The London Look

My bff has set a challenge on her blog and what kind of friend would I be not to contribute?! That, and there's a prize at stake... The question asked was 'what is the London look?'. For those of you in England, you'll know the (REALLY annoying) Revlon advert feat. Kate Moss pouting into the camera saying 'get the London look'. I have always wondered what on earth that means. You would too if you've ever wandered around Soho of a Saturday night... I fear that this isn't the blog to detail that London look!

Initially I figured I'd cook something. But I wasn't sure I could describe food as being from London. England, yes, but London specifically? Not so sure. So I pondered a while as to why it is I love living in London so much and what is it that makes it such a fantastic place. And I have come to the conclusion that it's the parks. It's a huge city so of course there's all the usual great things such as fantastic restaurants, amazing markets, shops to suit every whim and more bars and pubs than you could ever hope to get to in a lifetime. But what's so fantastic is that, amidst all the hustle and bustle, there are literally hundreds of parks.

I did a bit of research and it turns out that London is one the greenest capital cities on earth, with more than 600 garden squares, 148 parks and gardens,122 heaths, commons and greens, 16 city farms, 8 Royal Parks and even 1 historic battlefield (in Barnet). Now, I have no idea what the difference between a park, heath, common and green is, but I can assure you that London parks are worth a visit.

I'm not one for frequenting the Royal parks, amazing as they are, purely on the grounds that they're actually quite a way away from our flat. I used to live in Crouch End, before JJ and I moved in together, and as I was flat sharing with 2 other guys, things were a little on the cramped side! So I will always have fond memories of the long walks JJ and I used to take, meandering through Waterlow park, down into Highgate and across Hampstead Heath, taking in the view from Parliament Hill. Just stunning. Of course the motivation for such a long walk was cake! Gail's in Hampstead makes the most unashamedly rich chocolate cake that even I can't quite eat a whole slice of. It's immense.

On our long weekend a couple of weeks ago, JJ and I decided to pop up the road to Waterlow park again as it's such a gem. It's on the edge of Highgate Cemetery too, which is the final resting place of many famous individuals, most notably Karl Marx, but also Douglas Adams (the author of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), Alexander Litvinenko (Russian dissident, famously murdered by poisoning in London in 2006), George Eliot (author) and a clutch of Rossettis. We have yet to go in (you have to pay and yes, we are that cheap) but from the street you get a glimpse of the stunning Gothic tombs and buildings.

In Waterlow park, it's just incredible to think that you're in the middle of such a noisy and busy city. London time seems to go that much faster than the rest of England and having such a haven close at hand (and you'll find most Londoners have an equivalent) is just what is needed to stop you from loosing it when you've been barged on the underground one too many times! Londoners are not on the whole all that friendly... Especially at rush hour. So this is, to me, the London look. A place to escape without actually having to do battle with public transport or roads.

This bee is just too cute. It's covered in pollen from rummaging around in the flower! The lavender was swarming with them - that'll be some good tasting honey.

Rosy xx

Cupcakes

What a weekend! I'm so exhausted but it was well worth the effort. I hosted my friend Laura's birthday party, with an Alice in Wonderland theme. We lucked out with the weather (as it's been utterly miserable in the UK this summer) and it was held in the garden, which was full of hanging lanterns and playing card bunting. We made items to dot about the garden to represent some of the main characters, so there was a smile hung in one of the trees, a hookah pipe and the mad hatter's hat. Our neighbour's cat even decided to join us!

The food was an afternoon tea, so cucumber sandwiches (in the shape of tea pots! too cute) and jam tarts, as well as the birthday girl's cake...

I’m definitely no master of cupcakes – sugar craft isn’t really my thing as I just don’t have the patience – but I love how a bit of piping and a cute flower can make a simple sponge simply irresistible. And on that note, I always used to use a classic sponge recipe for cupcakes but found them slightly greasy. So I turned to the good ol’ US of A for inspiration and, more specifically, Magnolia Bakery. Where else? This is their recipe and I have to say I infinitely prefer this recipe to a classic sponge. I used their icing for the Christening cupcakes (shown below) and it was very good. For the Alice in Wonderland cupcakes I attempted a swiss meringue buttercream - it turned out well but after tasting it, I decided that I couldn't eat a large amount of it so switched to my fail safe recipe shown below. I think the swiss meringue buttercream would work well on a large cake but I just couldn't imagine it on a cupcake.

