Mix together the flour, yeast, salt, sugar and oil using the dough hook on your Kitchenaid at speed 2 or by hand. Add the water gradually (you may not need it all) until the mixture is coming together and can be kneaded easily – you don’t want a sloppy mess.
Knead in the mixer for about 7 minutes until smooth and elastic (or longer by hand) then cover in clingfilm and leave to rise until double the size. Once doubled, knock back with the dough hook or by hand and split the dough into 14 pieces. Roll on a well floured work surface into thin flatbread shapes and then bake in a preheated oven on a floured tray at 220C/gas mark 8 for 5 – 7 minutes until starting to puff up. Remove from the trays and bake directly onto the rack for a further couple of minutes. Either eat warm or toast on a grill for that all important criss cross look.
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Are you a lazy bones or a take on too much kind of a person? I think I am both if that’s at all possible. I seem to spend days getting nothing much done at all, save make lists and moan about how much I have to do. Then, suddenly the guilt gets to me and there’s a flurry of activity. Take the school fayre for example. I made a plan, I shopped for the plan, I told everyone I was going to make lots of cakes and then I worked my socks off. Except I forgot I’m 8 months pregnant with a touch of SPD and ended up unable to walk by the evening of the crazy bake day. Paracetamol and an early night sorted me out, but really! You’d think a 34 year old woman would know her limitations by now.
Which brings me to gluten free recipes. I get asked about them all the time. I’m no expert – I don’t try to be. Some of my recipes are naturally gluten free and many are not. This one most certainly is and these little babies are addictive in a savoury, cheesy crisp kind of a way.
They’re less a bread and more a savoury choux bun with a chewy centre. Easily revived in the oven if baked the day before. Cassava flour can be bought from the International aisle of many supermarkets or online and is gluten free.
Preheat the oven to 190C/ gas mark 5. Grease a 24 hole mini muffin tin with butter. Place the butter, water, milk, and salt in a saucepan, and heat until the butter has melted and the mixture has come to a full boil. While the mixture is heating, put the flour into a mixing bowl.
Pour the boiling butter mixture over the flour, beating to combine. Beat at high speed using a wooden spoon or electric mixer, until the mixture becomes smooth and like very stiff mashed potato; this will happen quickly. Add the cheese and beat again.
Set aside for 5 minutes then add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Place 1 tbsp balls of the mixture into each muffin hole. Bake for 20 minutes until they start to brown and serve them warm! Reheat the next day to refresh if serving then.
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I do love a good bakeware catalogue and am ashamed to say I tend to take them to bed with me for an early night. Well Baking Deco sent me one of their silicone bundt moulds to have a play with, along with their catalogue and it’s hard to say which I was more impressed with. The catalogue had sooooo many items in I want, no, that I NEED. The cutter section alone is worth half an hour of your time. As for the mould, well some of you may know I am a little sceptical about silicone moulds and have been rather scathing in the past. I decided to put this one through its paces and am really pleased with the results. Here she is:
I really did put this mould through some tough tests. I used just vegetable oil to grease rather than the recommended oil and flour. I didn’t wait until the cake was completely cold before turning out either. In fact I did it straight away. Both cakes I made turned out perfectly. Lots of detail, no sticking – a great result.
Things I liked: The ring that sits around the mould (brown in the picture) is a great idea – it holds the mould rigid both whilst pouring in the cake mixture and also whilst baking. it even made the cake easy to turn out. The actual cake results were great from this mould – lots of detail from the bundt pattern and no sticking. Washed up really quickly and well too.
Things I didn’t like: Nothing. (Though I do come up against my usual spoilt brat issue of where to store this new addition to our kitchen. I think I need a garage.)
