Gone Away

The last weekend of August is always a bank holiday weekend here in the UK and in many ways it signals the end of the summer for me. The days are noticeably getting shorter, the evenings are getting chillier and the the next bank holiday will be Christmas!! Wanting to make the most of this long weekend we decided to take Little T to visit his grandparents in Poland.

They have been enjoying a really hot and lovely summer on the continent this year and we were hoping to have a few days in the sun. But as luck would have it, it rained most of the time we were there. We didn't let this dampened our spirits and on Saturday we headed to a little mountain town to visit a very hilly animal park. We marvelled at their birds of prey display and demonstrations, fed the billy goats and deer and ate a lot of ice cream. The sun even made an appearance every once in a while.

It was lovely to see P relax and rest for a few days and to have a bit of a break myself while my mum-in-law did all of the cooking and most of the running after Little T. Ultimately though, the best part of this trip was seeing Little T being doted on by his grandparents and the pure joy in their eyes every time they could give him a hug. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the end of summer and now we look forward to other visits to come.

Indulgence

I don't own an alarm clock any more as I can be guaranteed to be woken up by either Little T or P before I am quite ready to get out of bed, most days. But early on Saturday morning I was delighted to find myself being woken up instead by brilliant sunlight, finding both toddler and husband still in dreamland beside me. I took my chance and very quietly got up, got dressed, grabbed my camera and sneaked out the door for a rare bit of "me-time".


 This time of the day holds a certain magic for me, the nearly empty streets, the quiet yet teeming with life surrounding woods, the birds singing their morning songs. I savoured it all as I walked around, taking pictures, the sun rising higher in the sky and everybody starting their day. It truly was a little bit of indulgence.

When I got home, P had already dressed and fed Little T, ready to go to the local park and playground while I got to go and spend an hour at the hairdressers, getting pampered and beautified. Another rare indulgence for me:)

By lunch time, we were all happy to be back together and headed to our favourite pub's beer garden for some cool and delicious refreshments. We spent a wonderfully enjoyable afternoon sitting in the sunshine, while Little T happily played with his cars on the grass, and every so often wandered off to chase a passing dandelion seed. This was turning out to be a very indulgent day indeed and what better way to end it than to bake a truly indulgent cake...

 Nigella Lawson is the queen of indulgence and this very easy, very delicious cake was the very obvious choice. Ready in no time, I topped it with swirls of butter-cream icing and a heap blackberries and we wasted no time before we tucked in. The smile on my face still hasn't completely faded away :)

Back to reality

I probably don't have to tell you that London was a very busy place to be the past two weeks. The Olympics came to town and London saw millions of people flooding its streets, trains and buses. Everywhere you went you saw friendly, smiling crowds of people, usually decked out in their national colours, carrying flags and bubbling over with excitement. The weather played along, most of the time and the world got to see London at its best. I think that even the most cynic of Londoners must feel a sense of pride at how well our city did.

We weren't lucky enough to get tickets to any of the events, but I spent the better part of the last fortnight glued to my telly, witnessing the highs as medals were won and the lows as a split second just wasn't enough. As a result, the housework was neglected, the dirty laundry was piling up, dinner was always made in a rush and there was certainly no baked goods coming out of my oven. It was therefore a very strange feeling yesterday when I woke up and realised that there won't be any running, swimming, horse jumping or any other sports to be watched. With a heavy heart I realised that I will have to go back to normality and make a start on all that cleaning, washing and tidying up. Luckily, as I was having a small break and enjoying a snack with Little T, I realised that I now have time to bake again too!

I hastily threw the last load of washing into the machine and had a rummage in the fridge for something to turn into an after dinner sweet treat. I found a punnet of peaches that were just never going to fully "ripen at home" and knew that I still have some ground almonds lurking in a cupboard. Suddenly there was only one thing on my mind, frangipane tart!

