Lovebox cookies

Last Saturday was an amazing day out filled with good friends, amazing music, a fair bit of sunshine and big warm fuzzy feelings for London. I'd been at the Lovebox music festival during the day and while it finished around 10:30 p.m., there were definitely a few more hours of music, dancing, and an all in all jolly time to be had. So much so - that by 3 am when I was excusing myself to go catch my #43 bus home I was accosted by some friends of friends.

Nope, they were not letting me leave. There was more fun to be had they insisted: “The night is young! Plus before we know it – 5 years will go by and then we’ll all be like 32 and married with kids. We won’t be able to party and go out anymore.”

I wasn’t sure whether I was laughing, crying, or coughing (having recently run out of Allergy medicine earlier in the week). But I informed them that now I really did need to go home. I needed to get my rest because I didn’t have 5 years like them! Ha! The bunch couldn't believe I was 30. “You don’t look THAT old” they kept saying. Hmmmm....

Well needless to say after about 15 hours of merry-making, Sunday was a bit of a waste of a day and went something like this:

1. 10 am - wake up starving. Bizarrely decide I must make pancakes. Eat pancakes and go back to bed.

2. Noon - wake up and move to couch

3. 1 pm -take shower and return to couch

4. 3 pm - decide I need to do SOMETHING productive so bake cookies (chocolate cookies with dried cherries, toasted pecans and chocolate chips)

5. 5 pm - take nap

6. 7 pm - join friends for dinner

7. 9:30 - go to bed

Right, ok then...not the most productive of days but my extended team at work were loving the cookies so there you go.

Notting Hill Village Fete

I’ve been in a lucky girl in having some truly remarkable friends. Like a pair of coveted Jimmy Choos, each is uniquely special in their own way. My recent visit to the "Notting Hill Village Fete”, showcased AW in all of her quirky, thoughtful, perfectly detailed Englishness.

Celebrating her 28th she’d managed to transform her flat into a Village Fete complete with proper bunting, “whack a rat”, and a male bake-off competition. Only white wine and Pimms were allowed past the front door.

I’ll admit I went into this blind. My idea of a “Village Fete” was a typical Americana “Country Fair” complete with quilting bees and blueberry pies, of which I can’t remember ever having attended one before. Embarrassingly enough, I didn’t even know what bunting was, and “whack a rat”? I thought she might have rented a UK version of Whack a Mole. Yeah, I know – so wrong, but I'll bet every State-side reader would have thought the same thing.

After learning some country dances, drinking a hefty bit of Pimms, and judging the male bake-off competition I realised that for the first time in a long time I didn’t want to scramble away to make the last tube - so what if my taxi was going to be £25 to get home? Most definitely worth it.

I brought with me a home-made carrot cake. I’d been craving one all week, but really can't stand the stuff they sell in places like Starbucks. As luck would have it, by the time I finished with all my Pimms and bake-off tasting I only had room for a few bites of mine and then ended up leaving the rest with AW and TD for later consumption. However, even if I didn't give it the artist's eye, it was still met with rave reviews. I believe I even blushed when told by one fete goer that it was the best carrot cake he’d ever had. And another who said it was “Da Bomb…totally blissed out by it”. My coveted shoes keep me feeling confident and fabulous – and with such compliments on my cake – so do my friends.

Village Fete Carrot Cake (aka The Silver Palate’s recipe with a few distinct variations I’ve noted below):

http://www.relishmag.com/recipes/view/31242/the-silver-palates-carrot.html

Swap out the cooked carrots for shredded raw ones and up the total amount to 1 ½ cups
Replace the walnuts with pecans

2 1/2 times the frosting (I frost the sides of the cake, the recipe doesn't. Also, I'm in love with cream cheese frosting.)

Summer Bounty

Having friends over for dinner is always as much a treat for me as it is for them. Sunday I spent my morning with a big grin plastered to my face as I bought two armfuls of fresh produce at my local farmers market. Strawberry, raspberries, cherries, rhubarb, lettuce, courgette, cucumber, tomatoes, shallots, onions - I felt like I had quasi-Popeye arms by the time I walked home with all my goodies in tow.

I actually pulled a fast one on myself by keeping it simple with a new potato and spring onion tart purchased at the market. Even if it hadn’t been home-made be me – it was by the woman selling it. After a moment or two of “should I? am I cheating”…I was in. I knew that combining it with a superdana salad and dessert it wouldn't be cheating – It would just be smart.

The tart was lovely the best bit being how the pastry was made with olive oil instead of butter. However, while the tart was singing Kenny Loggins “I’m Alright”, the salad and dessert were rocking out to Queen’s “We Are the Champions”.

The salad was like a Vegas slot machine or if like me and a bit pussyfooted about gambling more like a game of travel Yahtzee. …every bite as an unexpected surprise! Would I get the fresh strawberry with a bite of beet and goat cheese? MAYBE I’d get the spiced pecan with the crispy shallots and dried cranberries. Oh boy was it a fun game!

Dessert was a vanilla bean cheesecake with strawberry rhubarb compote. The cheesecake was sweet but not OTT. If any fault could be found it was that because I switched the recipe up using two small spring form pans my measurements were a bit off. As such the crust, while yummy, was quite thick around the edges. However, what put the cheesecake on the short list of recipes I’ll make again was the strawberry rhubarb compote I made to go with it. Part skill, but mostly luck – I threw just a few ingredients into a pot to cook on the stove top. Didn’t measure and didn’t even look much (was too busy chatting)…but what I ended up with was perfect. It was exceptionally tart (my favourite) but not too much so when paired with the cheesecake. Though even on it’s own it’s been fantastic. I’ve been spooning it into my eagerly awaiting mouth most days this week after dinner.


Yahtzee Salad

Half a head of lettuce
Sliced cucumber
Sliced avocado
Dried cranberries
Fresh strawberries
1/3 cup pecan halves
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Cooked beetroot
Crumbled goat's cheese
2 shallots, diced
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp olive oil
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1 small garlic clove, finely diced
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 176 C or 350 F
2. Toss pecans with cayenne pepper and cinnamon, roast in oven for approx 12 minutes
3. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil is a small sauté pan over medium heat. Add shallots and cook for 6-8 minutes until crisp and brown. Set aside.
4. Combine olive oil, balsamic, garlic, lemon juice, 1/4 of fried shallots, and any herbs you have lying around (I used a wee bit of oregano)
5. Toss the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. Sprinkle pecans, leftover fried shallots and dressing on top


Vanilla Bean Cheesecake
The cheesecake recipe came from a slightly doctored version from a 1998 issue of Bon Appetit:

A few notes:
1. Graham crackers don't exist in the UK so I used Waitrose brand "Rich Tea Fingers". For you Yanks, they're basically the cookie part of a Vienna Finger.
2. I skipped out on the Vanilla-Vodka Berries in the linked recipe and replaced it with my strawberry rhubarb compote below
3. The vodka in the actual cheesecake was halved and vanilla extract doubled.
4. Once I scraped all the vanilla beans out of the pods I threw the pods into a bottle of vodka in my freezer for vanilla martinis at a future date and time.

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote - Note measurements are approximate

3/4 cup apple juice
2 cups rhubarb washed, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cup strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Over medium heat boil rhubarb in apple juice, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon - approx 10 minutes
2. Add strawberries and cook for an additional 5-6 minutes
3. Cool completely