Perfect Day

What would your perfect day look like?

I would be on holiday in Cornwall, in a beach chalet. I would wake up at sunrise in a bed adorned with Egyptian cotton sheets with Master M snoring gently beside me. There would be a gentle breeze blowing into the room, soft sunlight and a saltiness in the air. In the background I would hear Little M chatting away happily to himself in a room next door.

I would tiptoe out of bed and sneak outside to sit on the sandy beach and read for a while, followed by some yoga or meditation of some sort.

I would make some breakfast smoothies and croissants, wake up the boys, and we would all sit together in bed eating, laughing and looking forward to the day ahead.

We would leisurely get ready and go for a long walk along the beach to a wood where we would find a clearing to relax in for a couple of hours. We would eat a delicious picnic lunch. We would sleep under the sky.

In the afternoon we would browse around the local seaside shops, buying silly presents and postcards for our family. We would spend the rest of the afternoon building sandcastles, paddling in the sea and looking for crabs along the beach.

In the evening we would cosy up around a barbecue of delicious seafood, listen to some live folk music and meet new friends for an evening of good conversation and more laughter.

Bedtime would beckon early and we would all reminisce on what was the perfect day.

Today was far for perfect as I was made redundant. I knew it was coming but I feel pretty crushed. I know worse things can happen but it has rocked the world as I know it. I know things will be better soon, and 'when one door closes, another door opens'...


When I feel sad, cooking sorts me out so off I trotted to the kitchen, Little M on my hip, to make meat pilaff. I browned off some onion in vegetable oil and added coriander and cumin seeds along with dried thyme. To this I added basmati rice, chicken stock and left to simmer for 15 minutes. Cooked turkey was my choice of shredded meat to be added to the pot, followed by pine nuts, pomegranate seeds, coriander, parsley and seasoning (I figured the 'super foods' pomegranate and turkey would sort me out)! I then decanted to two bowls and we ate heartily. Very comforting food on a far-from-perfect day.

I have a couple of other tricks up my sleeve for the weekend aided by Dr Nigella so will be back soon.

Later peeps.

Goddess Mx

Precious Paella

Around six months after Master M and I got together at university, we had an insane moment when we decided that even though we were totally skint students, it would be an ace idea to go on holiday to Tenerife. It was a brilliant holiday that holds dear memories for me. We slept all day, went out all night and drank cocktails that were too strong. Twenty years old and not a worry in the world. One of the bits I remember most about the holiday was a special meal we went for towards the end, when we pushed the boat out and ordered an extra nice bottle of wine and a seafood paella. I have mentioned before that I am not great eating food with bones, and nor am I fantastic with deshelling shellfish (although I am miles better now than ever before). I was horrified when our paella arrived topped with shellfish above the normal size, reaching out over the plate at me. At the time we had a laugh about it and went on to enjoy the treat. After the holiday, Master M took a shining to calling me 'precious paella' (don't know why) and this stuck for many years! So it was with a smile on my face that I decided to make Nigella's pantry paella.

The idea with pantry paella is that you are supposed to use odds and ends that you have lying around your kitchen. I had some of the ingredients but bought others, including pork to cook and leave to cool, as if I was using it as 'leftovers'. Amusing. I heated some oloroso sherry (or cream sherry to you and I) together with some saffron threads and left to cool. I then fried off some sliced spring onions and garlic in olive oil. Next I added arborio rice, a bag of frozen mixed seafood, peas and the pork. Chicken stock and the cooled sherry mixture were poured into the wok and the whole concoction was left to simmer for twenty minutes. The dish was garnished with lemon wedges and coriander, with a little sea salt. I had never made a paella previously, but the ease at which I made this surprised me. I did think the end result was more like risotto than paella, but next time I would leave it to dry out a little more. It did taste delicious nevertheless. Like holiday dinner at a nice harbour somewhere.


Today we visited some friends that we don't get to see enough of, so at Master M's suggestion, I made up some choc chip cookies. These were easy to make too - melted butter mixed with a combo of soft light brown sugar/caster sugar, vanilla extract, egg, flour, bicarbonate of soda and milk chocolate chips. I used an icecream scoop to produce blobs of the dough onto a greased baking tray and baked. The result was a yummy smelling house, and a tin of yummies to take over to friends to be consumed with a nice cuppa. And more for later!


I was honoured to receive a Stylish Blogger Award from Yummy Chunklet - check out her blog, it is full of fabulous food and I am hooked on reading it.

