Food | Things we make

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Pretty Pear Jelly

September 20, 2011

Last week I found myself with a surfeit of pears. The one and only William pear from my own little tree, plus a whole basket of mixed pears from my friendly neighbours. I used the soft William pears in another Pear and Almond Cake but still had lots of conference pears left. I knew that […]

Damson in Distress

September 18, 2011

I was disappointed, to say the least, when the damson jam and damson cheese that I made turned out to be very tasty, but slightly grainy damson toffee. I scoured the internet for a solution and found people with the same problem were given only vague suggestions of how to solve it. It’s a common […]

Random Bake of Kindness

September 7, 2011

Vanessa Kimbell’s post suggesting we take part in random acts (bakes) of kindness was compelling. She suggested we think about who deserved a spontaneous thank you, a kind word or some recognition…and that we bake an extra batch of something just for them. I love a bit of random kindness. My mum always taught me […]

Plum Frangipane Tart

September 1, 2011

Today I made a tart. OK, so I can’t deny it looks like a tomato quiche. George picked the plums from Louise Housley’s tree. The pastry was a packet of ready made all-butter puff. The frangipane was made out of ground almonds leftover from the failed macarons. I rolled out the puff pastry, lined a […]

Macarons: Fail

August 23, 2011

Cooking fashions come and go, but french macarons seem to be in for the long haul. I avoided them for a long while, but the regular MacTweets from Twitter friends like Sarah at Maison Cupcake led me to have a go early last year. I prepared by reading lots of blogposts, recipes and online tutorials and filled […]

Friendship Cake

August 21, 2011

Way back in my teenage years a neighbour passed me a strange bubbling bowl of goo. I was to stir it daily and 'don't forget to feed it.'

Baby Shower

August 10, 2011

As Deb’s baby is only a few weeks away, yesterday we had an impromptu baby shower type gathering at Housley & Co headquarters. As you can imagine…we weren’t short of a cake or two. The most impressive being the towering pastel confection made by Louise. I love the little flags and ‘shower clouds’ that she made […]

These Foolish Things

July 11, 2011

Why I have never made a fool before I don't know. Light, tangy, sweet, fruity, creamy, easy, beautiful.

Muffaletta

July 3, 2011

As the days are getting warmer and you start to think about a picnic by the river, or even just lunch in the garden, you don’t want to go laden with pots of soggy salad and flaccid sandwiches. What you need is something that makes people go “Ooh, what’s that?” Then makes them smile when […]

Lime Syrup Drizzle Cakes

June 18, 2011

I am still learning the importance of a sense of order. I don’t mean having everything in its place, although that really helps. It’s about making sure that I do things in the right sequence. Every time I cook something I work out a better way…or rather I realise I have done something ‘arse about […]

Update on Ken

June 16, 2011

I have had my Kenwood Titanium Chef for 6 months now and people still arrive at things{we}make searching for Kenwood Vs KitchenAid information, so I thought I would offer an update. Note: Any underlined phrases link to where I have used the Kenwood Chef in a post. So, me and Ken are getting along just dandy. […]

Pork Thai Curry

June 8, 2011

When I slow roast a shoulder of pork to make pulled pork, there is always enough left for at least two more meals. I am the queen of making the most of leftovers. I have to be because I am greedy so I always prepare enough for 10 people. I had a notion that the […]

Tortilla de Patatas

June 3, 2011

Just a little ‘Something for the Weekend’. In the days before children, Ed used to often make something like this on a Friday night after work. Something to tide us over until dinner. The truth of the matter was, once we’d had this and a few beers, we rarely got round to bothering with dinner. […]

Spiral Loaf

May 27, 2011

This months Fresh From The Oven challenge was to share our favourite savoury bread recipe. ‘Something for picnics, summer sandwiches or barbecues.’ I must admit, the focaccia I often make for those sort of affairs starts as a packet of ciabatta mix. It gets punched and pounded and doused with herby olive oil and sundried […]

Not-so-mini Pavlovas

May 19, 2011

I have always, always loved pavlova. I think it stems from my delight at the frozen ones bought from the Cash & Carry back in the 70’s. A raspberry pavlova was the height of chic in those days, even though my Mum used to forget to get it out of the freezer so we ended up […]

On the up

May 19, 2011

There seems to be some good stuff happening for me this week that has left me all of a flutter. Firstly on Monday, whilst we were heading home from a Weekend away, an article about Things{we}make was published in the Foodie Bugle. I was very flattered to be asked to be featured in the new […]

Spring Promises and Hollandaise

May 11, 2011

When spring comes around I promise that we will change our wintery, comfort eating ways. We will eat fresh produce, lots of vegetables and salads and cut down on the carbs. With this in mind I bought some barnsley chops of spring lamb and the first British asparagus of the season. I also replenished our […]

Peach and Almond Cake

May 7, 2011

We have built a small raised deck at the end of the garden where a wooden gazebo once stood. I wanted it to be a quiet little place where you could go and sit, away from the house. Somewhere to ponder. So we have planted bamboo around it and an almond blossom tree to give […]