My extraordinarily ordinary life!
Everything and anything about food, cooking, baking, and recipe-testing
I am pushing the pause button on the Cake Book Challenge and I’m going to be realistic. I can’t cook through a book in the amount of time I originally said I would.
I still have 47 recipes to cook through. And I will. But only at a more realistic phase!
So it is with a lot of sadness that I step away from the Cake Book for a while.
We had a summer themed charity Bake Off at work. I procrastinated (as is usual for me these days) with the Cakebook Challenge and put off my baking. I need to get back into baking through the book. I’ve lost so much time! But I digress. So at work we had, what I’d call a charity bake sale. The theme was summer. So I thought what would be better than a watermelon cake eh?
I thought it would be really cool to decorate a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and make it look like a watermelon. I thought that putting in chocolate chips would make the chips look like the pips. The idea is that when you sliced the cake, it’d look like a real watermelon because the inside would be red and the chocolate chips would look like pips and the whole thing would resemble half a watermelon. Or so I thought. I may have gone a bit overboard with the red food colouring and it turned out to be a really dark red. I had a little batter leftover so I thought I’d make a few ice cream cone cupcakes.
I got second prize for best tasting cake. But the afterthought cakes aka the ice cream cone cakes won best decorated! Sadly I don’t have any pictures of the ice cream cone cakes. I must make them again. Soon. After I surface from the Cakebook Challenge!
Can I just say though that sometimes I wish it was easier to transport cakes to work. There has to be an easier way…but that entails spending a shedload of cash on a car. Sigh.
I love it when a plan comes together! I managed to tick off 2 recipes from the book.
I made blueberry “fruit goo” (page 34). It was necessary because the fruit goo was going to be the topping and filling for the cupcake recipe I was going to attempt. The recipe was so very generous and there is still half a jar of the fruit goo in my fridge.
The cupcake recipe I attempted today was the blueberry cheesecake cupcake (page 62). I haven’t been able to taste it because I’ve had too much of the fruit goo and the cream cheese icing, but Alan says it tastes and smells like a cheesecake and I trust his food opinion! So it passes the Alan taste test. It was quite fun to do this though because you built up the cupcake in stages: first you had to put together the biscuit base (like any self-respecting cheesecake, this one, too, has a buttery biscuit base), then put in the cupcake batter, bake the cupcake, then fill the middle with the blueberry fruit goo (for more fruity goodness, I think), and top it with a cream cheese frosting and swirl through even more fruit goo! I had fun doing this. I really did.
So, as far as today is concerned, I only have 47 recipes to go and 22 weeks to finish cooking through the book.
I can do this!
Today, I was comfort cooking. And desperate for more of that belly pork from Bobby Chinn’s House of Ho. Unfortunately for me, London is an hour and a half away from train and I wasn’t particularly feeling well. So I did the next best thing: cook my mom’s braised pork – and add a few tweaks of my own.
Ingredients:
Directions
Soho is a brilliant hodgepodge of restaurants. You are spoiled for choice when you head there for a meal. There is a brilliant mixture of chain restaurants, small mom & pop establishments, specialist restaurants that feature European, traditional English, South American, Chinese, Japanese, South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine. There are a variety of bars, coffee shops and patisseries as well. The question of what to eat becomes even more difficult to answer when faced with so much choice!
One of the newer kids on the block featuring Southeast Asian cuisine is Bobby Chinn’s House of Ho. Found in the middle of Old Compton Street, the monotone gray facade of the restaurant contradicts the diverse flavours of the dishes that are on offer on the menu. Bobby Chinn describes the food on offer at House of Ho as “modern Vietnamese food and flavours.” I was mostly excited that it was Bobby Chinn’s restaurant. I was a bit of a fan of his when I lived in Manila. His cooking shows were an afternoon staple when I was at home and had access to TV. Apart from that, I love Vietnamese food. We had a Vietnamese lady stay with us once for a few weeks and she would cook us a proper Vietnamese meal once in a while. My favourite was a chicken recipe with lemongrass. I fell in love even more when I was introduced to pho and the fresh spring rolls (in Atlanta of all places!). Vietnamese food is one of the lesser known Southeast Asian cuisines, although it is now becoming more and more recognised (thanks in part to very popular street food purveyors of banh mi and pho), and Philippine cuisine, being a Southeast Asian country, the flavour bases are typically the same with Chinese, Malay, Indonesian, and Indian influences.
