It's been two months. TWO MONTHS. Shocking really. The longest span of blog vacation in my 6 years of writing. No excuses. To be honest I've just been a bit lame, choosing other activities (summer lurgy, glastonbury festival, tanzania, US roadtrip, applying for British citizenship) over spending time with you my sweet blog. For this I am sorry. But enough of this dilly-dallying, let's get on with the show.
Right, so what's been happening? Well, the big news (if you haven't already noticed) is that it's July and for those of you in London... after 6 years of waiting, summer has finally arrived! Now, after moaning about the lack of summer for donkeys years, I feel it's wrong to complain about the heat....so I won't. But what I WILL mention is that just like being unable to manage 2 inches of snow in winter, London simply can't handle anything over 80 F either. I have facts and figures to support this but if you doubt I just suggest taking public transport. It's appalling. The only saving grace are local authorities having managed to increase the number of ice cream displays around most shops. Hurrah!
So what's been taking up my time of late in the kitchen? Well, more fruit than you can shake a stick at. Easily a month's supply if not more. How did I come across so much of it you ask? Well, at a work raffle (naturally).
One of the perks of working where I do is we have an in-house canteen with complimentary lunch. Sometimes the chefs have their providers set up little tables where we can sample new breads, olives, cheeses, etc. One day, the week before last, there was one set up with fresh fruit smoothies and "local" British strawberries. Propped up on the side of the display was a massive fruit basket (apparently retailing for £70). Next to it was a little clipboard with the question "how far away were these local strawberries grown?"
Now I could have hemmed and hawed and analysed and deduced but in the end I went with a number that had just been given to me along with some bad news. My mind was distracted and swimming around in it, so without thinking I just wrote that specific number down. Low and behold a few hours later I received an email telling me I'd won! I'd like to think that was the Universe's little way of trying to cheer me up. Her cuddle came in the form of a fruit basket.
So what to do? Naturally all my co-workers offered to take some. But we all know I'm a greedy little girl. I love fruit. And a challenge. Could I possibly consume all of it? What would it mean to go from "five a day" to "thirty-five a day"? Don't worry, there haven't been any "unfortunate" side affects.
So how did I make best use out of everything? Well to start I dusted off the never used blender attachment that came with my food processor purchased 6+ years ago and got smoothie making. Here are a few of my favourites:
So with smoothies under my belt I felt like I'd made a dent in things, but still, I had about 75% of the fruit to work through, so what was next?
Well hidden below all of the beautiful tropical fruit (things like dragonfruit, mangosteen, mango, starfuit, papayas etc. which I ate unadulterated on their own) were about 14 apples, some oranges and some miscellaneous stone fruit. I must have managed to eat about 4-5 apples throughout the week but the rest made their way into a big pot with some OJ and cinnamon and turned into some chunky apple sauce which I've been eating all week long and in fact just polished off the last of this morning. There is something really satisfying and old school about apple sauce. Never something I think of making, it reminds me of elementary school and my grandma all at the same time.
Shall I continue? Well, yes - seeing as you can't really say no anyway. :-)
So, as I mentioned it's been a balmy week and a half and I've been loving the weather in London. And what time is it when London and summer finally meet? Well, Pimms o'clock of course!
I've managed two good goes with my Pimms and Lemonade so far. The first was in the early days of my fruit basket when there were still strawberries and oranges and those "typical" Pimm's accoutrements. A week on and with GT and SA popping by for a cheeky one on Monday night after work I had to get creative. This time it was Pimms with red currents, kumquats and blueberries! Oh yes, and a Prosecco topper since the girls brought a bottle over and we know it's rude not to dip into the bubbles when they are already chilled.
Right, moving right along. Not to fret, my tale is shortly coming to an end. I still had a whole tupperware full of stone fruit such as apricots, plums, peaches and nectarines. Oh yes, and two little pears that didn't ever really have a home but were kindly taken in by the Stone family. With these I managed a rustic stone fruit and pear tart. The pastry is made with flour and cornmeal and has a great texture to perfectly hold the juice of the fruit. I gave half the tart away to RL but managed to eat the entire other half in 48 hours. Nice right?
So now that I'm a week and a half in, what's left? Well not much I must admit. I've 2 passionfruits and a massive pomegranate that I've been saving and will be eaten tonight for dessert.
