Do something NEW for the New Year!

 Build a bike & get cycling!! Behind the Deptford Project Cafe you'll find a couple of great little enterprises. One of which is The Union Cycle Works. They make beautiful bespoke bikes for people and at the same time work with disadvantaged people from diverse backgrounds.I don't have a bike myself, but when I get round to it, I will be definitely going to them to get one! (Have already fallen in love with one of their creations! - see photo above :) so pretty!!)

Buy Local & Explore your local Area: Start off Saturday morning by heading down to the Brockley Market which is on from 10am - 2pm. They got some great produce on sale from fruit & veg and also some tempting eats! From Motherflippin burgers,  Mike&Ollie, and not mention The Red Herring which do an amazing Smoked Rare Breed Bacon sarnie!

Then why not head across the road to The Aladdin's Cave?  I've been wanting to go in there for ages, maybe this is the weekend to have a good nose? :)

,

The go root out some good local-ish pubs!
Just down the road from the Brockley Market you've got The Old Haberdasher, which I've been informed is one of the most 'comfyist pubs, ever.
Closer to home you have the recently refurbed The Ravensbourne Pub (part off Antic pubs Ltd) in Lewisham. Then even closer to home (Hither Green) The Lord Northbrook Pub in Lee has just been taken over new management and I've been hearing a lot, a lot of goods things about it. Good food, good choice of ales and incredibly welcoming.

After all that Sunday should be a chilled out affair. You could start off with a lazy brunch at The cafe of Good Hope.

Then pop home put your feet up with a good cuppa tea before heading down to Hither Green Hall for a vintage cinema experience. Watch a silent film triple bill with live electric accordion accompaniment from Igor Outkine who has played on some major film soundtracks and played to audiences all over the world. Meantime beers, homemade cakes & savoury snacks will be on offer.
Hither Green Hall, SE13 from 6.30pm (£5).

Wow! Who'd a thought there'd be so much to do in SE London :)
Bring on the weekend!!

Cloche Burger & Brioche Bap

Happy New Year All! 

I've started as I mean to carry on 2012 by beginning with some serious savoury cooking. This year the sweet stuff is being put on the back-burner and we begin with one of London's new trends!

In previous posts I've talked about London's 'craze' of pop-up restaurants, well now it's all about the Street Burger! You may have about places such as Lucky Chip, The Meateasy & Honest Burger.
I've had the splendid joy of being to, two of the three above and I have to say, I don't think I'd ever had a proper burger before I had tried one from the above establishments!

The Meateasy also known as The Meatwagon has now moved to the west-end & re-named itself Meat Liquor. I went to the Meatwagon whilst it was still based in New Cross & have to say it was a fabulous experience of trying my first cloche burger!

So here are the two recipes I used to get the creation above in the photograph.

Light Brioche Burger Buns -  Got this recipe from Smitten Kitchen
Adapted from Comme Ça restaurant in Los Angeles, via the New York Times
Go! Make these! What are you waiting for?
Makes 8 4 to 5-inch burger buns
3 tablespoons warm milk
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups bread flour
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Sesame seeds (optional)
1. In a glass measuring cup, combine one cup warm water, the milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about five minutes. Meanwhile, beat one egg.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flours with salt. Add butter and rub into flour between your fingers, making crumbs. Using a dough scraper, stir in yeast mixture and beaten egg until a dough forms. Scrape dough onto clean, well-floured counter and knead, scooping dough up, slapping it on counter and turning it, until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. The dough will be on the sticky side so it can be a bit messy, but keep in mind that the more flour you knead in, the tougher the buns will get. Try to leave them tackier than you would a round loaf.
3. Shape dough into a ball and return it to bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, one to two hours. (In my freaky, warm apartment this only took an hour.)
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using dough scraper, divide dough into 8 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange two to three inches apart on baking sheet. Cover loosely with a piece of plastic wrap lightly coated in nonstick spray and let buns rise in a warm place for one to two hours. (Again, this only took one hour in my apartment and I suspect, you’ll also only need an hour for a second rise.)
5. Set a large shallow pan of water on oven floor. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with rack in center. Beat remaining egg with one tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if using. Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Cloche Burger - recipe found on The Independent website

