Banana and Peanut Brittle

I'm always being surprised by the different ways Thais find to eat bananas. As well as having numerous different types and sizes, they sun dry them, fry them, deep fry them. As well as havingWe were given a huge bag of what seemed to be heavily fried banana chips. They were extremely moreish so after eating most of the bag I decided to use them to make some brittle,

I used half weird banana chips and half salted peanuts but you could use any nuts you fancy. I like the addition of salt to any caramel so if you use unsalted nuts I would add in a few pinches of salt. This doesn't last more than a few days but you have eaten it all by then anyway - mine didn't last 5 minutes (seriously!)

Cupcakes at Brixton Market

I have been rather absent from the blogging and twitter world recently. Early starts and a very busy weekend of work and markets took it's toll on me. But I am now enjoying two days off and a working iPhone has out me back in the 21st century so hopefully I should get back on track soon :)

Having really enjoyed having stalls on Brixton markets before, I signed up for the October 'High Tea and Flea' about a month ago. Since then I gave obvipusly changed jobs and now work on Saturdays. So how can you be in two places at once? With the help of two wonderful sales people (aka sister and boyfriend) Special kudos goes to my little sister who travelled down from Essex to help me sell cakes. Having also helped out at the Brixton Bake Off she is now a Mixing Bowl veteran and something of a good luck charm :)

Pancake Bananas

In days gone by, I would enjoy pancakes just once a year on Shrove Tuesday. I know, it's madness and I can't understand why because pancakes are easy to make and, as far as I'm concerned, are perfect at any time of the day. These days I have come to my senses and often make pancakes for Saturday breakfast when I fancy a change from eggs. 

This week I made cinnamon pancakes for brekkie and had some mix left over. We also had a fridge full of bananas so I had a bit of a lightbulb moment inspired by this pin I remembered seeing a while ago. Instead of making regular banana pancakes, I dipped the bananas in the pancake batter and fried them in butter. 

Lab Made ice cream

I’m pretty sure this is about as edgy as ice cream gets!

Made to order in what look like KitchenAids there seems to be some kind of witchcraft involved. The steam of the liquid nitrogen seeps out of the shop, shrouding the whole place in mystery.

*photos taken from Lab Made's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LabMadeHK

Matt’s sister introduced us to this great little spot in Hong Kong when we visited her in April. Six months later we ended up back here on 30th October so naturally there was a Halloween twist. 

Penang: it's all about the roti!

I want to stay in Penang and eat Indian curry with my hands forever. Scrap that, I'm moving to India!

After a morning of walking around Georgetown, we were hungry and in need of a good lunch. Pausing outside an Indian cafe, we were beckoned in and ordered the vegetarian banana leaf set (it seemed to be necessary to order before we could sit down).

A large banana leaf was placed in front of each of us and then curries, rice and pappadams were heaped onto the leaf. The waiters felt sorry for us and gave us cutlery but there was no way we were missing out on the fun, so we got stuck in with our hands! It was delicious, we were stuffed and it cost us 10 Malaysian Ringit (about £2).

I scream, you scream ...

When you've spent the morning walking round The Grand Palace, the sun searing through your factor 50 to create some impressive tan lines, you need an ice cream. In Thailand it seems that you never far from someone selling coconut ice cream, whether it be in a cup, cone, shell or bread roll (yeah, I don't get it either) but in Bangkok there are more and more artisan ice cream shops and stalls popping up.

Most offer the classic scoops in a variety of delicious flavours. But this little stall on Khao San road sold what I would describe as 'Magnum-style' ice creams only far superior. Each flavour has a different design made from chocolate and icing which when bitten, gives way to ice cream heaven. The effect was wonderful and I've never seen anything like this before.

Fudge

About a month ago I went to a baking seminar with a friend and was given 11 tins of evaporated milk by the sponsor. To my knowledge I have never drunk or eaten evaporated milk and I've certainly never used it myself. I got it in my head that I could probably make fudge with it and, although it turns out evaporated milk is not generally used in fudge, I went ahead with a bit of experimental candy making nonetheless.

Nutty French Soldiers

Or something like that…..!

French toast (or eggy bread) is up there with my favorite breakfasts (and I'm a girl who loves her breakfasts). I'm always amazed by the magic eggs and a splash of milk can do to a humble slice of bread.

Frankly crispy bacon and maple syrup is the ultimate accompaniment to a stack of french toast or pancakes but as I'm currently meat free (and at any rate bacon is hard to come by here in Thailand) I had to come up with an alternative.

Frozen yoghurt cubes

This was a bit of a 'what can I freeze in my ice cube tray' experiment and basically involved me mashing up bananas and yoghurt. About as simple as you get but with a pretty tasty result.

I used four mini bananas (I reckon two regular bananas) and 600ml of coconut yoghurt to fill one ice cube tray. I used my hands to mash the bananas until they were liquid and then whisked in the yoghurt. Spoon into the ice cube tray and put in the freezer.

I thought that these cold treats could do with a bit of a crunch so I fried up some oats and sugar until golden brown. When the cubes are almost frozen but still slightly soft I sprinkled the oats over half of the cubes.

Oaty eggs for breakfast

I love oats and I'm always looking for new ways to eat them! Usually it's sugary sweet in a pancake, cookie, flapjack or drizzled with honey in porridge. This week however, I opted for a savoury option for my Saturday breakfast and I did not regret it.

This was a tasty, satisfying way to begin my day and set me up well to work my way through my 'to do' list.

Salted caramel popcorn bites

In the UK we had a popcorn machine that made air popped popcorn. This meant we ate A LOT of popcorn, telling ourselves that because there was no butter or oil it would probably make us live forever!

This stuff is more likely to make your teeth fall out than make you live for ever but I won't tell your dentist if you don't! It's a great snack for a movie or games night but be warned: there are very moreish! I ate so many my mouth hurt!

Breakfast Oat Pancakes

True to my promise, after a very sweaty and snail-paced run around the park I made little oat pancakes for our breakfast yesterday. This is a recipe I picked up whilst on the Slimming World plan and back in the UK they were a staple breakfast in our flat - diet or not! I realised just as I was about to make them that I don't have any scales or measuring equipment so I had to do it the carefree Jamie Oliver style but it's such a simple recipe that that was not a problem.

Life in Thailand

In April we packed our bags and left the UK for the sunny (sweaty) shores (we are yet to see the sea) of Thailand. So we have swapped potato wedges for fried rice and baked goods for coconut milk. 

Iced drinks are a necessary treat to survive the heat!

The food is delicious - everything is fried and sugary so if course it is! In true Thai style, we don't have a kitchen so ours meals are usually bought from a market or street side restaurant. This is a great convenience but I do miss cooking and particularly baking. Having loved baking so much that I started a blog, then started selling cakes at a local market and then making it my day job; it feels very strange not to be baking at all.

Khao Soi - one of our favourite Thai dishes 

A Tale of (apple) Tarts

As you can tell, I've had a break from blogging. A wedding, job change, house move and making the decision to leave the country all took their toll and I needed to eliminate the extra pressure and guilt that comes from frantically trying to catch up with blog posts.

So now autumn is upon us, my winter coat has come out of hibernation and I've bought a new pair of gloves which should last about a week before I lose one and have a cold left hand. I'm trudging through autumnal leaves to work and millions of apples seem to be suicidally throwing themselves from trees. 

Both at home and work, I am being given more apples than I know what to do with. I have filled my spare jars with chutney and my friends with apple crumble cake but still the bags of apples lurk in the corner of my kitchen. 

So I've been perfecting the art of the apple tart.