There are three prizes up for grabs:
1st includes: silicone macaroon mat, modelling tool set, set of 4 cookie cutters (Total RRP £35.74)
2nd includes: silicone mould for baking, rolling pin, set of 4 cookie cutters (Total RRP £27.22)
3rd includes: silicone mould for baking, rolling pin, set of 4 cookie cutters (Total RRP £27.22)
There are lots of ways to enter – see the Rafflecopter form below. The first way is just to leave a comment on this post. Easy peasy. Closing date 12th September 2014. How to enter:
Complete the Rafflecopter form below to confirm your entries made via blog comments, Twitter, Facebook etc.
This giveaway will close on 12th September 2014.
Please read the rules below.
Winners are announced on the Rafflecopter form after the prize has been claimed by the winner.
If no form is showing, hit refresh and it should appear.
Complete the form – or your beloved entries will not go into the draw. And that would be such a waste of time.
Mandatory entries need to be completed first – so leave a blog comment before you try and complete any of the other methods of entry.
Want more chances to win? Come back daily after tweeting about the giveaway and fill the form in again.
If you are viewing this by email you will need to click through to enter.
Rules and things:
Open to anyone over the age of 18, UK mainland. Sorry to anyone younger or further afield.
There are 3 prizes up for grabs as stipulated above. There’s no cash alternative to the prize and the prize is not transferable. No part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.
Instructions form part of the terms and conditions. Entries using any software or automated process to make bulk entries will obviously be disqualified. The winner will be picked at random using software and then contacted by email. If you win and then don’t respond to this email within 7 days then another winner will be picked so check your emails and your spam! The goodies will be delivered to the winner as soon as possible after you have sent me your delivery address.
I am running this giveaway on behalf of Baking Deco Ltd who will be responsible for sending the prize to you by post should you win. Their decision is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into.
This is where I get all stern – please don’t say you have liked the post and followed me on Twitter and Tweeted away like a Tweety thing if you haven’t as guess what? If you win I will check you did do the things you said you did. It’s only fair after all. And I do like fairness.
Urvashi and I met on 2011 The Great British Bake Off. She wowed the judges with her perfect little tartlets and frankly everything she produced was just perfect. She blogs, she tends an allotment, she mothers and she holds down a full time job. What a woman!
What’s your name? Urvashi Roe
Where do you come from? London
How old are you? 42
What’s your educational background? Did you leave school at 16 or finish with a PhD? BA Hons Applied Languages – ie French, German, Law and Economics
Sum your blog up in one sentence: An outlet for my botanically led recipes and foodie adventures
Why did you start your blog, where did you think it would lead? I started my blog to develop my own ‘voice’ and write about things that I find interesting
Name 3 blogs you like: Green Kitchen Stories, Food To Glow and Smarterfitter
What’s your most popular blog post? My most recent most about my Patisserie Trip to Paris was very popular
How often do you check your blog stats, truthfully?! About once a week
What’s your biggest kitchen disaster? Tried to make bread from a recipe in Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert and used totally the wrong flour mistakenly. It was like a big fat lump of cooked couscous!
What’s your advice to fledgling food bloggers? Write about what you care about and find interesting and not what PR companies throw at you
Is there anything you’d have done differently? Not named my blog Botanical Baker but rather Botanical Kitchen because I do more than just bake.
Blogging high? Every blog post is a high because I’ve written it because I want to and not because someone at work is telling me to meet a deadline
Blogging low? I went through a phase of doing lots of PR things and got really fed up having to do certain posts and specific times. It made me re-evaluate what I write about and why.
Who inspires you? Everyone who has had the courage to post a recipe or a picture of something they have cooked on Instagram or Twitter inspires me. How brave to share these things that are so personal.
Do you have a day job? Oh yes! A big one!
What keeps you awake at night? Nothing work related anymore. Last sleepless night I had was when my daughter Amber was away overnight on a school trip. I was a very neurotically worried mum.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years time? Behind the counter of my own space – not sure if that is a café, a shop or a bar but something food related.
What would be your 3 desert island items? Dark chocolate, Red wine, Salt and vinegar crisps
What advice would you give to your schoolgirl/boy self? Speak up and speak out. All anyone can ever say is no or disagree with you. What’s so wrong with that?
