So today is the day of the great Cooking Marathon and I've already had two disasters!! Admittedly, neither are cooking related but then that probably means that my next disaster will be torte-related! Ok, so neither of the following are truly disasters but superstition isn't exactly based on reasoned logic now is it?!? So my two disasters, and brace yourselves...first i sliced my thumb open on a tin of tomatoes and secondly Mr Ellie has gone to work with my gym card so I can't go to the gym this morning.
Ok, so not exactly disasters either of them but darned frustrating none the less! Still, on the plus side, my bolognese sauce for lasagne is on the go and my onions and carrots are all ready for beef and ale stew. I've got time now to knock up some pate sucre (sweet pastry) before I go shopping. I'm planning on leaving the christmas cake until much later as it needs about 4-5 hours in the oven, so I shall put that on once everything else is cooked.
Miss E xxx
Sunday 9 October 2011
Friday 7 October 2011
Cooking Marathon
I have decided that Sunday will be a cooking marathon day - Mr Ellie has to work (boo!) so I'm all on my own (well if you don't count the 7 animals!). I have therefore decided that I will put the radio on in the kitchen at full volume (mainly to drown out my singing), put my 'pinny on and roll up my sleeves for a major cooking day. So far, (and I have to say that I am seriously considering adding to this list), I am planning on making:
Lasagne
Beef & Ale Stew
Tarte au Citron (a la Mary Berry)
Christmas cake
Cookies (yet to decide what flavour)
Cottage Pie
Bread - possibly foccacia
Sachertorte
Can you tell that I've been watching GBBO?!? I watched the masterclass last night with Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood and picked up loads of tips. I'm going to watch it again on the iPlayer so that I can write everything down!
If I get time, I shall also be working on a cowl as I learnt to crochet at lunchtime yesterday (thanks to Miss A!) and I still have the second side of a tea cosy to knit. Plus, thanks to the very generous Miss A, I now have a load more wool tops for needle-felting so I need to start planning some projects for that.
Poor Mr Ellie will be on his hands and knees tomorrow laying laminate flooring whilst I am cosied up on the armchair knitting! He's such a good-un!
I promise to publish photos of anything I make - we'll see if I manage to make everything!!
Miss E xxx
Lasagne
Beef & Ale Stew
Tarte au Citron (a la Mary Berry)
Christmas cake
Cookies (yet to decide what flavour)
Cottage Pie
Bread - possibly foccacia
Sachertorte
Can you tell that I've been watching GBBO?!? I watched the masterclass last night with Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood and picked up loads of tips. I'm going to watch it again on the iPlayer so that I can write everything down!
If I get time, I shall also be working on a cowl as I learnt to crochet at lunchtime yesterday (thanks to Miss A!) and I still have the second side of a tea cosy to knit. Plus, thanks to the very generous Miss A, I now have a load more wool tops for needle-felting so I need to start planning some projects for that.
Poor Mr Ellie will be on his hands and knees tomorrow laying laminate flooring whilst I am cosied up on the armchair knitting! He's such a good-un!
I promise to publish photos of anything I make - we'll see if I manage to make everything!!
Miss E xxx
Tuesday 4 October 2011
Of Pies, GBBO and Scones
On the way home tonight from work, Mr Ellie and I discussed the highly controversial topic of the pastry level that defines a pie from a casserole - we agree (and I have to say that Mr Ellie is quite vocal on this subject) that a pie is only a pie when there is a bottom on it. None of this pot of casserole with a half-hearted lid of puff pastry on the top - no, no dear friends, a pie must have a base of delicious all-butter short pastry as well as a top to seal in all that meaty goodness. The top can be either short or puff pastry, that is clearly down to the individual taste but it should enclose the meat so that the pie could stand alone without losing a single drop of gravy. In Mr Ellie's words: "When you live with a pastry chef of this quality, having a pie without a bottom is like having a ferrari and then taking a taxi to work every day" - methinks he flatters me!
I had already decided that I wanted to bake tonight but by the time the ferrets had had their play time and tea was made, it was time for the final of the Great British Bake Off. As you can imagine, I am an avid viewer of this program and divide my watching time between taking down tips and despairing at why I didn't enter the competition this year! I have to say that I would be distinctly more prepared than the contestants on this years show - it baffles me that none of them have ever made a croquenbouche or a sachertorte before entering the competition - lets face it, both recipes are in Mary Berry's Baking Bible (more of that later) and surely you'd want to make sure you could bake everything in the recipe books of the judges? Apart from anything, that way you could ensure that you knew how the judges liked their scones/bread/biscuits etc. to taste/look and thus give yourself a fighting chance. Anyway, I am pleased for Jo that she won - whilst she is definitely a little rough around the edges in many of her bakes (and I nearly cried when she announced that she'd never made praline before but was attempting it on her final bake tonight) I think she is a very honest baker and there is love in her cooking. I loved Holly for her technical skills and Maryann for her adventurous spirit and I wouldn't have like to make the final call on the winner but I think that all three were deserving finalists and I was pleased to see that Jo is considering opening a patisserie. I'd certainly visit if I was ever down that way.
