I can be so unlike me!

I'm so used to being me and don't get me wrong, I quite like 'me'; but at the moment, I've noticed that I'm doing things that are 'unlike me!' and you know what, I love it! The glasses are still sitting on the side from Wednesday night's book club - what's all that about?! I'm doing some improptu swearing when certain calendar invites appear on my phone. Grrr, numpty! And I'm enjoying having the opportunity to set myself some new goals. I deserve the best and being second, third or just somewhere on the list isn't good enough for me. I think last night's black pudding has given me a shot of iron - ha ha ha ha - that's just hit my backbone!

:)))

Today I've been having great fun at  Cake International. Talk about 'Bake to Impress' these beauties take that phrase to a brand new level!

 Just look at these amazing baby shoes made from sugarpaste - WOW!

 These delicious cakes are wrapped in chocolate which has been decorated with transfer sheets. They look and most likely taste truly scrumptious :)

 These 25 amazingly, beautiful cupcakes have been decorated with lace transfer sheets, though I think they're topped with sugarpaste rather than chocolate. The flowers and butterflies are so delicate and they really do look too good to eat. Sugarcrafting like this isn't cheap - but it's pretty, darned impressive!!

Argh, what can I say... this cheerful nativity scene is made entirely from sugarpaste!!! I felt I wanted to burst into song "Away in a Manger" when I saw it :)

A spooky start to the weekend.. !

Not usually a shy wallflower I was seated right in the middle of the dining room this morning for breakfast - table for one! I sat eating my fruit salad feeling a little uncomfortable, then very uneasy and at first I couldn't put my finger on what the problem was. Then I realised that I was sitting in the bottom of a swimming pool! Well, that's how it started to feel. Either that or some other subterranean structure like a vault, no less! The more I thought about it, the more anxious I became until I couldn't stand it any longer! It really did start to feel spooky so I got my cooked breakfast and promptly moved tables to sit on the ringside and I very soon felt calmer again. Don't ask me why... it just happened and it was very, very odd. I consider myself to be very intuitive and can sense things around me. I can tell when someone in the room is tuned in, or tuned out. So this feeling was very odd - but now it's gone and I'm off to eat cupcakes :)
Also btw, I've just come to log on to blogger and my entire account is now in german!! What is happening today and before you ask, it's not a full moon tonight, I've already checked! I'm dashing off to Cake International - woo hoo! Love to everyone who loves me XX XX

Just sat sitting...

Before I had to dash up to the NEC for a couple of days. I'm now installed in the Belfry hotel, having been out to the Cock Inn at Wishaw for dinner, yummy. I dined on scallops with belly pork, black pudding, rocket and balsamic glaze and that was only for starters! The meal was delicious and definitely worth going back for more. Highlight of the day has to be my little book, given to me with little homemade tags inside to remind me that I have lovely friends :) lowlight has to be my broken toe - ouch! I banged it into the footstool and four of my toes went one way round the footstool leaving my little toe behind. Though it's not my little toe that's broken it's the one next to it. And how can I tell that it's broken? It hurts like hell and is black and blue! As with all things broken, you just have to wait for them to mend themselves then they won't hurt any more... xx

Forgot the cupcakes... dippy bird!

Mmm... mmm... mmm... mmm...

A handbaked cupcake... a glass of prosecco...

Madeleine Peyroux with her careless love (track 11) and little me :) I've been baking cupcakes this evening ready for book club tomorrow. I've bought bottles of wine which are gleefully chilling in the fridge the only thing I haven't done is read the book!! I have tried but I just can't seem to concentrate for long enough to get stuck into the story. I know I'm shirking but I'll just read the notes online and I'm sure my lemon cupcakes with dreamy cheesecake topping will shmooze them enough to forgive me. After all, I've had a dilemma dropped on top of me from a high tree and I'm just trying to put the pieces of my broken heart back together - ha ha.. you thought I was for real. Anger does funny things to people who aren't usually angry. I'm not broken, just bruised. I'm doing a Marilyn and saying 'What the hell!'. I'm growing a slightly wonky coathanger backbone so I'm not pining, just dusting myself off and looking on the bright side - there is always one if you look hard enough.

