Review: Tesco’s barcode scanning and the Gatwick virtual store

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So you know the feeling, you return from holiday, suffer the Gatwick Express, then the tube, then possibly a taxi too, finally open the front door and the first thing you can think of is a nice cup of tea. But the problem is that the milk you left in the fridge two weeks ago now resembles furry blue yoghurt.

During the summer, Tesco tested out a brilliant service at Gatwick Airport’s north terminal: the Gatwick ‘virtual store’. Customers could view a range of products by whizzing through some very flashy moving screens on large virtual ‘fridges’. They could then scan the barcodes (iPhone or Android) to put goods into their online baskets, then book a home delivery and pay. With hour slots, you could practically predict that your shopping would arrive home at the same time as you. Here’s a link to the video of the ‘virtual store’ in action:

Tesco let me have a dabble with their online app, available here, so I could see the technology in action. I’m not massively techno-fabulous so I enlisted the help of the Death Wish Dude (my first mistake). After an easy (and free) download, he set about roaming the house, randomly scanning barcodes, to see whether we could arrange an entire shop using just the barcode scanning.

The technology, though fabulous for when you get back from holiday, is also fabulous when you’re stuck at home. Someone on Twitter asked me if you could scan goods as they run out throughout the week, and yes, you can. It remembers the goods in your online basket, ready for you to ‘check out’ at the end of the week. No more shopping lists stuck on the fridge.

The dude’s verdict? Generally positive although it didn’t recognise the barcode on Nutella and we noticed random things like if you want to re-order a box of Bud, you can’t do it unless you kept the box as there are no barcodes on the bottles. Still, easily searched for on the search engine.

The delivery: spot on time, VERY friendly and helpful, took away all my plastic bags for recycling, gave me loads of tips about busy/quieter delivery times, and my order was perfect, not a single replacement.

A massive thank you to Tesco for letting me have a go with the app, and huge apologies for the randomness of my order which, thanks to my youngest son, included such delights as two massive jars of coffee (‘what? It was buy one get one free.’) a large amount of Double Deckers, and some David Beckham aftershave. I vote to make the service permanent at Gatwick too. I, for one, could do without furry blue tea after a week away.

 

Uncle Moon and the case of contraband sausages

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My cousin Moon (a nickname caused by the mispronunciation of ‘Simon’ when he was little) and I have always been very close. I have only four cousins, and as we’re the youngest, we always seemed to get bunged in together. We shared a house for a while in our teens but he’s since moved away, first to America and now to Slovakia where he lives with his beautiful Slovak wife, Mrs M, and their lovely little Matej. You may remember when I did cupcakes for little Matej’s christening too.

Anyhoo, waffling. This week, Moon’s been over to the UK on a flying visit, played a weekend of golf with my big bro, IJ and a few mates, and finally came to see us on Monday night. My boys love their Uncle Moon and they insisted on having a ‘proper’ lads’ evening: pizza, beers and lots of ‘manly’ chat (which as far as I can make out consisted of talking about porn and certain ways of male stress relief that I won’t go into on a family website). I didn’t even get to make him dinner - M&S pizzas were the order of the day (check out their woodfired range, very nice indeed) and then a mahoosive slab of chocolate flapjack, the recipe for which I was very proud to have managed to tweet in less than 140 characters:

Talk obviously moved to food, and more importantly, the sort of food that’s not readily available in Slovakia. Poor Moon misses his cheese, and because the Slovaks keep their own pigs and make their own bacon and sausages, he misses good old English bangers and streaky bacon too. A trip to Waitrose soon sorted that and his Mum’s fridge was soon groaning with goodies.

‘But wait’, I said, ‘how are you going to get that home?’

‘Easy’, said Moon, ‘I’m going to stuff it in my golf bag’

‘Is that allowed?’, I pondered…

‘Dunno, but I’m going to do it anyway…’

And so this morning came to pass when, at 4.30 am I was wide awake, worrying about oversleeping, when my alarm went off. I picked Moon up and, all the way, was worrying about the contraband sausages in the golf bag… what if there’s a sniffer dog? Surely even a dog designed to find drugs can sniff his way to some Premium Waitrose Pork and Apple, can’t he?

