10/4/12- Taste of Britain Tuesday- Easter

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend! 

I made these hot crossed buns on Good Friday, and it was my first time making hot crossed buns. I got the recipe from "The Great British Book of Baking", and they worked out pretty well, only negative is seemed a little bit dry. I've also always wondered what the cross was made out of, and finally learned- how exciting! (It's the small things right?)

I also tried the Lemon Meringue Tart recipe for Easter Sunday dinner which was delish. I was going to share a photo of that, but it did not photograph well. It was darn good however!

The recipe book calls it a Lemon Meringue Tart rather than pie, as they explained that the pie is an American take on the British Lemon tart.

3/4/12- Taste of Britain Tuesday- Chouquette

"Little Paris Kitchen" is a new cooking show on tv here. The host is Rachel Khoo, a British gal who moved to Paris to attend Le Cordon Bleu. 

I have yet to buy her cookbook from the show, but have tried a few recipes that were posted online. Today I tried chouquettes - a French pastry. 

She suggested you could sprinkle the pastries with chocolate chips, or a granulated sugar, but I just used icing sugar this time around. (You can also make them savory by adding cheese). 

Very easy to make, and with a delicious result- light and airy and so lovely! (By the time this post is finished, all of them will most likely be gone).

Like the other baking book I mentioned last week, prepare to hear me mention Little Paris Kitchen in the near future. 

I mean - a show that includes Paris and food? Amazing!

Before baking

After

27/3/12- My new fave baking book

For todays 'Taste of Britain Tuesdays' I am going to talk about a recent addition to my bookshelf. 'The Great British Book of Baking' is a cookbook based on a show of the same name. This book is from last seasons show. 

The premise of the show is exactly what you would guess. Contestants create delightful British baked goods to win the title of Great British Baker (or something of that sort). The show is filmed in a marquee tent on the grounds of some country house, and is so visually appealing to watch. Last year a chap by the name of Edd Kimber won, and has now come out with his own baking book "The Boy who Bakes". 

(Give him a follow on twitter if you like reading about baking and all things related).

I've made three recipes from this book so far and all have been amazing. Banana bread, brownies and scones. (All very simple recipes I know. But if they can give me successful simple recipes, I have faith in the more difficult ones). Over the past few years of living here I've tried to find a good scone recipe, and this book has it. Amazing.

Not to mention the amazing recipes, the book itself is a treat to own. Lovely illustrations, nice recipe layout, great paper (I think the type of paper in a book is important!). The neat thing, is at the start of each chapter they talk about that genre of baking and what it's all about. Like biscuits- where did they come from? What makes them special? How did they factor in Britain's history?

I have a feeling you will be hearing about this book more in the upcoming months. 

Drool worthy pics, and nice recipe layout.

How lovely!

Intro to the pudding section. Everything you wanted to know about puddings!

7/2/12- Taste of Britain Tuesday

Last night I had a wee dinner party, and decided to make a pie for the gals. I tried one out of this new cookbook from Pieminister. 

If you have a few moments, take a look at their website. They have some delish pies available, and you can see the wide range of what a pie can actually be. Pies are not a Canadian thing at all, and I have to say one my my new fave dinners is a fish pie. We had the Pieminister 'Pietanic' for supper on the weekend.  

Moving on. In all my busyness to put the dinner together, I never took any photos of me creating this wonderful Hunters Pie which I made, but it worked out and everyone seemed full and satisfied after the dinner.

I am sure I've done a previous 'Taste of Britain' and have mentioned pies, but there is nothing wrong in repeating a good thing! 

29/11/11- Taste of Maui Tuesdays- Pineapple Coconut bread

It's the revival of Taste of Britain Tuesday! Though this week is a little different... It's taste of Maui Tuesday. 

When we were in Maui driving the Road to Hana, there were all these great little roadside stands selling homemade goodies like banana bread, coconut bars, fresh fruit smoothies and so on. I believe I saw on stand selling pineapple coconut bread. 

Upon arriving home (to the cold dry city) I was missing that Hawaiian feeling. (If you've been to Maui, you know what I am talking about) So I decided to try this very tropical recipe. 

I found it on this website and gave it a try. 

The recipe was pretty easy, and the house smelled amazing as it was baking. 

So tropical...I could almost hear the ocean waves crashing ;)

The 'bread' was more like a cake, and this is mentioned on the website. I found it to be almost a little too moist, and I had to bake it for a bit longer than what the recipe said. If I were to do it again, I'd use less pineapple, as that is what caused this cakey moist texture. 

However, it was delish! If you want a little tropical in your cold days, give this recipe a try. 

27/9/11- Taste of Britain Tuesday- Broccoli & almond soup

Apologies for the lateness of this TOBT post. It's been a busy week for me...

On tuesday I made a wonderful James Martin recipe of broccoli & almond soup. He says that almond soup is actually an old British fave, which I had no idea. I thought this soup was also a nice knockoff of the traditional British soup broccoli & stilton. 

I love homemade soup, and this one was amazingly delish. 

13/9/11- Taste of Britain Tuesday- The 99

For todays Taste of Britain Tuesday I am going to focus on a summer favourite, the 99. 

(Clearly I still wish it was summer, and am in no mood to cook tonight!)

The 99 (aka 99 Flake) is a soft serve ice cream, with a Cadbury Flake inserted in. You'd get a flake from an ice cream parlor or your local ice cream truck. 

