On the Second Treat of Christmas...

Magic* Christmas Star Cookies!

*Not actually magic

In order to use up the ingredients I already had from the mince pie pastry, I decided to make some Christmas cookies. The best thing about Christmas cookies is that you can also use them for decorations on your tree (provided you don't have a greedy chocolate Labrador who will scoff anything that smells remotely edible - even scented candles). Using them for decorations is a great way to save money and it's fun to get your kids to do. Mine may look like kids have helped me, but that was in fact, just me. Being a bit special.

Unfortunately my supermarket had run out of festive cookie cutters and I still have no scales.  But for decoration I came across this little beauty.

Shimmer Spray. By Dr.Oetker. In Gold and Silver.

This is so awesome, I am tempted to spray it on all my food just to make it feel more Christmassy.

So to make your own cookies... 

*Base recipe from BBC Good Food

Ingredients:

140g Icing Sugar

375g Flour

1 Egg Yolk

250g Butter

A good splash of vanilla extract or the seeds from a vanilla pod.

1tsp Ground Mixed Spice - for a bit of festivity.

For Decoration:

Icing Sugar

A splash of water

Food colouring of choice as well as some festive decorations (glitter spray, silver/gold balls, sprinklies)

Method

• Put all of the ingredients except for the flour into a bowl and wazz up (for definition please see Jamie Oliver's official dictionary) with a hand whisk until it's formed a smooth paste.
• Sieve in the flour and mix together to form a smooth dough.
• Place in the fridge and leave for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5.
• Roll out the pastry on a icing sugared surface until it is a couple of cms thick. 
• Cut out your cookies using a cookie cutter or with a knife if you want them to look extra special, like I did.
• Place them on a greased baking tray (or use greaseproof paper) and pop them in the oven for 10-12 minutes.
• Once they are a light, golden brown, get them out of the oven and leave them on the side to cool.
• When the cookies have cooled, the decoration funtimes begin!
• Mix up some icing sugar with water and your chosen food colouring and spread it liberally over your cookies. Sprinkle sprinkly sparklies over the cookies and then the shimmer spray for a festive glitz. Obviously feel free to decorate your cookies however you like! I used red icing with sprinklies and silver shimmer spray. You could do a mixture of red and gold/green and silver trees and stars.

I happily munched on my cookies whilst drinking a nice hot mug of mulled wine and watching Elf / present wrapping. With only 5 work shifts left until I'm off for Christmas, I'm starting to feel very festive. Especially with a belly full of sweet treats and the big pile of presents under the tree!

On the First Treat of Christmas.... The Mince Pie Method

Mince Pies. Who could have their Christmas without a mince pie? Served best warm with cream or brandy butter, they are a full fat treat. These little bastards definitely help with the Christmas fat rolls. I was never a fan of mince pies when I was younger as I had a bit of an issue with dried fruit and thought pastry was a bit rubbish. We all make mistakes though...

You can get all sorts of mince pies now. Giant ones, lattice top, iced top, brandy filled, ones that smell like pine trees and are made from puff pastry... but there's nothing like a home made mince pie. Or so you would imagine. I've never actually had a homemade mince pie. I know, isn't that terrible? I was a deprived child.

And so, I've attemped to make a batch myself. On nervously first starting to bake, I realised that our scales had completely broken... excellent. There was no knowing how badly these were going to turn out.

 

Here they are. The beauties.

They were actually incredible. I was extremely proud of myself.

So now you want to make your own version? Well! This is how you do it...

Georgie Porgie's Mighty Mince Pies

Ingredients (without measurements as I had no scales)

For the Pastry:

An amount of Plain Flour (more flour for more pies)

An amount of Butter

A smaller amount of Golden Caster Sugar

A pinch of Salt

2 tsps Ground Mixed Spice

The zest of 1 Orange

2tsps Fresh Orange Juice

For the Filling:

1 jar of Mincemeat
1 jar of Clippy's Apple, Rhubarb and Ginger Conserve


For the top:

