Category: Memories
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Moist Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Unlike many bakers, I didn’t grow up baking at my grandmother’s knee. In fact, my most regular activity in my granny’s kitchen was drying the dishes (can you even qualify that as a skill? – ‘oh her baking is delicious’ ‘you haven’t seen anything, just watch her dry up’). My granny was of the generation…
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Cheat’s Prawn Ceviche with Avocado
Our evening binge-TV is Modern Family. There are 11 seasons so it looks like we’re covered until next summer (who am I kidding, we’ll be finished within a month). In an episode we watched the other night, a character lamented, ‘Do you remember when summer meant fireflies, cut-off shorts and ice cream trucks?’ Do I…
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No place like home
Yesterday, my parents moved out of the house we as a family have lived in for twenty-seven years. It is white and has bumpy roughcast exterior walls, and when I was younger I would find a soft section and dig my finger in, dislodging the occasional pebble. I apologise to the new owners for the…
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Rice Pudding Pancakes
At the beginning of this little hiccup known as Covid, panic descended on the world’s population and people stormed the supermarkets. A natural instinct, sure, although I still can’t understand the toilet roll wipe-out. In the general rush of stockpiling, everyone went mad for tinned goods, just in case we needed to climb into our…
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Chocolate self-saucing pudding
We’re all children at heart. Do we really need anything more than chocolate self-saucing pudding? Imagine me aged seven. ‘What’s for pudding?’ was my favourite expression (has anything changed?). Along with a winning grin, minus a front tooth, I would enthusiastically chant this along with my table of classmates, in an infuriating sing-song voice every…
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Europe 2011: An inter-railing adventure
It was a ‘Gap Year’ style holiday unlike all others. Look no further for sun-kissed beach bodies, drunken out-of-focus photographs of the Full Moon party, fluorescent face paint and sky diving. You won’t find them here. This holiday, my dear reader, took me to Europe for a tour of gastronomy. I think holidays reflect our personalities…
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Favourite Combinations: Apples and pastry
Apples and pastry. And with that, I take my leave. I doubt I am the only one with a weakness for this combination. The comforting, familiar taste of juicy apple softened by the heat of the oven, enclosed in pastry, has always been my go-to treat. The days when my parents took Fiona and I to a…
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A&E and Gooey Honeycomb and Sea Salt Chocolate Brownies
Today I have been thinking about cake. Generally speaking this is a normal day for me. Cake is satisfying, whether to eat or simply think about; the softness of the crumb, the smooth crack of icing under your teeth. Ok, I appreciate eating cake is much more satisfying than just thinking about it, especially for…
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Coconut cheesecakes in a glass
University is not the time to be channelling your inner culinary goddess. Amid the daunting hubbub of your new, shared living-space, independent lifestyle, and friends with whom to socialise and act cool around, spending time cooking in a dismal, slightly greasy and stained student kitchen is low down on the priority list. Instead, you become…