We're Back!

Yes we are back on this first day of December 2016 with an advent calendar and a recipe from the Tartist. 

This year we have bought ourselves a traditional advent calendar, not being big fans of the dodgy branded chocolate ones.

1st December 

Today's window reveals a couple of young bell ringers, presumably ringing in the season. Nothing says christmas more than a couple of roister-doisters ringing bells, sporting hats at jaunty angles. Except perhaps the birth of the messiah.

Now I'm no Delia Smith but...

I do know a thing or two about food.
Yesterday when I was having my haircut Nicky kept stopping the blow drying process to ask me what she could take to a friends for dinner party pudding. She wanted something she could make on Friday and take on Saturday night, straight after work with no hassle.
So we came up with Baileys Cheesecake and I promised to send her a recipe this morning. It's 5 am and I can't sleep so Nicky here it is:-


• You need about a 10" spring sided deep tin. I'm not sure what these are properly called but they are deep and have a hinge that opens to loosen the sides.
• Crush 8 oz digestive biscuits (or ginger, any biscuit really but I think chocolate might be a bit yuk with the butter ) Melt 3 oz butter and stir in the crushed biscuit. Use this to make a flat layer in the bottom of the tin. Stick this in the fridge until firm. 
• For the filling you need 400g cream cheese, 6 tablespoons of icing sugar, 2 cartons of double cream 
(I think they are about 300ml each) and about three tablespoons of Baileys. Stir the icing sugar into the cream cheese, pour in the cream and whisk until it thickens. It wants to be fairly thick so that it will set with the alcohol in it. Stir the Baileys in gently. Plop onto the biscuit base, smooth the top cover and pop back in the fridge.
• To make it look Christmassy you could make a stencil, with something like a margarine lid, and use edible glitter to write something or to do a Christmas Tree and holly.

Is The Food On Your Plate What You Think It Is?

The other day I decided to have a look around to see if I could find a cheaper supplier of the ingredients we use for our cakes and desserts etc. At the moment we use Brakes who are not too bad if you ignore the short deliveries, the fluctuating prices, the often broken packaging and the delivery seemingly timed to coincide with lots of customers. I did wonder if another supplier might have a slightly different way so I had a look on Google for 3663, another famous name in the world of catering.
I never did make it to their site because I was riveted by this piece from The Independent. It showed completely the theory that I have, that too many restaurants are using food that sounds as if it was made by a person using fresh, real ingredients but in actual fact the dish is bought in and is a fraud. The descriptions are worded in such a way as to be very close to dishes that have previously be developed by truly talented people. For instance Sticky Toffee Pudding is a most delicious pudding. Created in The Lake District by John Tovey some time in the 70's it is now copied by most mass producers and comes in a little pot with the sauce included. It is a recipe which is so simple that everyone could make it if they wanted to...if they don't that's fine with me but if they do here is the recipe I use:-

Sticky Toffee Pudding

8oz Dates
4oz Butter
6oz Caster Sugar
3 Eggs
8oz Self Raising Flour
8 fl. oz Boiling Water
1 tsp. Vanilla Essence
1 tsp. Bicarbonate of Soda
3 tsp. Strong Coffee
Gas 4 / 180 - 25 minutes

Chop the dates and put into a bowl with the bicarbonate of soda, vanilla, coffee and boiling water. Set aside.
Cream together the butter and the sugar. Gradually beat in the eggs. Fold in the flour and then the bowl of dates, water etc.
'Plop' into a lined tin and bake.