We got to Heathrow at 5am, spot on, and all the way home I kept checking my phone for a call from the authorities… ‘excuse me madam, we’ve detained a sausage smuggler and we’d like you to come in for an interview…’

But the call never came.

And if he got through Slovakian customs too, the sausage smuggler is now home and dry and, probably, eating a bit fat sausage sarnie as we speak.

Note: humble apologies for my appalling photoshopping.

Talking to teenagers - using car journeys to your advantage

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There’s something about car journeys that make it easy to talk. Whether it’s just the enforced ‘privacy’ of the situation that makes us all suddenly share or, and I think this is the case with teenagers, it’s the fact that you don’t have to look directly at each other. I’m not sure, but I can pretty much guarantee that if something is bothering one or other of the brevren, it’ll come out in the car. Sometimes I’ll wait until a car journey to bring up a subject that I think needs discussing, but often, it can be ‘are you ok, then?’ that will start a conversation about what’s on their mind.

And whether it’s friend problems, girlfriend issues, worries about school or life in general, it’s easy to sit, watching the world go by and accompanied by the gentle hum of the car, and chat through what’s bothering them with no distractions. I’m never going to be a candidate for parent of the year, so I’m loathe to give advice, but here are a few things I’ve noticed:

Don’t dive in with advice

I’ve noticed that I get them to be a lot more open when I don’t offer advice. Sometimes all they need is someone to listen, and sometimes that’s enough.

Invent a trip

Occasionally in the past, I’ve noticed one of the boys seemed a bit down, or I wanted to chat to them about a specific problem. In this case, don’t be afraid to suggest a trip out to give you some time together. A five minute trip into town can be all it takes to smooth an issue that’s bothering them.

Ask open questions

Sometimes that ‘everything okay?’ will get you a ‘yeah’ and nothing more, so you need to find another way round it. Try to ask a few open questions to get a bit more information about a situation, if you go for what/when/how (try to avoid the more judgmental why?) it’s harder for them to answer yes/no.

Don’t be judgmental

This is a tough one, but I try not to judge (even if I really, really want to - say, if it’s about a friend doing something I really disapprove of) as this tends to shut a conversation down. I want the boys to feel that they can come to me and discuss ANYTHING, so keeping my trap shut sometimes, even though I’m screaming inside, is important.

And finally…

Don’t always expect them to share

Everybody’s entitled to a private life, and sometimes - even when something’s bothering them - they’re not inclined to share. Maybe they’re worried about a friend but don’t want to betray a secret, or maybe they’re just having a down day but can’t put their finger on why - don’t pick away at them. Nine times out of ten they’ll just invent something else to shut you up, so it won’t get you anywhere. Let them know that you’re there if they need you and leave it at that.

Your Cover have been working with psychologist Dr Simon Moore from London Metropolitan University to look into why important family conversations are often easier in the car. Click here to go to the Your Cover website and download a factsheet.

Review: Let’s Eat, Tom Parker Bowles

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Remember Market Kitchen? Is it still on? I always had a bit of a crush on Matt Tebbutt but he never replied to me on Twitter, so that was the end of that. I did like Tom Parker Bowles too. I love his gentle, slightly posh manner, and his seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of food too. His book, you’ll be pleased to know, doesn’t disappoint. Let’s Eat is subtitled ‘recipes from my kitchen notebook’ and it turns out that’s exactly what it is, the scribbles and sidenotes of hundreds of dinners, written up into what basically forms ‘a story of my love of food’. I love it too.

Tom’s recipes are proper, hearty fare. I had a go at his treacle tart, and the result was, if not fantastically aesthetically pleasing (I’m no good at embellishment) utterly delicious.

I’ve used this book so many times (triple cooked chips: amazing, griddled lamb with cucumber raita: scrummy…) I completely forgot to review it, so apologies for lateness - it was actually published back in June. My copy now sits, slightly grease-spotted and dog-eared, on the windowsill of my kitchen - the sign of a good cookbook, don’t you think?

Tom’s recipe for toad in the hole was also magical. Look how far it puffed up!

