Olive Oil and Crafts

 

Olive Oyl and Popeye, that takes me back.  I used to love watching this cartoon on the television when I was young.  I recently spent an afternoon looking at olive oil.  Not this Olive, but the genuine oil, and not only looking at it but smelling and tasting it too.  Why you might wonder?  Well Fortnum and Mason were kind enough to invite me to join their tasting panel to help select the new season oils they will be stocking.

The tastings took place in The Crypt, a wonderfully atmostpheric room.

Over the course of a week, over 130 oils from all over the world were tasted.  The entire collection was on display, all carefully numbered.

However, there were no clues as to which we were tasting and we were told to ignore the colour as it would be misleading and when we did taste them this was true, the colour gave no idea as to what it would taste like.

We were given some notes for guidance and the buyers have been studying their subject in depth. 

First you have to hold the glass for a few minutes to warm it, keeping your hand on the top so as to trap the aroma.  Then lift your hand slightly and take a good sniff.  Most smelt of fresh mown grass to me, in varying stages of freshness, although one definitely came across as vanilla!

Next you have to sip the oil and roll it around your mouth to distinguish the flavours.  Then finally swallow the oil to taste the bitterness and pepperiness which ideally should be well balanced.  The differences between the 12 we tasted that afternoon were immense and varied from the gentle, soft and fruity  to the strong and peppery.  Some had a long aftertaste and others didn't. 

All was quiet in the room as we tasted  and made notes on each of the oils, refreshing our palates between with sparkling water and apple.  Then as a group we discussed our findings.  Although I know everybody tastes and smells things differently I was amazed at just how diverse our opinions were.  One oil that I thought particularly bitter and unpleasant, others liked.  Descriptions of taste varied from melons, to herbs and artichokes all for the same oil, yet the thing that I found most surprising was that only one oil actually smelt and tasted of olives.  That one was my particular favourite and the majority of group rated it highly too so hopefully it will make their final selection of 20 to be stocked. 

It was a fascinating afternoon and I was delighted to find a friend was on the panel.  Cindy of the Food for Thoughts blog and I first met at Fortnum and Mason back in November at the Making Christmas event.  

After the tastings we went up to the First Floor to have a look at the 'Crafting Excellence' exhibition, a celebration of handmade crafts by scholars of the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust.  The exhibition is on until the 29th July and well worth a visit if you are anywhere near Fortnums, although the store itself is always a pleasure to visit anyway.

Sophie D'Souza

The Rose Pig by Bob Johnston who grows his own willow, not just one sort but 30 varieties!

Fancy a chocolate?  The box is in Fortnum and Mason colours, but actually these ones are not edible, just part of Deidre Hawken's millinery.

These fishy creations were rather fun and an example of recycling, if you happen to have any old silver cutlery.

Birthday Boy!

I thought I would share this photo of my eldest son and his lovely girlfriend with you.  They do look such a lovely couple.

When asked what type of birthday cake he would like, he couldn't decide between chocolate, coffee or fruit.  Well I could not decide either so thought I would combine them all.  Here you see a coffee sponge with chocolate chips, filled with crab apple butter and mocha buttercream, topped with a white chocolate ganache and 3 types of sugar sprinkles to make the water effect.

Boats are one of my son's passions along with climbing, windsurfing and cycling.  So I knew a cake around one of these ideas would be good.  Blue is a colour I try to avoid with icing and foods, but having had to go into 3 different supermarkets and with cakes in mind I did check out the cake decorations.  It is amazing how many varieties are available now.  These ones were all good and not too hard on the teeth!

There also seems to be lots of cupcake toppers around at the moment and quite pricey too but not having seen any boat ones I decided 'we' should make our own.  This is the 'we' as in I sketched out roughly the idea, as in draw half a boat, mirror image it and colour in, then scan into the computer and copy numerous times before printing.  The actual doing of this I left to my daughter.  We then cut them out and stuck them around a cocktail stick.  I think she did an excellent job.  Personalised cake toppers at a fraction of the price. 

