Zebra cake.

Yeah you did read that correctly! Don't panic though, it doesn't contain Zebras!!

In the hiatus between the awesome Olympics tv coverage finishing in the UK (the whole country seems to be in a sort of sporting limbo!) and the Paralympics starting, the foodie programmes have begun; a sure sign autumn is approaching!

One of the new generation of tv chefs is the gorgeous Lorraine Pascale, her new series (her second I believe) started last week and in the first episode was her "Crouching Tiger Hidden Zebra Cake" here's a link to the recipe. Of course I'm always up for a baking challenge and so was super excited to see this one on the show.

The recipe is enough to make two round 20cm diameter cakes. I a) don't have two 20cm cake tins and b) only really wanted to make one cake as if it turned into a disaster I hadn't wasted too many ingredients or too much money. So I figured...I'll just halve all the ingredients thus making enough for just one cake. Then I got paranoid that maybe that's not what you're supposed to do.... I know I'll Tweet Lorraine herself and ask - I never expected to get a reply but at least I'd have tried to find out if halving the quantities was ok. Holy cake batter I got a reply! She said "unfortunately not really....:(" What? Why? Oh what the heck, I'm too excited at the prospect of making a stripy cake....I'm doing it anyway.

Turns out it was fine!

This is the batter in the tin ready to go in the oven. I didn't think to take pics to blog this until I got to this point, sort of convinced that because Lorraine had said it wouldn't work, well, it wouldn't. But once I got to this stage and it almost looked right I decided it may just work!

The batter.

Then there's always that moment that you dare to look in the oven (or is that just me?) when it's baking....just to check it's working! It was..see:

 The oven 

Cooked and out of the oven to cool...still looks ok!

 I don't normally cut my cakes completely in half buy it was the only way to see if it had worked. 

Not bad for a first attempt I'd say.

It went down very well with a cup of tea, sat in the parents garden, in the sunshine. 

One thing not mentioned on the recipe, but Lorraine did on the tv, is that she put the batter mixes in piping bags (instead of using spoonfuls as the recipe states) and piped big dots one on top of the other. So I did that too.  (I was ambidextrous piping - don't ask - it was messy!) That's why my mix in the tin looks a bit swirly, it's amazing how much the "centre dot" moves around the tin as you pipe one onto the next. When I have another attempt at this, oh yes there will definitely be another! I will try and keep it more central so the stripes in the cake are more defined.

"The Great British Bake Off" is this evening foodie tv viewing choice, then "The Hairy Dieters" I do love a good foodie programme!

If you give this zebra cake a go, please post a comment on here and let me know how you get on.

Happy baking!

GD*BG

Giant Bubbles

This weekend was my friend's birthday, she lives by the beach (in Hove on the south coast of England) and was having a social gathering and picnic. I decided to risk taking some entertainment with me as well as a bit of picnic food. The entertainment of choice: Giant bubble wands and bubble mixture. Who cares if it was only adults attending?!

The bubble mix and the "wands" are so simple and super quick to make. I looked for the instructions on various websites but these two have proved the best; this one for the bubble mixture and this one for the instructions on how to make the wands.

It had crossed my mind that I had to take two trains and then a 20 minute walk from my home to the location of the beach picnic with a litre of liquid sloshing about in a container in my bag - but what the heck - I did it anyway. I made everything the night before and put the bubble mix in a container (allegedly airtight! Um yeah!) and the next morning packed it into my bag and off I went. The mix actually did survive the journey relatively well, it leaked but only a tiny bit! Below you can see evidence of the bubbles in action!

Thanks to Beth - that's her in the top picture - for the photo's!

The long bubbles don't tend to float away, they are there and then they burst. With a bit of practise though you can make a giant bubble, by bringing the sticks of the wand together; sort of sealing the bubble, and then off it floats. (see third picture above) these were a lot of fun. It wasn't hugely obvious who on the beach was creating the bubbles so when they sailed over the heads folk enjoying a day out it was fun to watch them suddenly notice the bubble and try to work out where it had come from! 

