Peanut butter & choc chip cookie ice cream sandwiches

You can skip over this bit. They're called PEANUT BUTTER and CHOC CHIP cookie ICE CREAM sandwiches. If the knowledge that those three vital, life saving, smile inducing ingredients are involved isn't enough for you to want to make these, what could I possibly say that would convince you?

The recipe for the cookies is from Bill Granger, but I doubled the amount of peanut butter, and can't say for certain how many choc chips I used as I just kept throwing them in until it looked about right. You are aiming to make a soft dough really, so if that means adding a wee bit more peanut butter then, you've just got to suck it up and do it (not literally suck it up, but hey whatever floats your boat).

Peanut butter choc-chip cookies
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tblsp butter
1/3 cup peanut butter (I used double this)
1 1/3 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g choc chips
milk

- preheat oven on 180C
- mix together the brown sugar, butter and peanut butter
- stir through the flour, baking powder and choc chips
- add enough milk to pull it all together (hmmm in retrospect maybe I skipped this and instead used more peanut butter)
- use an icecream scoop and place scoopfuls on a baking tray lined with baking paper*
- press down with a fork, bake 10-12 minutes

 

*instead of this method, we rolled out the dough and cut out 12 cookies with a round cookie cutter. Before serving, we melted the ice cream a bit and flattened it, then wrapped in cling film and refroze. To make the sandwiches we then cut discs of ice cream using the same cookie cutter, made the sandwiches then froze them for a little bit longer. You could just as easily bake your cookies (no need for a cookie cutter), then once cool, squash a scoop of ice cream between them - just as delicious!

 

Enjoy!

 

Rome

Y & I spent a gorgeous weekend in Rome (and have been suffering withdrawal symptoms from the espresso, gelati and pasta all week). Luckily for us, Gourmet Chick had written an excellent post on her blog about Rome a few months ago. She recommended some fabulous accommodation, Hotel Daphne, so this is where we stayed. And wow, what a great place. The hotel is in a super location, but what really makes it a gem is the added extras - the staff are incredibly helpful and nothing is too much trouble. With their advice and Gourmet Chick's tips, we couldn't go wrong in Rome.

Gourmet Chick's top restaurants are here - our favourite of her suggestions that we tried was the porchetta rolls at Er Buchetto. A gorgeous little spot and delicious, simple porky goodness.

Hotel Daphne planned a great walking tour for us, and pointed out brilliant coffee and gelati spots (limone flavour from Giolitti was delish), as well as planning and booking excellent meals. Our very favourite dinner was at Trattoria Moderna, where we devoured fabulous antipasti, pasta, coffee and wine.

We did actually find a couple of places all on our own (shock horror) - we had a really super lunch at all'Arco di S.Calisto and good pizzas at Heaven, both in Trastevere.

Not a ground breaking post, I know, but with advice from others that's this good, there's no need for me to reinvent the wheel!

 

 

Buttoned cushions

It is a truth universally acknowledged in my family, that my grandmother Neen, is by far the most difficult person for whom to buy a present. Our family rules of secret santa are that if you won't be at lunchon Christmas Day, you don't buy or receive a gift. So until last December, I'd had a three year sabbatical from the family secret santa, which meant, when I was working out (on a purely random basis you understand) who would buy for who, I decided to set myself a challenge and give the responsibility of buying for Neen to myself.

The pressure. It had to be good. The whole point of secret santa is that you only get one gift, but it's effectively given on behalf of the whole family. So it has to be a great present. On Christmas Day we all sit and open the presents one by one, starting with the eldest person, Papa Max, and finishing with my youngest cousin, little Max. A good 5 minutes of undivided attention is given to each person and their gift, cameras trained on their face to capture their reaction. As I said, there's pressure.

What do you buy an 80 year old lady who appears to have everything? The answer: you don't. You go for the heart string, the sentimental angle. You hope that, even if it's not very good, she will love it because her eldest grand daughter MADE IT. That worked when I was at school. It was time to test the theory.

