I’d like to introduce a new category on my blog. I couldn’t decide whether to make a new page or even start a whole new blog devoted to: Food to seduce. I came up with various names: Sushi, Sex on a plate…but decided I will just add posts onto my personal blog.

It struck me that this would make an interesting topic earlier today while happily baking (halloween biscuits) away. I had an inpromtu thought; there are so many boring cookery shows on tv nowadays, all quite severe, competitive, ponsy and taking themselves far too seriously.

I read an article in the October edition of Waitrose Magazine about how Elisabeth David is thought to be to blamed for turning us Brits into food snobs, not enjoying what we have and turning our nose up at anything that isn’t regarded as top top notch. Whatever happened to not being ashamed of licking the spoon (even if it is economy butter and your standard caster sugar blended together using Granny’s old whisk) and using next door’s apples from their old apple tree to make a crumble? So what?

Let’s lighten up a bit people. Come on. Nigella used to get so much grief (and still does) about her provocative and suggestive body language towards the camera but at least she bloody enjoys her food and God forbid she should suggest that food is in any way sexy; of course it is! Isn’t that what it’s all about? Food is sexy, fun and you don’t have to be a michelin *’ed chef to produce such food.

Food is a pleasure, an indulgence, not just a necessity. Food can be the key to introducing, building or reforming a relationship. I urge you to try it; have fun with food. Get messy with chocolate and fruitful with strawberrys.

Without digressing further, I would basically like to use this category to add recipes and suggestions for romantic evenings be it first dates, a night in for two (or three – whatever takes your fancy hey!) I promise it will remain as tasteful as possible!

Kirstin Dunst striking a seductive pose while indulging in a cherry cupcake as she plays Marie Antoinette

In its final week, The London Paper is sayng its farewells to its readership of London commuters. There will be one less paper shoved infront of your nose as you are approaching the underground and fewer newspapers litering the streets, and yet I feel quite sadened by it’s closure. The people behind the writing and even the little men who stand outside come rain or hail storm will be affected by this unfortunate turn of events. 

The London Paper has been in circulation over the last three years since 2006 when Rupert Murdoch of News International decided to launch the paper alongside The Metro an already successful free magazine available to commuters, a brave decision some might say. Competition was already strong when DMGT’s Associated Newspapers decided to bring out The London Lite, a paper that will now stand alongside The Metro battling to win over the  commuters without the aditional competition of  The London Paper.

As I started work in London on Monday I have been reading all three papers on my hour long journey to and from work and must say that I warmed to the writing and general style of The London Paper much more than that of The London Lite and even The Metro. It’s quirky writing, inivative column ideas (such as the public deciding which amateur journalist should write in the next publication) and it’s guide to alternative London won me over.

Perhaps I warmed to the people behind the writing as well. On Monday evening, while it’s contenders had similar if not identical stories  The London Paper contained a two page feature about the woman behind their entertaining comic strips, her struggle to get recognition and the young journalists  approaching redundancy this coming Friday. This was real life and is an example of how people are being affected in the recession and is a blow to any wannabe journalist like myself.  Saying this, the toughened commuters made up of business executives on their “important” calls that simply can’t wait until they get off the train will get over it I’m sure. But it’s dedicated followers? I’m not so sure.

My love affair with the little bananas begun in Mumbai back in January 2007 and has been ongoing since I returned from my travels in April 2009.

I took my first bite while visiting one of the many bustling street markets surrounding the city. Street hawkers would sell them in bunches for little to nothing or even shove one in your hand or mouth (much to my surprise!) for you to try before you buy. The sweetest little things in more ways that one; as short as your little finger, the smaller the sweeter. Once the skins have been unraveled you should be able to eat it in either one or two bites, a short but sweet experience you might say. For me they taste as though someone has infused each banana with honey, syrup or sugar. Sometimes I would catch myself thinking I shouldnt be eating this as though it were a naughty treat and not in fact one of my five a day!

I came across this wonderful fruit in India, Nepal, Thailand (slightly different and often barbequed) and Samoa. I haven’t searched the UK for them yet but was thinking of hitting Tooting market tomorrow – a largely Indian and Caribbean community to see if I could find them there.

Here are some photos of the beauts. This was taken outside our sea facing fales in Samoa. The owners allowed us guests to take as many as we wanted (I was very excited by this as you can imagine!)

The beginning of my cake decoration education starts here! I hope you’re interested in following my progress. Please feel free to comment and share any cake decorating tips you may have.

I’m teaching myself at the moment but am also looking into courses starting in September 2009 as I feel cake decoration can be pretty technical at times!

Modelling paste and figurines.

