eat, drink & be merry x

there's something so nostalgic about christmas food.....i suppose only to be expectedwhen so much of people's christmas is to do with traditions, whether they are general seasonal traditions or familial.

my mum always makes her own christmas puds which i absolutely adore and wish would last longer than they always do......i love turkey, but could quite happily skip it in favour of a big plateful of roast potato's and lovely veg & the ubiquitous stuffing.......leaving lots of turkey for my very very favourite turkey sandwiches, which have to be on the freshest of white bread with lots of homemade stuffing......mincepies - can happily take or leave them.....

i might start my own tradition this year, giving christmas cookies along with christmas cards.......i am quite taken with baking at the moment, and just love these christmas cookies from *canelle-vanille*

favors by canelle-vanille
via flickr

what a lovely treat to recieve
xx

red....x

*untitled *raspberry macaroons
*l o v e *redloveseat

red is the ultimate cure for sadness
quote from bill blass

happy tuesday
xx

coffee and cream x

i'm not addicted to coffee, an answer, i had some dreams,
montblanc, framing light, boulange de cole valley,
chocolate banana salted caramel & peanut cake, millinery roses, the cupcake sans kid

he was my cream, and i was his coffee
and when you poured us together, it was something
quote by josephine baker

slightly bizarre day, mostly spent in various coffee establishments in peterborough.....my passport was full with visa's & stamps and needed renewing before i fly at the weekend, so a 4 hour wait for a new one today.....so first there was a stop at starbucks (drinks: grande skinny latte extra shot, passion fruit and mango smoothy) (people: 2 women, work colleagues at a guess, who did not stop talking from the moment they sat down till i left, aprox 1 hour!, 1 fairly cute man drinking a mocha, which i never think of as a man's drink? - is that a silly comment?) a quick shopping trip to spend a silly amount of money on cd's (very strange mix of blondie, michael jackson, beyonce & take that - yes my music taste is very very eclectic!!) - and then onto cafe nero (drinks: grande americano with skimmed milk, english breakfast tea) (people: a very strange mix of various nationalities, it was like sitting in a european coffee shop, especially the attire of cropped denim jeans, a little strange, and a highly amusing trio of husband, wife & his mother, in which he seemed to be getting completly hen-pecked by both women?).....nosy, me? yes!

till tomorrow
xx

drive away x

idea for holiday #1

hire a really sweet vw camper van
vw camper van hire from o'conners campers

i am so in love with the white tablecloth, cute little vase of flowers
&
all those tea lights

drive to one of our lovely seaside towns
(ps. great article here on britains 10 best secret beaches)
(pps. guess they may not be so secret now)

it
must have really cute beach huts
beach huts by unravelling
via flickr

then eat lots of icecream whilst
sitting
in the sunstrawberry & vanilla ice cream floats by cannelle-vanille
via flickr

i remember going on holiday to devon when i was a child
and
buying a new enid blyton secret seven or famous five book
and
looking forward to icecream floats in lyme regis

happy memories
xx

monday macarons x

beautiful macarons

food & photos
by
cannelle-vanille

see the recipe here
xx

sunday lunch x

sunday lunch was always my favourite meal of the week.....a time to sit down with the whole family, oh, and there was roast potatoes and pudding, proper puddings, like fruit pies & crumbles, lemon meringues & cheesecake....i think i was about 12 or 13 when i started making the puddings for my mum, and even now i enjoy cake & pudding baking

i've just had a lovely sunday lunch with my mum & dad, a chance for a lovely chat & catch up on our weeks news

pudding didn't look quite like this, but i couldn't resist posting this from the lovely cannelle et vanille blog, which is just scrumptious! this is going on the menu for next sunday......x

saturn nectarine, redcurrant & raspberry crumble

pistachio crumble

100g unsalted butter

100g sugar

100g flour

125g pistachios (chopped)

pinch of salt

make pistachio crumble by mixing all ingrediants with electric mixer

place on a cookie sheet or in an airtight container & refrigerate overnight

fruit filling
x2 peaches (peeled & diced)
50g redcurrants
50g raspberries (fresh or frozen)
10g sugar
1/4tsp nutmeg
10g flour

combine all fruit filling ingrediants in a bowl

divide amongst ramekin dishes

top with pistachio crumble

bake at 350 for approximately 20 mins, or until filling starts to bubble

mascarpone cream

60g organice double cream

60g mascarpone cream

15g sugar

pinch of mace

whip all ingrediants together until they form soft peaks
top the crumbles with the cream

how beautiful do they look..........hope your sunday is being spent just as you wanted to x