4 tsps Cinnamon
6 tsps Golden Caster Sugar



How it's Done

• Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 6 or the other equivalents (Google it).
• Sieve the flour into a bowl and add the butter (cut up into little bits). You need to make sure your butter is cold to get a good pastry and as there are no measurements, there needs to be enough butter for the consistency to feel buttery once you've combined the butter and flour. If that's makes sense...
• Use your fingertips to crumble the flour and butter together, to form breadcrumbs. This is the part when you have to make sure it feels buttery enough. No one wants a dry mince pie.
• Add the sugar, salt, spices and orange zest and use a wooden spoon to mix it all together.
• Add the orange juice and mix this in. The dough should start to come together.
• Get your hands in and press the dough together into a ball. Work it a bit with your hands to add some elasticity.
• Grease a bun or muffin tin.
• Take walnut sized balls of pastry and press them out into circles. Press these into the tin to form the bases.
• Spoon a tsp of mincemeat into each pie as well as a tsp of conserve.
• Roll out circles to cover the tops of the pies. Press the lids on, gently push the edges down to meet the pie base.
• Prick each pie top with a fork and sprinkle with a little sugar and cinnamon.
• Put them in the oven for 20 mins to bake. 
• After 20 minutes they should be a nice golden brown so take them out and leave them to cool.

Now you have some lovely tasty mince pies. Make the most of it whilst they're warm!

A Georgie Porgie Christmas

It's no secret that I bloody love Christmas time. It is the best excuse to eat way too much festive food and drink too many warm mulled wines. But it's okay, because it's Christmas and that's what everyone does. I have been thoroughly enjoying the seasonal spirit this week despite it being well over a week until I finish work for the holidays. I popped down to Bournemouth to visit my friends and family and partook in some much needed Christmas activities. These mainly included shopping and eating large Bratwursts.

Celine loves a big sausage.

Bratwursts and other german fayre (such as Krakeurs) have become staple in my Christmassyness... In Bournemouth every year, we get a German market come to visit at Christmas time that sells rip off Louis Vuitton bags and dodgy looking animal hats. The real reason anyone comes to see the German Market is for the sausages, the crepes and the cosy Gluhwein cabin that appear. I really can't say I feel festive until I've nommed one of those delicious Bratwursts and had an extortionate mug of gluhwein that tastes a bit like watery ribena (managed to avoid this part this year and just stuck with the sausage. I will be visiting Lidl for my Gluhwein).

And so now I have begun my festive countdown, I have decided to give myself a little bit of a challenge to try and complete before the big day itself.

I will be making 12 treats of Christmas! 12 traditionally christmassy things with my own slight twist on them to challenge my (mainly poor baking) skills. This way, I'm training my stomach to deal with the epic meal I will be feeding it at Christmas lunch.

So check back for the first of our festive treats tomorrow when I take on Mince Pies. And with my baking track record, there's no knowing how they will turn out! Reindeer hoofs crossed everyone!!

The Red Cups

So I am easily sucked up into the "ZOMFG CHRISTMAS AT STARBUCKS RED CUPS GINGERBREAD LATTES I'M CAFFEINE INTOLERANT BUT GOING TO DRINK TEN A DAY ANYWAY" trend.

Shameful. So here's a great blog about the good and bad bits of this particular mind control franchise.

STARBUCKS CHRISTMAS (CLICK ME.)

...and you know what? My last THREE gingerbread lattes were terrible. They all tasted burnt. They tasted like the bitter disappointment of New Year's Eve, not the magical joy of Christmas.

It's totes all about Crème Brulee Lattes from Costa. Urgh, Costa. Never thought I'd find myself saying that.

Prince Charming

Today wasn't a great day. My only day off for quite a while and I ended up with horrific abdominal pain for the entire day. At one point it was so bad that I couldn't even walk without feeling like I was going to throw up... but less about that. Being house ridden meant that Rob was in charge of venturing to Tesco for food. For most men, this would be a dangerous and reckless feat.
Rob returned with (amongst a few other tasty bits) a joint of beef and steaks. Two different types of delicious beef from one quick shop trip. This is just one of a million reasons why he is perfect for me.

So for the ultimate comfort dinner, we cooked up some rump steaks and sauteed potatoes (which I fried in a homemade garlic and rosemary butter). I could have just eaten either of these things on their own, but together it was heavenly and now I feel much better about having spent my day curled up in bed. I might even go back later for a naughty nigella second helping. (Note to self, must get over Nigella obsession...)

Wine and Chocolates

Sounds like my kind of heaven. Wine and chocolate (specifically red wine and truffles) go together like me and seasonal gingerbread lattes of the decaf variety. But something a bit odd arrived in our house the other night which felt a little bit unnatural to say the least.

Chocolate shop wine. The chocolate lover's wine. 

On first appearances, this looks as though it should be incredible, after all, how could you go wrong with chocolate and wine? But it was just the strangest thing I have ever tasted.
 

Would I call myself a chocolate lover? Definitely. 

Would I choose to drink this wine over a normal red? Definitely not.

