The Fruity Cook

Setting up the Tracking Code

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 12:45:00 +0000

Here's hoping to find who reads this blog, and why.

Tracking is always fun...

Slow as Molasses in January...

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 12:41:00 +0000

... is probably the best description of my food blogging over the past few months.

I've been spending so much time on serious eating that the thought of writing it all down is definitely "de trop".

Today's news, which is certainly not new, is that Italian Foodies is now to be found on the Wordpress platform.

One of my favourites... please to hit the title bar and enjoy.

I've Started Roaming the Net Again

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:19:00 +0000

... in search of lively Foodie Blogs.

The Irish Blog Awards 2009 Nominations
have been posted and I'll get round to
making a link to the nominees in time.

The best way to get to know another country is
to try the food.

Marsfoodblog is interesting, as I have never been to Canada
and there are so many European influences still there;
the dishes are both recognisable and not.

Soft, Yet Flinty

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:02:00 +0000

The happiest holiday we ever spent in France was in

Burgundy

Damsons Make the Best Pies

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:17:00 +0000

Fruity Wafer Thins

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:01:00 +0000

The "Wafers" are made with organic crisped rice, which are like pale, unsweetened rice crispies.

Beat 1 egg and add 1 grated apple and some cinnamon.
Add some oil, just enough to make a bit of flavour but not enough to have the result too heavy.
Then some freshly squeezed orange juice.

Add enough crisped rice to absorb the liquids quickly and about 2 oz self raising flour.
None of this was measured exactly, so just make your own proportions.

Put onto an oiled Swiss roll tin and spread out very thinly.

Bake, starting at about gas 6 and putting down to 4 after about five minutes.
I put the temperature up and down a bit during baking, so that the wafers got a bit of colour.
They could end up a dull and unappetising buff shade otherwise.

Hope you all like this.

WBD

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:30:00 +0000

Thanks, Davimack, for steering me in the
right direction for World Bread Day links.

I missed the deadline of 16th October,
but find that there are plenty of
baking ideas in the Flickr site
dedicated to this year's Roundup.

The link is in the Title Bar here.
Months, if not years, of baking
happiness to come...

World Bread Day

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:19:00 +0000

I cannot find a link to The World Bread Day Round Up
for 2008, so perhaps it does not yet exist.

Last year, thanks to Kochtopf.twoday.net I spend a
merry few hours baking and photographing with enthusiasm
and managed to represent the Irish facet of Bread Making.

This year, after a hum-dinger of a Summer, I had so much
work in the garden to catch up with that I had to let this
pleasure lie.

It would have been interesting to choose a fashionable
bread or cake for the event.
Now that I have a moment to think,
I wonder if a Brioche might have been a good idea.
It is not often seen in Irish bakeries, but many
people make it at home and serve it as an easy-going
breakfast treat in Winter.

Brioche in a Hurry

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:12:00 +0000

Brioche is a hold-all for all sorts of ingredients,
sweet and savory.

It is easy to make and,
in the title bar,
you will find a technique for
speeding the process up.

It is one of the most enjoyable breads to make,
I find.

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:44:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:55:00 +0000

Raspberries and Chocolate...

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:46:00 +0000

... a Marriage Made in Heaven...

Oatmeal Bread

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:49:00 +0000

Brushing Up on French Cooking

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:26:00 +0000

Now that we can eat French food in Dublin and are no longer
obliged to travel in order to savour new dishes, it's worth
trying a little virtual exploration in the World of
"Haughty Cuisine".

Some nice tips and much information in the Book linked to here.

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 10:32:00 +0000

Not Only is the World Not Settled, It May Even be in a State of Chassis...

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:55:00 +0000

The blogs that addressed every aspect of
Saint Patrick's Day are now rolling round
in Cyberspace, full of bombast, and, if you're lucky,
very unusual insights into cross-cultural thinking.

Hit the Title Link here and be prepared to be
amazed.

Guinness and politics?

Odd bed-fellows indeed...

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:17:00 +0000

Happy Saint Patrick's Day 2008!

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:54:00 +0000

English posts that contain Saint Patrick's Day per day for the last 30 days.

Get your own chart!

You can chart activity around the Planet
by linking to this page.

Guinness Cake for the Day That's In It...

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:56:00 +0000

If you make your favourite fruit cake, it can
be turned into a suitable Irish Celebration Confection
by adding Guinness.

I have not tried the recipe in the Title Bar here,
but it has a good combination of flavours, including orange
and chocolate.

For a more classic cake, add walnuts to the mixture
and when the cake comes out of the oven, souse it in
a goodly amount of stout while it is still very hot.

A Green Apple for Saint Patrick's Day

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:51:00 +0000

The Bramley is one of the largest and greenest
cooking apples known in Britain and Ireland.

A reminder on Saint Patrick's Day to check out
our apple trees and think of a feeding programme
that will ensure good fruit this Autumn.

Have a Great Day!

Saint Patrick's Day,
Monday 17 March, 2008.

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:50:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 15:47:00 +0000

I may as well share this comment...

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:13:00 +0000

that I have just posted on another blog.

"A great pudding.

We have a grand old Bramley in our garden, so shall try your recipe when the time comes.

I was also recently impressed to hear about the great British rhubarb triangle which has produced some of the finest recipes of our age."

Everyone should try growing a bramley in their garden.
It is an enormous tree when left to its own devices as ours
has been. No dwarfing rootstocks were available when it was planted
long before we took over this suburban plot. In deference to its age,
I planted some of the best pollinators I could find to keep it company
and although it persists in biennial bearing, which is often the nature of the beast,
it seems to have responded quite happily to its new companions.

There is nothing like the sharp green scent of a true Bramley on
a warm Autumn Day. This thought is keeping me warm.

Spring Hunger

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:54:00 +0000

I'm hungry as a hunter most of the time these days.
This happens every March, when the weather seems to revert to
a Wintry Chill, despite the returning (and very welcome)sunlight.

The food associated with an Irish Spring is always modified
by Lenten fasting in my mind. I remember the strange practices
of adults in pre-Vatican days. They measured food as if it was
gold dust, and somewhere was written a complex code of behaviour
which measured out meat, fish and bread.
I still feel awed when I think of it, and somehow I find that
the lean days live on in my cooking.
I use oil rather than butter, though I suppose this should be the
case all the year round. I cut down on eggs, even though they are
plentiful and not emerging, ghost like, from isinglas, as they often
did in the Meath kitchens run by thrifty housewives.

This preamble is in praise of a wonderful cake which arrived
by post and which broke me out of any reverie that Lent and
its memories might have caused.

Hit the title bar here. You will see a Simnel Cake
that has caused me happy dreams, even though it was eaten
to the last crumb.

If I can get my hands on the original recipe,
I'll share it readily with you, dear reader.

noreply@blogger.com (The Fruity Cook) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:17:00 +0000