At one point we had giant bubbles floating across the walkway, the Prom (short for Promenade) as we Brits call it, that runs along behind the beach and about 20 little children squealing with delight as they chased the bubbles and tried to burst them. One mum asked me where I bought the equipment from, when I told her I made it and it's soooo much cheaper than buying the things pre-made, she was surprised. I also said to do an internet search for "Giant Bubbles" so I hope she discovers this blog post!

GD*BG

Curd

What does one title a blog about making curd? I figured keep it simple and state the obvious this time! If you can think of something witty be sure to post a comment and I'll consider it.

So today I made curd! Never done that before. Never made jam, well that's not exactly true I made a killer sweet chilli jam a couple of years back but can I find the recipe now...no! Anyway, I've never made sweet jam or curd of any sort before, my mum is the queen of jam making in the family and keeps me supplied so I've never felt the need to make it for myself, that is until mum gave me a whole load of fresh root ginger - on sale at the parents local market - thanks, I think! Not wanting to let it go to waste I checked my "Recipes to try" file (yes I have one of those!) on the old laptop to see if I'd saved anything worthy...and there it was....this! Great, let's give that a go I thought to myself.

I had nearly everything I needed except the grapefruit so I went and purchased, recipe read: twice (I never normally do that), then measured/squeezed/weighed/separated all the ingredients (again I never normally do that either, think my addiction to watching Masterchef Australia is having an effect on me!) and set to work.

Here's the evidence (not the fanciest of food styling photography but informative none the less I feel):

 As you can see from the carnage on the chopping board it took 2 grapefruit, a lemon and I'd say about a 4cm piece of ginger. Also for anyone from the UK/Europe that butter measurement in the recipe is 2 1/2oz or 71grams

 Double boiler - that I know how to do...tick!

 "stir until it coats the back of a spoon" well, that seems to have happened, this is promising! 

 Arty shot of my whisk, because I love that whisk!

 In the last 30seconds of the 10minutes of stiring, this happened. Is that right? Who knows but let's roll with it - looks like custard, and that's I think what curd should look like. Then I got paranoid that the mixture was too runny, Googled "does lemon curd thicken as it cools?" Answer according to the www = yes it does! OK, that's good, but do you let it cool before pouring into jars or not? Go with your gut instinct girl! Which was let it stop steaming and pour into jam jars. 

Ta-da!! Not bad for first ever attempt eh?

This recipe has now been moved to the "sucessful recipe" file (yeah I got one of those too, I know you're jealous!)

Next try at curd may have to be this, which GD sent me the other day....we'll see!

Happy weekend.
GD*BG

Welcoming the world

Here in London we are preparing to "welcome the world" via the 2012 Olympics. The whole city seems to be in a bit of a frenzy - it's not obvious, we are reserved Brits after all, but you can feel it.

Along with all the venues for the games being constructed and set up there are also lots of other events happening in the city in celebration of global arts and culture. Today - because of a cancelled train, I had a bit of time to kill so I ventured to London's south bank (The Festival Hall, BFI and National Theatre area) and had a wander around the Festival of the World event happening there. It was nice, lots of different and inspiring things to look at. As time was limited I didn't stop and read all the information provided I just went with the visual stimulation. Here's a few pics I took:

These structures provided outdoor seating and shelters on the upper level of the South Bank Centre (Festival Hall). I'm guessing, inspired by traditional African mud huts. They were very tactile and constructed (see second picture of the interior) from what looked like sand bags and then covered in the sandy clay-like outer skin surface. They also reminded me of traditional wood fired bread ovens.

These two figures are giant - sadly I couldn't get anything in the photo to give a sense of scale. Made of many scrap pieces of wood and are climbing up the side of the building. If you happen to be going over Waterloo Bridge on foot, or on a bus, you can see them on the south side of the Hayward Gallery. 