I decided to make a cushion. Neen's real name is Enid, so I wanted to make a cushion with a big "E" on it. I knew that Neen's favourite colours are dark greens, mustards, yellows and creams. I also knew that she loves Liberty fabric. So I started scouring Etsy. I found a gorgeous piece of Liberty fabric in just the right colours. I then also found loads of vintage buttons in different colours – all different types.

I drew and cut out a stencil of the "E" to give myself some guidance, and then basically got to work sewing on buttons. I decided to make dense clusters of buttons, sometimes piling them on top of each other or partly overlapping (which worked well because some big tweed or mattress buttons sit out from the fabric and need support underneath). Although I pricked my finger many many times, I hugely enjoyed the button sewing, and the "E" was done over the space of a weekend.

I don't have a sewing machine, so I decided to sew the Liberty fabric with the "E" onto a ready made cushion. You can find plain cushions at most department stores or at Ikea. I carefully measured and then attached the material to the cushion with iron on hemming tape. I then tacked it on with thread for added security. I sewed through some of the buttons again to attach them to the cushion.

Using a dark green embroidering thread I then sewed blanket stitch all around the outside border of the fabric. Finally, I took out the tacking that was holding the material in place.

Finito! I was super happy with the end result, and most importantly, Neen loved it.

If you want a slightly easier idea, here's a cushion I made for my sister, Sophia's, 30th birthday last week. The button sewing idea is the same, but this time I attached the buttons directly onto a gorgeous cushion I bought from Debenhams.

Happy button sewing!

 

 

 

12 courses, 12 cocktails, 12 hours

Saturday was spent indulging in the things Y and I, and our fabulous friends Melody and Matt, love most. Cooking, mixing cocktails, eating and drinking. We planned an extravaganza, but, having learnt from an epic over-eating exercise at Thanksgiving, we decided to try and pace ourselves - lots of smallish courses, with one matched cocktail/wine per course, stretched out over half a day. As Y described it, the result was a 12 hour gastronomical orgasm.


Here's our menu:
Champagne cocktail with Matt's spicy nuts.

Lynchburg lemonade with sliders with gruyere, sweet potato fries and red pickled cabbage. Of course, Matt and Melody made the brioche buns and hamburgers themselves, and pickled the cabbage.

Garden of Eden (a beautifully fresh cocktail with cucumber infused vodka, raspberries and thyme sugar syrup) and salt baked beetroot and goats cheese salad.

Red wine with Ginger Pig lamb cutlets, mint buttered greens and glazed Jerusalem artichokes ("sunchokes" according to Melody).

Y's tabasco margarita with vodka malfadine (aka gorgeous home made pasta).

Bangkok zinger (an explosive cocktail of chilli infused vodka, kaffir lime sugar syrup, ginger beer, coriander and mint) with slow cooked Thai style pork belly.

Marmalade cocktail (made by Matt from the Hawksmoor cookbook) with pickled mushroom salad.

Red wine with seared Ginger Pig sirloin.

Pomegranate, blood orange and vanilla sorbet, and coconut milk, kaffir lime and lemongrass sorbet.

Espresso martini with gooey chocolate cheesecake, mascarpone and figs.

Daiquiri (made with homemade pimento dram) with steamed marmalade pudding and cinnamon ice cream.

Port (we skipped the port!) with home made rosemary crackers and La Fromagerie cheeses (Saint Marcellin and Napoleon Brebis Laitier).

We started cooking and ate from 12pm til 12am. , We had planned everything meticulously, which involved a lot of preparation in the lead up, not just on the food front but in making our own syrups and infusing liquor for our cocktails. We tried to make each course look gorgeous too. We were well rewarded for our efforts and felt super chuffed with ourselves!


We slept well and, I am proud to admit, dipped the leftover brioche buns in eggs and cream, and enjoyed French toast, topped with mascarpone and maple syrup for breakfast.

