November Recap

It feels like just yesterday that I was taking down the Halloween decorations, and now the Christmas tree has just gone up!

Plenty of baking occurred in November in the form of birthday cupcakes for my brother-in-law's 30th birthday party. Ferrero Rocher cupcakes with a dark chocolate ganache, and Guinness gingerbread cupcakes with a Baileys mascarpone topping. Pretty grown up cupcakes for me, although I haven't retired the edible glitter just yet.

Lots of walks in the morning sunshine to burn off the calories were then obviously needed. I spent a lovely weekend with my mum and brother down the caravan in Fontygary. Unfortunately the clouds weren't playing ball with my camera, but the sea air was all that I needed anyway.

Cold nights and blustery days mean only one thing. Comfort food! The first thing I run to when the nights draw in is a good old carb-tastic cheese and potato pie.

Washed down with my new favourite find, Tesco's Finest Salted Caramel Irish liqueur!

Like any good Welsh girl, I also managed to make it to two of Wales's Autumn International rugby games! Very excited that I got to see Wales v New Zealand, and witness the Haka, even if the result didn't quite go our way. Lunch at the Jazz Club, Cardiff was fantastic beforehand too. Brilliant pre-match atmosphere and a good selection of beers on tap, what more do you need on a match day?

Poached egg starter, on a chunky slice of black pudding, tomato and a drizzle of hollandaise was beautiful. I could have eaten this forever, and in fact I was enjoying my food so much I completely forgot to take any more food photos. Bad blogger.

Mr P and I also got tickets to the final game of the series, South Africa. Which we won, 12-6! We had an awesome day full of beer, bratwursts and Boks! Especially South African Santa!

After all that excitement I'm looking forward to chilling out over the Christmas period. In between the shopping, wrapping, partying, decorating...

Cider, Tea, Rum and Crab

On our last day in St Ives, we finally ran out of luck and the clouds and drizzle crept back in. What’s one to do on a day like this?

Visit the cider farm of course!

We huddled back into coats and hoodies and set off to Healey’s Cyder Farm, just outside Newquay. Here, you can wander in and out of the small barns on the farm and poke your nose in on all the busy worker bees bottling and packing the lethal ‘Rattler’ cider.

I couldn’t help but get distracted by all the animals dotted around to pet and dote on…

But the Mr found something else to coo over…

We jumped on the back of a tractor trailer to take a tour of the orchards, and spotted a few other furry beings.

No, not those furry beings.

All that bumping and jiggling around on the tractor had made us hungry however, so we snuck back to the café to sample one very Cornish delicacy that we hadn't yet managed to wolf down.

Cream Tea!

After all agreeing that clotted cream was most definitely meant to be on the bottom, we dusted off our crumbs and headed back for a mid afternoon snooze.

Led by our stomachs once again, we headed back into town to try one place which has been on my radar ever since we decided on our trip. The Rum and Crab Shack.

The name pretty much sums it up. The food revolves around a number of seafood dishes, everything from a spicy gumbo to a whole lobster, and everything in between.

The drinks menu is unrivalled by anything I’ve seen before. There is a set menu dedicated to all the rums available, split into categories such as light, dark and overproof etc. It almost sounds like a challenge to try each one…maybe next time!

For those not quite ready for a rum, there are a number of craft and speciality beers both on tap and bottled, and of course a number of cocktails. I had to try a mojito at the rum shack, after all!

Being my birthday treat weekend, as soon as I saw the menu I knew I was going all out. Steak and ½ lobster for me please! I look pretty happy with it, eh?

Unfortunately the lighting (and maybe the rum) didn’t help my amateur photography, but just look how juicy this steak was!

Everything was cooked to perfection, I thoroughly enjoyed every mouthful! The lobster was so meaty and covered in a lovely light butter, and the steak was, quite honestly, the best steak I've ever had in my life. It's going to take one heck of a steak to beat that bad boy.

Being a bit of a veg freak, I loved the fact that the salad was such a main feature of the dish, rather than being an afterthought. It's such a pet hate of mine when a really excellent dish is let down by some wilted leaves from a supermarket bagged salad. But don't panic, there were chips too.

Everyone's food was just as huge as mine, so there wasn't a lot of room for dessert, especially after the morning's cream tea. A digestif however, is always a good idea!

Cheers!

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Cappuccino Cupcakes

I'm finally attempting my first recipe post! I'm currently raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support, for which I'm doing a zipwire challenge in September, and inspired by the Great British Bake Off, I decided the best way to raise some funds is to ply the public with sugar.

I'm not a very big baker by any means. I generally lack the patience. I love everyday savoury cooking but every now and then I do like to indulge in an afternoon of cupcake baking! Who doesn't love a cupcake?

To make 12 cupcakes you'll need:

110g self raising flour

110g margarine

110g caster sugar

1 tsp baking powder

2 large free range eggs (I demand free range eggs. Happy hens = better cakes)

For the icing:

425g icing sugar

200g unsalted softened butter

4 teaspoons of instant coffee, dissolved in as little amount of boiling water as possible

A grating of dark or white chocolate

First things first, whack your oven up to 160c and line your cupcake tin ready with the funkiest cases you can find.

Then chuck all the cake ingredients in a bowl, mixer or food processor. Having first started in my tiny flat kitchen making cupcakes, I seem to always get my best results with a wooden spoon and a big ol' bowl. Either way, it gives my arms a good work out! Keep at it until it's nice, fluffy and really well mixed.

Divide the batter evenly between the cases, and bake for about 15-20 minutes. They need to be nicely golden brown on the top, and spring back at you when you give them a poke. Let them cool a bit while you have a cup of tea.

When the cakes are ready for you, it's time for the fun bit. Beat all the icing sugar and butter together in a bowl or food processor to make the buttercream icing. Add in the coffee a teaspoonful at a time, until both the flavour and the consistency are correct.

Then it's up to you to decorate your cakes how you want! I've gone for big swirls of piped coffee buttercream, topped with a dark chocolate disk and a sprinkling of white chocolate to give that cappuccino look! You can do this or pile on a smooth buttercream layer topped with dark chocolate. Let your creativity run with these!

If any of you lovely people wanted to check out my fundraising for Macmillan, then please visit www.justgiving.com/guilfoylesage.