Pinoy Hubby

I went to Austria last year and made a few of the local dishes after I came back, so this round of Formula 1 Foods was quite easy for me. The idea is to make something inspired by the country that is hosting each race and last time it was Austria. Apple strudel is said to originate from Vienna and when I was there I saw a demonstration and got to try some freshly-baked strudel; I was given a recipe to take away which I made at home. The trick is getting your pastry so thin that you can lay it on top of the recipe card and read the text through your pastry! I also tried a piece of Sachertorte in the Hotel Sacher where it was invented; I had actually made this and posted it on my blog a while previously so it's a good excuse to share the recipe again! Another local speciality is Wiener Schnitzel and while I've made it several times in the past I hadn't blogged about it before so this is my latest post. I used pork and chicken but veal is the really traditional way to make

Finally a week that should be a lot quieter - but I will probably jinx it by saying that! Lately I've been out a lot and had to work late a bit and we've been away or busy at the weekends. This week I've just got my cake decorating class; no social events planned (which sounds depressing but is actually lovely to have a solid run of nights in at home!) and also no plans for the weekend. Other than the million and one things that need doing around the house and garden of course! I've put some of the things that were on last week's menu down for this week as I didn't make them last week. Someone who shall remain nameless (though it wasn't me, and it wasn't the cat...) left the freezer open slightly overnight so I had to throw away or cook all the food that was in the door or at the front! Luckily the rest of it was OK but at the weekend we were eating things that had to be used up rather than the meals that I had planned. Monday Lunch: pasta salad or possi

As we continue our journey through the alphabet this month we were baking with the letter O. Oranges made a few appearances but there were plenty of other ingredients beginning with O which showed up in your sweet and savoury recipes this month. I got one of my own entries in first: these mini rose-shaped cakes are favoured with orange and also vegan. I love the Nordicware tin that I used to make them! My mum Jacqueline also used a pretty cake mould for this peppermint and orange flower cake. Those are two flavours which I haven't seen in combination before so I wonder what it tasted like? Now these two flavours are a bit more common together and ones I really like: chocolate and orange. This loaf cake is also from my mum Jacqueline. This green veggie minestrone soup comes from Jen's Food and uses orzo pasta to make it really filling. She used ham stock in the freezer from Christmas so the meal is cheap and easy to make. Laura at I'd Much Rather Bake Than ... made this or

I went to Austria last year and made a few of the local dishes after I came back, so this round of Formula 1 Foods was quite easy for me. The idea is to make something inspired by the country that is hosting each race and last time it was Austria. Apple strudel is said to originate from Vienna and when I was there I saw a demonstration and got to try some freshly-baked strudel; I was given a recipe to take away which I made at home. The trick is getting your pastry so thin that you can lay it on top of the recipe card and read the text through your pastry! I also tried a piece of Sachertorte in the Hotel Sacher where it was invented; I had actually made this and posted it on my blog a while previously so it's a good excuse to share the recipe again! Another local speciality is Wiener Schnitzel and while I've made it several times in the past I hadn't blogged about it before so this is my latest post. I used pork and chicken but veal is the really traditional way to make

  Every year my boyfriend goes to the Goodwood Festival of Speed with his dad, and every year I use that time to indulge my love of card making. I tend to turn the craft room (aka spare bedroom number 2, which has a desk and cupboard full of craft stuff) into a complete mess making at least half a dozen cards in the morning, and then tidy it up in the afternoon before he gets home! I've only recently realised that there are blog challenges for papercrafts in the same way that there are for baking. Challenges for Days has a really helpful list of all the themes so I decided to have a look at that list for inspiration. There is a challenge on Daring Cardmakers to produce a baby card with a rocking or moving element to it and as one of my closest friends is expecting her first baby in August, I thought that was the perfect theme. I first thought about making a card with a cradle that rocks, but wasn't sure how to go about making one element of the card move - there are various w

    I drove to Epsom so we could go to the cinema on Sunday evening recently. That may sound quite dull but it was the first time I’d driven somewhere unfamiliar other than on a driving lesson (I normally go to the local train station and village high street and that’s about it), the first time I’d used a satnav (though I also had my boyfriend giving directions), and one of the only times I’ve driven in the dark (and I discovered unfamiliar roads in the dark do make me quite nervous!). We got there successfully (if you overlook stalling at a junction because I was confused about where I was going) and so I felt like I deserved something of a reward. This driving lark is still really stressful! We often go to the cinema in Epsom and eat there beforehand and have tried quite a few restaurants within walking distance of the cinema. It was only recently that I’d heard about Black’s Burgers – it’s set back from the high street so we hadn’t spotted it before. But they don’t take reservation

Meringues are the bane of my life. It’s not so much about making the perfect macaron as getting a simple meringue to not stick to the paper. After many failures I decided to sign up for a course at Cakes 4 Fun in Putney, which was brilliant; you can read about what I did here . After the course, I made a pavlova from a Nigella Lawson recipe at home, and it turned out perfectly. Fully of confidence, I asked for the Meringue Girls book for my birthday, and recently made a pavlova from that – it was undercooked in the middle and stuck to the paper. I had to turn it into a sort Eton Mess with some Carte d’Or Eton Mess flavour ice cream, pomegranate seeds and some pomegranate molasses (which I had bought for the pavlova recipe) drizzled over the top. It was delicious, but it seems I am back to square one as far as my meringue making ability is concerned. So this is the tale of the rather more successful cappuccino pavlova by Nigella. The recipe is available from her website and it was real

  I always say that I don’t like salads, but what I really mean is that I don’t like lettuce – unless I’m in absolutely the right mood for it which usually means a sunny day! When I was a child salads were “lettuce, tomato, cucumber” – the words almost run into each other. But it’s not the 1980s any more and you can put pretty much anything in a salad – and it doesn’t even have to have lettuce as a base.   I was going through some recipe cuttings – actually pages I had photocopied from a diet cookery book of some kind – and trying to make space in the kitchen by throwing them out. Most of the recipes in that folder were not interesting enough to keep or even to cook – or very similar to ones I already have in recipe books. I did keep a few however, one of which was this salad – but now the recipe is on my blog, I can throw out the photocopy as well!   T he recipe didn’t actually include instructions for a salad dressing but instead advised that a fat-free vinaigrette would go nicely wi

When we had a barbecue last weekend I made these cupcakes purely so I could show off my new cake stand!   It’s from a company called Talking Tables  and looks like an ice cream van, complete with ice cream cones and a sign where you can make your own slogan. It costs £16.50 on their website, though I got it for slightly less as I bought it at a cake show about 18 months ago. This is actually the first time I have been able to use it, as I was moving house last summer and staying with my boyfriend’s family temporarily (as we had a gap between selling and buying a house) so all my belongings were in storage. Then I was waiting for the summer so finally I have the chance to use it!       It comes flat-packed and is made of cardboard but is very sturdy, and stands up by itself. There are three tiers; two have flat surfaces and the top tier has holes. Paper ice cream cones are provided, which you can fill with sweets; I also baked some ice cream cone cupcakes (see below) which I popped into