Why I Celebrate Thanksgiving

 Albino pumpkin

I warn you, I've gone mental. Mental for PUMPKINS. I've had a Thanksgiving pumpkin-filled weekend. It's been amazing.

Mantle Pumpkin 

I've been celebrating Thanksgiving for a while. It all started at uni when I used to live with an American and she made us all do a Thanksgiving dinner and it was a whole heap of fun. And then I went to actual America, and had ACTUAL Thanksgiving, and I was sold. I mean, a four day weekend where you literally do nothing but eat yummy food? I'll repeat that: Four days. Nothing. Yummy. EAT.

Sign me up.

Pie of Pumpkin 

And so I came to wholeheartedly embrace this quintessentially American holiday to my bosom. I have henceforth always taken that Thursday and Friday off of work and plan to continue doing so. But this year was the first year I decided that I would cook a proper authentic Thanky G feast all by myself like a GROWNUP.

Half-Eaten Pumpkin 

On the menu was a turkey, cranberry and cornbread stuffing, sweet potato with marshmallow topping, maple roasted parsnips, green bean casserole all covered in lovely turkey gravy and finished off with a pumpkin pie. I don't think there was anything on that table that didn't come into contact at some point with either maple syrup or cinnamon or both. Yum.

And I'm really impressed with my friends that they didn't run scared by some of the above (yes, that was sweet potato with MARSHMALLOW - which exploded everywhere but that's another story!), they all gave it a go. It was DEE-licious.

Munchkin Pumpkins

And it was lovely to share the feast with good friends, good wine and a good stretchy pair of pants. 

Oh yes, the pre-Christmas diet started again today. I'm already having syrup withdrawal symptoms. Hold me.

Last Days of Summer

Bee-ay-yoo-tiful beach 

But, Mr Weatherman, what have I done to deserve this? An extra week of summer. On my week off. On my week off BY THE SEA. Noone could have planned it better. I think it was the universe's way of making up for my lack of summer holiday this year.

I've spent this week back in Bournemouth with the rental units. And it's been a week of brunch, cinema, dinners, baking, beach and generally lazing around doing very little. I've been uber busy at work over the summer so I really needed this. I'm not really looking forward to going back to work tomorrow, but I think I'll be feeling more refreshed for sure. Which will last approx half an hour, before I'm working out how long til I can next take time off. I swear, someone needs to just pay me for hanging around chatting. I mean, I'm really good at that, you'd get your moneys worth.

 Beach Bird Stalking

I've spent the last couple of days at the beach. It's been the most weird thing to be lying on the beach, surrounded by people in their bikinis in October. OCTOBER! I mean, in mere weeks we'll all be carving pumpkins! Normally, I'm not a fan of unseasonal weather, but I guess I need to add a caveate to that. I'm not a fan, unless the weather is unseasonably WARM. Anything that increases the amount of time I can spend on a beach gets the thumbs up from me.

Cake and lashings of ginger beer 

I took the opportunity of a bit of time on my hands to treat the fam to my baking skillz. I chose the Apple Crumble Hummingbird Cupcakes to have a go at for two reasons. One, autumn = apples. And two, this recipe is EPIC. You have to stew the apples for the apple cake filling, then make up the cake batter as standard, then bake the cakes, then make custard FROM SCRATCH, then leave it to cool, THEN bake crumble for the topping, THEN whip cream to mix with your cooled custard and THHHEEENNN assemble all your toppings. I mean it took all day, I couldn't do this on a normal weekend.

Crumbly in my tumbly

Some people wouldn't have the patience for all the different stages, but I kind of like the luxury of spending all day creating something a bit spesh. Plus, I've never made custard properly before - it's actually surprisingly easy.

The cakes turned out really yummy, the custardy topping was unusual but actually worked really well to give the apple crumble effect.

Nomz

Indulging in one of these guys with a nice cool glass of ginger beer in the last summer sun of the year in the parental backyard was a real treat.

Now, when's my next holiday?

Run to the Beat of my Biscuits

Maritime Museum, Greenwich 

In case you didn't know.. 

This weekend I watched my best mates boyfriend, J-Man Jizzle* complete an amazing achievement - he ran the Nike Run to the Beat half marathon and we are all very very proud of him.

(*Not actual name. Name that I call him. Largely against his will)

He's training to run the London Marathon next year, and this race signifies the furthest he's ever ran so it's a huge deal.

Cheerleaders (although I think I was better AND I didn't have balloons!) 

