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14 June, 2010 

Super rich chocolate and hazelnut cake

Sunday was a baking day again!

I really fancied something chocolate-y but not too sweet and this recipe seemed just perfect and easy enough.

100g dark chocolate

150g butter

170g muscovado sugar

3 eggs

175g flour

1.5 tspn baking powder

2 ripe bananas

25g cocoa

50g hazelnuts (roasted so the skins fall off)

Heat the over to 180 degrees Celsius and prepare 2 small loaf tins by buttering them.

Melt the chocolate in bain-marie . Cream sugar and softened butter into a smooth paste and add the eggs one by one. Fold in all the dry ingredients, add the chocolate, mashed bananas and hazelnuts, combine and fill in the tins. Bake for 40-50 minuted or until the wooden stick comes out dry. Cool.

I took one of the loaves to work today and it disappeared very fast. A perfect afternoon tea cake. I think next time I am going to add more bananas, they added very subtle moisture and freshness to the cake, more is better I say!

I also visited Nardulli’s for the finest gelato this city has ever seen. I had passion fruit and mango sorbets and M had pistachio and choco nut which was pretty much frozen nutella. It was all heaven but the pistachio was just from another wonderful, creamy, nutty perfect world. I am so happy to have this place just a stroll away from my house. And I swear it will make a trip to Clapham worthwhile!

Full of sweets I settled to watch A Prophet, another great film from Jacques Audiard.


1 April, 2010 

Fishy business

As we are coming close to Easter I am starting to plan some delicious recipes for the long 4 day weekend, and it will be a long rainy weekend so no horsing around outside I’m afraid.

I have spent many Easters with my Swedish friends in Amsterdam and what they brought to the table were salmon and herring dishes. Smoked fish especially feels to me like spring when paired with watercress, fresh yogurt sauce and boiled potatoes with dill. Next to it we will have several egg salads, breads and cakes.

I always buy my fish from Moxon’s which is the best fish shop in the whole of London and conveniently 1 minute walk from my house. They also have branches in Kensington and Dulwich.

I mostly buy smoked salmon fillets and whole smoked mackerel which is a world apart from the small salty fillets sold at supermarkets. The fresh fish is delivered daily and the choice is huge. You can also order whatever takes your fancy in the fishy department.

Along with the fish, Moxon’s also sell anything that can be cooked with it, there are fresh vegetables, sea salt, paella rice, tartar sauce, coconut milk and sushi ingredients to name a few.

The staff are very knowledgeable and always quick to advise on how to cook particular kind of fish. And it will not break your budget either, the prices are very reasonable and the quality high.

28 February, 2010 

A little bit of France in London

Come through the door of Gastro in Clapham’s Venn Street and you’ll completely forget you are in London. This bistro is a real treasure having managed to hire only French staff, make the decor like a Parisian restaurant and serving perfect French dishes.

Every time I have been here I feel like I am on holiday. The wine is excellent and the food delicious. Baguettes and butter are served before you get your menu and the atmosphere is brilliant with French chatter and a noisy espresso machine in the background.

The menu is classic French fair: steak frites, moules, lobster and chips with haricot beans or a salad side dish and delicious crème brûlée for dessert.

I had mussels in white wine and french fries.

My other half had steak with pepper sauce and fries.

In the past I’ve had goat’s cheese salad and calves liver with mash – it was amazing.

The chef was very happy to pose. Who said the French are moody?

We didn’t really mind the rain on our way home.

26 February, 2010 

Bowling Green Cafe

I really cannot wait for spring, it has been raining for days and I am very fed up of getting home wet every night.

I went for a walk round the common last weekend and got very excited to see crocuses coming out. Daffodils are not that far away and I think snowdrops have been seen in the country side. This makes me happy.

On a way home we decided to visit Bowling Green Cafe which is next to our house but in over three years we never went there. Maybe we were put off by the pram mafia. But on a rainy day it was empty.

I was actually expecting an old fashioned caff but to my surprise it was a cute little cafe with proper coffee machine, selection of Clipper teas and cakes.

The decor is very cheerful with yellow walls and odd pictures.

The outdoor tables are very good alternative for my garden-less apartment.

The days are getting longer and March is few days away. I can’t wait to ditch my winter coats and boots.

18 January, 2010 

A very slow weekend

My weekend started at Osteria Antica Bologna in Northcote Road, a nice family run Italian restaurant where I enjoyed delicious scallops with lentil, apple and parsley salad accompanied by good wine and fabulous company. I actually tried to recreate the lentil salad but it wasn’t as good, truth be told I used the wrong kind of apple. If you are ever in Clapham Junction area do go, it’s a fantastic place for lunch, dinner or drink. Beware of a slow service but the wait will be worth it!

Saturday was all about food shopping and a very early spring cleaning of the flat, we have thrown out a bagful of old papers and organised a lot of cupboards. We also visited the local charity shop to offload some stuff where I couldn’t resist buying F.Scott Fitzgerald collection of short stories for 50p.

After last two weeks of ebay madness I hardly have things to get rid of which feels so good.

