St Agnes....

to go or not to go that is the question?! 

part of my UK style bucket list is to visit cornwall and i really want to do something with my week off work next week.

i think i need some time away by myself as well to get things sorted in my head, as i've got a lot to think about at the moment.

my plan for the week so far is to spend a day in bath, a day baking, a day doing nothing (kind of), and then 2-3 days possibly in cornwall.

i have found a little place my dad has stayed at a couple of times called The Driftwood Spars. when he told me about it at first i expected it to be really expensive but they currently have some good deals on.

2 nights in a single room is £90 which i don't think is to bad. i will also save some time and money by hiring a car rather than getting a train.

anyone got any suggestions for things to do in cornwall? something that involves cake would be good...ha..

a spanner in the works...

i started this blog back in february with an aim to help myself achieve my dreams and so far...it is working!

if you follow my blog more regularly you will notice the savings tracker that appears frequently at the bottom of a post (this tends to be around pay day). well i'm saving for a little trip to Australia.

a lot of my family live over there and i have been 4 times in the past, last when i was 18. it has always been a dream of mine to go and either explore by myself in the time frame of a holiday...or...to make the most of it and go for a year.

the savings you see on the blog on the savings i can actually get my hands on, the rest is hidden away somewhere where i cannot reach it.

the other day i worked out with my parents how much i actually had across all my savings and it turns out i am only £90 away from the savings required by the Australian government to go on a working holiday visa...naturally i'm excited!

then there was the spanner in the works..
my dad has always supported the things i want to do except for one thing.(or two depending on the view you take on this particular spanner..)

that one thing being the baking. dont get me wrong he always says how nice they are and stuff but he has not been very supportive of my idea to do it more professionally.

the day after we worked out my savings he was getting ready to leave for work and seemed a little deflated. turns out work is annoying him at the moment and we got into a discussion about retirement ages. he said how he felt sorry for the people that do manual labour as he couldn't imagine having to work until he was 70 doing that kind of job, let alone his own job.

i threw into the conversation that i didn't think i could do my job until i was 70 as i run around like a headless chicken all day and didn't fancy having hip replacements on a weekly basis..

he then stuck the spanner in..

"maybe it's time you start thinking about investing your savings into converting the second garage into a kitchen and starting your own business..."

i think i know his game...i think he thinks that it will maybe stop me going to Australia? 

so do i follow my dream of going traveling around the beautiful Australia? or do i follow my other dream of baking as a career? 

ARRRGGHHHHH 

i have asked a few people i know what they think and they have all said that even though the kitchen idea is a great one, its something that can be done when i get back. Australia is best travelled when you have nothing to hold you back, no commitments...

any advice from you guys would be muchly appreciated as i am well and truly stuck!

beef and anchovies? get out...

heres another blog i have been saving/not having the time to post. 2 sundays ago i was ment to be cooking a spiced leg of lamb for the family but before i wasn't feeling 100% i opted for raiding the cupboards and made a beef stew instead. i was a bit worried about this recipe at first as it involves anchovies and mum is not a fan. however it turned out to be really really tasty and mum loved it!

you will need :


3 tablespoons olive oil
1.5 kilograms stewing steak
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
3 medium carrots
4 sticks celery
2 teaspoons dried thyme (or 1 ½ tablespoons fresh)
6 anchovies
3 tablespoons marsala
500 ml red wine or vermouth
300 ml beef stock
1 tablespoon tomato puree
½ teaspoon mace

start by throwing the chopped onion, carrot, garlic and celery into a suitable hob casserole dish along with the oil. Allow this to soften gently.

whilst thats happening chop up the anchovies, i know what you are thinking but trust me, its just like adding salt! you dont even know its there.

next add the beef and stir well with the veg, allow that to cook until it no longer looks like you have thrown in a whole cow.

add the thyme, chopped anchovies, marsala (i didn't have any so i opted for sherry instead), red wine, stock, tomato puree and mace and stir well.

the thing to remember with the red wine is that there isn't a set red wine to add to the stew. base it on your personal preference as it does give flavour, a good rule of thumb is "would you drink it?"

allow that to come to the boil and then season to taste, then throw into the oven for 3 hours.

i have to say it was a lovely meal, although next time i think i would try it in the slow cooker to let the meat melt in the mouth.

you can find the orinal recipe here thanks to Nigella!

a zesty little number..

this blog has been waiting to be posted for just over a week, i've been really busy baking and working and just havent found the time to sit and type it up!