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I need to get a few things off my chest about 3rd babies. It won’t take long.
First up, I wish everyone (well, it seems like everyone) would stop saying ‘Oh I do hope you have a girl’. They usually accompany this comment with a cock of their head to the side and a meaningful eyeball to eyeball narrowing of the eyes with a smile of impending commiseration. Comments like this bring out the irrational, hormonal pregnant woman in me. I find myself rebuffing their comments politely, yet angrily, through gritted teeth, staring wildly. If I had the balls I’d just be honest and say I find this obsession with the pink gender offensive. But I have no balls. I barely have a pelvic floor.
My other issue is with other mothers of three. Not all of them. But there’s a certain breed who enjoy telling tales of woe to those of us about to embark on the magic number family score. They tell of life never being the same again, nobody wanting to baby sit for you, the poor middle child becoming some kind of dead cert for teenage therapy, husbands miserable as their wives have so little time to service their needs…. and that’s an abridged version.
Do me a favour! I’ve already got two kids, it’s not like I’m skipping down to Soho every night to down trendy cocktails in jam jars and dancing the night away outside pop up bars. (Of course their predictions could all well be true, but really, is it helpful? I haven’t told my friends about to have their first baby that for the next year they’ll live in a hell hole state of domestic sluttery and wail to anyone who might listen, lamenting why they thought a baby might be life enhancing when all they want to do is sleep and drown in wine. I haven’t. Honestly.)
Right now that’s all off my chest here’s an easy recipe that I reckon even mothers of three, with their lack of time, general misery and poor pelvic floor might be able to knock up. These truffles are that easy.
Pour the condensed milk into a large saucepan, stir in the cocoa powder and the salt. Heat on the hob over a low heat, stirring continuously. Be careful not to boil and burn the milk! After 10 – 15 minutes the mixture will become very thick and shiny and start to come away from the bottom of the saucepan. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter.
Chill in the fridge for an hour. Drop teaspoons of the mixture, one at a time, into a bowl containing the sprinkles. Push about gently to cover then roll between the palms of your hands into a ball. Chill and serve straight from the fridge.
(NB, for those who like this kind of info, these were named after a famous 1940’s Brigadier General named Eduardo Gomes, who loved chocolate. Store in the fridge.)
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Just Mustard sent me their The Shake’n’Make (RRP £15) and a microwave popcorn maker (RRP £20) to hold my own private movie night without the trouble of leaving my home. We added Toy Story to the mix, closed the curtains and off we went…
It has to be said that the speedy ice-cream maker made the biggest impression on both my little boys and the older members of the family. Basically you add cream and/or milk, sugar and any flavourings then make sure you have salt and ice in a separate chamber of the pot – shake for about 3 minutes and you have ice-cream. I know! It’s clearly magic. Amazingly quick and was a very exciting science experiment that prompted a quick lesson in what salt does and how ice-cream is made. There are even ‘recipes’ (very simple suggestions) in the instructions so no need to be a culinary whizz to get this right. Here’s a pic of the maker:
Things I liked: The novelty value! The fact it kept little hands busy. And of course the delicious and edible results.
Things I didn’t like: The amount made is pretty small which could be a good thing depending on your view point. I also wonder how often we might use this once the novelty has worn off.
We also tried out the microwave popcorn maker. A pleasing to the eye bright red ‘bucket’ where you place a measuring scoop of popcorn kernals, some oil and any flavourings – a few minutes later you have popcorn. Very easy and perfect for making a less calorific snack than the usual popcorn you buy pre bagged.
Things I liked: Easy to measure, quick to make and no need for hot pans of oil on the stove. Also – so cheap! Popcorn kernels are inexpensive meaning you can save a lot of money with this gadget if you’re a popcorn household.
Things I didn’t like: Nothing really other than I have to find a place to store it! We are very short on kitchen space in this house.
I have two movie night kits to giveaway consisting of a microwave popcorn maker and an ice-cream maker each, worth £35 per set.
