Category Archives: inspiration

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.

 

Sometimes it Snows in April

Posted in inspiration, Music, Uncategorized by

For the last few days, I’ve been listening to music composed and performed by Prince. He was a huge influence in music around the world. To me, his music punctuated significant moments, a rite of passage from my teen years to the present. He was always present, not necessarily always on my mind, but never far. I’d always have a least one of his albums on my Walkman and now my iPhone so I could listen to his music.

 

Up close, I heard his songs in my head with headphones in my ears and I imagined like everyone else that he would go on for ever, or at least I was well into my old age. He just seemed eternal, didn’t age like the rest of us.

Then last Wednesday 21st, as I arrived home, my husband told me the news. I’m still adjusting to the idea that there will never be anymore new work by Prince, never any shows that he’ll announce and get the press and public excited over. No more surprises.

He never stopped evolving, transforming and changing, his music went from commercial pop to something altogether more sophisticated, it reflected his audience, they grew up and their tastes changed too.

I’ve been looking at all the interviews he’s given, he mentions his faith, he talks about his fans and how they now bring their families to his shows.

All of this was new to me, he wasn’t just a distant musical genius, his interviews and his Princetagram and tweets show him to be humble, hard working and funny. I’ll never be able share future stories of seeing him in concert with my kids. I will only be able to tell them about him, show them the music he created and the only time that we saw him perform live at the O2 back in 2007.

He made a big impact on music and on me, a young impressionable teenager, who saw him for the first time at the Cinema, in Christoper Tracey’s Parade, a black & white film. I wasn’t allowed to see Purple rain, and I’m not sure that I would have understood it.

And when I went to see Christopher Tracy’s Parade, I saw it with my future husband, though I didn’t know this at the time.

The film was so different to anything at the Cinema, it had a style of it’s own. Prince, dressed in his power 80s costumes, glittering and shiny with big doll like eyes, more beautiful than the female lead, what I saw was someone who had created through their imagination a world that looked beautiful, sad and nostalgic. All the ingredients for an impressionable teenager to fall in love with.

By the time I was studying for a degree in music, I had saved up and bought two of his albums, Parade and Sign of the Times on vinyls at the time. My husband had other Prince albums, so we used to listen to these together, just the ordinary kind of things teenagers used to do.

The albums I owned were sandwiched amongst classical albums of Mozart and Beethoven, composers I was studying. They still are in my vinyl record collection that I haven’t been able to part with.

I listened to his music, alternating between the serious business of studying for music exams and well just listening to music that I loved.

My favourite song by Prince is in the title of this post. There’s a lovely version I found on YouTube which you can hear by clicking on this link: And Sometimes it Snows in April. It snowed a day or so after he passed away. As I watched the snow gently fall outside the windows of the glass building of our offices in Canary Wharf, I could hear the song in my mind, I wasn’t really in the mood for the meeting or work, just kept thinking about the sad news and how strange and quiet the snow was falling.

At 6.07pm (ET) 4th of May, Radio Stations in the US will be simutaneously broadcasting Nothing Compares 2 U. I don’t think the idea has reached the UK, so this post is my way of joining in from the UK.

 

 

 

To me Prince represented life, bigger, exaggerated, full of energy, the kind that was on an epic scale that was glorious and full of colour, a life lived in 4K, high definition, to the Max. I wonder whether that’s the reason for his signature colour Purple.

I don’t think he’s really gone, his physical presence perhaps. I remind myself that the greatest composers in previous centuries such as Beethoven or Mozart, they still live on when people perform their music. They created a new sound and music historians refer to their time and genre as Baroque (Handle & Bach) Classical (Mozart), Romantic (Beethoven), in the future, there’s going to be a term to define Prince and his style of music, because just saying he created a fusion between R&B, Jazz and Pop and crossed all musical definitions, well I don’t think that’s enough. I think we need a new way of defining what his genre of music is, because so many musicians have been influenced and inspired by his music and so many People have enjoyed experiencing it.

Prince started to write about transcendence and still being able to communicate in a metaphysical sense, in the album called Art of Offical Age. I like to think that he’s not really gone forever, it’s just temporary and somehow, he’s actually found a way to move beyond the physical world and into another plane of existence, perhaps this seems crazy, but then not so long ago, people thought the Earth was flat and we’ve since discovered through science, it’s actually round.

And even if this is just wishful thinking on my part, one thing is for sure, we’ll find him through his art when ever we listen to his music.

Farewell Prince,  I wish you heaven.

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Korres Jasmine Shower gel

Posted in Bathroom, Family, Health & Wellness, inspiration, lifestyle, Scent, Skin Care, Skincare, Uncategorized, Wellbeing by

This is one of my favourites as there’s only one way to describe the scent in this bottle and that is its sublimely indulgent.

The heady scent of Jasmine will hit you the moment this makes contact with water and skin.

The scent is as natural and as authentic as you can get to real Jasmine. I love the idea of enveloping myself in its aroma, drinking in the scent as if I’m sipping my favourite Jasmine Tea from Whittards.

From outside in, the scent of Jasmine can be a natural drug to lift your mood. It stimulates the release of serotonin which boosts energy. Perhaps this is the reason I love it so much.

As it is one of the most expensive essential oils to buy, I have a small bottle which contains a 10% dilution in jojoba oil, which I keep to add a few drops into the night time facial oil I made.

Around 8 million Jasmine blooms are needed to produce a kilo of essential oil, commercially the blooms are hand picked at night when their scent is at their most powerful. I love the idea that the magic of the scent is only released at night. There’s something very Arabian nights about this.  It also means it’s one of the most expensive oils to buy.

It also reminds me of my early childhood home where we had a Jasmine bush climbing outside our front door.

In in early evening as the blooms released their scent, our home was bathed in the delicate scent. I can’t explain how I remember this, I just do and that’s mostly the reason why I am always drawn to anything that’s Jasmine scented.

 

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.

 

Making the sun shine in January

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


I don’t know if anyone else has the same thoughts about January. It’s a very long month, we put away the Christmas decorations finally, so they are now hibernating for another year.

My day literally begins and ends in darkness and in between are the working hours in an office. It can be a whole 5 days in an office that’s connected by an underpass from the Tube station straight into Canary Wharf, before I glimpse any daylight to wake up to at the weekend.

Last Saturday, I was running some errands and spotted these lovely roses. They are nothing extraordinary, just the type you find at the entrance of a supermarket. In this case Marks and Spencer.White long stemmed roses

They stood out, because they were the last bunch in white, flecked with a delicate green to their outer petals. I bought them on impulse, because they made me smile.

This week the roses will make some sunshine for me. I will look at them whilst inhaling and drinking a cup of espresso.

I’ve moved them to the dining table so their presence can keep me company, while the rest of the house sleeps on as I get ready to leave for work.