The June roundup: this month I have been loving…

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I’m a lucky old bunny. I get sent all sorts of stuff to try out and invited to some really nice places. This month was awash with lovely smelling things and sweet treats too. Here are my top recommendations for June:

Persil’s new range of washing up liquid

The range comes in four different smells: Apple Fizz, Lemon Burst, Pink Blush and Orange Crush. The pink one is obviously the best colour (cough), but the Orange Crush has an amazing smell. My favourite by far.

I thought the fragrances were lovely - I could see that some people would think they were overpowering, but I’d much rather my kitchen smell gorgeous than of old baked beans, frankly. The new bottles cost £1.00 for a 500ml bottle, which I think is good value too.

Garnier’s Ultralift Challenge

There was much hilarity comparing my wrinkles to those on the card (you’re supposed to choose the picture resembling your wrinkles, and then see if they improve over the time of the challenge - demonstrated below by the lovely Davina): ‘you’re number 10, Mum!’. ’I'm bloody laughing you berk, they’re LAUGHTER lines’. Luckily, I didn’t have any crows feet when I finally looked sensible, so found it a bit difficult to compare, whatever my horrible children might have insinuated. I did, however, think the cream was really nice (although maybe it was a bit rich for me as I found myself a bit shiny by lunchtime). Garnier’s UltraLift Day Cream is £9.18. Check out the website for details: http://www.ultraliftchallenge.co.uk/


The Oy! range for teenagers from Green People

We were divided over the smell (‘kind of fruity and minty and a bit like hospitals’ was the Death Wish Child’s opinion, although I actually liked it), but you can’t fault their green credentials (they’re free from all those nasty chemicals, preservatives and synthetic fragrances) and the efficacy of the products. Ain’t no zits on us! I’d particularly recommend the Unisex Wash & Shave £11.25 for new teenage shavers.

Check out their website here: http://www.organicyoung.com/home/1233

The gorgeous First Aid Beauty range

Fresh in from the US of A is the rather lovely new range from First Aid Beauty. I especially loved the 5-in-1 Face Cream SPF30 (£28) and the 5-in-1 Eye Cream Age Delay (£22). They smell nice, even though, spookily, they’re chemical- and fragrance-free, made my skin feel really soft, and the SPF got a really good workout as I tested this while I was in Dubai. Not greasy in a hot climate either.

Very impressive and I’m loving the retro packaging (apparently it’s known as ‘apothecary chic’, dahling). Available in selected Boots stores and from www.boots.com.

Seek them out!

Shark Steam Mop available from JML

I was dubious that I’d actually find much use for this little steam cleaning thingy, but then we moved house, and it got a proper testing cleaning all our wood and slate floors before we moved out. It was great fun to use (the teens were in stitches as you kind of have to pump it up and down to get the steam out), but hey, anything that encourages teenagers to steam clean floors is fine by me.

Our verdict: impressive! When you’ve got animals, sometimes just mopping the floor isn’t enough. This clever little thing is filled up straight from the tap and then the steam really gives the floors a thorough going over. It’s even got an attachment so you can go over carpets too. Priced £99.99 and available from JML and Argos. Click on: http://www.sharkclean.co.uk/

Rowntree’s New Sharing Bags

The Death Wish Child favoured the Jelly Aliens, The Mad Professor stole the Sour Faces, but they’re both wrong. The Very Berry Jellies are LUSH and the best ones by far. And I don’t care what they’re called, I didn’t share them. So there.

Hugs, dinner, Waitrose, oh and prawn and courgette pasta with fresh peas

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So we’re home, then.

The last few days have been a bit of a whirl, what with the drunken madness that was the Cybermummy Conference this weekend, but we’ve got everything into the storage locker (the last few things were just hurled in, to be honest) and my long-suffering mum is looking after us until we move in to our new pad. The Ninja Cat of Death was very good on the way over - apart from constant growling and moaning in the back of the car, there was no ‘poo of shame‘ like last time. She was less than impressed to meet my Mum’s cat and dog, but we kept her in for a few days, and now she’s happily roaming the upstairs, coming in and out of the windows like she owns the place, and giving my mum’s poor labrador Ellie a swift backhander if she steps out of line.

So far, from my wishlist, I’ve done the following:

1. Hugged my Dad (and had a nice glass of wine and a chat with him too - AND seen the swish new orange tractor)

2. Hugged Ellie. She still smells and is still hairy. But I love her.

3. Been out to dinner with the hubster (we had really great food… and two bottles of wine *cough* - more of this later)

4. Been for cocktails with my lovely friends (what is it with me and ‘the claw’? Can I not pose for a photo without it?):

5. Been to Waitrose. Happy, happy days. I walked round like a grinning lunatic and came back with all sorts of loveliness. I’m going to have to rein myself in though or otherwise I’ll be bankrupt by the end of July. Still, they had some gorgeous prawns and FRESH PEAS!! I spent a very enjoyable afternoon sitting in the sunshine in my mum’s garden shelling peas and sipping cold white wine. Bliss. Oh, and here’s what I made for tea:

Prawn and courgette pasta with fresh peas

Serves 4 generously

Good quality dried pasta (I generally reckon on 100g dried pasta per person)

1 pack large raw prawns

2-3 courgettes

As many peas as you can be bothered to shell

Splosh double cream

So first get your pasta on. Use the biggest saucepan you have and make the water ‘as salty as the sea’ (not sure where I read that, but I always repeat it to myself when cooking it - I’m a bit sad like that). Linguine works really well here, but I didn’t have any, so ‘tubes’ it is (I’m sure there’s a technical term for ‘tubes’, but you know what I mean).

When the pasta’s well on the way, slice the courgettes and fry in a heavy-based frying pan with a little garlic-infused rapeseed oil. When they’re just starting to turn golden, pop in the prawns (you need to be careful not to overcook prawns or they get that horrible crunchy texture).

When the prawns go in, pop the fresh peas in with the pasta (they’ll only take a minute or two).

Now add a generous splosh of cream (double is better as it’s less prone to splitting, but you could use creme fraiche too. Generously grind over lots of pepper too.

