I was taken for a fantastic supper last night by one of my beautiful friends. We went to Jamie's Italian in Kingston, which I've been to once before. I think when I went with Jonny fund guilt kicked in and we didn't have pudding. But last night I was practically forced into it. You can't get a better friend than one that'll make you eat pudding.
We shared a tuscan chocolate and hazelnut cake which came with poached fruits, and 3 scoops of icecream with a double helping of crushed cinder toffee on top. We had prune and armagnac, vanilla and third I can not remember - that could have had something to do with the wine.
The prune ice cream was lovely, and the honeycomb topping was perfect.
The tuscan chocolate and hazelnut cake was to die for, soft and warm and nutty, with a dark chocolate sauce.
I left feeling completely content and very full. I feel like I have a duty to go back and try the bakewell tart and the tiramisu.
Wednesday 31 March 2010
Tuesday 30 March 2010
Judy and the Dream of Horses // Belle and Sebastian
Jonny and I have returned from a lovely weekend in Sussex with friends. The weather wasn't amazing, but we managed to get to Brighton for an afternoon, go for a long walk on Sunday, and Jonny and I went horse riding for a little bit on Monday. That was an interesting experience. Jonny got lumped with a bit of a rubbishly stubborn horse, but it was nice to go out onto the forest.
It's our 4th anniversary today. Gosh. It sort of makes my head hurt thinking about it, mostly because I feel old. But can't moan too much, as I got given the best present ever - a hot water bottle with Moomin on!! It's completely gorgeous and made me cry a little bit.
Jonny got the horse ride (maybe not the best present ever), a mushy CD and as requested, a massive carrot cake.
I used (again) the Hummingbird Bakery book. As we were going away with Becci I replaced the walnuts with tea-soaked sultanas, which I thought was a fantastic move. It ended up with juicy little explosions, though I'm not sure that the tea taste lasted enough.
The recipe required 300 grams of grated carrot. 'Pah, thats not much,' thought I, with no idea really how much it would be, 'I can do that by hand.'
I ended up covering the kitchen and myself in carrot. Next time I will get that super whizzy attachment for the blender out for that bit.
I was also wise enough to know that while the recipe said the mix should be baked in 3 parts that I could bake it in one. And not line the tin properly.
I really don't know what was going on in my brain on Friday.
So once I'd made it all and put it in my unlined tin, I realised that it was a humungous cake and would probably take a couple of hours to cook. So I lined the outside of the tin like you would for fruit cake and tied it with parcel string.
It was big.
The string must have caught fire at some point early on as I checked the cake and it all looked a bit black on one edge. Anyway, it cooked in about 2 hours as predicted and the top got sliced off and sampled and then I had it on my lap for the journey to Sussex. Nice and warm.
I iced it that evening with cream cheese frosting, and tiny sugar paste bunnies and petals. There was also a big bunny eating blossom on top in homage to the blossom eating bunny Jonny and I once saw on a walk together. That bit wasn't so great though, as I can't draw, and my brother drew me a rabbit on wheels and my mum drew me a bit of a dodgy but satisfactory bunny, that didn't quite work in sillhouette.
But it was very tasty, and the four of us managed to demolish it in not very long. Sometimes we even had it for breakfast; a good reason to get out of bed early while on holiday.
It's our 4th anniversary today. Gosh. It sort of makes my head hurt thinking about it, mostly because I feel old. But can't moan too much, as I got given the best present ever - a hot water bottle with Moomin on!! It's completely gorgeous and made me cry a little bit.
Jonny got the horse ride (maybe not the best present ever), a mushy CD and as requested, a massive carrot cake.
I used (again) the Hummingbird Bakery book. As we were going away with Becci I replaced the walnuts with tea-soaked sultanas, which I thought was a fantastic move. It ended up with juicy little explosions, though I'm not sure that the tea taste lasted enough.
The recipe required 300 grams of grated carrot. 'Pah, thats not much,' thought I, with no idea really how much it would be, 'I can do that by hand.'
I ended up covering the kitchen and myself in carrot. Next time I will get that super whizzy attachment for the blender out for that bit.
I was also wise enough to know that while the recipe said the mix should be baked in 3 parts that I could bake it in one. And not line the tin properly.
I really don't know what was going on in my brain on Friday.
So once I'd made it all and put it in my unlined tin, I realised that it was a humungous cake and would probably take a couple of hours to cook. So I lined the outside of the tin like you would for fruit cake and tied it with parcel string.
It was big.The string must have caught fire at some point early on as I checked the cake and it all looked a bit black on one edge. Anyway, it cooked in about 2 hours as predicted and the top got sliced off and sampled and then I had it on my lap for the journey to Sussex. Nice and warm.
I iced it that evening with cream cheese frosting, and tiny sugar paste bunnies and petals. There was also a big bunny eating blossom on top in homage to the blossom eating bunny Jonny and I once saw on a walk together. That bit wasn't so great though, as I can't draw, and my brother drew me a rabbit on wheels and my mum drew me a bit of a dodgy but satisfactory bunny, that didn't quite work in sillhouette.
