Reasons to be cheerful: Blood oranges

January is, I think, my least favourite month. It follows what is a very social month, and just as I'm getting into my swing everyone disappears and the weather often takes a turn for the worse. This month already we've seen off a light sprinkling of snow, and colder temperatures are forecast and I've just spent a couple of days in somewhere where the daily high was a negative.  Brrrr. 

So you might be thinking what I've found to be cheerful about. Well, as it often is, it's something really quite simple. And that's freshly squeezed orange juice from blood oranges. Not only does the colour make me smile, it tastes delicious too. 

freshly squeezed juice from blood oranges in my hamburg water glasses from Habitat

It's a great start to the weekend and I'm sure it tastes even better because they have a relatively short season, only really appearing in our local greengrocers in January and February.  Plus it gives me a good reason to use my new water glasses from Habitat in a more colourful way!

I do like the simple things in life, so juicing blood oranges is a good place to start, but you don't have to stop there. I've been looking around for other ways to enjoy them, and I couldn't get past this blood orange syrup pudding from Cherished by Me.

A blood orange syrup pudding

I like how it's a syrup pudding that's not steamed, which means it takes less time to cook and you can also make it with gluten free flour. But mostly I like it because it plays to the sweetness of the blood oranges and because the pretty flesh is still on show, and not because as Nova says, it's a generous sized dessert. Oh, ok, maybe it's a little bit of that too...

Image credit: Cherished by me

Image credit: Cherished by me

Enjoy 10% off your first order from Habitat

Last week I told you about my new red wine glasses and how by using the following link you can enjoy 10% off your first order from Habitat , no strings attached.

Don't forget to make the most of this offer - and let me know what you buy, and how you enjoy your blood oranges.

 

* This is a collaborative post but all views and opinions are my own

Sweet treats this Christmas

Christmas cake, mince pies, stollen and lebkuchen. Usually for us it's a choice between these for us, but this year we seem to have all four. And when I thought more about them, I realised that for each of them we have our own traditions, and I expect you do too.

Christmas cake, for example, you can probably see in the picture below it's still in its cellophane. It's clearly not one I've made and we don't tend to make a Christmas cake. Christmas pudding yes, but not Christmas cake. This one was part of one of our early Christmas presents from our early family Christmas, at the start of the month. I'm a big fan of Christmas cake, and quite often we leave my parents and my in-laws with a chunk of cake, which is always very welcome.

Mince pies, Christmas cake, Stollen and Lebkuchen just some of the sweet treats we'll be sampling - and enjoying - this Christmas

But the one thing about Christmas cake is we never eat it before Christmas Day. And actually after Christmas lunch, a snooze and a turkey sandwich in the evening, there's often not much room for cake, but it's always worth a try, isn't it?

Mince pies on the other hand, for us they're perfectly acceptable to eat in the run up to Christmas and we'll probably have almost a box a week. We'll eat them over Christmas too, but it's unlikely that we'll buy any more once it gets to January. I made mincemeat once, a while back now, when I was clearly feeling more industrious, and it tasted good. I remember it made a lot, but it's the sort of thing that keeps, and matures well. Maybe I'll make it again another year, but in the meantime we've still got these to eat.

Mince pies, not everyone likes them but they're the Christmas treat we eat throughout December
It's only relatively recently that I've added lebkuchen to our repetoire. These pictured, along with the stollen are by Bahlsen and arrived in the post, slightly battered, but still tasty. It was only last year that I made a Finnish version, somehow it seems longer ago than that.
Lebkuchen by Bahlsen looking pretty on a vintage cakestand

Stollen is another favourite of mine and I'd quite happily eat this all year round.  The marzipan in this one is more like a swiss roll than how I'd expected it to be. I've not made a stollen, but I think it's something I'd definitely give a go. I'd made something similar, an Almond Kringle Wreath and that tasted way better than it looked!  Although I personally think anything containing marzipan is a winner! 

Stollen and my Christmas stocking, which surely must make the stollen mine too?
Stollen is a particular favourite of mine, and this one by Bahlsen is tasty

And both of these German treats, we eat in the run up to Christmas too. I'm not sure if that's because they're newer to us, and not part of our childhood traditions, or just because we're making our new traditions with them, and like how they taste!  So while I settle in and help myself to at least one of these, let me know about your traditions with cake at Christmas. 

Have a Merry Christmas whichever sweet treats you choose this Christmas

And if you're wondering about my Christmas stocking, then pop back on Christmas Eve and I'll share more about its story then.

 

* This is a collaborative post, with thanks to Bahlsen who sent me these German treats to try. As ever, all views and opinions are my own.

