everything will be ok in the end...

After a fairly optimistic start hurtling down the motorway to Dover, reveling in how organized I was and how easy the car was to drive how effortless. Posted a letter, got petrol, bought the ferry ticket through passport control when I noticed with horror that my temperature light was flashing on danger levels. So gingerly crawling to my allotted queue I leapt out and asked a boy wearing a fluorescent jacket where is the nearest place to get water & can I use Evian? He didn't know but pointed to WH smith. I told him that my car was about to blow up, he observed 'well there's no smoke it just smells hot'.I was still feeling optimistic at the point - optimistic but horrified. On the way back I accumulated a few men & kept glancing in the general vicinity of my car for tendrils of smoke or a fireball - to come and peer in my bonnet who all came up with varying hypothesis. Leaky radiator loose bolts. A mechanic who was parked next to me sniffed at the diagnosis of a 'ferryman'. What does he know? I'm a mechanic. Anyway through the general confusion it dawned on me that I'd have to use my breakdown Barclays cover. So I parked in a safe place and waited. First for an RAC man to establish it had nothing to do with the thermostat or radiator but my car needed the equivalent of major heart surgery. My own heart plummeted I seriously contemplated how I could afford to fix it & whether I still had a job! So first breakdown ever - in bosses car. First use of breakdown cover & first trip in a tow truck back up north. The ferrymen who had seen me wandering around all day said 'so you're having a good day then ?' My friends could hardly control their mirth. My brother asked 'so can you blow a head gasket with terrible driving?'.

daphne's restaurant

The last night in England for a while and I have reservations at 'Daphne's restaurant'.  She said she'd have to check availability but all going well she may be able to squeeze me in. There are three of us including her husband. She specializes in curries, in fact we have chilli eating competitions so fitting that my last supper might be pilau rice with sultanas, chicken curry, salad with green chillis with 100% PAIN drizzled everywhere. All my endorphins will be fired! So the car is ready. Petrol, tyres, oil, water present and correct after a few minor shenanigans, and packed to the brim.  My new boss who seems a little eccentric, but loveable, put in an order today for cheese and marmalade.  Not booking anything, just going to wing it and have a delicious little adventure.  Many people have pointed out the perils. Several are going to keep an eye out on crimewatch in case I'm busted for drugs or they find a dead body in the glove compartment. 'For goodness sake make sure they know it isn't your car and it's not your stuff'. 'Don't break down in France whatever you do, it'll be days before you get any help'. Have got two days to get there. Can hardly wait to hit the road Jack...

Tibetan saying 'If you want to know your past, look at your present conditions.  If you want to know your future, look at your present actions'.

baked camembert

Perfect starter. Preheat oven to 220C. Take a whole camembert in it's box, remove the plastic wrapping and carefully slice the rind off the top and place snugly back in the box. Sprinkle a few chopped thyme leaves on top with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and bake for 10-15 mins until bubbling and gooey.
Quand on naime on me compte pas. When we love we don't count.

grand marnier bread and butter pudding

Recently, whilst under the influence of pork pies, wine and too much rain, I decided the time had come to do something else with my life. And today was the last day of work in this beautiful cafe - these last weeks have flown by. Felt so inspired here, food and surroundings thrown together haphazardly and magically. Loved cake baking days and endless conversations about how moist a slither of cake might be and what would be the most perfect thing to eat for lunch. Getting caught up in conversation with random people and understanding the regulars and all their little quirks.
Will wander back to France for the summer to cook, keep house... and eat! Learn some different things. Lately I seem to have become obsessed with brioche.  Made french toast with brioche this morning, had a steak grilled on top of brioche slathered with pate and nutmeg spinich, ate a brioche muffin I found in a cafe with a raspberry buried in the middle... and finally got round to making Nigella's Grand Marnier Bread and Butter Pudding! It is quite irresistable and oh so simple!

GRAND MARNIER BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING
butter for greasing
75g sultanas
3 tbsps Grand Marnier
16 slices slightly stale brioche
8 tsps fine cut marmalade
2 tbsps caster sugar
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
500mls double cream
250mls milk
2 tsps demerara sugar
Preheat oven to 170C. Butter a 2 litre pudding dish.
Put the sultanas and Grand Marnier into a small saucepan, bring to the boil, simmer for a minute or so, turn off the heat and leave the fruit to plump up in the orange scented liquor.
Make marmalade sandwiches with the brioche, using about a tsp in each. Because the brioche is so greasy you don't need to butter otherwise it will be greasy. Cut each sandwich into a triangle and put these triangles, one point side up, the next one pointy bit down and so on, in the buttered dish. Squish all the sandwiches in. Sprinkle the sultanas along with any remaining liquor in the pan.
In a bowl whisk together the sugar, whole eggs, yolks, cream and milk.  Pour over the brioche sandwiches and leave to stand for 15 minutes.
Before the pudding goes in the oven, sprinkle with demerara sugar, then bake for 45 minutes, by which time the custard should be setting.

salad inspiration

A simple salad bought from Amelie & Friends in Chichester - a slice of lettuce (cross section really of the whole lettuce approximately 1 cm wide) with a dollop of creme fraiche and chives on top, with roasted tomato halves and a carefully perched crispy piece of pancetta. A perfect summer starter.  I always find myself inspired at this counter. Whether it be a few roasted butternut squash slices placed in a pile with creme fraiche, a slice of green chilli, segment of lime and coriander leaf garnish or roasted beetroot with goats cheese and walnuts.  Lemon couscous with flaked almonds, parsley, crispy fried red onions, sultanas and apricots! Just a few lovely ingredients and a splash of creativity. Pity about the photography, compliments of my hipstamatic iphone... doesn't do it justice!