Tonight I'm resigned to staying in with Madeleine for company and you know what... that's perfectly fine :) xx xx

Sometimes it lasts in love... sometimes it hurts instead...

I'm gonna love 'My Week with Marilyn'

For so many reasons, not least because I love Marilyn Monroe. I can't wait to see the film but in the meantime, here are some of her brilliant, poignant and timely quotes...

“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” 
― Marilyn Monroe

“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” 
― Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn: Her Life in Her Own Words

“I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love.” 
― Marilyn Monroe

“Ever notice how 'What the hell' is always the right answer?” 
― Marilyn Monroe

“What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course” 
― Marilyn Monroe

“This life is what you make it. Not matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you're going to mess it up. Girls will be your friends - they'll act like it anyway. But just remember, some come, some go. The ones that stay with you through everything - they're your true best friends. Don't let go of them. Also remember, sisters make the best friends in the world. As for lovers, well, they'll come and go too. And babe, I hate to say it, most of them - actually pretty much all of them are going to break your heart, but you can't give up becuase if you give up, you'll never find your soul mate. You'll never find that half who makes you whole and that goes for everything. Just because you fail once, doesn't mean you're gonna fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't, then who will, sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.” 
― Marilyn Monroe

“Dogs never bite me. Just humans.” 
― Marilyn Monroe

Day 2 at Ashburton Cookery School

Something fishy...

It's been a fabulous day and I've done things I never expected to do! It's great to have the opportunity to learn new skills, cook new recipes, prepare food that I wouldn't usually and do this with a great bunch of friends. I've gutted and filleted mackerel, plaice and red mullet and turned them into great dishes expertly led by our chef, Phil. It's been such a tiring day because we've hardly had a moment to spare between courses but as the saying goes - no pain, no gain!

We created an excellent, quick dish using our fillets of plaice. We made a beautiful, easy parcel of rolled plaice fillets on a bed of oil, thinly sliced fennel, fresh mussels topped with a prawn and dill butter. We wrapped our greaseproof paper and foil parcel adding some white wine before baking in the top of the oven for just 10 minutes. And what a triumph!

Me and my work station buddy, Chloe from Oz. She's currently working as a chef on a yacht and has been here for almost a week. She's delightful and we're having loads of fun. We all went out for Tapas last night and you can guess who ended up in the local pub whilst everyone else went to bed!! She's the best station buddy I could ask for and our dishes are definitely the BEST :)

'Stripe' - my friendly mackerel

"OUCH".. sorry Stripe.. I'm learning some useful knife skills.. !!

"Nice plaice"

~Palma wrapped red mullet fillet on a bed of pakchoi with balsamic glaze roasted cherry tomatoes - YUM!

John Dory fillets on a bed of pan fried courgettes with a red pepper coulis - my favourite dish of the day!

Our fabulous chef, Phil, scaling the red mullet before we had to do it ourselves. I've never scaled a fish before so this was another brilliant challenge for me.

The proof of the squiddling is in the eating and it couldn't have been more delicious if we'd tried. Take one fabulous hand-dived scallop in it's shell (opened and prepared by yours truly!) with different rings, strips and scored squid wings on a bed of apple, chilli, garlic and shallot salsa!!

Inky but certainly not DINKY±! These squids were enormous and it was quite a different kettle of fish to remove the guts, de-ink them and prepare them ready to cook. From inky mess to white squid flesh in less than 10 minutes. I was very proud of myself :)

Oh what a monster!! But this was just another challenge on a day of great adventures in my culinary life.

