I should have been...

in this 8th century castle for my birthday today, enjoying a lavish meal and good wine with Brunsli and Breadfruit. However, due to a minor(replace with major) mishap with my passport and the fact that being part of the EU doesn't really count for much when it comes to travelling to Spain, I had to cancel and stay in England. To say that I was disappointed would be a major understatement. Despite the fact that they weren't expecting me to be in the country, my family and friends rallied round to celebrate with me (and to cheer me up) throughout the weekend and today. On Saturday I went to Shish for a meal with friends; I have to admit to having mixed feelings about the food, I enjoyed my starter but wasn't enamoured with the main course. It has a great atmosphere and was packed on all floors, but I think it is a place to visit for drinks and snacks. We had post dinner drinks here and I loved it; the decor is great, it's a bit like popping into someone's house for a glass of wine!
On Sunday I enjoyed a mulled wine and mince pie evening at my Dad's, this was preceeded by watching the nativity story at the local church.
Today I was treated to breakfast in bed, a lavish lunch and then a wonderful Thai meal in the evening along with a large number of my family.
I had a fantastic birthday and feel lucky to have such wonderful people in my life; you all know who you are and I love you all.

Come Dine With Me

I am fast becoming addicted to this programme! So much so that I have even considered taking part; I went as far as to see if they were looking for contestants in my area, (perhaps luckily) they weren't. So how does it work? Over the course of a week, five strangers, who consider themselves to be good cooks, host dinner parties for each other. At the end of each evening the other four give their host marks out of ten. Following the final dinner party the contestant with the most points wins £1000. I have thought about what my menu would be if I were on the show and I have a few ideas. But I wonder, if you were hosting a dinner party for people you didn't know, what would be on your menu?

BTW, you can catch up on past episodes here and if you just want recipes, they are here.

How old is too old to wear a bib?

This delightful accessory is provided when having the speciality fish broth at a lovely little restaurant in Briancon. The dish is only served on Fridays and is popular with both locals and tourists; I used my best French to book our table as soon as we arrived in town. The substantial broth contains a variety of seafood and fish and lots of potatoes, it's served with rustic bread, cloves of garlic, garlic mayonnaise and Gruyere cheese. Whilst it does have the potential to be a bit of a passion killer, it is absolutely delicious and perfect comfort food to eat after a day in the snow.

BTW, look at how burnt my cheeks are!

While I'm sharing recipes...

...here's another one for you.

I made this dish for my SO as part of our Christmas meal, as he doesn't eat meat. It's really easy to make and tastes great; I'm sure you can experiment with the filling but I used the ingredients suggested by the chef Gino D'Acampo.
The Aubergine is stuffed with spinach, pecorino cheese, tomatoes, parsley and pine nuts and topped with lots of mozzarella. After being drizzled with olive oil, it's baked in the oven.
Fantastico!

For Brenda

It has been a long, long time since Brenda 'won' a cheesecake in my blog quiz! And it has been an equally long time since I have made my signature dessert. As I can't put the cheesecake in the post I am sharing the recipe here instead. I made it for my New Years Eve soiree and as expected, didn't have any left on New Year's day!

You will need:

• 175g Good Quality White Chocolate
  
• 250g Cream Cheese
  
• 200g Ginger Biscuits
  
• 200ml Double Cream


• 50g Unsalted Butter

Prepare your base by crushing the biscuits and melting the butter. Combine the two together and then press into a flan case.
Put the cream cheese in a bowl and whip it lightly. Slowly add the double cream, whisking the mixture continuously.
In a separate bowl, melt the chocolate; when it has cooled, slowly add it to the cream cheese and cream mixture.
When all of the chocolate has been added and mixed in well, spoon the mixture onto the biscuit base.
And that's it, easy peasy. Put your cheesecake into the fridge for a couple of hours (if you can wait that long) and enjoy after a good meal!

I promise you, it tastes delicious; the white chocolate works so well with the ginger. For those of you (and I mention no names) that don't like white chocolate, it can be replaced with the juice and rind of two limes; this creates a lighter, refreshing dessert.

If like me, your family absolutely love the taste, you will find yourself making extra so that they can take one home!

From designer treats to delicious eats

After having a fantastic lunch in Italy, we crossed the Swiss border; Brunsli and I went to a huge designer outlet shopping centre and got stuck into some retail therapy. I was amazed by the huge number of Brits there; they were literally being dropped off by the coachload. I resisted the urge to go mad with the temptation of all the % I would save and made only one (or was it two?) small purchase. We followed our shopping trip with a walk around Breadfruit's idyllic hometown in Switzerland; a real treat for a city girl like me.

We popped over to Italy again, briefly, before going to Breadfruit's Mum's house.
Signora Breadfruit is a lovely lady and she made me feel incredibly welcome in her home. We shared stories about her visits to London and my previous trips to Switzerland AND (drumroll please) she immediately recognised my hair as being the same as Brunsli's!
The evening ended with the four of us going for dinner in a wonderful restaurant, which served traditional Ticenese food. Chestnuts are a local delicacy and during the meal I tasted them in several forms, including the delicious ice-cream pictured bottom left. The region also produces a very nice red wine; a few bottles of which made it back to London.

Comfort on a plate

What on earth is going on with the England football team; today's result was so disappointing and very frustrating. To be honest, I wasn't convinced by the appointment of Steve McClaren as manager; he hasn't done much to make me think I was wrong. So now our progression into Euro 2008 rests on the outcomes of matches being played by other teams!
To cheer myself and the rest of the family up, I rustled up this pasta dish.
Following these instructions, I used tomatoes, yellow peppers, black olives, spinach and mozarella for the sauce; which, I stirred into penne pasta and topped with parmesan.
Easy peasy and very tasty!