so here we have it, a lovely lemon cake! i've made many lemon cakes in the past but this one has to be my all time favourite. its incredibly lemony!

you will need :

for the sponge
110g unsalted butter
380g caster sugar
320g plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
320ml buttermilk
the zest of 2 lemons
3 eggs

for the frosting
900g icing sugar
zest of 1 and a half lemons
150g unsalted butter
375g full fat cream cheese

and finally for decoration
a handfull of raspberries
the zest of one lemon
a small amount of icing sugar for dusting

start by beating the butter and the sugar today until there are no large lumps.

sift the flour and baking powder into the butter mixture and give it a good mix.

measure out the buttermilk and add the eggs, give it a whisk until combined.

add the zest and give it another quick stir.

with the mixer on a low speed gradually add the liquid, scraping down the sides and turning up the speed until fully combined.

separate into 2 to 3 tins depending on the sizes you have. i went for 2 9inch spring form tins.
throw them in the oven (not literally) at 170ºc or gas mark 3 and bake for 20-30 minutes (this may vary on your oven).

whilst the cakes are cooling you can make the icing. beat the butter and icing sugar on a slow speed until no large lumps remain. next add the lemon zest and the cream cheese and beat on a medium high speed until the frosting is light and fluffy, this can take between 5-10 minutes.

then place the first cake onto a board or your favourite cake stand and cover with your favourite raspberry jam, go right to the edges so that every bite has some in.

next put some frosting on top of the jam and smooth it over with a palette knife.  

place the second layer on top of this and press it down gently.
spoon some more mixture on the top and spread it out evenly, dont worry to much about the crumbs at this point.

continue to cover the entire cake with a layer of frosting, this will act as a crumb layer so the final cake is crumb free. once thats done pop it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to allow the frosting to set slightly.

once cooled place a second layer of frosting on the cake and decorate with the palette knife. i made the mistake of placing it directly onto the cake stand so this made decoration a little tricky but you get the idea!

finally top the cake with a handfull of raspberries and a dusting of icing sugar. if you wish you can grate some lemon zest over the raspberries but that is up to you. i decided to change it up a little and used lime zest instead to give it that extra tang, i didn't regre it!

i took this cake to work with me on tuesday last week and it went VERY quickly! next time i think i will have to make 2, one for the family and one for work.

enjoy!

hitting the mother load...

last week my dad went to the football and came home rather tipsy, mum was fuming because he promised he would not be late home (he was getting the train home and made out he would be home by 7) however he didn't arrive home until almost 11pm.

he came in saying that his friend who lives in france was home and was staying on the boat that he owns in bristol. this friend of his was having a clear out and was looking to get rid of some of his old SLR camera's... he was apparently just going to give them to a charity shop.

dad mentioned to him that i had started to use my DSLR a but more recently and talked about my friend emma using her SLR when we went for my birthday meal.

his friend said that i could have his camera's if i wanted and dad said that he would ask me.

i said to dad to see how much he wanted and depending on the make i would possibly pay up to £50 for them as i was quite interested.

the next time dad spoke to him told him this and he said that i could have them for free as he had offered them to someone else and they had forgotten to take them..

so today dad came home from the football with a bag in each hand. one was quite a modern looking bag and the other looked like something out of the war..

i was more intrigued by the first bag and opened it up. inside there was a strong smell of leather and a black RICOH slr camera. picking the camera up out of this old yet glorious bag revealed a hidden bottom...which contained even more goodies...

inside the bottom of the bag i found a second lens, 2 point of shoot film cameras, a little 110 camera (the little one at the bottom of the picture above with the big red button) and a tripod.

i was overwhelmed with excitement the second i opened the bag but this was an amazing gift.

after 10 minutes of playing with all the little bits and bobs i decided to have a little look at the second bag..

this just confirms that you should never judge a book by its cover, just because it looked new doesn't mean it contains anything less that awesome. inside this bag i found a Yashica SLR along with 3 lenses and 2 flash guns.

i am SO fricking excited i cannot even start to tell you how much i want to run around snapping photos.

there is something about looking through the view finder of an old SLR camera, the colours change and everything looks more alive.

thank you so much Alan! you have well and truly made my day!

once i have a little more time i will go over each individual piece in a bit more detail....Hell...i may even take some photos!