There are lots of ways to enter – see the Rafflecopter form below. The first way is just to leave a comment on this post. Easy peasy. Closing date 12th September 2014. How to enter:
Complete the Rafflecopter form below to confirm your entries made via blog comments, Twitter, Facebook etc.
This giveaway will close on 12th September 2014.
Please read the rules below.
Winners are announced on the Rafflecopter form after the prize has been claimed by the winner.
If no form is showing, hit refresh and it should appear.
Complete the form – or your beloved entries will not go into the draw. And that would be such a waste of time.
Mandatory entries need to be completed first – so leave a blog comment before you try and complete any of the other methods of entry.
Want more chances to win? Come back daily after tweeting about the giveaway and fill the form in again.
If you are viewing this by email you will need to click through to enter.
Rules and things:
Open to anyone over the age of 18, Europe only. Sorry to anyone younger or further afield.
There’ are 2 x movie night kits (as stipulated above) available worth £35 up for grabs. There’s no cash alternative to the prize and the prize is not transferable. No part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.
Instructions form part of the terms and conditions. Entries using any software or automated process to make bulk entries will obviously be disqualified. The winner will be picked at random using software and then contacted by email. If you win and then don’t respond to this email within 7 days then another winner will be picked so check your emails and your spam! The goodies will be delivered to the winner as soon as possible after you have sent me your delivery address.
I am running this giveaway on behalf of Just Mustard who will be responsible for sending the prize to you by post should you win. Their decision is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into.
This is where I get all stern – please don’t say you have liked the post and followed me on Twitter and Tweeted away like a Tweety thing if you haven’t as guess what? If you win I will check you did do the things you said you did. It’s only fair after all. And I do like fairness.
In case I haven’t bleated on enough, I have a book coming out in July – 17th July to be precise. To say I am excited is the understatement of the century. I am nervous, excited, worried, having sleepless nights… you name it, I am feeling it. It feels very exposing. Does that make sense? You see I am so used to immediate feedback on facebook, twitter and instagram (and pinterest when I can remember to post) that waiting for an anonymous Amazon review is frightening.
On facebook and the like folk have to be slightly accountable for their opinions – they’re usually showing their face and definitely showing their name. Amazon is quite obviously different. Anyway. I’m scared. Reassuringly I am told (by proper authors who know this kind of thing) that this is entirely normal.
On to the point of this blog post (not a therapy session – as much as it seems like one at the moment); a lady on facebook asked me how veggie friendly my book will be and I thought, what a great question. Instead of buying the book and being disappointed she’s asked before she votes with her purse. So here’s a bit of a low down on what’s veggie friendly in the book.
First off, the idea behind the book is very similar to the ethos of the blog – lots of recipes that don’t cost the earth, take too long or involve having to hunt for specialist ingredients. Food from a ‘normal’ mum with a normal budget and normal amounts of time and energy. If you want to find out more about each chapter in a general way then take a look here. Otherwise here’s a round up of the veggie friendly recipes:
1) The more the merrier – feeding a crowd, but not in the dinner party sense. Veggie friendly recipes include Mysteriously meaty veggie chickpea burgers (not mysterious in a ‘surprise! we contain liver way…), French bread monster toastie, Caponata tart, Banoffee hazelnut cookie crumble, Chocolate orange trifle, Ginger, mango, pear and papaya ripple no churn ice cream and Chocolate chip lime meringue pie.
2) Feeding Goldilocks and baby bear too – a chapter for when the kids are eating separately, which on week nights happens a lot in our house. Veggie friendly recipes include a very quick McCauliflower macaroni cheese, Snakes and ladders toast, easy no fry chips, Rice with peas, broad beans and bacon (but you can totally leave the bacon out), Nanny’s Yorkshire all-sorts, DIY fruit (dip it yourself), Mini mash ups , Cowboys and girls fastest pudding in the west, Whizz bang chocolate banana steamed pudding and Spotty dog pancakes.