'It matters not who you love, where you love, why you love, when you love or how you love, it matters only that you love' John Lennon.

"If you don't become the ocean you'll be seasick every day" Leonard Cohen

We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us. M Proust

100% PAIN

This sauce EXCEEDETH expectation. It was so potent that out of five of us tasting it, four declared it inedible after tasting a pin drop.  I had a headache before consuming a slather on a tortilla and can tell you, that after my eyes had cleared, and I learned how to breathe again voila my headache was gone! Someone commented that they would rather have ANY pain than the pain of chilli exploding in the brain, but I have to disagree. This sauce will bring you rip-roaring back to life. http://www.originaljuan.com/

breakfast at bills

A little sparkle on a Sunday morning. Wandered down to Brighton this morning with my sister for breakfast at Bills. French champagne with a plump strawberry perched on the rim, vegetarian all day breakfast with a twist - toast slathered with guacamole and hummus, eggs benedict and french toast with walnut yoghurt and fresh fruit. Ymmmm is all I can say. And perfectly poached eggs! I was almost tempted to poke my head into the kitchen for a masterclass on poached eggs.

'Do not chase people. Be you and do your own thing and work hard. The right people who belong in your life will come to you, and stay' Wu Tang

salade de lentilles du puy

A strange day for salad considering the current climate. Rain, rain and more rain, but this salad might just be the cure...

SALADE DE LENTILLES DU PUY
Puy Lentil Salad by Rachel Khoo
puy lentils
sprig of thyme
bay leaf
tsp salt
roasted beetroot
mild crumbly goats cheese
VINAIGRETTE
a bunch of dill/parsley/basil
2 tbsps olive oil
2 tbsps white wine vinegar
pinch of sugar and salt
Cover the lentils with at least double their volume of water (make sure cold water as allows even cooking of the lentil). Flavour the water with sprig of thyme, bay leaf and a tsp of salt. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Check at 12 minutes. When cooked but still with a crunch, drain under cold water to stop the lentils cooking further.
For the vinaigrette, put the dill or another herb you choose into a food processor with the olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt and sugar. Blend and taste to check the seasoning adding more salt or sugar as necessary.
Peel the roasted beetroot and ensure all the hard outer skin removed. Slice thinly, preferably with a mandolin but otherwise with a knife paper-thin.
To serve, spread the lentils on a plate, scatter the beetroot over with the torn, crumbled goats cheese. Drizzle vinaigrette evenly over. Bon apetite!


Life begins at the end of your comfort zone!

orange cardamom sour cream cake

Have been dying to try this recipe from the new Malouf cookbook. Ticked all my boxes, spices, zest and cream, and here it is in the kitchen still warm from the oven, moist with syrup and served with a dollop of creme fraiche ooh la la!

ORANGE CARDAMOM SOUR CREAM CAKE
CAKE
130g soft unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
225g plain flour
1 tsp cardamom seeds, finely ground and sieved
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
200mls sour cream
SYRUP
juice of 1 orange and 1/2 lemon
3 tbsps Cointreau
3 tbsps caster sugar
6 cardamom pods, cracked
1 cinnamon stick
Preheat oven to 170C.  Butter and line a 23cm springform cake tin.
Cream the butter and sugar until pale, then add zest and vanilla extract.
Beat in eggs one at a time until well incorporated.
Sift flour, cardamom, baking powder and salt and add to the batter, alternating with the sour cream, mixing well after each addition.
Pour into baking tin and bake for 45-60 minutes until the cake is springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
While the cake is cooking make the syrup. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and heat gently so that the sugar dissoves and then simmer for a few minutes. Strain and discard the cardamom and cinnamon.
As soon as the cake is out of the oven, pierce the top all over with the skewer and pour over the syrup. Try to ensure it is soaked up evenly. Place the tin on a wire rack and leave it to cool completely before releasing from the tin.

Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon, or not at all. Harriet van Horn.

malouf:new middle eastern food

A new discovery to indulge my love of middle eastern food. And on the website of Greg Malouf things such as orange cardamom sour cream cake, pomegranate and vodka sorbet, rose flavoured berry fool with marscapone, tabouleh with roasted walnuts sigh so many things to keep me dreaming! http://www.gregmalouf.com.au/

Try. Believe. Love

aesop's fables

A man and his son were once going with their donkey to market. As they were walking along by it's side a countryman passed them and said "you fools, what is a donkey but to ride on?"
So the man put the boy on the donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said "see that lazy youngster, he let's his father walk while he rides".
So the man ordered his boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women one of whom said to the other "shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along".
Well the man didn't know what to do, but at last he took his boy up before him on the donkey.  By this time they had come to town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said "Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey of yours and your hulking son?".
The man and boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and thought, until at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey's feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them until they came to the market bridge, when the donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the donkey fell over the bridge and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.
"That will teach you" said an old man who had followed them "please all and you will please none".