This was an ice like cave constructed entirely from recycled milk cartons. A homage to a, now uninhabited, South American shanty town which was built on a rubbish dump and whose residents used anything and everything they could find to construct shelters for themselves and their families. 

Then a roof garden, this bought me A LOT of joy! Living in an urban environment myself (but secretly yearning for a countryside lifestyle) I love discovering any sort of "green space" in a city and innovative ways of growing things are always an inspiration. As well as the vegetable garden I photographed here, there was a meadow which has over 100 native species of plants and flowers in it and a grassed area for sitting on to eat your lunch or meet and talk with friends or just relaxing and watch the world go by.

From the roof garden I spotted this down below on the pedestrian area alongside the Thames.....a rainbow sandpit.....come on, that is genius!! Designed by Polish artist Adam Kalinowski called Rainbow Park. Even on a day with not the bluest of skies it was a lovely thing and little under 5's were loving it, picking up the sand and letting it run through their fingers. It was making everyone stop and smile. The integrated seating was pretty neat too. I couldn't help but think how much by blogging partner GD's son (see the cookie baking blog post earlier on here) would have loved to play in this space. I wished they were here.

Of course the skate park area under the South Bank Centre remains, I love the ever changing street art here.

And finally outside the National Theatre No Fit State Circus were setting up and rehearsing for their nightime show "barricade". I'm not gonna lie, having done gymnastics and trampoline for about 12 years during my childhood and teens, I just wanted to have a go on the trampoline! It looks like a crazy fun show.

Hope you enjoyed my little review/tour of the events going on today on the South Bank, London.

GD*BG

Ready for royalness...

So this weekend we Brits get a 4 day public holiday...well I say 4 days, 2 of them are the traditional weeknd: Saturday and Sunday but the other 2 are Monday and Tuesday!! Yeah we finished work today, Friday, and (those who have a regular 9 to 5 type day job) don't go back til Wednesday!! Yes I will be partaking and enjoying some of that thank you very much.

But why this generous amount of time off you ask? Well... the Queen is celebrating her diamond jubilee (commemorating her reigning for 60 years ) and the whole country gets to celebrate. Street parties are being held, there's a huge royal pageant along the River Thames, a parade through the streets of London and the city, if not the country, has gone union jack crazy! So in honour of all things red, white and blue as I have been pacing the streets this week (all in the name of setting up a theatre production you understand) I have been snapping away on the old iPhone collecting images of all the different ways the union flag and it's colours have been used and portrayed.

Here for your visual pleasure and delight they are, along with a couple of images of her royal highness that I particularly liked.

Patchwork bunting

Very tiny beaded bunting flags

My particular favourite, the flag jacket

Cupcakes

Shop window displays (Zara)

And whole shop fronts

Flags pinned together and flags hung in roof space.

And finally the lady herself:

Happy bank holiday jubilee weekend.

GD*BG

Oh and as if on cue it's started raining!

The big Baobab tree.

I got to the South Bank Centre, London today to see the fabulous fabric Baobab tree. Here's the pictures I took.

 Close up of a few of the fabrics used on the trunk.


















This one gives you a sense of how big the tree is!

It really is a lovely and special thing, I hope all the visitors to London this summer go and see it.

GD*BG

Planting Edibles

So... one of my favorite things about gardening is EATING!  (Who am I kidding... one of my favorite things in general is eating!!!)  But - I think it's THRILLING to plant stuff, watch it grow, and then eat it!  

Today, Sammy and I planted a few things, 

and it inspired me to take pix of it all and blog a little edible tour of my gardens!!!!

TOMATOES! We bought Sammy his own Cherry Tomato plant that he can help take care of and because he loves tomatoes... so when they are ripe, he can pick them right off the "vine" and chow down!!!