Arms outstretched, J-Man at the 11 mile mark, only two to go! 

However, the day was not without its drama. The day was lovely and sunny, but we think the heat got to him because 150m before the end of the race, J started to slow and come to a stop. Even the encouraging screams from two old lady spectators couldn't help him. A random man (we're not sure whether it was a fellow competitor, a marshall or a member of the crowd) came to help him over the final finish line, before poor old J collapsed from heatstroke/exhaustion and had to be taken to the medical tent.

He is now fine, just needs to rest up and get lots of fluids, but it just goes to show what a huge effort it is to complete these things and how amazing it is that he crossed the line. I'm so impressed. Props. Massive props.

Greenwich Observatory, obvs

Love the smell of biscuits in the morning

Other than that dramz at the end of the race, the rest of the morning had been really fun. There's always a great atmosphere at these events - I'm a natural cheerleader of life in general, so I love that it's socially acceptable on such occasions to scream COME ON ALEXXXXX!!! in random stranger's faces. Not that I do that at any other time, OF COURSE.

I'd baked some Apple & Oatmeal cookies for our group to eat whilst we were waiting for J to appear at our vantage point at the foot of Greenwich Park, and they were just the ticket for a sunny autumnal mid-morning snack.

Leftovers

Of course I gave the majority of the cookies to J and his girlfriend (not that he could appreciate them at that point in his poorly state), but I kept a select few back for me. And they were just the ticket to soothe my aching hands (from clapping) and scratchy throat (from aforementioned stranger-face-screaming). I mean, really I worked JUST AS HARD. Right?!

No, I know: not right. I joke.

Well done J-Man Jizzle, Jam Master Jay. SO PROUD.

Friends With Benefits

Stacked 

Before anyone gets excited - not thooose kinds of benefits.

I've just come back from a delightful weekend in Brighton. I have a friend who has just moved to a gorgeous flat moments from the seafront (and also, Preston from Big Brother fame, apparently *sounds shit celeb spot klaxon*) and a bunch of us went down to visit. They are all friends that I met as we all did the same New York exchange programme and I love it when we all get together. It usually involves good food, good drink and good chat. Including but not limited to X Factor contestants and Youtube video analysis. Don't judge. You know you do it too.

Halloumi and houmous. Never have two finer 'H's been stuck in a sandwich

We started with lunch straight off the train at a great place, Bill's. It was a wicked weekend brunch spot, popular with the crowds, so a bit of a wait - but very worth it. Set up in a former greengrocers, the decor played off of the industrial functional feel of the building. Food was good honest well-sourced ingredients and I can confirm, they give good hollandaise. What more do you want in a brunch purveyor?

A girl keg! 

Then later, it was some kick-ass food back at the flat in front of X Factor. We cracked out the housewarming gift of a vintage medicinal-esque drinks dispenser with a cocktail recipe invented on the hoof (i.e. we had gin and they only stocked appletizer at the local shop - was pleasantly delicious).

NYC corner. Every home should have one. 

This concoction accompanied the brilliant menu of Pulled Pork Tacos, Avocado and Onion Salad and Crunchy 'Slaw. All Martha inspired and all finger-lickin good. I've gotta have these girls over for dinner soon and I can safely report the bar has been set high.

Feast

This was all devoured in front the X Factor and swiftly segued into feeding our (HEALTHY) appreciation of various divas on YouTube. Celine, Whitney and Mariah. In any order. 

I literally want nothing more of a Saturday. 

Tea and Cake

Tea, cake, flowers. Win. 

Haven't baked any cakes for a couple of months (and my waistline has not just thanked me but rejoiced, holding a party in my honour, because of it). But fear not waistline - I am giving most (save half of one cake - yes, saintlike I know) of this batch away to OTHER PEOPLE. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

 Behind the scenes trivia: Noone actually drunk that cup of tea. It was for show only. I'M SUCH A FRAUD.

I've been wanting to try out the Hummingbird Earl Grey Tea Cupcake recipe for a while. And what with this being the last weekend we can really get away with feeling summery until next year (its knits, tights, bundling up warm, and cold extremities from now until March people!), and I feel the subtle light flavouring is more suited to warmer days, I decided to have a bash at these now, before it's too late and all I crave in a cupcake are cinammon, ginger and big bold Christmassy tastes.

Now, disclaimer: I don't actually LIKE tea. I know, I know. But I'm much more of a coffee girl, what can I say - slave to the bean. ...it's part of the reason why New York was such a good idea for me. They, like I, live off the stuff.

