Dormouse and The Teapot

A tale of two notebooks (and a competition)

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:25:00 +0000

When Little D was born I decided to make him a very special gift.

As you may have guessed food is very close to my heart and I love cookery books and read them like novels. Therefore it won't be any real surprise to learn the gift was a recipe book, but one penned by myself and including all our family favourities. Everything will be in there, from my special Spanish rice to great grandma's treacle toffee, interdispersed with stories and snippets of the family history.

It is still very much a work in progress and I have gone from planning a proper published glossy tome to wanting to produce something handwritten and heartfelt. I may yet do both, but recently I have been looking for off the peg solutions for my research. You would think that this would be easy. What's difficult in finding a plain A5 notebook? But to be honest it's been difficult finding one up to the job. I was looking for something good quality that could stand up to the odd spill, without lines so I could add little diagrams and pictures and things, and last but not least it must have a way of indexing entries.

Quite out of the blue I was very lucky to be given a lovely Moleskine Recipe book that was just the ticket from a lovely friend this Christmas. It has sections for starters, mains and desserts and a section just for wine. It is going to be perfect for my research and recipe development. It also has a handy little pocket for cut outs.

Another option I happened on by chance is Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks. I was sent an unlined A5 book to try and was really impressed by it. Again they have that handy pocket and a really useful section at the front of indexing. The paper is really good quality and a delight to write upon. Because it is plain it is perfect for including diagrams or pictures of items I have made.

I am really looking forward to using my new notebooks now that the kitchen project is almost complete. I just need to find the perfect kitchen table....

We were given Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks free of charge to review.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

New websites have landed

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:39:00 +0000

We may or may not have noticed but we have been rather quiet at Dormouse and The Teapot of late.

That's because we have been rather busy updating our new website. www.dormouseandtheteapot.com has a bright new look and we have made it even easier for you to select and purchase our beautiful vintage china.

We are in good company too. Our Cybher 2012 sponsors Total Greek Yoghurt have also been busy with the exact same thing and have also launched their new site this week. We think it's fab with lots of recipes and health tips and lashings of delicious facts about Greek Yoghurt.

Check it out, it's well worth a visit.

Happy Yuletide

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:08:00 +0000

Merry Christmas Everybody ...

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:34:00 +0000

Dormouse and The Teapot will be taking a short break over Christmas but will be back in the new year with lots more tales from Dormouse HQ.

Heating things up a little

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:12:00 +0000

When it's cold outside we love nothing more than a nice warming curry.

Tonight we had chicken curry jazzed up with a dollop of Total 2% Greek Yoghurt. OK, I admit it we sometimes cheat. We buy our curry sauces from our local take away and freeze them. It's cheap and easy and so much fresher tasting than shop bought. Today's offering was balti sauce, we added a couple of chicken thighs,a handful of mushrooms and a pinch of chilli powder to heat it up a little and the aforementioned tablespoon or two of yoghurt. Yummy!

We also made a fab peach lassi. We blended a can of peach slices in light syrup with a splash of orange juice. Crushed green cardamon seeds and a tub of Total 2% fat greek yoghurt and it was A M A Z I N G, particularly served over ice.

What do you like to eat when it's chilly outside?

We received yoghurt from Total Greek Yogurt free of charge to review.

There's a mouse in my fridge!

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:01:00 +0000

Thanks to Recipes from a Normal Mum and Sew White.

Christmas cupcakes it's all going on down south

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:41:00 +0000

Generally speaking the Dormouse Team love living in the north, it's not all flat caps and whippets you know, but then again flat caps and whippets what's not to like?

We live with one foot in Lancashire and t'other in Yorkshire so, no matter what anyone says, we really have the best of both worlds. Sadly although we do have some fantastic cupcake shops in our neck of the woods, we don't have anything like the Hummingbird Bakery.

We were sent some details of the wonderful cakes they have dreamt up for Christmas this year and they really do seem to have excelled themselves. Everyday they are offering a different festive-themed special including flavours such as Eggnog, Candy Cane and Christmas Pudding.

It's tragic. What we wouldn't do for an eggnog cupcake....

Or even one of their amazing hand made Christmas cakes...