Sunday was spent on cooking and playing with my little niece. I baked Allegra McEvedy’s Swedish apple cake which is more of a pudding than a cake, especially when served with good vanilla ice cream. Very easy recipe, it takes about 10-15 minutes to put everything together and 50 min to bake.

Got to read a little too, Vogue and ELLE arrived, The Sunday Times had a good article on Mad Men which btw won the best drama at Golden Globes for the 3rd year in a row, well deserved!

I am reading Chekhov’s stories and this weekend I enjoyed Ward no6. I also got D.V. by Diana Vreeland which I am very much looking forward to. Following the Norman Parkinson show at Somerset House I decided to re-read The Golden Age of Couture – the book accompaniment to one of my favorite exhibitions.

I watched the rather bad Breaking and Entering (a total waste of time) and the very graphic yet beautifully shot Antichrist.

Few things I am looking forward to:

a visual feast of A Single Man thanks to Dan Bishop

visiting V&A to see Quilts, Grace Kelly and Horace Walpole shows, and might even pop in to see a rather intriguing sounding The Metropolitan Police Service’s Investigation of Fakes and Forgeries

Foal and Tuffin at Fashion and Textile Museum should be fun, along with a stroll down Bermondsey Street

William Eggleston at Victoria Miro Gallery

Irving Penn Portraits at NPG

whole lot of good stuff at the Tate Galleries

buying some plants – I quite like the idea of mother-in-law’s tongue in nice mid-century pots, at the moment I own no plants whatsoever, even my basil died so this will be a challenge.

9 November, 2009 

Remember, remember the 5th of November!

Last week I was working on a short film shooting in various London locations meaning getting up at ungodly hours which left me with a sore throat and quite exhausted.

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Luckily on Thursday we finished early enough to get back home for the Bonfire Night on Clapham Common. I was very optimistic getting on the tube and thinking I will be home in 15 minutes, 4 stops is not very far, but lo and behold, everyone was getting to the same event and the trip took close to 30 minutes in extreme temperatures and carriages packed to their limits. The tube could not move any slower and the Clapham Common platform was so packed people could not get off the train. Don’t get me started on the sweat pouring off people’s faces, yuck, I so appreciate being back on my bike this week.

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But I got there in time, we walked right to the fireworks and it was spectacular.

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On Friday afternoon we got in a car and went to Wales for a bonfire night party at my mother-in-law’s. The whole village gathered, we had baked potatoes, mulled wine and hot dogs. Guy Fawkes effigy got thrown on the fire and we had some pretty fantastic fireworks. I got fed with lovely meals, slept a lot and came back to London rested.

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Now I am trying to arrange last bits for our Paris trip, washing, repacking and hoping for fabulous weather.

18 October, 2009 

Let them eat cake

I went to the farmers market this morning and they had some wonderful pears, apples and plums.

I bought a punnet of plums and made tea cakes, recipe as before. They were fantastic, I topped them with a lot of fruit which kept the cakes nice and moist.

The baking didn’t stop there. As much as I don’t like to start thinking of Christmas that early in the year unlike all the shops that are already fully stocked and prepared, I decided to make a Christmas cake which demands to be made well in advance. The cake will be fed with brandy till December. Unfortunately I cannot share the recipe – I got it from my mother in law and swore not to give it away, a family secret I suppose. So I will only post the picture of the end result.

If you fancy making one Nigel’s recipe looks very good.

1 September, 2009 

Weekend continued…

This morning M announced he had a DIY project to do, all my friends were out of town, hung over, lost their voice or similar. The day turned out to be beautiful and warm so I grabbed my bike and went to Hyde Park.

First stop was at the Serpentine Gallery to see Jeff Koons: Popeye Series. No pictures allowed inside by I photographed the catalogue so here it is:

Parents seemed to enjoy showing their offsprings all those wonderful toys till they got to this image, kids heads were turned right away.

Afterward I had a stroll through the park along the pond, it seemed people were trying to catch the last bits of summer sunshine.

I have spent the afternoon on the common, next to my house, enjoying Nardulli’s super delicious ice cream and Generation X.

Left: strawberry sorbet and vanilla ice cream  Right: raspberry and mango sorbet

In the evening we went to the cinema to see Coco avant Chanel, at last! I loved the film, Audrey was wonderful and the cinematography stunning.

8 August, 2009 

I scream for ice cream

I decided to take it easy this weekend since I am still not well. Luckily ELLE and Vogue arrived last week so there is lots of fun reading to be done, the September issues are big. I also have to plan next week’s holidays in the motherland and would like to start reading Lord Jim again.

After few hours of pottering around the house we decided to pop to Patisserie Macaron to buy bread and check out the new gelateria Nardulli in Clapham. The ice cream was amazing. I have not had better ice cream in London, I swear. I had mango sorbet and hazelnut ice cream, maybe not a great combo but I wanted to test the place and I am going back, hopefully tomorrow!

My mother in law sent me some delicious home made lemon curd and I made lemon tarts today. As usual I overcooked the pastry (I baked it blind for a little before realizing that I don’t need to do that). They were very nice anyway. The pastry is from Jamie Oliver’s first book.