thank you lydia (and ultimately smitten kitchen) for the homemade oreo recipe. i've made these 3 times now (well, i should really say 2 times as i left out the egg during one attempt, i think i was sleepy or something) and i want to make these cookies every week.it was around this time last year that i planted my garden and i must say that it is looking good. i have orange poppies going crazy, pink and white flowers who's name i do not know and all sorts of other in the way to flower. i have never in my life kept plants alive for so long!
here is my first rose bloom this year! this rose bush was light pink last year, what happened?
vancouver has had a major segment on the bbc london 6:00 news 2 nights running. that never happens!
both segments have been combined into one short clip here....
both cities are hosting/building for an olympics during a recession. vancouver 2010. london 2012.
this serves 4 people
6-8 stalks of rhubarb, cut into equal sized sticks
1-3 spoonfuls of sugar
(depending on how sweet you like it)
splash of water
carton of whipping cream
heat the rhubarb, sugar and water in a pan over medium heat, stir and turn the rhubarb gently and often.
remove 2 sticks of rhubarb per person when they are cooked and soft but are able to keep their shape.
cook the remaining rhubarb until completely soft and gooey, allow to cool.
whip the cream until soft peaks are formed.
spoon in a dollop of the cooked and cooled rhubarb into the cream and fold together.
spoon remaining cooked rhubarb into dessert cups, top with whipped cream and place the 2 partially cooked rhubarb sticks on top.
chill until you are ready to eat.
oh my this is good. i suspect any fruit would work nicely but have only tried it with rhubarb. people will make a fuss over the prettiness and it's really quite simple.
look what i found at the shops!
i'm not sure why they have re-branded pocky into mikado but they are delightful nonetheless.
they also come with a fun advert.
i've put a batch of new photos on flickr. if you're interesting in what i've been doing while not blogging, i suggest going over there and taking a look.
i will tell you about the amazing sites i have seen that i was unable to photograph though. alex and i were on our way to glastonbury for the beltane festivities one evening last week and the sun was starting to fall in the sky, there were rain clouds passing through and low and behold as we approached the red, glowing, sunset reflecting tor, a large and perfect rainbow appeared and swept it's way over the hill and chapel. what a welcome to the most magical place on earth.
imagine this photo with a huge and perfectly vivid rainbow reaching from one side to the other.
happy beltane.for valentine's day, alex bought us plane tickets to norway during the easter holidays. hurrah! we spent 2 days in oslo and 1.5 days in a the coastal town sandefjord and half a day in stromstad, sweden.
View oslo in a larger map
it was like being on the west coast of canada. the scenery, the cleanliness, the friendliness of people, the taste-free drinking water straight from the tap, it was all very canadian feeling.
then there was the price. holy hell, norway (and scandinavia in general i gather) is shockingly expensive. i thought i was prepared for the expense, i had been warned but i didn't truly comprehend what people were telling me. alex and i spent £500 in 4 days and we were not being extravagant in any way. i have 4 pin badges and 2 post cards to show for my share and alex has 8 postcards and 1 flag badge to show for his share.
we shared a £10 basket of nachos (without cheese or other fixings besides a small ramiken of salsa) in a train station for lunch. we were forced to resort to eating a £7 fillet o'fish meal at mcdonalds. our guide book recommended a cheap pizza place that served us up a good sized pizza for £12 each. unfortunately the menu was in norwegian and i ended with an olive, shrimp, bacon and tuna pizza. it was surprisingly good. we longingly walked past a norwegian restaurant that served wonderful sounding food for £40 a head...main course only. we spent £1.50 for a chocolate bar.
*sigh* we went all the way to norway and didn't eat anything norwegian, it was pizza every day.
then there was the transport. £18 for the coach to oslo. £7 for a day pass around the city. £22 for the train to sandefjord. £4 for a train to the airport.
jeepers!
the museums were quite reasonably priced considering, £5 each for entry. the museums were also very unique and interesting and were the highlight of the trip for me.
the fram museum houses the huge arctic/anti-arctic exploration ship *fram*. the norwegians are very proud of their polar exploration exploits.
the kon-tiki museum houses 2 of the reed rafts that norwegian explorers used to prove that early civilizations could have sailed to each other and traded across large expanses of water. i cannot imagine spending months floating along on a reed boat across the pacific.
the viking ship museum was my favourite. i was hoping to learn more about the vikings while in norway but this seemed to be the only museum accessible to us.
we took the ferry from central oslo across the harbour to the suburbs to get the these museums. that was a nice trip.
sandefjord had lovely scenery to walk around and a whaling museum. that was pretty gross and i didn't so much enjoy learning how to catch, kill, and take apart a whale.
there was nothing to do in stromstad. literally nothing. everything was closed so we had to eat pizza at the only open restaurant. the 2.5hour ferry ride there and back was beautiful though.
when i'm a millionaire i will go back to scandinavia and live like a king and i will not eat pizza every day. i'm so used to travelling on the strong english pound, this trip was a shock to the system and bank balance.
scandinavia would be a wonderful place to live, but travelers beware.
check out flickr for all the photo glory.
eeeep! i went out for lunch and when i returned to the school car park this happened....
believe it or not, today was a day of luck.
i was so lucky my key didn't break off in my car door.
i was even more lucky that my key didn't break off in my engine.
i was terribly lucky to find a key cutter willing to cut me a new key using 2 bits. his exact words were *put on your best cockney accent* "alright then love, i'll give it a bash".
the best piece of luck is having a great school caretaker who went out to get me the key cut because the shop closed at half 3 and i wouldn't get there in time after school.