Tobacco Dock, a golden bike and taking it slow

It's been a while since I told you about the madeleines we made at A Taste of London, but as it was a festive food festival I thought I'd better share some more of what we got up to, before we're all done with the festiveness. Besides the cookery class there was lots to do, it was my first time at Tobacco Dock, so I couldn't help myself but look at the building, or its structure.

admiring the structure of tobacco dock in london

I hadn't realised that it's a Grade I listed warehouse, or built around 1811. But by its name I guessed that its purpose was linked to imported tobacco, and it primarily served as a store for this. It's comprised of brick buildings, and lots of ironwork, but the roof is pretty special too.

Tobacco dock in London is a large grade i listed warehouse

And of course, with it being a food festival, at the bottom of this ironwork dome was a barbecue.

An ironwork dome at Tobacco Dock in London
Where else would you put a barbecue in London's Tobacco Dock, under the ironwork dome of course

As we wandered around there was so much to see, and lots of food and drink to try. We may have done several rounds of our favourite stalls. This bag, made me smile...

OOPS! DID I BUY CHAMPAGNE INSTEAD OF MILK AGAIN...?

OOPS! DID I BUY CHAMPAGNE INSTEAD OF MILK AGAIN...?

I mean, what an awful mistake to make!

And then before I knew it, I was snapping this golden bike almost as I was past it.  The golden tyre's are pretty special.

And who wouldn't want a golden bike?

We found the most beautifully decorated cakes. And not only that they came in the most gorgeous tin. They looked so bright, colourful and gorgeous that it would *almost* be a shame to cut them, almost!  But they'd certainly make a great centrepiece to any occasion.

Jewelled and highly decorated cakes by Sari Cakes

We ate at Bubbledogs and Cafe Spice Namaste, and while the food was tasty the portion sizes were small. We shared three plates but we could have easily eaten three plates each. I think that's partly why we headed over to the Big Easy at Canary Wharf for an early dinner as we left here. I think if you want good food then A Taste of London is a good place to get that, and to get a wide variety too, but it's not somewhere to go for a feast, as each small plate cost £5/£6 a piece, unless you're feeling rather flush.

a table top of champagne corks

The exception that we found was the small shop  - or bar - serving Yeni Raki. We were enticed in by the promise of somewhere to sit, as walking around tasting and eating and drinking had been pretty tiring work. Once inside we discovered that Yeni Raki was an aniseed flavoured drink. With memories of Pernod flooding back, we weren't too sure, but then again there were huge bean bags and places to sit. 

We had a glass of Yeni Raki and a plate of meze each and were pleasantly surprised, not only by the amount of food served up but by the price too. We both felt that this was more reasonable than the small plates we'd tried up until now.

Unrushing our life with Yeni Raki an aniseed flavoured drink
The four steps Yeni Raki advise for unrushing your life
Unrush your world with Yeni Raki

And plonking ourselves down on the bean bags brought lots of photo opportunities too. And giving that their tagline was "unrush your world" we certainly weren't in any hurry to leave. But then again the longer we were on those bean bags, the harder it was to actually get up.

Summoning the will to leave we wandered around some more, bought some Cornish Gouda, yes I didn't know that was a thing either but it is, and very nice it is too. We spent some time choosing just the right maturity, and as always happens, I kept forgetting what the previous cheese had tasted like so had to try it all over again...

With the cheese bought and managing to i) avoid eating all the samples and ii) being thrown out of the cheese area, we headed over to check out the Ginvent calendars. Clearly the calendars weren't giving too much away, but I'd be happy opening each window to find a bottle of gin. Who wouldn't?

A look at the ginvent calendars

Next up we headed over to the craft beer trail, which wasn't too much of a trail more of a shuffle along with fellow ale drinkers around the L-shaped room. After the first route through we nipped back to the first stall, who'd appeared the most friendly and whose beers appealed most too. And who knew that Billericay had it's own brewery?  And if you're ever that way, I recommend the Billericay Dickie - partly for the name, but mostly for the taste!

Tasting some of the brews from the Billericay Brewery

There was quite a party atmosphere building, and I'm sure that it's a great place to go with a group of friends. I liked the cookery class and I liked the space, I liked discovering and trying some new food and drink, but I thought the small plates were expensive for what they were and while we had a great day, it's probably not somewhere I'd rush back to. I think the fact we went out for dinner on the way home speaks volumes, and even though we did end up with a doggy bag, that was due to the humongous portions at the restaurant!

But those aniseed drink people, I think they're onto something... 

 

* With thanks to AEG who gifted me entry into the show, as usual all views and opinions are my own.