As some of you may know, my brother Gareth is a fellow foodie and Masterchef contestant. Last year he took part in American BBQ competition in Penslyvannia and this weekend - despite the predicted hurricanes in New York he is off to take up the challenge again. This year the preparation has been far more serious with recipe testing and endless planning - see the emails below - I have no idea what half the things being referred to are - not sure what a "fatty" is but I like the sound of it!!!! And are they going to BBQ the cigars? And why is curly parsley so essential and what are they going to do with the Christmas tree lights???? I guess these are things I may never know the answer to! Anyway this little picture shows my brother's dessert entry for the competition (I take some credit for the suggestion of these cakes so I do hope they win) - BBQ orange marmalade drizzle cakes - scooped out orange skins filled with orange cake batter, wrapped in foil and baked on a BBQ. This has been practised over and over to perfect the recipes except they have been practising indoors by cooking in a saucepan filled with coals and foil (how my brother's wife Amy puts up with this I don't know) - I do hope it works as well cooked on an actual BBQ! Good luck Team Miles at the competition this weekend - hope you win a trophey!
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Michael Murphy
>Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:50:49
>To: Muzyka, Kenneth F
>Cc: ; Andrew
>Kanemori; Gareth; Bryan
>
>Subject: Re: Final BBQ Details - List of stuff to bring!
>
>Drew, I have the Weber kettle for cooking the fatty.

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Michael >> Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2011 11:15 AM
>> To: kane
>> Cc: Andrew; Gareth ; Muzyka, Kenneth F; Bryan; Richard
>> Subject: Re: Final BBQ Details - List of stuff to bring!
>>
>> U Ken - do you have one of those pop up tailgate canopies like we
>> used last year?
>>
>>
>>
>> On Aug 25, 2011, at 9:33 AM, kane wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Bryan - make sure you get curly parsley and not flat leaf... I f'ed
>> that one up one time and don't want to see it happen to you.
>>>
>>> I have not washed my shirt from last year, hopefully it brings us
>>> good
>> luck!
>>>
>>> -Drew
>>> ------Original Message------
>>> From: Michael
>>> To: Andrew Kanemori
>>> To: Gareth
>>> To: Kenneth F
>>> To: Bryan
>>> To: Richard
>>> Subject: Final BBQ Details - List of stuff to bring!
>>> Sent: Aug 24, 2011 10:02 PM
>>>
>>> Hey all! Sorry I'm a bit slow getting this out this year. Been
>>> traveling all this week...
>>>
>>> So, we have a BBQ competition to win. Here's how we're going to do
>> it...
>>>
>>> Getting there:
>>> We should be in the same spot as last year. Address is: 400 E
>>> Jackson St, New Holland, PA 17557. Google Maps:
>>>
>>> Gear/Equipment:
>>> At bottom is a list of things that folks should bring. Not too many
>>> surprises - we've all talked about most everything there. Most
>>> important are the things marked 'All'. That is, we need as many of
>>> these things as we can get! If you have it, bring it. We need it!!!!
>>>
>>> Thanks everyone! See you on Friday!!!
>>>
>>> -M.

>>> ALL:
>>> Beer
>>> Sleeping bags/Foam Pads
>>> Team Shirts from last year if you have them Water Coolers
>>> Flashlights
>>>
>>>
>>> BRYAN:
>>> Dixie cups
>>> Munchies
>>> Soda
>>> Ice
>>> Plastic Tablecloths
>>> Fresh Parsley
>>>
>>>
>>> KEN:
>>> Cigars
>>> Picnic Table
>>> Quates, ladder toss
>>> Garden hose and nozzle
>>> Rope light/Xmas lights
>>>
>>>
>>> DREW:
>>> Radio and tunes
>>> Sleeping Tent
>>> The Big Fatty
>>> Gore Tex
>>> Small tailgate table
>>>
>>>
>>> GARETH:
>>> Team Shirt Materials
>>> Dessert Entry
>>> Left-handed smoke shifter

How I wish I could say that my absence from this blog was due to nice things but alas it is lawyering that has got in the way. We have just bought two new businesses out of administration and the work involved has been staggering. However there is finally light at the end of the tunnel - such a relief as the last 4 weeks have been exhausting! In amongst all the work a few nice things have happened - I have received some of the advanced pictures for my milkshake book - sneak peaks here for you to see. I am super pleased with it and hope you like it to. RPS have also kindly agreed to publish another book for me - this time on doughnuts - I can feel the waistlines of my tasters in the village groaning already at the though! Frying starts this weekend in earnest with lots of delicious filled and decorated doughnuts in store. I have also been asked to do some demonstrations at the BBC Good Food Show at the NEC on Saturday 26th November - need to decide what to cook! I will be doing an "ice-along" workshop so you can come and join in with some step by step cake decorating - what fun. Anyway lovely blog readers - thats all the news from here - I do hope you are all well and looking forward to a hopefully sunshine filled bank holiday weekend
Hannah
xxxx

My gluten free book is now available to buy in the shops and on Amazon - all very exciting! The book is featured (4 pages - can you believe it?!!!) in this month's Good Food magazine which is out now - with recipes for the lemon caramel cake, gluten free choux pastry, banana and brazil nut cake and amaretto crumble - yum yum!