When the pasta and peas are just cooked, drain and add to the frying pan. Toss everything together and serve immediately, with a good grating of Parmesan. Noms.

This is also lovely with crab (a pot of fresh stuff or a tin of white crab meat) and some fresh, chopped chilli.

Dear Mr Avis… a letter from Cybermummy 2011

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Dear Mr Avis

It’s me, English Mum.

Remember me? I’m the one who reversed over a bollard in the ‘bloggerbus’ you gave me when my friends came over?

Yup, that one.

Thank you very much for sponsoring me to attend Cybermummy 2011. I had such a great time. I met loads of people that I talk to on Twitter, I listened to Erica talk about monetising and working with brands…

I listened to Taralara talking about her amazing gallery:

I met my lovely chums from Disney, and loads of new people from HP and Ubisoft, Three and Cuticura… I sipped Sancerre with my buddy Helen from the Knackered Mother’s Wine Club, and the lovely chaps at Naked Wines…

I met Cara Freckles who had travelled all the way to Cybermummy clutching a gorgeous chicken that she’d knitted me…

And at the end of the day, I went with my mates and had amazing tapas and a few cocktails…

BUT…

I might have accidentally forgotten to pick up the lovely Fiat 500 you were giving me for the week.

In my defence, I’d driven straight off the midnight ferry and hadn’t got home until 6am. I was quite tired, and still had a whole van to unpack and a whole storage locker to fill up. My feet were a bit sore and I was a teeny bit pooped.

I’m really sorry, but I had a fab time anyway, even though forgetting to pick up the car meant that I had to get the tube, and the Central Line was closed, and I had to walk a long way too.

I know what you’re thinking…

Serves me right.

I had a good time though.

Thanks again!

Lots of love,

English Mum

xx

Review: Seabrook ‘goodbye salt, hello flavour’ crisps

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We’re big into snacking. I am, however, aware that an awful lot of snacks contain far more salt that is healthy, especially for the kids. So when Seabrook Crisps wrote to us and said ‘would you like us to send you some of our new lower salt crisps?’ our response was a resounding ‘too right!’.

The crisps arrived in an enormous tube and, always wishing to provide you, dearest reader, our finest service, we dutifully munched through about ten bags. Here’s what we thought:

Initially, it’s a bit of a shock to dive into a bag of crisps and not get that really salty hit. What we did notice, though, is that the actual flavours really shone through. The buttery baked potato flavour was really unusual and completely yummy. Both the caramelised onion flavour and the tomato ketchup flavours were, we thought, slightly too sweet - but again maybe you get used to them being less salty after a while (plus, Charlie completely disagreed with us and declared the tomato ketchup flavour his favourite). Our favourite by far were the Mediterranean tomato flavour - full of big herby flavours and still with that baked potato base coming through in the background. Yum.

The verdict? All in all, we thought they were really clever, with interesting flavours and the bonus of 90% of the salt removed. Okay, so sometimes nothing beats a bag of Ready Salted, but these are a great healthy alternative, especially for people trying to cut salt out of their diets. Highly recommended.

Goodbye Dublin…

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And the bare bones of a fanlight
Over a hungry door
And the air soft on the cheek
And porter running from the taps
With a head of yellow cream

“Dublin” by Louis MacNeice

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Teenagers and exams: five bits of crap advice and one quite good one

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Okay, first up with the crap advice then:

1. For some reason, during exams your average teenager will turn into an eating machine of epic proportions. Your healthy and carefully planned dinners will be scarfed down, oh yes, but it’s also worth visiting your local supermarket and bulk-buying white sliced loaves, revolting plastic cheese, those Pepperami things that look like they’re in a little condom and make your breath smell like dead people, Chilli Heatwave Doritos and 5-packs of Snickers and gallons of milk - all of which seem to be prepared into epic snackage at some time during the night (judging by the state of the kitchen in the morning - akin to that of an explosion) and consumed in near-darkness in the teenager’s lair while immersed in a book that appears to have had the edges chewed by some kind of rabid dog.

2. When you receive a phone call ten minutes before an exam from your teenager which, roughly translated, sounds like this: ‘OHMYGODMUM…CAN’TREMEMBERBLOODYANYTHING, I’M SO GOINGTOFAIL!!!’ , the correct response is a gentle and encouraging salve for the troubled hormonal teenaged soul: ‘you can do it! You’ve studied loads. I believe in you.. ‘ etc. Fight the urge to say ‘you get in there and get a bloody A or I’ll break your legs, y’hear me?’.

3. When in receipt of a text from the school that says: ‘X left an examination early today, contravening school rules and therefore not putting in the expected effort.’, it’s best not to:

a: imagine your offspring rushing from the exam room in tears after realising with horror that they can’t answer a single question, deciding that they’re done with education and want to join a commune in Israel and embrace their inner child.

b: secretly congratulate yourself for having produced a rebel who rides the highway of society without a helmet (or something), whilst simultaneously pressing the speed dial button in a vain attempt to ask him what the sodding hell happened.

c: imagine doing said teenager considerable physical damage with some kind of axe or mallet when they finally answer the 75th phone call and mutter ’oh the exam was a piece of cake. Nobody told us we couldn’t leave early. Soz, I left my phone in my locker’.

4. Similarly, when discussing said ‘piece of cake’ exam that mysteriously only took an hour to complete, it’s best to refrain from asking several times whether they went over their answers properly and whether they’re REALLY sure that they didn’t miss out a page. The resulting eye-rolling, tutting and swearing will just add to the overall stress levels.

5. When the teenager, in between mouthfuls of yet another dinner that would feed a third world nation for a week and gulping from a whole pint of milk, explains to you that he totally blanked and couldn’t remember the name of the author of the book he’d been studying for English over the last two years and that it didn’t really matter ‘cos I won’t lose too many marks I doubt’, it’s probably best to count slowly backwards from ten. Do not, I repeat, do not:

a. point out that the book has spent a large amount of time on his bedside table over the last two years

b. point out that he’s been resting his milk on it so much that it has rings forever embedded into the cover encircling the name of the author whose name escaped him in the exam

or

c: point out that the spine of said book, WITH the name of the author pointing towards him, must probably have been the last thing he saw most nights before drifting off to peaceful slumber. It’s done. Move on.