I have done three characters from modelling paste so far. A bunny rabbit for a carrot cake, a baby for a Baby Shower theme and a friend for her surprise graduation cake.

It’s time consuming work but really satisfying!

Enjoy x

Pippa's graduation cake

Carrot cake

We entered Laos via northern Thailand – an adventure in itself -although the bus journeys always are!

Nat and I didn’t  have a clear picture of what of what Laos would be like. We were in for a treat.

We left Northern Thailand behind – well only just! I couldn’t find my departure card or some form or other but luckily found it tucked away in my bag!

We boarded a small boat and in a matter of minutes we’d entered Laos and were sitting on the ground filling out documents to obtain our visas.

One stamp in our passports later and we were on the move again. The heat was quite intense that day, we trudged along to the cafe we’d be told to go to. It was next to the river where we would board the Slow boat to Luang Prabang. We got our money changed into the Lao currency, bought a pillow for our bums (recommended by the cafe that sold loads of them!) and bought a supply of food for the journey!

It would take us 18 hours to float down the Mekong on our way  to Luang Prabang. Everyone had a stopover half way, and slept the night before boarding the boat for the remaining 9 hours.  

Although the Mekong was beautiful and we got some pretty cool snaps the boat was layed out in a ridiculous way. I was expecting to lie on the ground with my jumpers and pillows to make the whole experience comfortable but the boat was crammed full of hard wooden chairs with no leg room whatsoever! It got very hot to say the least. So the next day we went prepared and sat at the front of the boat and had space to lie down and generally move around! We mingled with the locals, played blackgammon, connect 4 and drunk a couple of cold cans of Beer Lao!

Once we’d arrived in Luang Prabang we wandered around the town to find a decent place to kip. Our place was good value and centraly located. Lunag Prabang is a small town with lovely buildings, shops, temples and French restaurants and patisseries!

We ordered a picnic to take to the waterfalls on Lao New Years Day and it was so delicious we did it again for our journey to Vang Vieng! Mozzarella and pesto ciabatta…mmmm.

In fact we have been getting a lot of picnics for our bus journeys – and not just ham sandwiches; more along the lines of porcini pate, ciabatta bread, cheddar cheese and wine! What can I say we can’t help being ladies of lesuire!

Anyway, we had been sad to leave Chiang Mai (not because we looved it there that much!) but because it was the start of Thai New Year (Songkran festival aka. waterfights garlore!) so we thought we’d missed it but to our delight as we stepped outside our guesthouse in Luang Prabang on our first proper day there we got soaked by a number of lao children chucking buckets of water at us – then quickly refilling it from the mains, by which time we were making a dash for it!

From the 12th-15th was non stop water action! We were invited by locals to join their team as they splashed the poor motorbike drivers with buckets of water, we sat down for pork strips (like sausage) with tomato ketchup, pork bites (that tasted like prawn crackers)..with tomato ketchup and beers were handed out all round! Flour, black oil was smoothered other passers by not to the delight of some! Well it did take ages to get off in the shower! Lao locals squeezed intotrucks that circled L P, jumping up and down, music pounding out, waterguns aready to shoot at unsuspecting victims! Amazing times!

Our day out at the waterfall was another great day, expecting the waterfight antics to be over they certainly weren’t, as we boarded our tuk tuk to head 15 k out of town we were soaked by many many people along the road (took 1 hour!). That 1 hour journey will always be one of my favourite things about my travels, we passed through the most scenic landcape; lush green mountains, fields with bamboo villages, huts on stilts and schools set back among ancient trees. The waterfall was beautiful and it was busier than we expected it to be but still a great time was to be had, we were invited to sit down with a massive family – celebrating their new year! All were rather tipsy but were once again very welcoming and shared their food and drink with us! Later a cute couple came over and talked to us – well the boy did, the girl seemed a little shy) but it was nice to exchange stories of how different our culture is!

Next stop on the trip was Vang Vieng…where we ashamedly? spent about 5 days in! Main and pretty much the only attraction here was the tubing! We met a group and other randoms and had mucho fun floating on our black tubes, stopping off at bars, drinking whiskey and generally having an awesome time. Must admit I’m not sure I have ever drunk so much in my life – night time action was pretty top too – well sometimes…if that didn’t float your boat then it was possible to watch endless re-runs of bloody Friends and Family Guy at the many SHITE restaurants. Seriously, the food there was less than to be desired!

On our last day in Vang Vieng we went to a childrens library near the Organic Farm (where I had a great curry, mulberry shake etc! Where they use organic ingriedients) we read to them, taught them how to play snap which they pronouced Snaff (but they loved it!), and we went skipping and Nat, Dave and I came out in sweats! Sexy. Also taught a local girl to pout with my sunglasses on – we’ll make a diva out of her yet!