Please Santa, can we have a Hummingbird Bakery in Manchester next year?

Cake images by Benjamin Backhouse

Let them eat (Christmas) cake

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:50:00 +0000

Christmas is marching up fast and if you haven't got your skates on and made a Christmas cake by now you better get your act together, fast.

A Christmas cake with much icing. Photo credit: Martin Belam

Most cake recipes need maturing for months the cake takes on more flavour and becomes more moist, it is customary to feed your cake with alcohol to make it boozy and rich.

However if you don't want to buy a ready made cake but have left it to the last minute to make your own never fear, you can now buy kits to make Christmas cakes that are tasty straight from the oven. We think these kits are a really good idea especially if you are an inexperienced cook as they take away the need to buy lots of ingredients of which you will only use a small percentage.

We were sent one of these kits from Whitworths to try but as you will know we have been unexpectedly rather upside down here at Dormouse headquarters and our kitchen is still not fully in operation. Therefore we have unfortunately been unable to make it at the time of writing (we are still hoping to get it done before Christmas). We were very impressed with the contents however, all the bags of ingredients are fully weighed out, even the treacle, with simple instructions on how to make the cake also provided.

Available from Morrisons, and priced just £8 the kits cost less than half the price of buying the ingredients separately. We are all for anything that makes things simple at this hectic time of the year.

Dormouse is off to Cybher 2012, thanks to Total

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:27:00 +0000

Dormouse and The Teapot are proud to announce that we will be attending Cybher 2012 with thanks to our very kind sponsors Total.

As you know we are no strangers to Total having blogged about their lovely creamy yoghurt in the past you can see some of our articles here , here and here. We are thrilled to be working with them again over the next eight months to bring you lots of healthy, luxurious and creative ideas on how you can add Total (and it's luscious creaminess) to your cooking and baking. Yum yum yum!

In case you haven't heard of Cybher it is set to be the very first inclusive female blogging event of it's kind in the UK. It will bring together influencial bloggers and speakers from every corner of the blogosphere to to network, inspire, share and learn. We can't wait to meet more our our cyhber colleagues and learn lots more about the world of blogging.

Thank you Total. London here we come.

The end of November, the end of another month

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:46:00 +0000

It's hard to believe we are at the end of November already and Christmas and 2012 is marching up fast.

November has been an incredibly busy month and the highlight has been the Bite N Write conference we attended on the 19th. In case you missed our earlier posts here and here we attended courtesy of generous sponsors Steenbergs Organic and it was well worth the trip.

Highlights of the day were:

Meeting lovely foodie bloggers Jam and Clotted Cream, Tinned Tomatoes, Kerry Cooks, Foxy Foods Choc Log Blog and Mari's World (amongst others).

Amazing workshops including photo skills from the talented Craig Fraser of Frasershot and Judith Lewis from Mostly about Chocolate on SEO and getting your blog noticed.

Fascinating chocolate tasting from Artisan Du Chocolat.

The wonderful conference location of The Custard Factory, great for photos and an interesting mix of businesses to browse.

Brill hotel Bloc totally recommended (looking forward to them opening in Manchester and London).

Hopefully we will soon be implementing some of the things we have learnt to make Dormouse and The Teapot better than ever. Thank you Steenbergs, we've loved working with you.

Tarberts Fine is fantastic in our book (and on our sandwiches).

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Here at Dormouse and The Teapot we are always looking for inspiration and new things to try as part of our afternoon tea.

We can be a bit sniffy about shop bought meats preferring to buy joints from the butcher and cook them ourselves. It is more time consuming but usually much more tasty But in the midst of our kitchen renovations we received an email from Browns Food Group's PR agency inviting us to try their Tarberts Fine premium meat range. With the thought that we wouldn't have to make do with cheese yet again, well, how could we refuse?

Following a bit of a disaster when our package went awry (we think taken away with the bins eeeek!) we received a generous parcel of the full range. This included:

Scottish Butter Basted Chicken

Scottish Honey Roast Ham

Oakwood Smoked Ham

Honey Roast Finely Sliced Ham

Mature Ham

Ham and Arran Mustard

Scottish Roast Pork

Heather Honey Ham

When we say we were pleasantly surprised when we tasted the meats would be an understatement. For the first time in erm... ever probably, we tasted pre-packaged meats that tasted fresh as if they had come from the butchers or a deli, that tasted of the meat they were supposed to be (..you would be amazed), and that were downright delicious.

