Me? Bake?! *scoffs*

I love eating cake though I very rarely bake. Times are tough though.. no mums, sisters, aunties or lovely friends (like Kim, Rosie or Hannah) to fulfill my home-baked needs. That, coupled with Adam's sudden desire and consequently requests for Cinnamon Teacake prompted a trip to John Lewis for bakeware (they seriously need a Peter's of Kensington here).

After said goods were acquired, I baked this Apple Cinnamon Teacake:

The tin I used was smaller than the one the recipe recommended (it's the only size I have!) so I was a teensy bit worried when it started rising over the edge.. but luckily not too far in the end.

It needed more cinnamon and more apple in my opinion and probably 10mins less in the oven. Must remember to tweak accordingly next time.

Tet aka Vietnamese New Year

Tet (Lunar New Year) is the biggest event of the Vietnamese calendar full of well wishing, symbolic gestures and traditional foods. The date changes every year according to the lunar calendar and this year it happened on 14th Feb. Preparations start at least a week before with much cooking and cleaning.

And thus was my prep for Tet (though on a much smaller scale). We tried to include as many traditions as we could.

Food wise we had candied lotus seeds, coconut & soursop, watermelon seeds, peanut, cashew & sesame brittle, nam chua (kinda like a vietnamese salami) and cha chien (kinda like fried pork loaf). I also cooked thit kho (caramelised pork), cha gio (viet spring rolls) and canh mang (bamboo shoot soup).

Adam and I set out in the morning to aquire flowers and a "pot of gold" which you can see in the photo above in the form of a vase filled with water. Dylan came around for lunch and brought some Saigon beer : )

Our Tet 2010 photo.

We're not meant to wear black on this day, only spring colours. Not surprisingly all my "spring coloured clothes" are warm weather clothes!! So I did my best with my springy-est dress but had to rug up with some thick stockings and cardigan to prevent hypothermia. Surely my efforts in keeping other traditions will make up for it.

All in all, I think we managed to celebrate in the spirit of Tet. Massive shout out to Ads, without whom, Tet would not have been possible this year.

Chuc mung nam moi.

A Happy Valentines Indeed

This is what I got..

My first box of Pierre Herme macarons..

I'm going to describe these macarons left to right now so if food antics aren't your thing, then I suggest you keep scrolling and just look at the pictures :)

PISTACHE - pistachio macaron & cream

I usually find that pistachio macarons taste more almond-y than pistachio-y because of the shell and this one was no different. Still good though.

MEDELICE - macaron biscuit, lemon cream, crispy hazelnut praline

Lemon macarons are my benchmark macaron, kind of like a caesar salad or bruschetta. The hazelnut component confused everything and I cannot use it as a comparison. Again, still yum.

COING & ROSE - macaron biscuit, quince & rose cream

Sweet but not overwhelming rose with a tang of what I assume was the quince. A very quaint macaron in a beautiful autumn hue. Loved it and looking forward to having it again next time.

ROSE - rose macaron & cream

Rose without being too rose-y and sweet. Elegantly done.

MOGADOR - macaron biscuit, milk chocolate & passionfruit ganache

Passionfruit ganache was full of bite which I love. Must try this again as I remembered dark chocolate, not milk? Mustn't have been concentrating!

MAGNIFIQUE - macaron biscuit, wasabi cream, strawberry compote

Wasabi?! I've been excited about exotic savoury flavours in macarons before. The kind of flavours where you silently exclaim "how on earth is that going to work?!" - and then bitter disappointment.. no, shame sets in. Shame for not liking it. Zumbo's blue cheese macaron comes to mind at this point. Adriano, I mean you no disrespect as I deeply heart your lemon and passionfruit macarons and you are the most generous person in the world when it comes to filling. But, I have a confession to make.. I didn't finish your blue cheese creation.

So it was with much trepidation that I bit into Magnifique.. fear melted into soft wasabi kisses. Magic. It was a playful fusion with the strawberry and as a wasabi lover I could have done with a bit more than just a caress. PH knows what he's doing though, the subtleness of flavour leaves you with a feeling akin to waking from a dream and struggling to remember it. It's what keeps you coming back for another bite.. until it's all gone.. and you wake up.

FRAGOLA - macaron biscuit, balsamic vinegar cream, strawberry compote

When it comes to avant guarde macaron flavours, Fragola has thus far topped my list. This little baby was an explosive surprise - the sourness of the balsamic was in perfect balance with the sweetness of the shell with the strawberry compote rounding off the flavour of the vinegar in such a union that brings a tear to my taste buds. (Or is that just me still drooling?)

Here they are again because I just can't get enough of them.

Adam actually handpicked each flavour himself. After looking at the menu selection, I was throughly impressed to find that he picked the exact 7 out of 12 that I would have done myself had I been there. He just earned himself some major brownies.

If perfect macarons weren't enough, I got cupcakes from Lola too! They were so sparkly and pretty that I almost felt bad eating them.. almost. Yet another heroic display of wisdom from Adam choosing pink champagne, lemon, red velvet and peanut butter flavours.

*sigh* my champion..

Snow for me mate Dean

I filmed this outside our bedroom window on the 7th of Jan. While it has been snowing this week, there hasn't been enough (or it hasn't been cold enough) to carpet the streets again.

The first time I experienced snow falling here was whilst xmas shopping on Regent Street - I was somewhere between Hamleys and Anthropologie. You may think that means I was xmas shopping for myself BUT I promise you I walked out of those places with presents for OTHER KIDS/PEOPLE! That's not to say I didn't have a play in either store..

Back to the snow - I just wanted to say that 1st snow moment was magical. There was much xmas cheer (as well as retail therapy) going on around me and I saw loads of people stopping to take photos of the snow with their phone cameras.

White Christmas - CHECK!

Hello Sunshine

I think I'm overwhelmed by all travel blogging there is to catch up on from last year. As such, I'm going to ignore it for now..

It's been cold here and both Ad and I were horribly sick in January - diagnosis for me: Bad flu (possibly of the swine variety) followed by a chest infection (possibly pneumonia). I say "possibly" as doctors in London don't like you visiting when you're sick! They'd rather you just call for an over the phone consultation which of course leads to nothing conclusive.. As for Adam, his fever made him sweat so much that I almost drowned sleeping next to him!

Anywho.. a few weeks later we were finally back on our feet and craving some vitamin D so seized the opportunity to catch some elusive winter rays.

From a park bench in Hoxton, watching the kids play soccer, err I mean football.