It's not an experience that I could put into words but it was definitely worth trying. Mostly for curiosity purposes. But I don't think I could drink a whole bottle, let alone a whole glass.

Cake Fail

I'm still not quite getting the hang of the baking thing. Here's a birthday cake I made recently - red velvet cake with vanilla cream cheese frosting. Maybe the awesomeness was too much and it blew the cake apart. With awesomeness.

My Body is a Temple.

 

I like to think I take care of myself. I eat lots of fruit and vegetables and am pretty active (as active as my back will allow). But somehow my immune system still refuses to work like it should. I pick up viruses like an evening standard and am feeling "under the weather" too often for someone of my age and lifestyle. I really don't understand it. Maybe I should put it down to my size, perhaps it makes me more vulnerable... ridiculous suggestion really. I do look after myself so I just can't comprehend it. 

Prior to this, I had been trying extra hard to change my lifestyle as I mentioned in a previous post. And of course my first port of call was Tesco. Because we get too excited about clubcard points and that smug feeling of 'No we brought our own bags - judgement upon everyone who didn't'. So let me introduce the most middle class shop I have ever done...

The most depressing part is perhaps how excited I got over the new covent garden soup flavours... and they were 3 for 2! I induled in 'Souper-natural': a pumpkin delight, a carrot and maple syrup winter warmer as well as a 'Jammin Jamaica' jerk flavoured treat. Only om nom is appropriate as a description.

You may have read the past post 'what I wrote' about making healthy breakfast smoothies. The last one was good, but this new one was EPIC.

I was genuinely excited about how good this looked. I could barely wait.

This one was more of a tropical concoction which contained strawberries, pineapple, kiwi, fresh mint, oats and honey. No spinach superfood in this one, but the oats kept me much fuller. Delicious and healthy.

Now that I am laid up in bed with yet another damn cold, my only hope is to ply myself with vitamin C packed juices and slurp chicken soup until I am ready to face the world again. I might also take advantage of the extra cuddles and concern it brings... I said might!

One Big Sausage

That is one big sausage.

Gotta Eat 'em All.....

 

Getting a bit art attack, I made these as a present for a friend.

(He loves Pokemon. Yes he is 21.)

They are fudge and white chocolate oaty cookies. 

If I was a cupcake, I would be.....

Editors Note: On further thought, this post is entirely ridiculous. Please don't feel you should read it.

Editors Note: I am trying to write this whilst a cat rubs itself all over me and the laptop. Very helpful Oscar, thank you.


I love these kind of questions, silly as they are. If you were an animal, what would you be? If you were a cocktail, what would you be? If you were a song, what would you be?
I think cupcakes are a great way to display personality because you can be so creative with the decoration as well as the flavours. If you've ever seen an episode of cupcake wars you'll know the extent that some people go to in order to push the boundaries of cupcakes.

If you're classing yourself as a cupcake in the 'If I were a cake, what would I be?' category, you're a pretty trendy cake, as everyone knows that cupcakes are "all the rage" on the baking scene. I wouldn't class myself as a cupcake on the whole, but let's not get into that right now.

Maybe you're a sweetheart cupcake. A dreamer. A softie. You love pink and believe in true love. (This is nearly me but not quite). These types of cupcakes are covered in fluffy, pink, sparkly, shiny, pretty things. They are flavoured with strawberry, bubblegum or marshmallow. They are the sickly, gushy cupcakes of the world, skipping down the street singing songs from Enchanted whilst being followed by bluebirds and chipmunks. Always dreaming of their happy ending.

Maybe you're the spooky Halloween cupcake. A different cake, it's a rebel but knows it's all a bit of fun really. It likes to strive for the minority and support being different.
With flavours like pumpkin, licorice, blood orange and dark chocolate, it's perfect for Halloween. Decorated in traditional Halloween attire, you might even think it's a bit of an Emo cake, but think again because it doesn't have a fringe covering half of it's face and it doesn't look anemic.
It likes to think that nobody else understands it and takes pride in breaking the mould.

Or perhaps you're the cupcake that's the height of sophistication. Often chosen for weddings because you just look right in a formal setting. Flavoured delicately with lavender or vanilla, it's light and fluffy and could be compared to a fresh summer's day or a chat over a latte. They are pretty cakes, with swirls and flowers or tiny delicate flourishes. It always takes pride in it's appearance and cares about the way others see it.




But me? I would be a cupcake that I made the other day. Pulled from the Hummingbird recipe collection.