1kg coarsely minced chuck steak with about 20 per cent fat (get this from your butcher not the supermarket)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A little vegetable oil for grilling
4 slices of cheese
4 soft homemade Brioche buns

Mould the mince into round patties the same size or a little larger than the burger buns. Season the burgers then heat a griddle or heavy frying pan and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, keeping them nice and pink. When it's almost done, splash a little bit of water into the pan and then puts a cloche over the top to let it steam a little.
If you are using cheese, just place on top of the burger for 30 seconds or so to melt it.
Meanwhile, lightly toast the bun, assemble with your chosen relish and serve immediately.

Dill Relish
Chopped dill
Tommie K
Mayo

 Once you make a cloche burger you'll never do it any other way.

Go on give it a try!!

Sticky Spiced Ginger Cake

Another birthday, another reason to BAKE! :D

So after 'Jamaican Ginger' had being discussed quite a lot in the office in recent months, a sticky ginger cake seemed to be the way forward. 

This recipe did not fail in hitting the spot ;) Good old BBC Good Food website, is where I found the recipe.

Ingredients

250g pack butter

250g dark brown muscovado sugar

250g black treacle

300ml milk

2 eggs

100ml glacé ginger from a jar, finely chopped (or ginger jam!)

375g plain flour

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp allspice

2 tsp ground ginger

1. Butter and line a 23cm square baking tin (or use a shallow roasting tin, approx 30 x 20cm). Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Put the butter, sugar and treacle into a saucepan and heat gently for about 5 mins until the butter and sugar have melted. Stir in the milk. The mix should be just warm to the touch; if not, leave to cool a little longer, then beat in the eggs.
2. Mix the chopped ginger and dry ingredients together in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour the melted mix into the well, then gradually draw the dry ingredients into the wet with a wooden spoon, until you have a thick, smooth batter.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared tin, then bake for 1 hr until risen and firm to the touch. Resist taking a peek beforehand; the cake will sink if the oven temperature drops too quickly before it's cooked through. Poke a skewer into the centre to check that it's cooked - it should come out clean. If not, give it 10 mins more and check again. Leave the cake to cool in the tin. Once completely cool, turn out of the tin ready for icing, or wrap well in cling film and keep in a cool, dry place for up to a week.
4. To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add the gingery syrup. Beat well until you have a smooth, runny icing. Once the cake has cooled, drizzle with icing and cut into squares. If you're planning to let the cake mature for a while, make the icing on the day you want to cut it. 

Serve warm with a blob off Creme Fraiche & enjoy!

Linzer Biscuits

So even though I made a large batch of Flapjacks for the office, they were all eaten in one day!? So as it's turned out, I did end up baking some more 'Christmas-y' biscuits (Well they have red in them).

I made these last year and I think they went down well, I was too busy eating them myself! They are individual hazelnut shortbreads with raspberry jam in the middle - a posh jammy dodger if you will.

Ooo I do like a jammy dodger and a cuppa tea (yes there is an 80yr inside trying to get out)
Anyway, my Dad very kindly made me some boxes this year - He runs a box company - makes boxes for the Queen, don't you know! ;) It's quite funny actually, recently I was near Green Park with a friend. You know near Buck Palace. It dawned on me that there might be a Buck Palace gift shop near by. So mid conversation, I yelped with excitement (I do make myself laugh)  and proceeded to drag the individual over the park into the shop. It was full to top with all my Dad's boxes!?

Now, even though I've known he's made boxes for them for a while, to see them on display in the shop, in Central London, Outside Buck Palace!!! Well was rather RUDDY exciting! Ha! It was like having a famous box making Dad!! (Took me a while to explain my sudden surge of crazy antics) LOL

(Just had re-read what I had written, cause couldn't remember how I got from biscuits to Buckingham Palace - lol) This will be down to the fact I was up till 1.30am baking last night (got a bit carried away - as I always do).

