Sweet Saturday and a Dreary Sunday!

In contrast to today, yesterday was a day of energy, sunshine and sweetmaking.

First up was Victorian creams, which I have been wanting to try for ages, but had to wait to find some rose water.
They are very simple to make and require no cooking as such. You literally mix sugar paste icing with golden syrup, food colouring (if colouring) and some flavouring. I chose rose but the flavour was so subtle as to be indiscernible. You shape the mixture into balls and leave them for a few hours to dry.

I suppose you could leave them like this if you wanted to. I coated mine in melted chocolate. Luckily, I accidentally bought mint flavoured chocolate and that made up for the lack of rose flavouring. Just before the chocolate solidified, I decorated the balls with a sugar flower.

Next up. I realised I had the right ingredients to make honeycomb. Dangerous. It's very easy to make-you just melt caster sugar and some golden syrup together and after they've simmered for 5-10 minutes, you take it off the heat and add sodium bicarb which makes the mixture fizz (this creates the aerated texture!). You quickly pour the mixture into a dish to set and then you can break it into pieces when it's set.

Today spring seemed further away than it has done recently. Grey skies, rain and a general feeling of malaise have dominated my day. I have however had a chance to nearly complete two more crochet projects so perhaps today has not been a total waste of time. The flowers I received last weekend look as alive and cheerful as ever and helped lift my spirits. Now to prepare for a busy week before a few days holiday at the start of next week.

Taken with my iPhone. I never tire of experimenting with the camera :)

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!

Happy St David's Day!!

Today I celebrated my love of Wales and my Welsh last name by making Welsh rarebit for dinner and looking through the photographs of my last trip there.

Tintern Abbey

River Wye

Brecon Beacons

Welsh Rarebit is essentially cheese on toast with frills. There are lots of different recipes but I chose Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's. You make the rarebit by first combining butter and flour to create a roux. To this you add strong beer, then cheese (don't be shy with the cheese!). A sauce is formed and then seasoned with English mustard, Worcestershire sauce and pepper. Spoon over toasted granary bread and brown under the grill. Voila, Welsh rarebit. Very tasty but I now need to sleep off the cheese. Fingers crossed I will dream of dragons, valleys and Tintern Abbey.

Time For Lime!

When I visited Thailand a few years ago, I discovered Pad Thai for the first time. We've enjoyed a passionate affair since then.
I've tried to recreate the Pad Thais I ate in Thailand but sadly I've never been able to replicate the ones I remember from Thailand 100%. I think I will have to go back to Thailand for genuine Pad Thais-which is something I hope to do at some point in my life.
My quest to perfect Pad Thai has not been a complete failure-the version I've settled for has become one of my very favourite dinners and is as follows:

Ingredients:
Noodles (medium-ribbon is traditional)
Garlic
Bean sprouts
Spring onions
(Egg)
Birds eye chillies
Juice of 1 lime
Fish sauce
Peanuts (partly crushed)
Coriander
Tamarind paste
Shredded carrot
(any other vegetable could probably be used. Versions I had in Thailand included tomatoes and greens).

I'm not exact in my quantities, just add what suits your taste. The dish isn't supposed to be extremely hot so perhaps remove the seeds from the chilli. The only other thing to note is that you should have equal amounts of lime juice and fish sauce as they should balance each other out. I average out at 2 tablespoons of each.

Method:
Heat some oil in a wok, fry the garlic and chillies a little and then add the vegetables. I add the spring onions last as I like them a little raw. Add the tamarind paste and fish sauce, then noodles. (Add the egg if using). Take the wok off the heat and add the peanuts, lime juice and coriander.

Again, I am a lackadaisical chef and don't have any hard and fast rules. The only part of the recipe I'm strict about is adding the lime juice and coriander after the wok is taken off the heat. Nobody wants cooked lime juice and wilted coriander after all!

When we were staying on Koh Lanta I spent an evening at a local cookery school and learn to cook some real Thai food. It was a lot of fun and the food was delicious.
The evening started with a talk given by one of the teachers on the history and theory of Thai cuisine which was fascinating.
The practical class was held by a Thai lady called Sugar ("I not speak good English but I sure know to cook". And she did too). It was a lovely way to spend an evening in Thailand and dinner was eaten together around a large table on the beach with the beautiful sunset and lots of conversations with people from all over Europe and USA.

More information (including some recipes, Thailand is fairly far to travel to for a cookery class):
www.timeforlime.net