Hove Park in Autumn

I was planning to take some pictures in Hove Park this autumn but wasn't able to get back there, so I'll post a couple from last autumn instead. :) Sorry the last one is a bit dark!

September 2012

Hallowe'en 2012

Hallowe'en

Hope everyone had a good Hallowe'en/Samhain! I made the Demon's Blood drink again this year but the green food colouring I had was out of date and Tesco didn't have any at all (in fact they didn't seem to have much of anything!), so I used red instead. It came out alright and still tasted the same. :) Here's a pic:

I also made some chocolate ginger bat biscuits, using a recipe from the Tesco magazine:

A couple of them got a bit broken! lol.

Also, here are a couple of  pictures of the decorations: 

Pumpkin lantern (got it last year)

Pumpkin

Hallowe'en Drinks

Since it's Hallowe'en (also the Wiccan sabbat Samhain) this week, I thought I'd do a post about some drinks to make. One of my favourites is Demon's Blood, I got the recipe from the book The Real Witches' Kitchen by Kate West and I have made it the last 3 Hallowe'ens. I want to make it again this year.

Here's the recipe:

Demon's Blood

Ingredients

Ginger beer (I'm using Old Jamaica)
Apple juice
Orange juice
Green food colouring

All you do is add the ingredients and  mix it together till it's turned green. You can add whatever amount of each ingredient that you want. I usually mix it in a bowl first and then sometimes add extra ginger beer to my individual drink if someone else doesn't want as much in theirs.


The first time I made this in 2010, I also made another recipe from The Real Witches' Kitchen, which was a "vampire" drink. I didn't like that much but I'll include it here because someone else might like to make it. :)


Vampire's Blood

Ingredients

Milk
1 banana
Scoop of ice cream
Red food colouring


Chop the banana (if-like me- you don't like banana that much, you can just use a small amount). Blend it with the milk and ice cream and mix in the red colouring until it's turned red.


I also want to try making this orange hot chocolate: https://homeiswheretheboatis.net/2011/10/27/ghostly-peeps-fun-brownie-smores-and-peeps-hot-chocolate/

 
I found the recipe on Pinterest, along with this one for Fizzy Jack-o-Lantern Milkshakes: http://www.babble.com/best-recipes/fizzy-jack-o-lantern-milkshakes/ (redirects)

And a Martha Stewart one for Boo-Nilla milkshakes: http://www.marthastewart.com/313947/boo-nilla-shake-recipe?comments_page=1&  (redirects)

I can't make them all, so I might make the others next year. Hope you like the recipes if you have a go at making them. :) Happy Hallowe'en/Samhain!

Potato and Onion Soup

I sometimes make potato and onion soup for lunch. I started making it about a year ago and while I did have it in the summer too, I thought it was appropriate to post the recipe now because soup is nice to have in autumn and winter. :) I made it for lunch today. It's good if you don't have much money because there are only a couple of main ingredients (potatoes and onion). I don't have bacon on it that often, although I did today. It's also quite healthy (minus the bacon!).

This recipe is called Skint Potato & Onion Soup and it's from Sam Stern's Student Cookbook. He doesn't have that exact recipe online, so I've written it out here. He does have a similar recipe though, for Potato, Onion & Herb Soup, which you can see here: https://www.samstern.co.uk/recipe/potato-onion-herb-soup/

Skint Potato & Onion Soup
(with Optional Crumbled Bacon)


Ingredients

450g/1lb floury potatoes 
110g/4oz onions
50g/20z butter
850ml/1 1/2 pints water, mixed with 1/2 tsp Marigold veg stock
or own veggie/chicken stock or water
Few sprigs fresh parsley
3 tbsps milk
Salt and black pepper
2 rashers grilled streaky back bacon (optional)


This is similar to Sam's recipe for Potato, Onion & Herb Soup (minus the herbs), which you can find here: https://www.samstern.co.uk/recipe/potato-onion-herb-soup/

I use Chicken gravy granules or Oxo for the stock. I don't use that much milk because I don't like it too milky, so just pour in a bit. (I think that's why mine is darker than the one in the book picture). If you don't have a handblender (I don't have one anymore), you can mash or sieve it. I use a potato masher. I don't tend to use parsley.


Hope you like the recipe if you try it. :) I'll have to have a go at making the potato, onion and herb one as well.

Check out more recipes I've made here: https://uk.pinterest.com/moonsparkle84/recipes-ive-made/

Birdies Perch Malteser Slice

I recently made a recipe called Birdies Perch Malteser slice for my belly dance group BD4U's event. I made it before; almost a year ago (didn't know it had been so long!). I decided to post the recipe on here.

The Malteser slice is a Malteser/cake slice with Maltesers, golden syrup, digestive biscuits and milk chocolate in and white chocolate on the top. It's a recipe from Sam Stern's Student Cookbook and he got it from a teashop he goes to in Yorkshire called Birdies Perch.

                                                     Pic from first time I made it


Update 26/5/14- I realised that I shouldn't have copied the whole recipe because of copyright laws, so I'm going to change what I wrote. I came across this article about sharing recipes: http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/how-to-share-a-recipe/
                    

Update 21/3/16: This is a type of cake that's known as a "fridge cake" or tray bake in the UK and I've found similar recipes online which I thought I'd link to here (since I can't post the recipe in full and it's harder to read in the picture in Sam's book):

http://www.atypicalenglishhome.com/2012/10/malteser-tray-bake.html?m=1

 http://kitchenmonsters.co.uk/2013/05/15/no-bake-malteser-tray-bake/


Here is the recipe:

Birdies Perch Malteser Slice


Ingredients

100g/3 1/2oz margarine/butter
100g/3 1/2oz golden syrup
150g/5oz milk chocolate
225g/8oz digestive biscuits
175g/6oz  bag Maltesers

Topping

2x 150g/5oz bars white chocolate
Grating of milk chocolate



I found a link to the recipe page in the book (Page 259). It's small but you can still read it: http://www.samstern.co.uk/book/student-cookbook/?inside



Note: You bash the Maltesers bag 3 times but I bashed them a bit extra to crumble them up more.


There you go! Hope you like it, if you make it. :)

If you want to try more Sam Stern recipes, visit his site: www.samstern.co.uk

Seasonal Board update

I've updated my Pinterest Seasonal board for autumn. :) Check it out here: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/moonsparkle84/seasonal/

Hove Park in Summer

I thought I would post some pictures I've taken throughout the seasons and decided to start with Hove Park, where I like to go for walks. Here are a couple of photos I've taken during the summer:

                                                                       June 2011