Sunrise Muffins

Did a spot of baking yesterday. Thanks to Benhasten who sent me the recipe. We've snaffled down a couple for breakfast this morning & have frozen the rest to take into work as afternoon treats. They turned out pretty well & are packed with good things like apple, carrots, walnuts and apricots. They also contain a few slightly unusual ingredients like a combination of tofu & ground flax seeds which acts as a binding agent instead of egg. Worked a treat! Also, agave syrup instead of sugar. Never used this before but apparently it has a much lower GI than usual sugar so sounds good to me & tastes great too. You can find the recipe here.

Rules rules.

I’ve wanted to go to Rules ever since reading Graham Greene’s ‘End of the Affair’. It’s London’s oldest restaurant & has always seemed very glamorous and romantic to me.


Sadly, as a vegan, I don’t think I’ve got much chance of eating there. Their menu favors nursery food like steak & kidney pudding with not a vegetarian, never mind a vegan dish in sight.


I’d pretty much given up on the idea of going there until I heard that they have a little known cocktail bar upstairs.


P & I decided to check it out & found that on a cold & rainy January night it was a little haven of warmth, peace and quiet. As the prices are pretty steep, we managed to nurse a single cocktail each for an hour & a half.


I had a Rules Royale which involved champagne, vodka, violet liqueur & crystallized violet petals.


Paul had something with champagne, gin & Poire William which was very tasty too. The bill came to just under £30 (ouch). It’s pricey but a really lovely place for a special treat!

Foraged Mushroom Soup

After spending Christmas in Chorleywood, Georgie sent us back to London with this jar of hand-foraged & dried wild mushrooms. She had collected them from the wood behind their house, thinly sliced them and dried them out on trays in the airing cupboard. We've been thinking of ways to use them ever since.


Rather than add them to a risotto we thought we'd try making a soup. This was super quick & easy to make but tasted delicious. The wild Chorleywood mushrooms gave it real intensity of flavour. Here's the recipe:

3 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
500g portabella mushrooms
handful of dried mushroom (like porcini or if you're very lucky, Chorleywood variety)
1.5 litres of stock (we used the mushroom soaking liquid plus some extra veg stock)
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
fresh parsley
half a carton of soya cream
salt & pepper

First, soak the mushrooms in hot water for 20 mins. Drain, reserving the soaking liquid for stock. Fry the shallots & parsley for 5 mins. Add the fresh & dried mushrooms & fry for another 5 mins. Add the garlic & stir for a minute before adding the stock. Simmer for 15 mins then add the mustard, soy sauce, soya cream & seasoning. You can puree it if you like a smoother soup but I like it just like this.

Sledging in Chorleywood

Although most of the country seems to have been skiving off work due to the snow recently, us poor lambs who work in London & travel on the uber efficient Piccadilly line have had no such luck. All the more reason to make the most of the snow on the weekend. Sunday brought a trip to Chorleywood where we dragged Paul & Natalie's ancient sledges (unearthed from the garage) up to the common.


The sledges were pretty tiny but we weren't going to let that stop us.


Weeeeee!


Georgie joined in too. What a lovely, lovely day!

Reflections & Resolutions

So another year ends already and a new one begins. Thinking back, 2009 has been a pretty eventful and happy year for me. My decision to leave my job and go travelling in 2007 ended a long & dreary period of procrastination and has been a great catalyst for change. This last year has brought lots of new things too. I've got a new job, got married, started learning to Lindy Hop & jive, made some new friends and got to know some old friends better. All these things have brought me happiness. Here's to more of this in 2010. And now for some resolutions:

1. Learn to be a better Lindy Hopper
I really want to get over my nerves and get really good at this. Must be brave & not get scared of falling over.

2. Be a more adventurous knitter
I do tend to stick to patterns that I already know I can do. Must try to learn some new skills.

3. Stay Positive
The world is a mad, mad place & it's important not to let the proverbials grind you down.

4. Go easy on myself others and
No-one's perfect & it'd be pretty awful if we were anyway.

I reckon this should be enough to be getting on with. A very happy new year to anyone who reads this. Wishing you all good things for the coming year!

A New Year Walk on the Heath

We had a lovely walk on Hampstead Heath today after a very quite New Year's Eve involving scrabble & lots of yawning.


It was a beautiful afternoon for a walk. Sunny, cold & crisp.


The ponds were all frozen over.


It all looked very pretty.


Kenwood House looked very inviting in the sunshine but we managed to resist stopping for a cake & walked off some of those extra Christmas pounds instead.

Christmas in Chorleywood

Had a very nice Christmas with Paul's family in Chorleywood this year. The 27th Decemeber was Alan & Georgie's ruby wedding anniversary. Here we all are having a glass of fizz to celebrate.

The Darts

Before Christmas Paul & I joined some friends to go the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace. The tickets were a wedding gift from Rich.


I'd been warned to expect some usual outfits.


This is Paul's friend Sankar and his mates from university


A Christmas hat was the legal minimum of silly dress possible.


Oh, and there was actually some darts going on as well. It turned out to be one of the most bizarre yet fun nights out I've had for quite a while. Thanks Rich!