Deepest, darkest Devon adventures

I'm here in deepest, darkest Devon and it's blooming chilly! I've come down for a fish course and to learn how to handle fish. I think, after the week I've had, I need a lesson in sharks, rather than just fish! I'm 'reeling' ha ha from my London adventures yesterday with the lovely Lisa. We had a fab time at the theatre. It was just the tonic I needed. We ate in a Persian restaurant, went to an extremely camp performance and between us, chatted about anything and everything until the world was back the right way up again.
We got back to Paddington in the evening in time to have a coffee before our train. I remember remarking on the fact that trains from Paddington are never delayed. That was my first mistake! Within five minutes, the status of our train had changed to delayed and it went downhill from then on. We finally caught our train and during the course of the journey it lost over 35 minutes. I also remember remarking on the fact that once... I had had to even catch a bus because the train wasn't running - yuk! So you can imagine my horror when pulling into Swindon and the guard remarked that there would be a bus journey for anyone who needed to travel to Kemble, Chelts or Glouc. At this point, myself and Lisa were in hysterics though Lisa had now warned me to keep quiet about any future incidents I might mention.
We stood on Swindon station for a while before, being the resourceful girls that we are, we went outside to the taxi rank and asked the taxi driver how much it would be to our destination. £40 or 5 x £8... which sounded a heck of a lot better than waiting for the mystery bus! Lisa persuaded the guy on the platform to announce that we were prepared to share our taxi and it wasn't long before we were on our way with our merry band of 3 other, on our way to Kemble station.
So we arrived back at mine and I ended up sleeping on the sofa whilst my guests all slept in my beds! I wouldn't have had it any other way :)
Today I've had a lazy day, spending the morning with Fi & Rob and driving down to Devon mid afternoon.

Why does everyone want to drive in the outside lane on a Friday afternoon?!!!

It's so frustrating but hey ho, sit there I do. And eventually... here I am, ready to chop, fillet and skin some poor defenceless little fishy and turn him into delicious culinary masterpieces. In less than 48 hours I will know my sole from my pollock and will have had a brilliant weekend - I'm going to make sure of that! Love to everyone who loves me xx xx

Our day out in the countryside

Thank goodness for girls

If you've ever been to visit me then you'll know exactly where this was taken. And no, we hadn't been into the pub for some refreshment on the way up the hill! We have been to Hobbs for a lovely light lunch which is exactly what the Dr. ordered. We've had a wander around the shops and we're on our way back to my place to scrap! Playing with paper and glue can fix most things - I really hope that's true XX

to me x

Sweet onions with lentil stew

I took a photo but it looks a bit like mud, which really doesn't do this supper dish justice at all. I watched Nigel Slater make this dish this week and was so impressed that I decided to give it a go. I'm not a fan of lentils. It's not that I don't like them. I just don't use them to make dishes because I don't generally cook with beans and pulses. However,  it's a great week to say 'A change is as good as a rest' so here I am describing this tasty dish.
I am a big fan of Nigel Slater. I like his straightforward approach to cooking and every recipes of his that I've tried has always turned out well and most importantly, tastes absolutely delicious. This dish is very wholesome and includes pancetta, onions, carrots, mild paprika, lentils, stock cooked with spices that have the most delicious aroma, cinnamon and nutmeg. I bought a box of whole nutmegs so I could grate one into the bubbling mixture. Mmm, delicious and very comforting. I can't wait for the spices to seep into the dish overnight. I'll be serving this dish to my guests, along with some moussaka tomorrow, topping it off with 'mouth-watering, sweet caramelised onions and a dollop of creme fraiche! And I'm pretty hopeful that it will look, and definitely taste, more appetising than a bowl of mud!

My latest new baby

It's big, it's packed with stuff and it's gonna be great! I'm talking about my new Love Baking pack. It started life as a little gem of an idea about doing a cupcake special and a few short months later, it's a brilliant newstand pack which goes on sale next week. It's pretty unique in a market that's stuffed with titles so I'm hoping it will do what I need it to do - stand out from the crowd! Who wants to blend in.. huh!
Issue 1 includes my fave brownie recipe which I'd have to admit is a chocoholics treat, mmm :) xx xx