Blogging - how often should you blog?

Hello my friends,

It's been a while I know, but so much has been happening over the summer, it's been difficult to find time to sit down and write about it all.

I've noticed from some of the blogs I follow that lots of people blog weekly...where do these people find the time?  They must be so well organised!

Anyway, what I've decided to do, is try (and I emphasis TRY) to tell you all about my summer pursuits in a series of blogs over the next few weeks.  The thing is, I've been taking lots of photos for my blog during my adventures, so it would be a waste if I didn't at least tell you a little bit about some of them now wouldn't it?

In July we ventured north to York, as both Andy and I had only been on flying visits before, and we've been promising ourselves a trip together for ages.

York Minster

 The journey there was awful!  It rained all the way up the A1 and we weren't very hopeful of seeing too much of the city to be honest.  However, once we arrived at our little guest house the sun came out and stayed out for the rest of the weekend, it was glorious!

Now as most of you know, I'm a keen baker and always need to go the places where the good cakes are, so on our first evening we went to Betty's of York...where else?!!

Thankfully there wasn't too much of a queue so we were seated and plowing our way through the scrummy looking menu in no time.  I chose a Chicken and Bacon Rosti and Andy had the Alpine Macaroni.  They were both really tasty dishes, but I have to say the portions were somewhat small for the the price.  

 Anyway, before I decided on a  dessert, I had to take a good long look a the trolley - well it would have been rude not to!!  Everything on it looked so tempting, and I opted for a fresh raspberry tart (I do love a raspberry!) and a nice strong cup of coffee, which was the perfect way to end our meal I thought.

On the Saturday morning we went for a nice stroll into the city and visited The Treasurer's House.  Now no visit to this place with my husband would have been complete without taking the cellar tour.   On this tour we learned about how in 1953 an 18 year old plumber called Harry Martindale was working at the Treasurer's House and stumbled across the ghosts of a Roman Army, as you do!  I have to admit it was really interesting and I'd recommend it if you ever visit York, even if it's only because you get to wear a hard hat and go through a tiny underground tunnel!

A room in The Treasurer's House

On Saturday evening we had booked to go on a food tour called 'Dine About' which was great fun.  We met the group in a nice bar and I even had a champagne cocktail, which is not like me at all!  We were then taken on a tour around the city and ate a 4 course dinner, with each course at a different restaurant and we met some really nice people too.  It's a shame there aren't more of these tours in other places we've been to, as we'd definitely do it again.  For more details, go to http://www.dineabout.co.uk/

Champagne Cocktail

All in all our trip to York was a great success...until we were on the way home, when we got a kink in one of our tyres, which meant calling the AA out about 20 minutes into our journey.   Still after an hour wait for him to arrive, it didn't take the 'man that does' very long to sort us out before we were on our way south once again.

I would most definitely recommend York if you love historic cities like Andy and I do, we will certainly be going back there again!

Take care for now

Mandy xx

The first ever 7th Star Baker Basic Baking Workshop

So here's the thing, it's raining like it's monsoon season and I'll be damned if I'm not going to still wear my summer clothes in July and August!  It's not even cold really, a cardy is fine when I leave at 7.00am for work each day, so all I need to make sure is that I have my brolly and my sunglasses with me and I'm good to go!

Since my last post I have presented my very first Basic Baking Workshop with a lovely lady called Caroline.  Now if you were thinking to yourself 'I didn't realise the 7th Star Baker ran workshops' join the club!  This all came about through Caroline's husband Wess.  

Wess used to work at the same place as me and we meet sometimes on the train in the morning.  We happened get talking one day about them moving house and my aspirations of owning a tea room, which led on to the 7th Star Secret Tea Room and he thought that it would be something that his wife Caroline would be interested in, so I gave him my details and said she should drop me a line and I'd put her on  my mailing list. 

There followed a series of email exchanges with Caroline and I about her desire to improve her baking, and around whether I had any baking tips, then lo and behold we made a date and the first ever 7th Star Baker Basic Baking Workshop was arranged!

On the day we made a Victoria sandwich and some chocolate cupcakes, very basic stuff, but a good introduction to baking and great recipes for practising.

Throughout the workshop we talked about how weighing your ingredients is key for perfect results, that knowing your oven is a particular skill that needs to be mastered because they are all different, and that experimenting is the best way to work out your timings and temperatures. 

 

As it turns out Caroline is quite creative, so decorating the cupcakes was something she really took to and enjoyed a lot.

I'm pleased to say that Harrison, Caroline's cute little boy, loved the chocolate cupcakes so much that he didn't even want to wait until they were decorated before trying one!  I have also since heard from Wess, that his particular favourite was the Victoria sandwich, which he ate almost all to himself.

So there you have it, an account of my first Basic Baking Workshop.  If you think this is something you would like to have a go at, please do drop me a line, or if you want to try out the recipes that Caroline did, here they are courtesy of www.bakingmad.com

Victoria Sponge

Ingredients

Sponge

175 g unsalted butter

175 g caster sugar

3 eggs, beaten

175 g self-raising flour

Filling

3 tbsp strawberry jam

500 ml double cream

Method

1. Set the oven to 180C/gas 4. Lightly butter two sandwich tins, each with a diameter of 20cm.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, and then slowly add the beaten egg.

3. Fold in the sifted flour and spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tins.

4. Bake for 20 minutes. Leave to cool and then remove from the tins.

5. Whip the cream until thick and use it to fill the sponge with the jam.

6. Dust liberally with icing sugar to serve.

Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes 

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

200 g	Self Raising Flour
200 g	Light Muscovado Sugar
6 tbsp	Cocoa Powder
3 tbsp	Dark Chocolate Chips
150 ml	Sunflower Oil
100 ml	creme fraiche
2	Eggs

For the Icing

100 g	Butter softened
200 g	Icing Sugar
1 tsp	Milk
1 tsp	Pure Vanilla Extract Blend
	Chocolate Flavour Strands to sprinkle

1.      Pre heat oven 170°C, fan oven 150°C, 325°F, Gas Mark 3.

2.      Line two muffin tins with paper cases.

3.      Place the flour, sugar, cocoa and chocolate chips into a large bowl. Add the oil, creme fraiche and eggs. Beat together until smooth and slightly fudgy. 

4.      Fill the cases 3/4 full and bake the cakes for 20 mins until well risen. 

5.      For the butter icing: In the bowl beat the butter with a wooden spoon or an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Gradually mix in the icing sugar until smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla extract and sufficient milk to give a fairly firm spreading consistency. Pipe or spoon onto your cupcakes.

Until next time take care and happy baking!

Mandy xx