Browns Food Group is a family business based on the Scottish Borders. They founded in 1895 with a small butchers shop in Biggar. All the meats are from animals that were born and bred in Scotland. With added ingredients also coming from Scotland. And yes, it does show, the quality just sings.

We particularly liked the pork and the beef. The smoked ham was as equally nice added to an omlette or in a toasted sandwich as on a lovely ploughmans inspired sandwich (o.k we let the cheese out) with homemade piccalilli. Mmmmm...

We will definately be keeping an eye out for these products in future. Yummy!

We recieved Tarberts Fine meats free of charge for review.

Itching to get back into the kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 20:48:00 +0000

We've not been blogging as much as we would like here at Dormouse and The Teapot mainly due to various lurgeries and the fact we are still getting straight after having the wood fired system central heating put in.

Believe me half a kitchen floor and a great big hole in the ceiling isn't that conducive to baking and anyway all my ingredients are still temporarily homeless on the old stone shelf.

We are a long way from dream kitchen yet. But our next step is to buy a Welsh Dresser so we can put some of the crockery away. We are looking for one with some age and character but that will still have room to store some of the heirloom china and display some of my lovely cup and saucer collection.

We particularly love this dresser from Cooking Gorgeous (amazing company name too) at £390 it's not badly priced is it is nice and roomy and plenty of room to display my china.

We also like the look of this one from Pine Solutions it's a bit dearer at £460 but those glass doors will keep things nice and clean.

We probably will choose one on Ebay though and do it up ourselves, white though lovely is a bit harsh really for our kitchen and we would like one in a nice heritage shade that will blend in a bit more.

Wagamama Manchester review - We try out the new menu

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:31:00 +0000

The Dormouse team love eating out and one of our favorite places to lunch is Wagamama so when we were invited to try out the new menu,well, it was an offer we couldn't refuse.

We visited the Wagamama restaurant at The Printworks in Manchester and I must admit this is one of the nicest restaurants in the chain we have visited. It always seems cosy and the staff are so friendly it is a pleasure to eat there. This visit was no exception we were greeted by a lovely smiley waitress who quickly made us feel right at home.

Wagamama's restaurants are modelled on Japan's famous ramen bars. Your order is sent through to the kitchen by radio signal at the time of order and dishes are delivered to your table as soon as they are ready to be shared and tucked into immediately.

The menu is quite extensive and we were excited to see some new offerings on there that we couldn't wait to try. Not only are there plenty of choices for adults there are also lots of choices (and adventurous ones at that) for children and it certainly is a nice change to see something different from pasta or sausages .

We ordered our choices and drinks quickly came. Apple and Lime juice (£4.65) and Super Juice (apple, orange,sharon fruit and cranberry juices) (£4.35) and a milk (£1.05 ) for Little D, all delicious and thirst quenching. We also drank complimentary green tea which islovely and a nice touch as it really does settle the stomach.

We had ordered two sides and two main dishes and a portion of noodles for Little D. First up were Pork Ribs (£6.05) new to the menu and quite delicious. They were tender and glazed with Wagamama's special recipe barbecue sauce and a sprinkling of black and white sesame seeds. They were really lovely and were a great start to our meal. Little D tucked into his noodles (£2.20)

Shortly after the Chilli Squid (£5.55) arrived. I have had this before and this portion was generous and extremely delicious. They were hot and tasty without being the least bit rubbery. Frankly I do not normally like squid and it is testament to the Wagamama chef that this is one of my favourite dishes.

I had ordered the Teriaki Soba Salmon (£11.20) whilst Mr Dormouse had selected the Chicken Raisukaree (£9.95). I had never tried this dish before and found it a bit rich and heavy for my own personal taste.

However the chicken was a taste sensation. Juicy and tender chicken breast stir fried it in a coconut and lime curry sauce with mangetout, peppers, red and spring onions, fresh ginger and garlic served with some beautiful sticky rice. This is a dish I would definitely order for myself next time.