1. make this apple puff pastry tart. everyday can be valentines with this treat! this recipe makes 4 tarts.
2. if you live in london go and see la clique, a melange of cabaret, new burlesque, and circus sideshow. for your pleasure are the talented..Captain Frodo, Norway’s outrageously bendy man, hula hoop’s finest exponent Yulia Pikhtina, the PVC-clad Miss Behave who has a penchant for swallowing pointy objects.not mentioned was my favourite guy, mario queen of the circus. a leather clad, juggling, queen fanatic. and miss behave didn't swallow anything for our show, but she did reveal some lovely crystals she had been hiding upon her person at the end of the act. she was naked save 3 small strategically placed hearts, a treat for the valentine's show. there's also the wet rope dancer as pictured above. yum.
3. if you live in bath go to jamie's italian, jamie oliver's new restaurant. i cannot gush enough about how much i enjoyed this restaurant. it was a tough decision on what to eat as the whole menu made our mouths water. there are a few locations, if you live near one you must go! if you're visiting england factor this restaurant into your plans. check out my flickr for the meal play-by-play.
i find that from about october to december, i'm in total craft mode. i can churn out the christmas gifts without thought but i rarely keep what i make.
that's going to change. let the personal crafty time begin!
my new tea towelsi hate kids. they are carriers of disease.
i am never more than 3 meters away from someone infected with something; ringworm, lice, chicken pox, cold, flu, throwing up, pink eye...
i have ringworm. again. i get to twice daily, slather jock itch cream on a red ring the size of a 20p on my arm.
it was only a matter of time, there are at least 6 children at any one time in my class who are festered with it and i would guess that only 2/6 are actually being treated properly for it. and of course i get it, i cannot get away from the little buggers. 21 four year olds are constantly around me - under me, beside me, climbing me, clinging to me, dancing near me, walking into me, sitting on me, coughing and/or sneezing in my mouth/face. that last one happens more than you'd think.
i count myself lucky i've never had nits, that would be the worst. but ring worm is a close second in the scale of horrible gross-ness.
i am bout to delve into the launch edition of jamie magazine. i feel a little nervous for him, starting a magazine is a big thing. he's a pretty busy chef....or so the tabloids tell me. but i love him. every recipe i have made has worked beautifully. he fights for food in his country. he kills/grows what he eats or at least knows where it's come from. i shop at sainsbury's because jamie oliver endorses it.
i'm excited.
he takes his own pictures for the magazine and funded the whole thing himelf. it's printed on paper that is from sustainably managed forests.
i'm also thrilled about the great britsh food fight that just started on channel 4.
maybe hugh fearnley-whittingstall will start a magazine as well.
i love jamie oliver. every recipe i have made of his has been a triumph, i have learned so much from his shows.
here's his recipe for turkey and sweet leek pie, i used the basic principals to make my own christmas left over pie. as jamie says, 'this isn't a pretty boy pie, this is a proper english pie', i've never made one before and i will certainly be trying this one again. it may seem like a lot of work but it's not, not much washing up either.
christmas left over pie
1C left over goose meat
2 rashers of bacon chopped
knob of butter
salt and pepper
sprig fresh thyme, leaves removed
4 small potatoes thinly sliced
handful green beans
1 head of broccoli
4C stock
heaped spoonful of flour
2 heaped spoonfuls creme fresh
puff pastry, thawed
roasted chestnuts
1 egg, beaten
fine strainer
preheat the oven to 190/375 degrees
fry the bacon in the knob of butter until brown, add the thyme leaves and fry for a minute.
add the thinly sliced potatoes, salt and pepper and toss well.
add enough stock to cover the potatoes and allow to bubble away until almost all the liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally.
test the potatoes with a fork, if they are not soft add more stock and continue to cook until potatoes done and most of the liquid is absorbed.
add the beans and broccoli and goose meat and toss.
dust the mixture with the flour and mix up vigorously.
add the rest of the stock, or water if you've used all the stock and stir it up.
mix in the creme fresh and bring back up to the boil.
place the whole mixture into the fine strainer over another pot and allow the gravy to drip down while you roll out the pastry.
lightly flour your counter and roll out the puff pastry into a large rectangle until it's quite thin.
crush the roasted chestnuts over half of the pastry and then fold the pastry over.
gently roll out the pastry again to a size that will fit your baking dish, don't worry if chestnuts poke through.
place the goose and potato mixture into a baking dish.
cover with the puff pastry and tuck the edges under like your tucking a child into bed.
score the pastry with the back of the knife into a criss cross diamond pattern.
paint the egg over the pastry.
bake for 30-45 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden brown and the filling is bubbly.
reheat the gravy. i didn't have enough gravy so i added water, gravy granules and more creme fresh to bulk it up a bit.
serve immediately! yum-oh! it keeps well too. i made a second pie for lunch today and it reheated, covered in tin foil in 40 minutes. it was just as tastey.
