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Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Friday, 27 February 2015

Wheelchair Fashion: Tea & BBQ

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I was so excited for spring....right up until I remembered that meant that I probably wasn't going to be wearing some of my darker coloured clothes for a few months. Suddenly I was all nostalgic for burgundies & navies & a whole but load of black (although I don't wear that much black...).

So when my brother dragged us clothes shopping (he bought 4 plain t-shirts) I ended up putting on this outfit.


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Sunday, 17 August 2014

Sunday Post: Bake Off Fever

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I am the kind of baking nutter who watches the bake off like it's a competitive sport. I have literally been known to shout at the screen when I think someone's making a huge mistake. I actually thought about applying for this season.
I'm so glad I didn't though, there's no way I could have managed it if I'd got through ^^

Anyway, having watched them make Swiss rolls all I could think of is was kind of roll to make. It's pathetic, I do this every year but this year I'm really hoping I'll actually make the things I'm planning ^^
I have thought of every possible flavour combination for a swiss roll: lemon poppy seed, chocolate with a macerated berry cream, green tea & lavender, grapefruit with homemade grapefruit curd & maple bourbon & pecan roll.
I actually made the last two, swiss rolls are surprisingly easy to make & are really quick to cook (about 8-10 minutes in the oven). But my favourite (& the one my family finished quickest) was the maple bourbon one so I thought I'd share the recipe.

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Friday, 15 August 2014

Wheelchair Fashion: Scarborough Day Out

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Probably about two weeks ago (when it was really, really warm & the coast seemed like an amazing idea) my family went to Scarborough. Beachwear in Yorkshire usually involves jumpers, even in the middle of summer, so no bikinis & short shorts here. No practically sheer 'beach cover-ups' either.
The only real 'beach wear' options open to me then were boho or a classic Capri pants type look. This kind of supposed to merge the two...

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Wednesday, 13 August 2014

Red's True BBQ

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This maybe super weird but I am obsessed with slow cooked, smoker type BBQ, things like pulled pork & brisket...really American style BBQ.
So when Red's True BBQ opened in Leeds it went on my list as a must do. That was embarrassingly long ago - so long ago that Red's has opened up a new location since then - but finally, FINALLY I have been & let me tell you it was so worth the wait!

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Wednesday, 30 July 2014

Rosie's Diner - Kirkstall, Leeds

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Summer holidays having officially started the number of properly watchable films at the cinema has quadrupled and as a family we have been finding ourselves more and more often at the only really accessible cinema in Leeds - the Vue Cinema in Kirkstall. It being the summer holidays going to the cinema means more than just going to the cinema; it means spending as much time out of the house as possible so whiney foster brother is less whiney. Officially, whiney foster brothers summer holidays started early as he finished school when he finished his exams so the trip to Rosie's I am reviewing is actually the second trip of the summer holidays....so far.


I am obsessed with Americana food and watch 'Diners, Drive-ins and Dives' almost religiously. Rosie's Diner reminds me very much of things I have seen on 'triple D' ; some of the seating is in a big American school bus, all the food is slightly extreme, and you know...its an American style diner.
There are booths (along with two or three tables) for additional seating & this is all charmingly Americana, looking a little like a 50's theme restaurant.


The menu is very 'meat' based, although there are the occasional vegetarian options I'm not sure you'd pick Rosie's if your whole family were veggie - my brother spent most of the decision making process trying to decided between a full rack of ribs & an (I think) 14oz steak.

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Friday, 18 July 2014

Wheelchair Fashion: Yorkshire Lavender

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Hi everyone. How nice has the weather been? I actually have a touch of natural tan. How freaky is that? I've not had a natural tan since I was 10!
Anyway, yesterday we decided to make the most of the wonderful weather & headed out to Yorkshire Lavender which is this lovely lavender farm/garden near Castle Howard. I've been wanting to take pictures there for AGES, it couldn't be a more perfect background. The tea rooms there are also awesome, stay to the end for my review of that too ^^

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Sunday, 29 June 2014

Sunday Post: Spoonie Planning + Bacon, Apple Muffins

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IMATS Spoonie Event Clutch Bag Essentials
You guys know I went to IMATS yesterday. Well even for a perfectly healthy person IMATS is a tiring event. It's just so busy (there is a quiet area up at the top so it's not impossible) but it really is busy & load &....difficult. Add to that a 7hr round trip you can imagine that attending involves a LOT of planning. And careful packing.
Following are my top tips for surviving an event like this that will just EAT energy/spoons.