We boarded the local bus to Vientienne (Laos capital) where we met up with the others and had the best food ever!! At the french restaurant none of us could decide what to blooming eat, but our dishes all came out to be fab! The supermarket was great too! It had mine and Nat’s fave: Pink Guava juice, apricot juice, apricot jam, garlic cheese, pate, cheese, chocolate, cheese, apricot danish and more cheese! Regardless to say; another picnic was in order for the 24 hour bus journey to Hanoi!

Actually this bus journey ended up being pretty amazing as there were only 7 people on our bus sowe managed tospread our legs. The border crossing was crazy, smelly locals not knowing the meaning of the sentence please stand in line.

So we waved goodbye to Laos!

An unlikely Asia, Vietnam (especially Nha Trang) is like a mini Europe; french patisseries, quaint boulevards crossed between a seedy La with grotty high rise buildings and near perfect palm trees lining a enourmous stretch of generic restaurants along the beach - a section from the Lonely Planet rings true, it says you could be anywhere in the world!

But real Vietnam is there, you just have to look very closely. On our way towards Nha Trang at 6.00am in the morning I spotted a typical postcard fishing scene; every single woman sporting bamboo hats surrounded by all sorts of shellfish.

Just like Laos I entered Vietnam with no previous expectations. I didn’t feel the warmth in Hanoi like I did in Luang Prabang. Being able to interact with the Lao people without having to do a tour to do so.

Hanoi

After a hectic 20 hour bus ride from Vietianne, Laos we arrived in one of Hanoi’s many bus stations. A usual occurance at the end of a longhaul bus journey in Asia is for a tout to make a lengthy speech at the header of the bus. This speech always consists of the following: that the whole of Hanoi will be out to rip you offand if you get this bus without holding my hand then you’ll get eaten by wolves. So we tried to convince the others on the bus to cover their ears but the little lambs got herded into the minibus heading towards a $30 room per night. Nat and I, hardened travellers that we are, jumped into a taxi and landed ourselves an amazing hostel in the old quarter of Hanoi: Hanoi Backpackers Hostel, like something out of Harry Potters Hogwarts!

Halong Bay

This cruise made me realise my hatred of organised tours/cruises! Being on somebody elses schedule sucks. We practically got blamed for ruining everyones dinner as we were 5 minutes late and nobody was allowed to start eating until everyone was there! Bollocks. If we hadn’t have been with a decent crowd then I may have thrown myself off the top of the boat (we were ordered not to do it!) into the dirty water that 15 million other surrounding boats create by dumping everyones waste! It may have been a vast improvement to…the deadly schedule!

Hoi An was also an experience! Lots of seafood shacks line the beautiful stretch of beach 15k outside of the town, and if you ask sweetly you can ask to fish your meal aka crab from the tank and cook it yourself! My crab and I had a moment before I shoved it into the stove…well it didn’t fit so the cook had to slice him through the middle and chop a few legs off then put him back in! So we steamed him for 10 minutes and there he was on my plate, accompained with a dish of dipping sauce (which had ginger, garlic, salt and pepper and oil). It was soooo yummy! My first and not my last crab! Photo to come!

Nat and I did a cookery lesson at Cafe 69, a small family run restaurant, made spring rolls, bamboo wrapped fish and pappaya salad. We also ate rose dumplings which is a Vietnamese specialality which has prawn and shrimp inside and comes with a chilli dipping sauce.  We also made friends with a 22 year old girl who was trying to learn english, she was really shy but we took her email address to help her out.

Hoi An had an amazing Patisserie and restaurant called Cafe Cargo with amazing food!

One of the main reasons you go to Hoi An is to get suited and booted. Nat and I got dresses made – they turned out really well. You can browse lots of magazines and styles and literally get anything made up! It took overnight so god knows which poor sod has to stay up all night making these complicated designs!

Dalat

One of the last stops on our agenda. The ride to Dalat was a slightly hungover one, but only took 6 hours – I was mostly asleep. There was beautiful mountainous scenery, lakes and french colonial architechure. We only had a day to spend in Dalat so we went to the crazy house, followed by canyoning down waterfalls! Scary stuff but also amazing for scenery.

Saigon

Went to museum – night out, caves, night out with Ciaran.

Next day to Cambodia!

I might start a campaign! Good old Pop, and the twins and a younger Catherine Zeta Jones! Sunday afternoons have never been quite the same!

I tried to post a photo of the whole family at the dinner table but it wouldn’t let me!

A few months ago I found a fantastic gizmo in my local Oxfam shop.

 And…

for only 99p!