The combination of sweet baked peaches with the creamy yet fluffy almond and vanilla scented frangipane mix, all enclosed in a crispy and short pastry case is one made in heaven. If you have never tried one of these amazing tarts, please put it right as soon as possible.

 I did manage to catch up on all of the housework and it looks like my Olympics withdrawal symptoms are starting to fade away. Another slice of the tart should do the trick:)

Peach Frangipane Tart:

For the pastry:

• 170g plain flour
• 100g unsalted butter, chilled
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg yolk, chilled
• 30ml ice cold water

For the filling:

• 3 large peaches
• 80g unsalted butter, softened
• 140g caster sugar
• 80g ground almonds
• 40g plain flour
• 1 egg, plus 1 egg white
• 4 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2tsp almond extract (optional)
• 2 tsp lemon juice

Method:

Start by making your pastry. Lightly beat the egg yolk with the water and keep it in the fridge until you need it. Keep the separated white as you'll need it for the filling. Cut your butter into 1cm cubes and put this into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade. Tip your flour and salt over the butter and pulse until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. (You can also use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour, if you don't have a processor). Sprinkle about two thirds of the cold egg-water mix over the flour and give this a few pulses until the mix starts to clump around the blade. If there is still dry flour in the bowl then add the rest of the egg-water and pulse again until it forms a ball. Take the pastry out and lightly press it into a disk between your palms, wrap it in cling-film and let it rest in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

You can now start to slice your peaches, cut each one into about 16 slices. I leave the skins on as it gives more colour to the tart and more flavour, but you can take the skins off if you want. Sprinkle the lemon juice and two of the four teaspoons of vanilla over the peaches and give it a stir. Leave this to stand.

Preheat your oven to 200°C and get a 24cm tart tin ready. 

Roll out the pastry to about 3mm thickness and lightly press it into the tart tin, taking care not to stretch or tear it. There is no need to blind bake the pastry, just pop it into the freezer while you make the frangipane mix. Don't leave it in the freezer for more than 15 minutes though!

Cream together the sugar and butter until it is very pale and creamy. Add the almonds, flour and eggs and mix well. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix on a high speed until you have a smooth, thick paste. Pour the frangipane into your cold pastry case and then arrange your peach slices on top, covering the entire surface in a spiral pattern, lightly pressing them into the mix. 

Place the tart in the middle of your hot oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the frangipane has risen over the peaches and is a golden brown colour.

Its great to eat the tart either completely cold or still slightly warm, served with a dollop of whipped cream or just on its own.

Enjoy!

Life in TechniColor

I have always lived life in Technocolor. If you look through photographs from my childhood and teenage years, I am always the one wearing the bright yellow shorts, red t-shirt or blue hat or even all of these at the same time :) When I was allowed to redecorate my bedroom when I was 17, I painted my walls lime green and turquoise and got bedding to match. When I bake cupcakes, the icing has to be pink, yellow or blue and nowadays when I buy toys for Little T, it's the more colourful the better!

You can therefore imagine that when I walked into my local yarn shop last week and saw a shelve full of the brightest, most colourful balls of Rico Creative Cotton yarns, I nearly fell over my own feet trying to get to it and could not stop myself from filling my arms with as many colours as I could hold.

I am busy turning this box of colour into a little granny square throw to brighten up our grey sofa and I am loving every moment of it. How can you not love such a colour explosion! How can you not want to live life in Technicolor :)

Progress

After my little rant about the bad weather last week, the sun has decided to make amends and we have been basking in glorious sunshine all weekend.  This is what we have been waiting for and not wanting to waste even one minute of this sunny goodness we spent every possible minute just being outside. Happiness!

  

The setting sun and a very tired Little T did make us head back indoors again at the end of each day, but that didn't stop me from carrying on with this sunny theme. Dinner was a cool and refreshing mix of salads, French cheese, cold cut meats and pitta breads and ended with a bang with a (large) slice of my "Sunshine Cake".