I'd like to think I was a peaches and cream cupcake. Light fluffy vanilla sponge but hidden at the bottom is the tangy, juicy peach slices. Pretty pink icing, but it doesn't look too perfect (no where near in fact), with a cartoon yellow heart on top. For kookyness. Because I'm kooky, yeah? I'm writing a whole post on what sort of cupcake you think you are. Because obviously that was an extremely important issue that needed to be considered. 

I've put too much thought into this.

Detox Diva

Vegetables!

It's a love/hate relationship. They can taste pretty delicious and compliment your meat as well as being good for us. But there's something about a bowl of greasy cheesy chips that I just can't resist... well, potatos are vegetables right?

I've decided it's time to detox. (lose a couple of stone). But mainly detox. 

And of course I can't let this effect my love of food and cooking. I just have to be a little more creative and not so "red meat-minded" when it comes to dishes. This also means kicking my sugar habit, something that I know will not be easy, and I will probably pull my hair our, bite my nails down to stubs before I overcome my sugar issues. But... Challenge Accepted!

We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, as well as the meal where you can eat the most because you have the time to work the calories off. A good, energising and healthy breakfast can leave me feeling like Tigger for the rest of the day. So let's get that nailed first.

In order to make sure I get a good dose of vitamins and minerals in the morning, I've constructed my own smoothie, which I have with two slices of rye bread.

And it goes like this.....

 

Green. Not the most appetising colour right?

But it tastes fresh, juicy and fruity.

Georgie's Breakfast Detox Smoothie.

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe mango
• 2 big handfuls of baby spinach (a superfood!)
• 2 kiwis
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 small cup of apple juice (not from concerntrate and NO sugar)
• 2 cups of water

Method:

Blend it!

Now with this recipe you can make it your entire breakfast if you add something like protein powder or flaxseed. If you want a smoother result you can also sieve the smoothie before drinking!

All that's left is to enjoy your day. full of new found energy!

Into the Unknown...

Lunchtime is always a funny one, a lack of time being your main obstacle but you still need a good meal to carry you through the rest of your working day. Tempted by Subway or M&S meal deals on the go where you can't tell what they put in your food, making your own lunch is the best way forward. It just takes a little more effort.
Today I fancied experimenting.
I've inevitably got myself into the Great British Bakeoff (it was only a matter of time) and the contestants ingenuity had me questioning my own level of adventurousness when it comes to cooking. I can follow recipes a treat, but creating meals totally from my own brain is something I have yet to venture into.

So on that note!

Here is my choice for today's lunch and my own creation.

Fresh Lamb Flatbreads

For the Lamb Filling:

A Handful of lamb

1 clove of garlic chopped

2.5 tablespoons of natural yoghurt

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp tumeric

Mint leaves chopped finely

1 Dried apricot chopped finely

1 tsp lime juice

Salt and Pepper

For the Flatbread:

Half a cup of natural yoghurt

A good sprinkle of baking powder

1 cup of plain flour (adding more if the dough is too sticky)

To Serve

Ripped fresh parlsey

Fresh lime

Method

• Start by slicing the lamb into cubes and put them into a bowl.
• Add all your other lamb filling ingredients to the same bowl and combine well to cover the lamb.
• Let it marinade for 10 minutes.
• Next make your flatbread, by combing all of the listed ingredients in a new bowl. 
• Use your hands or a spoon to bring the mixture together until it starts to form a dough.
• Add more flour if you need to.
• Once a dough has formed, flour a work surface and kneed it for 5 minutes until it has become elasticated.
• Roll the dough out with a rolling pin or stretch it out with your hands until it is 1cm thick.
• Heat a grill pan to a high heat with a little bit of olive oil and throw in your lamb mixture. 
• Keep the leftover marinade for after the lamb is cooked. 
• Try not to turn the lamb too much so that it gets nice and crispy on each side.

• Cook for a couple of minutes until browned and place back into your marinade - give it a good stir and cover the meat again.
• Now place your flatbread into the same pain and fry for 2 minutes of each side.
• Place your grilled flatbread onto a plate and spoon the lamb mixture into the middle.
• Sprinkle over your fresh parsley and squeeze a bit of fresh lime over.
• You can add salad such as red onion, watercress, radish and carrots.
• Roll up your wrap and eat!

There you have it, a tasty, filling and fast lunch!

Tequlia Mocking Bird

Friday was my last day in the office, and after an amazing four weeks I was a little sad to leave. It's one of the only jobs I have stuck with until the end and not magically disappeared because I just couldn't bear to go back (cowardly behaviour that I've now dropped). They were so kind to me and bought me an amazing new cook book! More tasty recipe adventures ahead. It was Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's 'River Cottage Every Day'. I have to say I haven't had much experience in watching his programmes or trying Hugh's recipes, apart form last year when I made his Christmas fig chutney (delicious).