I think, often, good solid recipes that ACTUALLY WORK get lost in the fashion and fluffery of food writing. At the end of the day, if a recipe is easy (and a bit fun) to follow, I think that makes it pretty much perfect. This book delivers on both those levels - there are delightful snippets of information woven into these recipes, making them just lovely to read.

Buy this book. And treasure it. I bet you’ll go back to it time and time again.

Interestingly, Let’s Eat is available to download on iTunes. I gave it a go and can tell you that it’s actually a really handy way of owning a cookery book. Here’s a link to the page: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/let%27s-eat/id544236735?mt=11

Let’s Eat: recipes from my kitchen notebook is out now, priced £25 hardback, published by Pavilion.

Getting ready for holidays - my top toiletry tips

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It’s just six weeks - SIX WEEKS! - until we’re off on our holidays with my Disreputable Dad and his partner to Gran Canaria for a week. I think we’re probably at the stage where, with Sam being 17, our days of enjoying holidays as a family are numbered, so I’m determined to enjoy every second, especially as there’ll be three generations all holidaying together. When we booked a few months ago, we went through different websites to find the perfect holiday in Spain that would suit ages 14 to 70*coughsomething* and in the end we found ourselves back at our old favourite First Choice‘s website, for something that pleased everyone: lovely pool, scrummy food, short walk to a lovely beach.. you name it.

I’m really excited and, as always, I’m enjoying the planning (and purchasing) almost as much as the holiday.

Here’s my current tick-list:

High factor sun cream. I always take a variety of brands as different family members like different things. I prefer non-sticky and spray on. Remember you should use at least a shot glass per application.

Facial sunblock: I suffer from hyperpigmentation so always pack a sunblock specifically for the face. And a hat.

Multi-use items. I like the Lavera organic shampoo/shower gel, and Dr Bronner’s liquid soap is brilliant - you can use it for shampoo, shower gel and even to hand wash your clothes.

Conditioner: treat your hair to a nightly conditioning treatment to combat all that sun, sea and chlorine.

Solid antiperspirant stick - much smaller and easier to transport than a spray. Plus you can pop it in your beach bag to freshen up after a swim, too.

Wipes: great for travelling and handy for removing make-up. If you get the non-greasy ones they’re quite useful to remove spots on clothes too (if you get messy with your bolognaise). There are also some lovely freshener/perfume wipes about. The 4711 ones are gorgeously fresh and remind me of my childhood.

Perfumed candle: not really toiletries, but an essential for me - lovely to light in the evening to scent your hotel room.

So I’ll be the sweet smelling one smothered in suncream, with freshly conditioned hair (and hat), second sunbed to the left.

 

How to make a chicken pie (or any pie!): an easy step by step guide (including how to make pastry)

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Pastry always seems a bit terrifying. But honestly, have a think about it: it’s really just a vessel to hold delicious contents, all of which will spill out over your pastry making it all taste yummy anyway. And if it’s a little thick or a bit uneven, who cares? That’s what home made food is all about. If you know how to make a chicken pie (or any pie!) it’s such a versatile skill. So come on, let’s dive in: practice makes perfect!

Pie dishes

A quick word about pie dishes. By all means use a classic ceramic pie dish but you’ll get a much better result by using a metal tin. I swear by Mermaid, who do proper hard anodised aluminium tins that you can use on the hob and in the oven (this one’s actually a tarte tatin dish) - they conduct the heat really well, resulting in nice, crisp pastry and an even bake.

How to make pastry

The best tip I can give you about making pastry is to keep everything as cool as possible. Sweaty hands make for a big gluey mess, so try and keep to just using the tips of your fingers, and use a light touch.

For standard, shortcrust pastry, you’ll need:

200g cold butter

400g plain flour

Pinch salt

1 egg

You can make pastry in the food processor, or by hand. Here are both versions:

Making pastry by hand:

Cut the cold butter into cubes, and add it to the flour:

… add in the salt, and then rub in the butter gently with just your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs:

Now add the egg. It’s less messy initially so use a knife to just stir it around until it starts to come together. Then, with your hands, bring it together into a dough. Don’t knead it, remember, just treat it very gently.

Making pastry in the food processor

Chop the cold butter into cubes and add it to the flour and salt. Process it until it looks like breadcrumbs.

