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One of my faves!

You may have picked up that today is Cakes for Haiti day, and hopefully you’ve been busy knocking up something delicious! I’ve done blondies and hummingbird muffins, which are new to me. Dr T suggested I could have done all cakes or biscuits beginning with h, but that would be taking it a tad too far for me!

So if you need some inspiration for a last minute cake sale, or for a more leisurely bake, then these are the ones I either work from regularly, or wish I had on the shelf.

1. Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache – I know I’m boring, I’ve written about this book several times since I bought it, but I love it. I particularly love it for a) fabulous tasting cakes b) getting veg into things I know kids will eat and c) giving me some new ideas on what to do with the annual courgette glut. Courgette and coconut cake is the way to go, and I adore the Chocolate Beetroot Brownie.

2. Sky High – I am a big fan of the He Eats blog, and regularly have cake envy. Ed regularly bakes from the Sky High book, and they always look fantastic, which is down to his skill. But I so want to have a go. So this is one my wish list!

3. Cake Chic- these are very posh looking cakes from Peggy Porschen, that would be the sort of things I would want to make for a girls get-together. They are not the sort you would knock up in a quick afternoon baking session, but definitely worth it for a big occasion. One to work up to I think, but worth the effort.

4. How to Be a Domestic Goddess – I sort of hesitate to mention this one, as I am sure so many people have this, but it is a book I come back to again and again for baking inspiration. It’s particularly good for baking with kids, or for recipes that you remember from way back but have forgotten how to do.

5. Exceptional Cakes - if you spot a branch of Baker & Spice then worth stopping by for great cakes. If you want to recreate it at home, then this is the book for you. It covers everything you could wish to bake from cakes to muffins, biscuits to doughnuts and meringues. Which should keep everyone happy for at least one round of afternoon tea!

So, whether you bake for Haiti, or just for the joy of it, these would give you some ideas. No matter how depressing a day is, homemade cakes make everything seem just a little bit better!

Learn more skills than you ever knew about

I got a tweet last week regarding a new website, ooh.com, which looks really interesting if you want to find, or even run, a great cookery course or experience near you. Whilst it doesn’t only cover food and drink, at the moment there are just under 170 courses listed across the UK.

From West Cornwall to the Highlands, there is a huge variety on offer. Always wanted to know how to cook in a wood-fired oven? You can do it in a day in Shaftesbury for £160. Want to learn to smoke your own produce? Yep, you can learn to do that too.

There are courses for designer dinners and intensive courses for wannabe chalet cooks, courses at famous places and courses at someone’s house. And if you fancy teaching, then you could even sign yourself up to run any kind of course, not just cookery. Pass on your knowledge of bee-keeping, or how to build a wind turbine, or even hide working and buckskin course. The sky is only limited by your passion and knowledge.

I think a day course (or longer) makes a great gift for a foodie, particularly those who are a little difficult to please! After all, getting a new skill to brag about has to get extra brownie points! Have a look at the site, and keep an eye on how it develops. Personally, I am hoping to have time to get on the Parisian memoir writing master class!

Fabulous photo of domestic classes past from Cornell University Library.

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I think most places around the country are about to start half term (I know, it seems like they just went back). There is good news, roads will generally be quieter. But homes with kids may not be! So this is a perfect opportunity to get kids in the kitchen and get them busy cooking up a storm. There is no better way to get them involved with food than getting them involved in it’s preparation.

So, this post is a bit of a collaboration between me and Mini Gourmet Girl, as MGG has acquired a number of cookbooks over her 8 years (can’t think where she gets that habit from) and she has some favourites, as do I, for really getting stuck in in the kitchen. Here goes:

The Usborne Cookbook for Children

1. The Usborne Cookbook for Children - this is MGG’s favourite, and you can regularly find her poring over it before coming to tell me what she wants to cook. There’s a good mix of savoury and sweet dishes, both hot and cold, and every step is well-illustrated. There are even useful chef’s tips, like how to make olives less salty, and covers everything from basics like rice and bread through to a very scrummy chocolate cake.