A lemon drizzle cake base, covered in sweet, sharp and mouth-droolingly delicious lemon curd. A second round popped onto that, making the curd ooze out and over the sides. Top that with a generous amount of very cold, lightly sweetened whipped cream and quarters of bright red, juicy strawberries and you have yourself a treat to make the perfect end to the perfect day.

I did have to fit in a little bit of crochet to make this already amazing weekend even better and feeling rather adventurous I took on something I have never attempted before, Amigurumi. I have been admiring these adorable little crochet critters for a while, and now I finally have one of my own! My little bunny is in no way perfect, but I love her even more for it.

The sun is (unbelievably) still shining out there and as we have been promised that these hot and sunny days will last all week, I intend to enjoy every single moment of it, so...
Watch This Space :) 

Make your own sunshine

Summers in the UK are not known for being brilliant, but this year the weather is truly dismal. I can hardly remember what sunshine looks like and all my other shoes are getting jealous of my Wellies for getting taken out every day. These permanently dark and dreary days are really starting to get to me and I find myself sulking around the flat more and more. Something has to be done about this, and as I have no control over the weather I had to make another plan.

A decadent chocolate treat is sure to lift my spirits. Make that my extra special, intensely chocolatey, super gooey brownies and you won't be able to wipe the smile off my face. Just melting the chocolate and butter already made me feel better and by the time I was sinking my teeth into the end result, I had already forgotten about the weather.

As you can see, they went down so well that no picture was taken of the finished product, but you can see one here if you want. And before you even ask, no I didn't eat everything by myself!

My chocolate high didn't last as long as hoped though, so I turned to my box of colourful yarns for some replacement sunshine and hooked up this lovely little hat, complete with a few of Lucy's May Roses.

It probably won't be very good for going out with in the rain, but my blue mixing bowl is modelling it rather nicely until the sun comes out again.

Yesterday I got the biggest cheering up of them all, my sweetheart of a hubby bought me new kitchen shelves! This may seem a bit strange to you, but trust me these few planks of wood made my year. For many years now I have been slowly building a collection of gorgeous bowls, plates, jugs and cake plates. But due to living in a small London flat with limited cupboard space most of these delicate things were safely wrapped up and stored away. Once P had skilfully put them up for me, I spent a wonderful, happy evening taking everything out of their protective wrappings and displaying them for me to admire and use as I please! I am in kitchen geek heaven :)

There still hasn't been any improvement in the weather, but I am most certainly in a much better mood today. Little T is happily playing at my feet while I make these adorable little hearts to decorate my wonderful new shelves.

Here's to you all creating your own happiness :)

Obsessions

I mentioned in my previous post that I have fallen in love with crochet again, but to be honest with you, I have become slightly obsessed with it! If I have a spare moment I immediately go for my crochet hook, or read something on the internet about someone else's crochet project or visit one of my local yarn shops. I even found a local group of ladies that meet every Saturday in a coffee shop to have a chat and crochet, and I had made up my mind to join them this weekend.

 After cooking and eating a hearty breakfast I packed my latest project in my bag and very happily set off to go and meet these like-minded ladies. But, before I even got down the street, the Heavens opened up in all of its glory. I was soaked to the bone within seconds and had to run like mad to get home and under shelter. I wasn't going anywhere, any time soon.

Needless to say, I was feeling ever so slightly sorry for myself and was in need of some cheering up. Lucky then that P came up with the great idea to go to one of our favourite places, the RAF museum! I love this place, giant old hangers filled with all sorts of amazing planes to admire and lots excited kids (of all ages) running around, having fun. There was even a brass band playing under the enormous wings of a plane to add to the wonderful atmosphere. With Little T staring wide-eyed at it all and smiling form ear to ear, it wasn't very long before I had completely forgotten that my morning had started out less than perfect.

Hopefully everything will work out next time and I will make it to the crochet group, but until then I am happy to carry on working on my colourful little granny squares, to play with Little T and I will even make some time to bake something too!