I did make him a few cakes to take into work too.  Chocolate mud cake with white chocolate ganache (and used up some of the blue sprinkles) and apple custard cakes.  Using my new cupcake carrier that I had for Christmas meant there was still a few left at home for us to sample!

 

A Happy Valentine's Day

A happy Valentines Day to you all.  

My daughter was given these beautiful roses by her boyfriend.  Ah, how romantic!

We have just enjoyed a delicious dinner cooked by my youngest son.  Chicken stuffed with crushed olives, in a creamy tomato sauce - delicious.  I got to make dessert, far more enjoyable to me than cooking main courses.  What did I make?  A heart shaped pavlova, topped with cream, blueberries, passionfruit and raspberries (from the freezer but grown in the garden).

It didn't stay like this for long, but there is still some left if you would like to visit.  You may have to be quick though, it's so tempting sitting there in the fridge, I may succomb to a late night 'Nigella' moment!  For those of you who are wondering what that is, Nigella is one of our TV chefs who effortlessly rustles up culinary delights and always at the very end of the programme is shown making a late night visit to the fridge to sneak an extra helping!  How she stays so slim is a mystery.

Missing Suki

I know I haven't posted for ages, Christmas seems so long ago, and yes, it was very happy, but memories of it have been overshadowed by the loss of Suki, who was run over on New Year's Eve and killed instantly.  My neighbour found her and it must have only just happened she was so warm.  We are all missing our precious little one, who wasn't even 3 years old.  To lose her so young just seems to make it worse.  It was such a shock, she was scared of strangers and cars and we didn't realise she was crossing the road, I just imagine that she was happy and chasing a bird or squirrel.

How tiny she was when we first had her, and she never grew very big, but so full of mischief and she grew into a real character.  She loved to be with us, always there, and so inquisitive.  Suki, like most Bengals, loved water and sat watching whilst I had my shower every morning and then had to pounce on my toes whilst I was getting dried.  You only had to call to her that it was time to peg the washing out or get it in and she would be there, running around by me whilst I was outside.  In the kitchen she loved sitting on her climbing frame watching the cooking and ironing, happy to be up high.  

She liked collecting feathers and was always so proud when she brought one in.  Even better were the mice, which she happily shared with her brother.  How carefully she carried in butterflies and most times they were undamaged and could be rescued.


Suki thought snow was wonderful and would mieow constantly for someone to go and throw snowballs for her to chase.  We would tire of the game well before she did!

Poor Samba is really grieving too.  He has only just started playing again these last few days, before that he just slept or sat looking out the window for her.  He went round the house, peeking round corners expecting her to pounce on him.  Suki may have been small but she was the boss and Samba knew it.

It is so hard at the moment, so many times every day I am reminded of her, I miss her so very much, but I thank God that she came into our lives, and that she had such a happy perfect life even though it was so short.  For such a small cat she has left giant pawprints on my heart.

Lots of Treats

What a lovely time I had on Friday at 'Let's Make Christmas' at Fortnum and Mason, meeting with Vanessa, Dan Lepard, and so many interesting fellow foodies. 

Vanessa and Dan

We took our gifts along, everything had a ticket attached, and then a lucky dip so we got to take home some different goodies.

The delicious Little Wafers are White Chocolate with Rose and Dark Chocoate with Orange, and were made by Sarah from Sarahs Kitchen Diary and she also made the Piccalilli.  My hubby and sons were extremely impressed by this as I refuse to buy it, the shop ones are such a vivid artificial yellow that seems to stain everything they touch.  I am trying to persuade them to save this lovely treat for Christmas but they think it should be opened now and then I can make some more! 

The scrumptious Fig and Nut cake was made by Lady Rhubarb and just look at the label she attached.  A work of art.

