Introducing...

Remember the nappy cakes I showed you earlier in the year?



I had so many people telling me that they thought I should sell them that I am testing the water by introducing them in a new blog:

www.cakesagoogoo.blogspot.com

Please take a look and let me know what you think, and kindly spread the word!

Yoroshiku ne!

Catching up

I am so behind in everything (e-mails, blogging, cleaning, ironing, phone calls, washing up...), can't believe how busy life seems even though I don't do half the things I used to do back in the UK (remember the song 'Busy doing nothing?). Hopefully will be able to catch up with myself after W's graduation tomorrow (which I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to or not, I've been warned to expect WEEPING!). W's teacher is expecting a baby in a couple of months, so I've made her a nappy cake (neutral colours as we don't know what she's having):



Finally got my outfit sorted last night. It's a 'formal' occasion, so I've been told to wear black. I've got a 'Magic' dress from M & S, which is supposed to suck everything in in all the right places. Problem (a nice one, though) is, I've lost weight and so it's not really doing any sucking... Tried on my ensemble (dress, bolero shawl, sparkly necklace and earrings and killer heels) last night and felt fab for the first time in years!!

As well as tomorrow being graduation day, it is also White Day - the day when those who received chocolates on Valentine's Day (boys) reciprocate by giving cookies (or hankies). J and W both have admirers who treated them in February, so we've been baking. Found some very cute boxes in the 100 yen shop to package the cookies in:



Ah yes, and my camera is full of picture of food so here's some to be going on with!



Shiitake Mushroom and Potato Cake

100g dried shiitake mushrooms
140g butter
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1kg large potatoes

Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Tip the mushrooms into a bowl and pour over boiling water to just cover them. Leave to cool, then drain (reserve the stock for another time), squeezing out excess liquid.
Heat about a fifth of the butter in a pan and stew the garlic over a low heat for 3-4 mins. Throw in the mushrooms and continue to cook for 15-20 mins until tender. Season well and set aside.
Peel and slice the potatoes (don't wash them, as the starch holds the cake together). Butter a 20cm ovenproof pan, then overlap a layer of potatoes on the bottom. Build up the cake with layers of potato, scatterings of mushroom, dots of butter and seasoning, finishing with a layer of potatoes. Cover with foil and bake for 50-60 mins, until a knife slides into the cake easily. Remove from the oven, run a knife around the outside to make sure it doesn't stick, then leave to relax for at least 5 mins before carefully inverting onto a plate. Serve cut into wedges.

Rosemary Chicken with Tomato Sauce

1 tbsp olive oil
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I used more as the ones here are tiny)
1 rosemary sprig, leaves finely chopped
1 red onion , finely sliced
3 garlic cloves , sliced
2 anchovy fillets, chopped
400g can chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp capers , drained
75ml red wine (optional)

Heat half the oil in a pan, then brown the chicken all over. Add half the chopped rosemary, stir to coat, then set aside on a plate.
In the same pan, heat the rest of the oil, then gently cook the onion for about 5 mins until soft. Add the garlic, anchovies and remaining rosemary, then fry for a few mins more until fragrant. Pour in the tomatoes and capers with the wine, if using, or 75ml water if not. Bring to the boil, then return the chicken pieces to the pan. Cover, then cook for 20 mins until the chicken is cooked through.

Better get going, the MIL will be here at the crack of dawn tomorrow...

Yikes!

Took the scenic route (i.e. got a bit lost) to kindergarten the other day, drove through lots of fields and downs some extremely narrow (and barely used, by the looks of them) roads, and stumbled across a very bizarre vegetable plot:



Pretty neat and tidy, eh? Looks pretty lively... except it's not. Look closer, those people have no faces:





Scarecrows! Me thinks the farmer has too much time on his hands. In fact, this farmer hit the news a few years back with his scarecrows. His fields were being wrecked by wild boar, so he made loads of real -looking scarecrows in a bid to keep them away. K's colleague was having a similar problem on his land and laid traps - the next day he had caught 12 wild boars! If only he had a butcher friend...

The other day I held a baby shower for a Japanese friend. Very small scale, only a few of us, and it's not a British custom so wasn't really sure what a baby shower should entail. Played a couple of games, one of which was quite gross but very funny - I melted various chocolates (and no, I didn't eat any)and squished them one-by-one in nappies, then the guests had to try and guess what kind of chocolate they were. Highlight for me was watching my very, very cute friend Hiroko sniffing and then tasting! We ate lots of goodies and treats, including a baked camembert which was very simple to put together:



Brown sugar Dijon Camembert

1 camembert (I used a small one, 125g, if you use a bigger one you may need to double he recipe)
25g brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
20g flaked almonds

Chop half the almonds and combine with the sugar and mustard. Cut the camembert in half horizontally and put one half cut side up on a baking tray. Spread with half the mixture, then put the other half of the cheese on top (again, cut side up) and top with the remaining mixture. Sprinkle with the rest of the almonds, then bake at 190c for about 12 minutes. Serve with slices of apple, chunks of French bread, etc. to dip in.

I love camembert, but wasn't so keen on the mustard in this recipe. Would make again, but with a different filling (chilli and apricot, mmmmm)>

I also made another nappy cake for the guest of honour to take home:



Thinking I might like to make these to sell...

Fat/calorie-free cake

This is primarily for my 'slim' friends who have been party to the discussion on toad-in-the-hole, so that they can see for themselves what bizarre delicacy we Brits crave at this time of the year! I managed to find some large, fat sausages (rather than the puny 'wiener' favoured by the Japanese - absolutely no good for this dish), so there was no stopping me. Actually, I don't know much about the sausages other than the fact that they were big. Certainly, they weren't beef. They looked like pork, with a few herbs in the mix. They were sold loose, no packaging to check, but whatever they were they looked the part! I'd read a few recipes recommending the addition of English mustard powder to the batter, but I went with the wholegrain mustard I had sitting in the fridge, as well as a bit of thyme. I'm going to have to double this recipe next time I make it, there was squabbling over the 'hole'!



Toad-in-the-hole

100g plain flour
pinch of salt
1 egg
300ml milk
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
3/4 teaspoon thyme
some sausages (how many depends on how big they are - I used 4 very big ones)

Put the flour and salt in a bowl, make a well in the middle and crack the egg into it. Add a splash of milk and mix, gradually adding the rest of the milk. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and creamy, then leave to stand.

Put a tablespoon of oil in a roasting dish. Add the sausages and them in the oil before roasting them for about 15 minutes at 220c. Remove the dish from the oven and pour the batter over the sausages (make sure they remain spaced apart so that the batter can rise between them) and then put it back in the oven for a further 40 minutes.

While it was cooking, I made some onion gravy to spoon over the top:

Onion Gravy

2 onions, sliced
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon soft brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
500ml beef stock

Fry the onions in the oil for 15 minutes, add the sugar and continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring continuously, befor adding the stock. Simmer until it thickens slightly.

Now on to the cake... yes, it really is completely fat/calorie-free...

On Monday I became an auntie again, so I wanted to make something special for mother and baby:



In case you are still confused, it is a nappy cake. The recipe is simple enough:

lots of nappies
various goodies for mother and baby
some ribbon
a bit of imagination

Can't wait to have a cuddle of the new arrival on Saturday!