recipe of the week: butterless brownies

you can actually use butter for this recipe but i didn't have enough...

1/2C vegetable oil or melted butter
1C sugar
1 t mint extract
2 eggs
1/2C all purpose flour
1/3C cocoa
1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease a 9inch square pan and coat in cocoa.
mix oil and sugar in large bowl, add mint and eggs.
mix, in seperate bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
sift the dry ingredients into the wet gradually and mix thoroughly after each addition.
pour batter into baking pan.
bake for 20-25 mins or until brownies start to come away from the sides.
cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.

i haven't actually tried the brownies yet as they have just come out of the oven. but smell and look tells me this recipe is a winner. if it's not, this post will magically disappear...

recipe of the week: duck wraps

i've had so much good food recently...i've just been really quite lame in sharing the joy. here's the first of many to come.

duck wraps

1 duck breast per person
your favourite wrap - tortilla, rice, etc
cucumber sliced long and thin
hoisin sacue - i was lucky enough to use wagamama's spicy cherry hoisin sauce

preheat a grill pan to medium and place duck breast skin side down.
cook for 12-15 minutes, draining away fat when needed (keep the fat and roast potatos in it!).
turn the breast and cook for 5-7 mins.
turn the breast again and crank the heat for 3 mins - or so - to get the skin crispy.
allow duck to rest and cool for at least 10 minutes if not longer and then slice thinly. the meat should be slightly pink.
assemble wraps with duck, sauce and cucumber.

salad dressing

4 limes, zested and juiced
spoonful of powdered mustard
splash of soy sauce
minced garlic
grated ginger
olive oil (double the amount of the lime juice)

whisk the first 5 ingredients and then drizzle in the oil, continually whisking.
toss with favourite salad fixings.

edible seaside: a step by step guide

i was proclaimed the 'best teacher ever' today all because we made an edible seaside.




we made the blue jelly yesterday and let it set in the fridge overnight....







we crushed up some digestive biscuits really finely to make the sand...







we mashed up the set jelly to give our ocean a 'choppy' appearance....







we carefully pushed our beach to one side and spooned on the sea...








we then squelched the sea into place, with our fingers of course...







we then added jelly fish and jelly people...








some of us had a little difficulty opening our cocktail parasols...








and then we were done...








all that was left to do was tuck in!!

recipe of the week: mozzerella sticks and bbq sauce

i had a giada de laurentiis dinner and i highly recommend you do the same.

here's her mozzerella stick recipe. i didn't read the directions very carefully and missed the second coating of bread crumbs. i don't think it harmed the recipe in any way. but definitely do not leave out freezing the little guys before frying, the ooziness was intense and i'm sure i would have been left with bread crumbs and goo if i hadn't frozen the sticks. i probably would cut the sticks in half next time, they were a bit long and wobbly coming out of the pan.

instead of the marinara sauce giada recommends for dipping i used her balsamic bbq sauce. YUM! i also bbq's some steaks with the sauce. i'll probably bake some chicken in the left over sauce tomorrow. it's just that good.

happy cooking.

it appears england is under attack again

the terror alert for england has been raised to 'critical', the highest level possible. it basically means a terrorist attack is imminent.

it's all a bit bizarre. it all started with a car bomb that was left outside a nightclub near piccadilly circus. thankfully the bomb didn't go off. and then a second car full of petrol and explosives was found not too far away.

but the most intense situation was when a flaming car full of petrol cylinders was driven into glasgow airport. police somehow arrested 2 men from the car but one of them, shouting 'allah' - apparently - who was completely ablaze, tried to attack the police while others were trying to quench the flames with an extinguisher.

is it all a coincidence that tony blair stepped down and gordon brown took up the role of prime minister days ago?

is it a coincidence that it's almost 2 years since the 7/7 bombings?

and in other news...

north england is severely flooded.

tony blair is no longer prime minister, gordon brown is.

all enclosed public places are now totally smoke free.

8 teenagers have been stabbed or shot in london in as many days.

happy canada day everyone!