Great Taste Awards 2011

Just a quick update to share some very exciting news. I found out this week that we've been awarded 2 Gold Great Taste Awards in the 2011 GTA and we're absolutely delighted! We won the awards for our Proud to be Ginger Nuts and our Sugar Plum Fairy Christmas Pudding (which the judges described as 'excellent'). We are all really chuffed with these results and it feels like a big pat on the back!

Time for a Blooming Great Country Tea Party

We are hosting a Marie Curie Blooming Great Tea Party on Sunday July 10 which I'm very excited about. I'm going to take over the whole kitchen (again!) and turn it into my idea of the perfect Tea Room with lots of bunting, mismatched china and, of course, Cake! I can't wait!


I'm inviting lots of friends and family for, what I hope will be, one of many Pop Up Tea Room Events in The Secret Kitchen, in aid of some very worthwhile causes. 


I also have 4 spare places (because it's always fun to meet new people!) for anyone who would like to come along (it's free, but donations will be extremely welcome given the cause that we're supporting). So, do email me if you'd like to come along for an afternoon of Tea and Cake-come on, how can you refuse?!

American Pancakes with Strawberries and Preparations for a New Arrival

It has been a little while since my last post which I thought I should rectify today! Things have been so busy over the past couple of months that I can't believe that it's almost the middle of May. I'm slowly but surely increasing the number of lovely little places that I supply and orders are flooding in from all those fab customers from Not on the High Street-so thank you to all those who continue to support me!


Since the weather has turned so summery and bright, we've been outside doing lots of jobs-I spent most of yesterday with my brother collecting and chopping logs. Saturday was taken up with an equally fun project-planning the arrival of our newest additions: two little pigs! I am so excited as I have always wanted us to become a little more self sufficient than we are. We have the hens and the veg' plot, but I'd love to produce my own pork, so, after much discussion, we've decided to give it a go-pictures of the latest recruits to follow! But, I hope they look like these ones belonging to our friends.... 

When you're out and about in the fresh air, you need a good breakfast to set you up for the day. On Sunday, we had a plateful of American Pancakes with Strawberries and Greek Yoghurt and it kept us going all the way through to lunch-give them a go and let me know what you think

This recipe comes from BBC Food

Ingredients

·         135g/4¾oz plain flour

·         1 tsp baking powder

·         ½ tsp salt

·         2 tbsp caster sugar

·         130ml/4½fl oz milk

·         1 large egg, lightly beaten

·         2 tbsp melted butter (allowed to cool slightly) or olive oil, plus extra for cooking

·         Strawberries, Greek Yoghurt and some kind of Berry Jam to serve

1.    Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and caster sugar into a large bowl. In a separate bowl or jug, lightly whisk together the milk and egg, then whisk in the melted butter.

2.    Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and, using a fork, beat until you have a smooth batter. Any lumps will soon disappear with a little mixing. Let the batter stand for a few minutes.

3.    Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add a knob of butter. When it's melted, add a ladle of batter (or two if your frying pan is big enough to cook two pancakes at the same time). It will seem very thick but this is how it should be. Wait until the top of the pancake begins to bubble, then turn it over and cook until both sides are golden brown and the pancake has risen to about 1cm (½in) thick.

4.    Repeat until all the batter is used up. You can keep the pancakes warm in a low oven, but they taste best fresh out the pan.

5.    Serve with lashings of Strawberries, Yoghurt and Jam

Living North

We have had a very busy weekend at Living North Live. It has been great to meet lots of our customers and, hopefully, create lots of new fans!

Here's a picture of the stall-we've gone for a tea party theme-and we had lots of compliments on it and our banner which was painted by my very talented artist friend, Glyn.

We also had some great stall neighbours from Mmm Deli in Newcastle's Grainger Market (www.mmm-food.co.uk) and we bought lots of delicious food at the fair including some great Sicilian Olive Oil and Roasted Garlic Mayo from Mmm-mmm indeed!

Coffee and Cake in the Sunshine

Spring feels like it’s in the air these days which is great. Things are starting to come together with the business too as the New Year starts to get going. I’ve got lots of fairs planned over the next few months and I’m increasing the number of great little places that I’m supplying.

Excitingly, I’ve also started to sell a range of my cakes and biscuits online through the really brilliant website Love Your Larder (www.loveyourlarder.com) which is, essentially, a bit like an online Farmer’s Market with lots of great producers selling gorgeous food.

I was taking quite a few pictures of my cakes last week as I wanted to take advantage of the sunny days and show them off at their best ready for the start of the online sales.

Best of all, when all the pictures have been taken, but the sun’s still shining, there’s only one thing to do which is to sit outside, drink the coffee and eat the cakes!

Magic Trees, Hot Chocolate and Ginger Brownies

It has snowed again here and we’re lucky in that it hasn’t been so heavy so as to cause too many problems (although our pipes have frozen today upstairs-not great!). I took these pictures of the beautiful trees while out walking with Porridge -I think they look like those Magic Trees I always used to get in my stocking for Christmas-the ones which you put in a special solution and they ‘grow’ a snowy covering overnight.



All of my Christmas baking has kept me very busy over the past couple of weeks and I’ve been making lots of these Dark Chocolate and Stem Ginger Brownies (which I’ve called The Ginger, Dark and Handsome) to go into my Christmas hampers. I’ve been experimenting for weeks to get what I hope is the perfect Brownie texture. These taste so Christmassy with the chunks of Stem Ginger and have a fudgy, truffle-ish texture.  I’ve just had a little break with a hot chocolate and a couple of brownies to keep me going- yum!

Let it Snow

It really feels like winter has arrived here finally. We had our first snowfall of winter yesterday and it all looks so Christmassy. Freezing cold, but beautiful.

I have been really busy in the Cakery this week too, getting even more orders for my Christmas Cakes and Puddings ready. I have totally fell in love with Christmas Pudding making this year, too. I'm using a recipe that is a little bit more modern than some (which often contain suet and breadcrumbs). Mine just uses self raising flour and I think this makes the pudding so much lighter and less stodgy-I've eaten quite a few already in the name of research (!) and I'm still really enjoying them-especially in this weather. There's something really old-fashioned feeling and satisfying about getting a huge big bowl and just stirring everything together before steaming the little basins for hours and hours. One more batch to make today, then we're going sledging....