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Sunday, 11 May 2014

Blue Sunday - Peach & Raspberry Upside Down Cake

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As you may know, May is M.E awareness month, 11-17th is M.E. awareness week & the 12th is M.E. awareness day (yes it is ridiculous but we've earned it, since there is NO awareness of the reality of M.E. hence the bullsh*t things people say to those with M.E. )
Anyway Anna of M.E. myself and I is doing a fundraiser that is not only super cool but quintessentially English....a virtual tea party. You sit/lay down in you own home & comfortably enjoy tea & cakes with or without your friends/family & donate what you would have spent at a café to the M.E. association via this just giving link.
For my cake I made this peach & raspberry upside-down cake that I made last week & was eaten inside of a day. I made it again yesterday & the first cake is already gone!

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Friday, 14 March 2014

Veronica Mars Marshmallow - Mexican Hot Chocolate

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Hi there Marshmallows. How good was the Veronica Mars movie? Literally the first thing I did this morning was download it to my iPad...I've watched it twice already! I think I'll be watching it for the 3rd time right after I post this....lol.
Okay for anyone who has never seen Veronica Mars & has no idea what marshmallows have to do with Veronica Mars...watch it. Seriously though Veronica Mars fans are known as 'Marshmallows' because you know what they say about Veronica Mars, she's a marshmallow.
This may be a Veronica Mars fan-girl post but the recipe is seriously good. I felt like the best thing I could to mark the release of the Veronica Mars movie was come up with a Veronica Mars inspired marshmallow recipe. I'm not entirely sure why Mexican hot chocolate is what I ended up with...maybe something to do with it being sweet with a bit of a kick? Regardless this is what I came up with & they are majorly good, much like the film.

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Tuesday, 4 March 2014

Fritter Wednesday

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We all know that today is pancake day, Shrove Tuesday...whatever. But did you know that in English farming tradition, tomorrow is Fritter Wednesday? No? Let me explain.
Traditionally the days before lent were associated with foods that you couldn't eat over lent & that would expire & be wasted otherwise. Collop Monday - eggs & thick cuts of meat, Shrove Tuesday, Fritter Wednesday & Bloody Thursday when black pudding was eaten. Obviously that's not such a problem these days as people don't do lent in the ways that it used to but I why not take the excuse of tradition to eat extra tasty fried food.

Now these fritters may not be super cute to look at but amaretto soaked nectarine 8ths, fried in thick, crunchy batter & dusted liberally with icing sugar....they are absolutely amazing tasting! Recipe after the link...


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Tuesday, 25 February 2014

Vanilla Bourbon No-Churn Ice-Cream with Gingerbread Cookie Dough and a Maple Ripple

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How do people take good photos of ice-cream?!?
Please forgive the ridiculousness of this recipe, it was dreamed up in the midst of a crazy fog of exhaustion & pain. All I could think about was raspberry ripple ice-cream with maple syrup instead of cheap raspberry jam. Slowly, over the course of many days obsessing, that simple concept grew to encompass bourbon & gingerbread cookie dough. I thought it was going to be too much when I first made it - I thought no-one would be able to cope with it & that it would be crazy. It actually works better together than you would think...although the bourbon is probably optional.


Technically this isn't an ice-cream, it's a Semifreddo which is a kind of frozen mousse thing from Italy. It's also the best way I have found of making great quality ice-cream without an ice-cream maker (I actually have an ice-cream maker but when I wake up on a morning with an overwhelming need to make ice-cream, the ice-cream maker is seldom ready).
Usually 'No-Churn' ice-creams need you to use condensed milk which, to my way of thinking, gives the ice-cream a marginally cloying texture &...I hate the taste of condensed milk okay? I just find it over powdering & gross. This has no condensed milk & just tastes like ice-cream (crazy vanilla bourbon, maple syrup ripple, gingerbread cookie dough ice-cream)

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Tuesday, 7 January 2014

Mum's Triple Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

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I have seen far too many healthy recipes being posted for the new year. Have you guys seen the weather outside? It's hideous out there & 'healthy food' is not what you are in need of to cope with the 'back to work blues'.
You are going to need something like this. These cookies famously caused a minor riot at a school bake sale - which says a little more about my school than my cookies - but these are pretty amazing. They are a little bit of a family secret which have been getting better & better with time
I wish I knew where my mum got this recipe from but it's been through so many versions at this point that you probably wouldn't be able to recognise the original anyway....

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Thursday, 26 December 2013

Coffee-Free Chocolate & Amaretto Tiramisu

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Now Christmas is over it is time to turn our attention to New Year. I'm not a big partier - I never was, even before I had M.E. - so I have never really experienced a new years party. I hope that excuses the image I have in my head, which is heavily inspired by Hollywood. I don't know where this image came from but when I think of New Years party I see a lot of silver & gold glitter, crazy elegant 'finger food' & copious quantities of champagne. So when I decided to come up with a recipe for New Year it was into to that, entirely delusional image I went. You guys are going to LOVE this recipe!
What I came up with is this incredibly sumptuous, opulent tiramisu. Seriously, this stuff is....you know when people say something is better than sex? Well this is better than that, it is better than sleep or shopping or nice clothes. This is better than that feeling when you look in the mirror & realise that you look crazy hot.
The reason this works so well is, I think, the custard, and the Disaronno.