We finished the meal with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (£1.15 ) for Little D, Chocolate Fudge Cake (the Wasabi is definitely an acquired taste) for myself and Sweet Ginger and Apple Gyoza for Mr D which were the highlight of the meal. Hot little pies with a custard dipping sauce they were gone in an instant.

Wagamama is a great family restaurant, informal but just that bit different to make you feel like you have 'been somewhere'. It's great for a quick lunch or a get together with friends. Highly recommended.

We were given lunch at Wagamama free of charge in return for a review.

Happy birthday to ya!

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:25:00 +0000

I turned a step closer to the dreaded 40 the other day. And so, it seems an ideal time to talk about a fantastic book I was sent to review.

No matter whose birthday you are baking for one of Fiona Cairns cakes from The Birthday Cake Book is sure to be a hit. From Russian Dolls to a pirate ship to a garden cake for a keen allotmenteer there is really something for everyone.

The best thing about the book is that the cakes really look homemade and to me that always makes them infinitely doable. Fiona is the queen of cakes and the creator of the royal wedding cake this year and it's not hard to see why, her creative flair and imagination sings out in every luscious illustration.

There are 52 cake recipes in total and 61 cake decorations. The recipes sound delicious and include some really unusual choices how about masala chai cake with ginger fudge frosting or pistachio, grand marnier and olive oil cake?

There are also some spectacular ideas for themed parties from vampires including a simply incredible crystal skull cake to a vintage tea party (a real must do) with a stunning crocodile handbag cake.

We can't wait to get back into the kitchen to have a go, first stop piggy bank cake. Oink oink!

The Birthday Cake Book by Fiona Cairns (Quadrille Publishing Ltd) is £18.99 RRP and is available from all good bookshops.

We were given a copy of The Birthday Cake Book free of charge to review

We are going bananas with excitement we're off to Bite N Write!

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:01:00 +0000

We cannot wait for next weekend as we are off to the very first food blogging conference in Birmingham courtesy of our very generous sponsors Steenbergs.

The conference takes place at the amazing Custard Factory just 600 paces from the Bull Ring and home to the majority of the areas creative industry.

The programme is jam packed and really exciting it includes a Food Photography workshop from FraserShot. Promoting your blog using Social Media and SEO. Finding your blogging voice by Cooksister. A cooking demo from WeGrowOurOwn. Chocolate tasting by Artisan du Chocolat. Recipe development by GoFreeFoods, video blogging from Cupcake Artisan.

If you fancy going too, tickets are still available from Bite N Write at £75 for a full day or £20 for a half day.

We will be bringing you full review of the event very soon. Watch this space.

Last crop of the year

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:01:00 +0000

Afternoon tea at The Radisson Edwardian Manchester

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:01:00 +0000

Our search for the perfect Manchester tea took my friend and I to the historic surroundings of the Radission Edwardian.

Formerly the Free Trade Hall the hotel exudes glamour and luxury with tea served in the impressive colonnade in the Opus One restaurant.

It is unfortunate that the view from the colonnade is not as impressive as the champagne we were impeccably served on ordering the Celebration Tea £23.95. Manchester life goes on at a pace as we viewed courting couples canoodling under the windows, people en-mass coming in and out of the army careers shop and most inexplicably of all, three men arriving by taxi who took photos with snapshot cameras and then drove back off. The mind boggles. Quite how the hotel could get round this is hard to say but it does spoil the ambiance somewhat.

The waiter quietly brought us our tea we chose Earl Grey and the Peppermint both lovely served in individual teapots with built in strainers. When we mentioned that some of the leaves were still escaping the he brought us some extra strainers to pour through. The waiter was most attentive throughout the tea but in no way overbearing. He did give you the lovely old fashioned feeling of being waited on which added to the experience.

The tea was traditionally served on a three tier cake stand. Sandwiches are 'chef's choice' today's choice was cheese and pickle, rare beef and mustard, smoked salmon and cream cheese and egg mayonnaise. They are lovely and fresh but there is not two of each so we draw lots on who gets which. This could be awkward if you don't really know the person you are with but they are all quite delicious so it is not too much of a problem.

