key lime pie

The thought of limes on a winters day in which a snow flake was spotted have restored my faith in life.

If it's important to you, you will find a way.  If not you'll find an excuse.

a mouthful of sugary clouds

The day of the pavlova has dawned in all it's glory. There are three 8 egg pavlovas perched in the kitchen looking gorgeous and another in the oven. All awaiting final adornment - lashings of vanilla cream, fresh tart raspberries and crumbled hokey pokey. Also have a tray of hokey pokey shards to package for general consumption ooh la la! One of our regular customers in the cafe says australians like pavlova light, high and lots of white meringue to cut through whilst the english prefer it shallow, crunchy and sticky.  I have forgotton what kiwis prefer I shall ask if I see one.

Smile - it's the second best thing you can do with your lips:)

a ravishing cupcake

Sense your energy see who you truly are do not let your earthly mind distort the truth.

beetroot macaroons

Today I heard about some inspiring beetroot macaroons with a horseradish filling at a michelin star restaurant in Scotland... Also loved Yotam Ottolenghi's stuffed peppers with fondant swede and gruyere which I cooked for a dinner party.  Added goats cheese and exchanged sourdough for olive ciabata but meat eaters and vegetarians alike raved over this dish!  Polenta bake was an interesting experiment.  A little flavourless although I baked with butter and parmesan, might add lemon zest next time.  Salad of watercress, pomegranate, lemon slices, lemon zest, red chilli went down a storm.


The top 5 regrets people have at the end of life:
I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me
I wish I didn't work so hard
I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings
I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends
I wish that I had let myself be happier

mint rose

My two new favourite words after ordering my first pot of Smiths minted rose lip balm.  I have decided today that I am going to devote my life to making and eating beautiful macaroons.

Enjoy the little things in life, for someday you will realize they were the big things...

cake currency

I seem to be in trading in cakes more often these days. Cakes to say 'thank you',  cakes to say 'thinking about you', cakes to say 'congratulations!'. Cakes in exchange for cakes recently did a fair trade on a lemon polenta for a ginger loaf.  What a marvellous currency.  Haven't it tried it to get petrol yet.  Or to the hairdresser? Today of the vast array of cakes on display I had a taste of the beauty that was the blueberry, vanilla and sour cream creation.

My mother and I are making some huge pavlovas for a dinner on the weekend - enough to feed 30-40 men.  Hopefully they will revel in eating a cloud - although one did sniff recently that he doesn't like cream.  A colleague inspired me today when we were brainstorming saying why not cross it with an Eton Mess - mix hokey pokey, raspberries, cream into a swirl on top of the pavlova with more raspberries drizzled over?

Don't ever regret anything that made you smile!

little old ladies and courgette cupcakes

The story of a little old lady made my day! She is 92 years old and still drives to work - to a housekeeping job that she's had since the 1950's.  Sleeps with the window wide open all year in a house that feels like a refrigerator. She has some strange views on life apparently, but she's outlived all her children. I fancy sitting down for a cup of tea with her one day, just for a chat. Today I am baking courgette cupcakes. I have also just remembered the funniest thing. My mother pronounces this word every single time even after being laughed at 'cor jets'!


Life is short. Eat dessert first!

pistachio

Pistachio, orange and lemon cake looking very plump and tempting on display today complete with white zest icing adorned with pistachios. So that was lunch! I am finding cake sitting happily irresistible. Wherever they appear I simply find pistachios intriguing, little jewels, a bit like my fascination with pomegranates. The tree originated in Persia but now grows in many Middle Eastern countries, Europe and Amercia.  There are only two nuts mentioned in the bible and the pistachio is one of them.

Meanwhile in village life, an elderly mother died.  And my Dad baked his specialty fielders cornflour sponge for her family.  And a baby was born in the early hours of the morn.

Be your own kind of beautiful dahling!

vegetarian fare

An old friend is coming to stay this weekend and I fancy cooking all things new. She doesn't (in her words) eat anything with a face. I'm thinking a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe which fluttered out of a magazine this weekend. Stuffed peppers with fondant swede and gruyere, polenta bake and a vibrant salad containing things like pomegranate seeds, watercress, pink peppercorns... Something pretty and inspiring and delicious to consume. Devoured my first ever slice of devils cake today in fact I didn't even know of it's existance. Bright red velvet with white chocolate icing.

A day without laughter is a day wasted!

dreaming of...