If you would like to enjoy these Christmas treats or are looking for ideas for Christmas gifts to make then do visit their blogs for the recipes.

A very big thank you is due to Vanessa, and also to Dan, and Fortnum and Mason's for hosting this fun gathering.  They not only gave us space, but provided tea and cakes all afternoon and then gave us all a goodie bag to take home.  I am looking forward to their White Chocolate and Cranberry Florentines but have squirrelled them away with a label on ' Don't Touch - For Christmas'.


Fortnum and Mason now have their Christmas window displays, based on The Follies this year, and a real treat to behold whilst anticipating all the wonderful delights inside.

Always difficult photographing shop window displays but these give you just a glimpse.  Inside there were more of the follies to greet us and a spectacularly decorated store.

Let's Make Christmas Three

Today has been a flurry of activity in between work.  Gingerbread cake was made before work this morning and then gingerbread and icing this evening, with lunch break spent shopping, and some blogs to put together it's no wonder that I am feeling a little tired, but so excited about meeting blogging friends tomorrow.

Anyway, over the years numerous Gingerbread Houses have been made for Christmas, I am not quite sure why we don't make them all year round but probably because of the white icing snow effect.  I shall have to think about this as really there is no reason not to use different coloured icing and therefore not have a snowy effect.  I don't remember Hansel and Gretel traipsing through the snow, and ending up in the witch's gingerbread house.  In fact the more I think about it the more I am sure they didn't because they dropped crumbs of stale bread to find their way back but of course the birds ate them.  Those crumbs wouldn't have shown up on snow.

However, I am digressing so back to Gingerbread Houses.  Now although I have normally made them with children in mind and have often put a surprise inside, there always seems to be adults tucking in as well.  Ginger is definitely a popular adult taste and my Mother always requests ginger goodies if asked what she would like for birthdays or Christmas.  So with this in mind I thought about creating a Gingerbread House for adults.  As we always seem to be worried about eating too many Christmas treats a small size won't make anyone feel too guilty!  Now I said that it is fun to have a surprise inside the houses and this one is of a very gingery sort.  The house is built around a gingerbread cake that has been cut in half and filled with a piece of stem ginger and then a ginger buttercream to hold it all together.  

Gingerbread Surprise House

Gingerbread Cake recipe from Good Housekeeping Cookery Book

450g  Plain Flour
5 ml  Salt
15 ml Ground Ginger
15 ml  Baking powder
5 ml  Bicarbonate of Soda
225g  Demerara Sugar
175g  Butter or margarine
175g Treacle
175g  Golden Syrup
250 ml  Milk
1 Egg, beaten 

Grease and line a 23cm square cake tin.  (I actually used individual square cake tins). Sift the flour, salt, ginger, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.  Warm the sugar, fat, treacle and syrup until melted, but do not allow to boil.  Mix in the milk and the egg.  Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, pour in the liquid and mix thoroughly.  


Pour the mixture into the tin and bake in the oven at 170C (Mark 3) for about one and half hours, or until firm to the touch.  Turn out to cool on a wire rack.


Gingerbread Biscuits


I have had this recipe for years written on a piece of notepaper, but I think it came from one of my sisters.  Another imperial measurement one! 


12 oz  Plain Flour
1  teaspoon  Bicarbonate of Soda
2  teaspoons Ground Ginger
4 oz Butter, diced
6 oz  Soft Light Brown Sugar or Muscovado Sugar
4 tablespoons  Golden Syrup
1 Egg, beaten

Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger.  Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.  Stir in the sugar.  Beat the syrup into the egg, then stir into the flour mix.  Mix together to form a smooth dough then knead until smooth.  

Divide the mixture into two and roll out half at a time on a floured surface until quarter inch thick.  Cut out shapes and place on greased baking sheets.  Bake at Gas 5 for 12 to 15 minutes.  Leave to cool slightly then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Having made the gingerbread cake I then cut templates to make my house.