Morning all!
It is wet, cold and grey today, much as it has been for the last week. Or two, or three, in fact. In truth, it's really quite depressing! This is the time (and season, I feel) to surround yourself with as many friends as you possibly can, in order to enjoy their company and the shared body heat!! I plan on having a thanksgiving party soon, and treating my lovely American friends to a British twist on their home food. I have never celebrated thanksgiving before but it certainly seems like a wholesome sort of thing to do and as the days grow shorter and the darkness creeps in, I think it's safe to say that all of us crave a little piece of home; at least, I know I do.
Going home is one of the best things about holidays - my parents have a lovely old cottage in a very picturesque town and it's filled with childhood memories, dog fur and my (little) brother - the little has to go in brackets because whilst he is only 15, he is a man-mountain, pushing six foot with a goatee some of my friends will never be able to grow in their lives! We have a golden lab called Muffin - small and silly, and then there's my favourite thing about the whole house - the Aga!!
For those of you who don't know, an aga is a giant gas fuelled oven which you not only use for cooking, it heats the whole house! It has two settings - hot and really hot. Moving in to my flat meant the discovery of gas ring cooking, which I have to say is helpful, but some how a little less soulful than the giant green aga sitting at home. It does have its downsides, though, as my father discovered when trying unsuccessfully to cook my mother a 40th birthday cake (burnt edges and a soggy middle). 14 cakes later and an SOS message sent to the best cook we know, we had something to present at pudding eventually, after we'd stopped laughing over Dad's cremated baking.
Anyway, eventually I plan on posting the recipes for mustard and orange chicken pasta, chicken and bacon with a white wine and gorgonzola sauce and my mother's lasagne, but first let me exclaim over two food fuelled excursions: going to see Julie and Julia for the first time, and buying the American edition of Jamie's magazine.
Julie and Julia was charming. My flatmate and I went to see it on Sunday evening, via Peckhams (a gourmande's heaven if ever there was one) and bought a slab of Victoria sponge, a coffee and pecan muffin and a bottle of pink lemonade - all lovely and girly, like an afternoon picnic tucked up in the back of the cinema. The film itself was lovely - although Meryl Streep wore on me a little by the end (there are only so many exclamations in bad french I can take!) and the shots of Paris were beautiful. I was suffering from serious house envy. It was charming, entertaining, amusing and an all around feel-good film, although the ending lacked a little bite (pardon the pun). Certainly not a film to watch when hungry, however, as it is easily imagined that you could come out with a dangerous boeuf bourginon craving. Which reminds me, I must make that sometime.
Jamie's Magazine (Jamie Oliver the TV chef, is the Jamie in question) was a surprise find in WH Smith's, searching for reading material having been disappointed by this month's edition of Vogue. How glad I am that I was! The edition features family breakfasts, autumn treats, risottos, pies, burgers and cocktails. Oh, and also the ultimate guide to chilli! What more could anyone really want from a food magazine?
The next update I do will hopefully inundate you with recipes, as my French Culture lecture is creeping ever-closer. I recommend you go searching for your Autumn jumpers! Keep yourselves warm!
Oh, and if you're ever in need of quick cheer, I recommend 90s girl duo Salt 'n' Pepa - so bad it's good. Learn the lyrics and then play it loud - instant buzz!
Have happy days,
Love,
Eloise xxx
Tuesday 27 October 2009
Saturday 24 October 2009
Bacon, crumpets, and the perfect cup of tea.
Good afternoon, lovely people!
So, this post arises out a total change in sleeping habits - thanks go to the superb salsa party I went to last night, and subsequently the pouring rain that has kept me partially house bound (apart from a mild dose of mental defiency, which caused me to believe that going for a run in the rain, gale-force winds and freak hailstones would be a good idea.) In fact, the adrenaline rush was totally worth it, as was the hot shower afterwards. Discovering that my flatmate had left all the washing up for me and had eaten all the bread and sprinkled toast crumbs liberally over the countertop afterwards was not such a rush, especially as I have a bacon sandwich craving.