We walked past House of Ho around lunchtime. I recognised Bobby Chinn straightaway. He was sitting at a table, having lunch, by one of the large open windows of the restaurant. We crossed the street and looked at the menu and thought the prices were really good (I mean hey, it is a Bobby Chinn restaurant!). There were lovely things like spring rolls, morning glory (we call it kang kong in the Philippines) and sautéed choyote (we call it sayote in the Philippines) on the menu. It got me really excited! But what made my day was when we walked past Bobby Chinn, we said hello and we said we’d be back and he smiled at us, said hi and said that that would be great. It doesn’t take much to make me happy, but that made my day (insert fan girl wisecrack here!).
We decided on having dinner at the House of Ho. We’d been walking around London and were still quite full up from all the small bits of eating that we’d done throughout the day, so a light but late supper (we’d been to see The Commitments before deciding on dinner) was in order. As luck would have it, Mr Chinn was again in front, twiddling away on his mobile phone. I’m not entirely sure that he recognised us, but we did say we’re back as promised and he ushered us in and told one of the staff “They came back!” We were promptly seated into nice seats.
The interior of the restaurant at night has subdued lighting and the seating is efficiently spaced – it only seats about 90 people apparently and while it does use space well, the seating isn’t cramped and you don’t feel like they’ve squashed as many seats as they could in the space that they had. There was breathing space.
We chose edamame for nibbles, our usual sodas (diet for me) a bottle of water, a bowl of steamed rice to share, chicken Imperial rolls, chicken curry and apple smoked pork belly.
Everything was great. I was a little taken aback by the portion sizes. Southeast Asian eating is mostly family eating size. So you get a big bowl of rice and a big bowl of your main dish or dishes. But that being said, even though the portions were smaller than expected, they were enough to share, so that you could get a taste of everything. I understood what Bobby Chinn was trying to do. He wanted to make the dishes look elegant (because let’s face it, family eating is about functionality and not elegance, not really) so that apart from the look, you could focus on the taste. And boy, did you get a taste!
The rice came late, which was a bit of a disappointment (and on our bill, we were billed twice for it, but that was quickly changed with a lot of apologies, so that was okay!). Rice is ESSENTIAL in Southeast Asian dining. It comes first.
The Imperial rolls were lovely. They were petit spring rolls, not like what the British are used to. In the Philippines we have a version that we call Lumpiang Shanghai (loom-pee-yang Shanghai). I’m not ashamed to say my yardstick for really (really) good cooking is my mum’s cooking. And the Imperial rolls pass muster. It’s up there in terms of taste compared to my mum’s lumpiang Shanghai. I was in spring roll heaven.
The chicken curry was probably one of the best chicken curries I’ve ever tasted. Everything was delicate and yet the flavour hit you. You knew you were eating chicken curry but you weren’t walloped into realising it. All the flavours just melded. I wanted to ask if the delicate green leaves on top were the paddy leaves because they were yummy. There was an amazing explosion of aniseedy flavour in your mouth when you included on of the sprigs. I would probably, very willingly, dive into a vat of that chicken curry. It was GOOD!
But the showstopper was the apple smoked pork belly. Oh. My. God. Wait. Let me gather my thoughts…That was the most amazing thing I’d ever tasted. Ever. Really.
My mum has a pork dish that she calls Lutong Intsik (loo-tong in-chick) which translated means “cooked the Chinese way.” I think my mum used a pork shoulder joint and then braised the pork until it was meltingly soft. House of Ho’s belly pork dish was like. Only a thousand times better (sorry Mum!!!)! It was just too good. I know there was soy, there was probably some sort of sugar, there were spices. I can’t put into words how good it was. It was just an explosion of flavours in your mouth! I mean there was a party in my mouth and it was hosted by that beautiful belly pork. I think about the pork and I sigh. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that it is probably the best thing I’ve ever had. It was really that good.
If you go to House of Ho, if you order just one thing on the menu (rice doesn’t count because you have to have rice) you MUST order the belly pork! It is an experience in itself. But you must go, at least once, to House of Ho. The staff are great, the food is glorious and Bobby Chinn is a genius!
Am already looking forward to my next trip! And yes, you can bet that I’m ordering that pork!
Finally!!!
I was feeling a bit stressed out because the days were rushing past me and I hadn’t started on the Cake Book Challenge yet. I had only 25 weeks to accomplish this goal to begin with! But finally, the Cake Book challenge has officially begun!
1 recipe down, 49 more to go! 23.5 weeks left!