Now plop in the egg and pulse slowly until it comes together.

Every time you make pastry it will be different: flours can have different moisture levels and eggs can be different sizes, but you should find it comes together into a ball quite well. If it’s really dry, add a tablespoon or two of cold water, but you don’t want a wet mess, be very sparing.

At this stage, with either processor-made or hand-made pastry, you’ll have a rough ball of dough. Now just wrap it in clingfilm and chill for about 2o minutes.

This is the stage where you can get on with making your filling. I’ve made a creamy chicken filling, but you can use your imagination and fill it with whatever you like: beef and mushrooms in gravy… fish in a creamy sauce… (or veggies) or, if you fancy a sweet pie (add a tablespoon of caster sugar to your pastry), apple, cherry… the list is endless. Leftovers make fab pies. We always make turkey and ham on Boxing Day, and leftover curry makes a lovely pie too.

Filling for a creamy chicken pie

1 tbsp rapeseed oil

1 shallot, finely sliced

2 large free-range chicken breasts (or leftover chicken or turkey)

Couple of slices of nice ham (or leftover gammon, cut into chunks)

Dash of double cream

About 200-300ml chicken stock (cube is fine)

So gently fry the shallot in the oil until translucent and add in your cubes of chicken breast. Fry until just coloured (remember it’ll cook properly in the oven), then add the ham (snipped into little pieces, or chopped), season well (not too much salt - the ham’s salty) and then the splosh of cream. Pour in the stock and leave to bubble away and reduce a little (you don’t want too much ‘juice’ in the pie as it will make the pastry soggy). Add in some fresh herbs if you like, too. Thyme is delicious with chicken, and so is tarragon.

Once your filling is done, leave it to one side to cool while you roll out the pastry. Oh, and this is a good time to preheat the oven to 180/gas 4.

Rolling out the pastry

Retrieve it from the fridge, flour your work surface AND your rolling pin really well. Divide your pastry into two pieces: one about 2/3 for the base and the other 1/3 for the top.

Roll the larger piece out to about 5-6mm thick, moving the pastry around in 1/4 turns as you roll until you’ve got a rough circle. This will prevent the pastry from sticking to the work surface. Remember: it doesn’t have to be perfect!

Roll the pastry up around the rolling pin, then unroll it over your pie dish. Push it down gently, and use little extra bits to fill any holes or cracks. Don’t worry too much - it’s home made!

Now spoon in your cooled filling. Don’t put hot filling into the pie as it will begin to melt the butter and you’ll get the dreaded ‘soggy bottom’!

Now do the same thing with the final third of pastry. Unroll it over your filling and crimp the edges with your fingers, or a fork so that they’re sealed together.

If you’re feeling arty, make some letters (I’m desperate to do a pie that says ‘bum’) or cut out leaves or whatever. Pass swiftly on to the eggy wash department for a brush with beaten egg or milk (grab a passing child if you can) and pop in the oven for about half an hour at 180/gas 4.

And yes, sometimes it all goes wrong (this one needed that extra bit of cold water - the patry was far too crumbly) just laugh at yourself and serve it up anyway - it will still taste lovely! (oh, and writing BUM on it is excellent therapy too, trust me).

And that’s it. YOU MADE A PIE! You’re a genius.

Those Kate Middleton photos. And why we all have the right to keep our bodies private.

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Picture the scene: a long awaited holiday, a beautiful sunny day, a pool, a long cold drink… But as you lay there, you remember - what? a posh dinner coming up - a dress that would be ruined by tan lines? Or maybe your bikini top is uncomfortable: you take it off to swap it for another. Or maybe you don’t put another back on? Hey, you’re in private - there’s nobody here to see…

And then, horrors. You find out that there WAS someone there. A peeping tom who took pictures of your naked body. And worse - he’s shown those pictures to everyone: your friends, your work colleagues, your parents… millions of total strangers. It’s awful. Hideous. Unimaginable.

But it’s happened. And I don’t think that it matters that it happened to Kate Middleton. I don’t think your naked body should become public property just because you’re in the public eye. Shouldn’t every woman have the right to keep her own body private? Decide what she wants people to see and what they shouldn’t see? Shouldn’t we all have the right - rich or poor, famous or downright ordinary - to decide which parts of our bodies that people see and those that we keep between us and our loved one?

