Movin' It Like Mike On a Monday

I signed up to Move it Like Mike last week, and considering time constraints, illness and various other lame excuses, I haven't done too badly. Have moved it twice this week, and hoping to make it to three next week.

The thing is, I love going for a walk. LOVE IT. Especially since I get so little time to just be quiet, and think my own thinks. It's hard to get out on my own though, but I'll get there. I will, I will!

Meanwhile, I've been cooking a lot. I've taken to baking my own bread, which is dead satisfying, and much easier than I expected, as well as being pretty cheap. I got a recipe from Delia Smith's - How To Cook Part One.

This recipe doesn't even ask you to knead the bread! It's a pretty sturdy loaf, not one for the white pap bunch, but just my sort of thing. This week I've been adding sunflower seeds to the top, and will probably experiment with other bits.

What else? Umm, oh yes we had a birthday party for my brother, my Nanna and myself for which I delved into the Ottolenghi cookbook that my old pal Roy gave me. The Apple and Olive Oil Cake With Maple Icing is delicious. I think it'll become a standard.

I also tried their chocolate cupcakes, which were dead good. Even Nanna said so. 'You could eat them!' she said. Quite the compliment! The picture here is minus the icing, but you wouldn't leave the icing off, oh no! It's thick and full on, and blummin' lovely. Just to jazz up the tops I sliced up some Fry's Turkish Delights and put a piece on each cake.

The party was tops as always. Too much food, too much laughing. Too much, too much! But never enough.

Here's Nanna, the night of her birthday:



The cupcake mix - it had treacle in it, which helped with the gooeyness:



The final product, minus icing:



And of course, the bowl needed licking:





And finally for this post...homemade English Muffins! I got the recipe from the Kitchen Wench here and they were a lot easier to make than I would've thought. I think they'll be a regular on our breakfast table, although I've got to get some better marmalade. I bought some organic stuff that is okay, but a bit insipid. I prefer it to be a bit bitter, so I can get that pinched look of an elderly, powdered lady with lipstick on her teeth and the world in her eyes.

Ready for cooking:









And here's one that has nothing to do with anything:



Here's to winter, and red coats.

Cheers!

xx BertieBlue.

First Things First On a Friday.

Okay, it's been awhile, but I've been trying to find time to work out how to use mucho pics in minimo space.

I haven't found time for that, or for much else. Although, I have been cooking a fair bit. Jim was laid off a couple of weeks ago, which is kind of grim - I'm trying to stay positive by saying, 'kind of' rather than 'quite', you see. Anyway, I've been baking a lot to keep the home fires burning so to speak, and to keep us all a bit chirpier than we might otherwise be.

There are loads of photos of things I've made to upload, let's just see how I go.

Here's some fennel crumble.





I've got a real thing for fennel right now. It started with a salad made when my pals, the Hazel's were visiting from London. It was really simple, involving lots of fennel, the zest and juice of a lemon, zest of an orange, fennel fronds, toasted pine nuts, olive oil and salt and pepper. And it was THE BUSINESS!

Here's the recipe:

http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/1854/fennel-salad-with-citrus-zests-and-toasted-pine-nuts

The crumble was lovely too. Creamy, and with a bit of parmesan crunch on top.

And here are a couple of Autumnal appreciation type pics.