I chose to start with the Chocolate Guinness cupcakes recipe (page 44 of the book) because I love Chocolate Guinness cake. The recipe was similar to my favourite choccie Guinness cake recipe (the Hummingbird Bakery recipe is ace and is a great go-to cake) so it wasn’t going to stress me out. Plus, I get to drink the left over Guinness (which I did!)!
One thing I did realise is that my hands are horrible and I have no icing talent! The hands were wobbly and I couldn’t control the piping bag as well as I would’ve wanted to. Also, attempting to ice anything with cream cheese frosting in this heat is generally a silly idea. The minute I’d finished icing the cupcake, I could see the frosting softening ever so slightly! I think the necessary tweak would be to add more icing sugar. Maybe! I may scrape off all the icing and start over again!
Maybe.
I will be making Carly’s holiday cake today as well (I am hoping to accomplish this with all the good will and positive thinking in the world!). Today’s baking mantra: I will manage my time properly!
I told myself I’d cook through The Cake Book. That would mean that 50 recipes in 26 weeks. That was last week.
I have not done any baking at all! Well, except for that batch of brownies this week, but that brownie recipe wasn’t in the Cake Book! I now have 25 weeks left! I really, seriously, must bake 2 recipes a week! Egad! The pressure’s certainly on!
25 weeks. 50 recipes.
Game face on.
Oh dear.
My go-to recipe is my Salt and Chilli belly pork. It is so easy to make. But the challenge is what to pair it with. I am more inclined to pair it with steamed veg. Usually the broccoli-cauliflower-carrot medly or just the broccoli or just the cauliflower. Or some leafy green vegetable like choi sum or kale wilted.
Today it was paired with green beans. The recipe has come from The BBQ Book from Jamie Oliver’s Food Tube series printed by Penguin books. The book was purchased mainly for Christian Stevenson’s (aka DJ BBQ) dry rub recipes (they are amazing!). But I’ve made 2 things from his book now and they are all so great to eat!
The green bean recipe is called Woodstock Dan’s green beans and is a doddle to make! You just need a little bit of oil, a smidgen of butter, green beans (of course!), a sprinkling of nutmeg and salt and pepper to season et voila! You have Woodstock Dan’s Green Beans!
Lunch was consumed really (really) quickly today!
Vatru-what?!?
I know, it’s a mouthful but let me tell you, the vatrushka is most certainly a delicious mouthful. As a sidebar, and an introduction, I must say that Victoria Stewart’s (@vicstewart on Twitter) food contributions to the London Evening Standard are not to be missed. Her taste buds are spot on and her recommendations haven’t let us down so far. So if you see her byline in the London Evening Standard, read it! She has thoroughly impressed me especially since I once saw her attempt to demolish a heart-stoppingly huge burger from Red Dog.
I first heard of vatrushkas via Victoria Stewart’s article on ES. It was an article about Easter bakes featuring hot cross buns. It featured Karaway, a Russian bakery in Stratford City Westfield and its featured pastry was the vatrushka. The article piqued my curiosity because Karaway is one of the kiosks near the escalators on one end of the Ground Floor of Westfied Stratford City, near Waitrose. Their breads always look good and inviting but I’d never tried any of their products before. The Premier Inn at Stratford is a favourite of ours for city breaks because the rates are always good and the rooms are really good for what is classed as a budget hotel. When you stay at Premier Inn in Stratford, it’s easy to walk into the mall when you come from the hotel and a walk past the Karaway kiosk is almost always a certainty, unless you take a different, more circuitous route!
So on the weight of Vic Stewart’s article, I tore the pages of the article to reread when I got home and vowed to try Karaway when I had the opportunity. And, oh boy, I was definitely NOT disappointed!
A vatrushka is described as a ring of dough with a creamy filling in the middle with the addition of fruits in the middle. For my first foray into the vatrushka world, I chose the peach vatrushka (mostly because I liked peach danishes and I imagined it to be similar to a danish). I usually split things with Alan and this time was no different. As I sliced into the pastry, it felt very dense, almost like a bagel, and I struggled to slice through it (to be fair, I was using one of those disposable wooden knives, so it wasn’t exactly the sharpest of slicing tools!). So I was worried. I was worried that each bite of the vatrushka was going to sink like a leaden weight and I would be digesting my yeasty breakfast untl the early afternoon! But as I started to chew on what seemed to me as a slightly dense briochy bread, it wasn’t as heavy as I thought! It was different from a Danish because a Danish is made from flaky pastry. The vatrushka base is more bread than pastry but was lovely and light and the filling was yummy creaminess! I enjoyed every bite of it. I love peach danishes but I think there will be days when the peach vatrushka will give my favourite peach danish a run for it’s money. I washed it down with a capuccino and I must say, it was one of the more satisfying breakfasts I’ve had!
