Birthday and Desert - Have your cake and eat it.

Birthday Desert and Cake

I was out at the weekend celebrating my wifes birthday, we went to Browns for lunch, which was nice, they have a good service especially if you have children very fast.  My wife had three different  chocolate brownies on one plate with Ice Cream, it looked really nice too.

 

 

My wife  received a nice birthday present at the weekend, a cake made just for her and it was made on the same day too, shame we couldn't stick my candles in it.

I really indulged a little over the weekend, never had so much desert in one day..!

Work up a sweat

The Pizza that hits the spot

After a hard night of dancing, there is nothing more apertizing than coming home to a nice homemade fresh pizza waiting to be cooked with a nice fresh base made with nice topping (salami, tomato, mozzarella, fresh basil and black pepper.

This is further backed up with garlic bread homemade of course too and a little Greek salad would not go amiss either, oh the two pale balls are dough balls, just in case you were wondering.

Don't forget your fresh cool Apple juice to wash it down with.

Coffee Cake Flava - lick you fingers up and down it's sticky

Coffee Cake Flava

Ok, I have been a little busy with, however I'm still baking and cooking like a mad man when I get the opportunity.

I'm fan of Coffee Cake, however some of the ones I have tasted over time can be dry, I was fortunate to make a rather moist one..!  See my work of art below.

Making your own fresh Pizza is so much more fun.

 

 I made a basic Pizza base, much nicer than a commercial one, Passata with black pepper and basil on the base.  Half the Pizza was ham and tomato, the other half was Rocket tomato and Mozeralla cheese.
 

It needs about 15 minutes in the oven at 200 degrees once it's cooked slide it out onto a wood top and cut into slices, don't forget your salad.

One last thing be creative with your salad, add some olive oil, black pepper & basil.   If you want to add some spice, add a little chilli flakes this will give it a little kick...!

My version of Steak Calzone

I've been cooking but not updated my picture lately.  Well I did a Calzone some time ago but it didn't go according to plan.  So I thought I would do try my hand at it again see the evidence for yourself.

It's always about the curves, well at least I think so..!

Now that's what I call a lovely pair of pastry.

Looking tasty..!

Never leave out the salad.

Very nice.

I guess I'd better start a thinking about eating this.

Fruit does make it taste better.

Right enough of this..

Your all mine..mmmmm

 

The Xmas spirit

The traditional Xmas cake

It's tradition in our house hold to make a xmas cake, mine is generally a rum fruit cake, my wife makes a safe but traditional cake.  Any way as usual I put the marzipan on and roll icing as you do.  

I said to my wife  I would like Grace to decorate my Xmas cake but no sweets; that excludes hundreds and thousands, and no jelly tots.  They said ok with reluctance, personally I didn't see what the problem was.  Hours later I was told my cake has been decorated well..  I was lost for words...... 

My lovely cake transformed by my daughter and wife Merry Christmas, that's all I can say... Bah Humbug I will be too.

Italian SpareRibs my Version

It's been a while since i've posted any culinary delights, mainly because of my teaching job which takes up all my time.  However I do get the chance to cook and bake at the Weekend.  

I've had a few requests from friends how do I do my spareribs, while I don't have any set recipe, I have baseline which I work from.  However my ingredients will change from week to week.  

Firstly a slow cooker is needed.

See ingredients below:

Method:

Prepare the sauce and other ingredients

Here is the final video basically what  it should look like.

And this is what it looks like when you put it together, and don't forget your bottle of Rose wine watcha...!

Spare Ribs Variations 

What I did here was crisps  up my spare ribs after cooking it in the slow cooker.  If you want that authentic soft and crisp taste add a little olive oil, or honey to give it a that nice sticky taste.

The Sauce

There's no hard or fast rules when doing the sauce, naturally you will want it as thick as possible, what I did was remove the spareribs, let the sauce cook in the slow cooker, only stir it bringing the mixture together let simmer.  Once your Ribs are done pour it on think. 

The final finish

As you can see there are many variations you can use when doing Spare Ribs, my thoughts on the matter don't be afraid to experiment.  Food is like sex, the more you practice the better you get at it, so I've been told...!

Hope you have found this useful..?