3) Dinner for two in a flash – chapter 2 kind of explains this one. I often eat later on week nights with my husband so need recipes that are quick, easy and filling. Veggie friendly recipes include Garlic mushroom crackle pie, TV dinner miso chicken ramen (where the chicken can happily be left out) and an easy, meal in a bowl soup featuring butternut squash and butterbeans – just leave out the chorizo.
4) Food for the Great British outdoors – This is picnic food, barbecue fodder and stuff that just tastes better outside. Veggie friendly recipes include Soothing rosemary and walnut pockets filled with cheese, Backyard chargrilled carrot salad, Tortilla traybake (if you leave out the meat which you so easily can), Pimms and lemonade cheesecake, Summer’s eve elderflower and gooseberry frangipane tart, Mark’s moreish roasted vegetable, lentil and halloumi salad (leaving out the bacon bits), Goat’s cheese, mint and broad bean pate on chilli toasts, Burger relish style coleslaw, Orzo and minted pea pasta salad, Holiday hammock pecan and date loaf and Turkish delight friendship cake.
5) Switching to baking mode – well, come on, I couldn’t write a recipe book without a whole chapter dedicated to baking could I? Veggie friendly recipes include Peasant’s pretzel brownies, St. Clements breakfast swirls, Toe-warming whisky sour treacle tart, Falafel ‘sausage’ rolls (with not a meat product to be seen), Seeded granary rolls, My best high hat scones, Hex family stollen, Thomas’ syrupy vanilla muffins, Stilton and walnut bread rolls, My Mum’s classic 1970’s coffee and walnut cake, Orange, fig and sultana flapjacks, Leicestershire stilton, caramelised onion and potato pie (yes this is a Bake Off recipe – well Paul Hollywood actually gave me some praise for this, so I had to include it), Man quiche, Ribena love cupcakes and Momma’s Cornish ginger fairings.
6) Recipes for chefs in the making – This chapter holds hands with chapter 2 – so lots of sweet and savoury easy for kids recipes. Veggie friendly recipes include Banish the breadsticks grissini, Mix it up breakfast muffins, Blue Peter badge winning tiffin, Sandwich bake (leave out the ham), Mexicana bubblegum bread, Baa Baa’s British veggie paella, Popcorn and white chocolate all American chewy cookies, Scrunch-it-up apricot and pistachio stuffing balls, Cut-out sandwiches, ‘Easy as’ cheese biscuits and Peach and pecan vegan smoothie muffins.
7) Children’s party food, because you’re only old once – a chapter of recipes meant for children’s parties, but frankly I’d serve them any day of the week to kids and adults alike. Veggie friendly recipes include Rocky road Florentines, Cheese and onion straws, Over the rainbow meringues, Squidgy spiders web cakes, Sticky little fingers chocolate bar cake, Pizza, Chocolate orange rice crispy cakes, Cupcake decorating, Strawberry milkshake honey butterflies, ’99 ice cream cakes with buried treasure and Chocolate gingerbread barn with pigs in the mud.
8) Presents from the heart – a whole chapter dedicated to bits and bobs you can easily make and bestow to those you love. Veggie friendly recipes include Lemon button biscuits, Chocolate, rum and raisin fudge, Bell blend garam masala, Raspberry vinegar marinated olives, Lady Grey’s Gin, Double quick strawberry and rose jam, Dukkah, Warm your cockles ginger vodka and Christmas red cup gingerbread biscotti.
So out of 100 recipes a whopping 77 recipes are either vegetarian or are adaptable to be veggie. I hope that helps with any decisions to click on the ‘buy’ button if you’re a non meat eater or just someone who likes to eat less meat.
If you think you’d like to pre-order it then here’s the link. I really hope you like it.
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So although I am now less than 6 weeks from my due date the main thing that’s clouding my mind isn’t packing my hospital bag, nor is it making sure we buy some blackout blinds for our summer baby’s room. The name thing still isn’t completely decided upon and yet it’s not pressing heavily. You know what is? My weight.
