Heart Shaped Eggs

Too late for Valentines Day but too cute not to share. Click here to find out how to do it.

Disco-tastic red velvet cake

How can you make a red velvet cake better, to be honest I didn't think you could until I saw this video. Just add a bit of sparkle!

The video was created for Kate Spade's colour of the month (red in January) by Ely Kim, a self-described art director, dancer and healer based in Brooklyn, New York.

Click on the link below...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9upjduUXs7s

Almond Shortbread

Using the same recipe from the other day I decided to make some more shortbread. Sean's spent ages fixing my iMac this weekend so it seemed only fair to give him something in return. Nothing says 'thank you' better than calories.

This time I added in a glug of almond essence, they taste awesome even if I do say so myself :-)

Baking Made Easy - Valentine's Day Hightlights

Just in case you were too busy sitting on the sofa snogging and missed this weeks episode then it's well worth catching up on iPlayer. The mini tiramisu cakes, macaroons and savoury muffins all looked ace and something I think I'll give a try (although the idea of making macaroons still fills me with dread and I probably will never muster the confidence to do it).

Image via www.helenajiskrova.cz

Culinary Cupid

Sean was on a late shift so I wanted to cook him a special breakfast and lunch and send him off to work with more than just an average sarnie.

My Eggs Benedict was ok, Sean spotted the ready-made hollandaise sauce hidden at the back of the fridge (fail), I over cooked the eggs (fail), but I toasted the muffins to perfection (result). To be honest I'm not a morning person and Sean is the King of Poached Eggs so I think I did pretty well for a first attempted. Lunch was much better as I managed to cook his Filet Mignon rare and artistically stacked the chips and mushrooms with the precision of Gary Rhodes (well sort of).

I sent him off to work with two pretty good looking baguettes and a bundle of homemade shortbread. Not sure if will make his shift go any quicker but hopefully ease the pain a little.

When life gives you lemons...

...make Lemon Shortbread
I followed an extremely easy shortbread recipe from my beloved Canteen cookbook. As always I had to add something extra, in this case I wanted to make lemon shortbread like the ones I remembered my Mum making for my birthday parties when I was a kid.

A pretty successful attempted, although they were probably the thickest shortbread ever! :-)

...make Luscious Lemon Drizzle Cake
A great recipe from Woman's Hour on Radio 4. It was very tasty but a little bit of a 'cooking fail' on my part as my decision to replace icing sugar with caster sugar to make the topping was a foolish as instead of creating a nice runny icing I made a syrup (yeah, I know, it's obvious now I look back on it) which soaked into the cake and although make it extra moist and lemony it also make it tricky to eat. It's a great recipe though and I will so it again, probably!

The Wet Fish Cafe

Ever since I first visited West Hampstead I have loved The Wet Fish Cafe, it was once a classic 'wet fish shop' in the heart of the busy high street. Now it has been transformed into a popular place for brunch, cake and coffee and dinner, inside is beautiful with the original 1930s Art Deco wall tiles and old signage.

As an anniversary/valentines treat we went on Saturday night and indulged in a tapas platter to share with chorizo in port, olives, baked goats cheese with orange blossom honey and a cucumber salad. This was followed with confit duck with swede & celeriac gratin, roast quince & jus for me and lamb rump with chestnut crust, dauphinoise potatoes & braised red cabbage for Mat. All were beautifully cooked, and the portions are always a great size (something you often find not to be the case in many London restaurants!).

We couldn't resist the desserts either, a simple but yummy cheesecake and warm chocolate cake with orange ice cream, the latter being Mat's choice and I think he may have choose that as I cant stand the orange and chocolate combo (weird i know!).

One of the best finds of the night was the red wine, a fruity and well priced South African called Goats do Roam (a brilliant name too!).

I heart cupcakes - Lola's

No shopping trip is complete without a stop off for a tea and cake, especially if the cake in question is a red velvet cupcake from the Lola cafe in Selfridges - scrummy!

My friend Sarah couldn't wait to get stuck in to her coconut one and didn't even wait to let me get a picture before she had sampled a huge mouthful.

J+A Cafe, Clerkenwell

To celebrate Mat's recent promotion we popped to J+A Cafe in Clerkenwell for lunch. We sat upstairs in the slightly more formal dining room but it still felt relaxed with the communal table and amazing cake display.

I went for the butternut squash, courgette and red onion filo pastry tart, these are so simple to make and very yummy, I am definitely going to add this to my recipe repertoire. Mat went for the club sandwich, a humongous triple deck of chicken, avocado and bacon with the bread in the middle toasted. I love this place and will be going back again! I also had a cupcake to take away...

Bananas in Pajamas

So, it's 11:30pm, you have four manky looking bananas sitting in your kitchen, what are you going to do? Well, in hindsight probably just go to bed, but for some reason I decided to get baking and I settled on Nigel Slater Banana Bread recipe. 

Although being half asleep this morning after my late night cooking wasn't great the fact I could eat this banana bread for breakfast made up for it :-)

It tastes lovely, it's really moist and surely it must be semi healthy even if it does have loads of sugar in it?! When I make it again I'm going to add in some cinnamon as I think it would make it even better and a lot of other banana bread recipes call for it. Also, I might sprinkle some brown sugar on top before it goes in the oven, give it a bit of a crispy topping.

Dishes I'd rather be doing....

I love these tea towels that make doing the drying up a little more bearable. Created by dearcolleen from New Zealand and avaliable on Etsy.

J+A Cafe, Clerkenwell

Popped out for brunch today to the lovely J+A Cafe in Clerkenwell. When I have a house I would like it to look like this place (but with less tables!), it is all exposed brick walls, white gloss kitchen units, reclaimed wooden tables, huge window and homemade cakes!

I went for the brilliantly tasty bacon and scrambled eggs with pancakes and maple syrup. I have never tried it before but the sweet and salty combination was amazing and something I will try again at home, I think the key is quality bacon with little fat on, tiny american pancakes and only a drizzle of maple syrup.

They have recently opened another floor which is more fine dining and they specialise in one of my favourite foods - cheese.

My Packaging Pick of the Week is....

.... Merum Estate's Curious Nature wine bottles, designed by Manifesto Design.

It reminds me a little bit of the Hendricks Gin branding (which may be a reason I love it) but I think it's quirky and extremely different from most wine labels which are either stylishly understated or bland.