The Sugar Bar

Awww… the long awaited post and a late one at that. Have been too lazy to get around to posting but here it is.
The weekend was spent with my beloved flatmates getting all excited about our little tea party and sunday! behold! scones, victoria sponge cake, cucumber sandwiches that became salad & cream cheese sandwiches because we’d completely forgotten bout the cucumbers, hot tea and great company.

I’m so glad it turned out great. My flat is amazing! We worked so well in the kitchen and had such a good time tryin to figure out if “scones” were pronounced “scOnes” or “scAWnes”. apparently, the latter is the correct one and scones just a more posh way of saying it and also the american pronunciation.

anyway, i’ve always had my scones with cream cheese and jam and my flatmates introduced me to this amazing clotted cream. the true blue english way of eating is scones is to have it with ultra fattening CLOTTED CREAM and sugary JAM. honestly, the cream is so rich, yet light on the palette, milky buttery flavour spreads out on ur tongue like a dream. i had 2 scones slathered in generous heaps of clotted cream and i haven’t regretted it ever since.

I’ve never ever done a proper cake without using an electric mixer and since i’ve yet to get one here, i was really apprehensive bout making a cake without it. However, anna & hannah were superb! I’ve not seen someone whip the butter into the sugar by hand and then mix in flour and wadever else into the butter mixture with a wooden spoon in a saucepan for chrissakes all by hand! Amazing. i’m very inspired now to be less dependent on technology. besides, i think it’ll definitely tone up my arms if i do that too.

Ever since I’ve been here, I’ve been cooking all my meals. Kinda like the new independence and it gives me a chance to be really creative with my meals. I’ve done some very funny fish dishes, salad pastas and guess wad? I’m still alive. I’m not very confident in cooking but so far, all’s well and will continue to be well, if not great.

I’ve been looking at jamie oliver’s new cookbook. and i’m so tempted to get it. it’s 7pounds off @ waterstones but i hardly think it’s a need. i mean well yea, it does mean i can try that awesome lambshank recipe in it, but it’s seriously a want. i would love to have it though. hint hint to some ppl who do read this blog. *wink* once again, i’m going off into my little dream of jamie oliver being the best cook in the world. of course, that statement is really up for much contention. but i suppose he’s the most creative and talented guy i’ve seen who can create dishes that are delicious, unpretentious, relax and just so good to look at. he’s just so good at throwing the right ingredients together.

soon enough this week, i’m gonna be really ambitious and do this pineapple chicken breast oven bake thing. probably on a friday when i don’t have a really heavy day. can’t wait! i’m gonna continue to feed myself well. it’s the only way haha. and thus i’ll become a ball by the time christmas comes, rolling down the hallway, ho ho ho.
ending off with a photo of my friends in bham. love. xxx.

I’m in love with scones once again and was very much in love not too long ago (i apologise for that long hiatus) with my entry of plain scones. I got a little obsessed with it yesterday when I tried a raspberry scone from cedele at Republic Plaza. Some will know how I love cedele’s Lavender Cookies!! but yesterday I was very happy with my scone. It had a raspberry swirl in it that made it so cute, lots of almond flakes and icing sugar dusting! what not to make me happy and help me last through peak hour. made me forget my knees were aching like a rheumatic old gramma.

After MOE signing today, got back and felt a cloud of boredom descend right above me. Not to mention that persistent cloud of sleepiness too. Had to pull away from the image of a slob and a lazy bum so thought to experiment & whip something up in the kitchen. Sometimes, I really ain’t a morning person. Takes me a while to become less of a bear and for my voice to change to my usual high pitchness (mind my broken English..i’m terribly lazy to bother). And I know how picturesque it is to wake to the scent of brewing coffee and baking muffins. This time round, I wanna wake up to the scents of my favourite food. Oh LORDY! Indulgence is a crime! Here, I used the same old recipe from my long-ago post but jazzed it up with sweetened dried cherries (my favourite berry), peanut butter chips (my favourite companion for white bread but which I always avoid because of its fat content..until now) & maple syrup. I’m not sure if anyone else is as big a fan as I am of maple syrup but its got such a nice smell. reminds me of sunday mornings, crazy stacks of pancakes. omelettes cooked in lots of sizzling butter and fat greasy sausages. that’s the life. i love pancakes. when my mom makes em, I drown them in maple syrup and it makes me feel so pampered. it’s one word – happiness.

