Toffee Apple Cake

It was my Grandad's birthday last Friday and one thing I love doing is making family and friend's birthday cakes. I like to make cakes personal to them, things, flavours, that particular person likes. My Grandad LOVES toffee. To put this in perspective he got six bags of toffee for his birthday (as well as other things, but still.) He's also a lover of a good old fashioned pudding such as Spotted Dick, Apple Crumble, so I decided to combine the two and this is what happened.

You will need

225g self-raising flour

115g unsalted butter

115g light brown sugar

1 egg

8 tbsp milk

225g Bramley apples

100g sultanas

110g butter

220g dark brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

6 tbsp milk

350g icing sugar

1/1 Bramley apple

How to

Preheat oven to 180C/160F/Gas 4

Grease and line one 20cm cake tin

Cube the butter and add into the flour. Crumble them together until it looks like fine bread crumbs.

Stir in the sugar before beating in the egg. Add the milk one tablespoon at a time until you reach a smooth batter. 

Peel and core the apples before cubing them and adding them and the raisins to the batter. Stir in until everything is well combined.

Pour into the pre-greased tin and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Warning this cake is very crumbly and moist so be really careful when turning it out of the in. 

Chop an apple into slices ready for later. 

For the icing, melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the sugar and salt and boil for about 2 minutes until everything is melted. At this point dip the apples into the toffee and place onto a plate for the toffee to harden. (If you're not serving the cake on the same day as baking do this step before serving)

Take the pan off the heat and add the milk. Bring back to the boil. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for around 20-30 minutes. 

Take a tablespoon or two from the pan to drizzle over the iced cake later. Sift in the icing sugar and beat until smooth and cool enough to spread. If the mixture stiffens up you may need to add another tablespoon of milk to loosen it up. 

Once you have a smooth mixture spread the icing onto the cake. I like mine to look messy and not too  perfect. Drizzle the toffee sauce you put to one side earlier over the top and then decorate with the apples.

Stick in a couple of candles, or put on the kettle, and enjoy. 

P.S That's my brother and yes he's currently single handed. He volunteered to help. 

Tea Talk

I love tea, I mean I'm British and nothing if not a cliche. Aside from the classic English Breakfast tea, which is a staple addition throughout my day, every day, there are other teas that I reach to on occasion. Apart from the warming, comforting benefit of drinking tea, the ultimate and instant refresh you get from the first sip, there are teas out that with actual health benefits. I thought I'd tell you about a few of my faves, but first I'll tell you for herbal tea I always go Pukka. It's reasonably priced, all organic ingredients and there's heaps to choose from.

Peppermint Tea is a fairly recent discovery of mine but I love it. A cup of peppermint is normally my last cup of tea for the day. It's super relaxing and makes me feel calm and ready for bed. Added bonuses are that it's good for the immune system, aids digestion and can help with nausea. If you're feeling a bit crampy and bleugh in the stomach region, try a cup of peppermint tea, it will probably sort you out.

Echinacea tea if perfect for this time of year. Like peppermint tea, it boosts the immune system but can also relieve the symptoms of cold and flu. I really like the Pukka variety as it's flavoured with raspberry so it's lovely and fruity. And definite must have for your tea collection.

Lemon, Ginger & Manuka Honey is my favourite of the bunch and one I drink through the day. It tastes delicious and is the most comforting of the bunch, I think. Manuka honey is great for the immune system, warm lemon is a good antioxidant and ginger is good for relieving nausea. (Any pregnant ladies out there, apparently ginger tea is really good for morning sickness.) What I love most about it though is the spicy, sweet flavour which is really warming and relaxing.

The Detox and Night Time variety aren't ones I reach for very often but I do enjoy them every now and again. They're both a mixture of different herbs that are great for doing what they say on the tin basically. The detox tea is full of antioxidants that help you feel renewed and this is something I'd grab on a Sunday morning after one too many or really whenever I'm feeling a little groggy. The Night Time tea is perfect if, like me, you tend to get a little anxious. It's made up of different herbs that help to make you feel relaxed and calm which is great for just before you hit the hay, but also if your mind is working at a mile a minute and you're feeling a little stressed.

Valentines Day Gift Guide

MAKE UP BAG | CACTUS POT | GIN BOOK | PHOTO ALBUM | CANDLE

Valentine's Day is a funny one, you're either into it or you're not. Personally I love any excuse to spoil those most special to me. But, it doesn't have to be your boyfriend. Maybe you think your best friend, your sister, your mother-in-law, the cat's aunt, needs a little bit of extra love and a bit of spoiling at the moment. Whoever it is, the gifts I've compiled, ranging in price, would be great for anyone and sure to bring a smile to someone's face. Personally I'm holding out for the Jo Malone candle. We'll see. 

Basa with curried vegetables and rice

I love a fish curry, scrap that, I love a curry full stop but fish curry is just a bit different and something I don't always go for. With a soft white fish like basa the flavour can be overwhelmed by the spices so I decided to change it up a bit and this is what happened.

You will need

1 basa fillet per person

1 large sweet potato

1 butternut squash

1 red pepper

1 red onion

2 cloves of garlic

150g sugar snap peas

3 tablespoons red curry paste

1 tin of coconut milk

75g rice per person

How to

Preheat the oven to 200C/392F/Gas Mark 6

Prepare the base by seasoning with salt and pepper and drizzling with oil. Wrap the fish in foil and put to one side for later.

Peel the sweet potato and squash, remove the seeds from the squash and chop into cubes. 

Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes or until just soft.

Whilst the vegetables are roasting dice the onion and pepper. Crush the garlic and finely chop it. 

Remove the vegetables from the oven and reduce the temperature to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.

Put the fish in the oven and bake for twenty minutes.

Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan and add the onion garlic. Cook for about two minutes before adding the curry paste. Stir fry the onions with the paste before adding the peppers and beans. Cook for another few minutes.

Pour in the coconut milk and add the roasted vegetables. 

Allow to simmer whilst the fish cooks. At this point bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the rice. 

Keep stirring the vegetables as it will begin to thicken up as it cooks and you don't want it to catch.

Once the fish and rice are cooked serve up and enjoy.

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Maybe we all need a social media detox?

Social media is great. We can keep in contact with people on the other side of the world, we can share important messages, we can make changes, all via social media. And that's great. But there are two sides to social media, and as with everything it's not all sunshine and roses. Although everyone's Instagram feed would have you thinking otherwise.

But there lies the problem. Or at least that's how I'm feeling.

I love Instagram, if you follow me you'll know this already. For me it's my favourite social media platform. I'm a very visual person and therefore sharing photos and seeing photos from others everyday is fantastic. I'm a keen user of Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat as well too, obviously. But it can be a bit easy to get lost in it all and feel a bit down about things when all you see is the glossy parts of people's lives.

It's not hard to get caught up and think that you're not doing it quite right when all you see from others is photos of them on golden sandy beaches, strutting around with designer sunglasses on or sharing a coffee in some fancy coffee house for Wednesday brunch. That's not real life but it's easy to forget that. 

We all get a little addicted to social media I'm certainly not immune. I've found myself waking up and reaching straight for my phone and having a scroll before going to bed for the night. It's definitely not healthy and it can feel a little stressful. As a blogger I definitely feel the pressure to post on social media regularly and do feel anxious about not doing it enough. 

Although being on social media regularly comes with the territory of building a blog I want to make more of an effort to not be so reliant on it. Not picking up my phone in the morning until I've had breakfast and got ready for the day, putting it down an hour before bed and not turning to social media when I don't know what else to do. Maybe I'll find that I don't feel so stressed out by it and won't let it effect my reflection on my own life, or maybe I'll just figure out it wasn't social media doing that anyway. Either way I think it's a good idea for everyone to step away from the screen every not and again for a little while and look at the bigger picture. 

Cheats Pork Wellington with New Potatoes, Asparagus and Beans

Sometimes you just need some comfort food, especially on cold January nights. However, more often than not good comfort food takes a fair bit of preparation and a while to cook - Shepard's Pie, Stew, Beef Wellington. This alternative to the later is relatively quick and easy to cook and by using pork mince instead of beef also makes it a little different to the original. This recipe feeds four comfortably.

You will need

500g pork mince

1 white onion

250g mushrooms

2 cloves of garlic

Handful of fresh sage

2-4 tbsp of mustard (depending on your taste)

Filo pastry

400g new potatoes

8 sticks of asparagus

200g runner beans

How to

Preheat the oven to 200C/392F/Gas Mark 6.

Roughly chop the onion, mushrooms and garlic. 

Melt a teaspoon of butter in a large frying pan and add the onion, mushroom, garlic and sage leaves to soften. Stir occasionally.

While those ingredients are softening prepare your vegetables. Half the potatoes, trim the asparagus and take the ends of the beans before chopping them in half also. Put the potatoes in a pan and the asparagus and beans in a steamer pan ready for later.

Once the mushroom, onion mixture is softened take it off the heat and pour everything into a food processor. Blitz everything together until it forms a paste.

Heat a drizzle of oil in the same frying pan and slowly fry the mince until brown. Drain the fat from the mince and set aside.

Take five sheets of filo pastry (I used pre-made pastry, if you have the time and patience to make your own then go for it, but I have neither) and baste between each sheet with oil.

Once you've had basted each sheet I would recommend moving the pastry onto a baking tray. Spread the top sheet with mustard. I used about three tablespoons but I quite like mustard, if you really like it add more, not so keen, use less. Top the mustard with the mushroom, onion paste and then add the mince.

Once everything is evenly distributed carefully roll the pastry around the filling to create something that resembles a sausage roll. Glue the seal with oil before putting in the oven. Bake for between 20-30 minutes, or until crisp and lightly golden.

When you put the wellington in the oven bring the potatoes to the boil to cook and the greens to steam. 

Serve together and enjoy. 

Dear February

Dear February,

Well you're here already, how did that happen? Thirty one days ago I was getting ready to welcome the new year in and now here we are, a month down yet it feels like no time at all has passed. Why is that? Time definitely moves faster as you get older, that's one thing 'they' tell you that's true. (Who is they by the way - peers, old wise people, who knows?) It's scary though, time, especially when you look back on it.

Looking back on January it feels like I didn't do much but that's because nothing out of the ordinary happened. I filled January with the things I always like to fill my time with, books, writing, the fresh air, family, friends. I think we often think we haven't done anything if we're not doing things a little bit different to normal, but really we've often done more than we realise.

In January I wrote the most blog posts within a month than I've written in a long time. I went to the gym at least three days a week and worked by butt off each time. I got out and about somewhere every weekend. I cooked four of my own recipes and wrote them down to share and to remember. I actually made more headway on my Australia photo book and put all my photos from 2016 onto a memory stick ready to do the same with those. People across the world took stand against, among other things, a racist and a misogynist and proved there is more good than bad in the world - that's something I'm proud of.

January was filled with things and it's important to realise that just because you're not doing anything particularly exciting doesn't mean your not living life to the fullest. We tend to think life is passing us by to quickly and we're not making enough of it but if we're doing what we want to do and we're happy then life is being lived the best way it can be. 

So you're here February. The month of love. I hope February is filled with love. Love for each other and everyone. The world could really do with a bit more love at the moment. 

Work hard. Play hard. Be nice.