Easter Week

Hey just a little post to show you what I have been up to recently

Recent purchases grey top and bag from New Look.


I'm definitley channelling 80s madonna and rock chick at the moment. The skirt I'm wearing is vintage.

Massive steaks for dinner

my first real nail art attempt however...I have not got a steady left hand so I only managed to paint the right hand so it had to come off! haha any tips to help me?

Ben eating a tiny sandwich

night on the town starting with ring of fire, classy.

Terrance just chilling being awesome.


Easter eggs hehe how cute!

Kiss the Cook

A week or so ago over on Beautiful Mess (one of my favourite blogs) they did a post about their favourite cookbooks. I thought this was a fantastic idea, so I want to share with you my pick of the best too.

My favourite recipes are:
From the Moomin Cookbook the Meat and Macaroni Bake and the Ham Pie.

From Hamlyn's Fondue Cookbook the Dutch Fondue and the Cider Fondue



What I also like to do is keep a folder full of pages from supermarket magazines with recipes I would like to try or recipes I have googled searched for on the web. Its a good habit to get into because you will have a good resource for dinner party ideas or just a tasty evening meal for yourself.

If you read my blog much you will know I love River cottage and have recently dabbled in bread baking so this would be the perfect next addition to my shelves.

Handbook no3 Bread

Don't forget to check out Beautiful Mess

Emily x

American Sweet Epidemic!

So I'm not sure if this is a nationwide phenomenon but in Cardiff over the past 6months there has been a surge of American style sweet shops popping up in every available spot, offering sweet treats from across the pond.

I love sweets and I especially love trying out all the treats I have heard about from American films such as candy corn and Twinkies (which I actually didn't enjoy, but at least now I know).

They also offer sweets we would probably recognise here in the UK such as skittles and pop tarts but they are available in a million and one different flavours such as tropical or vanilla milkshake.

The best part for me is getting to enjoy the sweets I ate as a child that disappeared from the UK market.

I mentioned I had bought some Lucky Charms cereal but I have also found Ring Pops (my all time fave) and Nerds and Dweebs! yum yum yum!

These shops are so much fun to look around but beware they can be expensive!

Is there one in your area? any suggestions of sweets I should try?

Weekend with my sister

My sister and her boyfriend came to visit for a few days, it was lovely!

We went out, shopped, played board games, watched films and ate some yummy food!

I made my best fondue yet! I used a tip from Cook like Heston coating the cheese with cornflour when grated, it worked a charm!

We ate Gyoza at Wagamamas in Cardiff Bay <3 I love gyoza its my fave!

We played The Walking Dead board game I got Ben for christmas, it was a tricky one to get a hang of but we think we played it right haha.

I love my sister we get on so well, I can tell her anything and she is hilarious :)

missing her already!!


oh and finally a photo with my fringe! Its getting too long already, but I will definitely keep it for a while.

Spring Clean

So Saturday was the first day off Ive had in ages, my boyfriend is away in London so I thought I would invite my friends over for dinner and some drinks.

We hadn't seen each other since my birthday so there wass much catching up to do. I didn't cook anything too difficult just a spaghetti bolognaise (yes another one) I did try the focaccia recipe I mentioned in my bread related post.

Before:


After:


It tasted pretty good, it wasn't as flat or oily as I think focaccia is supposed to be (but when I write it like that it doesn't sound appetising anyway!) any tips?

Ive also had to clean the state that is my flat. The terrapins are squeaky clean as well, Ben normally cleans them so I had to pretty much blag my way through the cleaning process, my back is killing me and their water doesnt even look as nice as when Ben does it...still better than the green soup they were swimming in, poor darlings!

hope you all had lovely weekends

Emily x

Catch up Post

I am having computer problems atm so I can only use the internet intermittantly.

Here are some recent photos to keep you updated on my week:


finally got a 70s style sunburst clock for the flat, I still want a proper vintage one but I saw this on sale for £10 I couldnt say no!

I got another pair of Vans because I wear my blue ones so much. I havent seen anyone with the grey before.

Yummy Chicken sandwich (made with my own bread!)

This weeks Graze Box, the pistachios are my favourite.

I am looking forward to breakfast tomorrow :D

I have an exciting post for next time...well I think it is exciting!

Emily x

Bread mmmmmm!

I baked bread for the first time yesterday.

I am preeeeetty pleased with myself I must say!




I used this recipe:

http://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/simple-white-loaf/

The thought of making bread used to scare me, I think its the yeast part, I don't know why. But this recipe is so easy to follow.

Using the same recipe you can make a foccacia bread (the method is slightly different). I'm going to try that out soon so I will post the results.

Graze 2

Our most recent Graze box did't last long we ate it all before I got a photo!


http://graze.com/b/k36fl

very tasty! it had our favourite, pistachios!

Emily x

Excuse me while I Graze...

Today has been a good day for post.

So firstly my Graze box arrived and this is what I got:


http://graze.com/b/xtzd3 this link will show the items in detail.

The korean chilli rice crackers were AMAZING.

Im not a fan of banana or olives but Ben loves them so I thought its only fair I don't cross them off the list and let him have some things he likes as well.

You get a little leaflet with the nutritional info calorie count etc and also some vouchers to give to friends for a free box. I can't wait to send one to my sister she will love it!