The good one:

If all else fails, throw cash at the situation.

Every child is different. For some, it’s praise, for others it’s freedom. For mine, it’s cold hard cash. After months of yelling ‘shouldn’t you be revising?’ at his headphone-encased head planted in front of the Xbox, the magic words that saw him drop the controller like hot sh*t and rush upstairs faster than you can say ‘Call of Duty’ to revise were, well, let’s just say financially motivated.

Don’t judge me.

Well not until you’re the parent of a teenager.

And hey, look on the bright side: just two more years until A levels!

*Le sigh*

Thanks Dad

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For all the things you’ve given me:

A good example.

A hideously bad example

A love of food and wine

An appreciation of the ridiculous

A fabulous Grandfather for my sons

A hatred of politics (!)

Madame Tussaud’s, Whipsnade Zoo, the theatre, the cinema, a thousand restaurants

Paella and donkey rides of terror down precipitous mountains…

Enough ridiculous presents to sink a ship

‘I love you, Dad’. ’Thank you’.

41 extremely silly birthday cards

A million hugs, several hundred very cross lectures

A knack for the complaint letter

Bruises from a lifetime of squeezed legs (just above the knee - hurts like a bitch)

Perfume: musk and floral and green and exotic

Enough belly laughs for several lifetimes

Curiosity about the world - a love of travel and new experiences

Airports and taxis, coaches and trains

A hatred of practical jokes (the coffee in the ear is probably a lot to do with it)

A pain in my arse… a flea in my ear…

But always a letter to the boys, an email, a phone call, a snippet from the newspaper that I’d like… a reminder that you don’t forget about us.

You make me laugh, you drive me mad…

Happy Fathers’ Day, Dad

This is an entry for Tara Cain’s gallery. For more interpretations of the theme ‘Dad’, click here

Review: GOSH Extreme Art eyeliners

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I’m a tad cack handed.

Wait, who am I kidding? That’s an understatement. I’m as ham-fisted as a man with a large leg of ham in his fist. When the lovely peeps at Superdrug asked me to try out a liquid eyeliner, then, you can imagine I was a little alarmed - even more so when they mentioned it was ‘semi-permanent’. Argh!

They come in some really nice colours - 12 in all from bright aquas, golds and glitters through to black. I opted for a nice sensible dark grey, thinking that if I splodged it all over myself, people would think I was rocking a smoky eye. It’s a cute little thing and, I reckon, it looks a bit more expensive that its quite reasonable £5.99 price tag.

So. Ease of use, then? Hmmm. Initial attempts were not promising. I got it looking alright on one side, only to bugger up the other eye. It’s quite difficult to get off (well, it’s kind of designed to stay put, to be fair), but with practice, and a handy pot of waterproof make-up remover, it’s actually very good. On the days that I got it right, my metallic grey sweep of eye liner made me feel rather cool and edgy and stayed all day, through Irish rain and forgetting that I had it on and rubbing my eyes (I’m always doing that- I’ll look in the mirror several hours later and realise I’ve just walked round Tesco looking like someone’s smacked me in the eye).

The verdict? It’s a nice looking eyeliner, true to its ‘semi-permanent’ word and the colours are gorgeous. If you’re a first-time liquid eyeliner wearer, I’d suggest having a few practice runs and wiping mistakes off quickly, because once it’s dry, it’s staying put. Excellent for evenings out, holidays and weddings, I would imagine, where you wouldn’t want a few tears ruining your make-up. A month on and I’m applying mine with a flourish and loving the look. I’m actually thinking now that I’d quite like a brighter colour too.

GOSH Extreme Art eyeliners are available from Superdrug stores nationwide and www.superdrug.com, priced £5.99.

You can find GOSH cosmetics on Facebook too.

How to make a cake: a step by step guide

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Everything you need to know about how to make a cake: step by step instructions and notes on ingredients, utensils, baking, flavouring, icing and filling.

If I had a pound for every time somebody said to me ‘I can’t make cakes’ or ‘I wish I could bake - it always goes wrong’, I’d be… well, not exactly rich, but I’d have a big pile of pound coins.

If you’ve ever uttered either of the above, don’t despair: here is how to make a cake - an easy, step by step, foolproof guide to the perfect light, spongey sponge cake, complete with tips, dos, don’ts and ABSOLUTELY DON’Ts thrown in for good measure. I’m not saying this is the ONLY way, but it’s a great way to start. And once you’ve got your baking confidence, there’ll be no stopping you.

First: ingredients

It goes without saying that the best ingredients will make the best cake. Baking is a feel-good endeavour. A sponge cake made with lovely ingredients, and lots of love, will be the best cake in the world. I know I’ve said it before, but don’t bake when you’re tired, fed up or in a hurry. It’ll go wrong - well, mine always does anyway.

Eggs

Fresh, free-range eggs with those startling golden yellow yolks will make better cakes than those awful, sad, battery-hen ones.

Butter

Likewise, gorgeous fresh farmhouse butter will make a cake taste much better than horrid, greasy margarine. Okay, it might be higher in fat, but hey we’re making a cake. If you don’t want fat, don’t eat cake! Moderation in all things, I reckon.

Flour

You don’t have to have self-raising flour. In fact, self-raising soon loses its raising power if it gets old. It’s easy to make your own self-raising with plain flour. Just add a level teaspoon of baking powder per 100g of plain flour.

Sugar

Plain old supermarket caster sugar is fine. Don’t use granulated if you can help it as the grains are a bit too big and you can end up with a gritty texture (you could always give it a whizz in a grinder or blender to break down the grains). Golden caster sugar is less refined than the white stuff - it’s lovely (if a bit more expensive) and gives a subtle hint of toffee too.

Temperatures

Room temperature eggs will whip better and incorporate more air into your mix, as will softened (not melted) butter. Take everything out of the fridge a good hour before you intend to start baking. If you need to bring your butter up to room temperature quickly, cut it into squares and plop it into some tepid (not warm) water. It’ll soon soften up.