Behind the scenes trivia: The cakes got eaten though. Not by me you understand. Nope.

Having said that, I am living proof that you don't have to like tea (let alone Earl Grey tea) to love these cakes.

The Earl Grey flavour (lemony, bergamoty, tea-y(?)) is really subtle, light and refreshing and just seems to go so well with the plain sponge and butter frosting.

Just the ticket for the last summer Sunday afternoon. (When it rained. Predictably).

Yes. More Cakes.

Crumbs!

This week was a triumvirate of cake-worthy events. Someone was leaving work, someone else at work was celebrating a birthday, and it was also the final week of Wimbledon.

In honor of all three I had a go at the Strawberry Cheesecake Hummingbird cupcakes following the success of last weeks chocolate variety.

Yummy biscuity topping

These cakes are a bit different because they have chopped fresh strawberries on the bottom, which are baked with the plain cake batter on top. This means the strawberries go all soft and jammy at the bottom. They are then topped with cream cheese frosting and crumbled digestive biscuits.

So a bit like an inverted strawberry cheesecake with added cake sponge. All in all - the bomb diggy.

From punnet to cake tin

The sunny weather we've had this week along with the tennis fever that has swept my house (Poor Murray *sniff*) has made this the perfect accompaniment to the long hot tennis-watching evenings.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off seeing the Foo Fighters LIVE tonight and am at this very moment right in the thick of the crowd, off my face on excitement. I can't stress this too strongly - I am currently breathing the very same air as Dave Grohl.

Who knows whether I'll ever be able to rejoin normal life again?

Baking Hot Bake Day (aka How I Stupidly Agree To Things & Then Do Them, Stupidly)

Chocolatey goodness 

Wowee what a scorcher! Today in London, it has been super mega hot. I've been sweating like a hott mess today - mainly due to the production of these beauties, a classic Hummingbird recipe, natch.

Stupidly, STUPIDLY I agreed to bake some cakes for someone's birthday at work on Tuesday. I'm busy tomorrow night, so it meant that I spent this afternoon slaving away over a hot oven to crack out these chocolate bad-asses.

I know, I know. I am nothing if not selfless.

 Get ready for your close up

I convinced myself it was a great idea to try and use all the batter I had to fill 12 cases even though I knew deep down I was overfilling. I know, what an idiot.

So it meant that they all exploded out of their cases. Which meant I then had to trim them all to a normal size with a knife and hide all evidence of my handiwork with oodles of frosting.

I then stupidly proceeded to go ahead and make far too much frosting. So basically I have a bunch of cut off cake bits, and a whole cup of leftover frosting sitting in my fridge right now. I'm calling it "Chocolate Cupcake: Deconstructed" and serving it up as such to my unsuspecting housemate.

Coffee and Cake. 

But it's ok, because only you and I will EVER KNOW. I think I've done a good job of hiding my stupidity on this occasion. Now don't go telling anyone.

Birthday Pavlova

Meringu-erang!! (as in Bang-er-rang!!... Anyone? No?)

Well, it took one failed attempt (Note to self: don't add the sugar too quickly because you're in a rush.. slowly does it, or the egg whites collapse and then you tear your hair out - It's 'Not Worth It'), but I finally got there! My very first meringue! Woohoo!

 Refrain from drooling, your keyboard will thank you

Pavlova's normally strike me as a summer pudding, but I have made this one to celebrate Holly's birthday today. It was the perfect alternative to a birthday cake, as she was being whisked off this afternoon for a chocolate afternoon tea, so I thought she wouldn't want anything too heavy after gorging herself silly on scones and petit fours.

I used a Delia Smith recipe, which was very straightforward and easy to follow. As I've already mentioned, my first attempt did go completely wrong, but that is because I was worried I was overwhisking the egg whites and so tipped in the sugar way too much at a time. Start adding sugar when the peaks start to stiffen, take it a tablespoonful at a time, and whisk for 10 seconds between additions and you will be left with a sexy glossy stiff mixture. Boom ting.

Berry berry good

So I'm now absolutely knackered after a busy weekend of birthday festivities, on Friday we had dinner at Pizza East and then boogalooed til we puked at The Book Club. (Not ACTUALLY!) I might might have got a little bit boozy and may may not have been able to move until 2pm on Saturday. But this is merely rumour and has not yet been confirmed as fact. So don't believe everything you read folks!

Right time to tuck into that palava pavlova before I get overcome and start rubbing my face in it. 