The best thing about the graze box...it fit through my letterbox! So if I hadn't been in I would have still recieved my yummy foods and not a pesky red slip to collect from the post office. BONUS!

I also got the top I ordered from RogueRetro on etsy

Its a floral haiwaiin crop top with a cute knot in the front I LOVE IT!



Rogue Retro is a great shop check it out:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/rogueretro

Graze Box

Ive ordered a Graze Box, I wonder what will come inside!
I saw the advert on tv and thought I should give it a try, lots of people review beauty boxes on their blogs but I much prefer food!


https://www.graze.com/deliveries

The website was very user friendly and there is a great selection of healthy snacks to choose as well :)

it is due next week on tuesday so stay tuned...

Breaking out the Fondue

Ben and I bought a fondue set in Amsterdam and last night we tried it out!

It was so delicious I cant even describe to you!

I took the recipe for 'Dutch fondue' from the Hamlyns Fondue Cookbook (1p on amazon) which is the exact same book as my mum has from the seventies, but she didnt want to part with it so I bought the same one.

We used bake your own bread rolls and meatballs as our chosen dipping food.
The cheese was essentially white wine, gouda cheese and edam with seasoning and a bit of cornflour.


BEN even had a heinken for double the authenticity.

I am definitely going to invite my friends over and have a fondue party soon :)

Chapatis

I made Chapatis for the first time ever last night.

They arent difficult but they taste great!


Ben took a sneaky photo of me in my pjs while I was cooking, I dont make much effort when Im staying at home as you can see, also had most of my hair cut off only reaches my shoulders now!

do you like my mental kitchen?

Dining with friends

Me and my friends dont see each other nearly enough now uni is over and we all have real jobs and grown up responsibilities. So we meet up for evenings to catch up on goss and eat delicious food made by our own fair hands.


Curry night at my old flat
Bethan made samosas from scratch!


Soup, chicken with dauphinois and cheesecake evening




there is always much wine to be consumed also :)

Butternut and nutbutter soup

Another River Cottage recipe for you!

1 butternut squash, about 800g-1kg
Large knob of unsalted butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 small medium-hot chilli, deseeded and chopped, or a pinch of dried chilli flakes
A 3cm piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 large garlic clove, crushed1 small garlic clove, chopped
About 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
227g jar of crunchy or smooth peanut butter
Juice of 1 lime
3 tbsp finely chopped coriander
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

(simmering away before I blended it)
look here for the method

http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/chefs/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/butternut-and-nut-butter-soup-recipe

changes I made to recipe:
I didnt add ginger or corriander (didnt have any in the house)
I used a vegtable stock and crunchy peanut butter

Next time, I would use smooth peanut butter just out of preference and I think I used a very hot chilli because it had quite a kick so I will use chilli flakes next time.

It was really easy to make, I didnt have to be constantly stirring or watching so thats a bonus, you can leave it for 20mins and do something else!

It tasted delicious :)

with crusty tiger bread too!

homemade lunches

I watched an episode of River Cottage the other day, it was all about making lunches interesting. I am a sucker for buying my lunches in town with all the food places just round the corner I often buy a Boots meal deal or a Gregs, probably costing me around £15 a week :/

I know that many people take their own lunches to work and this is nothing new. However River cottage suggested some quick tasty alternatives to rushed sandwiches made the night before, such as a butternut squash soup which I want to try.

I tried the recipie for pastys made from leftovers.
Here they are before and after going in the oven.




I used a frozen puff pastry because its quicker than making your own pastry and mine is always a bit hit or miss. I filled it with leftover chilli con carne from the night before.

So me and my boyfriend had nice filling lunches that saved us money!

next time I will try a different filling and remember to poke holes in the top of the pastry before putting in the oven (I think thats why some of them split).

More cooking

I tried one of the philadelphia recipies I had seen on an advert this week.

It was basically pasta with the philly cheese and chives sauce and grilled veg.

Its perfect for when you want someting quick to make and easy. I used tesco frozen meditterean vegetables (peppers, aubergine, courgette and the like) put that in the oven and boiled the pasta. When done I mixed the pasta and veg in a bowl and added half a tub of philly and a splash of milk. I then seasoned with pepper. It was yum!

I was so hungry I forgot to take a photograph so here is the one from the website (i used different veg)

I also made a delicious curry this week. Its my basic recipe that I tweek depending what I have in the house!

This one was chicken marinated in spice mix of:
curry powder
garam masala
black pepper
chilli powder
garlic powder

I then chopped and fried one red onion and a green pepper, when brown I added the chicken.

When the chicken is cooked through I added a tin of chopped tomatoes, table spoon tomato puree and a vegetable stock cube.

I let it simmer while he rice boiled and then added more of the spices used to marinate chicken until it was to my taste!

Pie

I made a chicken pie the other night.

Sucesses:
The filling tasted marvelous.
Ben loved it

Failures:
Pastry was not as good as on my last pie attempt
I burnt myself




All to play for on my next try.

Look at my charity shop pie dishes


This one has a redipe inside! Its funny because half way through it directs you to fill the dish with fruit....then you cant read the rest of the instructions :P


Also this retro thing



Any pastry making tips?

squirrel shortbread

these little critters sure tasted good!