But it was very tasty, and the four of us managed to demolish it in not very long. Sometimes we even had it for breakfast; a good reason to get out of bed early while on holiday.
Monday 22 March 2010
Printer Jam // Mistabishi
I'm going to make a massive thing of this - I managed to go to Richmond without going into William Curley! I wanted to, but I resisted by running late for the show we were going to, and by the time that was done it was closed. It's a good thing because I am out of money and would have had to shamefully beg someone to buy me chocolate.
Anyway, I was in Richmond to see the lovely Becci's dance show. She'd entered a choreography competition, and her entry was incredible. She quite rightly won. As we were all quite hungry the four of us headed to Pizzeria Rustica for a carb fix. J left after a glass of wine leaving 3 of us to our pizza and pasta. None of us could have complained about this bit. It was lovely, I will reccomend it.
We decided pudding was necessary and ordered Banoffee Pie and Baileys and Coffee Cheesecake.
What a dissapointment. We were dished up fundamentally the same thing. A biscuit base topped with cream.
On mine, the cream had been flavoured with coffee and had some inedible coffee beans plonked on top and then drowned in straight Baileys. Cheesecake isn't ever just cream is it? Please let me know if I'm wrong.. but still, it was unsweetened and bitter and way too boozy. I would have prefered the Baileys to be actually in the cream.
I didn't finish it. I think that says it all, I can't remember the last time I didn't finish something.
On Becci's the cream was sort of bananary with a layer of toffee between the cream and the biscuit. This gave it a bit of sweetness and was a bit tastier, but still it wasn't mind blowing.
Definately go for the pizza though.
In other news I am cracking down on my diet in an attempt to make clothes fit for Whitby Goth Weekend at the end of April, but I did have a Feast today. I can't get enough of those at the moment.
Anyway, I was in Richmond to see the lovely Becci's dance show. She'd entered a choreography competition, and her entry was incredible. She quite rightly won. As we were all quite hungry the four of us headed to Pizzeria Rustica for a carb fix. J left after a glass of wine leaving 3 of us to our pizza and pasta. None of us could have complained about this bit. It was lovely, I will reccomend it.
We decided pudding was necessary and ordered Banoffee Pie and Baileys and Coffee Cheesecake.
What a dissapointment. We were dished up fundamentally the same thing. A biscuit base topped with cream.
On mine, the cream had been flavoured with coffee and had some inedible coffee beans plonked on top and then drowned in straight Baileys. Cheesecake isn't ever just cream is it? Please let me know if I'm wrong.. but still, it was unsweetened and bitter and way too boozy. I would have prefered the Baileys to be actually in the cream.
I didn't finish it. I think that says it all, I can't remember the last time I didn't finish something.
On Becci's the cream was sort of bananary with a layer of toffee between the cream and the biscuit. This gave it a bit of sweetness and was a bit tastier, but still it wasn't mind blowing.
Definately go for the pizza though.
In other news I am cracking down on my diet in an attempt to make clothes fit for Whitby Goth Weekend at the end of April, but I did have a Feast today. I can't get enough of those at the moment.
Monday 15 March 2010
Mother // John Lennon
I just had a very busy weekend. I am quite knackered. And I ache all over. That would be down to over doing it at Ballroom I suppose. And then going to the gym yesterday.
You see, the problem with this love of all things sweet is that I'm getting fat. I didn't really notice as at work I tend to go for comfy skirts that sit on my waist and give the illusion of having no hips. Friday evening ended in a massive panic when nothing would fit. Not even the dress that I bought when I was the fattest I'd ever been.
That means I'm now fatter than I have ever been. Gosh. If it is of interest in the end I had to make the dress into a skirt and wear a top.
Anyway in conclusion this all means that I am going to the gym, and anytime now my cravings for sweet things should be replaced by cravings for peas. This could be damaging to the blog for a short while.
The other part of my busy weekend was Mothers Day. It started with an almighty strop because the card I had made was shit, and I couldn't be arsed with getting up stupidly early (9.30 am) to go to Church.
It seems to be tradition now that I don't bother with gifts and just attempt to do all the cooking. I made a chilli and a pudding that Mum had eyed up from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook.
It was a chocolate brownie base, with cheesecake and then a raspberry cream on top.
I think the jist of it was that you bake the brownie, then stick cheesecake on top, then bake it again and then stick the cream on. I don't trust myself or my oven and decided that I really didn't fancy baking brownie twice.
So I made black bottomed cupcakes, which is pretty much the same thing. Chocolate sponge with a dollop of vanilla cheesecake all baked at once. Then to make it more puddingy I made the raspberry cream to blob on.
Issues; I didn't read the recipe and got massively confused when after adding all the wet ingredients the mix was still dry. I'd missed the bit about 125ml of water. Mum had to read it to me. Blame the hangover please.
After adding the water the mix turned into a dough. I'm sure I'd measured it correctly.