So yeah, the boxes. My Dad, originally designed me these beautifully fabric coated, bright coloured boxes, that if I wanted could be lined with fabric, so on and so forth. They were truely great! So he was a bit perplexed when I asked for basic basic boxes, just brown, no coating inside or outside. But I do love a classic brown box. There is a true beauty in the simplest of things.

Thanks for the boxes Dad ;)

I gave a couple of Boxes to one of our clients, Tim and his crew (also gave him a box of flapjacks, as he mentioned how much he liked them). A box to the Touch Crew (my work) and another to Anne at FUSS (it's her birthday this weekend).

Get such a buzz from baking these biscuits. I think it's because they look so smart when you put them together. Hmm. It's just such a great feeling that in a short period of time you can create something so delicate and pretty that will consequently be eaten and then gone forever.

Flapjack Cookies revisited

Did you know that the main reason people visit my blog is to read one of my first posts on my Mum's Flapjack Cookies recipe 239 people to be exact!?!

I haven't been home for a while and even though Christmas is on the horizon ( & tempted to make Christmas-y looking biscuits) I felt compelled to make a few home comforts. Ahh my kitchen smelt just like back-home when I was baking them. I grew up on these and will always consider them as proper flapjacks and not the slice variety that everyone else are used too.

This lovely new batch of flapjacks were for my clients and work colleagues.
Half the tin was eaten by midday!?

Victoria's Famous Flapjacks

170g Traditional whole rolled oats
140g Sugar
140g Plain flour
1 tsp bicarb of soda
2 tbsp Boiling hot water
170g block butter
1 tablespoon Syrup
(makes around 34 biscuits)

Preheat oven to 180oc

Mix the oats, sugar and flour together in bowl. In a separate bowl mix the boiling water and bicarb of soda, then mix into the oat mixture.

Melt the butter & syrup in a bowl over boiling water. once melted add to the oat mixture.
Roll into small balls and place on a baking tray covered with baking parchment, press two fingers into each blob. Make sure they are too close together as they will spread. If you're using one tray, do it in three batches.

Pop in the oven for around 12-14 mins, they won't take long.
leave to cool on the tray a bit to crisp-en up, then onto a wire rack to fully cool.
Package up and hand out to people to make yourself smile ;D

A blog called Constellations have blogged about my mum's recipe too, and it looks like they went down well. Lets just hope that the office and my clients like the oaty variety treats to the jammy linzer biscuits I made last year.

Questions is ... how should I package them?
Hmmm will post some photos once I decide.

FUSS POT to W.I.

From all my different, random hobbies that I've started & stopped, tried and tested. I've found that one in particular I have gained the most from - joining F.U.S.S.

Since going along to that first meeting, all on my own.... & even though it did take over my life, over the last couple of months, with the organising of the Christmas Fair...

....it has not only given me an outlet of making random posters, nattering on twitter and been encouraged to be just generally excited about stuff. It has also opened up a whole new world to me.

I've lived in Hither Green for over six years, but it has only been the last few months that I've actually began to feel not only part-of but also (dare I say..) a local! I've made so many friends and met so many people that the rewards I now get since joining FUSS definitely outweigh the odd late night designing another poster. 

Not to mention the momentous occasion last week, when I realised I didn't have any fresh thyme for a meal I was cooking.... I was able to pick up the phone and call my neighbor Ann if she had any. Within 5minutes I'd popped over to hers, where she gave me a large bunndle of thyme fresh from her garden!

I live in London. 

This sort of thing does NOT happen.

Well it does in Hither Green!!

Seriously, by the time I got back to my flat, you'd have thought I'd won the lottery. I was so excited that I had become part of such a friendly wonderful community. If you don't get why I'm excited - you haven't experienced what I'm on about. 

Trust me, being able to smile and say hello to people when you walk down the street is such a great feeling. It makes me feel, well, calm (calm isn't a word I use very often) and incredibly happy.

As you can tell it has had a great affect on me. To the point, that I have an urge to get out in the world, well my 'local' London, and meet more people. So I've decided that I'm going to Join the W.I.