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Friday, 20 December 2013

Christmas Round up

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Usually I would do a 'Weekly obsessions' post on a Friday but I thought I would sum up my favourite posts from this months Christmas craziness.
I think I got a good range of posts in this list, maybe even one or two you missed or haven't had time to check out yet.
  1. Turkey, Cranberry Sausage Rolls: Christmas flavours always inspire some amazing recipes & I am so proud of this, it is one of the best savoury things I have ever made!

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Thursday, 19 December 2013

Fruity Mincemeat Frangipane Tart

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I wasn't going to post any more recipes - & then we ran out of mincemeat whilst I was making a mincemeat, frangipane tart. Necessity is the mother of invention & this is one of the best inventions! Mincemeat has never been this good! Oh yeah...I substituted the missing mincemeat with blueberry jam!
You could probably use marmalade but we didn't have any. You could probably use cranberry sauce but we didn't have any. We had blueberry jam & it was incredible!!! You have to try this - it brightens up the taste of the mincemeat & makes it sparkle!
Trying to replicate this was tricky, it wasn't exactly an exact formula in the first place. I think I've got it down now so see what you think.


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Monday, 16 December 2013

Last Minute DIY Gifts

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My family is having a DIY Christmas, the concept being that everyone in the immediate family makes the gifts for everyone else...it's turning out to be a lot of fun. You guys should try it.
Even if you aren't having a DIY Christmas, I know you can agree, DIY gifts are the most special...even if you are making them for yourself!
These are my favourite, quick, inexpensive DIY gifts, yours too...as soon as you try them.
 
So, the options are: DIY tinted lip gloss, Marbled Hot Chocolate Melts & Pink Grapefruit Bath Salts.
The lip gloss is crazy simple:

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Thursday, 12 December 2013

Christmas Recipies: Mini Stollen

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I am 3/8ths German (don't ask, it gets complicated) & so German Christmas biscuits & Stollen are part of the Christmases I grew up with. Stollen, when made right, is moist, buttery, crumbly & crazy flavourful. They are, however a bind to bake because the enriched dough burns before the bread is fully baked (hence the traditional dusting of icing sugar). I was talking to my mum about this & we both agreed that making mini Stollen would eliminate this problem - plus what isn't improved by an extreme of size? (Cake sized cup cakes, mini layer cakes...you see my point?)
Now you have no excuse NOT to make stollen!
There are two schools of thought about Stollen, those pro-marzipan & those against. The Stollen my dad remembers his Grandma making (& that my mum has been trying to replicate for as long as I can remember) is firmly in the anti-marzipan camp. I love marzipan though so I grated a little into the mixture.
This is mostly my mum's recipe so all praise goes out to her & there is always a lot of praise cause it is the best Stollen ever.

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Thursday, 5 December 2013

Christmas Recipies: Orange Spiced Marshmallows

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OMG! I love making marshmallows but usually they aren't especially appealing to me....I just don't like them. These however are THE BOMB!!!!!
I made some candied orange peel a while ago with all these warm spices & it was the best flavour combination. So when my foster brother asked me to make him some marshmallows for school I thought of making some that were similarly flavoured. They are SO GOOD!!!!

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Thursday, 28 November 2013

Turkey and Cranberry Sausage Rolls - Low Fat, Healthy Christmas

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I know I'm British & we don't have Thanksgiving....officially but you guys know how much I love American style food so I did a thanksgiving feast on Sunday & went a little mental with the food. This is something I came up with that I thought you guys would appreciate. It is very simple to make & it is great for Thanksgiving, Christmas Parties & even New Year. Honestly you could make it anytime of year & it'd be fabulous.
I also made these as meatballs (so no pastry at all) which makes them a great, low fat snack or holiday food. It'd be great for people who are wanting to do a healthy Christmas.
They are also really, really easy to make. It's basically an assembly job; soak some dried cranberries in bourbon, add some flavourings to the turkey mince & then put the mixture inside shop bought pastry & bake. Yeah, bourbon. I'm loving this recipe.

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Friday, 1 November 2013

Sweet Things by Annie Rigg

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You might know I've been getting into sweet making & I've been loving it. I was looking for more recipes (marshmallow gets old after a while) when I stumbled across this AMAZING book in Waterstones.
It is the most perfect sweet book, shabby chic fashion & classy sweets with beautiful images & great recipes all the way through.

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