I digress! To celebrate my last day and my progression onto a new career path, Rob and I decided to pop out for a quick dinner before a date with our new clean sheets and some shuteye.
We chose Wahaca at Westfield because it's convenient for us and we love Mexican food. It was absolutely oozing atmosphere on a Friday night, tequila and burritos flowing all round.

Starting off with chips and guacamole and a Tamarind Margarita, we perused the Wagamama's style menu.
We decided on a sharing platter for two with a selection of tostadas and tacos.
My goodness do I wish there was more of that Margarita, with a  sweet and sour fruit base and a chilli sugar rim, it danced on my tastebuds like a Jabberwockys performance. Delicious.
The service is Wahaca was not to be faulted either. For a casual Friday night dinner it was perfect. Our waiter was friendly and professional and had such a great vibe.

Our main course arrived extremely quickly, and again like Wagamamas, they brought the food as soon as it was ready so we had time to savour each little tasting dish.

We started with pork and chicken tacos.

The pork, pictured above, was the highlight of this meal. It was full of flavour and fell apart with a touch just like pulled pork should. The greenery complimented the pork perfectly. The only thing I would say was the amount of fat and grease that seeped out of these little beauties was excessive. It basically covered my plate and made my tacos soggy, which was a shame as I felt a little put off by the unhealthy spectacle staring me in the face. The chicken was also nice with a deep, smoky flavour - it didn't hold a torch to that pork though.

Then came the vegetarian options with crispy new potato wraps which were surprisingly good, covered in feta cheese (bit of an odd choice I thought) and a fruity mango sauce and then Black bean tostadas.

These were lovely little additions to the meal.

For dessert I cleansed my palette with a mango sorbet and Rob had the churros. We washed it all down with two great shots of tequila - the selection was great! (Bonifide tequila lover here).

The best part of Wahaca was the drinks, the pork and the fact that we had a three course meal and were out within an hour - great as I was shattered and wanted an early night! A more indulgent, wine swirling evening it is not. It's street food with a seat and a cocktail, and they do it reasonably well. 

Anytime is Cake Time.

"Happy Thursday! Help yourselves!" 

Exactly what you want to see when you rock into work at 8.30am on a Thursday morning.

This beauty was made lovingly by our HR manager, Lucy. 

The sponge was so beautiful and lemony with a yoghurt glaze, and it was awesome.

Unfortunately she won't divulge her special recipe, I was just lucky to have scoffed it.

Where the Wild Things are and the Cool Kids go to Play.

MOOLI'S.

"9/10 of our friends think that Mooli's is way better than Pret and Eat."

If you have an easily addictive personality then do not read on - I'm talking to you James Lewis.

Since moving to London, this has been our greatest find. Rob discovered Moolis whilst searching on The Guardian website for the best budget eats. So with a whole weekend to ourselves for the first time in a while, we headed into town for a bit of shopping and exploring. We headed straight for Moolis.

With street food on the incline, but places like Eat and Pret dominating the market, there should be more places like Moolis. There should be a Moolis on every corner.

In it's essence, Mooli's serve Roti wraps, salads, Chaats and roasted poppadoms, washed down with a Kingfisher or a Crabbies. But they are so much more than that.

We ran into Moolis gladly out of the rain, but I just could not understand that why on a rainy Saturday, when Oxford street was crammed, that more hungry shoppers had not sough solace in such an incredible spot.

We both opted for the Beef Mooli: 

"Inspired, by Olathiya Erachi, the signature dish of the Syrian Christians of Kerala. Legend has it that they were converted to Christianity by St Thomas (yes, the doubter himself). The beef is braised for hours in a heady blend of Malabar spices. Spicy and peppery, the melt-in-the mouth beef is perfectly offset by crunchy coconut, a fresh cucumber raita and mixed leaf salad."

Pork Mooli

After one bite, I can safely say I have an addiction to these things. Despite being incredibly full for just £5(!), I instantly wanted to try the rest of the menu. Infatuated, Rob and I are still thinking about it now. In the heart of Soho, this is a great place for a mid work/mid shop lunch. They also do delivery. Is there anything these guys have got wrong? 