Yes, The Woman's Institute! And NO I'm not 60, or 30...yet....

But after bumping into The Goldsmith's W.I. at a fanzine event at The Amersham Arms a month ago or so, I saw a group of young like-minded girls who get together to do Stuff.

I like to do stuff!

So I went onto their blog and had a read, went onto heir facebook page, then came across another London based W.I. and another and another....

When the first British WI meeting took place in 1915 at Llanfairpwll on Anglesey in North Wales, its aim was to revitalise rural communities and encourage women to help produce food during the First World War. Later, it campaigned for improvements in women's education, and lobbied governments on issues ranging from free access to family-planning facilities, to equal pay.

People have a preconceived idea of what the W.I. is like - Blue rinse hair, quiet, not much laughing and very serious....visually seen in black & white! But this is just not the case and now a new wave of W.I. groups are appearing in london!

The ones I've been looking at include The Shoreditch Sisters, Borough Belles and Goldsmith's W.I. The majority of the women attending these groups are in their mid + late 20's and they hold onto to the traditional learning, craft making mixed with a modern approach. The Shoreditch Sisters hold the most of their meetings at Concrete, a funky bar that's situated under Pizza Eat in the Big Tea Building.

 Now, I feel I need to mention that I am yet to go to a W.I. meeting - I'm planning on going to my first meeting in January! For just over £30 a year you go once a month to meet other people & chat, learn crafts and basically have a laugh. And if you're not too sure you can just go along to one meeting for £3 to try it out.

I shall come back and report after my first visit!!

If you're reading this and want to come along with me, just give me a shout on facebook or twitter @EatWobblyJelly

Here are a couple of articles on these new breed of W.I. groups:

• http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23762626-sushi-cocktails-and-male-escorts-the-womens-institute-inner-city-style.do
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3636360/Womens-Institute-is-this-the-trendiest-WI-in-Britain.html
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/stuartbailie/2008/08/frock_the_casbah.shtml 

Here are the links to find your nearest W.I. group:

• England
• Wales
• as well as Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man and the Isle of Wight. 

Christmas FUSS Fair

So you might have noticed that my posts have been getting shorter and shorter and less frequent. Well it is all due to the fact that I had turned into a complete FUSS POT! Since joining FUSS just over 4 months ago, I managed to throw myself into helping out with the Christmas Fair that took place last Saturday.

And I have to say I think it was a complete success!! So much fun, so many new faces and just a generally great Christmas vibe throughout. The fair has been going for around 5 years now and usually is around 20 stalls just at the entrance to the station. This year, we had 40 stalls and closed off twice the amount of Staplehurst Road. Even though there were gail force winds and a few stalls had to batten down their goods :D the sun shone and people turned up in droves!

As well as helping out with the event itself, I managed to have a stall of my own... which I sold homemade Vintage fabric baubles and handmade Swedish stars. ( Not quite sure how I managed to make all the goods in time, help with the event organisation and have a full-time job!!???!!) Oh, mind you the odd amazing friend did give me assistance with the making - Thanks Rach! :D

I shared my stall with a friend, who came up from Welsh Wales & also has a blog - Hyfryd. She made fresh Welsh cakes (she made that morning in my kitchen - the smell was AMAZING!!) Barabrith and Individual Christmas cakes, iced beautifully.

It was SUCH great fun!! Especially cause I had some other friends who had stalls on either side of me:  Bex & V - Girl With Beads and also the Fabulous Gisela Torres! Gisela is a photographer by proffesion, but on this occasion she took on the role of 'Vintage Stall' holder!

To keep us all going and cheerful. I decided a bit of home brew Mulled Cider would do the trick!!
And I tell you what... they practically jumped on it when I came down from the flat with a giant vat of steaming hot spiced goodness. It went down a storm.

Here's the Mulled Cider recipe I used - it was delish!! And yep, it's a good old Jamie Oliver recipe.
Oh, the only difference was I was Old English Cider... and 3 liters of it!! ;D

If you've never had mulled cider.... try this one out!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!