Anyway, this is where I went wrong. I sploshed in a load of milk until it was a trustworthy consistency. This isn't helpful for anyone else looking to make these. But you know.. It was a large splosh.
Then the cheesecakey bit.. I whizzed it all up like it said and it was very very runny. So I ended up putting the same amount of cream cheese in again. This meant that I over-mixed it and in the oven it split.
But anyway they were very tasty and I've eaten 3. No more treats for me for a while.
You see, the problem with this love of all things sweet is that I'm getting fat. I didn't really notice as at work I tend to go for comfy skirts that sit on my waist and give the illusion of having no hips. Friday evening ended in a massive panic when nothing would fit. Not even the dress that I bought when I was the fattest I'd ever been.
That means I'm now fatter than I have ever been. Gosh. If it is of interest in the end I had to make the dress into a skirt and wear a top.
Anyway in conclusion this all means that I am going to the gym, and anytime now my cravings for sweet things should be replaced by cravings for peas. This could be damaging to the blog for a short while.
The other part of my busy weekend was Mothers Day. It started with an almighty strop because the card I had made was shit, and I couldn't be arsed with getting up stupidly early (9.30 am) to go to Church.
It seems to be tradition now that I don't bother with gifts and just attempt to do all the cooking. I made a chilli and a pudding that Mum had eyed up from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook.
It was a chocolate brownie base, with cheesecake and then a raspberry cream on top.
I think the jist of it was that you bake the brownie, then stick cheesecake on top, then bake it again and then stick the cream on. I don't trust myself or my oven and decided that I really didn't fancy baking brownie twice.
So I made black bottomed cupcakes, which is pretty much the same thing. Chocolate sponge with a dollop of vanilla cheesecake all baked at once. Then to make it more puddingy I made the raspberry cream to blob on.
Issues; I didn't read the recipe and got massively confused when after adding all the wet ingredients the mix was still dry. I'd missed the bit about 125ml of water. Mum had to read it to me. Blame the hangover please.
After adding the water the mix turned into a dough. I'm sure I'd measured it correctly.
Anyway, this is where I went wrong. I sploshed in a load of milk until it was a trustworthy consistency. This isn't helpful for anyone else looking to make these. But you know.. It was a large splosh.
Then the cheesecakey bit.. I whizzed it all up like it said and it was very very runny. So I ended up putting the same amount of cream cheese in again. This meant that I over-mixed it and in the oven it split.
But anyway they were very tasty and I've eaten 3. No more treats for me for a while.
Thursday 11 March 2010
Sweets For My Sweet // The Searchers
I'm eating a Creme Egg, which handily reminded me I have a blog! Oops.
And then I thought I should probably blog about more than a creme egg, so I got a packet of chocolate buttons too.
News update from my sugary world;
A lovely friend has asked me to do a cake with her for an event, and we had a very excited planning meeting. We've now been told that they're expecting two hundred people!! So that's all very exciting and nerve wracking. It's just under a month away so expect more on that...
Some other lovely friends thought of me (me!!) for their wedding cake, and they are thinking about having cupcakes. I'm relieved that they want cupcakes. It will ease me in to the world of weddings I think.
They also asked Jonny to do the photography! We're like some kind of wedding enterprise.
Please enter possible business names in the form of puns in the comments.
And I have been geeking out and reading as much as I possibly can on Doctor Who forums, and it looks like Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor will have a sweet tooth!
This makes it just a little bit easier for me to move on from Ten. Though why couldn't he have had the sweet tooth?
You can never go wrong with David Tennant eating...
And then I thought I should probably blog about more than a creme egg, so I got a packet of chocolate buttons too.
News update from my sugary world;
A lovely friend has asked me to do a cake with her for an event, and we had a very excited planning meeting. We've now been told that they're expecting two hundred people!! So that's all very exciting and nerve wracking. It's just under a month away so expect more on that...
Some other lovely friends thought of me (me!!) for their wedding cake, and they are thinking about having cupcakes. I'm relieved that they want cupcakes. It will ease me in to the world of weddings I think.
They also asked Jonny to do the photography! We're like some kind of wedding enterprise.
Please enter possible business names in the form of puns in the comments.
And I have been geeking out and reading as much as I possibly can on Doctor Who forums, and it looks like Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor will have a sweet tooth!
This makes it just a little bit easier for me to move on from Ten. Though why couldn't he have had the sweet tooth?
You can never go wrong with David Tennant eating...
Thursday 4 March 2010
Bed of Roses // Mindless Self Indulgence
I was quite worried that I wouldn't get the cakes done in time for them to be picked up, but it turns out Matt and Will are pros at icing cupcakes.
I wasn't the only one making cakes for this church thing, but I'm pretty arrogant and am happy to say that mine were the best.
Well.. they must've been. No children were let near them during the making..
Apart from these two..
The actual church service was to celebrate Thinking Day during the centenary of Guiding, and it was lovely. Really nice. Though I don't like churches.
I'm afraid that in my desperation to get me and my friends out of the house when my parents returned meant I got no pictures of the finished product, but they were beautiful. Trust me.
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