29 June 2012

Jaunts into Gin

As a firm believer in the mythical and restorative powers of gin, I had no choice but to attend the press night of the new Gin Jaunts menu from The London Gin Club at The Star at Night. Having had a particularly difficult few weeks (not really), I was in dire need of several large gin and tonics (I always am). My doctor might as well have written me a prescription.

The London Gin Club did me proud. Along with my friend Katie, I was treated to eight different brands of gin, each one served in a giant goblet glass with Fever-Tree tonic and their own unique garnishing. I've never tasted gin like it - each one was entirely distinctive - and it was so interesting to taste gin served with something other than lemon or lime wedges.

By far my favourite was the Gilpin's with lemon and sage...followed closely by the Sacred with pink grapefruit and rosemary....followed closely by the Tanqueray 10 with orange and watercress.

But don't listen to me - go and try it for yourself. Become a member of The London Gin Club and get 4 (very large) different gin and tonics for £18. By the end of it, you will be a gin connoisseur. And pretty mullered.





27 June 2012

Cookie Dough


The British are very good with food. My all-time favourite eats are classically British: the Sunday Roast; biscuits - bourbon, squashed fly, shortbread and custard creams are incomparable; toad in the hole with onion gravy; bacon sarnie with brown sauce; mini-milks - in particular strawberry; cocktail sausages; cottage or shepherd's pie; traditional cakes - there is no single sponge better than the Victoria, so simple yet so effective. 


However, the one thing the British just can't do are chocolate chip cookies. Americans wear the crown and covet the best recipes, which, luckily for me, they regularly and eagerly share all over the internet.

To be honest, my attempt wasn't as good as I would have hoped. I wanted a bit of chewiness and gooeyness Ben's Cookies style but they ended up pretty crunchy. The actual cookie dough made for better eating, like gourmet Ben and Jerry's.

I guess you can give the girl all the non-British recipes in the world but you can't take the British out of the girl....

....Or something.

chocolate chip cookies...

120g butter, at room temperature
75g light brown sugar
75g caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
240g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

  • Beat together the butter and sugars until just combined. Add the vanilla extract, then the egg, and beat in well.
  • Sift together the flour and bicarbonate of soda, then use a spoon to add to the mixture, stirring until it just comes together into a dough. Fold in the chocolate pieces, then chill for between 12 up to 72 hours.
  • Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper, and divide the mixture into golf-ball sized rounds, spacing them well apart. Bake for about 15 minutes, until golden, but not browned. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes and then scoff immediately.
  • Recipe from: Guardian


25 June 2012

Pink Cake

Baking, my old friend, it's been a while. But I'm back in the game with a bang. A pink bang. That tastes of summer. Mmmmmmmmmm.

It has been noted that I quite regularly promise baked goods on the weekend, and very rarely deliver. The guilt eventually got to me and I spent the whole of Saturday afternoon in the kitchen, making and eating cake and biscuit mixture. Ridiculously nauseous come Saturday tea time. Bouncing off the walls from a huge sugar high come Saturday evening.

strawberry and elderflower cake...

210g self-raising flour
25g corn flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
225g unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
200g strawberries
2 tbls elderflower cordial

to decorate ...

50g unsalted soft butter
250g icing sugar
2 tbls juice from strawberries
1tbls elderflower cordial
Pink food colouring

Strawberry jam
Fresh strawberries

  • Preheat oven to 180°C and line two 20cm cake tins
  • Cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add elderflower cordial, then add the eggs one at a time, being careful not to beat too much or it will curdle. Mush the strawberries until sort of broken down but not too much then pass through a seive (keep the juices, they come in handy later) and stir them in carefully. Seive the flours, bicarbonate of soda and salt and gently fold into the mixture. Divide into the two cake tins and bake for 35 minutes, or until golden on the top and a skewer comes out clean. Once cooked, leave to cool completely - stone cold.
  • To ice : Beat the icing sugar into the butter, then add the strawberry juice and the elderflower cordial. You don't want to make it too sloppy - if it gets sloppy, pop it in the fridge for half an hour before you use it.
  • To assemble: Dollop the icing on the top of both cakes, spreading evenly around to the edges. On one of the iced cakes, spread jam on top of the icing then add sliced strawberries on top of that. Put the other iced cake on top ..... and serve. If you find it's a bit dribbly, keep it in the fridge until the icing is set. Corrrrr.


10 June 2012

Wonderland

Kirsty Mitchell undertook the 'Wonderland' photography project in 2008 after she lost her mother to a brain tumour, finding that it was easier to retreat to her imagination than be in her reality. All the photographs were taken in the countryside around her home in Surrey; everyone involved worked for free, nothing was commissioned and everything used in the shoots were begged for, borrowed or stolen (that's just a phrase - I'm sure she didn't really steal anything). 

The photographs she has created are actually breathtaking.


2 June 2012

Instagram

I know I know. It's been two months!! I can't believe I've been so rubbish. What a fair-weather blogger I am. In my defence, it has been a mental couple of months. London has entirely engulfed me.

But I am back now with a vengeance and with a new obsession.

As with most things in my life, I am technologically slow and behind the times. Prime examples are Facebook and Twitter. I spent hours telling everyone how they would never be as successful as MySpace. Look how wrong I was - now my job revolves around them. Instagram is no exception. Two years after it's launch, I have finally got round to downloading and have since been frantically Instagramming everything in sight. Completely hooked.

A few of my results below.



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