Unfortunately the cakes are really not to our taste. We find them extremely sweet, however this is frequently the case with afternoon tea (but needn't be). There is a choice of a cream horn (which is definitely the worst of the bunch and is stale) miniature chocolate and carrot cakes and a jelly which we are told is Prosecco but is very thick and sweet with an odd taste of tarragon to it.

To finish we try the scones. We are served fruit and plain varieties beautifully presented with a curl of clotted cream and strawberry jam they are extremely nice, light and fresh.

The perfect end - shame about the middle.

All opinions given are our own and reflect our own personal taste.

We received afternoon tea free of charge for review.

Afternoon tea at Mint Hotel - Manchester

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 11:01:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago myself and a friend visited the restaurant at Mint Hotel Manchester for afternoon tea.

In case you have never visited the hotel it is tucked away a little, close to Piccadilly Station. Our mobile sat navs had a field day finding it and had us running around like modern day Anneka Rice's stopping random strangers in the street to ask for directions.

We came to discover 90% of people in Manchester are not from Manchester, do not know Manchester, and therefore cannot help. The other 10% have no sense of hearing and despite being from the city attempted to send us to The Midland Hotel ...by tram. It was then slightly ironic to find that the restaurant itself is actually overlooked by TFGMs main office with an excellent view of the said tram.

This wild goose chance probably has more to say about our own sense of direction or lack of it to be fair. Although once we were actually in the hotel we found light and airy City Cafe with ease. Mint has been open since the beginning of the year, formerly City Inn Manchester there is no shadow of it's previous incarnation. As we waited to be served we enjoyed the lovely and comfortable surroundings and admired the beautiful cut glass chandeliers. The restaurant was busy for a Wednesday afternoon but not alarmingly so, just enough to make it feel comfortable.

At £15 Mint's afternoon tea is one of the cheaper hotel teas in the city. It includes a selection of sandwiches, cakes, scones and last but not least a pot of leaf tea. We decided to upgrade and each ordered their house rose champagne at £9.25 a glass. Unfortunately the champagne rather spoiled our first impressions of the tea as it really did not go. Afternoon tea can be notoriously difficult to wine match but the champagne simply did not work with the sandwiches, cakes or the scones which was a real shame and very disappointing.

The tea was good however, we chose English Breakfast and Peppermint both were served correctly and were bright and clear in taste and lovely with the food.

The sandwiches were also lovely, extremely fresh and included smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber, ham and mustard and egg and cress. We followed these with a delicious slice of carrot cake with sour cream icing which was simply excellent and rather raised the bar for the other two cakes. Unfortunately the fruit cake was really burnt, noticeably so and was actually inedible.

The chocolate cake whilst better was far too sweet for an afternoon tea and left us both wishing we could have just had a larger slice of the carrot-cake-from-heaven. The scones were delightful served warm with oodles of clotted cream but the jam served with them puzzlingly had no smell or taste. So whilst they looked delicious this was a bit of a shock to the palate.

Despite these inconsistencies we both felt that tea at Mint offers very good value for money. With a few small tweaks it could be amongst the best in the city.

We received tea at The Mint Hotel Manchester free of charge for review.

Help Action for Children, join in with TOTAL's recipe e-book

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 09:33:00 +0000

Total Greek Yoghurt is inviting keen cooks to share their healthy yoghurt recipes for a chance to appear in a new cookery book due out early in 2012.

All money raised by the e-book will go to Action for Children, a charity which supports vulnerable and neglected young children in the UK.

To take part simply submit your recipes on TOTAL's Facebook page. The recipes chosen for inclusion will be voted on by TOTAL's Facebook community with the recipe with most votes winning an iphone 4s and an ipad 2. The runner up will recieve an ipad2. All partipants who are voted into the recipe book will receive a feel cool bag and a published name credit.

So what are you waiting for? Get your inventing caps on and hot foot it to the kitchen. The competition closes on Friday 20 January 2012.

Chocolate yoghurt souffle anyone?

Steenbergs products to entice you into the kitchen (that's if you have one, that is)

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:01:00 +0000

This week is National Baking Week and here at Dormouse and The Teapot we are still banned from the kitchen as preparations for the renovations move ahead at a pace.

