The Sugar Bar

The one most important thing which foodbloggers do best is giving/sharing food. Sometimes the effort put into that is enormous, requiring days of preparation or a massive journey, and sometimes it only takes the smallest bit of time. But even that shouldn’t be discounted because of the amount of thought that went into it. Either way, to see the recipient break into a big grin is the best reward and the happiest moment we can wish for. And an occasion without food is simply the end of the world for us, now isn’t it? Doesn’t food just make the occasion completely?

A fellow friend of mine, much loved and adored, is about to leave to travel the world in a couple of weeks. The next two weeks ahead are slightly busier than usual due to a research proposal deadline, of which I have very little confidence in successfully producing one I’m satisfied with due to the lack of preparation. Been too caught up with other things and my two presentations this week. Because a send-off at the airport just isn’t feasible and a farewell meet-up closer to her fly-off date wasn’t wise when the aforementioned deadline contributes a lot to my Masters degree and looms scarily close, I copied A’s move to train it up to Shrewsbury for the weekend with S. Felt wrong to go empty-handed, especially when I wouldn’t be seeing her for about half a year so I made some lemon curd-filled chocolates the day before and made a trip out to LOLA’s before uni on Thursday afternoon for some mini cupcakes. Sad to say, even though I’d gotten only the small ones, they got a little banged up on the train to and fro uni and home. The ‘epic’ cross-country journey up didn’t do them any good either. Buttercream bruises aside though, it seemed the taste and moistness wasn’t at all affected. Or at least, that’s how it seemed to me. Unless the folks were lying. Jokes.

On a cupcake note, I was surprised to find this month’s new flavour to be Pink Champagne: Pink Champagne-laced cupcake and buttercream frosting topped with a ball of coconut-covered white chocolate champagne truffle. LOLA’s always surprises me with simple, exquisite flavours. They’re never over-the-top and I quite like that they pull it off with quality ingredients and not whacky over-indulged combinations. I really enjoyed every bit of my pimped out Valentine’s Day cupcakes from Hummingbird but this pastel pink and lightly silver glittered cupcakes were a nice change and easier on the eye, I must admit. Also, it gave me a few more ideas for my contribution to Meeta’s Monthly Mingle. The ingredient for that is champagne and the deadline is 16 March. If the proposal goes well, I should be able to submit a post for that fingers crossed!

Although it was only a short stay that I had, we managed to pack in quite a bit. A lovely dinner with cocktails at a British restaurant Mad Jack’s, English pancakes (I had mine with golden syrup and bacon) the next morning with two lovely cuppas made by the bestie, and a good ol’ roadtrip with Mama S. behind the steering wheel in Shropshire. Oh and did I mention that getting away from the concrete jungle meant I finally could see some greenery? That helped majorly with my grey withdrawals I think. And my fav cat no.2 (no. 1 reserved for bestie’s black persian Mortimer) Jasper did bring quite a bit of sunshine and furballs into my life. Gave him a big kiss on the neck and felt a purr vibrate up through my lips (which resulted in quite a bit of fur stuck on the lips and down the throat). He might’ve taken part in some cupcake eating as well. What a cutie.

All sugared up and ready to face the world, we wrapped up as warm as we could (I forget it’s always freezing up north), bundled away into Mama S’s snazzy black car and zipped back in time - into the Victorian town of Blists Hill. I like period dramas. I like anything historical. So this was so much fun! A, a geographer by degree, was thrilled! Stepping back into a Victorian village, visiting the old pub (bestie got serenaded to), peering through the glass into the grocer’s, chatting to the nice lady in the local draper’s, teasing the piggies by the pork pie shop, discovering the clever magic of the candlemaker in his dark workshop, etc. There was so much to learn and see - it was both entertaining and educational. We sound like geeks now don’t we? I suppose we are! But it was such good fun. And yes, the people who work or volunteer at Blists Hill are in full costume and character! It’s so brilliant!

The local drapers and the bakery were my two favourite, not surprisingly. The blacksmith’s was pretty cool too. Although I’m not going to share with you my giant haul of photographs because that may simply bore you, check out the rustic homeliness of the local bakery. With 2 ovens the size of single beds, this bakery could churn out enough cakes, breads and biscuits to feed the whole town! The candlemaker makes 1000 animal fat candles (which are a lot brighter and wind-resistant than our usual parafin ones) in 90mins. The level of subsistence of the town to self-provide was amazing. When we visited the bakery, there wasn’t much left on the shelves but the pretty baker was busy cutting up some sort of cake or flapjack. We stood eagerly by the door hoping to be the first ones to buy those warm treats but to no avail. She ignored us. Gah, so gutted!

