Oxford snow day...

It came down in the bucket loads today. Oxford was deserted for a Saturday and absolutely beautiful.

Graduation day...

On Wednesday I graduated from the London School of Economics. Was lovely to have my parents over from Egypt to celebrate with Freddy and I. We drove in from Oxford then hung around Covent Garden and Knightsbridge. So thankful to be finished and not to have any more essays to write.

because sick boys need ice cream...

As you might already know Freddy has been unwell this week after having surgery on his thumb. This was just the thing to help him get better.

Ingredients: 1 banana, 4 scoops of vanilla ice cream, pink sprinkles, hot fudge, whipped cream.

Directions: cut banana length wise, fill with ice cream, top with whipped cream, sprinkles, and hot fudge.

Blueberry Pancakes

We have been making these pancakes for the last couple of weekends. Jenny has had Saturdays off and its a great way to start the day!

Ingredients:

3 large eggs

1 cup plain flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

140ml milk

a pinch of salt and sugar

a splash of vanilla essence

some blueberries

Directions:

Separate the egg yolks and egg whites. Add the yolks to the rest of the ingredients above and beat into a batter (except the salt, sugar, and blueberries). Whisk the egg whites with the salt and sugar until they form stiff peaks. Then fold the whites back into the batter. Add a dollop of the batter to a warm frying pan. Once it starts frying add the blueberries to the uncooked side. Then flip over. Fry for a bit and then your done. MmmmMmmmMmmm.

enjoy!

gobble gobble...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Autumn is here...

Hyde Park, London.

saturday morning...

Mmm.... my coffee from Saturday morning. Brought over by Freddy who doused it in every available topping.

Tomato soup for stephanie

I know, I know. Im on a bit of a food blogging binge at the moment. But we are making some pretty tasty treats and have a few new regular recipes that we make all the time, so am trying to get them up on the blog.

Made some tomato soup the other day... it was good.

Ingredients: (serves four)

Soup

1kg ripe cherry tomatoes (but I reckon any kind of toms are good)

4 large tomatoes

1 fresh red chili

4 cloves of garlic

1 ciabatta loaf

2 small red onions

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

a small bunch of fresh basil

a few dollops of creme fraiche

olive oil

salt and pepper

Directions:

Turn on oven to 220 celsius. Get our tomatoes and quarter the big ones. Stick on a roasting tray with the peeled and crushed cloves of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Chop up chili and add. Toss everything around and put on top shelf of oven for 12-15 mins.

Peel and roughly chop the onions and put into a hot saucepan and some olive oil and a good pinch of salt. Leave to soften, stirring occasionally. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and leave to reduce down. Once the tomatoes are roasted and are slightly blackened on top add them to the saucepan. Give them a good mix around and leave for a few minutes to bubble away. Get your blender ready. Pour the mix into the blender (in batches if blender is not big enough to take it all at once) and add the basil. Give it a good old blend around and once finished pour back in the pan (to keep warm). Add some creme fraiche or sour cream when serving.

We also made some homemade croutons using ciabatta, which we tore up and sprinkled with salt and olive oil and popped in the oven for 10-15 mins.

Guacamole platter

We had a guacamole platter with this meal. Made us feel pretty super healthy.

Ingredients:

Tomato

1-2 fresh chilies

a handful of coriander

2 ripe avocados

2 limes

bulb of fennel

1 carrot

cucumber

breadsticks

Directions:

Destone and peel avocado. Either chuck in food processor with chilies, tomatoes, and coriander or chop finely. Then squeeze the limes over the mixture. Chop up the rest of the ingredients to use as things you can dip into the guac. MmmMmmMmm (the fennel was surprisingly good)

Taste 7/10

Price 5/10

Difficulty 3/10

I made some dinner, it was good

So Jamie has a new book. I know Jenny and I are such suckers for his recipes. I'm not saying that we like all his stuff, but he does some pretty tasty stuff going on. And his palate is pretty similar to ours. So here is: Chicken Skewers with satay sauce and fiery noodle salad.

Ingredients: feeds 4

Satay

bunch of coriander

1 fresh red chilli

1/2 a clove of garlic

3 heaped tablespoons good-quality crunchy peanut butter

soy sauce

thumb sized piece of ginger

2 limes

Chicken

4 breasts

runny honey

Noodles

250g dried medium egg noodles (1 nest per person)

100g unsalted cashews

1/2 a medium-sized red onion

1 fresh red chilli

a small bunch of fresh coriander

1-2 tbsp soy sauce

1 lime

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp runny honey

Garnishes

2 gem lettuces

coriander

soy sauce

limes

Directions:

So technically this should take 30 mins, but realistically more like 45. Stick some skewers in water. For the satay chop up a small bunch of coriander, garlic, 3 tbsp peanut butter and a glug of soy sauce. Peel and chop the ginger and add. Grate the zest of both limes and add the juice of one. Throw into a food processor or chop finely. Your call. Chopping by hand is obviously more work and takes longer. Also add a splash of water. Use half of this to marinade the chicken and the other half as tasty dip with the meal.

