Make it reggae

So no surprise this video is doing the rounds with all my Jamaican friends on facebook. Maybe it's time for me to introduce the bean to Bob Marley! The things is Bob has never been a favourite in our household...surprising I know. But before you get up in arms we listen to plenty of ska, rocksteady and reggae. I have to be honest for me Jimmy Cliff will always trump Bob and when he sings 'Miss Jamaica' I secretly (or not so secretly any more) imagine that he is singing to me.

Ode to the Rolling pin

Okay so I was actually given this ceramic rolling pin as part of the hen night tradition where an older woman in the family gives a rolling pin to the bride to be to keep her future husband in control. Cheers to my big sis!!! Thankfully I have never had to use it on hubby and considering it's weight he is a lucky boy. The thing is I actually use the rolling pin weekly to make home made pizza and it works a treat. Ok and the handy pizza trays can get a little look in as well.

Here's to you rolling pin!

Yummy apples

So here are the apples I got from the green grocer to bake hubby's favourite apple pie. I can never be bothered to mess about with the pastry so I always end up making a cake. I got the simple recipe from the silver spoon which as it has an absence of spices I assume rests on the tastiness of the apples. We like it spicy though so we added some. 

Recipe

80g/3oz unsalted butter, softened
300g/11oz self-raising flour
3 eggs
150g/5oz caster sugar
3 apples, peeled, cored and chopped
whipped cream, to serve (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a cake tin or mould with butter and dust lightly with flour. Whist together the eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy, then beat in the butter until thoroughly combined. Sift in the flour mixture,  then add the apples and mix gently. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin or mould and bake for 30-40 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, then turn out, or serve immediately while hot. Served with whipped cream, if you like.

To my flour mixture I added a tsp of cinammon and some nutmeg. Once I added the flour to the mixture it became really thick and I thought how the hell am I going to get apples in here. As usual though I forge ahead and not just add apples but raisins as well! There was loads of mixture and it was interesting getting it all in the tin but...yep...I just forge ahead. I put a tray underneath the tin in the oven just in case there was spillage but surprisingly there was not. It turned out pretty good and tasted even better.

Whipped cream was not optional!

Yam Soup

I have been turning everything into soup these days (other than the odd freaky salad for lunch) as it's autumn. I want to cook things that will warm us up. It's especially a welcome home for hubby after a long day at work who has to then take the train back usually in the cold and wet these days. We got excited when we saw Yam at our local green grocer and just had to buy a piece. I have to be honest that it is something I have eaten from when I was young but have never attempted to cook it myself so was on the hunt immediately for a recipe. I was pleased to find a rather simple soup on line for which I pretty much had all the ingredients! You will find the source here. 

Ok so I did have some variances. Firstly we were all out of wild rice...or admittedly I never buy wild rice. Then I tend to prefer creamy to chunky soup. Hubby thinks I just like to hear the sound of the blender. I also started by softening onions with fresh garlic before adding the yam and stock. Then of course hubby likes it spicy so I added a touch of cayenne pepper as well as the curry powder to give it a kick. After it simmered for it's appointed time into the blender it went. OMG!!! How was I to know that it would turn out so thick. I guess that is what yam does and had I known I would definitely have added more stock than had been advised!  I ended up adding some milk in the vain attempt to thin it out a bit (the vain effect is evidenced in the picture below).

Anyway it still tasted rather nice and what a filling experience it was. I use the word filling literally here as a bowl of this soup certainly leaves you feeling extra stuffed. An experience definitely to be repeated.

A small piece of yam was reserved and is now being roasted with my chicken in the oven as we speak!

Oh yes a greengrocer in the Merchant City

Finally a nice surprise for us on our return to Glasgow...to discover that there is a greengrocer not far from us in the Merchant City. I would love to introduce you to Black Cherry...

I'm really not going to even bother get into what the fruit and vegetables are like at the local supermarket and the difference of being able to get them fresh. These guys head to the market every morning to get fresh produce and bring it close to my door...nice! So far we have sampled the tomatoes which are huge and juicy., the avocado and the cucumber. Hubby is over the moon of course as he has never been a fan of supermarket tomatoes and has always been half hearted in his desire therefore to eat them. Unfortunately I guess it is technically not the time of year to be creating fresh salads but hey who cares? With a drizzle of a mix of lemon juice and sweet chilli sauce I really am talking about heaven here. Of course hubby said it was missing prawns and little octupus' (and yes we have got a fishmonger just for that) but we managed to settled for a big block of cheese.

Oh and the beast beside the salad...well that is the fresh bread they have available as well.

It comes from Tapa Coffe & Bakehouse which has always been a bit far away being in Dennistoun but we knew they had always had rave reviews so we were very excited to try it out. One the best things of Italy is being able to walk down the road and get your bread fresh every morning. What do you know? Now we can do it right here in Glasgow. The guys even advised that you can request them to put aside bread for you to collect if you want as it tends to go fast and if they don't stock what you like you can always request it. So of course I might just have to take them up on that and do a bit of research on the Tapa website.

There is more to this place as well. The next post will be about the yam I got and turned into soup. Then there are the apples waiting to be turned into what I hope will be a yummy cake. Of course they also have a selection of spices and condiments and organic bits and pieces. All making it well worth a visit.

Next week I head to the local butcher in my quest for fresh!

But I love books of the physical kind...

Ok I am not going to get into any great debate about the positive or the negative of this. I just know that my dream has always been to have a house with my own personal library. I love my collection of books and watching it grow. I discovered libraries and the simple pleasure of browsing through the different selections. For it all to disappear out of my grasp is unthinkable. My husband has asked if I fancy an Amazon kindle and I have always said no with no consideration of it's benefits. I guess it must have some...I know that when we travel these days we are so limited in what we can carry due to weight restrictions and my books don't usually have priority that just maybe it may come in handy. The idea that they are able to get books to the developing World that needs them more easily in this format is great.

But...to lose the physical book...it's like a betrayal of something I love.

The World according to Garp, John Irving

"This is the life and times of T. S. Garp, the bastard son of Jenny Fields - a feminist leader ahead of her times. It is also the life and death of a famous mother and her almost-famous son; theirs is a world of sexual extremes - even of sexual assassinations. It is a novel rich with ‘lunacy and sorrow’; yet the dark, violent events of the story do not undermine a comedy both ribald and robust. It provides almost cheerful, even hilarious evidence of its famous last line: "In the world according to Garp, we are all terminal cases."

So my dad has read pretty much I believe all the books by John Irving. He raves about 'Cider House Rules' so that is definitely on the wish list but the one he give me to read as he finished reading it during his holidays visiting me is the one he struggled with, 'The World according to Garp'. He could only really read small chunks at a time but then had to put it down so it took him a lot longer to read than he would usually take. It was just kind of a strange novel. Not really raving reviews to convince me to read it but I never say no to a challenge when it comes to make my up my own mind about a book. 

Well I would not say I exactly raced through the book either. It's not that it's boring or hard to read it just drained my senses. Let's just say that Garp's world maybe is not overly entertaining but rather sad and tragic events which pushes you to find out what is finally going to happen in the end. Garp as a writer has rather odd and interesting views of the world which thankfully sometimes adds humour to the novel.You also get to meet some really interesting characters throughout adding a bit of extra flavour to the novel.

I won't say I loved it but I will say it has left a lasting impression. I think as a contemporary american novel it is studied in schools I would be interested to be a part of that lesson.