Tasty chocolate

I found this chocolate at the Co-op. I know its not supposed to be cool to shop at the Co-op but actually if you are a fan of fairtrade and also of local foods they are actually very committed to both these things. Much more so that pretty much any other supermarket.

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This chocolate is dark, has a nice smooth texture. The orange spicing is mild and subtle and balances well with the chocolate. Naturally I like it best with a cup of coffee.

Best of all its sensibly priced at just over a ??1 a bar. You can’t say fairer than that.

Finding tea

I’ve never been much of tea drinker. That’s until a couple of weeks ago. I finally got round to getting a teapot to go with some teas I bought late last year, oh and of course I couldn’t resist popping a couple more teas in the shopping trolley as I clicked away on the internet.

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So here they are: White Silver Tip from Rare Tea Co, Green Jasmine and Rosey White from Lahloo and Phoenix Eye Jasmine White from teanamu.

And a lovely For Life teapot and two cups which I got from Lahloo.

I haven’t decided which is my favourite tea yet but I can’t believe it took me all this time to find that there are wonderful delicate teas out there. I shan’t be giving up coffee any time soon but I am pleased to have added tea to my day.

Kitchenalia and memory

Some things in life are both functional and hold wonderful memories. A memento doesn’t have to be pretty or fancy to remind you of great times, great people or great places. Simple things often hold more meaning.

Like my old egg slicer.

This isn’t an ordinary egg slicer that cuts the egg into rounds. No its much better than that it cuts the egg in to sixths vertically.

Egg Slicer

And it was grandfathers.

And when I was a child and we visited on Sundays he always made a huge spread of food for us to eat and without fail there would be hard boiled eggs.

I would always slice the eggs with him. Holding the egg slicer carefully, balancing each egg in the yolk coloured cup and pushing the wireframe down firmly but gently, his hands steadying mine.

So now each time I have hard boiled eggs I can also remember my grandfather and all the other ways he shaped my life.

Easy peasy cheese

I really rather like cheese. A lot. Its very high up my list of foods I wonder what I would do if I was told I couldn’t eat it any more. Fingers crossed that never happens.

I’ve considered trying to make cheese at home for quite a while and even went as far as buying a really comprehensive book about home cheese making. But I never seemed to get around to it. Well, that is until recently when a couple of conversations made me think I should at the very least experiment.

I looked in the book I’d bought way back and pretty much everything required proper cheese starter culture. I wanted to go simpler than that and I tracked down a recipe in Casa Moro: The Second Cookbook.

I scaled down and used just one carton of milk and hey presto 12 hours later I had a wonderful fresh cheese like this:

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The recipe is as follows (as adapted by me):

1 tbsp essence of rennet (note that essence of rennet has already been diluted if you use undiluted rennet you must dilute it first)

Warm the milk to roughly 32-37C.
Add rennet and stir.
Pour into a bowl and cover with cling film.
Leave in a warm place for 30-45 minutes.
The curds will have set so cut them into about 3cm cubes whilst still in the bowl. Be gentle.
Leave for a further hour in a  warm place.
Strain the curds into a muslin lining a colander.
Leave for about 6 hours for the whey to drain.
Et voila you have a lovely fresh soft cheese.

Use the whey to make bread instead of milk or water.

I’ve since made this with goats milk, also delicious but the curds are more fragile.

Next up cow’s or sheep’s milk. Yum.

My Scandinavain style new office

This week I’ve been trying out a new office. I really like it. Its central. Its good for meetings. Its got nice Scandinavian decor with clean lines. There’s a great catering facility and wifi. I love the quirky cups. The coffee is from Monmouth Street Coffee.

What more can a girl ask for?

Want a Scandi style office facility of your own? Then you need:

61 Great Titchfield Street
W1W 7PP

Oh and buy enough coffees and you get a hug from the staff (only if you want own of course) – sweet :)

And last but not least they stock BROWN cheese – oh yes.

More than just a good read

I like books and I’ve always been an avid reader. I particularly like books that are well designed and a delight to hold as well as being great to read. It’s probably very old fashioned but I can’t see me getting the same pleasure reading a book on the Kindle or the Sony eReader or the Apple iPad. I’d miss the nice paper, the cover and, in the case of the book below, the lovely end-papers with matching bookmark. The enjoyment would surely be more than halved.

So for all those who like books not simply for the contents but for the paper, the well designed cover, the look, the touch, I give you this Persephone Book:

I love the smooth muted gray covers Persephone use, the creamy paper and particularly the end papers and book marks which are usually prints of old fabrics.

I am also a big fan of Dorothy Whipple’s writing. Its careful and poised but not overly complex. The stories are always tinged with a sadness that feels unpleasantly real. They unfold with a certain inevitability that small choices can have large consequences, she makes the day to day seem quite fascinating.

Want one (or several): look on Persephone’s site or if you are in London visit one of their delightfully quirky shops.