To Macaron or not to Macaron?

Macarons. 

In my opinion, not only are macarons the best thing to eat but they're the best things to look at (gotta love those pastel colours) and touch (smooooOOOoooth shell baby). I bought Kate some for a birthday a while back and I was gutted I didn't order extra for me : (

But i've always thought they would be THE hardest thing to make, they are the epitome of french baking after all. But they're not as scary as i thought!

I've been practising making meringues on and off for a few months now and I am free of my fear of anything containing egg whites! Personally, I think that's how my first attempt at macarons (salted caramel if you're interested) looked and tasted perfect- I wasn't afraid. Always believe that fear can infiltrate the end bake. 

I chose salted caramel because I'm addicted to salted caramel. For the filling I didn't want anything like butter creamy, i thought it would be too heavy. I had the idea of whipping homemade caramel. Essentially it is buttercream but mousse like and lighter. The butter in the caramel whips fantastically. 

Topped the macarons with a little sprinkle of caster sugar and used a wee bit of ivory colour gel (gel is by far the best way to colour anything) just to make them look a little better. 

Here they are:

And they tasted bloody yummy too!

my life in food

So it seems Liam has been beating me on the blogging front! He is foodie. He is organised. And he is kicking my ass. So, like a small child throwing a tantrum, I thought I'd make a post of some food I've eaten lately. In no particular order:

In a Finnish BBQ Hut at Pot a Doodle Do wigwam site:

Fuck yes, those are bacon-wrapped olives and harissa lamb kebabs. And Guinness burgers, which fell through the grill.

At the Forth Hotel pub in Newcastle:



Bacon, avocado and Dolcelatte burger? One of the best burgers I've ever had.  

Bloody Mary please.

At home, making dinner for friends:

BBQ shredded beef, homemade coleslaw, salad and potato salad.

And just for the hell of it, some recipes I've enjoyed lately:
Healthy chocolate coconut macaroons (so amazing)
Brown rice fishcakes with hot sauce mayo
Roasted broccoli cheddar soup
Jam crumble slices - I made this with this easy yummy fig jam
Green rice with paprika and pine nuts - the compound butter for this is really useful

Get cooking, Liam - you'll love these recipes. Not so bad for you either! x

CPB. Event 1.

So kids! Last week was the first Chimney Pot Bake event! And i must say, it went rather swimmingly :)
Both myself and Becca both made a carrot cake and chocolate cake each. That was the only stipulation, one had to contain carrot, the other chocolate. Whatever else was to go in the cakes, was purely from our inspiration.

I knew that I wanted to do one of my cakes as large cupcake, I just thought it would set me apart from the crowd having something smaller. After figuring out that my chocolate cake was more of a show stopper as whole and not to be divided up into smaller cakes, the decision was final. Carrot cake was to become, carrot CUPcakes.

It was a fairly bog standard recipe. I used olive oil instead of the recommended vegetable as i think it makes a lighter cake, mine also included crushed walnuts. No raisons please. (I still can't stomach them anywhere else apart from granola/muesli). They were topped with a deliciously light orange cream cheese icing and an caramelised carrot wafer.

FUNNY STORY ACTUALLY.

There was quite a nice sense of healthy competition between the two of us competing in the blind bake off. Becca and i helped each other out while baking, comparing recipes and whatnot. BUT, when it came to our 'finishing touches' for our cakes, we realised we had the exact same recipe for caramelising carrots. Ever since becoming obsessed with Ina Garten in my early years of baking, i've been a fan of decorating things of what is in the actually food. So i chose to slice wafer thin slices of carrots and cook them in caramel and leave them to air dry so that they became carrot shards. Perfect for topping a carrot cupcake. Guess what kids, BECCA DID THE SAME. It was quite a LOL moment actually, we had the exactly same recipe, whereas i left mine to dry into shards... Becca curled hers into spirals around a wooden spoon.

So, after the votes were tallied. Mine and Becca's Carrot Cakes tied, 2:2. She had opted for a traditional double layer cake with a white chocolate ganache centre, covered in cream cheese icing. HOLY HELL, it was MOIST and YUMMY.

