Anyone ready for a chocolate boost? (giveaway CLOSED)

As I was doing some boring grocery shopping in town, I passed by the Thorntons shop and was easily swayed to have a look inside. It doesn't take much persuasion for me to buy chocolate. So, I bought some for myself and some for you.

If like me, you do not need a reason or excuse to have a rendezvous with a chocolate bar, you are welcome to enter my little giveaway.
A winner will get 3 bars: Milk Chocolate with Strawberry, Dark Chocolate with Apricot and Bakewell tart milk chocolate (Limited Edition).
To enter:
1. Please tell me what you like about autumn.
My favourite thing about autumn is the Indian summer, when the days are warm without being hot. Plus being a practical being verging on romantic, I love picking fruit from the trees. So does my little man, but that's another story.
2. Please leave a comment on one of my other posts as well. I love reading comments, and it will be my pleasure to see what you think about my ramblings.

You do not have to follow my blog to enter the giveaway. I do not believe in following blogs just for the sake of entering comps, and then quickly unfollowing as soon as the comp is done and dusted.
However, if you choose to follow my blog, I will be delighted and will "wag my tail" with joy. :)
On 1 November 2011 I will pick a winner.
If you do not have a blog, please leave me some means of contacting you if you win, a Twitter name, or forum name (then let me know which forum it is, as I belong to quite a few).
Good luck! And I hope you will like my selection of chocolate, I was choosing the chocs that have little bits and different flavours. Also I thought the colours of the packaging look nice together.
Now all I need is to hide the chocolate away before someone is tempted.


___________________________________________________________________________________

The chocolate giveaway is now closed. All names went into a hat, and Eddie has picked a name.
And the winner of the chocolate giveaway is......... Shaheen. Congratulations, I am going to email you!

Many thanks to everyone who posted their comments, I enjoyed reading them.
Please do not be disappointed. And watch this space, in a matter of days I am going to announce a new pre-Christmas giveaway. A little hint: it will be Italian and for foodies.

Italian-style sandwich

It is not something authentic Italian, but inspired by Italy nevertheless and using fine Italian foods.
You will need
a ciabatta loaf, preferably the type that needs finishing in the oven
a chicken breast
rocket, a handful
pesto, about 2 tbsp
prosciutto
Cut the chicken breast into pieces and quickly fry them in the frying pan, adding olive oil, once cooked, stir in some pesto for an extra oomph.
In the meantime bake your ciabatta in the oven until the top is golden and crispy, but do not overcook.
Once ciabatta is done, cut it into 3 sections and then each section in halves. Please do not add mayo. I cannot understand the obsession of mass produced sandwich creators who add mayo everywhere, even if it does not work with the other ingredients.
Put some rocket leaves on the lower part of ciabatta, add chicken, prosciutto and cover with the top part. Eat with olives.

Apple jelly

Last year our apple trees were laden with heavy big apples, this year one of the trees is completely resting and had not a single apple, the other two had apples, but not enough to appeal to all neighbours to come and help themselves. But there's still enough for me to cook lovely crumbles, chutney and jellies.

This recipe was written by a crafts forum friend a few years ago, and I have been making it ever since, with different variations, adding herbs and spices.

"Makes 7-8 x 225g jars

2 kg Crab Apples or other sharp Apples
Around 900g Granulated Sugar

Pick over the fruit removing leaves & stalks, wash then cut out any bruised bits.
Don’t peel or core the apples just chop them roughly. Place all the prepared fruit in a saucepan with 1.2 litres of water. Bring gently to simmering point and simmer until all the fruit is soft and pulpy. Remove from the heat.
Have a scalded jelly bag or muslin cloth (or thin tea towel) ready and turn the contents of the pan into it. Leave to drip overnight. I don’t care about my jelly being cloudy, so I give the cloth a good squeeze the next day when it’s cold to get more juice out.
Measure the juice and for every 600 ml juice use 450g sugar.
Put the juice into a large pan and bring slowly to the boil.
My note: it is at this stage that I start to experiment with add-ons. This year I made 3 different batches: first with rosemary, second with the Greek basil and oregano, and the third one with the homegrown chili and a bit of cinnamon. Once the juice's infused enough with the flavours, I remove the herbs (but not the specks of finely chopped chili) and the cinnamon, and only then add sugar.