Of course, for scones, you can either jazz it up with all your extra ingredients by spreading them out prettily on the top or mix it into the batter before bringin the dough together. either way should suit you just fine because remember, scones are a feel-good treat and you shouldn’t pressure yourself for presentation excellence in my humble opinion. it’s a morning treat. take a break. relax. put your feet up. no worries. and start the day right! stress-free that is! we are all too in a hurry to achieve excellence, to score that goal that sometimes we don’t realise how much that sort of a work mentality is seeping into the part of our lives which should only have space for relaxation. was reading an article yesterday specifically on this. made me realise how sometimes i should just sit back and really slow down.

Back to these scones. If you’re wondering when the maple syrup comes in, let me admit that I didn’t mix it into the dough. Would have made it too sticky and messy. Don’t think it would have turned out right either. What I did was to gloss it over the tops of the scones. Usually, I suppose one would use a brush. Don’t think I was tryin to be quirky. I just thought a chopstick did a much better job cause it didn’t end up brushing away the flour or changin the scone’s shape too much. It was a dip-and-glide action. Pretty simple. Be careful not to be overly generous with the syrup. Remember its like sugar and will turn to carbon when burnt. Though it’ll give you a lovely smell whilst cooking, it’ll only serve to produce black scones and now won’t that be the day no one turns up for your tea party or for breakfast?
You should be able to judge how much your scones will need and always watch em while they’re baking in the oven or if you know your oven pretty well, make sure the temperature is right and baking time is suitable.

I had lots of fun experimenting how the taste would be like for this scone. Wasn’t too sure at first because cherries with peanut butter wasn’t exactly a mouthwatering thought. I love peanut butter. And I adore cherries. separately. I suppose the taste was interesting enough. something i might try again but would definitely always pair up with chocolate the next time round! if you’ve got any ideas what else, other than chocolate, that would go really well with peanut butter, drop me a comment! hope you enjoyed reading this!

When I was about 9 or 10, I loved to spend Christmas watching Home Alone. This morning I woke with that home alone feeling cause everybody had gone out by the time i woke to a sunny morning looking like a lion with his glorious mane. Thought the best way to start my day right was to treat myself to a hearty breakfast and what was heartier than good ol’ home made scones?! (I know there’s always bacon & eggs, but really.)
These scones are plain scones. I was intending to throw in some dried cherries and sultanas and had everything set on the table in preparation for that but i think i got so caught up in bringing the dough together that I cleanly forgot bout my precious dried fruit. So here i am with plain scones which aren’t bad really. You can eat these with bacon, salmon spread if you like something savoury…or if you’re like me and prefer eating them the English way, slice them in the centre and eat it with a generous serving of cream cheese, or low fat yoghurt and jam. What a way to start the day don’t you think!

Breakfast Scones (by Sue Lawrence, ‘Book of Baking’)
Ingredients
2 scant cups self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp golden caster sugar
70g unsalted butter, chilled and diced
150ml milk

Preheat to 230dCelsius.
Sift the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt into a bowl, then stir in the sugar.
Rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. (this is the really fun part. My mom believes that if you’re new at baking, you should try really simple recipes like scones but if you’re not that confident, especially since you’ll be getting down and dirty with your hands, do get someone to help you.) If you have the intention to add dried fruit or chocolate chips, add in about 50g/ a quarter cup of that with the dry ingredients. Then make a well in the centre and slowly add the milk, drawing the flour into the liquid with a table knife. Mix together gently. The dough should be soft but not sticky or overly wet.
Bring the dough together gently with floured hands and tip on to a floured surface. Pat out gently to a thickness of about an inch, then cut into scones. You can make these into typical round scones by using a fluted or plain cutter, or even use an upturned tumbler. I chose a wine glass to cut mine. Anything in the kitchen is always useful. Or, you may even choose to slice your scones into triangular slices.
Place these cut scones onto the baking sheet and bake near the top of hte oven for 12-15min until risen and golden brown. Remove to a wire rack and eat barely warm.