Wait, what? No.. I would never do that. 

Honest.

Lemon Drizzle, Bizzle Schizzle

Lemon Drizzle

Right, so my camera is working again. Seems it's like me. It won't get out of bed unless it's shown a bit of attention!

So I'm back. I'm back on a regular basis. And I'm glad, I've missed this weekly-ish process of capturing little gorgeous moments in my life and taking time to reflect on them. They are hard to see sometimes, but they are there.

But first I have a bit of catching up to do on what I've been up to this summer.

In June it was my Mum's birthday, or bizzle schizzle, as I am known to call these things. I was keen to make this a special birthday, as I had missed her 50th last year as I was having the year of my life, in the best city in the world.

Bizzle Schizzle

To celebrate the occasion, and make it one of the best birthdays ever, I invited Mum, and my sister to visit me in London. They stayed for a few days. We hit up Wahaca, with all its yummy Mexican delights and copious glasses of mojitos. We went to see Oliver! in the West End, with the always awesome Rowan Atkinson, totally owning the role of Fagin: we were all on such a high when we left the theatre. And then, for an extra special amazing treat, my sister and I treated Mum to afternoon tea at Claridges. Mum, as an avid lover of both tea and afternoons (she can't get out the house before noon) was in her element.

But of course, all of that paled in comparison to the super amazing Lemon Drizzle Cake that I made her.

I didn't want to make a chocolatey or heavy cake as we were in the midst of a super HOTT heatwave, so I wanted something fairly light and summery. In the end, I followed Jamie Oliver's recipe, and it worked a treat. As well as lemon juice and peel in the cake mixture and in the drizzly sticky yummy icing, the recipe called for a lemon sugar syrup glaze to be made and poured into the cake once it had come out of the oven. I used a cocktail stick to prick holes all over the cake so that the glaze could seep right down deep.

Once cooled and iced, the cake was moist, lemony, sweet and summery. Perfect Lemon Drizzle Bizzle Schizzle for the Moomin Mama. Big love xxx

And in Any Other Business:

1) Am I the latest one to the Alphabeat party or what? I have just discovered This is Alphabeat. What a slice of perfect pop

2) I am all over Around The World. Promise. I am just waiting for some photos to be developed before I can crack on!

Where She Only Needed To Add The Treacle

Fork off... it's mine..

On Saturday, I bought two important additions to the house. One of these was a flan dish, and the other was a rolling pin. 

Now, I thought, this is brilliant. Not only can I make nice tarts and things, but I can also chase my unruly housemates around when they misbehave, in a comedy fifties housewife fashion.

Plate courtesy of Holly Patton's GreenGate collection

No, let's be serious. The rolling pin was so that I could make my very first attempt at pastry from scratch! None of this shop manufactured malarky! Actual, old-fashioned flour, butter and eggs pastry. And what better to do with it than to make a nice, lovely, gorgeous, sticky and sweet treacle tart? 

Don't you just want to rub your face in your screen right now? No? Just me?

With cream. Yes, lashings and lashings of gorgeous cream. 

Oh, in other news, I joined the gym today.

These two events are unrelated.

Cakes of the Pan

For those that don't know, this is the oft-spoken-about but lesser-spotted Holly. She's a pancake whiz.

And so it came to pass that the greatest day of the year was yet again upon us. It is a day for celebration, for rejoicing, for merriment. For eggs, for milk, for flour. For maple syrup, for bacon, for sugar (yes really, keep reading).

It's Pancake Day is what it is, and it is, quite frankly, my favourite day in the whole goddamn year.

Holly's so good at pancake making, she can iPhone it up and do a pancake all at once. That pancake was the best one.

I didn't celebrate last year in America because I pretty much had pancakes every Sunday as part of what I (and possibly others, who can tell) like to call "brunch".  

But on a normal year, when I'm not living my life in foreign countries, I abstain from any pancake eating as much as possible throughout the year in preparation for this momentous occasion.  Because it makes them taste that much sweeter. The anticipation is electric. 

What a tosser

Throughout my university years, it was the beautiful Holly that kept me sated every Pancake Day. She was the undisputed Champion of the Toss; the Master of the Batter. In short: the Princess of Pancakes.  So you can imagine how fantastically excited I have been that I managed to move myself in with her just before the greatest of days arrived again!

Check the skillz, man

And this year, Holly did not disappoint.  She rustled up a hefty batch for all of us, and lo, it was good.