Add the sugar as it just comes to boiling point and keep stirring until all the sugar has dissolved. Then boil rapidly, without stirring, for about 10 minutes until setting point is reached. Pot and seal as quickly as possible.

I warm jam jars in the oven while the jam is cooking to ensure that they are warm and sterilised. Rather than shop bought wax circles and cellophane, I cover the jars while they are still hot with pieces of cling film cut to size."

A blogging colleague What Kate baked has set an Autumnal challenge to create a recipe using Autumnal riches and blog about it.
Though technically my recipe has nothing to do with baking, it is certainly autumnal, so I am going to ask Kate if she would consider my recipe. Come and join the fun!

Sea salt and caramel chocolate cake

What is it about licking a bowl clean? It does not matter if you are 3, 13 or 43 years old, it is such a pleasure to lick the sticky cakey goodness from your finger.
The recipe for this lovely cake comes from a Jamie Oliver's Monster Bake Sale booklet which was produced for the Comic Relief.

You will need
225g butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
225 g caster sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting
4 large eggs
220 g self-raising flour, sifted
1tsp baking powder
200g caramel sauce
1 tsp sea salt
200 ml double cream
1 vanilla pod, halved lengthways and seeds scraped out
300 ml double cream

For the peanut brittle
450 g caster sugar
200 g unsalted peanut
A knob of butter, for greasing

Now looking at the photo of my cake you might ask, where is the peanut brittle?
And the answer will be - on the floor. Yes, I did manage to drop the tray of still burning caramel on the floor, splashing my leg in the process, and now have a few burns to prove it. Don't think I will be making peanut brittle any time soon. The cake is decorated with less dangerous substances.


What you have to do?
Preheat your oven to 180C/gas 4 and line a 20cm spring form cake tin. In a clean bowl beat rhe butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cocoa, eggs, flour and baking powder and mix well.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake in the hot oven for 40 to 45 minutes. Check on it after 40 minutes, and insert a skewer into the centre of the cake, if it comes clean, it is done. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then carefully turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the brittle. Put the sugar and 200 ml water into a pan on a medium heat for about 10 minutes until the sugar dissolved. Turn the heat up and after 10 to 15 minutes the sugar will begin to caramelize. Add your peanuts. Don't touch or taste the caramel, as it can burn badly, and do not be tempted to stir the mixture, just gently swirl the pan every now and then. When it turns a beautiful caramel colour, pour it on to a greased non-stick tray and use a palette knife to push it out to about 1/2 cm thick. Allow to cool for 15 minutes, then bash it up as you like.
My note: the photo in the booklet shows a very modest amount of brittle sprinkled on top of the cake. If you use the amount of sugar and peanuts specified, it will be a big lot of brittle, way too much to decorate the cake. Or clean from the floor tiles for that matter. Lol
Once the cake is cool, run a long knife around the middle, scoring and turning as you go, until the two lines join up. Carefully turn and cut into your cake, going deeper each time until you end up with two round halves.
Or do like I do, after scoring the cake in the mid-section, take a thick thread and tie it around the scored line, then carefully pull the ends together, then the thread will cut the cake into two neat halves. Jamie Oliver, eat your heart out.
To make your filling, mix the caramel with the sea salt, then spread over the cut side of the bottom half of your cake. Whisk the cream with vanilla seeds until it forms soft peaks, then spoon on top of the salted caramel. Carefully place the top half of the cake on top then dust with cocoa powder and the crushed peanut brittle.

I am a bit confused here, as to why there are two amounts of double cream. One is mixed with vanilla, what about the other part, does it go in the caramel sauce? I left it untouched.
I decorated my cake with the melted Lindt sea salt chocolate to go with the theme of the sea salty pleasure. Then added a few coffee beans in chocolate and a sprinkle of Lindt white chocolate.