And so to the final chapter of tonight - scones. After discussions in the office today and watching GBBO, I had decided that I wanted to bake scones tonight. I had promised the girls in the office that I would bring some in tomorrow but I fear that as we speak, Mr Ellie is polishing off yet another still warm scone and there may not be enough left for me to take into the office tomorrow. I used Mary Berry's Baking Bible, which really is a brilliant book and one that I would recommend to anyone. I am hoping to slowly work my way through and bake every recipe in the book:
Miss E x
I had already decided that I wanted to bake tonight but by the time the ferrets had had their play time and tea was made, it was time for the final of the Great British Bake Off. As you can imagine, I am an avid viewer of this program and divide my watching time between taking down tips and despairing at why I didn't enter the competition this year! I have to say that I would be distinctly more prepared than the contestants on this years show - it baffles me that none of them have ever made a croquenbouche or a sachertorte before entering the competition - lets face it, both recipes are in Mary Berry's Baking Bible (more of that later) and surely you'd want to make sure you could bake everything in the recipe books of the judges? Apart from anything, that way you could ensure that you knew how the judges liked their scones/bread/biscuits etc. to taste/look and thus give yourself a fighting chance. Anyway, I am pleased for Jo that she won - whilst she is definitely a little rough around the edges in many of her bakes (and I nearly cried when she announced that she'd never made praline before but was attempting it on her final bake tonight) I think she is a very honest baker and there is love in her cooking. I loved Holly for her technical skills and Maryann for her adventurous spirit and I wouldn't have like to make the final call on the winner but I think that all three were deserving finalists and I was pleased to see that Jo is considering opening a patisserie. I'd certainly visit if I was ever down that way.
And so to the final chapter of tonight - scones. After discussions in the office today and watching GBBO, I had decided that I wanted to bake scones tonight. I had promised the girls in the office that I would bring some in tomorrow but I fear that as we speak, Mr Ellie is polishing off yet another still warm scone and there may not be enough left for me to take into the office tomorrow. I used Mary Berry's Baking Bible, which really is a brilliant book and one that I would recommend to anyone. I am hoping to slowly work my way through and bake every recipe in the book:
For the scones tonight, I used her 'Very Best Scones' recipe - a plain scone and I am quite proud of how they turned out. Mr Ellie certainly enjoyed them and couldn't even wait for me to take a photo before diving in to steal one! For 'artistic' purposes, I put jam on one of the scones - I used the delicious damson jam that I bought at the weekend!
Miss E x
Needle-felt
This is my first attempt at needle-felting:
I didn't think it was too bad - a little rough around the edges maybe but a good first attempt. Mr Ellie said it looks like a black blob with a purple blob in the middle - thanks pet, much appreciated!
This is the lovely little bird that I bought - made my Jeanette Harbottle - its now making my desk at work look ever so pretty!
Miss E xxx
Miss E xxx
Venturing into Technology
I have to say that I am not what you'd call a technology 'wizard' - in fact I'm happier with paper and pencil than computers and mobile phones are just beyond me (I can text and make phone calls but much more than that and I'm foxed!). However, in an attempt to be more technological I have now created a Twitter account : @MissEllieCreate. I even managed to post my first 'tweet' - quite an achievement for me!
This weekend I went to Gibside (National Trust property) for their twice-monthly food and craft market. I mainly go to get the most delicious marzipan fruit bread from a lady there and Mr Ellie likes to peruse the game stall and buy pigeon burgers and 'Squabbit' (squirrel and rabbit) pie. I ended up spending quite a bit of money and had a good chat with many of the stall holders. One day, I hope to have a stall there myself. I came away with two HUGE slices of delicious frangipane tart, a jar of damson jam (the finest jam in the world in my humble opinion) and a needle-felting kit.
As soon as I got home, I got the needle-felting kit open - it comes with a piece of foam, a felting needle and a load of lovely carded wool tops in gorgeous colours. Basically you take a piece of the wool and place it on the foam and then start stabbing away with the needle. The principle is that the needle (which is barbed) forces the fibres of the wool to 'knit' together and this felts the wool. It takes quite a bit of time and you have to keep turning the piece over to get a nice smooth finish but it is so worth it - talk about therapeutic! I made a little black flower with a pink heart in the middle which could be made into a corsage or brooch - will post a photo. Word of warning to anyone wanting to have a go with needle-felting, the needle is really really sharp! I stabbed myself 3 times (you'd think I'd learn after the first time!) and have a very sore finger today! I shan't be deterred though - I already started another piece!
This weekend I went to Gibside (National Trust property) for their twice-monthly food and craft market. I mainly go to get the most delicious marzipan fruit bread from a lady there and Mr Ellie likes to peruse the game stall and buy pigeon burgers and 'Squabbit' (squirrel and rabbit) pie. I ended up spending quite a bit of money and had a good chat with many of the stall holders. One day, I hope to have a stall there myself. I came away with two HUGE slices of delicious frangipane tart, a jar of damson jam (the finest jam in the world in my humble opinion) and a needle-felting kit.
As soon as I got home, I got the needle-felting kit open - it comes with a piece of foam, a felting needle and a load of lovely carded wool tops in gorgeous colours. Basically you take a piece of the wool and place it on the foam and then start stabbing away with the needle. The principle is that the needle (which is barbed) forces the fibres of the wool to 'knit' together and this felts the wool. It takes quite a bit of time and you have to keep turning the piece over to get a nice smooth finish but it is so worth it - talk about therapeutic! I made a little black flower with a pink heart in the middle which could be made into a corsage or brooch - will post a photo. Word of warning to anyone wanting to have a go with needle-felting, the needle is really really sharp! I stabbed myself 3 times (you'd think I'd learn after the first time!) and have a very sore finger today! I shan't be deterred though - I already started another piece!
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