The place itself was spotless and had the atmosphere of a warm June afternoon, despite the awful weather outside. With it's rainbow walls, rainbow plates and chilled out playlists, this was the perfect eating experience. A true gem of London Town.

http://www.moolis.com/misc2.aspx

So later on, after a rather stressful (and instantly regrettable) trip to Primark on Oxford Street, we fancied a slice of cake. Rob, being the man about town that he is, took me to 5th View - the bar/cafe/restaurant on the top of the Piccadily Waterstones.

Not only does this place have 4 floors of books - a dream come true for a book geek such as myself, but 5th view oozes the cool that you've only dreamed of as a book lover. Serving a huge variety of drinks, food and cakey treats, with a view towards the river, it's perfect for an early evening stop with a friend for an intimate chat, or a date to share some incredible food.  

We stopped for a cocktail and a bourbon, and at 5th view the measures are generous to say the least. It definitely took the edge off a stressful shopping experience. We then ordered a pear tart and a slice of vanilla cheesecake - both fantastically executed, and definitely indulgent.

http://www.5thview.co.uk/

I am desperate to try their sharing platter. Ranging from antipasto to greek mezzes and cheeseboards, everyone around us was tucking in to incredible boards of tastiness. With a cocktail in one hand and my other hand ravenously grabbing for a selection of potent cheeses, I would be one happy book worm. And one drunk book worm by the end of it.

Working Girl

So it's been a little while since I last posted and that is because I now have a job. A job! A REAL JOB! Well... it's only for four weeks so far but A JOB! This is great for 2 reasons - a.) I get out of the house and b.) I get some money! MONEY! YES. At last.
The downside, of course is less time for cooking and blogging.

However, I have been keeping track of my delicious lifestyle for you despite being ever so busy and business-like.

As my body is definitely still adjusting to the 'having to get up at a reasonable hour' syndrome, when I arrive home I'm so shattered that finding the will to cook is even proving to be a challenege. So last week, when I arrived home in desperate of a horrible, greasy (yet extremely tasty) curry, and we took a trip to Club 182, an authentic Indian in the heart of Wembley Park. On first impressions, it's just a pub with booths that could do with updating and a huge wooden bar, and they had a huge party in the room at the back. Great for atmosphere, service was suffering.

I was feeling a bit 50/50 as to what to expect but had good authority that this place was 'the shit'.

But, Oh My Gosh was this place AWESOME.

I ordered the Grilled Talapia Fish, Sag aloo and a Garlic Naan. I don't usually order fish in Indian restaurants, I tend to stick with chicken or vegetables, but I'm really glad that I did this time. It was the most beautiful fish I have ever tasted. It was light and flaky and covered in fantastic spices that weren't over-powering and complimented the delicate flavour of the fish. Very impressed.

I would definitely recommend Club 182 - great prices and great food.


After a long day of typing up expenses, all I want to eat is comfort food. Salads I can deal with at work but after the gruellingly long drive home stuck in copious amounts of traffic and frantically V-ing at anyone who cuts me up, I just want to get into my pajamas and eat a severly indulgent meals.

So this is what I've been cooking:

Bouef Bourginion.

Possibly my favourite dish of all time. Beef and a lot of red wine, what more could you ask for? Served with Potato Dauphinoise - food heaven. It's also one of my favourite things to cook because you can just leave it for hours whilst the beef tenderizes.

Burgers. Not just any burgers thought, because that would be boring. These burgers we formed from scratch (not as far as killing an actual cow) and then rolled in morrocan spices (these being cumin seeds, coriander and a little smidge of sumac) to form a crust. They were garnished with fresh tomatoes, baby spinach and onions and served with sweet potato wedges (one of my favourite things in the world.)

My new office is not the sort of place where you have to bring in your own cake on your birthday - oh no. Your birthday is celebrated with a menagerie of cake, games and on this occasion, Wagamamas.
I offered to make the cake this time, despite my up and down luck with baking. The unfortunate victim of this was Sarah, and it is common knowledge that she loves Mojitos... a great excuse to make some interesting cupcakes.

First of all I planned on making some individual rum cakes with a mint and brown sugar frosting. Despite these cakes being in the oven for an hour(!) they were terrible. They didn't rise and the middle was uncooked. Rubbish. Or just my luck with cakes...

So I reverted back to my good old Hummingbird Bakery cook and made plain vanilla cupcakes. They came out perfectly, so beautiful and delicate. For the frosting, I combined 2 shots of rum, lime zest, lime juice, fresh mint and butter until the butter had softened and then gradually added icing sugar until I had a thick, creamy frosting. Now, I don't usually like mojitos at all but this icing was so incredibly fresh and delectable that I could have happily eaten the entire bowl. I frosted the cupcakes and placed a mint leaf and sprinkling of brown sugar on each. Mojito cupcakes. They went down a treat.