And do you know the worst thing? The person that bought those ‘peeping tom’ pictures captured of you in private with a long lens and decided to share them with the world against your will is…

A woman.

What a horrendous betrayal.

Fresh sardines with gremolata dressing

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The lovely chaps at Fish is the Dish work hard to promote fish as the perfect family food. They often send me little surprises, and this time it was a tray of the freshest sardines. There’s really only one thing to do with sardines: obviously that’s eat them fresh from the barbecue with a glass of local wine at some beautiful beachside location. Failing that, you can make this easy, fresh version of gremolata to go with your shiny silver dinner:

You will need:

Fresh sardines, gutted

Large bunch parsley

1 lemon

2 cloves garlic

Couple of glugs of olive or rapeseed oil

Salt and pepper

First, preheat your grill so it’s really hot. Sprinkle the sardines with salt and pepper and pop them under the grill. They’ll only take a couple of minutes each side - just enough time to make the gremolata oil.

Traditionally gremolata is a ‘dry’ mixture of lemon zest, garlic and tons of parsley all chopped together. I’ve added oil here to make it easy to drizzle. So just squish the garlic with the side of a knife (use a pinch of salt for grip), then chop the parsley into it and add the zest of the lemon. Transfer into a bowl and add the olive oil. Squeeze in the lemon juice. I added a pinch of dried chilli too.

Serve the sardines piping hot with crusty bread (or I made little square crispy potatoes) and drizzle with the gremolata.

A new car, and Morrisons’ new Fuel Saver

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So finally, finally, we’ve taken the plunge and got a new car. The Mondeo was costing us an absolute fortune in petrol, and Sam was jumping up and down making ‘I want to learn to drive’ type noises. We settled on a Polo, which is a good compromise between big, safe car-loving me and small-engine-because-of-the-insurance-needing him. Suddenly, the DVLA Theory Test book has resurfaced, and the provisional licence has been applied for. Next it will be driving lessons and, hopefully, test success. Then, of course, it will be horrendous insurance and sleepless nights and bitten nails waiting for him to come home.

All this talk of cars and petrol came at about the same time that we learned about the new Morrisons fuel saver scheme. It’s quite a clever way of saving on your fuel bills. Basically, as far as I understand it, you can buy gift cards at Morrison’s (I was thinking that I’d buy them for Christmas pressies - there’s loads of shops in the scheme, like Topshop, Boots, Monsoon, PC World and Curry’s, plus there are restaurants like Café Rouge and Bella Italia… there’s even National Book Tokens), then you get to give the cards as pressies (or use them yourself) and you get the points off your petrol. I like Morrisons anyway - their commitment to using only British meat and poultry has long impressed me - so I’d happily take a longer detour to pop in and get these vouchers. And think about it - you get 1p a litre off for every £10 you spend. So if you spend, say, £200 on cards, for presents or whatever, that’s 20p a litre off your next fill up. Not to be sniffed at. I also thought it was a good way to spread out your Christmas shopping - every time you shop, buy a couple of cards, and you’re not only getting set for Chrimbo, but you’re saving on fuel. Bargainous.

Anyhoo, here’s a video showing you how it works. It’s a permanent scheme, so like puppies and kittens, it’s not just for Christmas. You’re welcome.

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Review: what makes a good family car? I take a look at the Honda Accord and CR-V

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My loving relationship with my big, red Mondeo is, I’ll admit, on the rocks. It’s costing me an absolute fortune, and while I love the massive boot, electric everything and spacious interior, I’m looking to change. My main problem is the fuel economy. I do loads of small journeys into town every day: school runs, after school activities, social stuff and the Death Wish Dude’s twice weekly kickboxing lessons, plus bigger journeys a couple of times a week.

I chatted to Honda about their family cars, specifically the Accord (I like the look of the new CR-V but now I’m not in the country, and don’t have a dog any more, I’m looking more at saloon cars), and put a few difficult questions to them. Here’s how I got on:

Choice: There are four engines to choose from, a 2.0 litre petrol, a 2.4 litre petrol and two diesels, with either 148 or 177 bhp. There’s a six speed manual gearbox as standard and you can choose an automatic on both the petrols and the small diesel, but obviously that affects the performance.

