Food Glorious Food Archives - Page 21 of 26

Cakespy

May 7, 2009 By Paola 6 Comments

I’ve recently come to know Jessie Oleson of Cakespy. She is a Seattle-based artist and illustrator who does cute watercolours showing the adventures of Cuppie, an anthropomorphic cupcake, and also writes the blog Cakespy, where Jessie hunts down various cakes and desserts. At which point I fully understand if you’ve all fled there en masse and are no longer reading this post.

As part of this month’s Wallingford Art Walk Jessie was exhibiting at Trophy Cupcakes showing pictures of Cuppie in various Seattle locations. Given my borderline obsession with Trophy anyway, wild horses couldn’t keep the Minx and I from attending.

I did buy a couple of little watercolours which Jessie will be sending to me. In the meantime the above is the promotional postcard for the event, which the Minx absolutely adores and which I will probably also frame for her. She particularly likes the ‘Mummy and Minx buying a box of cupcakes’ (yes she is fairly familiar with the appearance of a Trophy box) to the left.

If you’re in Seattle, Jessie’s work will be on display at Trophy through to June 1st. She’s also exhibiting at Schmancy in downtown Seattle on Friday evening. For all non-Seattleites, her work is available online here.

Seattle Chocolates

March 26, 2009 By Paola 2 Comments

Talking of pretty patterns, I know I’m supposed to be doing Weightwatchers, but a couple of these chocolate bars from Seattle Chocolates just happened to fall accidentally into our shopping trolley at the weekend.

Of course I only had one or two squares (who are you kidding? – Ed) but I’m pleased to report that they taste just as gorgeous as they look.

Oh and the below would make an extremely acceptable Easter egg substitute.

Sabotage – or You Just Died and Went to Cupcake Heaven

March 18, 2009 By Paola 13 Comments

I’m back doing Weightwatchers and getting back on the Wii Fit again as, due to extreme laziness, I haven’t lost any weight since I posted this.

This has of course led to every blog I read to enter into a conspiracy to see who can post up the most enticing/intriguing pictures of cupcakes they can find.

So, in a spirit of ‘if you can’t beat’em, join ’em’ and with apologies in advance for sabotaging your diets here they are.

First up gorgeous things from Aussie Hello Naomi {via Whorange}

Then cupcakes that look like burgers, so you can beat two junk food cravings at once (from here {via Twig and Thistle}

Chocolate Guinness cupcakes with Bailey’s buttercream (I am SO stealing that idea) to celebrate St Patrick’s Day from Trophy Cupcakes (available through March 31st for all Seattleites).

Finally this has been around the blogsphere a bit but I am DETERMINED to make him some day {via Violet Posy}.

Man Cooking

February 26, 2009 By Paola 4 Comments

Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday – Pancake Day in the UK – so like good little expats we whipped up some batter and pretended we were in England. English pancakes are more like a French crepe than fluffy American pancakes, but are cooked in a smaller pan and are tossed to make them brown on both sides – with much ensuing hilarity in the kitchen.

Pancakes are most traditionally served with a sprinkling of lemon juice and sugar, but this year the Husband introduced a new level of danger and excitement by caramelising the sugar with his blowtorch.

This proved to be a great innovation, as it introduced a layer of sweet crunch between the smooshy folds of the pancakes, and family cooking is definitely made more interesting by the brandishing of naked flames and throwing food around the room.

Project Nemo – The Story of the Cake

February 15, 2009 By Paola 14 Comments

I have to admit that the general concept for the cake was not original. There are always loads of greatl ideas on Coolest-Birthday-Cakes.com

I baked three separate chocolate cakes using the recipe for ‘Mom’s Chocolate Cake’ from the Macrina Bakery and Cafe cookbook. This is a superb chocolate cake recipe. It always comes out moist and, having used it for three different birthday cakes now, it seems to be very forgiving. (I just made the basic chocolate cake and not the vanilla syrup or chocolate frosting specified in the recipe).

I didn’t have a small enough tin for the upper tier, so I just made two medium-sized cakes and cut one down to fit.

I was a bit nervous about making a tiered cake as it had to be transported quite a way up the freeway to the pool where we were holding the party, so the the Husband, thank goodness he’s an engineer, constructed quite a complex structure of wooden sticks and cardboard circles to make sure that the cakes didn’t sink into another or slide about.

I then mixed up a large quantity of buttercream and tinted most of it sea blue – I found that about 2-3 drops of Royal Blue colouring to 1 drop of Leaf Green worked well.

We then coated the whole thing, including the base board, with the buttercream; piped on some green seaweed tendrils and jaggedy coral; and then decorated it with the shells. I am so pleased with how they turned out as they made the whole cake.

