Life is to short...

Ottolenghi: mushroom, garlic and shallots

In the 1970's Shirley Conran wrote that life is to short to stuff a mushroom. So I'm not sure what she would have made of all the soaking, peeling and separating of mushrooms, shallots and garlic required to make this yummy stew! However it was the first time we had friends around to the new flat so well worth a bit of extra effort. 

We seemed to be given quite a lot of wine and prosseco so by the time I'd finished cooking I was quite tipsy and didn't think to take photo's - I don't think mine looked quite as good as the dish in the pictures.  Here's the recipe.

I also persuaded The Boyfriend (with some significant difficulty) to use some vouchers he got for Christmas on really delicious beenleigh blue, Appleby's Cheshire and some nice sharp goats cheese which I can't remember much about except it got eaten very quickly. We also had a beautiful moist cherry and almond cake.

We haven't all got together since February so it was nice to catch up with everyone and show them around our flat.  Great night.  Lovely and boozy.  Swollen tummies from eating too much. Lovely and boozy. We even stayed up to the early hours playing cards.  Rock and Roll! 

x

Give thanks for Christmas!

Our lovely friend Harmony is American and each year hosts a Thanksgiving party to remind her of home.  Now I know some of you will say its a bit late for Thanksgiving but I think living in London gives her the right to be a bit creative with her timescales.  This was the first year I've attempted to cook  a bit of soul food.   Here are my candied yams: sweet potato mashed with cream, nutmeg, ginger and lime; topped with marshmallow.  Dee-lish-us.

Appropriate seasonal musings will be resumed by the next post. Particularly as The Boyfriend and I have 4 Christmas get togethers over the next week. 

See you soon. x

November

No sun - no moon!
No morn - no noon -
No dawn - no dusk - no proper time of day.
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member -
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! -
November!

Thomas Hood 1789 - 1845

Pah Thomas Hood! Pah and Pah! November has been glorious! I didn't get the chance to write much last month as both work and house buying have gone bonkers. Here are some of my highlights from November.

The Gerhardt Richter exhibition at Tate Modern is one of the best exhibitions of the year. Really well thought out exhibition and introduced me to some new work.  Definitely worth seeing if you're in London between now and 8 January. 

Gerhardt Richter - Seascape

Gerhardt Richter Gerric

Turning 34, gaining a donkey and watching Manon at the Royal Opera House.

Watching the Fireworks from Blackfriars Bridge in our snugly coats and scarves.  My mum always tries to catch a bit of the Lord Mayors Show on television every year as it reminds her of the day she brought me home from hospital all those years ago.

Looking out at the moons of Jupiter through binoculars.  We've not done it apparently there's an observation site in Hampstead where members of the public can pretend to be astronomers using amazing telescopes and speak to scientist for free.

The Wolseley

Afternoon tea at the Wolseley.  I love the Wolseley and if you've not been you really should go.  It is an impossibly glamorous grand European style art deco cafe.  Lovely dark wood, marble and chandeliers. The service is fabulous and unlike some of the other places you can go for tea in Piccadilly its not the tiniest bit stuffy or gimmicky or outrageously expensive. Lots of people were quite dainty with their cakes but The Boyfriend and I really enjoyed them - particularly the pistachio macaroon.

This was our first time for afternoon tea, but The Boyfriend and I have had some fabulous breakfasts at the Wolseley. The Eggs Benedict is the nicest that I've ever tasted.  A sister restaurant The Delaunay is also opening on Monday 5 December.  Let me know if its good if you try it out first!

Discovering all the little birds at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.

Eating and drinking too much cheese, cake, wine and Crabbies ginger beer.  There's too much going on to worry about diet - plenty of brides wear wedding dresses with elasticated waists nowadays.

St Pancras Hotel Kings Cross

Celebrating my anniversary with The Boyfriend with an amazing massage at the St Pancras Hotel Spa.  We have happy memories of the hotel. We had cocktails in the hotel the night we got engaged and we even thought about the hotel as a wedding venue option at one stage. [Note to self: I should post about the places we aren't getting married soon...].  

Anyhow, for our anniversary treat I had a massage and a facial and The Boyfriend had a massage.  It had been a particularly stressful week at work and a stressful week chasing solicitors, buyers and estate agents.  However I left feeling fantastic, with light behind my eyes and skin that actually glowed. There are lots of day spas and hotel spa's in London.  I would happily recommend this as one of the better ones.

See you soon x

Autumn Stew

With the changing of the season's we have started to eat cosier food.  We took delivery of another supply of vegetables from my parents garden earlier in the week, including some big slices of pumpkin. Now my father is particularly proud of his pumpkins.  The very first time that The Boyfriend went down to meet my family, my father made him take photographs of my little niece to prove his prize pumpkin was larger than a 3 year old.   So anyway on Friday night we had a delicious pumpkin curry made from a simple yellow curry paste and coconut milk.


