Not much remains on this plate, just a few chocolate smears ! It had been a chocolate pear tart served with ice cream - lavender ice cream, in fact. Three of us had a mini celebration as daughter18 had her final year 12 exam today - nothing more remains of her school life except speech night. So we had celebratory coffee and dessert sitting out at a pavement cafe in North Carlton.
This is a fabulous and quick French dessert that makes a regular appearance in our house. Different fruits can be used depending on the season though I think apple is the most traditional. Basically this is fruit cooked in a custard base but 'clafouti' sounds so much more romantic. You can "arrange" the fruit prior to baking if you have the time or inclination. These are two things I never have so my apples are in tiny dice but unpeeled and just hurled into the batter. I make the batter in the food processor so really this is just a whizz, dice and bake variation on the French clafouti.
Here she is - blonde. with best friend - dark. Daughter21 has reverted to being rugged up like a snowbunny albeit a coastal one - as she is freezing back in Cornwall, her pilgrimage now behind her. She plans to rest up, bake and blog before departing Cornwall forever and meeting me in London where we will head to the Christmas markets in Prague and Budapest - we are both excitedly counting the days.
Thanks Patti
this is what I made today - mine of course is the rustic version containing lemon pips and is still in the pot waiting to go into a bowl. This lemon curd will go on toast tomorrow. it was easy to do and tastes divine.
http://worththewhisk.com/2010/04/19/easy-meyer-lemon-curd/#iframe_height=300
Pecan Chocolate Brownies - to die for, easy to do, full of nuts and choc chips and addictive. I can wax lyrical and go on and on but I wish you were all here, eating them or trying not to. Then you would really get the picture. I am too busy eating to blog for long today !!!!
This is pudding if you are in the US but custard to most others. I made it last night as a trial and error vegan recipe. It is made with soy milk, cornstarch, sugar, cocoa powder and instant coffee. It is basic to make and I love the deep mocha flavouring as it covers the soy taste . It may well be psychological but I can always taste 'soy' whenever I use it and I am just not a big fan of it. This worked out well with the soy barely noticeable and I would certainly put this on the menu again.
When you renovate a bathroom you are often left with large items that are very heavy to move and difficult and costly to get rid of. A friend of mine ingeniously recycled a bath and a basin.
Tom Thumb tomatoes - mini bushes - now flourish in the basin and the bath camoflaged in wrought iron and timber has become a garden bed for strawberries, hiding under the net, and other herbs. All seem to be flourishing !!
This is a family tradition for us. We all head to Grandma's and eat and drink and squeeze in a viewing of the 'race that stops a nation' between mouthfuls and chat. A sweep is run and we all cheer on our horses loudly.
None of us are racing afficionados or race goers but we are all keen to pick that darned elusive winning horse.
Perhaps more important than the race is the afternoon tea. We enjoyed a glass of rose along with ribbon sandwiches and little cream cakes this year.
Grandma who is in her 80's makes all the cakes and we all sit devouring happily whilst she waits on us hand and foot. Her 3 grandsons who were in attendance today just inhale her cooking and all leave with any leftovers. Not that leftovers are likely - these 3 boys are all well over 6'3" and put a plateful of cupcakes in front of them and they turn into labradors !!
Just look at these buds on my passionfruit. Does this mean fruit ?? Possibly 2 years ago I planted 2 passionfruit vines along my fence. They struggled hideously, one more so than the other, being nibbled at by every caterpillar known to mankind. I was driven to using a chemical spray and once the constant leaf eating abated the vines took off, again one more so than the other. Now one is just covered in these buds, even with flowers opening since I took these photos. Does a flower mean a fruit. I know with passionfruit you are meant to have a male and female plant. I have no clue what I have in this regard so I truly live in hope that by midsummer I will be enjoying passionfruit pavlova - oh, I can't wait for that !!
Recent Comments