That darn Birthday Fairy!

Well yet another year for the bunny! My friend Vicki sent me a card that called the birthday fairy a b!&*h and well she really is at times! I sometimes wonder where has all the time gone...?

In any event, this year’s cake was different and a bit disappointing in the size department (more for my friends who didn’t get any!). I made from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes a red velvet cake. J had never had one before and it usually has been a favourite of mine. So I thought why not make something different this year than my usual pistachio cake?!?

I trust Rose and her cakes and recipes always come out as expected for me. I think my only criticism of the recipe is that it is not a normal two-layer cake – it was meant for a heart-shaped pan but I just used a round one. But it was a pitiful size and the frosting amount which I doubled to cover this one was really just enough – I could have used more. So I am uncertain how much a single batch would have covered. In any event, it came out OK and really was good – especially the frosting. It is a combination of cream cheese and white chocolate without any extra sugar. It gest enough from the white chocolate and really it was just right!I’ve just left a note in the book that you need to double the cake batter and at least double the double-batch recipe (found later on in the book) to get enough frosting to cover the cake and perhaps even six-times the recipe amount to have a thicker frosting as I like enough in-between the layers. But that’s my preference. Darn fairy....

Gifts from the garden!

I am very lucky to know someone who has a garden. I’m even luckier that a few times a year I get some of her produce to sample. This day she gave me a living lettuce, some parsley and some lovely potatoes with their dirt still on them! What a feast!

I used the parsley in my hamburgers as you can see – they came out so great with the parsley – it was so unlike the kind I get in the store and even the kind I’ve grown myself in a pot on the sill. I don’t know why but it was extraordinary.

I used the lettuce on my burger along with some cucumber and tomato – I’m rather traditional that way.We then used the potatoes to make some homemade chips – lovely! Sorry I was too busy to get a snap of the end product but as you can see from the before pictures they were lovely specimens – and even lovelier to eat!Thanks to her we had an extra special dinner that shows you being able to grow your own food is indeed a great thing! Enjoy!

Life's interesting roads...

Yesterday Steve Jobs lost his life to pancreatic cancer. Something that is near to my heart as my mother and uncle both died from this disease. I suppose he had a lesser virulent type but still in the end it got him. I thought this quote by him was really a good one. Read it all and truly let it sink in....

Commencement speech at Stanford University, 2005

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle. ~Steve Jobs

Busy as always...

Difficulties come when you don't pay attention to life's whisper. Life always whispers to you first, but if you ignore the whisper, sooner or later you'll get a scream.
~Oprah Winfrey (1954 - ), Stanford Commencement Address, 2008

I thought this was an interesting quote. Right now I'm very busy with a big project at work so there'll be little on here until I'm done. But don't fret, I'm never far away and always looking out for the reduced items wherever I am! Enjoy!

Birthday dinner and cake....

Every year I always make J something special. He chooses his dinner and cake he’d like and of course I make it for him. I’m sure he tries to pick things that I’ve got on hand or things that I don’t make often enough. This year he wanted sushi and a chocolate cashew brownie cake (recipe by the usual death by chocolate author). I know...he’s a bit strange but gotta love him!

So about two weeks before his big day (which wasn’t on this posting date I should add!) he says his preferences. I was a bit dubious of the sushi as we normally only make that when we have a really hot period as that’s the best for those days. We’ve not had a really ‘hot’ summer here unlike other parts of Europe or America.

But rather our usual English weather of mid-60s and the odd few days of something a bit higher. So it was a *big* surprise to both of us that on his birthday the Gods smiled on us with yes, HOT weather! It was pure luck I am sure but it was good to have those few days of heat and have sushi to enjoy. Here are a few pictures of the meal from the roll to the cut version. I make smoked salmon for him – shrimp or veggie for me.I had all the fixings for the cake bar the cashews which as luck would have I got on offer at the store. I also happened to get the chocolate reduced (OK only I could find this chocolate reduced but that’s the great thing about me – the reduced aisle!) that I used – which was the first time I actually used this chocolate. Since it was unsweetened I had to add a bit of extra sugar to the cake which wasn’t a problem and really it was delicious. J thinks it’s the chocolate that really made the cake and I sort of have to agree.