Measuring

The easiest way to make a plain sponge cake is to just weigh your eggs in the shells (this sort of cake is also called a pound cake as it used to contain a pound of each ingredient - how anyone ever ate a cake that big, I’ll never know). To make an average sized cake, use three eggs. Whatever the eggs weigh will be the measurement you use for the butter, flour and sugar too. If you want to make it a chocolate cake, take out 1 tablespoon of the flour and replace it with cocoa powder (not hot chocolate powder - that’s different). Giving it all a quick sieve will remove any lumps and incorporate more air.

Mixing

Here we go with the basic method, then…

  1. First weigh out all your ingredients. It’s easiest to crack the eggs into a separate bowl after you’ve weighed them. You never know when you’re going to get a bit of shell dropping into your cake mix. So say your eggs weigh.. 180g. Weigh out the same amount of butter, flour and caster sugar.
  2. Cream the butter and sugar together. You want it really light and fluffy, which is a sign that there is lots of air incorporated, so keep going until it’s considerably lighter in colour. You can do this in a food mixer, or just with a wooden spoon.
  3. Now start to add in your eggs… dribble them in a bit at a time giving the mixture a good beat in between each dribble. Don’t worry too much if it starts to look a bit curdly. You can always add a spoonful of flour to bring it back to a creamy consistency. If you’re adding liquid (ie vanilla essence or lemon juice), now is the time.
  4. Once all the eggs are mixed in, just fold in the sifted flour (and cocoa if you’re using it). Remember just to give it the minimum amount of folding. You’re not making bread so you don’t want to work the gluten too much and lose the lightness. Next, spoon the mixture into a prepared cake tin.

Cake tins

Any old medium sized cake tin will do. If you use three eggs you’ll find that this amount of mixture is perfect for two 22cm tins (perfect for sandwiching together with cream or jam), or one 26cm tin (remember it’s the depth of the cake mix not the size of the tin that governs how long it will take to cook). Cake tins are measured by their diameter (the straight measurement from one side to the other, measured through the middle). I have Bake-o-glide cut ready to fit my favourite tins, but baking parchment is fine too. For a circle, just take a square of parchment bigger than your tin, fold it in half, then keep folding the outsides in (keeping one point which will be the middle of your circle) again until you’ve got a triangle. Hold the triangle point roughly where the middle of the tin is, then nick the end off at the outside edge of the tin. When you unfold it you’ll have a rough circle. You can also just brush the surface with butter, then add a tbsp of flour and shake it all around the tin, tapping out the excess. Smooth over the surface but don’t worry too much.

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Baking

I use the middle of my oven and as it cooks slightly unevenly, I turn the cake around half way through cooking. A cake this large will take anything from 30 - 45 minutes at 180/gas 4 - depending on how wide/deep your tin is. Smaller ones will take less time. Check them after 20 minutes.

If you think your cake looks done, gently touch the top of the cake - if there’s any wobble, or it feels really soft and leaves a dent - leave it a bit longer. You can check by popping a knife into the middle - if it comes out clean, it’s done.

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Leave your cake to cool on a rack, then you can ice, decorate or fill as you fancy.

Let’s take a minute here though - LOOK! YOU BAKED A CAKE!

Ganache

If you want to make ganache to fill or cover your cake, just melt half a large bar of chocolate (about 100g) in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (just a couple of inches of water - you don’t want it to touch the bowl). When it’s melted, just whisk in enough double cream to get a nice spreading consistency. If you chill it down now, you can whip it go make it more airy too. Up to you.

Buttercream

Buttercream’s really easy to remember as it’s just double icing sugar to butter. Add a splosh of milk, a teaspoon of vanilla extract and whisk until light and fluffy. It makes great piped swirly things on cupcakes too.

So what’s next?

Once you’ve got to grips with making cakes you can start tweaking the recipe a little - maybe adding vanilla…dried fruit… lemon zest… chocolate chips or some chopped nuts… You can make the two smaller sponges (reduce the cooking time) and sandwich them together with jam or cream, or layer them up with some yummy ganache or buttercream… the sky’s the limit! For an easy pudding, try using brown sugar, for a more toffeeish flavour, and adding chopped dates. Serve warm with a quick toffee sauce made by melting 100g each of butter and brown sugar, then adding about 100ml of cream and stirring and bubbling until you have a lovely sauce.

If you’ve liked this post, feel free to try some of my other step by step guides, including:

How to make chocolate brownies

How to make a chicken pie

Step by step spiced orange hot cross buns

Sticky gooey plumptious scrumptious soft iced buns

Step by step pancakes

An ’heirloom’ personalised Christmas Cake recipe

Step by step chicken stock

Easy step by step bread, and how to knead

How to roast a chicken

 

Going home: things I’m looking forward to.

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The packing isn’t going well. I keep having mad panics and throwing things out that I shall probably need, like all the ice cream cartons I keep to put stock in, and about 75 glass jars waiting to be filled with jams and marmalades. And I can’t get the order right - yesterday I packed all the glasses, so we’re now drinking juice out of mugs, which is ‘common as muck’ as my Grandma Maudie would say. I also packed all my underwear, but then I realised that two weeks of rummaging in a suitcase for a pair of knickers would drive me barmy, and totally cancels out the satisfaction of having one more drawer emptied. So back they went.

De brevren are the polar opposite when it comes to packing. Little Chas has his entire room packed into boxes and ready, was counting down the days in his homework diary (which must have pleased his teachers no end) and spends hours glued to Facebook chatting to his mates. The Prof, admittedly somewhat distracted with his exams, wants nothing to do with packing, so I’ve mostly left him alone to study (occasionally emerging to create vast sandwiches from the contents of the fridge and head back upstairs balancing teetering towers of said sandwich, crisps, packets of biscuits and glasses of milk) and spend hours talking to his mates on the Xbox (see the common theme here?). I did nab him for half an hour to try and explain to me what all the wires were near the Xbox. This did not go well. Apparently he ‘needs it all’ and nothing must be packed. Awkward.