As always with baking, have all your ingredients at room temperature and don't open the oven for as long as you can resist!

Vanilla Cupcakes

Adapted from Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

345g Plain Flour
3 tsp Baking Powder

pinch salt

230g Unsalted butter at room temperature

400g Caster sugar

4 eggs at room temperature

240ml milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F/170C.
Line two 12-cup tins with cupcake papers.
In a small bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. This timing will vary depending on the size of cupcakes you opt for. Mine only took about 12-15 mins (alothough I don't have a timer so don't hold me to that!) as I was using mini cases.
Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

For the icing, simply use twice the weight of icing sugar to unsalted butter (I used 230g butter and 460g icing sugar). Beat them thoroughly with a pinch of salt and a good teaspoon of vanilla, plus a tablespoon of milk. Colour as desired and pipe onto the tops of the cakes.

For the decoration, I cut out flowers from sugarpaste and shaped them using the contours of an egg box. I cut out little discs and piped 'eat me' onto them, made little toadstools and white roses. Then, for added Alice in Wonderland reference, I half painted the white roses red. Almost too pretty to eat! These ones were for Lydia's christening. I used the same sized flower cutter and piped an L on little white discs. Very easy but effective!

Rosy xx

Summer Fest - Spiced Red Plum, Ginger and Rhubarb Relish

I read about this year's Summer Fest on the White on Rice Couple's blog and as it so happened, I had plans to cook up a plum and rhubarb relish this weekend anyway, so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and join in the super summer food fest fun (say that 20 times fast)!

On our trip to Borough Market on Saturday, we picked up what turned out to be an incredibly fatty and overpriced hunk of pork belly. I adore roast pork belly and I'd been wanting an excuse to try out the Ottolenghi recipe for ages, so this weekend seemed like a good time. The meat was delicious but I've definitely learnt a few lessons - the way they cooked it is massively over complicated for a domestic kitchen and rubbing on minced garlic then roasting for 3 hours leads to inedible pan juices. So so acrid. Not to mention wasting a whole bottle of wine... So anyway, I'm not going to give you the recipe as is because I think it needs some major tweaking, but I shall definitely persevere - if anyone has any tips for how to achieve the incredible crackling on top and the super soft meat underneath, please do let me know!

So the pork was fine, but the success story was the relish. Oh, it's good. And I don't like rhubarb. It's sweet and sticky with the plums, but the rhubarb tartness cuts through it and makes it the perfect pairing for a fatty cut like belly pork. The star anise, ginger and cinnamon give it an oriental (or JJ thinks more Christmasy) twist plus the slight heat of the chilli adds a great depth of flavour. I'm sure this would work equally well with any number of other roasted meats - I can imagine it with something fairly robust like duck or something even gamey like pheasant. Might try pan fried duck later this week... Sounds awesome! It will keep in a sealed jar for 1-2 weeks.
I'm probably guessing this would make a better autumnal dish than mid summer, but the UK's not really feeling that summery at the mo anyway! Actually, can you get rhubarb in the autumn? Spot the novice gardener!

Spiced Red Plum, Ginger and Rhubarb Relish

(Adapted from Ottolenghi, the Cookbook)

5 red plums, stoned and cut into quarters

1 red chilli, halved and seeded

2 cinnamon sticks

1 star anise

100ml red wine vinegar (we only had a little left so ended up being mostly white wine vinegar which worked just fine)

200g caster sugar

4 stalks rhubarb cut into 3cm lengths

2" knob of ginger, very thinly sliced and then cut into tiny strips

Heat the oven to 150C/Gas mark 2.

Place the plums and chilli in a heavy based saucepan and add the cinnamon, star anise, vinegar and half the sugar. Stir well, bring to the boil and boil gently for 25-30 mins, stirring occasionally. The plums should have a jam-like consistency. To check this, chill a plate and place a teaspoon full of the chutney on it. Run your finger through it and if it stays apart it's ready. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

While the plums are simmering away, place the rhubarb, ginger and remaining sugar in an ovenproof dish. Rub them together with your hands and place in the oven. Cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the rhubarb is tender. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Combine the plums and rhubarb and mix well. Remove the chilli and transfer the chutney to a jar. Either serve straight away or store in the fridge where it will keep for a week or two.