Kids' Kitchen

2. Kids’ Kitchen by Fiona Bird – we’ve been playing with this one recently, as Fiona and her publishers kindly sent us a copy. I like the format: individual wipe clean recipe cards, plus some how to cards as well. The colour coding helps them work through all the five major food groups of the Government’s healthy eating initiatives, covering fruit to grains, veg to oils. The steps are clearly written and easy to follow, and the results have so far been delicious. And all the kids I’ve had in the kitchen have loved having their own card to work from and I love being able to wipe them down! I think this is an innovative and interesting approach to kids cookbooks, and worth a look.

3. The River Cottage Family Cookbook – I think this is probably my favourite book for cooking with MGG. I love the explanations of the basics of cooking, of helping kids to understand why things work and how. MGG loves the Victoria Sponge recipe, where you weigh your eggs and match everything else up. This is probably a great book for sevens and over, and will probably be a book they dip in and out of for years.

Family Food

4. Family Food: A New Approach to Cooking by Heston Blumenthal- this one must be for the molecular gastronomes of the future! Actually, it’s a lot less  contrived than you might think, but will still appeal to the slightly more geeky cook. We have cooked less from this one, but MGG has enjoyed doing things like making cartouches for sauces and things. It’s worth having just to marvel that this is the first cookbook that Heston wrote, as I don’t think many of us would have thought that family cooking would have been where his writing started out.

5. The Gastrokid Cookbook: Feeding a Foodie Family in a Fast-Food World- this is a great all round book, both for cooking with, and for, kids to help expand their food horizons. The recipes are tasty, quick to put together and guaranteed to generate clean plates all round! I also lover their courgette hummus for being antoher way to get rid of the courgette glut at the end of the summer!

I honestly don’t think it matters much what you cook with kids, as long as you keep it fairly simple and quick, as they tend not to have great attention spans. Small cakes always work well for me as you get two bites of activity: one to make them and one to decorate them! Go on, go mad with the sprinkles! Don’t rely in your local Sainsbury’s, order now from somewhere like Splat or Cupcake Style. Of course they’ll be on sugar overload, but isn’t that what holidays are for?

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Foodies come in for a bad rap, about us taking it all too seriously, worrying about provenance. Well, I say it’s worth worrying about, but just occassionally even foodies have lapses into food that is just for a bit of a laugh. And if Valentine’s Day isn’t worth a laugh I’m not sure when is! Here’s a few things to enjoy and have a bit of fun with:

Sparkling vodka

* Sparkling vodka. This will make any Valentine’s Day go with a swing. I got very drunk at a Fashion Week party on cocktails mixed with this, and it’ll be an unusual take on fizz!

* I know they are not exactly cheap, but show me any heart that won’t melt just a little if you send them the L.O.V.E. spells LOVE tin of biscuits from Biscuiteers. And who doesn’t love an iced biscuit?

* I don’t care how big a foodie they are, most will find it hard to resist a big box of nostalgic sweeties. I love A Quarter Of and send their boxes on all kinds of occasions, and their boxes of Sweet Devotion for Valentine’s Day are fantastic. From Love Hearts to Cherry Lips, everyone will find something they really enjoy.

* For the baking foodie, then how about a set of Jumbo Cookie Cutters spelling out I (heart) U. Even better you could make up some cookies with them. Cute.

* I’m sure the cupcake queens have proper cupcake moulds, but for the romantic ones then how about heart shaped ones? John Lewis have a 6 cup silicone mould, for those romantic cake moments.

Have some fun and enjoy some fun foodie moments together this Valentine’s Day, just a momentary slip from your organic, seasonal, local lifestyle!

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Get your pots & pans ready

I’ve been in the kitchen quite a lot this weekend, doing everything from baking to cake decorating with Mini Gourmet Girl and making a massaman chicken curry from scratch. Which saw me digging around the kitchen and marvelling at how many things just don’t seem to get used that often, that it’s the same bits of kit I get out, regardless of what’s on the menu.

