Our book club

Lello bookshop, Porto, Portugal
This is so stunning, it looks like it belongs in Hogwarts!!

As I know many of you are avid readers like myself,  I thought I'd tell you a bit about our book club & how we choose our books.

We're a group of friends roughly the same age & we all either live in the village or have children at the village school.  It was started up about 4 years ago I think but I've only been going for about 3 years after talking to a mum at nursery one day about reading & she mentioned about coming along to their next BC which was to be held the following evening.

There are about 10 of us who go regularly & other members who come along as & when they can.  We meet once a month at each other's houses, each taking turns & the host house provides the all important snacks, wine & cake!

In January when the meeting was at my house, we decided to change the way we chose our books as a lot of people felt that their choices were never being picked due to the more vociferous members of our group getting theirs chosen all the time.  So we decided that for each month, we would have a genre & we would all bring along a suggestion for that specific genre.  These are anonymous suggestions that are written on a piece of paper & put into a 'hat' & one is pulled at random - this is the book we then read.  By doing it this way, everyone gets an equal chance of having their book chosen & we get to read some brilliant books - books we'd otherwise never have chosen!

This is our genre list for this year & what we've read so far:

January - Pot Luck
  The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

February - Romance
Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey

March - Fantasy
Kingdom of shadows by Barbara Erskine

April - Pot luck
Room by Emma Donoghue

May - Auto/biography
Do No Harm by Dr Henry Marsh

June - Classic
The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

July - Crime/thriller
Along Came a Spider by James Patterson

August - Pot luck
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

September - History/historical fiction
 Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

October - Sci-fi
 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

November - Travel
 A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor

December - Pot luck
tbc but is usually a 'lighter' Christmassy read!

I really enjoy my BC nights & have discovered some fabulous reads that I'd never have chosen myself in a million years as I tend to stick to psychological/crime thrillers, so it pushes me waaayyy out of my comfort zone.  And let's face it, it's also a great excuse for a catch-up with my friends!!

Is anyone else in a book club?  What are your favourite books, I'm always looking for new suggestions?!

Crail Food Festival 2014 part1

I wrote a post last year about our visit to the 3rd annual Crail Food Festival - you read it here if you missed it - so I was really happy to be asked by the organisers if this year, I would be one of their 'official' bloggers!  Ermmm, yes please!!

I was asked to write my post about Sucre Coeur, a confectionery company based in the East Neuk of Fife, about their work & what they have in store for this year's event.  Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting Karen, one of the owners of Sucre Coeur & after finding out what they'll be delighting the public with next month, she showed me photos of some of their incredible work. 

Amazing huh?

You can read my full blog post here & if you want any more info on the Crail Food Festival, check out their website here, it really is worth going to if you're in the area!

Lazy Sunday afternoon

I'm having the most lovely lazy day today instead of our usual Sunday shenanigans of bombing round B&Q or Homebase & then decorating!  I was actually left to lie in this morning & didn't even wake up until 9.45am so I just thought I'd carry the lazy theme on with a little breakfast in bed catching up on my blogs via Bloglovin' (how fab is this website?!)

 

I've decided that I seriously need to get back on the diet bandwagon that I have so dramatically fallen off of in recent months so today will be my last day of gorging on piggylicious food!  I'm doing a bloody delish slow-cooked smokey bbq pulled pork served in soft, floury rolls with 'slaw & potato wedges followed by yesterday's leftover coconut cake with frozen yoghurt.  This is such an easy dish to make & as you leave it in the slow-cooker all day, you can just go about your day as normal.  Try it, I promise you'll love it!  This recipe has been adapted slightly from www.skinnytaste.com

 

Slow-cooked BBQ pulled pork

serves 4-6

 

1.5kg boneless shoulder of pork, trimmed of all fat & rind, if any

1 large onion, sliced into half moons

2 tsp red wine vinegar

2 tsp Hickory liquid smoke

1 tsp garlic granules

1 tsp sea salt

 2 small jars of bbq sauce

 

 

Directions

 

Scatter half of the onion on the bottom of your slow-cooker pot & place the pork on top.

Scatter the rest of the onion & other ingredients over the top but only use ONE jar of sauce.

Cover & leave on medium for 6-7 hours.

Remove the pork & set aside.  Shred it with 2 forks & put back in the slow-cooker with the remaining jar of bbq sauce. 

