One Thing After Another...

You see, even Eddie likes the look of this one... To go back to the beginning, Pawel was off the other day and after seeing me struggle to make a variety of complex cakes etc for a long time, has treated me(!) to a stand mixer - as a sort-of get well present! It makes light work of everything and definately worth having if you're a long-suffering baker. So what better way to say thanks, than to help him make a polish gingerbread - or "Piernik" as it is known in his native language! It's the first time we've actually baked together and we had a really nice time. However, because we had the new gadget to play with, we were both fighting over who was "turning it on" or "having a go next"....!!! Boys and toys, you know. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Polish Gingerbread - "Piernik" The problem with us Brits, is that if a dish isn't Chinese, French, Spanish or Italian, we have our reservations about it! I know I am certainly guilty of tha...

It's been another scorcher of a day here today. I thought I'd take a picture of my radish shoots I was telling you about yesterday: There's still no sign of my dwarf French beans yet though but rest of the garden is looking pretty good. I'll leave more about that though for another day. I made some coconut cupcakes today, which are amazing - I only wish I had a stand mixer though as doing everything by hand is a bit tiresome and having a mixer would just speed things up quite a bit! You never know.... * * * * * * * * * * * * * Coconut Cocoa Cupcakes Makes 9 cupcakes I love these cupcakes, mostly because the coconut in the mixture just makes a really light, yet moist cupcake. The cream cheese icing also adds a sweet indulgence without overpowering the whole cake as its a lot more subtle than a lot of icings. It also remains soft rather than 'crusting' over. It was a great day today to make these - even though it was a really hot day, they weren't sickly lik...

...and today was gorgeous. It's been roasting all day - it's made such a nice change to all the wintry weather we're still having. It's also so nice just to have the doors open and not even have to worry if the stove is still going or not. I wonder if it will last? Regardless, it still lifted mine and Pawel's mood A summer's deck: Oh and I noticed that the radish seeds I planted just last week have already popped up under the poly tunnel. I'm imagining all those salads already!

Well, they're one of Pawel's favourites and also one of mine, but unfortunately, we live in England whereby you can't find a decent patisserie with properly made pastries. That leaves me with one option - making them myself! Almond Pastries Serving Size: 2 We were in Poland visiting Pawel's friends a few years back, and one of his friends showed me how to make these pastries stuffed with an almond 'paste-like' filling which was so delicious. They are very popular in the city of Poznan and you can find them in most cafe's there. The ones I make now are slightly different as I make them into 'lattices' rather than into a traditional croissant shape and I think this works better and also looks better on the eye. Ingredients: * 1 sheet of ready rolled puff pastry (14"x 9"roughly) * 4tbsp of ground almonds * 3tbsp of sugar * 3 teaspoons of room temperature butter * 2-3 drops of almond extract * Flaked almonds to decorate * Icing sugar to deco...

I've lived on the boat for nearly 2 years now and had to do without.... Six months before that I also had to do without despite having such a helping hand beforehand. To be honest, now I think about, it I don't know how I've gone so long without this helping hand. Or more to the point, why I let Pawel talk me out of one for so long!! So what the hell am I talking about?! A DISHWASHER!!!!! So, six months before we left the house to move on to the boat, the dishwasher packed in and we didn't bother repairing it - just threw it out instead. It's a long story but it was something we both agreed on at the time! Anyway, fast forward to life on that boat, and despite how serene life is on the boat(mostly) I've always been fed up of washing pots! Mostly as it's me that always does it! It's a nightmare especially as I cook mostly from scratch everyday, make the bread and do loads of baking. So despite me wanting/ needing one for ages, we've just not bothere...