If I had just ten things, then these would be the ones I think I would be taking everywhere with me:

1. Plastic mixing bowls – love the look of Mason Cash but just too darn heavy!

2. Good knives – I know this is cheating, but I could live with three: bread, small sharp and larger sharp knife.

3. Chopping boards – plural again, but one wooden and one plastic

4. Food processor – not got anything fancy, it’s rather old and beaten up but still does a multitude of jobs

5. Le Creuset casserole – I’ve had this about 20 years and it’s still going strong

6. Spatula – for getting the last bit out of those bowls when baking

7. Silicone bakeware – at a minimum, then the round ones for Victoria sponge, a loaf shaped one and one for cupcakes

8. Scales – although could do to upgrade as measuring on current ones a bit hit and miss

9. Pestle & mortar – still the best thing for bashing up spices

10. Breadmaker – surprisingly, a gadget that gets used pretty much every other day

I’m taking things like wooden spoons as a given in this! But it does make me wonder about all the other stuff! What’s indispensable in your kitchen? And what do you wonder why on earth you bought it? Yes, Flavour Shaker and mango cutter, I’m looking at you!

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I’ve already written about my loathing of “special” Valentine’s Day menus, which generally are an affront to most food lovers. I think it makes a great excuse for a night in together, with something really special on the menu. If you think

The New Intercourses: an aphrodisiac cookbook

you might go down that route, then these books are chosen for adding something a little special to your repertoire for the evening.

1. The New InterCourses: An Aphrodisiac Cookbook – this one is almost worth it for the stunningly beautiful photography, but there are also fabulous recipes. In addition you’ll get useful tit bits of info on each of the alleged aphrodisiacs. I can’t vouch for this 10 year anniversary version, as I have the original. Lets just say I am still cooking from it though!

2. Shaken: 250 Very Sexy Cocktails – yep, I would imagine most of these would get an evening off with a bang. Possibly best to eat food too, otherwise you’re not going to get through many of these! Sounds like a fun way to get things going.

3. Romantic Cakes – perhaps you want to create a memorable dessert to finish off the meal, and a beautiful cake would certainly tick the right boxes. Very hearts and flowers, pretty, beautiful and romantic, and also could be incredibly tasty. I don’t know anyone that doesn’t love cake, and this book has some truly beautiful cakes to recreate.

Seriously Naughty Cakes

4. Seriously Naughty Cakes- if you want cake, but not the slushy hearts and flowers stuff, then this is the book for you. From Saucy Stockings to the Roly Poly Strip O’Gram, this is not your average cake decorating book! A creation from this will certainly raise at least a smile.

5. The Cookbook of Everlasting Love: Sex On A Plate or Food As Foreplay – jeez, I’ve no idea if this is any good, but can you imagine nosy people’s faces when they’re browsing through your book shelves and come across this one? Go on, it’s worth it just for that alone.

So, you could create your own naff Valentine’s menu, or create something wonderful and romantic. Either way, it should be memorable, and hopefully very tasty! Enjoy!

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Glass cake stand to show off your creations

I’ve written many times about how much shopping I do at Not On the High Street, as it really does have unusual and unique gifts for pretty much everyone on my list. Not to mention a few things for myself finding their way into the basket! And now its sale has started, so the temptation is even higher. Here’s a roundup of the best bargains on offer for foodies:

1. There are some great cocktail kits in a box in the sale, from margaritas to cosmopolitans. Not a massive reduction at 10% but these are a good looking gift, a bit of fun, and will feel incredibly decadent to receive!

2. I’ve written many times about how useful tea towels are, for all kinds of purposes other than the original intended one. There are some very highbrow literary ones in the sale at half price, spanning D H Lawrence to Oscar Wilde.

3. For the mini gourmets, the personalised kids aprons will help to make them feel really special in the kitchen, which might be another reason for them to want to get involved. There are four different designs available, so something suitable for everyone.

4. I know a lot of people are still surrounded by lots of snow and ice, so it’s hard to think of warm, sunny days and heading out on picnics. But if you want to be prepared, not to mention green, then the eco picnic set could be a good advance purchase. There are also some funky Thermos flasks in the sale, to help keep something cool and delicious completely cool.

