Spreading The Christmas Cheer...a retrospective post...

This will be the last retrospective post...for now...I don't think there are any more to come, but stranger things...


Now I know it is almost Valentines Day, which means for us here in Enfield, a school (half-term) holiday...but I want to look back to the last holiday that we had, Christmas...


...Christmas is a magical time, a time for giving, loving, seeing friends and family, sharing and in our house birthdays...I've always loved Christmas, as a child for the presents, as an adult for the time off work! But as a parent for the smallish people's reactions to it all...and more recently, for the food...

Update...4 things I'm loving in my kitchen becomes 7...

My last post about this listed only 4 things that I was loving in my kitchen...but since then it has come to my attention that there are 3 more items to add to the list...


Number 5...(carrying on from here...)

My Handcream...


...yes I know, nothing to do with kitchens or cooking...but vital nonetheless, as it saves my hands from becoming dried out after the endless washing that goes on whilst preparing and serving food...




Number 6...

My Le Crueset...


...the thing to use whilst preparing the numerous comfort food dishes I seem to be doing at the moment...










Number 7...

A set of decent, sharp knives...these are Global ones, and were a birthday pressie 2 years ago!!
















I'm sure I will think of more things to add to the list, but as it stands right now, 


The 7 Things I'm Loving in my Kitchen Right Now are...in no particular order:

•  My Bread Machine
•  My Kenwood Chef Mixer
•  My Nespresso Citiz Coffee Machine
•  My Cake Release 
•  My Handcream
•  My Le Crueset
•  My Global Knives

Winter Warmers...part 1

Well it's been around freezing outside for the last few days and inside, comfort food has been the dish of the day...that's all well and good for dinner/supper time, but lunch?!? Soggy sandwiches or crisp salads just won't do for times like this! 


Which is why I made a batch of my;

 Italian Inspired Veggie Soup...

The bag part 2...

...an update on how my patch bag is coming along...


Right where had we left off? Oh yes, I was in the middle of the decorative stitching on the first flower (the Cath Kidston one)...well this is what it looks like now...

As I think I said before, I was only going to use either a simple straight stitch, or a simple chain stitch as embellishments on the petals... 

...so that is exactly what I have done...

Announcement

Hi guys...just to let you all know I now have an email address for Sew Appetising...you can now contact me at; 


sewappetising@gmail.com

THE 10th Birthday Cake...!

Well here is another of the retrospective posts I mentioned back when I started out...This is the tale of how I made my daughter Emily's 10th birthday cake...it is the most complicated cake I have made to date..I got the idea from here... but instead of using the suggested bought cakes, I made my own!

Step 1 - Bake a cake!! I used a 2x20cm cake pans for this one, and I used a basic 4 egg Victoria Sandwich recipe...Em had requested a marble cake, so I halved the batter and added some cocoa powder to one half. I then sandwiched the 2 cakes together using my Basic Vanilla Buttercream (that was tweaked to make it a chocolate one by adding some cocoa).

 


Step 2 - I then trimmed the cakes, so that the sides were even and the top and bottom (when stood on it's side!) were flat.

All Things Bundt and Beautiful

I've always fancied having a bundt pan...so, I treated myself to a one a couple of weeks ago...

but it wasn't until this weekend that I got a chance to try it out!

It took me quite a while to find a recipe to try...an internet search pulled up hundreds of Bundt and ring cake recipes, many of them involving lemon or chocolate. But all I wanted was a plain vanilla cake that would suit all tastes (including children) as we were going to friends for Afternoon Tea on Sunday.

I remembered seeing a Nigella Christmas episode where she made a Christmas Tree ring cake, covered in powdered sugar snow...and I knew that was the cake I wanted to make.

Another internet search, and I found it...Nigella's Spruced Up Vanilla Cake...It sounded divine, and suited to the occasion perfectly...So on Saturday morning I baked one

...and sausage snogs!

Well, the cold snap is still here, in fact everywhere has been turned into a winter wonderland...

So...comfort food number 3 appeared on the menu last night...sausages, mash and onion gravy...with veggies too of course!

I always serve my sausages and mash with a plateful of yorkshire pudding...

and the best one I've found is...Delia's Yorkshire Pudding... I have never had one go wrong on me...(yet!)