Next up was our chocolate cakes.

Again, i decided to think outside the box and do a flour-less cake, partly to show off and partly because after the pure amount of cake.. i thought it might be nice to have something a little lighter.

The chocolate cakes divided much opinion. My Cloud Cake was amazingly light but at the same time, dense with deep dark chocolate flavour, topped with soft chocolate flecked whipped cream. Becca's was dense, moist and covered with an delectable rich chocolate ganache.

I won 3:1 :)

So, after all that we learnt that we need to advertise the event more. Although the cakes were a triumph, we really didn't get the opportunity to talk about the degree show.

Ah well, we will be doing this soon again, i think with cheesecake and tarts.

Both of our chocolate cakes in the centre. The carrot cakes on the side :)

The Chimney Pot Bake.

I know that the sound of a Chimney Pot Bake evokes the notion of a charred bake.. in some small tagine style cookware., but what i'm talking about is something quite new and, for me, rather exciting.

Over the past few weeks, i'm positive that we've all been fully engrossed in watching The Great British Bake Off, and i know that for the likes of those CDWM and GBBO fans, we've all joked around with our friends and peers about a cook/bake off style event. Well fellow bloggers.. It's happening to me, this Sunday. 

It started off as a light-hearted conversation between me and my friend, Rickie.. He was adamant his housemate, Becca, was a better baker and could "do really good cakes". 

Pffffffffffftttttttt. I say! Those who have been reading this blog for a while, know i'm a good baker. So after meeting Becca it became apparent that the only way to truly settle this would be in a Bake-Off, a Blind Bake-Off. 

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

It's here, that the seemingly easy task of baking a cake becomes a little more interesting. Becca and Rickie are both final year Graphic Illustrators, looking to put on quite the show to showcase their work. After one too many Tiki-Style cocktails and whiskeys & cokes (i'm drinking 10year Yamazaki, and suggest you all do the same), the three of us became inspired to create a fundraising event for R&B's Degree Show*. 

So, we'll be doing a baking event. That will include the most amazing cakes, cooked by myself and Becca, a blind bake-off event, art, coffee, music and wine (there's always wine). The only thing that i need to contribute are my mad skillz and my mad coffee appliances. Sunday is more of a trial style event. None of us are really sure how it's all going to piece ('scuse the pun :p) together in the end, so that's why were doing on Sunday at R&B's amazing house in Chimney Pot Park, Salford. I will update with news as and when, but i think it would be cool to use PicnicPostcards as one of our media forums :)

This is logo piece that we'll be using, pretty cool, huh?

ALSO, GOOD NEWS: the first bake will be The Carrot Cake and Chocolate Cake. Yummy!

*Don't worry kids, i'm going to cut back on the art talk, i'm out of depth and will just be talking about cakes.

The Smoothie.

So after Kate's last visit to Manchester, our food conversation was focused on The Smoothie.

We all love a good smoothie every now and then and it's easy to see why; a few of your 5-a-day in one small drink, that fills you and makes you feel good. I've dabbled in making smoothies before, and was completely convinced that it was a fad and i promptly stopped. After Kate reassured me of how easy it actually was, and to follow the basic rules, I decided to give it a go (plus my blender needed an excuse to be used again). I have a delicious heavenly fruity smoothie pretty much everyday now.

So here are a few guidelines to get even the novice of smoothie makers, making something delicious:

1: Do you want it creamy or fruity?
This isn't some kind of innuendo, but merely what liquid do you want to add, dairy or juice?
This kind of sets up the tone of smoothie. If you decide on yoghurt, ice cream or milk then you don't really want a lot of strong citrus flavours (Orange and milk, hell no! Milk and Strawberries, hell yes!)
If you decide on juice, i always tend to go with orange or apple. Usually from Innocent because i think the taste is closer to freshly pressed than others, and it's always on offer in a supermarket.