5. I got a glass cake stand last year, and I love it. If you’ve got a keen baker, then the stand in the sale is really nice. It’s also reduced by 40% and is now just £15.

Just a few things for the foodies! Try not to get yourself too distracted by everything else!

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I am not a big fan of sales, but only when I have to rummage around a real shop. Online, it’s obviously a doddle in comparison, particularly when hunting for something with a specific theme. Here are some not very sensible suggestions for a foodie who doesn’t take it all too seriously from Getting Personal’s sale.

1. A Fire Bucket BBQ

Fire Bucket BBQ

 Of course this is not for a serious BBQ king or queen, but just for a fun, easy to carry around BBQ for impromptu gatherings, on the beach or otherwise. Although probably not in the current weather in the UK. One day, the sun will return. Reduced by 10% to £26.96

2. Kid’s Recipe File

Kid's own recipe file

The more involved kids are in the kitchen the more likely they are to like their food, even love their food, and be adventurous in their choices. Giving them a file to keep their own fave recipes in may help encourage a lifetime’s love of food, not to mention hoarding! Now half price at £4.98.

3. The Magical Self Baking Birthday Cake Tin

The self bake birthday cake

I love this, although it will take a bit of prep and work. Imagine if you give this to the foodie in your life? Not only do you get to watch their face as the cake pops out after they’ve poured in the raw ingredients, they also get a cake that you’ve baked just for them. That’s truly a gift. Now half price at £4.98.

So, none of these are going to win gourmet prizes anywhere, and are just a bit of fun, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be appreciated!

I love this time of year, but it does cause me some stress. I always make a proper birthday cake for MGG’s birthday, and have worked my way through a few cake decorating books. I’m no expert, whatsoever, but prepared to give it a go. So these five are a combination of ones I’ve used so far, and ones I always look at and think, maybe, one day!

1. No Time Party Cakes – I started with this one, loved the title, thought this would be the book for me. I worked through a few, but by the time I got to the fairy castle (and what little girl isn’t going to ask for this at some point) I was beginning to think I had misunderstood the title. I think I came to the conclusion on quite a few it meant no time to do anything else! That said, the designs are great for kids, and if you don’t get too ambitious a good source.

An alternative to the caterpillar cake

2. 50 Easy Party Cakes – this is the one I’m working from today, in an attempt to replicate the cover cake, and I did a cake for someone else from here too. There is a great variety of cakes, and actually these have not been too bad at all. I really love the kitten and ball of wool, just waiting for a request for this one!

3. Celebrate With A Cake: A Step by Step Guide to Creating 15 Memorable Cakes - Dr T bought me this one, he obviously has greater faith in my abilities than I have in my own! It’s the next level up and I aspire to some of these, they are truly beautiful. Thankfully, I’d already done the castle before I got this book, and before MGG had seen it, as the one in this book is truly spectacular.

4. Romantic Cakes by Peggy Porschen – it feels like Peggy is the pinnacle of fabulous, pretty, romantic cake decorating, and these are really the sorts of cakes I fantasise about turning out for an afternoon tea on a sunny lawn. This book moves you from every romantic occasion, from Valentine’s Day through to full on wedding cakes, which I think is beyond where I’ll end up, but I like looking at the pictures and dreaming. If you are more competent, then I would guess either this book is already in your possession, or most definitely on a wish list somewhere! Drop more hints!

5. Seriously Naughty Cakes by Debbie Brown - just to show cakes are not just for kids, or weddings, these are saucy additions to the cake decorator’s art! From mooning out of cars through to cleavages to make Jordan jealous and topless sunbathing, this really will give you some interesting ideas. To be honest, I would think having a roly-poly stripagram cake may be better than the real thing turning up! Not one to leave around for the kiddies to pick up though. Not till they turn 18 maybe!

I get a bit better each year, and as I only pretty much practice once a year then it’s no surprise I’m not making really quick progress on improving! I will keep you posted on how the stable comes along. But if I post pictures of a train cake, you have your answer!

Gadgets are go this Christmas!