Cook on low for another hour.

Serve on rolls with coleslaw & potato wedges or skinny fries.

Nom nom!!

 

 

Although my cousin brought me my liquid smoke from the US when they were last here, it's also available from Amazon & really is worth buying.  It can be used on so many things, steak & salmon are favourites for us.  The coconut cake is also fantastic, so moist & very moreish.  I add a few drops of pure coconut extract just to pump up the flavour a bit & love the one from Uncle Roy's.

 

Coconut Cake

oven 180c   grease & line a 20cm square pan

 

200g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

25g cornflour

225g soft butter or Stork tub

225g caster sugar

4 eggs

50g dessicated coconut soaked in 150ml boiling water & left to cool

few drops coconut extract

*

100g soft butter

200g icing sugar, sieved

few drops of coconut extract

3 tsp Malibu (optional)

toasted coconut (optional)

 

Cream the butter & sugar well then add the coconut extract. 

Beat the eggs in one at a time with a tbsp of flour, cornflour & baking powder with each one.

Fold in the rest of the flour, cornflour & baking powder.

Add the soaked coconut (don't drain if water has not all absorbed)

Pour into the tin & bake for around 35 minutes (ovens will vary so test)

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

Toast a handful of coconut in a dry pan if you want to use as decoration & extra crunch.

Cream togther the butter & icing sugar & add the coconut extract & Malibu.

Spread over the cool cake & sprinkle toasted coconut on top.

 

 

Anyway, it's going to be an early wine o'clock for me today, the last for a while!  And the sun is shining & I have to ask myself why I'm sitting in my wee office...it'll probably be torrential rain again tomorrow.....or snow.......

Bon dimanche a tout le monde!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Excuse the laundry!!!*

 

 

 

Choccywoccydoodah

It was Mr F's birthday yesterday (he is so not impressed by being halfway to 50 now!!) so I baked him the old family favourite, Chocolate Cake.  Now, this is no ordinary chocolate cake, it is simply the best chocolate cake, in my humble opinion of course!!

 

Many years ago I started out on a mission to find the best chocolate cake I could & after baking, & sampling, too many to mention of the things, I finally had that hallelujah moment when I found this recipe.  All of the previous recipes I'd tried before this one had been ok.......but that was it, just ok.  Not brilliant or truly delicious or anything I'd particularly bake time & time again.  Until this little baby!!

 

 

 

When I first read the recipe & saw it contained Coca-Cola (or any other full-sugar cola drink!!) I thought it'd be really sugary sweet & a bit bleuurgghhh, truth be told.  But I've never been so happy to be proven wrong!!   It has never failed & I've passed on the recipe to many people who have also loved it & is now a firm family favourite.  So if you're after a really moist choc cake, that will stay moist for days after (not that it lasts longer than a day in my house!) then this is the one for you.  Thank you James Martin!!!

 

 

 

Chocolate Cola Cake                    180C/350F/Gas4              Lined 24cm tin

 

Ingredients

250g self-raising flour

300g golden caster sugar

3 heaped tbsp cocoa

generous pinch bicarbonate of soda

250g butter

250ml cola drink

125ml milk

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

 

Frosting

100g butter

2 tbsp cola

2 tbsp cocoa

200g icing sugar, sieved

 

Method

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa & bicarb into a bowl.  Melt the butter & cola gently in a pan.  Beat the eggs into the milk & add the vanilla extract.

Pour the butter & cola mix into the dry ingredients & mix well but gently.  Add the milk & eggs & mix well.

Pour the batter into the tin & bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Remove from the oven & cool while you make the frosting.

Melt the butter, cola & cocoa in a pan.  It may or may not split but don't worry if it does.

Pour onto the icing sugar & mix well.  Leave to cool down & thicken slightly.

Spread the frosting onto the cake while it is still slightly warm.

Devour!!

 

 

I've also adapted this cake slightly before by omitting the vanilla & replacing with pure orange extract & orange zest or peppermint extract to make choc orange or choc mint cake - obviously!!  It also makes great cupcakes, just lower the oven temperature to 170C & bake for 20-22 minutes.  Makes around 24 cupcakes.

 

I hope you try & enjoy this heavenly cake as much as we all do!!
Bon appetit!