Lemon Meringue Pie and Dark Brooding about Meal Planning

I used to work with a lovely Cypriot called Christina who gave me her mother-in-law’s recipe for Lemon Meringue Pie about 10 years ago. I found it the week before Easter as I was forlornly thinking what to bake for a dessert for an upcoming family meal. I also wanted to use this gorgeous red clafoutis/pie dish that Celia sent me for an Easter gift made by Emile Henri. I couldn’t take a decent photo of it for some reason so I have attempted to draw it with the Paper 53 app on the iPad. I’ve ordered a stylus as my finger isn’t the easiest thing to draw with – or that’s my excuse!

I confess, though you may find this hard to believe, that I absolutely loathe planning meals to the point of hysteria and phobia. Some people like nothing more than pouring poring over their cook books and rifling through their recipes and I just get swamped with choice and possibility and want to hide under the duvet. I am not really a foodie you see, I like eating it and I quite like making bread in particular, but that’s not usually tied in to meal planning –  but the rest of the hoo-hah surrounding food – it’s just not me. I try to play along but you won’t find me on Come Dine with Me ever. Continue reading →

More Hot Cross Buns..

Here are this year’s hot cross buns!

This year I decided to make the ones from ‘How to Make Bread’ by Emmanuel Hadjiandreou. This is such a pretty book, with beautiful step by step photos and clear easy to follow recipes, a good model for anyone aspiring to write a bread book.

I didn’t really need another bread book but it was a want and if you visit Ray’s blog you can see some of the lovely breads that Ray is making from it, which is why I was tempted to buy it. The book gives quantities in grams and in cups, which is useful for those who prefer cups* and has a good range and selection of breads to make and I am looking forward to trying a few more of the recipes soon. Got to be more adventurous with my books! Continue reading →

The Red Lily Beetle is back…

It is the time of year when many beautiful and naughty insects fly into the garden. This one is a particularly glamorous yet evil little beastie. The red lily beetle, flies around like a ladybird, but has a very good playing dead pose balanced on its back with its feet and antennae tucked in.

If you disturb the lily beetle at work; munching foliage, mating, or laying eggs , which are its main pastimes,  it drops to the soil and is surprisingly hard to spot as it lies on its back.

Continue reading →