local Indian takeaway and one grill full of what can only be described as charcoal remains), we reckon this new hands-on ‘Cook your own takeaway curry course’ is a winner.

You (and a friend if you wish) will spend three hours with the King of Curry Pat Chapman (for it is he who founded the heavenly Curry Club in 1982) learning how to mix up a mean masala, properly cook those naans and drum up a delicious dahl. What’s more you’ll leave with enough grub for you and all your mates.

Learn how to cook a full range of Indian, Thai or Middle Eastern dishes

If Thai food is more your thing, Pat also offers cookery workshops giving Thai cookery demonstrations. Flavour is the key to Thai dishes and Pat will have you enthralled as he works his way through a veritable banquet of best-loved Thai dishes such as Pad Thai, Thai Green Curry with lashings of oyster sauce and sticky rice.

If you’ve already got curries and Thai dishes sussed and are looking for new inspiration in the kitchen, Pat’s Middle Eastern cookery class could be for you. This new hands-on course will guide you through the flavours and themes of Middle Eastern cookery, which takes influences from countries such as Libya, Yemen and Armenia.

You’ll be making dishes like Mechoui Kafta Bil Karaz (Meat Balls with Cherries), Bras Tahni (Leeks with Walnut) and Riz EI Tammar (Fragrant rice with fresh dates and pine nuts). Of course, there’ll be plenty of opportunity to taste the wonderful dishes that you create, giving you a real insight into the mysteries of exotic Middle Eastern cookery.

If all that has tempted you to rush off and grab your apron, take a look at our cookery course experiences which include everything from sushi making and bread making to curries and traditional English cookery courses, with prices starting from £75 per person.

Sit back, relax and enjoy good food, music and views of the Thames

It’s not every day you get to see the sights of London from the water, so we were really excited when we were invited on the Thames Dinner Cruise experience.

After a busy day in the Into the Blue HQ, a small select group of ITB staffers got changed into our glad-rags and headed into the big smoke for our evening cruise.

On arriving at the Embankment Pier, the first thing that you remark on is the size of the boat. It’s one of those big, flat-looking boats, with glass windows all around, giving you full panoramic views. Once we climbed aboard, we were greeted by the team who immediately presented us with a welcome drink and, as if out of no-where, an official photographer appeared to take our group picture, which we thought was a really nice touch.

After being led to our table, we were handed the menus. The great thing about these Thames Dinner Cruises is that the menu is a la carte, so no need to book in advance (unless you’re a big group) and all the food is freshly prepared onboard the boat, with a team of nine chefs working in the ship’s kitchens to conjure up some really rather tasty food.

The style is definitely modern British and the head chef is keen to locally source fresh products wherever possible. Indeed, we thought the Peppered British Beef starter with horseradish cream and port syrup was, as they say, to die for. A little gin and tonic sorbet in to freshen the palate and then we followed that with Scottish fillet of cod with roasted garlic mash, spinach and Norfolk marsh samphire, which was melt-in-your-mouth gorgeous. And all this whilst cruising past some of the most famous sights on the Thames as the sun was slowly setting.

More calories than you can shake a stick at, but still very nice...

Of course, we were very careful to leave room for dessert and we had to go quintessentially English with a summer fruits pudding served with clotted Devonshire cream. Note to self : must renew that gym membership. The dinner was rounded off with coffees and teas. By this time the sun had set and it was time to sit back and relax, being gently entertained by the live music courtesy of a very good female singer and accompanied by a guitarist.

As we headed past Tower Bridge towards the Houses of Parliament, we had an extra little surprise - the boat does a full 360 degrees turn in the middle of the Thames! We really can’t describe it to you as it’s one of those ‘you have to be there’ moments, but you feel you are almost dancing gracefully on the Thames with the music, the soft lighting, the twinkling lights of the south bank, the floodlit buildings…utter bliss. No wonder there are so many marriage proposals made on board. And if you’re wondering (like were were) no-one has ever said no… as yet!

Thoroughly well fed and watered, we returned to the Embankment pier at around 22:45. Once again the crew were there to wish us farewell and we have to say, it’s the little touches like that which make this gourmet trip on the Thames really quite special.

Enjoy a quintessentially English afternoon tea for two at your choice of Marriott hotel

Time to let you into a little secret. This intotheblue blogger  is in fact a proper francophile hidden in the mountains and valleys of the French Alps. As we write this, we’re being deafened by the noise of the cow bells as the big brown-eyed cows in the field munch on their grass. But try as we might to embrace all things francais, we can’t shake off our obsession with the great British cup of tea and our Mum is constantly being commandeered into flying out parcels of Twinings Earl Grey teabags…

So, imagine our delight when we found out Into the Blue has just expanded its range of afternoon tea for two experiences. These heavenly high teas take place at  your choice amongst six different four and five star Marriott hotels across England and in Ireland. And yes, it really is all about a pinkie-pointing posh cup of freshly brewed tea with a whole stack of tasty pastries, dainty little sandwiches and the good old scone with cream and jam. We so know where we’re going when we’re next visiting the UK.

All experiences are offered as ‘tea for two’, making these vouchers an excellent pressie to give for your parents’ wedding anniversary, an engagement gift, a romantic treat for you and your loved one, or even a fun way for the girls to get together and have a gossip over a cuppa. And all the hotels are different - there’s the modern warehouse conversion in Manchester, the country house at Druid’s Glen in the sprawling County Wicklow countryside in Eire and high tea at the Grosvenor Hotel in London which has been serving teas since the early 1800s.

A superb gift to give and all venues are priced at £55 for two.