I have recently discovered these Smoking Bags - if you like smoked food then you simply have to try these. The bag is a double lined foil bag with the outer layer filled with either Alder or Hicory smoking chips. You simply pop your food for smoking inside the bag and bake in the oven or on top of a BBQ. Fish and chicken work really well but my favourite is new potatoes, with olive oil, whole garlic cloves, a few sprigs of rosemary and some freshly ground salt and pepper. Baked for about 40 minutes until the potatoes are soft in a hot oven and then tip the contents of the bag into a roasting pan and roast for a further 20 minutes to crisp the skins. These are roast potato heaven!!!! At £3.25 a bag these a such good value for a reall different food tasting experience. They are available on line and in outdoor type shops - I found mine in a department store in Holt in Norfolk! I cannot recommend them enough!

Yesterday I received a message from Radio 4 which made me smile. I have put the whole message below to share it with you. I am staggered that someone in remote pakistan tried making my scones! I have sent Zalwund our family recipe for Welsh cakes (almost scone like) which can be cooked on a griddle on a fire and hope that helped! Zalwund if you ever read this message, you made my day!!!!

Woman's Hour, BBC Radio 4
Room 2119, New Broadcasting House, Oxford Road, Manchester M60 1SJ

Someone has completed a form on page:
Sender's name: zalwund

Sender's Topic
How to bake scones in the absence of Oven

Sender's message:
hello, I live in the remote area of Pakistan and I daily listen to bbc
radio programmes on the internet. I really love every programme of bbc.
Yesterday I tried to bake scones after taking notes from your cooking
programme but I failed to bake it well because I have no oven facility and I placed the tray of scones in a large cooking utensil that I filled with sand
and then placed a cover on that utensil and placed it on fire. I placed
scones in it for 8min due to the fear of burning them.
Instead scones were unbaked from inside while they had brown exterior.
Is it possible to bake Scones without any oven or the way that I tried to
do?

This morning I have to confess to having butterflies in my stomach. I am sitting at the Manchester Palace hotel as today I am making scones live on air on Radio 4's Womans Hour. It is a proramme I have long admired and it is such an honour to be invited on. I have a large tray of scones with me - cherry, sultana, cheese, plain and lavender and on the journey up to Manchester people kept asking if they could have one - must be a good sign. So if you have time this morning tune in to radio 4 between 10 and 11am to hear me hopefully making the perfect scones! Or Scon - depending how you pronounce it! Click here for the recipe webpage. (Photo William Reveal from my Gluten Free Baker book!)

Today my lovely Mum retires. Oh how I wish it was me retiring!!! These are some pretty pink cupcakes that I made for her retirement afternoon tea. I already have plans for her to do more recipe testing for me in all her free time!!!!! I have also just received the advanced copy of my Mini Cakes and other bite-sized treats book published by lovely Ryland Peters and Small - it was nice enough to have my Gluten Free book just a few weeks ago and having a second in such a short space of time just seems a little indulgent!! Still I am definitely not complaining!!!! Here are a few of my favourite pages from the book - I just love the cute Chocolate Pixie Cakes, pecan pielets and baby eclairs. And of course there had to be some of my trademark gold leaf raspberries!!! The book should hit the shops in a few weeks - hope you like it! It is available for pre order on Amazon - link here

Summer sweet peas!

The advanced copy of my latest book The Gluten Free Baker has just arrived - It is so pretty that I haven't stopped smiling since I opened the parcel. These are just a few of the recipe pictures - lavender shortbread, cream slices (with gluten free puff pastry!), macaroons and stollen. I do hope you like it! It will be available in the shops in a few weeks time I imagine - hurrah!

More 4th July festive fun - LOTS of puddings, Elderflower punch and Pandora the Dog with an American bandana - so cute!

Happy 4th July readers. My brother and his lovely wife Amy are visiting and yesterday we had a 4th July party. Lots of delicious ribs, burgers, pecan pies, apple pies - it was a feast fit for a king. We also had a 4th July cake (with a few USA and UK flags on - not quite sure that the uk flags are really appropriate for independance day but hey ho!) If you are celebrating today, have a very happy 4th!