Oh I am so embarrassed to admit it. That I am so superficial as to be worrying about how large I am and more to the point, how I might not be this large in future. I have never lost baby weight ‘naturally’ and have to admit to finding the prospect of not being able to hide my large hips behind a bump rather scary. I don’t like being really big. Controversial? Maybe. I just feel happier in general when my clothes fit well and I don’t feel a shockwave when I catch sight of myself in a shop window.
I’ve mainly gone for low carb diets in the past to lose baby weight but the thought makes me sigh and want to immediately bake up a storm of biscuits coated in sugary icing. I feel less energy for it this time. Maybe that will change. I’ve thought about the 5:2 diet – could I handle that? Not sure I could with 3 kids. Being hungry isn’t something I relish. Years ago after a final year at university indulging a *little* too much I loosely followed slimming world and found that worked well. But I was 22, not 34. Would it work again? Help!
Here’s a pasta dish that is a real favourite in our house. I am not sure it will help me lose baby weight (well not in the portions I serve it) but for me it really is the taste of comfort and home.
330g cauliflower (1 small head), chopped into small 4cm ish florets)
250g broccoli (1 regular head), chopped into small 4cm ish florets)
1 tsp groundnut or sunflower oil
20g unsalted butter
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
320g strong cheddar, grated
200g reduced fat crème fraiche
Black pepper
Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions, but 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time add the cauliflower, then 3 minutes before the end add the broccoli.
Meanwhile, heat the oil and butter in a large pan and fry the onion over a low heat, until just softened but not browned, about 4 minutes. Once the pasta, cauliflower and broccoli are cooked through, drain and pour into a large ovenproof dish. Add the cheese and crème fraiche to the pan of onions. Without turning the heat up, stir until all the cheese has melted. Pour over the pasta mixture evenly then sprinkle with black pepper. At this point I admit to adding some ham but feel free to leave this out. Either serve immediately or crisp in the oven for 10 minutes at 190C/gas mark 5.
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We spent 5 days in Normandy over Easter. It was a flip, last minute decision. The kind that seems all a bit crazy (well crazy in a parents-of-two-small-boys way) at the time.
‘Let’s just go away!’ I exclaimed over the phone to my husband. ‘I’ll book it! Nothing for you to do!’ I am surely at my best when faced with a last minute project to organise. It brings out the Brownie in me. I like packing, making lists, ordering holiday money, searching for insurance, planning stops offs en route. And especially researching places to eat. Oh yes! Just give a pregnant Holly a mini break and little or no time to plan it and I’m happy as a glutton in France.
I do like a bit of praise though. And it has to be said that my bargain £250 holiday in Houlgate (including the ferry crossing and superior caravan view – ha) may have been mocked by my husband a few times over the 5 days. He was subjected to a fair few caravan holidays in his formative years, giving him a pathological hatred of campsites, caravan clubs or anything where the bedding is less than luxurious. Me? Well I like the idea of roughing it but come over a bit pathetic when anything remotely uncomfortable rears its head.
So here’s where we went. And we stayed in a modest 2 bedroom static caravan. It’s wasn’t plush or comfy. It was a bit basic. But it was fine. Houlgate was chosen for its proximity to Calais, nearby beach and indoor swimming pool. After all Normandy isn’t renowned for sun. But it is renowned for amazing food. So an indoor pool, two adventure playgrounds and a a climbing wall were the big ticks for the younger members of the trip. The local restaurants were the playgrounds for the older ones.
We powered down to Dover with the aid of an iPad and a lot of sticker books. The crossing was blissful mainly due to the picnic (told you I love a planned trip) and kids area with Tom & Jerry on a loop.
The campsite was quiet and mainly full of Dutch and German tourists. In my girlie swot research I’d found that the onsite restaurant did good pizzas but everything else was a bit ropey. Well I beg to differ. The pizza was not great – the base pre baked and cardboard like. The kids weren’t keen and neither were we. We didn’t eat there again. Luckily every morning we collected fresh bread and croissants ordered from the site shop. Much better.
