love those cupcakes

So far this week, in bullets

• Visited the cinema to see Flight.  Denzel is a favourite.  This film most definitely isn't.  Yes, the crash sequence at the beginning is riveting but what follows leaves too many questions unanswered, too many characters and relationships unexplored, too many blind alleys to be taken down.  The film conveys some very confused messages about substance misuse and addiction and it's just too long.

• Transported two unwilling cats and one terrified Boo to the vets for their annual check-ups.  All pronounced fit and healthy. Boosters were administered to the accompaniment of some wimpering.  Bank account was depleted accordingly.  Cue more wimpering.
  

• Joined a new(ish) WI group.  The theme was Health and Wellbeing with presentations about the sexual exploitation of young people in the town and  pharmacy services at Boots.  Next month:  making chickens from Cadbury's creme eggs.

• Baked a malt loaf using a Mary Berry recipe (I halved the quantities to make one 1lb loaf).  Wonderfully sticky and aromatic after being wrapped and stored for just a day.  Cuts more easily than Soreen and tastes, well, just like Soreen, or, dare I say it, even better. 

Mary Berry's Malt Loaf (very slightly amended)

Makes 2x1lb loaves

8ozs plain flour

Half level tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 level tsp baking powder

8ozs sultanas

2ozs demerara sugar

6ozs malt extract*

1 tbsp black treacle

2 large eggs, beaten

5 fl ozs black tea, cooled

 

Preheat oven to 150C/fan 130C/gas 2.

Grease 2 x 1 lb loaf tins and line base and short sides (with some overhang for ease of removing) with greaseproof paper or baking parchment.

Mix together the flour, bicarb and baking powder in a bowl and stir in the sultanas.

Gently heat together the sugar, malt extract and treacle and pour onto the flour mix.

Add the eggs and tea to the mixture and beat well until smooth.

Pour into the prepared tins and bake for about an hour or until the loaves are well risen and firm to the touch.

Leave to cool in the tins for 10 mins then turn out carefully, peel away the paper and leave to finish cooling on a wire rack.

Best kept for 2 days (1 day was long enough for me) wrapped in clingfilm or foil before slicing, buttering and enjoying.  Can also be frozen.

 

*I bought mine from Holland and Barrett.  I now need to find a way of getting it from the jar to the scales to a pan without clarting the entire kitchen.

 

Some like it cold

So, we threw caution to the wind and booked our trip.

We leave early in January next year.

I must do something in the meantime about renewing my passport.

But where are you going, you ask.

Well, not to the moon as Dawn suggested, though it is costing the earth. 

We'll be starting off here.

Then going here.

After that, here.

Then here.

The highlight of the holiday will be here.

I'm hoping to see lots of these.

And these.

Before going back to the beginning for a couple of days and then returning home.

Adventurous or what?

 

A bit of history with a lot of snowdrops

 

It was such glorious weather yesterday and definitely not a day for staying indoors.  So off we went to Fountains Abbey, about an hour's drive away in Ripon.  I'd last visited as a child when an abbey ruin (we're rather well off for them in these parts) often featured in family picnics (which, incidentally, were always on a Monday as that was half day closing in my parents' shop).

Now a World Heritage Site, the abbey was active as a Cistercian monastery (they chose some cracking sites those monks) from the 1100's until Henry VIIIth stuck his oar in 400 years later.  The parkland setting is stunning and an added bonus when visiting at this time of year is the snowdrop display.  We didn't get as far as the medieval deer park.  That's for next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lately I've been.......

• Visiting the cinema in the afternoon, eating a bag of Revels and watching this.  Not for everyone, it is Tarantino (have to say I am a fan) after all, but, even with mixed reviews about his treatment of the subject matter, there's no denying the brilliant soundtrack and some excellent performances.

• Baking banana/choc chip/walnut topped muffins (my choice)

 

and apple and sultana pie (his choice).

 

• Filling a new stripey jug (from Sainsbury's) with daffs from the market.

 

• Looking for house refreshing ideas in a couple of new reads.

 

•  Enjoying the early evening view from our living room.

 

• Planning the trip of a lifetime.  The cost will be astronomical but if it comes off it will be one massive dream come true.

 

Culinary adventures

I've been enjoying baking for many years, since the time my dad helped me and my friend Marian make currant fairy cakes in our very basic kitchen at the back of the shop when we were both about eight.  Lots of recipes have been tried since, with a fair number of failures along the way.   I love the whole process involved: choosing and reading the recipe, preparing the equipment, the mixing, the vague wondering, even with old favourites, if the mixture will rise/crisp/colour/stick in the tin, and finally, of course, the tasting.  (I'm not including the washing up and putting away.  I detest that.)

Being vegetarian means I can use eggs, butter, milk and cream in my baking endeaviours.  But lately I've been trying recipes which don't use conventional ingredients.  Yep, I've dipped my toes into the challenging waters of vegan baking. (I thought, why not?   My diet is about 80% vegan and change is good, yes?)

First up were the oaty peanut butter and choc chip cookies which featured in this post and which were so very melt in the mouth tasty if a tad on the sweet side for my taste.  I'll certainly reduce the amount of sugar next time and post the amended recipe.

Next were cherry bakewell cupcakes.  I used this recipe and, whilst mine were certainly not as pretty as Siobhan's (I toasted the flaked almonds, halved the quantities and couldn't be bothered with the piping bag for such a small batch), they were moist and tasted pretty damn good.  The frosting was much sloppier than my usual buttercream but the recommended spell in the fridge sorted that.

Yesterday we had vegan pancakes.  

They looked similar to the American-style pancakes I usually make and bubbled reassuringly in the pan whilst cooking but all of that baking powder (at least I think it was the baking powder) left a rather unpleasant aftertaste.  And the mister delared them 'dense'. 

Oh well, you win some.......

Home again

So.  Amsterdam.   Home for three days was a beautifully renovated 17th century house in the heart of the old city where the stairs were very steep and freshly baked treats appeared every day as if by magic - apple cake, apple pie, apple turnovers, bread pudding.  We walked everywhere, crossing canals, dodging the omnipresent bikes and visiting the Rijksmuseum, the Hermitage, Remrandt's house, Anne Frank house and Dam square along with an excellent vegetarian restaurant with a resident cat.  Vermeer, Van Gogh and Rembrandt masterpieces.  Frequent coffee stops.  Of course there was the occasional pancake.  We also bought cheese.   Lots of it.  So much of the city still to see.  We can't wait to return.    

Celebrations

This was a joint cake (once again using Nigella's buttermilk birthday cake recipe in How To Be A Domestic Goddess) for the Girlie (birthday last Saturday) and the mister (birthday tomorrow).  We're going out for celebratory pizzas tonight and then tomorrow I'm off to Amsterdam with the birthday boy. 

Back soon.