One a Penny, Two a Penny

On Thursday before this horrible cough descended I popped to the shops to get ingredients for making hot cross buns.


I spotted these lovely lamb-shaped cakes in the window of the Polish bakery.


My hot cross bun recipe has been adapted (& veganised) from one by Silvana Franco. The best thing about it is that it uses dried blueberries instead of currants.


The next best thing is it uses white marzipan for the crosses.


I guess being stuck indoors with this horrible lurgy has its compensations. I get to eat most of these myself!

Back to Yorkshire

Spring was really peeking through when we visited Nunnington Hall in North Yorkshire a few weeks back.

Lovely Friends, Lovely Gifts

It's Easter & I'm stuck at home with a horrible, horrible cold so thought I'd catch up on some long overdue blogging.


Recently we had some friends over for a board games/cocktails evening (as you do) & they brought us the gift of this beautiful pineapple. When we'd finished turning some of it into garnishes for our pina coladas there was still about half of it left. What do you do with half a pineapple?...


Turn it into cake, of course!


The pineapple came with its own specially made label. Despite its tropical appearance, its maker told me the image is actually from Butlins. God, I love Butlins! When I holidayed there with my family in the 80s I have very special memories of this restaurant.

Muffin Madness

I enjoyed the sunrise muffins so much that I've decided to make vegan muffin-baking a regular weekend activity. They're so quick to make & I don't know why but I find baking really therapeutic. It always cheers me up.


Last week I made these blueberry & walnut muffins. I used this recipe & added a few walnuts just because I like them.


Today I made coconut muffins. I was looking for a way to use up half a tin of coconut milk I had left over & this did the trick. Here's the recipe I used. It intrigued me a bit because there's no egg substitute, only vinegar (?). Worked a treat though! I didn't ice the muffins as a slight concession to health. Also, Paul had already eaten two from the cooling rack before I had the chance. Guess that's a good sign : )

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.