As my good friend Anne celebrated her 85th anniversary on Wednesday, this cake is baked for her visit.
Home baked blog is running a competition to bake a cake to celebrate its author's 30th birthday. This cake will be my entry.

Apple tart

The original recipe appeared in one of those recipe calendars that seem to sprout every Christmas as freebies coming with food magazines, not sure which magazine it was. It is called an Apple Simnel cake and is an Easter pud, but I cook it in any season. Now that we have plenty of apples in the garden, I use our own apples rather than suggested Pink Lady. It is quick to make and bake.
You will need
375g ready rolled sheet shortcrust pastry (or puff pastry, it works with both, but I prefer the shortcrust variety)
250 g white marzipan (optional, you may omit it altogether, as I did making the latest batch)
6 tbsp apricot conserve (Bonne Maman is very good)
25g ground almonds (or flaked)
4 medium apples, quartered and cored
25g golden caster sugar, plus 2-3 tsp
2-3 tbsp calvados or brandy. optional
284 ml carton double cream to serve, or ice cream, or clotted cream

Serves 6, Prep 20-25 mins, cook 20 mins
1. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Lay the pastry on a large baking tray.
Roll out the marzipan thinly so it is slightly smaller than the pastry sheet. Brush the pastry lightly with 1 tbsp of the conserve and lay the marzipan on top, turn the pastry egdes over very slightly. Sprinkle the almonds over the marzipan.
2. Slice the apples very thinly and place over the marzipan. Sprinkle over the 25g of sugar. Bake for 20 mins or until the apples are tender and the pastry is golden.

3. Meanwhile, mix the remaining conserve with 1 tbsp of the calvados or brandy (or use water). Press through a sieve and thin down with a little water if needed. While the tart is warm, brush the apples and pastry edges with apricot glaze.
Lightly whip the cream, remaining calvados or brandy if using, and 2-3 tsp of sugar to taste. Serve with the warm tart.
It is also lovely with the clotted cream, or ice cream.
Or go for the sugar overload.

A Mad Hatter

...or should that be a Hatterette? I love hats and hardly ever go out without one.
This is my latest acquisition, a new hat from Next.

On a recent walk with Sasha and Eddie, a man in his late 50s saw Sasha and me in hats and made a silly comment: "It must be genetic for you to wear hats" I asked him coldly "Do you think I was born wearing a hat?"

Hats for me are what shoes and bags for many other women. In fact I hate shoe-shopping, it is always an ordeal for me, I usually grab the first comfy pair and buy. Wearing hats is a different matter.




Seeing my new hat, my mother-in-law who is visiting this week decided to go out and buy one for herself. This is the hat she bought, a lovely hat, but I decided it is not me. Not my colour.

This is one of my old favourite hats. I still have it. This is a photo of little Sasha and me.

Go Orange (The Orange One review)

The Orange One arrived for Eddie,
Who grabbed a smoothie, forgot his teddy,
A yummy food - put to the test:
Ella's Kitchen is the best!

We are big fans of Ella's Kitchen range of baby foods. I just wish it existed when Sasha was a baby.

The new Orange smoothie is a welcome addition to a family of tasty smoothies.
Its contents are described by Ella's Kitchen as:
"100% oranges, mangoes, guava + bananas with a dash of lemon juice. Just an organic smoothie fruit snack, with nothing else added, not even water. It contains 1 of the 5 lovely pieces of fruit and veg recommended each day!"

The smile says it all: Yum! Yum!

Whoop-whoop-whoopie pies (Betty Crocker Whoopie Pie mix review)

We were lucky to receive two boxes of Betty Crocker Whoopie Pie mix - in Double chocolate and Vanilla.

Ease of preparation: 5*

Taste: 5*

Earlier this morning Eddie and I decided to make some Whoopie Pies.