Orange zest and cardamom polenta cake, rose and pistachio polenta cake and maybe something to do with orange blossoms. Also reminds me I must try and make rose ice cream. It is so delicate but beautiful. Violets? The party commenced this afternoon complete with pianist who has a cat phobia and champagne cocktails. I was instructed to collect coats and make sure people had cake, quiche and champagne at all times, which I found of course to be a delightful job. Convincing people to eat cake is right up my street. Hummingbird or coffee, carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing and vanilla cupcakes with pink flowers. Inspired! Meanwhile I found a curious affinity to a little old bespectacled man who spoke the language of the children and who gave up sugar many years ago when his wife forgot to buy it for 10 days in a row! He convinced me it was quite possible to give up anything.

lemon polenta cake

Life is full of unexpected surprises. I find myself cat-sitting this evening in a beautiful house and attending a private party tomorrow afternoon to help serve guests! How wonderful. Instead of hating winter and cursing England whilst mourning french summers and exotic destinations I have decided to relax, celebrate winter and enjoy every moment. There are no strangers only friends you haven't met... according to my Grandma. Today I recommended again with gusto the courgette cake and a lady who succombed agreed that it was divine. She once saw a recipe for chocolate and avocado cake fancy I have seriously been overlooking vegetables! This afternoon I baked lemon polenta loaves which contain among other things ground almonds, corn flour and polenta.  It claims to remain moist for 5 days.  I baked three tiny loaves - one for moi and the rest for friends we shall see what the verdict is? My verdict however is stunning. Subtle lemon, slighty nutty with polenta and outrageously moist.  I always find myself in a quandary regarding cooking times with cake.  Are they better slightly undercooked or should you risk slightly overcooked? There is nothing worse than a dry cake.

They failed because they did not start with a dream...

the secret ingredient called 'love'

So it's official although has long been suspected.  Food cooked with love tastes better.  An article in The Telegraph today reads 'Mother's cooking really does taste better simply because it is made with love and care, according to psychologists.  They also found that a nurse's care can ease pain because the 'loving intentions' of others influence our physical experiences.  "The results confirm that good intentions - even misguided ones - can soothe pain, increase pleasure and make things taste better," the University of Maryland found.  The study is published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. Although I guess it really depends on who your mother is.  On a kichen note today I made hokey pokey to give to the man who left freshly laid eggs on the doorstep this morning. This time I tried Loraine Pascale's version which decadently includes butter.  Here goes: 80g butter, 160g sugar, 80g golden syrup heated in a pan gently until sugar dissolved then boiled for 5 mins.  Add 2tsps bicarbonate of soda and pour bubbling golden and delicious onto a greased tray!  Perfect.  Crisp and not as sticky as the Edmonds recipe. I think the butter makes them better. Of the remnants I whizzed them in a food processor as suggested and we sprinkled them over vanilla ice cream for dessert ymmmm!  In future I shall either whizz less or pound in a pestle to give larger crumbs this time I was almost left with brown sugar consistancy.

Magic is something you make!

fairy cakes

What is the difference between a fairy cake and a cupcake?  Nobody seemed to know today apart from suggesting that you pick whatever word you fancy. On the internet it seems to veer towards cupcakes being more muffin like and American whereas fairy cakes are dainty, delicate and beautiful. Anyway piled high in the cake department included these delectable morsels with a cloud of pink buttercream and some sparkles. Also might have had a wee taste of raspberry and lemon cake, corgette and pecan cake, and spiced apple cake... On a completely different note tonight I attempted a tempura batter for dinner to lightly coat prawns and scallops. Sifting 1/2 cup cornflour and 1/2 white flour into a bowl then adding 3/4 cup of soda water and a beaten egg and stirring together until combined.  Hmmm beautiful seafood but not sure the tempura did it justice at my novice fingertips should've just done simply in butter, chilli, lime zest and cooked the cauliflower florets in the tempura.

'if you don't follow through on your dreams you might as well be a vegetable' Burt Munro

delightful sustenance

Back to work today, making coffee, taking orders and bringing people cake.  A little old couple came in for some spiced pound cake which they had with a pot of english breakfast tea, and when I popped the cake down I said 'isn't it delightful'.  'Sustenance' said the man and his wife finished triumphantly 'delightful sustenance!'
Which could be the true of many cakes.  I tried the orange, raspberry cake very sweet and delicious.  There is something about lime, lemon or orange zest at this time of year that really lifts your spirits.

artisan bakeries

There is something to be said for wandering into beautiful bakeries here and there.  I wandered into a lovely artisan bakery on Northcote Road, London, today and soaked up all the twists on tradional fare. Inspiration comes in simple quirks, something subtle, just to maybe make you think oh that's interesting!  Or that is clever why didn't I think of that? I found chocolate brownie fingers, chocolate bites, carrot cake layered into a tower with cream cheese icing between each and drizzled on top - looked quite elegant, plump round macaroons in a ball, chocolate fondant pies...

