Birthday cake

    Yesterday was Jakob birthday. I made a cake for my darling. Same recipe than this but I added some raw chocolate and I did some icing.  

Comfort stew

    It's cold and dark. December is a beautiful month but I had forgotten how it feels having only a few  hours of light and last Sunday I needed some comfort in my food.

Now, in the vegetable box I always have loads of roots. I love them and by the way, I have learnt new English words for roots that I'm not sure knew in Spanish...

Last Sunday I cooked some simple. Something that it's no complicated but takes time, a stew. I used very local lamb meat, from a friend of us who has own sheep, and, roots, parsnip, carrot, beet and turnip. Roots, herbs, red wine and lamb. These flavors means december to me now.

Borough Market

  After a few busy weeks, my reward came. Some days to rest and to relax. I have spent a couple days in London: a lot of walking, a glorious concert, a nice dinner and cocktails and a visit to the Borough Market on last Saturday.

It started with a breakfast at Tapas Brandisa, where Jakob and I were able to eat some very good tortilla de patatas and huevos estrellados. Better than expected. Then, we started to walk around the market.

An incredible variety of very nice products. A heaven where trying not to buy anything was a difficult task (we were spending the day in London and it would have been difficult to carry groceries all day long). However, I enjoyed the experience very much and I'm looking forward to go there another day only to go crazy buying.

Herbs

I love cooking with herbs. Winter is coming and herb drying is a brilliant idea to preserve herbs during the cool seasons. Do you want some inspiration? Check this out.

Australian bread, green tomatoes muffins and blackberry jam

   He stayed in bed while I baked. It made me feel good, especially because it turned out acceptable. My first trial hadn't been so good. The day before I had also made some specials muffins. Our last green tomatoes were waiting to be used before it was too late. Food from Southern US inspired me.  Green tomatoes muffins with a twist of whisky.

And we also had that fabulous jam that Jakob made last week after having gathered blackberries.

Tomatoes muffins recipe

250 g self-raising flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

150 g soft brown sugar

2 eggs

200 g green tomatoes

100g sultanas

100 ml vegetable oil

50 ml scotch whisky 

Sift the flour, the baking power and stir in the sugar. Add the sultanas and the tomatoes in small pieces (the tomatoes must be left with salt 10 minutes and then well rinsed). Beat the oil, the whiskey and the eggs together and add it. Combine well.

Spoon the mixture between the muffin cases and bake in an 160 ºC for 1 hour and fifteen minutes aprox.

The australian bread follows a recipe by Lorraine Pascal. You can watch the video here.

Outdoor breakfast

This time of the year is unique. I knew that today would be cold and sunny so I planned a very early walk and an outdoor breakfast. I must admit that it wasn't easy getting out of bed. Jakob and I woke up at 06.30, made and packed the breakfast and drove to the beginning of the walk. It was cold and beautiful. A frozen morning.

We walked from Horningsea to Anglesey Abbey following a muddy public footpath. When we arrived to the Lode Mill was time for our breakfast: coffee, scones and some fruit.

   

Kinfolk

I discovered Kinfolk magazine more than a year ago and I fell in love with it. I've been following it online since then and all I can say is that it's a beauty. Describing it is difficult because is about a lot of things and nothing at the same time. I would say it's about gatherings, moments, food, small pleasures, nature and so on. You can read here its manifesto and watch it.

The magazine is stunning. The articles and the photographies are inspiring. Well...finally I have the latest issue in my hands and the rest in its way (tack älskling!).

By the way, I've taken these pictures today at the Cambridge University Botanic Garden.