Every day, I’m thinking of things I will do - the things I haven’t been able to do for a long time - things I’m planning and things I’m looking forward to. Here’s my top ten:

1. Walking to the shop on a Sunday morning, buying an armful of papers and lolling around reading, with endless cups of tea.

2. Shopping in Waitrose with my Mum. Oh I know, snobby and all that. But I bloody love Waitrose. And I love shopping with my Mum. It takes us ages because we pick things up, have a chat about them, then put them down again - planning dinners and discussing ingredients. I love it.

3. Hugging my Dad. He always pretends that he hates to be hugged, so when the boys and I give him a massive cuddle he stands all stoney like a soldier, but for some reason that makes us all want to hug him more. Look, he’s doing it here:

Oh and happy Fathers’ Day for this weekend, Dad. This counts instead of a present right? Right?

4. Going out to dinner. I miss restaurants. And wine. I miss mulling over menus and dithering over starters surrounded by the people I love.

5. Cocktails! I shall go for cocktails with my favourite girlfriends and talk waffle until we’re blue in the face. Cannot wait.

6. Chatting with my nieces and nephews. I have two nieces. I adore them both - they are sassy, cool, funny and - as a mother of boys - they are the girly lights of my life. I miss them so much. My lovely nephew Jackson is a mean cook already and often tries my recipes for me. I can’t wait to catch up. On Hubby’s side, he also has a brand new grand-niece that we haven’t even met yet.

7. Going on a family day out to Whipsnade Zoo. When my cousin Moon‘s baby, Matej, is christened in June, our family will be together for the first time in a long time - my cousin Deb is coming over from Canada, and Moon and his lovely wife Miska are travelling from Slovakia. We’re planning a mahoosive day out, with picnic, at Whipsnade - I’ve probably spent hundreds of days out there, and it was a big part of our childhood, and that of my boys.

8. Talking of the christening, I’m going to make cupcake towers for Matej - blue and cream, with little sugar stars and cars… big mountains of them. Then I’m going to drink too much champagne, laugh with my wonderful brothers, giggle with my nieces and be all proud of my big strapping sons, home again in the midst of all their family.

9. Giving Ellie a cuddle. Ellie is my Mum’s old labrador, once black and glossy, now grey and a little stiff in the legs, but still gorgeous. It feels like she’s a million years old, although she probably isn’t. Still, she loves a cuddle (demonstrated here by Charlie) and rushes to meet us, bowling us over with our suitcases and bringing us her ‘baby’, a stinky old stuffed cat.

Ellie’s ‘best friend’, Harry, is an equally old ginger cat who loves Ellie with a passion - even though she often sits on him by accident -and drools excessively. He’d love to be cuddled more often, but frankly the drooling thing is a bit unpalatable. When we first see him, we forget the drooling and give him a cuddle - then when the drool starts, we put him down again. The worst bit is when he shakes his head and everyone gets a dribbly shower. Poor Harry.

10. Enjoying being a family again. Living apart from one another is hard. English Dad has a demanding job and isn’t a big texter or emailer. Things are often lost in translation and honestly, I’m not sure that we would have survived this long-distance family life for much longer. The boys can’t wait to be back with their Dad. Recently he texted me: ‘can’t wait to have you all here then I can annoy you all in person’. Me neither.

Review: Prepped by Vanessa Kimbell

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Regular readers (well, the ones without early-onset Alzheimers, and those that don’t just pop in to give me a bit of gyp in the comments) may remember me mentioning Vanessa Kimbell and her ‘write a cookery book in a year’ project a while ago, when I reviewed her spelt bread/pizza recipe. At the time, I said that ‘the idea behind the book is gorgeous food without the slog - a multi-tasking masterpiece for time-short foodies’.

Well the book is now published, and looking gorgeous in pink, with my words on the cover (and the inside!!):

Bit blurry, sorry about that. It was the excitement!

Anyhoo, as I was lucky enough to work with Vanessa on her new book I suppose I can’t really give you a totally impartial review… but hey, who cares? It’s gorgeous.

Not only is the photography RAVISHING, but the concept is just fab. Take, for example, this rather luscious elderflower and rose syrup:

Not only is it beautiful, and would make an amazing gift but it’s also the cornerstone of several very inventive recipes. Mixed, for example, with gin and ginger beer, it makes a rather fantastic cocktail called, adorably, a ‘Ginger von Tease’. It also adds a piquant touch to baked trout with chilli and elderflower, and is wonderful when used to adorn baked peaches.

You’re getting the drift now, aren’t you? Start with Vanessa’s building blocks: gorgeously fragrant sugars and aromatic syrups that can be whipped up on a rainy afternoon, and you have the beginnings of some seriously clever meals. I love the spiced orange and clove brandy - imagine how Christmassy that must smell! - which goes on to be used in everything from a chicken liver parfait to mincemeat and even Christmas cake. It’s clever stuff.

Well done, lovely, warm-hearted Vanessa. Your book is beautiful. I know it’s not always been an easy journey, but you got there, and the finished product is amazing! Thank you for using my words, I meant them all. Looking forward to that lunch! xx

Prepped, by Vanessa Kimbell, is out now priced £10.48 on amazon.co.uk

English Mum’s Big Bakeoff: and the winner is…

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*Drumroll*

Lisa Brown’s utterly gorgeous Owl and the Pussycat ‘topsy turvey’ cake. Lisa lives in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria and is ‘an administrator by day but a cake decorator in my spare time’ and wins the fabulous Bush BAFF55161S Frost Free Fridge Freezer in Silver, worth £359.99 courtesy of the lovely chaps at Argos.

Honourable mentions from our poor judge, Arlene, who had such a difficult decision to make, go to:

Carol Smith’s Christening Cake for Lexi and Lacey - The detail on the ‘blankets’ on the two babies is just beautiful. So much work in the details here.

Emily Secker’s Ball of Wool Cake - I really loved this. The strands of yarn are so well made, and that kitty is soo cute! How could you ever cut it??

Claire Willmer’s Mickey Mouse Birthday Cake - What a fantastic cake! Reproducing characters is hard, and this likeness is amazing!