Saturday Kitchen.

Saturdays were made for eating. And lounging. Especially as it's raining outside.

This was our brunch.

French toast with candied bacon for Rob.

French toast with Phish Food for me.

In other news... the freezer has broken. Fuck.

Vegan Cupcakes and Emergency Chocolate.

I'm not afraid to say that I'm not particularly good at baking - cakes, cookies, desserts... they just aren't my forte.

But after the success of the delicious Hummingbird Bakery red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, I decided to try my luck at making a vegan version. My mum was throwing a long awaited house-warming and her fiancée is a vegan... which I know can be really hard sometimes. I tried it once, I lasted about 7 hours before running for the cheese counter, sweating like a crack addict. As a house warming gift, I decided to change the dairy parts of the red velvet and cream cheese recipe to their soy counterparts, but I tried two different batches of this to no avail. The cake in the casing cooked like a cake, but the rest of the mixture rose and then spread across the baking tray to create a cookie type consistency. When I tried to get the cakes out, the cookie topping snapped off and I was left with a very small amount of cake in the casings. Not good.
That's when all my prayers were answered... I found this.

Awesome Vegan Cupcake Recipe.

With all the excitement of my amazing new cakes and then the party, I forgot to take a photo! Never mind, let's just say they looked like little pieces of chocolate heaven that had risen perfectly and were smothered in a thick, creamy (ahem.) delicious non dairy cream cheese frosting. And covered with sprinkles :)

A little snap from the house-warming. My best friend Alex.

They went down a treat, and now I'm going to make Marc (Mum's fiancée) a vegan cake for his birthday too. Am currently playing with the idea of a chocolate and morello cherry cake with chocolate chilli frosting. Think I may do a trial run first....

Other interesting food news. 

We made more ribs!

This is them when we had just put the barbecue rub on them, before they went into the oven for four hours. We chose pork ribs this time as a variation and a different sauce and rub. The problem with ribs is that unless you have the money to buy epic and massive ones, there is just very little meat on  them and they are so awkward to eat. The Jamie Oliver book that is basically our bible because we can't afford any other cook books *sniff* has two different rib recipes. I definitely preferred the sauce on these, it was a great barbecue sauce but it was quite a lot of effort for a very small amount of sauce. The search for the best rib recipe continues....

This is one of the best things I have ever come across. FINALLY someone understands! Emergency food items are  a good idea Lord Sugar. Get me an emergency biscuit NOW.

 Rob seems to think I've got a bit of addiction to Come Dine with Me. It's not an addiction... I do not need Come Dine with Me rehab. But I did watch it earlier this evening, not because I wanted to... honest! That's where I came across this:

What do we think of this? Apparently it originates from a Hugh Fearnley recipe but it just screams unnatural to me. She cut open a huge turkey, layed some chesnut stuffing and then two ducks breast on top. She then made a layer of apricot and sausagemeat stuffing and then a layer of pheasant and then a layer of bacon strips... (This is beginning to sound like Epic Meal Time). She then continued to sew the turkey back together. Something just isn't right here. 

Rob cooked a deliciously comforting spag bol for dinner. And I'm consider making french toast with a huge scoop of Ben and Jerry's Phish Food on top for good measure... Nigella style midnight treat. I've even got a silk dressing gown to match.

Cupcakes

My week as a free woman.

Right now, I'm snuggled up on my sofa in my jimjams watching the launch of Celeb BB (totally shameful I know, but I was intrigued!).

This week I haven't done a huge amount of cooking as I've been by myself, but my mum did come to visit so we ate out a little bit. First of all we tried a restaurant called Little Sicily, which was in the theatre district so lots of restaurants to choose from! On first thoughts it looked really chic and nice, the hostess and our waitress were lovely and they did a set menu of two courses for fifteen squids! Bargins. Now, I may have mentioned before that I like red wine and so that is what I ordered. Luckily for me the house red was a Sangiovese, a previous favourite of mine that I used to serve when I worked at Pizza Express. But this one was pretty sour and I struggled to drink it at first. For my starter I had a parma ham salad which was average and had some really weird tomato salsa amongst the greenery... Then for my main I ordered what sounded like it would be a really nice tender burger with salami and a salad. But I got a boringly overcooked bbq burger in a burger king seeded bun and laced with this really odd pink sauce which I can only assume was burger sauce but tasted a bit like taramasalata. And it came with 4 chips. FOUR CHIPS. If you're going to serve chips, at least serve a good portion. Four is just an insult.

