city snacks

city snacks??? The name doesn't do this establishment justace. Walk up to the window and be confronted by a variety of fresh and fabulous ingredients. Cafe to the rear and counter at the front. By the looks of it, two sons and a father own and work behind the counter. I wasn't expecting such a place so when i entered I was speechless when asked what I wanted. Normally there is some sort of preparation before entrance but I was enticed in by the glorious display of fresh produce...

"ummmmmm, I dont know what I want, but maybe something with parma on ciabatta"

one of the sons replied with the suggestion of parma, chicken, cheese and italian sauce.

A nerve tingled in my mind, what was this italian sauce I thought...is this a suace famous in this land of Holborn?

"yes yes", i said.

it was a tasty snack, only 3.50 of my british pounds too!

check it out...can't remember where it is, but im sure sir google will help.

Playing in my sisters garden with figs and light.

sweet honey roasted figs on a slatted table

It's 1pm and it's Sunday, time to get outside and play with some sticky fruit. Down in Ipswich town yesterday I saw some fresh figs at the market, they looked great and felt so soft and ripe that I couldn't resist. After getting my 5 for a British pound in one stall I noticed the other stalls were dripping with figs too, so much choice. The girl in Greece said I was lucky, we are lucky. We can get these little treats for most of the year, planes fly down and pick them off the trees for us, stamping a huge carbon footprint in the process..."av a taste guv" said the burly market seller "they are Turkish!"

...and that I did. Taste the delights of Turkey from the stall in Ipswich. Some had traveled better than others, some had come via ryanair and decided not to pay for the toilet. Should figs be furry? probably not...hence "pounnnd a bowl mr!" you get what you pay for...

Back at the house the skies were grey...but fear not, with the help of my new toy, a huge light reflector, I was able to sparkle golden rays onto the fruit that I sliced in two....dribbled with goo (honey) and put in the oven on gas mark 2.  Actually it was 200 celcius, but that doesn't rhyme so well eh.

There are further experiments with light on flickr! Take a lil look.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tristantristan/

thanks,

Tristan

men are from Mars, women are from Venus...where in this universe does this guy reside?

www.harrychristiefund.moonfruit.com

Ready to be dipped into a warm cup of milk! mmmmmmmmmm

Eat as many as you want!

fresh from the oven

remove from the oven and leave to cool

Ready for the oven...

Preheat your oven to 250° C . Bake for about 10-15 min.

Sprinkles

Sprinkle the pearled sugar over each bun...as much as you wish :)

Onto the baking tray

Place in paper cases and coat with the eggy mixture either with a brush or with a spoon

chop chop

Slice into individual buns, each bun around 2cm thick

Roll it up!

Roll up the flat dough gradually and gently under the palms of your hands until you have a long sausage...

making the dough

Add butter, sugar and crumbled yeast to the tepid milk. Sieve flour in a bowl, then add cardamom and salt. Next pour in tepid milk mix and knead very well until the dough peels away from the bowl. Dust with a bit of flour. Cover and put in a warm place such as the airing cupboard and let rise to double size for about 30 min. Knead again very well until the dough doesn't stick to your hands any longer and place onto a floured work surface.Roll out the dough to a rectangle about 1cm in thickness. Now the fun bit;  Mix the cinnamon, sugar and butter for the filling and spread evenly on top of the dough. Although I have specified amounts in the ingredients section, you can add more or little cinnamon and sugar, depending on your tastes. Personally I like these little monsters to be very sweet, so add a little more sugar!

Kanelbullar!

TRISTANTRISTAN@flickr

I was lucky enough to be blessed with the presence of one of the new competitors for next year's masterchef. This Swedish chef wanted to introduce me to the simple delights that are Kanelbullar.

Kanelbullar or cinnamon buns are a classic at Swedish coffee parties. During the golden age of home baking, such parties turned into orgies of sweet yeast breads, small cookies, cookies with fillings, pastries and cakes.

This tradition lives on in Sweden. If you are invited to someone’s home for coffee, you always get a cinnamon bun, a cookie or a piece of cake with it. And at cafés, dainty little cookies continue to compete with all those supersized American muffins. (www.sweden.se)

Ingredients
For the dough:
100g unsalted butter,
500ml whole milk, lukewarm,
50g lump of yeast,
120g caster sugar,
1 tsp ground cardamom,
1/2 tsp salt,
600g plain wheat flour,
200g full spelt flour,
(Or a total of 800g plain wheat flour, if you don´t like wholemeal flour)
For the filling:
80g sugar,
2 tbsp cinnamon powder,
100g unsalted butter, lukewarm
For the topping:
1 egg, slightly beaten,
Pearled sugar for the topping
 

Cous cous, lemon and feta salad to make at work

www.flickr.com/photos/tristantristan