Running costs: I’m not convinced about owning a diesel, so that leaves me with the two petrol engines: the 2L and the 2.4L. The running costs work out at between £12 and £19 per 100 miles, although I’m not sure exactly what that includes. My Mondeo is currently costing me £75 for every 300 mile tank, so even at the top end, this is a vast improvement. Fuel economy figures for the 2L petrol are: combined (mpg) 34.4, extra urban (mpg) 40.9, urban (mpg) 26.9 – a huge difference to my current 24mpg.

Reliability: checking out online surveys, Honda does well in customer satisfaction, reliability and customer loyalty, always a good sign when it comes to choosing a car.

Performance: the petrol engines are described by a recent JD Power survey as ‘smooth and strong’ – always a good sign. I’m used to the big, powerful V6 Mondeo, so this is important to me.

Safety: the Accord has six airbags, anti-whiplash front headrests (to avoid needing to make a whiplash injury claim!), deadlocks and an alarm all as standard. Some models offer optional extras such as emergency braking cruise control and even a gadget that warns you when you change lanes (in case you fall asleep presumably). There are three proper seatbelts in the back.

Space: It’s probably a little smaller than the Mondeo, but the boot is roomy and the seats are comfy. There’ll be no problem fitting in the suitcases for a Gatwick trip, or handling a big food shop.

Looks: I love the look of the Accord. We were impressed with the interior, which reminded us of the Hubby’s BMW. It’s got a really great, almost aggressive looking front end (‘angry eyes’ as one of the boys said), and it’s sleek and sporty looking without any ‘boy racer’ touches.

Next up? A test drive. Woohoo!

Many thanks to Honda UK for their patience in answering all my stupid questions.

Review: A Month in Marrakesh: a food journey to the heart of Morocco

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If you’ve ever bought a copy of Jamie magazine, you’ll probably be familiar with editor, Andy Harris. Already a fan, I was looking forward to receiving this book, not only because I love Andy’s work, but also as my own experiences of Moroccan food have been somewhat mixed: although I adored the tagines, fragrant pastries and couscous salads, I was less of a fan of the weirdly gelatinous calves’ foot casseroles and tooth-achingly sweet mint tea.

A Month in Marrakesh is a clever combination of travel guide and cookery book. I adore travel books: I love joining writers on their journeys, and adding food into the equation just makes it perfect. The photography, by the divine David Loftus, is just the icing on the cake. You can practically hear the muezzin and smell the charcoal braziers of the street food vendors.

Recipes are delivered in a very Jamie-like fashion - there’s no fuss or frippery (but no ‘boshing’ or ‘whacking’ either), just fresh ingredients, bold flavours and authentic combinations. Chapters include one on breakfasts, a very comprehensive and enticing section on salads and vegetables, also soups, tagines, roasts and some delicious looking desserts. The ‘street food’ chapter particularly grabbed me. The chicken kebabs with spicy avocado dip are on my to do list already. I’m also looking forward to recreating the bistilla (or pastilla) that I enjoyed on my visit a few years ago: crisp pastry with a spiced chicken filling, topped with icing sugar (sounds unusual, but it’s delicious).

It’s obviously that Andy Harris has a deep affection for Marrakesh, and he brings the very essence of this vibrant city to life through this beautiful book. Oh and that cloying mint tea becomes infinitely more appealing as a softly set jelly.

I’m delighted to say that I’m taking part in a blog tour for this fabulous book. You can also win your own copy too - see bottom (tee hee!) for details.

A Month in Marrakesh by Andy Harris, £16.99 paperback, published by Hardie Grant.

Blog Tour

Monday 10th - http://englishmum.com/

Tuesday 11th - http://emmablock.co.uk/

Wednesday 12th - http://junglefrog-cooking.com/

Thursday 13th - http://www.babaduck.com/

Friday 14th - http://www.millycundall.com/

Win a copy of A Month in Marrakesh thanks to Hardie Grant Books. To enter simply follow Hardie Grant on Twitter @hardiegrantuk or like on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/HardieGrantBooksLondon) and send an email to [email protected]

 

Winner will be drawn on Monday 17th September. UK residents only (sorry overseas friends!).