£335

+£265

Total Saving

£600

foodurday

i didn't have much planned for my day off before last night...
fran and i decided to go for breakfast this morning which was really nice, the laughs flowed and we did some light shopping.

i then came home expecting to be going out for a coffee with my mum and auntie...but no...we went for a full on italian which was also lush..pasta with a creaming sauce with mushrooms, chicken, garlic and a hint of chilli...

by this point my tummy was over joyed and at the point of bursting...

then came my evening plans with one of my nearest and dearest friends, ruth.
tomorrow is her birthday and i wanted to treat her to a night in with laughs, chinese and some light baking.
i collected her at just gone 3.30pm and we commenced with the baking..

i finally got round to baking these bad boys, Ferrero Rocher cupcakes! i have been wanting to do them for a few weeks but haven't been able to.

i didn't bother to do a step by step guide for these as i was to busy chatting but they are so easy to make. just whip up a batch of your favourite chocolate cupcakes, core them, fill with nutella and stuff with a ferrero rocher!

i believe ruth said "Crumbs in my lap, chocolate smeared on my boobs...these are the signs of a good cake!"

all in all a brilliant day! we laughed a lot and i look forward to doing it again soon!

happy baking all!

herbs glorious herbs...

finally i have woken up feeling slightly normal! although i have to admit i am still snotty and coughing a little but i needed to do something with today.
my original plan for this weekend was to plant a herb garden, bake a lot of cakes and do a roast dinner for the parents.

sadly because of feeling unwell the baking went out of the window as did the roast because i was unable to get out and get the leg of lamb.

my lovely mother did however manage to go out for me with a handful of cash and grabbed the things i needed for the herbs...so today i have become a gardener!

i decided to go for Rosemary, sage, lemon thyme and chives. 2 of each apart from the Rosemary.

i started off by taking a planter and poking holes into the base so that the water can drain out. i have read that herbs dont like to much water and also that the roots will go mouldy if they are to wet.

next i took some of the old terracota pots that we had lying around...you know...the cracked ones!
smash them to pieces with a hammer...or if you are anything like me, the closest heavy object you can find.

line the bottom of the planter with this, it will make the planter lighter to lift than if you were filling it right up with compost and will make the drainage even better.

now for these herbs im using a 50/50 mix of 2 different types of compost. one being John Innes No3 and the other being a multipurpose peat free compost.

me being me i thought that mixing them in another pot first of all might make things a bit less messy....i was wrong....lucky for me with a bit of cleaver photography (HAHA) i managed to avoid you seeing most of the mess....you do however get a view of my dads shoes and my little helped...my little ginger tom Ringo!

line the bottom of the planter with the compost so that the larger of the herbs are at a good height. before adding the plants though i added to moisture control gel...
these little babies retain water and swell to four times their original size and give the plants water as and when they need it.
this is not only great for the summer months when its dryer outside (we hope...) but also great for if you have a mind like mine and forget to water!

follow the directions on the packet and sprinkle a layer over the top of the compost.

next arrange the larger herbs and build up the soil around them so that the smaller ones are still at the right height. once you have everything in place make sure that everything is covered and that its all nicely patted down.

these particular herbs can be placed in 2 places, either in the sun or in part shade.

im quite lucky with my back garden, in the morning the sun shines in and warms everything up but as the intense afternoon rays come in the sun moves over to the front of the house, giving the herbs protection from the burning rays.

once you are happy with the placement give them a good watering and sit back and watch them grow.

i look forward to cooking with freshly grown herbs from my own garden...and it all happened at just the right time what with the #VegBoxChallenge

#VegBoxChallenge

so its the weekend and my plans have been dampened some what by this chest infection. i have to say i am feeling almost human now but i am still coughing and my nose is still sniffly.

i had hoped on getting out into the garden today in the hope that the fresh air would remove the final cobwebs from my system, but guess what..the heavens have opened!

however i have just received a tweet from Johanna which sounds like a lot of fun...

the aim of this challenge is to get people to waste less food and to get creative in the kitchen. iv always thought about ordering these boxes but they sound so expensive and i have a habbit of buying things and not using them. 

my recently adventures in the world of baking have reignited my passion for cooking so now seems the perfect time to do this.

rather than having one box every week i have decided to go for one a fortnight which will reduce my wastage and keep the excitement there rather than making it a chore. this will also tie in nicely with my herb garden once i get that started.

if you fancy joining the challenge head on over to Johanna's blog and sign up. also get tweeting with #VegBoxChallenge

blog interview...

guess what...i have a chest infection! the joys...


anyway!

you may remember me mentioning that a writer for an online magazine had emailed me asking if i would do an interview about my blog.

well i sent off the interview answers and didn't hear anything back for a little while but apparently it went into their spam box!

they posted the interview last week and i completely forgot to mention it on here! you can find it here at TeenBook.

i have to say its extremely nice to be mentioned on there, feel quite proud and all...


on a side note i have purchased my own domain name so add this to your favourites 

www.thebrokeboy.co.uk

anyway, i'm going to pop some pills and crawl into bed...

