Category Archives: At home

Nespresso machine for Coffee and Walnut Cake

Posted in At home, baking, Drink, Food, Home, lifestyle, Uncategorized by

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We bought a Nespresso machine, an offer which really was too good to miss and now we have two coffee machines that sit on opposite sides of the kitchen.

The Dolce Gusto machine makes great coffee, it also makes lots of other great drinks which my kids enjoy, particularly the iced Cappuccino and iced tea, drinks which if we were going to Starbucks would cost a small fortune.


The Nespresso machine however, makes coffee an experience and I wish we had gotten around to getting earlier. If you are thinking about getting one of these machines, this month there is an offer too good to be missed. Not only is the machine on offer but the Aerochino machine is free. Yes that’s right free as long as you purchase their coffee pods from the website.

We’ve been in coffee heaven, and what better way to enjoy a cup of rich intense coffee, but with Coffee and Walnut cake.

This is a simple recipe – just use the Muffin mixture from this recipe and use just walnuts instead of the blueberries and cinnamon, add an espresso shot of coffee to the mix and bake.

That’s it. I used these cute cardboard mini loaf cases which I spotted in M&S, which were a perfect size for individual portions to serve for a tea time treat.

The Marzipan that turned into Blueberry Muffins

Posted in At home, baking, Food, inspiration, Uncategorized by

 

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The month of May is almost over. In fact most of April and May has been filled with work, a decorating and a DIY project for my youngest, all of which has meant I’ve not written as regularly as I’d like for a while.

Its also meant a few ingredients that were meant for Easter were left as I didn’t get around to much in the way of baking. In previous years, this usually means I find them lurking in the back of the cupboard until one day, when I am looking for something else I come across it and it’s past its sell-by date and too late to do anything but throw it way. I then kick myself for the wasted food.

So, this year, when my youngest said she needed some photos to cakes to bring into school, so she could apply to join the baking club.

I decided not to repeat the mistakes of previous years. With the Marzipan that I bought, I looked for a simple cake recipe to turn it into something quick and simple.

There were loads of recipes which included ground almonds, which I didn’t have, I’d almost given up until I came across this one. A simple bake with cherries and poppy seeds.

Ok I didn’t have the tinned cherries, but I had some fresh blueberries that were destined for a fruit salad instead.

With sugar, eggs, self raising flour and some milk in the fridge, this would do the trick.Photo of ingredients such as Marzipan

Muffin Ingredients:

255g self raising flour
115g caster sugar or soft brown sugar. (I used a 50/50 mix of white and brown as I had this in my cupboard)
2tbsp poppy seeds
150g fresh blueberries or canned cherries without pips
115g golden marzipan, chilled in the fridge and grate coarsely
1 medium egg, beaten
50g butter or margarine, melted
175ml whole milk

To make:

Pre-heat oven to 190°C/375°F/Fan 170°C/Gas Mark 5.

Put some  muffin cases in a muffin or cupcake tin, to keep the shaped of the cakes.
Sift the flour into a mixing bowl, and stir in the sugar, poppy seeds, blueberries (washed) and the grated marzipan. I find that chilling the marzipan makes it a lot easier to grate.

You’ll need to either chop the marzipan or grate it so it can be distributed evenly in the cake mix. It will infused the cakes with the most lovely scent of almonds. Hmmm heaven.

Make a well in the centre.

Mix together the egg, melted butter with the milk. I used Soy Milk.

Pour into the well and mix to form a thick, rough batter. My youngest insisted at this point to put her hands into the batter to mix the batter.

We made a lot of mess by this time and she could tell that I wasn’t impressed with this technique as by this time she had lost interest and had gone to find something else to do.

Now that we had the batter, the mix was spooned into the muffin cases and put into the preheated oven for 22-25 mins, until risen and golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

This part of the cooling process is tricky in our house, firstly it’s hard to resist the tempting smell of the cakes as they cool, but they also summon our two cats, who are also keen on the taste of freshly baked cakes. This means we have to guard them until they are ready to serve.

We took photos of the muffins and printed them so my youngest could take them to school. They were eaten for tea that afternoon.

 

What to do with a ripe juicy Pomegranate

Posted in At home, Drink, Food, Uncategorized by

image pomegranate seeds

Pomegranates are one of the fruits that I think of as very versatile. It wasn’t always so. I never really knew what to do with it other than throw it into a fruit salad. But of course you can add it as a lovely topping on Roast Lamb, or sprinkle some into a plain yoghurt with breakfast cereal. l like to sprinkle them over chocolate ice cream.