But, what did I ever do in return for all this kind pancake flip/tossing over the years you ask?!

Why but of course! I introduced Holly to the best pancake combo literally known to man. All men. On earth. That ever lived.

There it is.. hit me with the good stuff...

A hefty stack of pancakes. Plus bacon. Plus maple syrup*.

Try it. Have it. Make it. Make it and put it all up in your mouth. I promise you, your mouth will love you forever.

*Or, if your local shop has decided that maple syrup is not to be stocked on Pancake Day, we found honey also works. It's also a healthier albeit slightly inferior substitute.

It Ain't Too Much for Me to Jam

Tea with jam, jam and bread.. or cake, whatever...

I've been really wanting to make a jam-based culinary treat for a couple of weeks now. I don't know, there's something so warming and wholesome and perfect for winter about a warm, jammy cake. And after the sparkle of Christmas is but a distant memory, and yet it's still bone-chillingly cold outside and the warmth of the sun on your skin seems such a long way away, a few baked treats are just what you want to cheer the winter melancholy. Plus, you know, we've got pantloads of Grandad's jam to use up before it goes bad...

But after Roly-Poly-Gate when everything went terribly wrong, I had to regroup and find a recipe for something less complicated.  You know, a recipe that doesn't demand that I know the difference between length-ways and width-ways and other "rocket science" details such as that.
To inspire me and get my confidence back that I could actually produce something with jam in it that would look and taste like it's supposed to, I dug out my copy of Michael Jackson's Dangerous album, and spent a good hour or so dancing along to (I'm sure you know where this is going) track numero uno on repeat... Jam:

Remember when Michael Jackson was the coolest thing on the planet? Ahh, good times..

On the fifth repeat, it was then that I realised: you know what? It bloody ain't too much for me to jam, Michael, you're so right! Man, that guy is wise, have you ever listened to his lyrics? It's good stuff guys. Except for Blood on the Dancefloor. What the hell that's about is anyone's guess...

And so I took another look in Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer, and decided upon Mary Poppins' "Strike-Me-Pink!" Raspberry Jam Cakes.

...And this was just my portion. Oh, you think I'm kidding..

Despite my apprehensions in my baking ability, I managed to carry out the very easy instructions, and they turned out exactly as Jane described in the book: light enough so that you can eat large quantities as Mary Poppins has a large appetite (yeah, I tested that out); small enough so that they can be eaten in two or three dainty bites as Mary Poppins is, well, dainty; 

There's nothing that isn't improved with jam in the middle: TRUST

And, all the jam is contained in the middle, so you don't get your fingers sticky. Mary Poppins never got sticky fingers. That would never do.

I don't mind so much about that though. All I care about is that it ain't too much for me to jam... uh-huh shamawn.. hee-hoooo

Postal Pick-Me-Up

Sparkly Goodness

I've been feeling foolish today. It really only boils down to one reason. Essentially, I attempted to make a jam roly-poly (adapted from Jane's Mrs Beaver's Marmalade Roly-Poly in her super fantastic book) and I went and bloody rolled it up the wrong way. I did it longways instead of widthways. And it didn't really make that much difference to the taste, but the look of it was not as good as it should have been. And I was so looking forward to blogging about it.

So, I'm a fool, a goddamned fool I tell you!! 

Luckily, I got something in the post today (again!) that cheered me up.  A while ago, I won a competition that the lovely Frassy held! And today my prize arrived!

Choooons

The main part of the prize was a CD of Frassy tunes. I'm excited to listen to this. Candy for the ears I'm sure!

And then there was...

Hello Kitty fun

Sartorial delights

... lots of sequins, pinking sheared fabric squares and cutout's of hearts and gorgeous model images... all because:

..So there!

Right! Frassy loves scrapbooks. Unfortunately, I do not scrapbook.... but I do have a soft spot for organized chaos and inspiration, in the form of noticeboards.  It's such a snapshot of people's personality and I love the fact that it can be constantly updated and changed without too much fuss..

My favourite part of my room

I love my noticeboard. And obviously, what I keep on there changes as my likes and inspirations and tastes change. A few things that are on there at the moment are photos of friends, bows I've collected, some kind of penguin reference (standard), a porcelain dramatic mask from my gran and postcards from things that remind me of New York. 

But there is space for some of Frassy's lovely giftage to intermingle with all this lovelyness! Yay!

But I am most excited about this that I discovered in amongst the sparkle:

Score!

More?!!?!? Awesome! I look forward to it... Thank you Frassy!!