Lou Ellards’ 60th Birthday Cake - A lot of work on each part of this cake: the cushion, the toenails, the cup of tea. I can imagine the real life scene!

Ashleigh Sangster’s Chocolate Cake - Are they all ruffled sheets of chocolate? Er, wow! Again, how could you cut this??

Mary from asmallhandinmine’s Cookie Monster Cupcakes - These made me laugh. They’re great! And definitely worth the unavoidable blue mouth after scoffing the icing!

Sarah from sarahbakes Tow Mater Cake - Lots of work and effort here too, and a terrific replica!

Thank you so much to everyone who took part (you can see all the entries here). Another bakeoff will be along again shortly!

The AirAsia British Grand Prix 2011

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The Death Wish Dude is MAD about motorbikes. It must be something about the danger, I would wager. He’s one of those bike nerds who can tell you the make of each motorbike as it whizzes past you on the motorway. He was reeeeally disappointed, then, when he learned that our lovely friend Lu over at Family Affairs was giving away tickets for the AirAsia MotoGP 2011 at Silverstone this weekend. ‘Why can’t we fly over? Please can we? PLEASE? Valentino Rossi, Mum, Valentino Rossi!’ Sadly it’s a no no. And I’m even more disappointed because I’ve now found out tons more information about motorsport’s hottest weekend.

1. There’s more than just bikes.

Who knew? There are stunt shows and even aerobatic displays (oh and for our gentlemen friends, the gorgeous Air Asia stewardesses will be strutting their stuff too *cough*). You can even unwind after the race with a Thai massage (no, not from the stewardesses, sorry).

2. There’s FOOD!

Visit the AirAsia booth and you can ‘Experience AirAsia’ - from Chinese lion dancers to henna painting from India and *gasp* traditional cooking demos and tasting from the incredible Malaysia Kitchen.

3. You can meet the team!

The riders will be at the Air Asia booth for a special signing session on Saturday at 3.30pm (don’t tell the Death Wish One).

4. You can win stuff.

There will be opportunities to win exciting prizes including free flights to Kuala Lumpur and beyond.

Gutted. Absolutely gutted. So if you’re off to the races this weekend, have a great time, and if you’ve nothing planned, head along to Silverstone. It sounds like an awesome weekend.

For more info check out Silverstone.co.uk. The AirAsia booth is open from 8am Saturday and Sunday.

The Friday photo(s): The spice market at the Bastakiya, Dubai

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I so wish there was some wizardy technology that could have captured the smell of this place: utterly intoxicating… smoky frankincense… dried roses… spicy dried limes… I bought as much as I could possibly fit in my suitcase from the baskets and sacks of mysterious, scented and dried goodies…

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There were a few surprises too…

but mostly the produce was traditional. There are those dried limes again:

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and can you see the cinnamon sticks at the back of this cart?

The bright yellow ‘fingers’ here are turmeric - then clockwise there’s dried hibiscus, dried camomile, little tiny dried rosebuds, star anise and dried ginger:

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I can’t even imagine how much that basket of saffron (top right) is worth…

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And here’s that lovely frankincense again. I brought some back for Poppy’s Mum (well, if it’s good enough for Jesus…):

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Here’s the lovely dried limes (loomi) up close:

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I’ll need to go back and stock up. Really soon.

An Arabian evening: lemon and mint cocktails, hummus and Arabic Chicken Machboos

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Lemon and mint cocktail

On our amazing trip to Dubai, we were served a refreshing drink made of lemon and mint. I got quite addicted and since coming home have found myself drinking it a lot, with the addition of a slightly less traditional little ‘freshener’ of gin. Oh it makes all the difference. Those little minxes at British Mummy Bloggers challenged me to vlog a summer recipe, so I cheated and did this cocktail instead. Here’s a still from our ‘shoot’:

To whip up the cocktail, you’ll need

2 lemons

1 large bunch of mint

1 tablespoon sugar

Large jug of ice

Large slug of gin

So first, squeeze the lemons into the blender. Try to get as much pulp in there as possible. Then add in the mint, removing the stalks so you don’t get any woody bits in there. Add in the sugar and the ice. Whizz for a LONG time. Until your ears are ringing and you can’t bear it any more should just about do it. Finally throw in the gin. Whizz again just to mix. Serve immediately. But hey, just sip okay? This one’s a bit of a killer.

Of course, if you serve it in one of these luscious Urban Bar glasses, it’ll taste much better:

Quick and easy home made hummus

Obviously to complement your zingy cocktail, you’ll need yummy nibbles. Hummus is quick and easy and served everywhere in Dubai. You can keep a tin of chickpeas in the cupboard for when you want to whip up a quick bowl of dippy doo. Add in a handful of chopped mint or coriander for freshness:

1 tin chickpeas, drained

1 clove garlic (I sometimes cut out the garlic and just use a good quality garlic oil instead)

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Pinch of salt

2-3 tbsp olive oil or rapeseed oil

Handful of chopped mint or coriander

Paprika to garnish

So just whizz the chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice and salt up with a stick blender, glugging in enough oil to loosen the mixture. If you like it a bit runnier, feel free to add a couple of tbsp water. Stir in the herbs and serve sprinkled with paprika and maybe a swirl of oil, with crispy toasted pitta breads, breadsticks or some crunchy veg for dipping.

On our trip, we visited the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding for a talk and lunch. Our food was amazing:

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For an easy main course, look no further than this Arabic staple, Machboos. It’s made everywhere in the UAE and is very similar to a chicken biryani or paella (most people think this dish originates from India, but our generous hosts in Dubai claimed it as their own!). The original is made with chicken pieces and dried limes, or loomi, which are difficult to get here so I’ve left them out (if you find them, add two and make sure you pierce them first - apparently they explode). Here they are at the spice market (front right):

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Here’s my very simple version that makes for easy entertaining:

Arabic Chicken Machboos (or biryani)*

Serves 4

2 tbsp rapeseed oil

1 onion, finely chopped

Generous couple of pinches of salt

1 squeeze (say 2 tsp) tomato purée

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch nutmeg

1 or 2 bay leaves

4 chicken breasts,sliced into thin slivers, or leftover roast chicken, shredded

1 litre chicken stock

400g Basmati rice, well rinsed

Pinch of saffron

To garnish: fried onions, handful cashew nuts, handful sultanas and a handful of fresh coriander

So heat your oil in a heavy-based pan and gently fry the onion until translucent, adding in the salt at this stage. Add in the spices (not the saffron) and cook gently until they give off their lovely aromas. Throw in the chicken and fry gently (you might have to add a bit more oil here) until it begins to brown.

