As I mentioned in a recent post, now I’ve learned more about Divine Fairtrade Chocolate and Kuapa Kokoo, I am keen to incorporate it into my cooking. And something about this time of year gives me the urge to bake sweet-smelling, great-tasting goodies. Maybe it’s the wintry cold weather? Maybe it’s the run up to ... Read more »
Divine Chocolate’s Stem Ginger & Chocolate Chunk Cake
Having found out all about Divine Fairtrade Chocolate (and Kuapa Kokoo) I was keen to use some of the chocolate in cooking. The Bad (But Not Ugly) My first attempt did not go well. I wanted to make a light coffee chocolate mousse using Divine coffee milk chocolate, the flavour I’ve consumed so many kilos ... Read more »
Quick Puff Pastry Tart
Having some leftover fresh mozarella balls and proscuitto slices in the fridge, not to mention a third of a home-grown yellow courgette, I sent Pete off to buy some ready-made puff pastry, fresh tomatoes and fresh basil for a quick and tasty evening meal. After scoring a border around the edges, I layered slices of ... Read more »
Serendipitea!
You know how sometimes, you experience those perfect moments of serendipity which lead to wonderful moments and new friendships? One of those moments came together for me on the first Friday of this month. Just a few weeks before I started my blog, Pei Wang started his. In his case, he took a far deeper ... Read more »
The Cookies Of Dreams: Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
The weekend before last, while Pete went to the Reading Beer Festival with friends, my sister and I had lunner (lunch-dinner) in China Town before sitting open-jawed infront of the spectacle of Oliver, on stage. The next day my sister and I made chocolate chip cookies for her boyfriend. My sister was particularly keen to ... Read more »
Hot Cross Buns!
We’d only made hot cross buns once before and, to be honest, they were disappointing. The texture of the bread just wasn’t right let alone the spicing and balance of fruit. This time, I decided to find a tried and tested recipe from one of the knowledgable posters on the BBC Food Chat board. When ... Read more »
Charles Campion’s Banana Cake Recipe
This banana cake recipe is from Charles Campion’s Fifty Recipes To Stake Your Life On and makes a really, really gooey banana cake. Campion describes the recipe collection as “fifty, sure-fire, tried-and-tested recipes and fifty stories to go with them” and its a great starting point for those just getting into cooking and looking for ... Read more »
The Soda Bread Diaries
Having enjoyed the soda bread my friend made for a picnic in her garden recently, she sent me the recipe. It’s published in a book called The Baker’s Tale by Catherine Brown but is credited to James Burgess. The first time I made this soda bread (last Wednesday) I followed the recipe exactly and the ... Read more »
Kavey Nibbles
The Place of Onions, in old Lille
The Place of Onions, in old Lille. After last night’s rainstorm the intense sticky heat has broken and today is cool, breezy, fresh… I love it! A drop of… [more]
We went to Star Wars
We went to Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire at The Void this morning, an amazing VR experience where we got to be Rebel Alliance members going undercover as… [more]