The only other thing left to conquer? 4 overripe bananas that need to be either used or binned. Naturally there is only one option here and I've decided to close out my Woman VERSUS Fruit challenge with a real doozy. One that's going to get people into two very distinct love it or (more likely) hate it camps.
Ready for it?
Peanut butter and banana bacon bread. Oooh lala. I shall bake and report back. In the meantime, if it wasn't already obvious...drum roll please...
Dana: 1
Fruitbasket: 0
(virtual fist pumping)
Hurrah!!
Right, so what's been happening? Well, the big news (if you haven't already noticed) is that it's July and for those of you in London... after 6 years of waiting, summer has finally arrived! Now, after moaning about the lack of summer for donkeys years, I feel it's wrong to complain about the heat....so I won't. But what I WILL mention is that just like being unable to manage 2 inches of snow in winter, London simply can't handle anything over 80 F either. I have facts and figures to support this but if you doubt I just suggest taking public transport. It's appalling. The only saving grace are local authorities having managed to increase the number of ice cream displays around most shops. Hurrah!
So what's been taking up my time of late in the kitchen? Well, more fruit than you can shake a stick at. Easily a month's supply if not more. How did I come across so much of it you ask? Well, at a work raffle (naturally).
One of the perks of working where I do is we have an in-house canteen with complimentary lunch. Sometimes the chefs have their providers set up little tables where we can sample new breads, olives, cheeses, etc. One day, the week before last, there was one set up with fresh fruit smoothies and "local" British strawberries. Propped up on the side of the display was a massive fruit basket (apparently retailing for £70). Next to it was a little clipboard with the question "how far away were these local strawberries grown?"
Now I could have hemmed and hawed and analysed and deduced but in the end I went with a number that had just been given to me along with some bad news. My mind was distracted and swimming around in it, so without thinking I just wrote that specific number down. Low and behold a few hours later I received an email telling me I'd won! I'd like to think that was the Universe's little way of trying to cheer me up. Her cuddle came in the form of a fruit basket.
 |
| Photo not to scale. See 4 bananas? There are 8. See the top of a pineapple? Yep, there's a whole massive layer under there. |
 |
| Someone likes a sense of order with her fruit. OCD much? |
So how did I make best use out of everything? Well to start I dusted off the never used blender attachment that came with my food processor purchased 6+ years ago and got smoothie making. Here are a few of my favourites:
 |
| Banana, cinnamon, non-fat vanilla yogurt and better'n peanut butter smoothie |
 |
| Banana, kiwi and blueberry smoothie |
 |
| Pineapple, kiwi, blueberry and ginger smoothie |
Well hidden below all of the beautiful tropical fruit (things like dragonfruit, mangosteen, mango, starfuit, papayas etc. which I ate unadulterated on their own) were about 14 apples, some oranges and some miscellaneous stone fruit. I must have managed to eat about 4-5 apples throughout the week but the rest made their way into a big pot with some OJ and cinnamon and turned into some chunky apple sauce which I've been eating all week long and in fact just polished off the last of this morning. There is something really satisfying and old school about apple sauce. Never something I think of making, it reminds me of elementary school and my grandma all at the same time.
 |
| I am a messy applesauce maker. Note: I am a messy EVERYTHING maker |
So, as I mentioned it's been a balmy week and a half and I've been loving the weather in London. And what time is it when London and summer finally meet? Well, Pimms o'clock of course!
I've managed two good goes with my Pimms and Lemonade so far. The first was in the early days of my fruit basket when there were still strawberries and oranges and those "typical" Pimm's accoutrements. A week on and with GT and SA popping by for a cheeky one on Monday night after work I had to get creative. This time it was Pimms with red currents, kumquats and blueberries! Oh yes, and a Prosecco topper since the girls brought a bottle over and we know it's rude not to dip into the bubbles when they are already chilled.
 |
| Cheers! |
 |
| Rustic fruit tart complete with peaches, apricots, plums, nectarines and a partridge in a pear tree. Ok, no partridge. |
The only other thing left to conquer? 4 overripe bananas that need to be either used or binned. Naturally there is only one option here and I've decided to close out my Woman VERSUS Fruit challenge with a real doozy. One that's going to get people into two very distinct love it or (more likely) hate it camps.
Ready for it?
Peanut butter and banana bacon bread. Oooh lala. I shall bake and report back. In the meantime, if it wasn't already obvious...drum roll please...
Dana: 1
Fruitbasket: 0
(virtual fist pumping)
Hurrah!!