A few years ago, a friend invited me to an impromptu lunch at her house. We’d been to a meeting together and on our way home, she collected a few groceries and invited me to lunch. As she started to make the colourful salad, she took out the reddest pomegranate I’d ever seen, cut it open and tapped some of the seeds out over the bowl of salad. A drizzle of Olive oil and orange juice dressed the salad. It was delicious.

So when I saw these huge Pomegranates in the green grocers, ripe and gorgeous I bought one along with some large oranges.

If you are looking for something easy to make, this lovely refreshing orange and Pomegrante fruit juice takes just a few minutes to make.

Squeeze some fresh Oranges into a jug. I stuck a sieve over the top of the jug to keep the pips and pith from falling in. Two Oranges, some mango juice I had in the fridge made it into this drink. I added some fizzy mineral water and then swirled in about two tablespoons of Pomegrante seeds into the sparkling juice. It frothed to the top of the jug just in time to serve with some ice. Enjoy!

Home Made Apricot scones infused with Rose Pouchong tea

Posted in At home, baking, Food, Fruit, inspiration, lifestyle, Rosewater, Uncategorized by

 

Apricot Scone infused with Rose Pouchong tea

 

When we visited Fortnum and Masons, I noticed  lovely jar of Rose Pouchong infused Apricot conserve, which is the inspiration for these apricot and Rose scented Scone recipe.

Scones are so easy to make, and they are better freshly baked, eaten slightly warm with a big pot of tea, jam and whipped cream. I can’t think of anything better to cheer up a dull cold afternoon.

Here are the ingredients for home made scones:

50grams of dried apricots (diced into small pieces about the size of a raisin. Soak the dried apricots in a strongly brewed dark Rose Pouchong Tea overnight. Drain and remove all the excess liquid.

40grams of room temperature butter

225grams of self-raising flour

1.5 level tablespoons of caster sugar, a little more if you prefer the scones to be sweeter to taste.

A pinch of salt

110ml milk (this can be soy milk if you prefer)

A little extra flour for rolling and dusting the scones with.

To make the scones, preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius.

The mixture should be made as light as possible, sieve the flour into a bowl. Cut the butter into the flour and rub into the flour as if making pastry. Aim for a light fine crumbly mixture. It’s very important to get the butter combined in well with the flour, next add the sugar and salt and mix well.

Slowly add the milk and then add in the pieces of apricots. By pre soaking the dried apricots overnight in the Rose scented tea, they have taken on the wonderfully aromatic floral qualities of the tea. This is enough to add just the subtlest hint of Rose to the scones.

If you want the scones more fragrant, add a couple of drops of Rosewater. Continue to add the milk and then combine into a soft dough.

Roll the dough out on a well floured pastry board. As my work tops are made of granite, I dusted this with plenty of flour and rolled them out with a well dusted rolling-pin. The dough should be rolled out to the thickness of about 2cm or thicker if you want high-rise scones. I’ve rolled these out to about 2cm and then used a large round cutter to cut out 8 scones.

Lay them out on a well buttered baking tray.

I then sprinkled some granulated sugar and dusted the scones with some flour.

Next, pop the baking tray(s)  into the preheated oven (220 degrees Celsius) for 15-20 minutes until the scones look warm and golden in colour.

Cool them on a baking rack.

Best served freshly baked and still warm from the oven with a pot of tea, with Jam (apricot or marmalade is delicious with these scones) and  cream, clotted if you want to be extra indulgent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mothering Sunday

Posted in At home, Family, inspiration, lifestyle, Uncategorized by

In the UK – Mothering Sunday falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent. It was customary for people to return to the church where they were baptised and to visit their mother and their families, bring gifts to give their mums.

I look forward to this day, as my kids surprise me with a homemade card which is just about the best thing to wake up to on a Sunday morning.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Home Made Mothers Day Card

Mother’s Day card from Little Bird with a little lavender scented felt blackbird decoration

Rose Pouchong Tea and Conconut body scrub

Posted in At home, Drink, Health & Wellness, inspiration, lifestyle, Rosewater, Skin Care, Skincare, spa treatment, Uncategorized, Wellbeing by

This aromatic Rose Scented tea, made its way into a body scrub, simply because I could not get enough of the delicate scent of rose scented tea.

Since tea is well-known for its antioxidant properties, the act of steeping the tea leaves in hot water and drinking it will activate its health giving properties. I thought it would also make for a wonderfully fragrant body scrub, which would not only delicately scent    my skin, but would leave it wonderfully soft and pampered this weekend.