*sobs uncontrollably*

feel poorly? plan you're weekend to make the most...

so its monday, iv felt like this since friday and its gradually getting worse! my head feels like it is full and about to burst and im starting to get a bit annoyed with it all...

so iv decided to think positive and plan things for the weekend ahead as i dont have work and i really dont plan on staying in bed all weekend feeling sorry for myself, especially after working with it all week.

saturday im going to prepare a honey spiced leg of lamb, ready for cook on sunday. there are 2 reasons for this... firstly i want to be a tad adventurous in the kitchen and secondly if i still have a cold i hope the spice will help it leave my body in time for monday.

i will also be setting up my own herb garden. i have never really taken to gardening but after watching a program the other day about how many different herbs we have in england i want to give it a go. hopefully it will inspire me to cook more too!

and then baking...

over the last few weeks i have been gathering up some ingredients to make cupcakes but haven't had the time to get on with it and actually make any.

i currently have a box of Ferrero Roche, 2 boxes of dark chocolate covered coffee beans, a pack of Praline truffles and enough cream eggs to make 152 brownies/cupcakes.

so i am going to get a bit creative and start adding things to my portfolio.

all the baking i do will be sold off and the money donated to charity...excited!

(picture from lick the bowl good) 

a friday off work....what is this!?

my working week usually consists of me working 5 days and having sunday and thursday off. however this week i worked the thursday...i have to admit...i felt like a zombie that had been microwaves...my brain did not compute..

i was excited for a friday off though as i always work friday and always come home feeling pooped.

last night i planned on spending my day off in bath doing some kitchen utensil shopping, these plans did not happen as i woke up full of cold again! luckily its not a sore throat and i dont feel unwell...its just like someone has turned a tap on up my nose and i cant shut it off!

instead mum asked if i would mind running her to the hair dressers and hang around to take her home again, as i had nothing else planned didn't mind.

her appointment was at 11am so i dropped her off just before hand.

as most of weston town center is now pay and display i decided to drive along the sea front. it was such a glorious day i couldn't help but pull over and take a snap of the lovely view of 
brean down.

after collecting her we decided to take a trip to bristol, cribbs causeway to be precise.
we started off with a spot of lunch at the M+S deli but sadly because i was starving i didn't get any pictures of the food as it didn't last long enough. never fear though, i enjoyed it so much i purchased all of the items to make it again for dinner...it was that good!


first off we visited john lewis, i wanted to pick up a few items to make a delicious lemon drizzle cake. got myself a citrus reamer and a zester.
after that we visited the apple shop and once again i had to hold myself back from getting a new toy. i already have an imac and an old mac book pro... i really don't need anything new but i would really like a new mac book pro...but no...no i shall not buy one...yet....


i also popped into hotel chocolat and got myself some dark chocolate covered coffee beans and some chocolate orange puddles..i feel a baking session coming on!

after this mum wanted to have a look around the clothing department in M+S..as usual she told me to go away...i think i cramp her shopping style...that and i moan a lot...

i decided to walk back down to the food hall and got myself a mango passion with double fruit from Boost.

so back to the food...

for lunch i had a prawn and avocado salad which was very nice indeed...but i went one stage further tonight!

i decided to add some crab meat to the mix and my gosh....it was gooooooood!

the only thing with salad is i always feel hungry again an hour or so later.

so as i type this blog i'm having a little snack of crackers and extra mature tickler cheddar...yummy!

The Londoner's charity bake sale...

rosie over at the londoner is holding a charity bake sale this saturday between 3pm and 6pm @ Bumpkin in south ken.

its a great way to raise money for two very important charities but its also a great way to make friends with other bloggers, get advice and also stuff your faces with cakes and other baked goods.


i had my heart set on baking up a storm and travelling up to london for this but sadly because of the short notice i cannot make it due to work.

all of you bloggers out there that read this blog and live in london, think of poor me working late night saturday and all day sunday and bake something for the event..

go on...you know you want to!

for more info see her blog post