Someone said don’t explain why you haven’t been blogging, just blog. So here I am, back to blog again.
It’s been a busy few weeks since you last saw anything here. Here’s what I’ve been up to:
In a nutshell, I made Madeleines, using the cute little mini pan that S gave me for Christmas; we went to a Fortnum and Mason Chef’s Dinner featuring Lorraine Pascale, where we ate parmesan lollipops, creamy squash soup, braised lamb shanks with chorizo and rioja, limoncello jello shots and ginger mascarpone creme brûlée, all followed up with a chance to meet Lorraine — she was lovely! I tried my hand at caramel-making for Smitten Kitchen’s Salted Caramel Brownies. If you’re afraid of the caramel, leave it out; the brownies themselves are fantastic! We then went on half-term (February break for the non-Brits) and promptly had enough snow to merit a snow day (isn’t that how it works?). The first shipment for the 2013 Cookie A Sock Club arrived – a gorgeous merino/cashmere/nylon blend from IndigoDragonfly, which I am thoroughly enjoying knitting. The twist to this sock club is a duo of cookie recipes that accompany the sock patterns and S declared the pecan cookies to be “my favorite ever.” Not bad…
We capped off tonight’s supper with a rhubarb-strawberry crumble, and of course, we celebrated Valentine’s Day together.
I am looking forward to a full day of pastry instruction at the Waitrose Cookery School with a friend this weekend and showing off what I learn in weeks to come.
So jealous of your madeleines! I wish I had room to store a pan for them. Yours look beautiful!
Thanks! My pan is actually pretty small and it’s silicone so I can fold it up and jam it into a relatively small space. I’m sure Amazon has a similar one (I got mine over here in the UK).
That might have to go on my wishlist. Thanks!
Can’t wait to hear about the Waitrose course- I’ve been wanting to do that one!