Enjoy! Rosy xx

Borough Market Part 3

It took me over 18 months of living in London before I went to Borough and it was love at first sight. As this was JJ and my long weekend in the city we decided to have a Borough market splurge - spending the morning picking out cured meats and cheeses, breads, wine and produce was heaven! And this was the lunch we had once we got home! So good. A bit of the raw milk Stilton close up...

In fact, just about to have a little more of the Stilton for lunch today! Sooooo creamy.

A brownie from the ultimate brownie pile...

Mmmmmm, brownie goodness... And just how cute is that strawberry!

So that's it on the Borough Market front! Although the post I have planned for tomorrow features some of the food bought at Borough, but it's part of the Summer Fest, a summer food blogging event that I'm so excited to be getting involved in! After that, I've got some great pics of our North London wanderings yesterday.

So yes, it would appear that new camera + super fun weekend in London with reasonable weather = muchos posting!

Rosy xx

Borough Market Part 2

Urrrrggghhhh, SO full after a frankly awesome meal at Hix's Oyster Bar and Chop House. Wow. Just wow. There are no words. Just amazing!

Luckily I have more pics from Borough so I don't have to worry about producing interesting chat when uber soporific from food. Borough is so full of incredible photos opportunities - this is a small sample of our photos, if you can believe it. Um, yeeeaaah, this weekend has thus far turned into a good excuse to stuff ourselves silly with all the foodie delights that London has to offer. But eh, what're you gonna do? When bread looks this good...

And this salami! We bought some for lunch - it's from 'Basque pig charcuterie' and was delish.

Aaaahhhh, Brindisa. I believe it was the Times that said they stock the best chorizo outside of Spain and it's true. We bought a LOT. Sitting in the freezer waiting for chorizo-themed inspiration.

We also bought some of this ham. Oh so good. I'm running out of words for utterly delicious! Just trust me on this - most things in Borough are delish. Of course, I haven't tried them all, but after this morning's expedition, I'm definitely a substantial step closer!

Flowers....

And chillies! Purple chillies. JJ was worried about the state of his precious chillies after seeing these but I'm sure his tlc will pay off soon.

Mmmmmmm, cheeeeeese - I would be lying if I said I didn't drool a little at the sight of all this cheese.

And it took a lot of effort not to upload about 20 pics of this Stilton. It really is fantastic - such incredible flavour! Probably from the unpasteurised milk as I've never tasted Stilton like this before.

The sweet part - custard tarts...

...and piles of white chocolate.......lemon and chocolate tarts......

.....and the biggest pile of brownies in the world. I'm seriously considering asking them how much it would be to literally dive into them head first. But then I might potentially be quite ill afterwards. And chocolate is never an easy stain to remove from clothes! I did however sample them and yes, they are as good as they look!

And I'm not done yet! Coming up there's photos of the lunch we had after our Borough Market gorging sesh - I'll post those tomorrow though. Night! Rosy xx

Borough Market Part 1

Oh how I adore Borough... Have to physically restrain myself from diving into piles of produce. Here's some of the veg stands...
I've never tried these but my, do they look good! (NB I re-read this post after publishing and realised it read as though I'd never eaten sweetcorn before. I was referring to the funny shaped tomatoes! For the record, I have eaten sweetcorn before. I promise!)

These are blue footed mushrooms and would make such a lush risotto - but we didn't get any this time. Not on the weekend menu so didn't go too crazy on the impulse purchases!

Carrots! Such a good photos - thank you JJ!

We did get some of this delish looking rhubarb - it's to go with the pork belly we also picked out. Have a roast pork belly with plum, rhubarb and ginger relish recipe I've been wanting to try for ages and so we're giving it a whirl tomorrow. Now that I've figured out how to upload pics from the camera (they were saved in raw format, silly me!) I'm hoping to be able to blog about that tomorrow. Provided the final dish looks vaguely reasonable of course!

Anyway, have lots more photos but have to dash as we're off to Hix Chop House for dinner. Yaaayyyyy! Wow, I'm going to need to run for a week after this weekend to stand a chance of shedding the extra pounds gained from such gluttony. But I shall worry about that on Tuesday!

Rosy xx