Tonight we had a sweet potato and feta stew with lots of warming spices.  We needed something hearty today having danced into the small hours at our friend Jo's birthday party. The Boyfriend also spent an overexcited afternoon at Loftus Road watching QPR's victory over Chelsea. I hope he'll sleep tonight.

Does anybody else have any tasty autumn dinner recipes to share?

Baking Hot in Finsbury Park

It was our friend Andy's birthday party yesterday and we started off the afternoon in Finsbury Park. The grass was covered in beautiful red and brown autumn leaves.  The sun was strong and golden at an unseasonable 30 degrees in London. One of those gorgeous afternoons catching up with an extended circle of friends and drinking lots of wine and eating lots of cake in the park. The only thing was we were able to do this in October rather than August!

I made chocolate Guinness cupcakes based on a Nigella Lawson recipe. I was originally worried that the cake mixture was too runny as all the ingredients are melted together on the stove before they are cooked and I hadn't made cake this way before.  But I shouldn't have worried the cakes turned out really moist and chocolatey with an undertone of spice from the Guinness.

The picture above is from Nigella's website.  And my cakes are below!  I made cupcakes and a few special cakes in little heart shaped moulds.  The Boyfriend argued against the use of strawberries but I thought it was a nice accompaniment and the cakes went down very well with everyone at the picnic.  

I mentioned before that I want to get some practice baking as I'm thinking of making my own wedding cake when The Boyfriend and I get married next year.  I've not baked much in the past at all and I really enjoyed the practice.  I've also discovered that one of my favourite bloggers is going to do a series on baking classic cakes.  I may try to bake along with the blog. All advice very welcome.

Thank You Mr Ottolenghi

I couldn't think what to make for dinner tonight.  Then I remembered this recipe from the Guardian magazine from Saturday.  I give you my take on sweet potatoes with figs, goats cheese, chili and shallots (because I didn't have any spring onions as the recipe suggested). It was very nice - thank you Mr Ottolenghi! 

The Boyfriend and I also discovered the Great British Bake Off tonight.  I think we're getting into it a bit late in the series but plenty of cake making inspiration I think. 

x

Wedding Caking

I knew from the start that I wanted to make something for our wedding. A few people tell me I'm insane for even considering it, but I would really like to make our wedding cake. I love cooking and it doesn't feel like its too big a job.  After all my mum did most of the cooking for her wedding herself.  She and my dad even cleared up the church hall with friends after their reception.

I've found some very yummy-looking recipes.  I really like the look of this chocolate cherry cake.  There is also this fantastic video tutorial on decorating wedding cakes.  

I'm quite tubby at the moment, having spent most of our holiday eating, so I've not practiced anything yet.  But will post up some results once I do start baking. 

Is anyone else thinking about making their own wedding cake? Let me know how it goes, or if you have any advice, links or good ideas!

Know Your Onions

When I spoke to my mum last Saturday, she told me that her garden had had a particularly good crop this summer and she'd ask my brother to drop off a few things when he came back to London.  Now my parents have a fabulous garden: my mum grows flowers; my dad grows vegetables. We're hoping to get lots of tips when we get a garden of our own.

But I was still very surprised to receive a huge box of vegetables including a sack of big fat carrots, lots of juicy conference pears, potatoes in soil, runner beans and this huge plait of onions which is over a meter long.  My lovely mum also gave us 2 huge slabs of banana cake and almond cake, but that's a different story.

So I decided to make onion marmalade using this recipe (adapted from things I found on the internet based on things I had in my cupboard):

• 6 large onions
• 2 Tbsp Mustard seeds
• 4 Bay leaves
• 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp muscovado brown sugar
• Knob of butter
• Black Peppercorns
• Salt

Peel and chop the onions into small thin slices and cook slowly in a little butter and the seasoning on a medium heat until the onions start to become translucent. (This will probably take around 30 minutes).

Then add the mustard seeds and bay leaves and continue to cook until any liquid is reduced and the onions start to "catch" on the bottom of the pan.

While the onions are cooking whisk together the vinegar and sugar.  Add the mixture to the onions and stir frequently, until the sugar caramelises and becomes thick and syrupy. The onions should turn a rich dark brown colour when this is done (probably another 10-15 minutes).







 Ladle into a sterilised jar or eat it up hot. Went down a treat with The Boyfriend served on sourdough with some goats cheese. I had the same with the addition of some prosciutto. Dee-lish-ous!

But what to do with the rest?  Its a real treat to have fresh vegetables from the garden and a shame to waste anything. Let me know if you've got any great recipe ideas.

See you soon