Making this could not be easier. Simply take a cupful of coarse sea salt. In my case I’m using the Dead Sea bath salts that I purchased a while back and am working my way through.

Add a spoonful of Rose Pouching loose leaf tea and mix into the salt granules.

Add a spoonful of Coconut oil and mix until the consistency is soft, slightly damp and granular. If you want to boost the moisture content, you can add a splash of Rosewater, and mix in until you get the consistency you’d like for the scrub. Just enough moisture in my case to make the salt form a clump in my hands.

You can add Rose essential oil to this to further enhance the delicate scent of Rose. The scent of the coconut oil compliments the sweet floral scent of the Rose tea and will moisturise the skin, leaving a silky softness.

Apply to damp skin, by gently rubbing the mixture in a circular motion on your skin. Don’t overdo it, the aim is to rub until your skin feels as if it has had a workout and has a soft glow.

You can either use thus scrub in the shower and rinse away the tea leaves as you go, or as I did, in a bath so that all the gorgeous scent, little blobs of Rose petals and tea leaves unfurl and surround you in the delicate scent of Rose Pouchong tea. The antioxidants in the tea will aid aching limbs and muscles. I like the idea of bathing in tea, it’s qualities being good on the outside as well as on the inside.

The origins of the tea come from China, later imported to Taiwan, where it has become a specialty. This tea in the pretty caddy was a treat from Fortnum and Masons, you can of course get this tea fairly easily in a supermarket or find it in specialty tea websites.

The leaves from the tea plant are harvested and wrapped in paper, layered and left to dry, with dried Rose buds added to delicately scent the tea, once dried, the loose tea leaves look like little tiny lengths of rope.

It is a lovely tea, refreshing, with just the right rich depth of flavour. It’s strange because if you inhale the scent of this tea, its wonderful scent will transport you to a scene out of The Arabian nights filled with the sweet scent of Turkish delight. It does not have a dark smoky taste like Chinese Oolong or light and refreshing sparkle of green tea, but somewhere in between. Sweet and fragrant.

I love to drink this tea at the end of the day, a full pot with a biscotti, which I like to dunk in the tea or a coconut flavoured biscuit. Hmmm off to brew a cuppa!

Enjoy drinking or bathing in Rose Pouchong!

 

 

Eight ways to celebrate the year of the Red Monkey

Posted in At home, Chinese New Year, Food, Health & Wellness, Home, inspiration, Kitchen, lifestyle, Uncategorized, Wellbeing by

Monday 8th February 2016 will be the first day of the Year of the Monkey and the Chinese New Year.

Growing up we didn’t really celebrate the coming of the new year as much as we should have done.

What I do remember are – just a few things that I’ve made an effort to carry on as traditions in our family.

Here’s 8 of the things we do to celebrate:

1) Fortune Cookies

Like Christmas crackers these are great fun. When the kids were much younger, their first reception year at Primary School, I was asked to bring in some things that were Chinese for the children in my kids school. It was easy to bring in some fresh ginger, spring onions, noodles, Chinese cabbage and a bottle of soy. I handed lucky fortune cookies to the kids. Since then we’ve celebrated Chinese New Year with a few Fortune Cookies

2) Money Envelopes

It’s traditional in Chinese Culture to hand out little envelopes filled with Money as a way of welcoming in the New Year and wishing loved ones good fortune with little packets with money. I remember receiving these as a child. Now that my kids are a little older and understand the value of money, I’ll be leaving two little packets on the mantle for them to find.

3) Food

Lots and lots of food, at any given time, the Chinese celebrate the New Year with lots of food, always freshly prepared. Aparently, and I don’t know whether this is superstition or just a family thing, my parents would make sure there were plenty left over so that there would always be food.

4) Firecrackers and fireworks

Seeing the new year in would also involve setting off fireworks or firecrackers, the louder the better as this would mean scarying the demons and monsters away from your home

5) Drinking Chinese Tea

Whilst alcohol, such as rice wine would be served at mealtimes, the ritual of drinking Chinese tea as part of the meal is something which I still remember

6) Lucky sweets and cakes

Snacks and sweets, more food!

7) Dragon Dance

Watching the dragon dance and taking part in the celebrations in China Town and Trafalgar Square. This is something we’ve done a few times. This year we didn’t manage to travel into Central London. A small incident with the washing machine on Saturday, meant we were catching up on the week’s laundry on Sunday, the day when London celebrates the Chinese New Year. Whilst this was an inconvenience, it’s better to be appreciative and count our blessings rather than worry over misfortunes. Something my mum taught me when I was I was little. At least, we didn’t have to go to the expense of getting a new washing machine, because it was fixed and very quickly too. Instead, we visited a Chinese Supermarket on Sunday and stocked up on lots of goodies to enjoy this week.