a little moroccan to tickle your fancy

On an icy cold London evening after a delicious viewing of The Artist, I sneaked into a little Moroccan restaurant with my sister so we could pretend we were in Marrakesh again.  Beautiful lights, colourful cushions, halloumi, sardine and fresh prawn starters. Lamb tagine, kofte tagine with egg and the piece de resistance - mint tea poured from a great height from a little ornate silver pot.  One couple braved the chill for a shisha but although I eyed it longingly I could'nt quite muster up enought strength to leave the warmth.

fielders cornflour sponge

A golden homebaked sponge with lemon cream filling.  Served with a drizzle of raspberry, cream and custard oh look it's turned into a glamorous trifle!

the hokey pokey plot thickens

So whilst rushing about the cafe on a busy day barely drawing breath,  a customer who knows I'm from NZ asked me about hokey pokey. When I said I still had'nt perfected it, meaning I had to freeze it to get it crunchy my resolve returned to get it right. Everyone I asked for the best recipe said unfailingly Nigella Lawson, but twice this has failed although I watched the video and followed her instructions to the letter.  So now it's down to the Edmonds Bakery recipe from 1971.  Here goes: heat 4 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons golden syrup on gasmark 3 stirring constantly until starts to bubble.  Turn down to gasmark 1 for 7 minutes, the mixture should be bubbling tiny bubbles - give it 2 stirs with a rubber spatula just to move it around in the 7 minutes but not more.  Stirring reduces the heat.  If the hokey pokey turns out chewy and sticky it simply wasn't cooked long enough!  Take it off the heat and quickly whisk in bicarbonate of soda then pour it onto greaseproof paper.  Ready to be ravished in 15 minutes ooh la la!

raspberry chocolate brownies

There is something about the combination of these two ingredients that is perfect. So in taking a step further towards my ultimate goal of the perfect chocolate brownie I embarked on this one of James Martin: 250g unsalted butter, 350g dark chocolate melted together and left to cool slightly.  In separate bowl whisk 3 eggs together until thick and gradually add in 250g soft brown sugar until mixture smooth and shiny, then add the warm chocolate mixture.  Fold in 110g flour, 1 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt.  Pour half the mixture into a 23cm baking tin lined with parchment, place 175g fresh raspberries (I used frozen ones from our summer garden so they were slightly mushy) on top - then the remainder of mixture.  Bake at 170C for aprox 40 minutes, a skewer should come out with a little mixture attached. Unfortunately I slightly overcooked mine as it came out clean alas.  Left to cool then cut into 9 squares and sprinkled with icing sugar.  Verdict.  Edible but not perfect!  A bit too cocoay maybe I need to change the chocolate?  Used 70%.  Top slightly crunchy but lacks the chewiness of the perfect brownie.

They say that in life sometimes you are the statue and sometimes you are the pigeon.  Today I was the statue.

cakes and things

The first inspiring point of today was reading about a lady who is making a victoria sponge cake with jam every day for one year to give away to friends and strangers. How delightful! Imagine how esctatic you would be if a cake just arrived out of the blue?  It's the little things. My Dad specializes in fielders cornflour sponges and once when I returned home after months travelling there sat a whole cornflour sponge with the word 'welcome' in icing sugar. Simply made my day it did bought a tear to my eye. Anyway I spent the rest of my day perfecting coffee and making pots and pots of tea. Loved seeing a little old couple come in looking very glamourous, she with her bright red lipstick, he in his suit and there they sat sipping english breakfast watching the world go by.

chocolate brownie day

Somehow, somewhere along the way I became fixated on eating the perfect chocolate brownie.  There is a stall at a local farmers market in Arundel every month where the most perfect brownies exist. Today I got to take home a goody bag from the cafe which contained chocolate brownies. Of which the recipe is secret. I fell immediately into gooey chocolate with a whisper of a meringue crunchy brownie heaven.  So my new mission is life from this day forward is to develop my own secret chocolate brownie recipe.  And interestingly on my fourth day of working the coffee machine, my froth magically appeared voila thank heavens! One must simply never give up even when things seem hopeless.

pavlova

Considering I was born in NZ along with the pavlova it is outrageous that I have never made one. So following Loraine Pascale's simple recipe I put 345g caster sugar and a squeeze of lemon into a bowl whipping together with 1 egg white for 1 min, then another whipping for another minute and finally the remaining 4 egg whites (left over from ice cream experiment) for another few minutes. Until exactly as she described they were shiny stiff peaks. Then spreading the mixture into a circle (12 inch diameter) on a baking tray with grease-proof paper making sure sides are higher than the centre. Oven 140C for 1-11/4 hours. Voila! What a delicious thing to do. Topped with cream and pomegranate seeds! I never cease to marvel how heating or whipping can change an ingredient into a completely different phenomenon. The mystery of cooking. One can maybe learn a few things about life whilst cooking.

time to drink champagne and dance on the table

Madame Bollinger 'I drink champagne when I'm happy and sad.  Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone.  When I have company I consider it obligatory.  I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise, I never touch it, unless I'm thirsty'.