This is somewhat of a shame cos we have a pile of new cookery books waving at us from a corner and eggs a plenty from next doors hens. We cant wait to put spoon to baking bowl sometime soon, but at the moment we have to live veraciously through television repeats of Nigella Lawson.

If you are in the lucky position of having a kitchen that a/ has a full floor b/ that isn't covered with an inch of cement dust Steensbergs Organic has some fab fairtrade ingredients to bring your baking up a notch .

They offer a huge range of baking goodies including five extracts and floral waters. Their Fairtrade Vanilla Extract is a kitchen essential or why not try sprinkling their cinnamon sugar on top of your rock buns for a spicy crunch. Rose and Orange blossom extract is delicious in cakes or even to flavour your icing for a taste of the exotic and if you are getting ready for Christmas have a present practice run and make some creams with their peppermint extract.

Definitely on our shopping list for B day.

Life on Pig Row - Tomatoes

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Oldham) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 21:02:00 +0000

George Clooney once appeared in a film called 'Return of the Killer Tomatoes' he had a big role in it, it was a bad film, so bad it is still funny but this year tomatoes have not been a laughing matter.

At Pig Row we started off with a cool spring, wet and windy that gave way to a hot May and then a dismal summer. We have been under a cloud for most of the summer and though this cloud has broken for a few days at a time the summer has never really got started. Then last week we had summer, a week of glorious heat that ripened the remaining tomatoes in under five days. We now have glut of tomatoes, this is no bad thing but when I write 'glut' I don't mean the kind of glut that we've had in past years. As gluts go it is humble but would still get a hamster excited. They are all now sat in our kitchen battling with dust from the building work I am doing. The tomatoes are destined for sauces and the freezer.

I have a sad admission to make, I have never been that keen on tomatoes from the vine. I prefer mine cooked, I love fresh tomatoes in sauces, I do like a tomato in a salad but find them difficult on a sandwich if they are not sliced thin. I think it is the unpredictability of tomatoes, the fear of biting into one and being sprayed with juice. I have been the victim of many a sandwich with tomato in it and people sat by me have been a victim of me eating them. The tomato does not discriminate who its spray will hit and stain. My eating of tomatoes has ruined my sister's favourite shirt, my greatest pair of trousers, my wife's skirt and Little D's t-shirt (I blamed the stain on him. He can't speak and by the time he can I'll buy him off with bananas). I once hit a cat at fifteen paces with a cherry tomato, it never walked straight again. Don't get me wrong, I love the taste of tomatoes, I love the smell of a glasshouse full of them. The tomato reminds me of my dad, it reminds me of his old greenhouse on the allotment he had for a few years (when keeping an allotment was deeply unfashionable). I will always associate that smell with my Dad and that is why I grow them. It links me to my Father. Still, come near me with a tomato and chicken sandwich, I will run away screaming if I'm wearing a white shirt. George Clooney wore a white shirt in 'Return of the Killer Tomatoes' and remained immaculate throughout but he's a star, I'm just a humble gardener and prone to stains.

Jam, jam glorious cherryplum jam

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 22:07:00 +0000

Cake days ... makes everyday special

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:01:00 +0000

A while ago we were lucky enough to be sent the latest book from the Hummingbird Bakery.

Cake Days by Tarek Malouf is published by Collins and moves on from their first book which mainly concentrated on cupcakes, to large sharing cakes and other delicious sweet treats.

Full of indulgent delights for special days such as birthdays, Christmas, Valentines and Easter. There's also plenty of recipes for the days when you say 'oh what the hell', and get out the baking bowl.

The book is a lovely read, full of beautiful photographs and scrumptious looking recipes from Hummingbird favorites to brand new recipes such as coffee and tea flavoured cupcakes (Earl Grey no less), to whoopie pies, cookies and classic layer cakes.

There's some interesting flavour combinations. What about Beetroot and Chocolate Cupcakes? Or Courgette, Walnut and Cinnamon Layer Cake? Or maybe Chocolate Guinness Cake? I can't wait to have a go at these, to see what the end result tastes like.