Chop up the chicken and stick them on the skewers. Toss with satay sauce. Drizzle with olive oil and stick in oven. Put on the top shelf and use the grill function (so only heat from above). 8-10 minutes on each side (or until cooked through). When you flip them over drizzle over with honey.

Put the noodles in a large bowl, cover with boiling water and a plate, then leave to soak for 6 minutes. Put a medium frying pan on a low heat. Bash the cashew nuts with a rolling pin or a pestle. Add to the warm pan and leave to toast. Peel the red onion half and add small bunch of coriander either to a food processor or chop finely. Put in a serving bowl with some soy sauce and olive oil and the juice of 1 lime and the fish sauce and sesame oil. Taste the sauce and season to taste. Drain and add the noodles. Toss everything together. And serve with chicken and lettuce. Sprinkle over with the toasted cashews (add some honey at the end of the toasting process for extra goodness).

Price: 4/10

Taste: 9/10

Difficulty: 4/10

simple pleasures...

peanut butter and sliced bananas on warm baguette.

amateur barber shop in the kitchen

Freddy's hair before and after. I took scissors to his head a few weeks ago...

locked outside

Back at the beginning of October, on Freddy's birthday, we tried to spend the afternoon at the Ashmolean. It turns out the museum is closed on Mondays so instead of going in we ate sushi and sandwiches outside in the sunshine.

happy birthday Freddy!

This morning Freddy received the cutest gift from his family. Designed by Vivi, it's an I-patch... easily mistaken for an I-pad, which he is also enjoying.

Hope this year brings you everything you want and more. xx

little fishie...

Freddy and I arrived safely home today after a lovely trip to the US. I'm currently on the bus into London to stay at a friend's house and go to London Fashion Week over the weekend. Then on Tuesday I'm starting a two week work experience at a political think tank. Freddy is currently at home playing his new game Halo Reach online against Patrick who is in London. He's going to be pretty busy too over the next couple weeks. I've got loads of beautiful photos from the last two weeks and I'm going to upload some of my favourites on here. First up is Obie playing playing in the pool in his backyard.

two weeks and you're mine...

Red Robin I am coming for you.

Snickerdoodle cake...

Today is the 1st birthday of my other blog The Style Crusader. In honour of the momentous occasion Freddy suggested that we bake a cake. Since he isn't a mahoosive fan of my chocolate cake I thought we should try a different sort. I opted for this Snickerdoodle version, in my opinion the king of all cakes. If you love cinnamon, like I do, then this cake may become your very best friend.

The cake: get yourself a standard cake mix (either white or yellow will do fine), 1 cup of milk, 1 stick melted butter (113 grams), 1 tsp vanilla, and 2 tsp cinnamon. Make the cake mix as the directions on the box say and then add the milk, butter, vanilla and cinnamon to it. I was a little concerned because it basically just looks like a sloppy watery mess. But don't worry, it will cook beauitfully and be so moist. Bake the cake as indicated on the box.

The frosting: 1 stick (or 113g) of butter at room temperature, 3 3/4 cup of icing sugar, 3 tbsp milk, 1 tsp vanilla, 1tsp cinnamon (I added a bit more cinnamon... just put in as much as you fancy). Blend up the butter with an electric mixer until it's fluffy and then add the sugar and milk. Blend on low until the sugar mixes in. Add the cinnamon and vanilla and blend on medium until it is light and fluffy. If it feels too stiff you can add a bit more milk. The recipe I saw advised to put the frosting in the fridge until you are ready to use it, but this made my frosting quite difficult to spread (hence my manky cake). So, pop it in the fridge if you want... but I wouldn't recommend it, or if you do maybe blend in a bit of additional milk to help soften it.

Once your cakes have cooled just frost those bad boys right up and serve them to some hungry people as quick as you can. This is my favourite cake... hope you enjoy.

pop up garden...

We came across this pop up garden last weekend in Ealing Broadway. There wasn't anyone there to protect it and it was very difficult to resist stuffing our bags full of flowers and herbs...

'that's not my name...'

sweet tooth...

A carrot infused medley: cake, sorbet, and some creamy stuff. Mini ice-creams in an assortment of flavours. These are the scrumptious desserts we had at the Cherwell Boathouse after the graduation last week... courtesy of Andy's parents. So yummy.