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.