It is from the 1950’s and in case you hadn’t guessed, it is a device which comes with numerous attachments (different cookies cutter shapes for Easter/Christmas celebrations) which you roll along a sheet of dough. I haven’t used it yet, but am really excited about making biscuits at Christmas as gifts. I’m hoping to buy some beautiful gold, blue or red ribbon from John Lewis and some traditional Christmas boxes from Past times and fill them with my Austrian biscuits! I just think it’s nice to give more thoughtful presents! Ok…and also I will be a bit short on money! But hey I’m sooo excited about baking them!! In fact I am very very excited about Christmas this year. I’ve never really done any Christmas cooking before, that’s why I’m so so excited about cooking lots of meals, Christmas cake and puddings! They might prove to be a bit adventurous but that’s what I love about cooking! I’ve never really done cake decoration before so that’s a fab challenge for me!

Austrian biscuit recipes coming soon!

 Claire

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I found a fabulous cookery book. Well a few others too. The ones that influence and appeal to me the most are: Falling Cloudberries and Secrets of the Red Lantern. Each recipe is not only unusual and comes with a sexy photo but it also has a story. An interesting account of the author’s family history is written in a beautiful layout; next to photographs of great grandmothers and snippets of handwritten recipes.

Be sure to check it out!

I used to live close to Tooting until I was 18, a fact that sometimes I’d rather not reveal. The inner snob says it’s something that I shouldn’t proudly exclaim to every Tom, Dick or Harry.

However, recently my friends and I have realised it’s hidden wealth of culinary pleasures; budget Indian, Halal and West Indian deli’s and small but friendly curry cafes with fabulous food at half the cost of an Indian restaurant located in a more desirable area. Although Indian food is not my favourite cuisine I am always up for being impressed by a new dish and like to discover new places that are out of my comfort zone.

After driving through Tooting on the way to visit a friend in Clapham Common we decided to stop off at one of the many restaurants. Myself and Roisin had been looking out of the window Oooooing and ahhhhing at them all.

“Ohhhhhhhhh look that place is painted red!” I said.

Hard pushed to choose, we chose the red restaurant.

“Ohh but I want Indian sweets from that shop from over the road!” I moaned under my breath, spoilt cow that I am. But it was voted that we’d do that another time!

Once seated in a plastic chair at a table which reminded me of my school dinner years I held my menu typed with TimesNewRoman font and glanced around. This was a pretty basic place. However it was clean, full of locals and decorated with attractive posters of Gods.

We  ordered a selection curry’s; Chicken Tikka Masala, lamb and beef with a side order of three different types of naan bread: garlic, cheese and lamb with coriander. Although Indian food is not my favourite cuisine I could still tell that the quality of the food was A1. Our bill came to just over a tenner between four of us.

Roisin drinking Ice Cream Soda!

The sweet shop over the road

 It was 9pm, we’d become side-tracked and my friend was texting me to ask where on earth I was. We’d just payed the bill and made towards the outside of the restaurant.

“The Christmas lights are up already!” I screeched!

“Nop, that’s their Eid celebratory decorations Claire.”

Oops. So it was. But what really caught my eye over the road was the bright lights of a shop displaying of a colourful counter full of sweets and cakes. We ran over and opened the door. I immediately got my camera out and began asking questions about what was in each cake.

“Have you got pistachio?”

“Um,” he grumbled and pointed half-heartedly at a block of green sweets that looked like humongous Turkish delights.

“Erm, what about this one? Have you got coconut at all?”

“Coconut the pink one,” he said; eyes fixed at the television screen above the counter.

“OK I’ll take the pistachio.”

“One?”

“Yes.”

“Hm.”

“And that one,” after which he decided that he would choose for me.

Fine I thought. I wasn’t going to get any more information from him anyway. I would have to do some guess work instead. What a grump. I payed £5.49 for 6 which isn’t too bad for a one off treat.

Back in the car, we opened the colourful box which compensated for his inadequacy, and peeled back the layer of foil to reveal 6 balls and squares of colourful sweets. I had a mouthful of my pink coconut sweet. Wow. It really was a required taste and although I’m not one to put on weight I can imagine gaining a stone after gobbling down just a couple of them! 

All in all, an interesting experience and worth a visit. It should be remembered that this area is considered their community and there seems to be a slight laziness in explaining the contents of the dishes to people who aren’t used to their cuisine. But a bit of persistence and you’ll be fine! I can imagine that a few of the restaurants would make an unusual place for a birthday gathering. Next door to our restaurant was a place decorated with fairy lights with low-rising wooden beams which gave a cosy ambiance.

Next time: Brick Lane has more to offer than just the Indian restaurants it’s known for; I can’t wait to check out the Moroccan and Lebanese cafes that I remember visiting a few years back.

Claire

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