We waited and waited. But she didn’t get those cakes out. So we settled for what was already on the shelves. As if we would have been disappointed anyway!

Cinnamon-perfumed Fruit cob for S.

Light and crunchy Ginger biscuit for moi

Despite the grey, the wet and the freezing cold, we had such a great time. I honestly had a really good back-to-the-past experience in Blists Hill and it made me forget about the depressing drudgery of the big smoke. Felt a little Jane Austen-y as well. That always helps with a bit of literary inspiration I hope which is much needed at the moment. And because it’s about time I continue working on tonight’s presentation, I must love you and leave you.

Watch out for the next post on some yum country pub grub.

On my days off, I am faced with mountains of readings, seminar prep work and the banal job of tidying and cleaning my apartment. That’s just dead boring. Academia has turned me into a boring fool so of course, I turn away from the books, humour myself and my tummy with one day of absolute food whoring. What that entails is travelling through London for ingredients (rain or shine - that means I gotta have a wet weather plan ready), quick coffee stop to rest shopping-bag-tired me with extra time factored in to browse some interesting shops I find along my way, journey back home to cook up a storm (or not) before the sun sets and all hopes of decent food photos are dashed.

A very long sentence that was. But it aptly reflects how much I do within the space of about 2-4hours zipping back and forth via bus or tube with a gianormous shopping bag. Pretty much a whirlwind of things happening, to do and yet-to-do, which is probably why slow walkers and confused tourists with huge suitcases frustrate me a little when I’m rushing against time (the sun set remember?). And when some hoity toity lady with a Louis Vuitton bag decides to squeeze past me onto the tube, nearly trodding on my toes with that knife-like stiletto heel and catching the wire of my iPod earphones resulting in me having to discreetly follow her until I can safe dislodge that caught wire from her handbag WITHOUT appearing like I’m trying to pickpocket her, I’m just that close to giving up and jumping into a taxi like a true diva. But that I don’t do. I bite my lip, pull my cap lower and blast up the rock music. Simply have to live within my means, don’t I?

I love going out for sushi but unknown to many, sushi is a bit of an occasion food. It’s a treat and unless it’s bento-style, we don’t really have it unless there’s something to celebrate or someone to reward it with. But it’s also a very tasty, clean food that’s popularly marketed now as a ‘health food’ or an ‘on-the-go’ kinda snack. Sometimes, I have sushi for lunch at work or if I’ve had time to prep it the night before, that goes into my bento as well. It’s not messy to eat, looks great, tastes great and cheap to prepare as well (depending on your toppings of course). And because it’s a very special treat-food, it makes me feel like I’m taking care of myself well. But what with the cold, I’ve found myself sticking to hot soups and stews of late and therefore neglecting any cravings for sushi. I can safely say my day off is now very productive - I food-shopped, I made sushi enough to feed me for 2 meals and I totally whored it out.

Was watching something the other day and this sentence stuck with me: “Food is medicine for your body.” That’s very true as food is what feeds your body, repairs the muscles, looks after your bones and organs, etc. It is essential and something that shouldn’t be avoided like the plague but celebrated and enjoyed. Of course, don’t overdo it and become a million stone baby. A good balance is what should be had. So anyway, here my post dedicated to bringing some colour/happiness (despite the grey) to the kitchen and to enjoying the simple pleasures of food which should be an occasion in itself!

In a previous How to Prepare Sushi post, you might have seen my plain inari sushi, naked but for a humble sprinkling of black goma seeds. This time, I opted for a blast of sunshine in the form of 2 types of egg topping.

Recipe yields 8 sushi.

Two Egg Inari Sushi
Ingredients
sushi rice (recipe here)

8 inari age wraps (from abura-age - deep fried tofu)
ikura (salmon roe)
wasabi tobiko (wasabi-laced flying fish roe)

Tobiko roe is a lot smaller than ikura roe with a bit more of a crunch. Plain tobiko has a lovely bright orange colour but you can find them coloured with wasabi, squid ink and yuzu orange - the first two being my most favourite.

Ikura roe has a salty, oily flavour. If you’re a first timer to it, you might be put off by its strong taste of the sea and aftertaste. Gari sushi pickle will help remove that aftertaste and cleanse the palate.

Have used these lovely Burford Brown eggs for a denser flavour and colour

Ingredients for Scrambled Eggs

2 large free range eggs
1 tbs caster sugar
1/2 tbs sake
salt, for seasoning

To cook scrambled eggs for bento or sushi topping I recommend using a pair of chopsticks to get that fluffy scrambled texture. Japanese scrambled eggs will differ from the usual British grub scrambled eggs which tends to be a little wetter, milkier and held-together rather than beaten and fluffed up to resemble minced meat.