2: Banana?
To banana or not to banana? That is the question. I always add one in as it gives much needed texture and "smoothness", which is so important to the drink. I know some people don't like the taste, but once it's blended you really cannot taste it. If you're totally against it, you can substitute a hand full of grapes or even a ripe avocado. Kate and I recently discovered that green things generally don't add any flavour to the smoothie, just much needed minerals and vitamins, but avocado is basically the green savoury cousin of the banana, so try it!

3: Fruit, fruit, fruit.
People are so unsure about what to put into a smoothie and how much. I go by a handful of each fruit +1 banana/avocado + enough liquid to make it a consistency that i like. The most important thing to think about is how the fruits compliments one another, think about eating them in a salad rather than in a drink. Would you eat strawberries with say, um, kiwi? Maybe, but i'd much rather have my strawberries with all the other berries and keep the kiwi to the pineapple and mango combo.

4. Green is the answer, sometimes.
Like previously mentioned, green stuff doesn't really taste of anything. Once you have your flavour combo sorted, add a handful of spinach, a few broccoli florets or even some kale. Mmm, yummy iron and protein rich smoothie!

5. Ice. Ice. Baby.
Okay guys, one thing. YOU DO NOT NEED TO ADD ICE TO SMOOTHIES. It waters your smoothie down and can lead to yucky, ugly smoothie separation. Easiest way to get around this? Freeze your fruit. I buy whatever looks good at the market and whatever is on offer in the shops. Take a big bunch home, chop it, lay it in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze. Once frozen, it's divided into mini bags for ease. I haven't met a fruit yet, that I can't freeze. Plus, it's hella cheaper preparing your fruit this way. It also gets you making them even in your quickest rush, if you just have to empty some bags into a blender, add some juice and a banana instead of chopping everything.. you'll find youself making them more and more.

6. Additions. 
Above is the base of your smoothie, but you can add other odd things. Breakfast smoothies are good with oats and honey. Maybe some nutella or peanut butter with that strawberry and banana? Seeds, carrot, protein powder, wheatgrass, why not, go wild!

A few basic recipes:
Here are my favourites that I love and make regularly. Enjoy! (quantities are handfuls and juice till a good not-too-thick feel)

Golden Smoothie
Banana, OJ, Mango, White grapes, Carrot

Solero Smoothie
Banana, AJ, OJ, Pineapple, Mango, Raspberry

Green Giant Smoothie
Avocado, AJ, Spinach, Blackberry, Strawberry

Peaches n' Cream Smoothie
Banana, Yoghurt, Milk, Peach, Apricot, Strawberry, Honey

4-berry Smoothie
Raspberry Sorbet, Cranberry Juice, Strawberry, Blackberry

Hope you enjoy!

Cornwall etc.

First my camera was stolen. Then it was broken. Now it's broken again. I have no luck at all with cameras. Luckily, I managed to borrow my Dad's camera to take away with me and stick my memory card in.

Chicken, pepper and spinach pizza.

Pints of local beer and cider outside a pub, writing postcards.

Sausages from the butcher next door, eggs bought from a stall at the side of the road and sourdough and blue cheese stuffed mushrooms.

Bouillabaise.

In the oven: Flourless Chocolate Brownie Cookies. They got mixed reviews so I cut the recipe down to 1/3, but they're flourless and use egg whites instead of the whole egg. Tons of sugar though.

Edited to add: I think I overmixed them - they've puffed up like meringues! Fail.

Edited again to add: That is the sugariest, most horrible mess I have ever made. My teeth hurt and they're in the bin.

Okay, so this blog is very late but oh well.

I went to Manhattan for christmas. It's the second time I've been and although the first time i was taken a back by the food, i was mainly eating at food chains, Starbucks and Pizza Parlours. Second time around i knew that i could find more. I wanted to immerse myself into the deli lifestyle of the modern New Yorker:

Apple Muffins in an organic bakery...

..that also made very delicious marshmallows.

Bakery. Boy, i love me some cake!

I bought a baguette from here whenever possible. It's beautiful.

This place is called Amy's Bread. She made cakes too!

But here is her bread! Amazing selection, all baked in store.

There's a deli called Dean & DeLuca. Buy a macaroon from them and go to heaven.