Last week I held an afternoon tea party for some work colleagues to celebrate a deal that completed quite a while ago. It was a very overdue celebration but I hope they thought it was worth the wait. The menu comprised smoked salmon and nasturcium flower tarlets, welsh rarebit crumpets, cucumber sandwiches with micro herbs, vanilla meringues, lemon and lavender drizzle cakes, almond fondant fancies, a plum and cherry cake, white chocolate brownies and raspberry scones with clotted cream! What a lot of goodies!!! All washed down with champagne and elderflower liquour and pots and pots of tea - it was a very nice end to the week.

Last weekend we went to a lovely Strawberry Fair at Yelden - lots of lovely stalls, a jazz band and of course lots of delicious strawberries. It was a classic English Country Village Fair with stalls in all the villagers' gardens - including knock the rat and nails in a haybale and a traditional coconut shy. What a lot of fun we had!!! There was also a classic car show and it was the first time our little car was shown! Sacha was very proud. What a lovely setting next to the old church. There was also a wonderful acrobatic air display, just as we arrived - death defying spins and drops made by a very talented pilot! We will definitely be returning next year!

A few little cakes baked this weekend - some rather yummy almond fondant fancies (with cute sugar toadstools and leaves and pretty sugar flowers) and a cake for for a work colleague who likes fishing. It was very easy to prepare with a large grass nozzle and some green buttercream for the lake bank and I used blue edible lustre spray and some edible glitter for the top of the "lake" which made it quite shimmery. If you have not tried edible lustre spray yet, do - you will love it!

People often ask where my creative side comes from. It most definitely comes from my Mum and Dad - they were both art teachers and are hugely more artistic than I am. This is a picture that my Dad did at the weekend for an art exhibition - it is for a charity exhibition of tiny pictures in CD cases. Some famous people are taking part and also some less famous people like my Dad. This is his picture made with shredded bank notes (it is my Dad's favourite art medium - he gets them from the Bank of England - shame they have to be shredded first!) The picture is called 21st Centurary Banker and the portrait is of Fred Goodwin (aka Fred the Shred - for his leathal cost cutting - shredded bank notes - get it?) former CEO of RBS in the UK. Anyway, irrespective of your political views of banks, I hope you like my Dad's picture! Very proud of him xxx

This is probably a sad confession to make - I love Glee and I particularly love the Warblers. Imagine my excitement when I spotted this CD in the service station on my way back from Suffolk yesterday. Ok, Ok - I know I am a completely sad case, but for any Glee fans out there, I can definitely recommend this. I sang along all the way home!

My lovely brother Gareth recently gave me the cutest of presents - this little japenese toy box call Bread and Butter - you don't know what's in the box until you open it - a bit similar to Kinder Suprise toys but soooo much better. Mine was from "Uncle Will Famous Cookie shop" and contained, two trays, 9 different cookies (including some very topical cookie pops) and a bag to put the cookies in. OK so I know this was just plastic but my word it is just the cutest thing! Perfect for a dolls house or toy shop! If you see one of these boxes, buy it - the contents are sure to make you smile!

The perfectly situated Castle Menzies where the wedding was held. It doesn't look haunted at all, does it? It is just near the village of Aberfeldy - which has one other very important claim to fame - JK Rowling of Harry Potter Fame has a house there ( one of her three houses!) We took a short detour past her house but no sign of her or any witches or wizards! Still we were excited just to see where she lived and I imagine it is the perfect quiet spot for writing.

Finally!!!! I have been able to get back onto blogger again. I don't know whether any of you have suffered similar problems but an upgrade in Internet Explorer was incompatible with blogger and despite my best efforts I just haven't been able to log on for ages. I had almost given up but the problem finally seems to have resolved itself and I can happily get back to blogging again. In the intervening time I have finished and submitted my final book - hurrah. Popcorn was such a lovely book to create recipes for that I ended up doing 4 extra recipes - I just found it a bit hard to stop once I had got into the swing of popping corn! It now seems very strange not to have to be cooking all the time but I must admit that it is nice to have a bit of a rest and catch up with friends and housework (very overdue)! Last weekend we went to the Highlands in Scotland for my friend Sonya's wedding. She got married in a castle (Menzies Castle - apparently the second most haunted Scottish castle - I turned up to help with the flowers the night before the wedding and was asked if I was there for the ghost hunting tour!!!!!) It was a truly memorable day and Sonya even arrived in a glass carriage with white horses and her wedding dress was worthy of a princess. Kate Middleton would have been proud! Happy Wedding memories Sonya and Dan xxxx