I duly raided my freezer, and discovered the crumpets I had stashed in there for, ironically, a rainy day! They are now being defrosted in my oven whilst I sit here with a cup of tea. A very entertaining article from the BBC provides insightr into George Orwell's perfect cup of tea: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3016342.stm. Have a look at this as well: http://www.booksatoz.com/witsend/tea/orwell.htm - evidently Mr. Orwell was a bit of a tea enthusiast. It's got to be a Brit thing...
Quotes, anyone?
There is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Letters and Social Aims
Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company. ~Author Unknown
Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage. ~Catherine Douzel
Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea. ~Author Unknown - my favourite!!
Is there no Latin word for Tea? Upon my soul, if I had known that I would have let the vulgar stuff alone. ~Hilaire Belloc
Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cozy, doesn't try it on. ~Billy Connolly
You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me. ~C.S. Lewis
Anyway, enough procrastination - now that I have toasted my crumpets, and fried my bacon and hav consumed both I can assure you that this is so much better than your average bacon sarnie! The slightly sweet doughie-ness of the crumpets goes so well with the salty bacon. If you're ever down in the dumps, please, please,give this a try - you'll be full, warm and contented in such a short space of time (and that's the best thing, this is so simple to do, you'll be a happy bunny in minutes.) Just don't do what I did, if you can help it, and have a craving for a bacon crumpet when said crumpets are frozen solid. Try to buy them fresh so you're not sat watching the oven defrost your crumpets for 40 minutes (like I had to!!) - in saying that though, crumpets tend to mould quickly so munch up fast.
In case you have been bacon-deprived all your life - (you poor wee waif)...
In a frying pan, melt a knob of butter over a high heat (you could use oil but butter lends itself so much better to bacon) and as soon as it is bubbling nicely throw in your rashers. You can use smoked or unsmoked, dependent on preference, but I find unsmoked to be the less salty option, which means that my blatent use of salted butter is somewhat justified, although unsalted is probably the better option. (At least, professionals seem to think so)
Bung your crumpets in the toaster to warm them through (the bacon provides the crispiness here). You can butter them if you wish, (I did, simply because I am a pie) and then one your bacon is cooked to perfection, slide a rasher on top of each crumpet.
Consume your creation. Greedily, appallingly; just shove it down and experience an all pervading sense of well being.
Warm, full and contented? I should think so too.
Happy eating!
Eloise xx
So, this post arises out a total change in sleeping habits - thanks go to the superb salsa party I went to last night, and subsequently the pouring rain that has kept me partially house bound (apart from a mild dose of mental defiency, which caused me to believe that going for a run in the rain, gale-force winds and freak hailstones would be a good idea.) In fact, the adrenaline rush was totally worth it, as was the hot shower afterwards. Discovering that my flatmate had left all the washing up for me and had eaten all the bread and sprinkled toast crumbs liberally over the countertop afterwards was not such a rush, especially as I have a bacon sandwich craving.
I duly raided my freezer, and discovered the crumpets I had stashed in there for, ironically, a rainy day! They are now being defrosted in my oven whilst I sit here with a cup of tea. A very entertaining article from the BBC provides insightr into George Orwell's perfect cup of tea: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3016342.stm. Have a look at this as well: http://www.booksatoz.com/witsend/tea/orwell.htm - evidently Mr. Orwell was a bit of a tea enthusiast. It's got to be a Brit thing...
Quotes, anyone?
There is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Letters and Social Aims
Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company. ~Author Unknown
Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage. ~Catherine Douzel
Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea. ~Author Unknown - my favourite!!