8) Lucky 8

The number eight is considered a lucky number. Maybe it was just coincidence, I like to think that fate had a part to play, we live in the 8th house along our road. This year is the Year of the Monkey and there are 2 generations of Monkeys in this house, I think this will be a year full of great surprises and eventful too as my youngest will start secondary school this year.

Happiness and Prosperity in the Year of the Red Monkey!

Gong-sshee faa-tseye!

Morning Espresso

Posted in At home, Drink, Family, Food, inspiration, Kitchen, lifestyle, Uncategorized by

 

Espresso - limited edition

 

I think it’s the little things, small pleasures that keep you going.

Since we received a Dolce Gusto coffee machine, I have come to appreciate a small hit of caffeine to kick start my day.

We’ve been trying out all sorts from the Dolce Gusto range, both from the online shop as well as the ones you can find in the supermarket.

As I’m not keen on lattes, being a little too milky, I much prefer strong black coffee. The one that I like most is the limited edition Yunnan espresso. This little capsule is only available from  the online shop.

I had never heard or read about coffee grown in China. Like most people I associate tea with China, so it was so lovely to discover a coffee grown in a climate and location of dramatic mountain ranges. Imagine these as the scene to wake up to, where rice is grown on man made terraces on mountains. It must be such an experience. It’s going on my bucket list now as a place to visit.

The coffee itself is distinctive due to its light fruitiness. Even though it’s an intense Esspresso, I think it smells light and refreshing. The texture of the coffee is delicate yet rich and powerful, a combination which reminds me of the Yin and Yang symbol, a balance of light and dark.

In a few days it will be time to celebrate Chinese New Year. I can’t wait… We’ve always celebrated. The last two years, venturing into China Town to see the dragon dancing in the streets in London and eating in one of the nearby restaurants. It’s become a bit of a tradition for our family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mellow Yellow Roses

Posted in At home, Family, Health & Wellness, inspiration, lifestyle, Uncategorized by

I have a feeling that the blizzard that has besieged the U.S. is headed for the U.K and we are going to get a lot of snow. Not as bad as New York, but bad enough to want to stay home with a warm cuppa instead of venturing out.

These bright sunny roses were in the supermarket on Sunday and I could not resist. I’ve filled a vase with them, long stems with their dark green leaves and yellow petals, lighting up the room. They’re bringing an instant cheer making the room feel cosy with their warm glow.

Not much else to say except, just enjoy the cheerful brightness that they’re bringing.

 

Lemony Ginger Nuts

Posted in At home, baking, Food, Uncategorized by

 

These lemony ginger nuts are the perfect way to counter gloomy weather. When the weather gets cold, our oven gets busy with lots of baking to fill the air with the delicious scent of home-baked biscuits.

This recipe is adapted from Delia Online and has been a favourite, since my eldest made them for one of her homework assignments for school.

As we had plenty of Golden Syrup, ginger and lemons, I decided that the lemons would bring a lovely citrusy tang to the ginger nuts.

Ingredients:

Zest of one lemon and about a dessert spoon  of lemon juice

110grams of Self Raising Flour

1 slightly rounded teaspoon of ground ginger

1 level teaspoon of biocarb of soda

40g soft brown sugar

50g butter

2 tablespoon of golden syrup

Preheat oven to 190degree c or Gas mark 5

 

To make:

Sieve the flour, biocarbonate, ground ginger into a bowl, add the lemon zest and combine. With your hands, rub the softened butter into the mixture until it resembles rubble.

Add the lemon juice, and the golden syrup, combine this into a dough. (You may need to add a little flour at this stage if the dough feels too wet or sticky. The consistency you are aiming for is something resembling short crust pastry. Form the dough into a ball and divide in half, then half again and cut into four. This should make 16 small pieces of dough.Lemon and ginger nuts - dough

Rub plenty of butter onto a non stick baking tray. Next place the small pieces of dough on to the baking tray and flatten them slightly. Leave plenty of room between each and put into the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes.

When they come out of the oven they will be soft. Leave them to cool a little before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

All that remains is to enjoy with a lovely cup of tea. They took all of half an hour to make and bake. Even better was that the lingering scent of ginger and lemons was in our house for the rest of the afternoon.