Check out the 70s style caravan decor. Mr Bell (an interior designer) just LOVED it. The local beach was a 5 minute drive (with free, unrestricted parking and loos – hurrah for my pregnant SPD hips and bladder) with long, long beaches and a lot of ‘the right kind of sand’ for castle building. We set to work.
Until hunger stopped us in our tracks. So off we toddled to Le Patio and indulged in ham pizza, a prawn & avocado salad and a roasted vegetable bruschetta.
It was pretty good – though the avocado was hard according to Mr Bell. The bill was 53 Euros with drinks. The sky was beautiful and moody.
But it did look like it was about to rain so we retrieved the trains we’d buried and hot footed it back to the caravan for a little mid afternoon nap.
Then we realised we’d left the wooden track buried in the moat. Back we went. It was as close to a beach crisis as we’d ever gotten. The tide was coming in! The sandcastle, once located, was just metres from the incoming sea. Mr Bell dug and dug with all his might! Daddy saved the day.
Day 2 saw us explore the main drag in Houlgate (there’s only really one drag so hard to miss it).
And we found a beautiful patisserie shop:
So we bought some gold coins, obviously.
We had lunch at Ambiance Cafe, followed by pudding. Chocolate crepe for Charlie:
Cafe Gourmand for Daddy (though I didn’t get there fast enough to capture the full extent of the joys… there was a floating island, strawberries and cream, caramel ice-cream and a macaron.)
The macaron I helped to taste. Texture good, flavour a little lacking.
Oh and coconut and pistachio ice-cream for me:
Dinner was at Cafe Chocolat. Moules for Daddy:
A croque-monsieur for the boys and a galette fromagere for me. And pudding, well of course there was pudding:
Excellent macarons to share. Happy campers. Though these small toddler models did freak the boys out a bit.
The next day was an early start as it was market day. First stop a drink:
Now being pregnant and in France can be tortuous. Little cheese, no pate, very little red wine and a lot of seafood off the menu. But this market sold oil dispensers. I can’t tell you how excited I was to see these. I know, I know…
And other stuff too…
We spent a bit more time on the beach. Mostly trampling sandcastles built by men with bigger spades:
Then we went for lunch again. At Le Royalty. Are you getting the idea? Moules (with a lot of cheese) for Daddy. The sauce was amazing. I helped mop a lot of it up with bread. I’m very helpful like that.
A delicious burger for Mummy:
Ham and chips for the children (which was delicious) and then a few puddings:
A brownie with ice-cream to share and a very disappointing creme brulee/scrambled egg concoction for me.
And it looked so promising. I also managed to break not 1, not 2 but 3 glasses in Le Royalty. The waitress had every right to look moody. We left a good tip to cover my clumsiness.
And the weather? Yes it did rain a fair bit. But we expected that. The upside of the rain was the lush greenery and flowers:
And the best morsel that passed my lips all holiday? This baby:
A pain au chocolate beurre noisette – crunchy roasted hazelnuts and chocolate shavings on top with a sugar nibbed streaked crunchy hazelnut and chocolate butter inside. I WILL be trying to recreate this beauty at home. We bought it at the motorway service station on the way back to Calais for a whopping 1.65 Euros. Amazing. Don’t you just love France?
But there’s no place like home. In fact there’s no place like your own comfy super king sized bed. Would we return? To the place – yes. To a very back to basics static caravan? Possibly not. We spent a bit more money last summer on a posh caravan in the Loire Valley and I think that’s the right option for us in future. Better beds and a proper sofa. I must be getting old.
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I’m a mum of 3 boys, a cookbook writer and also a finalist on the 2011 Great British Bake Off.
I’ve decided to record the recipes I use, partly to save them somewhere and partly in case someone else might like to use them...
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Holly Bell 