The BakerLady is baking bread....

I know my love of bread hasn’t gone unnoticed around here but I really do love making my own bread. My sister came to have a holiday here in the UK as you know and before she left I ordered a few items that I thought would hold me in good stead over here. I know there are just some things you cannot get in this country (well you can but obviously at a ridiculous price!).

She got a small carry-on piece of luggage at one of the charity shops there and I quite happily filled it with goodies that I ordered on-line and had sent to her. It was far cheaper than her re-sending it to me via the post and well so much more to pack into the luggage!

So I found this Pain de Mie Pan (Pullman Loaf Pan) over at King Arthur, which had a good many qualities to its name – namely that King Arthur is selling it means quality, it has 65% recycled steel in it (all those cans you put in the recycle bin are coming back without having to damage the Earth harvesting them!), an eco-friendly replacement to non-stick which I’m trying to avoid and more attributes.

So this past weekend I made a loaf of bread with this new pan – it’s a mixture of white flour and brown malted which I like making. It’s not 100% brown loaf since I cannot have that often but enough to give it some good taste along with as usual my starter in there. I made a bit more than I’d use for my traditional loaf pan since this one is quite long (thankfully it fit into my oven as it should – I was a bit worried!).

This is the pan with my bread just going into it for its second rise. I let it get to nearly the top (about ½ inch from the top) when I clamped on the lid and put it in the oven. I read a few reviews that the lid popped off but mine did not and the loaf came out like a breeze. I must admit it didn’t fill out the pan as much as I had imagined but then again I didn’t do a measured batch – I just eye-balled it (scales are on the fritz!) and guess at how much I’d needed for the pan.And this is the loaf as it came out of the oven and then out of the pan completely cooling. I really got the pan to have more even slices of toast that fit into the toaster but also to have some that I could slice and put into the freeze for those times when you want toast but as usual is the case no bread! I don’t keep too much bread in the freeze as its valuable space in our household but a few slices won’t take much room and serves a purpose when you are trying to quickly gather a lunch at 7am!So go on try your hand at something new. Baking bread seems so mysterious when you combine only four ingredients and out comes something unbelievably lovely. You’ll be hooked I guarantee it!

Those holiday snaps...

Well here are some long awaited holiday snaps from July when I went to Teignmouth with my sister and niece. We did have some lovely weather and really did quite a bit – relaxing was the order of the day since we travelled on three trains to get there to begin with!
This is a picture of the church just down from the cottage – they were having a flower fair. I looked in on the last day by myself – it was really just a local showing of flowers from the gardens, very homey.

The next three pictures are of the beach in both directions and the third is my niece playing in the sand – this was our first day there – she just had to go into the water. I swear she is a water baby!

We then went by bus to Brixham which had a replica of the ship Francis Drake used called the Golden Hind. It was moored on the Quay and the background to the ship as you can see from the next few pictures was amazing!Get a load of this sea gull that really wanted to be noticed. Then of course my culinary dreams began when I saw all these lobster pots and such. I wonder how much they have brought ashore for us to enjoy?

Then of course I was put off immediately by this restaurant’s name. I know silly of me but honestly – it’s funny but it’s not!

These two pictures are one of Torquay which we didn’t get to but I can see why it is called the English Riviera. The next one is of the St. Leonards Tower in Newton Abbot it certainly was imposing and impressive.I thought this offer at the local chippy (fish and chip shop) was impressive – I have yet to see this being offered here in Southend.And finally – what we all needed after this busy holiday – SLEEP! This is Olivia one morning – she began at the top of the bed but somehow made it down to the end. Don't even get me started on the night she fell out of the bed - yes and got back into bed all without waking up! I know - somehow just like her Aunt in many ways!A glorious ending to the trip! Hope you enjoyed that quick tour!