Is there no Latin word for Tea? Upon my soul, if I had known that I would have let the vulgar stuff alone. ~Hilaire Belloc
Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cozy, doesn't try it on. ~Billy Connolly
You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me. ~C.S. Lewis
Anyway, enough procrastination - now that I have toasted my crumpets, and fried my bacon and hav consumed both I can assure you that this is so much better than your average bacon sarnie! The slightly sweet doughie-ness of the crumpets goes so well with the salty bacon. If you're ever down in the dumps, please, please,give this a try - you'll be full, warm and contented in such a short space of time (and that's the best thing, this is so simple to do, you'll be a happy bunny in minutes.) Just don't do what I did, if you can help it, and have a craving for a bacon crumpet when said crumpets are frozen solid. Try to buy them fresh so you're not sat watching the oven defrost your crumpets for 40 minutes (like I had to!!) - in saying that though, crumpets tend to mould quickly so munch up fast.
In case you have been bacon-deprived all your life - (you poor wee waif)...
In a frying pan, melt a knob of butter over a high heat (you could use oil but butter lends itself so much better to bacon) and as soon as it is bubbling nicely throw in your rashers. You can use smoked or unsmoked, dependent on preference, but I find unsmoked to be the less salty option, which means that my blatent use of salted butter is somewhat justified, although unsalted is probably the better option. (At least, professionals seem to think so)
Bung your crumpets in the toaster to warm them through (the bacon provides the crispiness here). You can butter them if you wish, (I did, simply because I am a pie) and then one your bacon is cooked to perfection, slide a rasher on top of each crumpet.
Consume your creation. Greedily, appallingly; just shove it down and experience an all pervading sense of well being.
Warm, full and contented? I should think so too.
Happy eating!
Eloise xx
Friday 23 October 2009
The birth of a blog!
Well, hello there, darlings!
Welcome to my newest foray into the internet - blogging! I was sat down in the university library today, banging out an essay on linguistic semantics, when windows word processor asks me very sweetly if I would like a new page, or a new blog post. Now, I am nothing if not a stranger to reading blogs (many exciting posts from schoolfriends, various shabby-chic queens and of course "stuff white people like" have all been trawled in the wee hours), but it was the first time I had considered writing one of my own! And so I set to, and here we are - at Eloise-Likes-Food.blogger.com. I'm Eloise, by the way - and I'm very much a foodie. I'm currently studying French and Linguistics at University in Scotland, loving every moment of it. Well, I say studying - what I mean is that I write essays when I'm not surrounded by cookbooks trying to work out what will satisfy my current craving - be it a snack or a full-blown meal. (Despite working in a charming little coffee shop, I also try to do this on a budget - leftover pocket money for yet more cookbooks and things of the glittery variety, you see.)
Perhaps this blog could be seen as a long time coming - I realised a few weeks ago that since moving into my flat and having a beautifully fitted kitchen, that putting it to use was a worthy pastime. I was further inspired to domestic goddess-ness by the unearthing of my Nigella Lawson cookbooks, (Nigella Express and the aptly named How to be a Domestic Goddess) and all the newspaper and magazine cut-out recipes I get on a weekly basis from my mother - who also shares my love of food.
I hasten to add that I am not a glutton, although you'd be forgiven for thinking it, coming from a food blogger! No. There is much more to food than simply the eating thereof - shopping for the ingredients, assembling them and having some "kitchen-therapy", as well as entertaining friends over the weekend, or having a lazy, yet satisfying breakfast; knowing what to do with leftovers, and knowing what can be salvaged all combine to make good food not only enjoyable, but a wonderful way of life.
Now, this is an unformulated thing - updates will be sporadic, I warn you, but hopefully each time I post I'll have a few anecdotes and recipes to match. They may not be all my own creation, but there will usually be variations therein. Enjoying good food can't always be done on a budget, but I'll make amendments where appropriate! I truly hope you enjoy reading as much about the food I make as much as I know I'll enjoy writing about it.
I'll leave you with a personal recipe for this evening. This was something my mother used to make back in the days when I couldn't be trusted with the tin of golden syrup when making warm milk before bed; the ration of syrup to milk would be horrifying, I assure you.
300ml milk (whole or semi-skimmed work best)
1x 15 ml tablespoon of golden syrup
Sprinkling of cinnamon, or a cinnamon stick for stirring.