roast lamb salad

A juicy little lamb roast torn into chunks, tossed over brocolli, peas, chilli and horseradish on the side.  Life should be simple. Meanwhile cafe life continues to be a challenge.  Speed and the perfect cappuchino currently seems like an unatainable achievement. The strangest sequence of events occurred today and I'm still hoping no one noticed. My cappuccino turned into a latte as usual but would you believe it? My hot chocolate turned into a cappuccino!  I can froth the milk unintentionally but it evades my intention. And if you say 'it's not rocket science' one more time...

pheasant stew

First pheasant casserole this season, pheasants slow cooked with parsnips, onions, carrots, red wine, chicken stock, chilli and rosemary.  Served with mashed potato.

cafe life

Second day working in a little village cafe. My long time hearts desire and today I was baptised by fire. Karma for all those times I ordered coffee and cursed the inefficiency of delayed arrival. Every seat was full, everybody was ordering sandwiches and soup and coffee, paper orders were falling off the end of the counter. Meanwhile moi, was on the the till for the first time with no idea what button to push and no idea what anything cost. I could feel the eyes rolling back into the heads of nice people.  I have also discovered a curious thing about me and coffee.  I can't for the life of me make the perfect cappuccino. There is a way of frothing milk so that the entire jug turns into a rich creamy consistancy and even though I valiantly watch the girls with all their little techniques and try to mimic events unfolding my milk is not frothing. I almost feel as if I'm about to have a panic attack gazing in at the milk, longing for froth I can feel the fear grip my heart.  I think I'm going to have to start talking to the milk.

vanilla hokey pokey glory

It seems strange that I'm making all these ice creams in the middle of an English winter I can't quite understand it, but it is proving to be deeply satisfying.  There is no account of the thoughts one might have whilst stirring the custard, one might even have an epiphany or two.  I tried David Lebovitz's recipe for the perfect ice cream and as an ode to my kiwi childhood whisked up a tray of hokey pokey to flake in.  Mum used to buy 5 litre cardboard packs of Mooloo hokey pokey ice cream oh glory days!

roast chicken!

I roasted a whole chicken breast side down for a change. Salt and the zest of one lemon ground together and rubbed underneath the skin, with sprigs of rosemary placed under the skin. Sprig of rosemary, a few garlic cloves and the lemon placed in the cavity. Butter and salt and pepper to season the outside of the skin and roasted in a good slosh of white wine.  A 2kg chicken at 200C for 1 1/2 hours. In the final 15 minutes I turned it breast side up to get the skin all nice and crunchy. Perfect!  I can hardly wait to try the Nigel Slater recipe where a chicken is chopped in half and then roasted hmmm must try this week.  Meanwhile we had a little old lady for dinner who spent 22 years living in Bolivia. She was cooking a chicken in a pressure cooker and suddenly the lid hit the ceiling and the chicken flew out the door!  Goodness. I wondered why they had to use pressure cookers in the first place apparently the meat was tough as old boots.

orange and campari sorbet

Today I saw some boys skateboarding down the high street while eating fish and chips.  One of them couldn't get the hang of it and the others were telling him 'just hold the chips with ONE hand' as he got off to a dangerously wobbly start.  I wonder what I'd be doing if I was a boy.  But as I am a girl with a dangerously greedy apetite, I got to thinking about orange and campari sorbet. I have wanted to make this sorbet since I read about it in Rick Steins mediterranean cooking book, online there are several to choose from so I shall choose the simplest. 200g caster sugar dissolved in 250ml water and bought to the boil for a few minutes left to cool, then chill, 375ml orange juice, 1 lemon - juice only, 100ml campari.  Mix together and leave in ice cream maker until frozen.  I saw some beautiful pictures of blood orange sorbet frozen into small orange skins then before serving the peel is cut away to reveal only the sorbet.  A mint leaf in the top would finish to perfection.  I hollowed out my large orange peels and put the sorbet inside, will try cutting it into wedges...

bonne annee!

May the New Year be sparkling!  I spent Christmas and New Year with family - and days were centered around the glory of food. Slow roasted harissa lamb, baked ham with orange glaze and cloves, spiced festive red cabbage, smoked salmon blinis with wasabi caviar, pigs in blankets, pink macaroons, marmalade martini's and hibiscus champagne cocktails la de da!  It is the last family Christmas in England as my parents are returning to New Zealand and for the forseeable future their children will remain wandering.  So it was sort of bittersweet in the way that things happening for the last time are. But I think we have everything. We have each other, we are a strong family, we love and we eat. What more could one ask for in life? So here's to making the most of every little moment in life with the people we love.  And I like what an old lebanese cab driver said to me a few months ago in Paris when I asked the secret of life and happiness 'if you can't make yourself happy make other people happy!'.