Cornwall

Life is tough eh? Another week, another holiday. La ti dah. Well when the parents travel across the world to see you, you can hardly send them off exploring Cornwall on their own, can you?

After our jaunt around Scotland, the parents drove around around Norfolk and Suffolk for a week whilst Y and I showed our faces in the office. We all met up again in Truro, Cornwall. Y and I picked up a hire car in Exeter and, having some time on our hands, we went to check out St Mawes on the south Cornwall coast.

St Mawes

A friend had recommended several food spots, and we enjoyed a lovely stroll through the village, yummy lunch at the Rising Sun (scallops & chorizo, and fish & chips, below), coffee at Chandlers, and a little bit of history at St Mawes castle.

Truro

Y & I had a light dinner and drinks in Truro before collecting mum and dad from the station. We found the Old Grammar School - a really great place, with a buzz, friendly service and good tapas (squid with aioli, chipolatas, olives, below). We would have loved to have stayed later but duty called ...

We spent the night at Chycara House, a lovely guest house about 15 minutes drive outside of Truro. We were able to relax in the cosy sitting room at night and enjoyed a good breakfast in the morning.

We returned to Truro at the end of our trip to drop the parents back at the station. There are some cute little shops in this village - nice delis, gorgeous cathedral and interesting Royal Cornwall Museum. My fave (because finding decent coffee is always a top priority) is this fab coffee place (both pics above), 108 Coffee House - very tasty & well made coffee.

Gurnard's Head

The next morning, under shining sun (hurray!) we visited St Michael's Mount and some Roman ruins (as you do) before arriving at Gurnard's Head. Y and I had eaten lunch at this gorgeous pub a few years ago. It's perfectly situated on the coast surrounded by green fields and cows. We couldn't wait to go back. Fortuitously Gurnard's Head has a "Sunday Sleepover" offer - Sunday lunch (3 courses), Sunday dinner (oof, another 3 courses), a charming room for the night (ideal for sleeping off the inevitable food coma), and yes, you guessed it, breakfast. Lunch was delicious - in an effort at restraint we shared 3 entrees between 4 (screams "restraint" yes?). Entrees were amazing soda bread with ham terrine, grilled mackerel and figs & goats cheese salad. Earlier talk of "pacing ourselves" and " saving ourselves for dinner" was forgotten and it took no great convincing to agree that it in fact made more sense to eat up at lunch as we'd have the afternoon to "work it off".

Excellent main courses of slow cooked pork, pan fried pollack, and barley, asparagus and roast artichoke (my dish, below - Jerusalem artichoke = wow) were therefore followed by fab chocolate & raisin brownie (with Cornwall clotted cream of course) and apple strudel. Thank goodness there was an amazing coastal walk within stumbling distance, so that we could at least justify turning up for dinner.

Dinner was as expected - delicious. And a short morning walk meant I could obviously indulge in more of the home made soda bread (toasted this time) at breaky. We loved everything about our stay - the staff and attention to detail, both in our rooms, the pub and with the food, made our stay very special.

St Agnes

We finally tore ourselves away from Gurnard's Head to visit a National Trust home, Trerice, before heading to St Agnes. We had coffee (oh ok, also yummy yoghurt flapjack) on the little beach at Schooner's, and later pasties from St Agnes Bakery up in the village. We stayed at Driftwood Spars - I wouldn't recommend the accommodation (a bit tired and shabby, not fabulous value) but the atmosphere in the tiny pub (heaving with locals and their dogs) was great and the food excellent (chilli crab linguine hit the spot and treacle tart was divine). I wouldn't say St Agnes is a must visit village, although the walk along the heads either side of the beach was very pretty - presumably it gets an injection of life come summer.

