So, what is everyone doing for Easter this year? Mine will be busy, with my three children, their other halves, little granddaughter, my mother, and my partner – all round for a feast. Add the two cats and dog and, well, it’s not going to be a quiet sedate affair. But who wants quiet?! Continue reading “Easter”
Month: March 2018
Sicily
Well, we’ve just got back from Taormina, Sicily, having had a wonderful well-earned holiday. The weather was superb, and so was the food. I’ve never eaten so much!!
The food in Sicily is delicious, and healthy – well, if you ignore the indulgence of Tiramisu and the Gelati! Continue reading “Sicily”
Easter eggs
Easter is almost upon us. Religious or not, we all love Easter and especially the excess of chocolate. You’ll be inundated with adverts for Easter eggs; pressurised that they’re ‘perfect for Mum’, ‘perfect for the kiddies’, ‘perfect for your partner’, ‘perfect for YOU’! Easter eggs these days may be relatively cheap – if you don’t mind the matching relatively small, but also tend to be made of cheaper chocolate than the same-brand’s regular choccie bars. Continue reading “Easter eggs”
My illustrations
When I began my little venture, I hadn’t the time or money to cook and bake loads of dishes and photograph them; nor did I want to go online and use someone else’s photos to illustrate my recipes. Therefore, I decided to utilise another old love – my painting hobby – and use my own artwork for the illustrations. Continue reading “My illustrations”
Chocolate and raspberry sponge
How is everyone this snowy day? We’ve been stuck indoors since Tuesday, with boiler issues and, well, snow. Now, craving chocolate sponge!
As we’re now back up and warm (thank you engineer ‘Andy’!), it’s time to get back to the passion – and do some baking.
I love my old 1970s Kenwood mixer (other, and newer, mixers are available!!). I popped in the eggs and sugar, and left it whirring away while I emptied and reloaded the dishwasher, fed the menagerie and made myself a coffee. Don’t scrimp this stage; you want your eggs and sugar to really fluff up; it’s worth just taking some time. The mixture should rise massively, and resemble cream (remember school cookery lessons – everything has to resemble cream; I wonder what they chose before someone churned cream?). Anyway, the lighter you get this now, the lighter your cake will be. Continue reading “Chocolate and raspberry sponge”