In a small pan, gently warm the milk (you don't want to boil it, it will smell eggy and unappealing) and slowly add the golden syrup, stirring until the tablespoon you dollop it into the pan with comes clean. Add the cinnamon to taste, and once you deduce how hot it is, pour it into a large mug and stagger off to bed. I discovered the grown up version of this the other day, when Prudence placed a bottle of Sailor Jerry rum beside me, and I had the mind to add a slug. The vanilla and lime flavours are delicious with the cinnamon and it makes a good night's sleep all the more attainable. Try this yourself and you'll see what I mean: sweet dreams in no time.
Ironically, I am being called away by food - dinner is upon me and I shall deliver my mother's tomato pasta sauce to you in no time.
Til then, keep warm, full and happy!
Love,
Eloise xx
Welcome to my newest foray into the internet - blogging! I was sat down in the university library today, banging out an essay on linguistic semantics, when windows word processor asks me very sweetly if I would like a new page, or a new blog post. Now, I am nothing if not a stranger to reading blogs (many exciting posts from schoolfriends, various shabby-chic queens and of course "stuff white people like" have all been trawled in the wee hours), but it was the first time I had considered writing one of my own! And so I set to, and here we are - at Eloise-Likes-Food.blogger.com. I'm Eloise, by the way - and I'm very much a foodie. I'm currently studying French and Linguistics at University in Scotland, loving every moment of it. Well, I say studying - what I mean is that I write essays when I'm not surrounded by cookbooks trying to work out what will satisfy my current craving - be it a snack or a full-blown meal. (Despite working in a charming little coffee shop, I also try to do this on a budget - leftover pocket money for yet more cookbooks and things of the glittery variety, you see.)
Perhaps this blog could be seen as a long time coming - I realised a few weeks ago that since moving into my flat and having a beautifully fitted kitchen, that putting it to use was a worthy pastime. I was further inspired to domestic goddess-ness by the unearthing of my Nigella Lawson cookbooks, (Nigella Express and the aptly named How to be a Domestic Goddess) and all the newspaper and magazine cut-out recipes I get on a weekly basis from my mother - who also shares my love of food.
I hasten to add that I am not a glutton, although you'd be forgiven for thinking it, coming from a food blogger! No. There is much more to food than simply the eating thereof - shopping for the ingredients, assembling them and having some "kitchen-therapy", as well as entertaining friends over the weekend, or having a lazy, yet satisfying breakfast; knowing what to do with leftovers, and knowing what can be salvaged all combine to make good food not only enjoyable, but a wonderful way of life.
Now, this is an unformulated thing - updates will be sporadic, I warn you, but hopefully each time I post I'll have a few anecdotes and recipes to match. They may not be all my own creation, but there will usually be variations therein. Enjoying good food can't always be done on a budget, but I'll make amendments where appropriate! I truly hope you enjoy reading as much about the food I make as much as I know I'll enjoy writing about it.
I'll leave you with a personal recipe for this evening. This was something my mother used to make back in the days when I couldn't be trusted with the tin of golden syrup when making warm milk before bed; the ration of syrup to milk would be horrifying, I assure you.
300ml milk (whole or semi-skimmed work best)
1x 15 ml tablespoon of golden syrup
Sprinkling of cinnamon, or a cinnamon stick for stirring.
In a small pan, gently warm the milk (you don't want to boil it, it will smell eggy and unappealing) and slowly add the golden syrup, stirring until the tablespoon you dollop it into the pan with comes clean. Add the cinnamon to taste, and once you deduce how hot it is, pour it into a large mug and stagger off to bed. I discovered the grown up version of this the other day, when Prudence placed a bottle of Sailor Jerry rum beside me, and I had the mind to add a slug. The vanilla and lime flavours are delicious with the cinnamon and it makes a good night's sleep all the more attainable. Try this yourself and you'll see what I mean: sweet dreams in no time.
Ironically, I am being called away by food - dinner is upon me and I shall deliver my mother's tomato pasta sauce to you in no time.
Til then, keep warm, full and happy!
Love,
Eloise xx
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