 

How to make Italian meringue icing (seven minute meringue frosting)

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Italian meringue frosting is an easy meringue icing which is a nice, light alternative to ganache or buttercream (although there is a buttercream version which is deliciously sinful). It seems to have an unlimited amount of names: Italian meringue icing/Italian meringue frosting/7 minute frosting… but it all amounts to the same thing. It’s slightly similar to Italian Meringue in that the egg whites are ‘cooked’, and it forms a nice, stable easily-piped, fluffy icing which keeps its shape well and is beautifully white (which also means it holds paste colours well and keeps true, should you wish to colour your icing).

If you use brown sugar (as I’ve done to top these dark chocolate fairy cakes, topped with fudge pieces), it imparts a gentle, toffee flavour into the icing. You can also add a teaspoon of vanilla extract, or other flavourings, but wait until the end and briefly beat it in (I think rose would be lovely, with a delicate pink colouring paste). Be careful of adding too much liquid, as this will mess with your quantities.

You will need:

2 large free range egg whites

225g caster sugar

Pinch of cream of tartar

75ml water

So basically just pop all the ingredients into a heatproof bowl, place the bowl on top of a saucepan of simmering water (as always with a bain marie, don’t let the water touch the bottom of the bowl) and whip the bejaysus out of it for, suprise surprise, seven minutes. A word of warning, though, if at the seven minute mark, your icing isn’t really thick, glossy and standing up in stiff peaks, keep going. Also, be careful to get the whisk right to the bottom of the bowl and around the edges, otherwise you can get lumpy bits.

Once the icing has reached this stage, take it straight off the hot water and pop it straight into the icing bag (or spread onto your cake). As it cools it will set a little, so use it straight away.

Happy swirling!

New term, new suit, new start…

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So after his devastating exam results, things were looking pretty darn dreary for Sam. If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that he had a bit of a shocker in his AS levels, and had been told there was no funding for retakes. His choice was to leave school and retake at college, or find new subjects to study and start AS levels again.

The school have been absolutely brilliant. After a ‘crisis meeting’, where we met the head of Sixth Form, he was eventually offered a compromise: come back to school, retake the Biology (you’ll remember that this is the exam he slept through when I was in Florida) and choose two new subjects.

Sam is bloody delighted and all of a sudden the future’s looking fabulous. This prompted a flurry of back-to-school activity that we’d been putting off, where we rushed around looking for suits, buying Charlie new school uniform (he starts his GCSE courses tomorrow) and the ubiquitious new pens and pencils to boot.

And look at my gorgeous young man in one of his new sixth form suits.

God, I’m old….

Treacle cake for Grandma’s church fete

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So recently, my Mum asked me if I’d make a cake for her church fete. It’s been a while since I’ve cracked out my favourite heart shaped Nordic Ware bundt tin (I love Nordic Ware - remember Nigella Christmas and the pine forest cake?). This is the easiest cake to make. It also has the advantage of being egg free, plus it’s lovely toasted and buttered once it’s past its best.

If you don’t have a fancy tin, just use a small loaf tin.

85g butter
85g caster sugar
150ml milk
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 tbsp treacle ( you can use golden syrup if you don’t like treacle)
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
225g self raising flour, sifted

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/gas 4. Liberally spray your tin with cake release spray, or you can use butter.

Measure out the butter, sugar, milk, ginger and treacle. Melt them gently in a saucepan. When it’s all melted and there’s no grittiness left from the sugar, stir in the bicarbonate of soda. This will make it froth up in a delightful fashion. Now stir in the flour and mix really well until it’s all combined. Plop it into the tin.

Baking time is a bit of a gamble, frankly… In the heart tin it only takes 15 minutes as the thick metal is a brilliant heat conductor. In a loaf tin it might be more like 30 -40 minutes. Check by poking a sharp knife in and seeing if it comes out clean.

Wrap cake and bid a sad farewell as it goes off to the church fete. Then roll up your sleeves, go back to the kitchen, and make another one for yourself…