So I won't be returning there.

Secondly, we visited the tapas bar smack bang in the middle of westfield.

LOVED IT.

It was great to stop for a little bite to eat in the midst of tiring shopping. I had octopus with potatoes and paprika. The octopus was really meaty and complimented the other flavours perfectly. Not quite as good as the octopus they serve at The Real Greek though. As an accompaniment I had a goat's cheese and rocket salad with salsa. Amazing.
They served churros there as well which looked amazing but I didn't try any. I will definitely be returning with my other half as he's been itching to try the tapas bar for ages.

After this snack, I dragged my mother to Foyles where I perused books for a good 20 minutes (this is restrained for me). I'm not afraid to say that I do judge a book by it's cover... how else do you know what to pick in up a vast bookshop without reading the back of every book. I'm totally book vain... I either select pretty books, sparkly books, interesting looking book, colourful books or books with interesting titles. I do try not to discriminate, but it's in my interest to find books that I will love and enjoy.

Why is Brett Easton Ellis never in the 3 for 2 section. Why?!

Two cookbooks I definitely want are 

Nigella Lawson's 'How to be a Domestic Goddess'

and

'French Women don't get Fat'

That way I can saunter about my nice middle class house looking skinny, fashionable and with gorgeous heels whilst baking perfect cakes. The dream lives on.

Does this mean I'm not a good ambassador for feminism? 

Rob returns tomorrow! Yay! So I've started baking red velvet cupcakes and I'm going to make a special welcome home icing decoration. Will post tomorrow once I ice them!  

French Tart

A mini Tarte Tatin.

NOM.

Submarines, Pork and Apples

 I have uber jealously issues right now.

Firstly, because my uncle worked Prom 40 - the comedy prom on Saturday night which was compared by Tim Minchin (my absolute hero). Absolutely gutted that I wasn't there. I did consider going to hang around the stage door looking a little bit obsessive, but I just don't want to be one of those people. In the end, I spent my Saturday night watching Submarine - great movie, everyone must watch it. In fact, I think it's made my way into my top 5 favourite films. On another note, Rob (man lover) saw Richard Ayoade going into Oxford Circus tube state and they exchanged a "look". This excited me a lot.  

I digress. 

Secondly, I have creeping jealousy because my oh so talented other half has jet-setted off to Tuscany for an entire week (for free!) to shoot a music video for an Italian political ska band. Let me paint you a picture.... Beautiful italian island, straw hats and linen shirts, fantastic a&r villa, shooting SLR on the beach, flowing vino and olives galore. Jealous. I was sulking about this, being left alone in quiet, sad and cold little west London, waiting to comet to arrive with the new fridge but without giving you a specific time so that you waste a whole day. In contrast to this however, I have just received a message from said man lover.
This is how the conversation went:

Rob: "WOW. This trip is megalolz. Absolute opposite of what anyone expected."
G:     "Whats going on! :)"
Rob: "Retarded dying cats, definitely not a villa, awkward dinner with some Italians and a couple of slightly                mental old a&r men."

He added that his sleeping arrangements were "In an okay prison cell/ bad travelodge".

So much for the free Italian holiday.

Back to the food! 

Being on my own I decided to cook some low effort, comfort food. So tonight I made Pork loins in an apple and mustard sauce.

This is a really easy and tasty dish to make.

Ingredients

Pork loins
Onion
Apple
Red Chilli
Garlic
Sage leaves
Dark sugar
Butter
Wholegrain mustard
Stock
White wine

• First of all, chop garlic and a small amount of fresh red chilli and heat in a very small amount of olive oil.
• Add the pork loins and fry for a couple of minutes on either side.
• Add the diced onions and sweat until translucent and soft. 
• Remove the pork loins from the pan and put to one side.
• In a seperate pan add butter and dark molasses sugar so that it forms a caramel.
• Add a very small dash of white wine and combine with the caramel.
• Add the sliced apples so that they absorb the caramel and soften, then add the remanining onions, garlic and chilli from the other pan.
• Let all the ingredients get covered in the caramel and then add two big dollops of wholegrain mustard - stir in until everything is covered.
• Add your stock and pork loins back into the pain. Add some sage leaves to the sauce.
• Simmer to reduce into a thick, sticky sauce and serve with green beans and mashed potato.

Tasty.

Now I'm going to spend the rest of my evening watching Britain and Irelands Next Top Model, planning my imaginary wedding and drinking hot chocolate with Baileys and ginger liqueur, if only I had a fiancee and whipped cream (for the hot choccy!) to match. :)