Padstow

We set off early from St Agnes and drove along Cornwall's pretty west coast. First stop was at Port Isaac (which if, like my folks, you are a fan of some show with a dude called "Doc Martin" (Y & I remain clueless) you would instead know as "Port Wenn"). The village is very pretty, but the two highlights for me were coffee at Fresh from the Sea and the very cool prints and drawings from Hooper & Shaw next door (have nicer, more talented people ever set up a shop?).

Our day was also spent at English Heritage's Tintagel (an absolute must) and exploring the village of Pad-Stein, sorry Padstow. We stayed in a fabulous guest house, Treravel B&B, on a farm about 10 minutes drive out of Padstow (see our room below).

On the recommendation of our host we rubbed shoulders with the locals at Fryer Tucks (geddit?) fish & chips in St Merryn instead of Rick Stein's fish & chips in Padstow. A great choice - the staff even gave us paper cups for our bottle of wine.

Cornwall is a truly gorgeous area of England. Whilst the highlight of our trip was certainly our sleepover at Gurnard's Head, very little disappointed during our 5 days and, as ever, the local people were a delight.

 

Scotland

I told Y I'd write a blog post at the end of every day of our Scotland trip. Not entirely without justification, Y said "yes, well just see how you go". So here you have it, not a blog post at the end of day 1, but at the end of the entire 9 day trip (although in my defence, we've barely left Edinburgh and the post is done!).

We've been in Scotland with my parents, who are visiting from Australia. We've been following (with some variations) a fabulous itinerary from Secret Scotland. As well as lots of helpful information, you tell them how long your trip is, what your interests are (castles, whisky, scenery), and then for less than £20 they give you an incredibly detailed itinerary, with suggestions on which routes to drive, where to stop, sleep, eat, visit and avoid. For an additional £10 they will provide an accommodation guide, with several recommended B&Bs to stay at each location. Other than where we altered the itinerary a little, we've stayed at places recommended by Secret Scotland, and they've been top notch, and all with a special, personal touch.

Here is a quick list of the top places we've enjoyed sleeping and eating in Scotland:

Edinburgh

In Edinburgh we stayed at the beautiful Sheridan Guest House. It's actually located in Leith, and is a pleasant 20 minute stroll down to the many restaurants along the port, and a 10 minute bus into the city centre. The house is lovely, bright and airy, with some great art and very pretty front garden. We really loved it here.

Our family is fanatical about coffee. I was relieved then when we found Wellington Coffee. The coffee is Square Mile Coffee (which made us east Londoners feel at home), and is made perfectly. We (in the interests of research) had fruit scones, baked fresh that morning, and yummo were they good.

We had a thoroughly enjoyable dinner at The Saint, in a lovely little neighbourhood near Stockbridge Market. This restaurant had a great atmosphere and the food was excellent. The Saint's sister establishment is Bramble Bar, a fabulously secretive venue (look carefully underneath a clothing alterations shop!) mixing gorgeous cocktails.

On our return to Edinburgh at the end of our driving trip we stayed in some great rooms at Lantern Guest House. This accommodation is in a great location and excellent value.

Our final dinner was at Fishers in the City (their other restaurant is on the port at Leith). The seafood was excellent and I loved this salmon plate. Both my dad and I are determined to crack the recipe for the divine peanut butter ice cream we devoured for dessert!

 

Aviemore

Our next stop was Aviemore, where we stayed at Ravenscraig Guest House. The accommodation and breakfast were both great, but the highlight for us Aussies was the 20cm of snow that fell over night. We awoke to a winter wonderland, and our hosts seemed rather pleased that clearing snow was such a novelty for us!

A friend had told Y that we should eat at the Old Bridge Inn. Wow. Although the surroundings screamed mediocre family restaurant, and the service wasn't anything special, the food was incredibly good. My gorgeous slow cooked pigs cheeks wouldn't have been out of place in a good London establishment. What a great find!

Speyside

I'm not a whisky drinker, but Y was impressed with the offerings at Glenfarclas distillery (a recommendation from our hosts at Ravencraig Guest House). In the small village down the road from the distillery, Aberlour, is a great little shop, The Spey Larder, lined with old fashioned wooden shelves heaving with all sorts of deliciousness.