I had no idea what this was before arriving here in England, and I know I have mentioned it before on the blog. I thought it was just too darn good, not to mention again. 

I've heard that people are having issues commenting on the blog...I will have to take a look into this, as when I get comments it really means a lot! Sorry, if you've had any issues...

6/10/11- Taste of Britain Tuesday- Lemon Tarts

Currently on tv there is this show called "The Great British Bake Off", which is exactly what you would think its about. A reality/challenge type show where bakers compete with each other. It was on last year as well, and a cookbook exists from the first season.

They usually create at least two different items and its interesting to watch how they put a spin on the challenges. It's also nice to see all the British dishes they are creating. Last week they all had to create lemon tarts... I love lemon so I decided to try a lemon tart this week.

Well needless to say, if I was on the Great British Bake Off last week, I would have failed. ha! 

The tarts taste great, but the buttery base did not work out as I would have hoped, and for some reason the top of the tart got a bit browned. This was not in the plan. 

Oh well, they still taste great!

Taste of Britain Tuesday- Pancakes 30/8/11

For todays Taste of Britain Tuesday, I chose the humble pancake.

British pancakes are different from the Canadian type I am used to. The main change is the thickness of the pancake, as well as the topping. They do have a similarity to French crepes as well...The batter in a British pancake is quite runny, compared to the thick Canadian batter.

Traditionally pancakes are eaten with lemon and sugar.


Right, thats enough writing about pancakes, eating them is far better.

Taste of Britain Tuesday- Pie 23/8/11

Today I've chosen a very British dish...that I don't eat! Pie.

Well let me correct that, I eat some types of British pie, just not the ones with red meat like steak & ale (my Mom's fave) or pork pie. Granted most of the common pies have red meat, but I have had a chicken & mushroom pie from time to time.

A pie sure can fill that void you may have, and is great on a cold winters day. Add some chips and baked beans, and you are set.

Any pie fans out there?

Looking back on this weeks blog posts, its all about sewing and biking. I realize I've not taken many pics around town for a while, and since I have some new followers (hello!) I should make sure to keep this blog well rounded and interesting for all.

Which reminds me I've still not blogged about the final two ports of our cruise, Stockholm and Copenhagen. I will be sure to do that asap.

On that note, August is almost over (can you believe it!) and I am off for the rest of the week, so a break from the blog for me. Enjoy your week!

Taste of Britain Tuesday- Chili & ginger biscuits 9/8/11

Hi all!
Sorry for the delay, I've chosen this recipe for this weeks Taste of Britain Tuesday, simply cause I always wanted to try it, and they are called 'biscuits' not 'cookies' as we'd call them in Canada.

They were lovely!

Taste of Britain Tuesday- Tea 2/8/11

Hello blog readers!

I will admit, I am feeling a bit lazy, and on these warm days I am in no mood to bake. (Though would love a slurpee- but they don't exist here!)

I wouldn't go without posting a blog on Taste of Britain Tuesday though, but its a simple one- Tea.

If you are British reading this, you could probably comment on what a cuppa means to you. Lets be honest, of course we have tea in Canada, but here, tea seems like an institution.

A secret for you, I never used to put milk in my tea before moving over here. Now I wouldn't touch a cuppa without it! PG Tips is the standard tea here that everyone has, and I quite enjoy it. I can't seem to find a replaceable tea in Canada for when I am home.

I've blogged about tea many times on here before: Tea with my cousin, Irish tea, and listing tea as one of my top ten loves of England! (That last link is a good one to read more about me rambling about tea!)

But for today, lets simply just take a min, put the kettle on and have a cup of tea to finish the day.

Taste of Britain Tuesday- Aubergine, red pepper and tomato tart. 28/6/11

Well it's time for another Taste of Britain Tuesday...This week I've chosen to make tarts.

I'm not sure if savory tarts are a British thing, but I've noticed more tarts on menus and in cafe's here, than at home. This is a nice summer savory tart, and gives you a nice serving of veg.

I've used courgettes (aka zucchini) instead of aubergines (aka eggplant), as Waitrose didn't have any aubergines in, and frankly I am not a huge fan!

This recipe is from 'Popina book of baking'. Lots of lovely recipes in this book.

Taste of Britain Tuesday- Pimms! 5/7/11

Pimm's is a wonderful British drink that makes it's presence known at backyard gatherings, weddings, summer functions, and just plain warm summer days.

There are a few variations on how to make Pimm's but the standard is three parts lemonade (and lemonade here is like 7-up at home), to one part Pimm's. Then you add the fruit- strawberries, lemon, orange. Generally mint is included (but it was sold out in three stores!), and sometimes oddly cucumber.

It's Pimm's o'clock!

Taste of Britain Tuesday- Victoria Sponge. 28/6/11

A exciting day here at "This is Great Britain", the first installation of Taste of Britain Tuesdays.

Every tuesday will feature a British food (or drink), allowing me to share with you a recipe that is quintessentially British. There are so many different foods here than at home, why not share them?!

Today's first Taste of Britain Tuesday (or TBT in short) is Victoria Sponge cake by Nigella Lawson.

It's a beautiful and light cake, and perfect for raspberry season- right now. I have a baking guru here in the UK that I am lucky to know. She bought me these double cake tins, used for a layered cake such as this. She's also shown me the beauty of creaming very hard butter and sugar, and whipping up a cake without a recipe. She also explained that making a layered cake does not always need to be for an event, but just a regular day. I agree.