We also tried the cinnamon apple bun, because the cinnamony breads are hard to resist! I wasn’t disappointed. It was DELISH! It was the perfect combination of sugar, cinnamon, apple and a hint of cardamom all enclosed in their signature briochy bread.
After that first taste, we went back to get some more Karaway goodies. They make delicious cakes too! Really, really good cakes that are airy but oh-so-decadent! Everything can be washed down by really good (and not watery weak) coffee of your choice.
The little Karaway kiosk offers good coffee that goes very well with their delicious bakes! The staff are so pleasant as well, always ready with a smile and an answer to the most simple of questions! So if you’re ever in that neck of the woods, stop and sit down and have a cup of coffee and one of Karaway’s excellent bakes! It’s not only amazingly good, it’s also amazing value for money!
I am a lover of cinnamon. Cinnamon bun, cinnamon cake, cinnamon rolls…you name it, if it has cinnamon I will want to try it!
The year I moved to England, Alan told me about this little tucked away coffee place called the Nordic Bakery that made really good cinnamon buns. It was in Golden Square in Soho and being a non-native, when we went to pay a visit to it, it seemed to take forever to get to it (of course I’ve completely changed my mind now because I know that everything – well, mostly everything – in London is within walking distance of each other!). When we got there, the place was packed and very busy and we ordered a cinnamon bun. They packed it for us, and we took it back to the flat. I had it and was a tiny bit disappointed. It was nice – but to me, it was nothing to write home about.
I have, however, kept an open mind. I liked the vibe of Nordic Bakery while I was there (it was probably not even 5 minutes) but the blue and dark wood interiors were indelibly stamped in my mind. Every time we chanced upon Golden Square, I looked at Nordic Bakery and wanted to go in, sit down, have a coffee and a pastry (or four!).
Then just this month, I had the opportunity to enjoy the Nordic Bakery twice in 2 weekends. Everything was delicious! Even the cinnamon bun which I thought was disappointing the first time I had it. Everything was really good because, for me, a recalcitrant diabetic with a sweet tooth, everything sweet is to be taken in moderation, and the goodies on offer were not toothache-inducingly sweet!
With a lovely chocolate sprinkled cup of cappuccino (I loved their coffee but will probably try one with an extra shot of espresso next time)
I enjoyed their deliciously spiced lingonberry bun. There was a lovely aroma of cardamom that went really well with the sweet-tartness of the lingonberry jam that was generously spread over the top of the very light cake.
Yesterday, I had a selection of pastries: the savoury but deliciously creamy potato Karelian pie
followed by the yummy apple Tosca bun (it looked like it was going to be so sweet but it wasn’t! It was lovely and light and the apple flavour came through each beautiful bite!)
and I had the classic cinnamon bun to finish. The cinnmon bun is one of Nordic Bakery’s best selling products. By the time we had finished our coffee and cakes the once full basket on the counter was empty! This isn’t your typical doughy cinnamon roll. The layers are thin and light and oh-so-cinnamony. The outer layers are also thin but almost crispy that they crackle when you slice or bit into them. It has certainly redeemed itself! It goes way too well with a hot cup of coffee!
I was so intrigued by the Tosca bun that I had to buy the cookbook. It is filled with the wonderful recipes of all the Nordic Bakery favourites. It’s not going to stop me from eating at the Nordic Bakery but it will certainly tide me over until my next visit!
My first Nordic Bakery cookbook bake is the Tosca cake. It was so easy to make! Am so excited to have coffee this afternoon (it’s a bit sad, isn’t it?)! Join me for a slice?
You need to visit the Nordic Bakery if you’re in London. It’s a really nice place to have coffee and something sweet or something savoury. The staff are helpful and are ever so patient when you have questions about the food on offer. The service is quick and I love how everything is served in pretty plates, trays and mugs of varying shades of blue. I’ve yet to try the rye bread sandwiches but they look so delicious and I intend to try one when I pay my next visit. They have a branch in the Golden Square in Soho. Apart from the Soho branch, they have one on New Cavendish Street and on Dorset Street, both in Marylebone.
Yellywelly 