I am not sure why, but there aren’t so many foodie gift lists come out of the UK, most seem to come out of the US. It’s possibly down to the fact they use the word more, but then I’m not sure what the English (UK) alternative is, as gourmet, epicure and gourmand always feel a little bit more elitist, a bit more out of reach. Anyway, whatever the linguistic differences, the list on Health.com was great, and here are my UK alternatives to their Ultimate Foodie Gift Guide.

1. I loved the idea of the Apple Tree to Be, a great gift for a keen gardener or allotment keeper, a healthy eater, or just for that person you never have a clue what to buy them. For a British alternative, try the Miniature Apple by Trees Direct or a Bramley Apple Tree from Trees2MyDoor, which would be a great gift for a cook or home baker.

2.Whilst I can see that this scrapes into a healthy foodie gifts on the basis of the health benefits of garlic, really the Chef’n Garlic Zoom is just a great gizmo for the kitchen. Given that it’s just under £8 on Amazon, it would make a great stocking filler for anyone really, even for a serious cook, just for a laugh. I would probably make this my top foodie gadget for under £10 this Christmas.

3. Not sure if the health benefits of gingerbread are well documented, but missing parts Gingerbread Men may make you laugh, which is good for your health. Your gingerbread man could end up headless before you get to him, but at least you’ll know he’s “armless”. Sorry, bit early for panto, but cute gift for kids and homebakers. I love that these are called ABC Cookie Cutters, as in already been chewed!

4. Sadly, I can’t find a UK source for the Ebelskiver Filled-Pancake Pan, which is a real shame. These are apparently a real delicacy in their native Denmark, and they look delightful. Should you be passing a branchof Williams Sonoma anytime soon, they have a great one. The rest of us, well, we’ll have to campaign for Williams Sonoma to open up over here! We’ve got Anthropologie now, surely this should be the next import?

5. Perfect for coffee lovers with an eco-conscience, I Am Not a Paper Cup looks just like a proper take out cup, but can be used time and time again. Save the planet, still get good coffee. Perfect.

6. The Cook or Be Cooked Wii game is not available here in the UK. Buy a decent cookbook instead.

7. Growing your own herbs is brilliant and so worthwhile. There are all kinds of options for this, from pretty windowsill growing versions, through to the high tec approach of the Aero Garden. What seeds you add in is up to you.

8. The lunchskins are not available in the UK, but the principle of using less plastic at lunchtime is good. I love the bright coloured tiffin tin that John Lewis have, which would allow you to have several lovely courses at lunchtime without them getting mixed up.

9. The Breville Smart Oven looks like a perfect bachelor pad gadget, and lots of pre-settings mean it’s perfect for non-cooks and gadget geeks alike. Again, not available here yet, so maybe one to add to Santa’s list for next year.

10. I like the sound of The Pioneer Woman Cooks, a cookbook from self-proclaimed accidental country girl, Ree Drummond. Cook up Cowboy Calzones and Cheese Grits for a very, very different take on Christmas lunch.

11. This is something I could do with, as I always get the amount wrong so I would be grateful for a spaghetti measure. The Joseph Joseph one is funky looking and neat, and a good gift for under £10.

12. For seriously accurate cutting, dicing, slicing and julienning fruit and veg, then they need a good mandoline, and the De Buyer is the one recommended by Health.com. Four interchangeable blades give them the ability to even do waffle and crinkle cuts. Fancy!

13. I wish there was something like the EcoVine organic wine club membership but sadly not. The best bet in the UK is Vintage Roots, who specialise only in organic wine. Order them a bottle once a month.

14. Glow Gluten Free Cookies are not available here, but there are plenty of good gluten free goodies now on offer throughout the UK. M&S have a whole gluten-free hamper this Christmas, which would be great for those who don’t normally get such tasty treats. Or try Gower Cottage for gluten free brownies, chocolate loveliness without the gluten!

So, the term healthy has perhaps been applied a bit loosely, but I really like a lot of these ideas. Worth adding to your own Christmas wishlist, or help solve your gift buying problems for difficult foodies! Happy shopping!