Ever since I ate at the wonderful Soho restaurant Bob Bob Ricard, I have been dreaming of their seductive sweetcorn mash. Who would have thought that the addition of some golden creamed corn to mashed potatoes could create what is in my view the ultimate comfort food. Rather than just dreaming about the mash until my next visit to Bob Bob, I decided this month to try and recreate their recipe. Whilst eating it at home doesn’t quite have the restaurant atmosphere (they have blue leather banquettes and very plush wallpaper!), this mash tastes almost as good as theirs, and for a girl who doesn’t travel to London that often, it will do me just fine. Served here with some lip smackingly good lamb, cooked in treacle and mustard for a “tex mex” feel, this dish is perfect for a casual supper with friends, with a large bowl of tortilla chips, soured cream and guacamole served alongside.
Blackened Lamb with Sweetcorn Mash
Serves 2 Preparation time 20 minutes cooking time 30 minutes
2 small racks of lamb, French trimmed (approx 200 – 300g in weight each)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 heaped tbsp treacle
1 heaped tbsp muscovado sugar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
200ml red wine
Juice of 1 lime
For the sweetcorn mash
500g potatoes
50g butter
285g sweetcorn, drained weight
Salt and pepper to season
Equipment: Food processor
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6/200C. For the mash, boil the potatoes in a pan of salted water until softened, then drain. Whilst the potatoes are cooking, heat the sweetcorn in a separate pan with the butter and cook over a gentle heat for approx. 5 minutes. Blitz the sweetcorn and butter in a food processor until you have a smooth puree. Add the cooked potatoes and blend again until the mixture is smooth and has no lumps. Return to the pan, season with salt and pepper and keep warm until you are ready to serve. To prepare the lamb, heat the oil in a frying pan, then brown the lamb rack for about 2 minutes on each side. Transfer to a roasting pan and season with salt and pepper. Mix together the treacle, mustard and sugar and spoon over the lamb to glaze. Pour the red wine into the pan around the lamb and cook for 15 – 20 minutes if you like your lamb rare to medium and 25 minutes if you prefer your lamb well done. Remove from the oven and stand the lamb for 5 minutes to rest. Whilst the meat is resting, heat the juices from the roasting pan with the lime juice, adding a little water if the sauce is too thick. Cut the racks into individual cutlets and serve with the sweetcorn mash and sauce spooned over.

Ryland Peters and Small have very kindly said they will publish another of my book ideas - this time its "Popcorn"! If I had a £1
for every popcorn kernel I have popped in the last week I would be a very rich woman indeed! It has been a while since I made popcorn and I had forgotten how fun it is waiting for the popping to start and then when it stops lifting the lid to see all the delicious white kernels. Sadly I had also forgotten how addictive popcorn is - we have eaten rather a lot!!!! The inspiration for the book came from the wonderful Zaramana pop a cobs that I posted on my blog a few months ago (whole dried corn that you pop in the microwave and the little kernels pop off the cob - so much fun). Amelia from Zaramama has very kindly given me lots of hints and tips and has also sent me an enormous box of popping kernels - pop by her website and have a look if you have a minute http://www.zaramama.co.uk/ . I took 6 bowls of popcorn to our sewing circle last night - Raspberry and white chocolate was the most popular as that bowl was the first to empty! The book will be out in Spring next year - what fun!

The bluebell woods near our cottage are in full bloom. Everytime I pass them, they take my breath away seeing the bright blue carpet underneath the trees. It is one of our long term plans to plant bluebells in our woodland but we never seem to find the time - perhaps next year! This lovely photo of my Mum was taking by her friend Linda in the bluebell wood at Coton Manor not far from where we live. What a pretty picture! The bluebell season never lasts long so if you haven't been out to a bluebell wood yet, you'd better be quick!

Like many of you I'm sure, I am so excited about the Royal Wedding tomorrow. I have spent this evening hanging bunting and flags ready for our Royal Wedding Brunch tomorrow. What fun! I have baked a little cake (with sultanas and coconut soaked in gingerbread liqueur - delish) and have lots of other goodies on offer. I will be making red white and blue popcorn tomorrow for us to munch on whilst waiting for Kate's dress to appear! Have fun with your celebrations xxx

It seems to be not just raining but pouring cook books in my life at the moment. This is definitely not a complaint and something I welcome with open arms! Sadly it means that the other loves in my life, blogging, sewing and seeing friends are all taking a back seat at present. In addition to having to finish Sweetie Pops and Milkshake bar by early May (I only have 7 recipes left to do before writing everything up - woohoo) both my Gluten free and Mini cake books are also in the final stages before going to print. I am spending every hour that I am not lawyering, working on books. I can't complain as it is so much fun to see my little books coming to life! I am pleased to be able to share with you the cover of my Mini cake book which is now available to pre-order on Amazon - I do hope you like it, particularly the little sugar strawberry decorations on top of the cakes which I made and sent by courier down to London wrapped in bubble wrap for the shoot!