Take out the bay leaves and add in the chicken stock, rice, saffron and dried limes (if using). Stir well and cover. Turn the heat right down and leave to cook for about 20 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed and the rice is tender. Try not to keep lifting the lid as you want to keep all the steam inside. I know it sounds funny but you can tell when the rice is done as it starts to make a kind of ‘crackling’ noise! Fork it through and then keep it covered until you’re ready to serve.

In Dubai, our gorgeous biryani was served with a garnish of onions, fried to the point where they were almost crispy, cooked with some cashew nuts and a handful of raisins. Delicious. We also ate from enormous platters of grilled fish called Safi, a really memorable meal. To the right is the Machboos and to the left is a really interesting spicy chicken ‘mousse’ called Madrouba :

Mint tea

I’m currently lusting after Denby’s newest collaboration with Monsoon: ‘Cosmic’ - a paisley print in ‘deep blue, teal, mauve and lime’. I want it all. I keep smashing my Denby Reflex, so I’m trying to persuade the hubster into a new collection. This is classic Denby quality with beautiful embellishment. What’s not to love? This teapot would be perfect for serving some refreshing mint tea in the garden after your deliciously scented Arabic meal:

And finally, for your entertainment, here’s me getting into the spirit of things and trying on the national dress (I’m on the right *cough*). Yeah, go on, laugh it up.

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*Thanks to Nick Coffer for help with this recipe adaptation.

Review: My Daddy Cooks by Nick Coffer

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Now first of all I’ll admit that I’m slightly biased here as Nick Coffer, author of this book and food vlogger and blogger, is a good friend of mine. We’ve known each other for ages and finally met last year at The Real Food Festival. We have a mutual ‘argh, help!’ relationship and he’s my go-to person for those niggly food-writing problems (‘why won’t this rise/will it matter if I don’t do that?’, etc…)

That said, I promised him faithfully that I’d give an honest review, so honest I will be (mwah ha haaaa).

First things first, the colours in the book are really pleasing to the eye. There’s a turquoise theme running through, cleverly accentuated in Nick and Archie’s clothes, backgrounds and even crockery. I think it was one of the things that Nick maybe resisted, but it works really well, making it a pleasure to read.

And don’t be fooled into thinking that because Nick cooks with Archie, his toddler, it means that the recipes are ‘kids’ food’. Not at all. The book is filled with really good, solid, family recipes with some innovative ideas sprinkled in for good measure. Take, for example, the Mexican Lasagne. Instead of pasta, the recipe uses tortillas: and yes, they really work! It doesn’t even matter if you don’t use every recipe exactly as it’s written - simple layer up your own favourite chilli and follow the rest of the dish in the book - I think that’s the beauty of a lot of these recipes: there are hints, tips and ideas that you’ll adopt into your everyday cooking.

The (almost) no cooking required section will have busy parents everywhere sending Nick fan mail, and the pesto, although different ratios of ingredients than I normally use is - gasp - better and fresher than mine! I’ll be using Nick’s version from now on.

Tonight I shall be making the chicken and cauliflower biryani with my leftover roast chicken from yesterday, and this weekend I’ll be going all-out and trying Nick’s pared down version of a flourless chocolate cake (I do love it when my favourite recipes get even easier).

I’ll let you know how I get on!

Pop over to Nick’s blog to see videos of him and Archie cooking up a storm. You can also hear Nick on BBC Three Counties Radio: Nick Coffer’s Weekend Kitchen is on every Saturday from 12-2pm. I’m also regularly found busting my paltry download limit by listening on BBC iPlayer too.

Nick Coffer’s My Daddy Cooks is published by Hodder & Stoughton and is out now on Amazon, priced £11.04.

16 sleeps…

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I’ve taken to annoying English Dad by sending him a nightly email telling him how many sleeps there are until we’ll be together again. He’s probably enjoying having a bed to himself in England, sleeping like a starfish and snoring his head off without anyone jabbing him in the ribs, but hey, he’ll soon get used to it.

English Towers is rented out (a difficult decision after the damage that was done by our last tenants - did I tell you I solved the mystery of one of the missing huge Oak wardrobes? I found one of the handles fused to the bottom of the fireplace). Still I’ve been extra careful this time and met them and they seem really nice. The letting agent wouldn’t actually allow me to give them all a questionnaire when they were looking around (Q5: How often will you clean the cooker? A: Every time I use it B: Once a week C: Once a month D: Never), but I sussed the really nice ones and startled poor Padraig the agent by texting him a big fat ‘NO’ after a particularly odd lady appeared at the door.

I’m feeling quite unusually efficient actually: the Bio-Flow sewage treatment unit thingy has been mended, meaning that the scent of poo no longer lingers in the air, and now the mower too, has been serviced so the lawn doesn’t have little grassy mohicans in the middle of each stripe. I’ve even packed a little, although my lovely friend Poppy’s Mum has made this a little more difficult as she gave me a load of newspaper to wrap my ‘delicates’ in and I keep finding interesting bits to read - and then there’s the fact that she finishes all the crosswords, too. I find myself sitting checking her answers with only one glass wrapped after half an hour.

We can’t go straight away at the Mad Professor has to finish his exams. They’ve now finished school for the summer (I know, right? three months off?) and he’s now lurching between periods of confidence: ‘I think I’ll get all As, no, A*s…’, and utter panic: ‘I’m going to fail them alllllllll!’.

The Death Wish One (I’m not allowed to call him the Death Wish Child any more as he is now 13) can think only of England and the skate park and emails Grandma on a regular basis to make sure she’s guarding his Remz with her life (these are his beloved skates).