MINT! Here is our Spearmint!!!  Now... here's the deal... when we moved in, we discovered tons of mint growing like weeds!  Amazing... even after getting rid of most of it (in order to plant other things) some mint came up in the cracks between our driveway and our neighbor's driveway.  Well... last year, I pulled it up and planted it in a pot and it WENT CRAZY!  Clearly it was happy to have some space!!!!  Now, that pot was left outside all winter (...no judging...) and new growth started out this spring.... so I dug it up to discover a veritable "wreath" of roots... the roots had grown around and around in the circular pot and had woven themselves together.... so... I knocked the dirt out of the middle, squeezed it to oval, and put it all in a bigger rectangular planter!  And clearly... it's THRILLED.....

And... I've already used some in today's Sweet Tea!!!  We make Sweet Tea/Sun Tea ALL SUMMER LONG!!!!  MMMmmmmm  

(Lavender Sweet Tea used to be our house specialty!)

 BASIL FOREST!  One of our sound-people at work, Michelle, gifted us some Basil plants that she had started from seed.  Last year, Thanks to Michelle, we ate Basil CONSTANTLY and never ran out!  This year, we got 8 "normal" green basil plants, and 3 purple ones!!!  I stuck them in the same spot where they thrived last year!  We've already used it in a fierce pasta dish this year!  (Last year, I made Basil Mojitos all summer! This year.... I'm adding Basil Cookies to the list!)

ROSEMARY!!!  This giant rosemary plant has lasted two or three years... in a pot, not really supposed to stay out through the winter, and not really supposed to come back... but this one won't quit!  She lasted at least one winter in a pot, and this is the 2nd summer in the ground!!!  Bring it!  I loves me some Rosemary!  I used this goodness in my summery "Liz Clooney Cocktails!" and Rosemary Butter Cookies are a family fave!!!











BLUEBERRIES!!!  My good friend, Alice, sent me this Blueberry bush years and years ago... and it did well for a long time in a pot - always coming back and looking' good.... not really huge and not really very generous with berries... so I finally found it a permanent home in the ground last year.... and this year... it seems really happy!

And finally... 

CUCUMBERS!!!  Because we LOVE to make David's Grandma's "Cucumbers & Onions" recipe all summer... we needed to grow our own Cucumbers!  So I put some of those in as well!!!  

UGH!  I forgot to take pics of the CORN!!!  Yes... we planted CORN!  Just wanted to see how it'd do!!!!

So...

Grow little plants!  

Grow and be happy and healthy so that my family can eat you! 

❀

GD✻BG

For the love of letters

Phew what a week, we FINALLY got the sunshine we, in England, have all been craving, it's been a scorcher of a week! I've been busy at work but as always trying to keep up with what's going on in the world of craft and creation via various social media and web sites. Then it struck me there's been a bit of a theme running through my creative outlook this week: 

Letters and how much I love them.

I am a major fan of typography (it's in my blood I guess, my dad trained and worked for many years as a typesetter in the printing industry and my brother is a graphic designer). I am also a fan of paper cuts; I've just attempted my first design/paper cut for a friend. I'll have to blog about that creation in another post as it was a card and the celebratory day isn't until tomorrow.  

I saw this on the web, such a great idea, a beautiful thing/s to create and amazing finished pieces of art.

Then I was walking down a street in the neighbourhood where I've been working in this week and this was on display in a window:

by the jewellery artist Jen Ricketts

http://www.jenricketts.com/index.html

Again lettering and masks. (Masks - another love of mine) Jen has created these out of metal and they are so intricate and detailed. I love them. They looked fantastic with the sunlight reflecting off the metal.

So this weeks theme has definitely had a typography theme. I've also used my drawing skills to help create 3 hand drawn posters for a charity exhibition and auction. I'll try and get some images of them as I loved contributing to the creation of them.

Oh finally there's a new fabric tree "growing" on the south bank in London, I will try and visit and photograph this next week as it certainly looks - from the pictures I've seen so far - like a GD*BG kinda thing!

Happy weekend all! 

GD*BG