The book is perfect for cake lovers, even those who haven't been cooking that long as the recipes are easy to follow, you really don't have to be a master baker. Just by following the recipe to the letter I turned out a cheesecake that looked very similar to one in the pictures!

There's plenty of tips and friendly advice as well as a image of every cake. It's a must have for keen bakers. Plus the vibrant pink book cover looks brilliant on your bookcase!

Cake Days by Tarek Malouf (Collins) RRP £20 is available from all good bookshops.

We received Cake Days free of charge to review.

Life on Pig Row - View from the knee

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 11:01:00 +0000

This week on Pig Row ... *bang bang bang*... *let me out*...

I have mainly been spending time in the allotment and I haff stolen Mummy's lappytop to tell you all bout it. Hello it is me Little D I wondered when I was going to get a word in edgeways...

Daddy has been out at work and I haff been busy in the garden with my bucket and spade making castles in his potato patch, I then got a little hungry and wandered into the greenhouse where I took a bite out of all the lovely ripe tomatoes. I then picked some lovely flowers for mummy - I found them right next to some green beans - this made her cry and shout with joy.. I think.

Isn't gardening lovely? I must do it again next week.

Andrew Oldham is at work
('Thank god!' - Mummy)

Christmas comes early in the Dormouse household

noreply@blogger.com (carol) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:01:00 +0000

There are just 87 days until Christmas but normally we don't get much into the spirit of things ooh ... until at least a week before. Bah humbug!

This year we are actually debating whether to put the tree up on Christmas eve, and after Little D has retired, such are his mountaineering aspirations. On several occasions we have caught him browsing the laminated book of dreams (aka The Argos catalogue) for crampons and ice picks. We are quite honestly expecting to turn on the ten o clock news one evening to find he has conquered Everest.

Back to festivities however. We were thrilled to receive a box of treats from our Bite N Write conference sponsors Steenbergs Organics stuffed to the gills with beverage treats. Amongst them Christmas Hot Chocolate, Christmas Tea and Mulling Wine sachets. It was no good we were mentally transported to a winter wonderland. Despite the good weather, and with imaginary jingle bells ringing in the background, we couldn't wait we simply had to try them. All in the name of research of course ;)

First up was the Christmas Tea. Truly delicious and warming. It would make an excellent non alcoholic alternative to mulled wine. Steenbergs blend Fairtrade Keralan black tea with their organic Fairtrade spices cinnamon. cloves, cardamon, ginger, vanilla and orange peel to make this really refreshing festive brew. We will be serving this up to guests this year with homemade mince pies. £5.50 for a 125g tin.

The Organic Fairtrade Christmas Drinking Chocolate was incredible. Quite the best hot chocolate we have tried in a very long while. Lovely dark chocolate mingles with vanilla, cinnamon , ginger, cardamom , allspice and cloves. Deliciously different and so Christmassy (but we are sure we are not alone in the fact we would drink this all year round). It might not be to the taste of littlies but Steenbergs also does a standard Fairtrade hot chocolate which has a hint of cinnamon and that is perfect for all the family. £5.50 for a 125g tin.

Last but not least we tried the Mulled Wine. With a generous five sachets in each box this would be enough to carry you through Christmas to New Year. We really love Mulled Wine and this was a gorgeous version, well balanced and evocative of parties and warming by the fire after snowy trips outside. We didn't have any brandy so we replaced it with a splash of homemade cherry schnapps and it was delicious. £1.75 for 5 sachets.

As well as the products we tried Steenbergs has lots of other goodies up their sleeve for Christmas. The Organic Fairtrade Spice Box £6.99 contains four of Steenbergs’ Fairtrade organic spices, whole cloves, nutmeg, 4 colour pepper and ground cinnamon in the mini versions, packed in a red box with snowflakes for a wintery Christmas feel. They have also launched a fantastic Christmas hamper £35, bursting with festive organic goodies. Christmas Tea; Christmas Drinking Chocolate; Cinnamon Quills; Mixed Spice; Mulled Wine Spice, Mulled Wine Sachets and a large jar of cinnamon sugar. All presented in a lovely white wicker hamper. It would make an amazing present for someone special!

We were provided with Steenbergs Christmas products free of charge for review.