We then sprinkled it with some blue sprinkling sugar (which you can’t see on this photo but which gave the icing the texture of bubbles) and topped it with Nemo and his daddy. I cheated massively here and used some bath toys – the Minx thought this was an excellent idea as she got to keep a souvenir of the cake.

And the kids were mesmerized…

Project Nemo

February 13, 2009 By Paola 5 Comments

We’ve hired a swimming pool for the Minx’s birthday party tomorrow (we’ve managed to get round to organising this only a month after her birthday, bad, bad mummy) and thought it appropriate to make a Finding Nemo cake for all the little swimmers.

First step was to make a lot of colourful shells, using a Wilton shell mould and Wilton candy melts. These things are amazing – just melt in the microwave and then pour into the mould, put them in the fridge, tap the mould to release and watch them come out all shiny and professional looking. The only downside is that they are FULL of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and other undesirables, but whatevs, it’s a birthday party.

Seattle News

February 7, 2009 By Paola 4 Comments

Just a quick heads up for Seattle peeps. Firstly there’s a sample sale TODAY at the Seattle Design Center in Georgetown. Normally it’s open to the trade only, but today it’s open to the public with hopefully loads of sale goodies available. We’ll be there later this morning.

Secondly the best Italian restaurant in Seattle has, very excitingly, recently opened two blocks from our house in lower Wallingford (just north of Gasworks Park). We went to Cantinetta last night and had the most amazing time – fabulous buzzy ambience, friendly and knowledgeable service, a rustic but airy space in a converted corner brick house and incredible food and wine. The rabbit with wild mushrooms and polenta was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten in Seattle.

I’ll try and do a proper review with photos next time I go, but in the meantime I advise you to run there as fast as your legs can carry you.

Sunset Chicken with Tomatoes, Apricots and Chickpeas

February 4, 2009 By Paola 5 Comments

If you’re mourning the loss of Domino and live on the West side of the US, you could do a lot worse than to pick up Sunset. It’s more of a lifestyle-y magazine than pure decor, but they do feature some great ‘real-life’ interiors and gardens and also have some fabulous recipes. The website is really excellent too.

A couple of nights ago we made this recipe for supper which I share with you because it is perfect weekday supper fodder – quick, easy, healthy, unusual and utterly, utterly delicious. Chicken is braised in a sauce of chopped tomatoes, canned chickpeas and chopped dried apricots with middle-eastern spices, which we served with couscous and spinach. The only changes we made from the recipe in the link was to use chicken thighs not breast and to not add any extra sugar, the apricots make it quite sweet enough as it is.

I took some photos but wasn’t very happy with the performance of my little point and shoot camera in the low evening light. Instead I took my slightly blurred photo and ran it through the completely awesome Poladroid app, which makes your existing digital photos look like Polaroids – not just the border but also the intriguing white balance and slight soft focus. You even see them ‘developing’ before your eyes. Huge fun.

Recession-Busting Italian Lentil & Bacon Soup

January 27, 2009 By Paola 3 Comments

Italians traditionally eat lentils at New Year as they’re supposed to bring wealth and good fortune. So make this incredibly delicious, nutritious, quick, easy and CHEAP soup and I guarantee you’ll have no money worries whatsoever this year. (We’ve been eating LOADS.)

This recipe is one of my own devising, so it’s all a bit approximate.

INGREDIENTS.

1 onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 cloves garlic

2-3 tablespoons tiny cubes of bacon (experiment with this, pancetta would be what the Italians would use, we’ve had great success recently with maple smoked bacon. The little packets of cubed pancetta you can get in the UK would be ideal.)

1 tub of good tomato pasta sauce from the chiller cabinet (about 16 fl oz/500 ml). In Seattle my favourite is Cucina Fresca’s Marinara Sauce.

1 carton chicken broth (32 fl oz/ 1litre) or equivalent of chicken stock made with a cube for those of you in the UK who don’t have access to such a thing

1 cup green lentils (don’t use any other type of lentil. Puy lentils are the best.)

Finely dice the onion and sweat it down in the olive oil until soft and slightly golden. Towards the end of the cooking time crush the garlic and add it to the pan. Continue cookng for another few minutes, being careful not to let the garlic and onion brown, and then add the bacon. Continue cooking until the bacon starts to brown. Then add the tomato sauce, the chicken broth/stock and the lentils.

Simmer until the lentils are cooked, about 20-30 minutes. I like mine slightly al dente. Season with salt and pepper, then serve. If you haven’t used maple smoked bacon serve with a swirl of olive oil and lots of grated Parmesan (if you do use the maple smoked bacon I think the strong flavour of the bacon is too much for the cheese but you may beg to differ).

I keep Parmesan cheese rinds in a plastic bag in the freezer and it’s good to throw one of these in with the stock and sauce for extra richness and depth of flavour. A couple of handfuls of spinach leaves thrown in at the end are also a good addition.