September 2009
13 posts
A mid autumn festival in planning
I’m really excited about the mid autumn festival dinner party I’m hosting this Saturday. It’s a little strange to be writing in planning mind set but I’m really excited! Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing lots of ‘creative’ things, from baking macarons, a wedding cake and a birthday cake, to decorating jar lids so that they look prettier as they...
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Away for a day
Trip to Ulu Ulu today was more painful than it needed to be and it’s all National Express’s fault. to be fair, they inherited some problems, but it was them who decided that what could have been a overland train ride was now not only a train + bus replacement service, but a tube to Zone 4 + bus replacement + train ride. I probably spent half my waking hours commuting. I’m so...
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Chocolate cake with cocoa cream and blueberry dark...
The cake turned out much better than I thought it would! I made the cake this morning (overslept, didn’t hear the alarm clock) before we went out and the cream and frosting when we got back. It was a really good cake. Not dry and heavy, not overly sweet, no marzipan and no fondant icing. The antithesis of British cake. I have to work on my icing and I wouldn’t have put the ladybirds...
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Quiet in the morning
Walked past Charlotte (80 Westbourne Grove, I believe) quite a few times. The quaint vintage ‘shabby chic’ decor of mismatched, distressed painted furniture really appealed to me. People inside always seemed to be leisurely enjoying cups of coffee.
So last week before starting on the weekly hunt, we decided to try it out for ourselves. Charlotte opens at 9:30. On weekends,...
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A birthday at Tsunami
This year’s birthday meal was at Tsunami, on Charlotte Street. From top to bottom, we ordered the prawn tempura - I’d been thinking ‘tempura, tempura, tempura’ all day. Salmon and wasabi tobiko tartare, which is a salmon sashimi “cake” in a sea of yuzu soya sauce topped with wasabi caviar.Sashimi a must. Their highly recommended miso black cod. And...
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Another beautiful and beautifully simple Audi ad
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I ♥ macarons - recette #1
Actually, macarons aren’t that difficult to make. They’re beautiful. I love the colors, the crisp outer shell giving way to soft, chewy almond meal and then filling. When I was in Lille earlier on in the year, I bought a macaron cookbook. It’s (quite obviously) in French so some time on Babelfish was required but I made my first macaron recipe from the book - lemon poppy seed...
Meetings
Most meetings last too long. I had breakfast this morning, at about 9:45. It’s 12:17 right this minute and I’m famished!! Unfortunately, I’m in a meeting, have been since 9:30 this morning on a bowl of Greek yogurt with honey and hazelnut muesli.
This meeting is slated to end at 3:30. Many of us flit in and out at various sections. While I doubt whether all of us are needed,...
About me
I don’t think I’m typical. I don’t think I’m odd or weird, I’m not Miss Popular (or Miss I-talk-in-order-to-be-noticed) nor the one with the most ‘friends’ on Facebook. Inspiration for this ‘about me’ stemmed from two parties I went to on Saturday. After a delightful coffee and chocolate afternoon at Maison du Chocolat and Julie & Julia,...
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Clapham gems
Never really ventured to Clapham before. My impressions of Clapham were: too young, too much of a clubbing scene. But there are a few really nice places near Clapham Common en route to the Old Town - a French coffee shop along The Pavement where the ceiling is adorned with croissant-eating angels, where coffee is served out of floral china tea cups.
And on a side street away from the busy...
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Fall 2009
The weather’s turned I think. Last week at P’s wedding, it was sunny but when the sun went behind the clouds and the wind starts to blow it gets pretty chilly! As we were leaving the Hurlingham Club, I saw my first orange leaf of the new season! Which was both nice and sad at the same time. The passing of seasons is nice. Fall is nice. But London is rather sad when the sun...
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I dedicate this...
To my amazing family…
Without whom I would have never embarked on this amazing, rather scary journey. On Saturday, I made my first wedding cake for sale and was official photographer for a colleague’s wedding.
It wasn’t easy, fraught with my near misses! After deciding and agreeing on a size for the cake, a friend innocently asked, “Is your oven big...
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My newest craft project
I’m so excited to post this picture. I’ve been re-using old jam and sauce jars for things food that comes in a pack, like ground almonds for my macarons, sliced almonds for my tarts, dried kafir lime leaves, extra peppercorns, walnuts. Three of the five jars you see here are old Nutella jars and to be honest, not that great for covering with paper because there’s a sharp edge...