Beat the eggs in a bowl. Add the sugar, sake and a little salt to taste. Beat. Pour into a heated saucepan which has a few drops of vegetable oil in it. Cook initially on a medium heat.

When the outer edges starts to cook and pull away from the sides of the pan, turn the heat down to low. Using your chopsticks, stir quickly and continuously as though whipping the eggs. When you can see the eggs quickly losing its wetness (this cooking process can happen quite quickly depending on your cooking hob), you may want to pull the saucepan away from the heat but still stir the eggs until its all cooked through and has lost all wetness. Be careful not to expose it to too much heat or cook for too long as the eggs can start to colour from being fried and become too dry.

To assemble the sushi:

Have age wraps, sushi rice, scrambled eggs and fish roe neatly prepped in front of you from left to right respectively as you’ll move from the first ingredient onto the next left to right. I use a wooden chopping board to make the sushi on as well before transferring into a bento box or plate.

Gently split open the prepared age wraps down the middle. If you’ve made these age wraps from scratch, slice them down the middle and open it carefully from the sliced side. Don’t open them all the way or you’ll split the bottom of the age ‘bag’. Spoon about 2 tbs of sushi rice into the bag and gently press and mould into the bag. As I fill it, I give the bag a gentle tapping against the chopping board to give it a nice flat bottom so that it doesn’t topple over. Ensure your rice is evenly filled so that the inari sushi can stand fairly stable on its own.

Using a pair of chopsticks, fill half the inari with scrambled eggs. Make sure you fill round the sides of the scrambled egg half so that none of the rice can be seen. If there are any empty pockets between the age and the rice, you may fill it with scrambled egg as well.

Using a spoon for the ikura and chopsticks for the tobiko (I find chopsticks are easier to handle the smaller roe), fill the other half of the sushi and make sure you’re careful to fill the sides as well so that the age doesn’t end up pulling away from the rice or have any empty pockets showing.

Fill the rest of the age wraps and you’ve got 8 yummy two egg inari sushi.

It’s Shrove Tuesday, ie. Pancake Day! Well it’s not like I need an excuse to have pancakes. It sorta is like a Sunday brekkie thing to have but pancakes when it’s not even mid-week is so much more indulgent and delicious. Knowing that just about the rest of England is having pancakes too (albeit the English crepe-like ones) - savoury or sweet - helps with feeling all fat and happy, and a lot less like the lone greedy chubster.

I spied some gorgeous rhubarb pancakes over at Nic’s Cherrapeno and I couldn’t help getting some rhubarb as well. I think it’s gotta be one of the prettiest pink edible things and I simply love it in a trifle or yoghurt. Thanks Nic for a lovely pancake idea. I’m really glad I made this as I love all things tart. Although the rhubarb sauce wasn’t as tart as I wanted it to be (didn’t wanna tart-out my flatmate), I thought it was a very delicious variation of the usual plain pancakes or the same old blueberry pancakes I find myself having every time.

I’d love to stay on here longer, but I gotta hit the books again. Yes I am a geek, don’t judge me. And yes the work’s starting to pile up. Third yes, I’ve turned into a granny who fights the cold with hot soups, cups of tea and blankets about my knees. Well, grannies are so in right now. You can’t fault that. Off I go, leaving you the recipe.

This recipe’s given me the fluffiest, softest pancakes ever. But it didn’t rise enough to my liking and it may have needed some rising agent like baking powder. I might have to experiment and compare with other recipes in the future. Nevertheless, they were good. Like little fluffy clouds.

Recipe yields 8 pancakes
Rhubarb Pancakes
Ingredients

1 cup self-raising flour
2 tbs melted butter
3/4 cup milk
1 tbs sugar
1 egg yolk
3 egg whites, whisked to form stiff peaks
pinch of salt
about 1/2 cup rhubarb sauce

In a dry medium bowl, whisk egg whites to form stiff peaks.

In a separate large bowl, sift flour, sugar and salt. Make a well in the centre.

Beat lightly together the egg yolk, melted butter and milk. Pour into the well and mix gently to form a lumpy batter. Fold in egg whites, leaving some touches of egg whites intact.

In a small frying pan, heat some butter, add a ladle of batter and fry until bubbles start forming on the surface. Flip and allow the other side to cook for another minute or so. Repeat until all the batter is used up. Keep the other pancakes in a warm oven or let the hungry buggers you live with gobble them up whilst you work hard at the stove!

Rhubarb Sauce
Recipe can be found here, which I used for a ganache. You can use this in the pancake batter and to serve over them.