Poppy’s Mum has adopted my chickens. I’ll miss lovely Lucy and her fluffy bottom, but I can’t ship them back and I know that they’ll be well cared for. I’m missing popping out for a nice warm egg for breakfast, though…

What else will I miss? I’ll miss lovely Poppy’s Mum, who is a wonderful friend with a wicked sense of humour and the kindest heart… oh, and my kitchen, and the mama cows with their babies… and my garden (the trees we planted are really getting big now - the Willow is actuallly weeping…

BUT I miss my family and I have to do what’s right for the boys - they should be with their Dad. It also means that I’ll be able to say yes to all the lovely things I get invited to, although recently when I declined a press invitation, the PR replied ‘is there anyone else in your team that would like to go?’

I really want a team now.

A visit to my Yeo Valley chums and the organic garden at Holt Farm, Somerset

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So after a very silly evening spent avoiding the wrath of the scary landlady, sniggering and drinking gin in a tin, fellow blogging buddy Laura and I were collected by lovely A from Yeo Valley and transported in the Landrover of Death to the gorgeous Organic Gardens at Holt Farm, well, the tea room, to be more precise.

I LOVE the tea room at Holt Farm. I big puffy heart it. It’s just so deliciously quirky and everything’s not quite what it seems. For example, check out the lights:

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and look at this lovely comfy sofa looking out onto the garden. I could while away several happy hours (or possibly days) perched here with a paper…

…and some of their lovely fruity pastries:

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…just admiring the view… and the gnomage!

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So a bit of background, then: I guess you could say that Holt Farm was the very starting point of Yeo Valley Organics. Roger and Mary Mead first began making their yogurts on the kitchen table there in the 1970s, and although Yeo Valley is now much bigger, the business still runs from the area, with their son Tim and other family members and staff still farming and milking their cows in the gorgeous Somerset countryside. When Tim, now Yeo Valley’s Director, and his wife Sarah inherited Holt Farm from Tim’s parents some 20 years ago, Sarah really threw herself into making the garden something special. Fast forward to today, and it’s one of the very few organically certified ornamental gardens in the country.

Seeing as I’d brought the rain with me from Ireland, we decided to stay inside and have a chat first. We talked about yogurts and cheese and compote (did you know Yeo Valley make amazing fruit compotes - I reckon they should shout about it a bit more, but they’re a reserved bunch) and then, before we knew it, it was time for lunch:

and then seeing as we were there and it would have been rude not to - we had to have a little tasting sesh as well:

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The greedy amongst you will have zeroed in on the West Country Fudge flavour, which was so gorgeous that there was absolutely no way I was just taking a little bit on the tasting spoon and passing it on. No way at all. We also tasted a really very zingy Passion Fruit flavour as well, and to save any ‘lemon curduments’, we let Laura have all the Lemon Curd flavour. She starts growling if you take it off her.

Other surprises were some really very nice ice creams and frozen yogurts:

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… the latter having much less fat than traditional ice creams, but with no artificial taste and a lovely creamy flavour. My favourite was the strawberry one. Yum.

And then finally the sun came out, and full up from all that yoghurt, we were happy to pootle around the garden with the lovely Sarah for company and hear all about the amazing garden. Holt Farm is run as a ‘closed system’, which means they produce their own compost, loam and fertiliser and as much as possible they don’t buy in plants, but propagate their own.

The whole garden has an amazing contemporary feel, with some really tasteful local artwork and really creative planting:

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The farmhouse itself looks amazeballs (I’d love to have a shufty inside) with gorgeous views across Blagdon Lake…

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I would have shown you a much better picture of the ‘to die for’ views only I came across one of the things at Holt Farm that I don’t covet, and that’s a very disagreeable rooster, who chased me away before I could take any more pictures. Apart from that bird, though, I had a great time.

Very many thanks, as always, to the lovely chaps at Yeo Valley for entertaining us so well (we’ll just forget about the rooster, shall we?). I just love them. Not just because they’re all about sustainability and living off the land and all that organic stuff, but because they’re so genuine - farmers, doing what they do best, and doing it well.

If you want to visit the organic gardens at Holt Farm, check out: theorganicgardens.co.uk.

Click here to read about my visit to Yeo Valley’s amazing organic farms

Wikio’s Top 20 UK gastronomy blogs

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Wikio have offered me a little sneaky peak at their Top 20 Gastronomy chart this month. Some of my favourite websites in here! Congratulations everyone.

1 Maison Cupcake
2 Fuss Free Flavours
3 englishmum.com
4 The English Can Cook
5 Chocablog
6 eat like a girl
7 Cook Sister!
8 meemalee’s kitchen
9 Hollow Legs
10 Food Stories
11 www.Prepped.co.uk
12 The Pink Whisk
13 Tinned Tomatoes
14 Belleau Kitchen
15 Utterly Scrumptious Food For Families
16 Fresh from the oven
17 Feeding boys and a firefighter
18 Chocolate Log Blog
19 London Eater
20 youngandfoodish

Ranking made by Wikio

English Mum’s big bakeoff - the entries

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Wow. There’s been such a massive response to this latest bakeoff that my usual bout of slightly shouty hysteria in collating the results (I’m technologically challenged, okay?) has lasted much longer than normal. I actually still think I’ve managed to delete one entry, so if you’ve entered and you can’t see your pic, please feel free to email me via the contact form (don’t shout at me, though, I’m delicate). Still, buoyed by gin and a bit of sweariness, I’m there. So without further ado, I give you the fabulous entries. One of which will be winning a Bush BAFF55161S Frost Free Fridge Freezer in Silver, worth £359.99 courtesy of the lovely chaps at Argos.

So now it’s over to our glamorous judge and winner of the last bakeoff, Arlene from The Fuzzy Times. All devious approaches and offers of bribery should be directed directly to her (I’m keeping out of it), and just in case you were thinking of rubbing me off your Christmas list, I’d just like to point out that I’m not involved in the judging process and the judge’s decision is final.

So sit back, grab a coffee and feast your eyes upon the cakey beauty below (click on the pic to get a bigger image).

What’s your favourite, then?