Black Isle

After driving through such breathtaking countryside, and exploring Loch Ness, what could be better than crossing the bridge to the Black Isle, leaving Inverness behind, and arriving at the lovely Craigiewood B&B to be greeted with tea and homemade flapjacks? You feel as though you're in the middle of nowhere, which means all there is to do is relax! We couldn't have been made to feel more welcome by our hosts, who get the balance of fussing over you and leaving you alone, just right.

For dinner we drove about 20 minutes to The Anderson, a very quirky pub and restaurant in Fortrose. We ate in the bar area and enjoyed excellent seafood and divine sweet potato fries.

Kinlochewe

I have to say, whilst driving along the incredible Wester Ross trail, we went through some lifeless towns, and I was happy to have seemingly forgone any sign of decent food for the spectacular scenery. I totally therefore underestimated the Whistle Stop Cafe. I was immediately cheered by the fab decor (below), the rosy welcome and the fact that the scones had been baked less than an hour ago. Seated by the fire we dolloped jam and cream using pretty mismatched china, and enjoyed good coffee.

Plockton

If you dreamt up the most picturesque sea side village you still couldn't conjure up Plockton, especially in the late afternoon when the gorgeous landscape is mirrored in the still water. We stayed right by the sea in a great B&B, An Caladh. The highlight was incredibly fresh and delicious seafood at Shores Restaurant. Fortunately we only had to roll ourselves about 20 metres home after this feast!

Isle of Skye

A friend of ours had looked over the itinerary provided by Secret Scotland and made helpful notes with her recommendations. Next to the entry for Three Chimneys restaurant at Colbost, she wrote "my favourite restaurant in the whole world". On the strength of this entirely objective praise we booked a table for lunch (we later found out that booking 4 months in advance had been wise). It was sublime. Somehow the food manages to to be hearty yet delicate and light all at once. The presentation was so pretty, and it was clear that time and thought had been spent on every element of each dish. It was truly a special experience.

If sustainence is needed (sitting in the back of a car can be tiring), there are a few cute cafes dotted around the island. Sheilings Cafe in Idrigill near Uig was very cute, with some knitted items and second hand (in London it would be "vintage") jewellery and crockery for sale. Scones were fresh and delicious, coffee was good, the owner friendly (he said we were allowed to lick our plates). The Ellishadder Art Cafe sounds great, but our bellies were still groaning from breakfast (at our lovely B&B just outside of Portree, Grasmhor) when we passed.

Dornie

If it's a great little pub, filled with locals, situated on the water and serving good grub that you're after, The Clachan is the place! Service was super friendly and my fish pie delicious. We stayed near by at Seadrift B&B (on Kyle of Lochalsh) which, on first appearances doesn't look promising, but is a great value place to stay in a location straight from a jigsaw puzzle.

Glencoe

The Glencoe Cafe is a surprising hub of activity for an otherwise normal residential street. And as long as the smiling staff keep serving up good coffee and yummy baking (scones were fresh from the oven, date & oat crumble slice was tasty), I dare say it shall remain so!

Drymen

In Drymen we stayed in one of the best B&Bs of our trip (and not just because we found chocolate bunnies at the breakfast table!), Bramblewood B&B, located amongst the trees just out of the village. The village was very cute, but a little thin on the ground for dining options. We ate at the Clachan Inn, which had a great atmosphere and was buzzing by 6pm, but was certainly no gastro pub - if the ham steaks and pineapple rings of your youth are calling, by all means check it out. Other options in the village are the Pottery restaurant or the Buchanan Arms and in retrospect we may have been better off going to one of those.

 

That has been our wonderful trip around Scotland. We have all fallen in love with the incredible scenery, the delicious seafood, the ancient castles and the wonderfully friendly people. If you haven't been, add it to the list!