Here is Eddie helping Mummy to mix the chocolate icing. A happy child, a messy kitchen, lots of fun.

Whoopie pies were very easy to prepare, everything comes in a box in two packets: cake mix and icing mix, you just need to add an egg, water, oil and milk. Icing was a bit runny, though I measured milk and used a hand blender, so maybe a bit less of milk might be better. We also added a bit of jam to go with the chocolate filling to half of the pies, as suggested on the box, and that was lovely too.

Now for the most important part of the tester job:

And more tasting and testing. A hard job, but someone has to do it. :)

And the decision of the testing panel: excellent!

Daddy loved it, Mummy loved it, Eddie loved it, we left some for Sasha when he comes after school too.

I'll wean when I'm ready (Lactivist t-shirt)

Eddie has a hearty appetite and would eat anything on offer. But he also loves his Mummy milk. Now that he is 14 months old, many people keep asking me if he is weaned and whether I still breastfeed him. I don't see why I should stop breastfeeding him, if it gives him nutrition and comfort.

We have been fans of Lactivist shirts with fab b/f slogans since Eddie was born. The tshirt "I'll wean when I'm ready is the third one in our collection. I have posted a photo of Eddie in a fab little T back in January.
Lactivist was created by Lisa Cole back in 2003 after she was criticized for breastfeeding in public. Lisa designed a t-shirt for her son which promoted breastfeeding and helped to stop negative comments. The rest is history. Lactivist sells a range of baby&adult clothes with pro-breastfeeding slogans. They make great conversation pieces that arouse a lot of interest and bring in comments and smiles.

Fourteen months old

What a wonderful age, every day is bringing something new and exciting.

Just the other day I was reading a developmental milestones' report for
a fourteen-months-old toddler. His repertoire is ever increasing and he will be able to say roughly two to three words. So far our repertoire is Mama, Papa, Baba (grandma), bea (a teddy bear), baby (he says it in a very cute way), apa (for apple) and peh (a bird and all other small creatures). He also calls himself Eda.
"He may not say them correctly yet, perhaps missing off the ends or beginnings but he will repeat them over and over again. If he learns ‘dog’ for instance he will call any animal he sees ‘dog’ as he associates the word dog with animals." This is absolutely spot on, as Eddie calls all birds, dogs, deer on TV etc "peh". I was giving him a bath a few days ago and he kept pointing under the sink and saying "peh, peh", I could not understand what he was pointing to, worried in case there was a mouse, but of course, he saw the Andrex toilet rolls pack with the image of their adorable puppy.
"Da-da may be used when he sees any man in the street and can have hilarious or embarrassing
consequences!" This could have been written about Eddie, as he calls both his father and brother Papa, and I jokingly refer to them now as to Papa big and small. The postie was elevated to the title of Papa, and the courier, and a friend who came to put the locks on the cupboard door. My reputation is in tatters. :)
Here Eddie is watching the ducks on the river.

Eddie loves musical toys, the noisier, the better. Which unfortunatley annoys Sasha big time.

I was reading online that it has been reported that most babies have busier social lifes than the average person - baby yoga, baby signing, baby gym, baby massage, baby singing. Though not true in our case, we do not do any of the above, as I am avoiding any Mummy groups so far. I probably will have to force myself to go to some events when Eddie is a bit older, but from what I remember from Sasha's toddlerhood, it was always a big effort for me. Usually I had nothing in common with the women present there, and found myself counting minutes until I could escape.
Sasha's school is different though. Here I can meet mothers who know exactly what it is to live with a child who has a disability, who are not judgemental and who are not going to give you unsolicited advice. Yesterday the school was running a Macmillan coffee morning, and Eddie and I came along to support the event. Eddie was in his element, he tried some Welsh cakes and loved them. Played a tombola and was deliriously happy, when he was presented with a teddy bear. One person's junk, as they say, is another person's treasure. He kept cuddling that little teddy and grinning. Oh simple pleasures of life! On the way home, exhausted from all the commotion, noise and buzz of school, he fell asleep in his buggy.