There are four rules to taking part - thank and link to the blogger who nominated you; share seven things about yourself; award 15 new bloggers, and tell them you have done it. I will be passing the baton to:

http://usmasala.blogspot.com/
http://momzblotter.blogspot.com/
http://jeansheartbeat.blogspot.com/
http://knackeredmotherswineclub.blogspot.com/
http://bundance.blogspot.com/
http://bakingwithfrench.blogspot.com/
http://notesfromhome.com/
http://thesinglemumdiaries.wordpress.com/
http://bakeforhappykids.blogspot.com/
http://anniesfoodjournal.blogspot.com/
http://jbskitchen.blogspot.com/
http://diaryofditzymummy.blogspot.com/
http://curtainsforthewindow.blogspot.com/
http://cookingmanu.blogspot.com/
http://cupcakesmile.blogspot.com/

I have enjoyed reading lots of Stylish Blogger Awards on other blogs and am pleased to take part. The tricky part was thinking about what to write! Here is my best shot:

1. My maiden name was Livingstone and I grew up in a town called Livingston.

2. As a child I was an avid fan of all Australian soaps, especially Neighbours. So it was to my delight that my friend's dad was UK agent to the actors/actresses from Neighbours, as it meant that the likes of Jason Donovan and Natalie Imbruglia were often in our street.

3. I love music, but my all-time favourite band has to be The Levellers. I have seen this epic band so many times that I have lost count. One night when I was watching TV, my sister called to say that she, my two brothers and dad were backstage with the Levs as they had supported my brother's friend's band The Complete Stone Roses. The phone was passed to me so that I could have a chat with the band. I can't remember what I said but I think it was along the lines of 'I really loooove your music' (how corny)?

4. When I was twelve I ran away to Inverness, a three hour journey from home with only a pound in my purse for school lunch. My friend had genuine reasons to flee home, but I just went along for the ride. I liked a bit of excitement and apologise now for being a source of constant worry for my lovely parents (can I just add that we were delivered home by midnight on the same day we left).

5. My family are like the Von Trapps. They can all sing, my mum plays the violin and my brothers are keen guitarists. My brother Martin Livingstone has put his whole heart and soul into promoting his brilliant music - please take a look (sorry for the plug)! I play the saxophone (this has lapsed for quite some time) but sing badly.

6. I am a slave to advertising and have to try the latest fad. I get anxious if I have not yet tried a new chocolate bar, e.g Aero have an 'bubbly lamb' which I am itching to sample!

7. I would say I am an average looking gal, but I have modelled once. When I was seventeen and working at the local golf club, an entrepreneurial colleague asked me if I would model pyjamas that she had designed to be sold at upmarket department store Jenners in Edinburgh. I don't think I have ever been as flattered in my life. I very much enjoyed working with a gorgeous male model, and there was a life-size cardboard cut-out of me in Jenners for quite sometime, although the brand never took off (hopefully nothing to do with me)!

Until next time.

Goddess Mx

A girlie night in and a very chocolately cake

Last night Master M was out on the town, so I had the pleasure of my own company and Take That's Circus DVD. All I needed to add was a nice cosy dinner and some good red wine. Dinner was smoked haddock, an egg, tomato, parsley and frozen peas poached in milk (in a buttered dish) and sprinkled with oodles of pepper. I bought some nice white slice-your-own white bread to accompany my meal and buttered generously. I did find that I had to decant the fish, egg and tomato into another dish as the 'fishy milk' put me off a bit.

Today my mother-in-law came for a visit and we had lunch at Pizza Express, followed by some research at the Early Learning Centre on kitchens for Little M. I am a teensy bit smug about this as I have been trying to persuade Master M for quite a while that we should buy a tea-set/kettle/toaster/kitchen and now he is finally coming around to the concept. The thing is, once the idea is there, my hubby really throws himself into finding the best on the market. Maybe we have a little cook/chef in the making with our son...


We had some lovely flourless chocolate lime cake at home which was made up of melted dark chocolate mixed with caster sugar, unsalted butter, a lot of eggs, ground almonds, cocoa powder and lime (zest/juice). The cake was then baked for 35 minutes and was dusted with icing sugar. We then all devoured a slice each leaving enough for MIL to take some away and to stash in a tin for a treat tomorrow and the next day. Waste not want not...

Feeling weary about the week ahead due to some work uncertainties, but will continue to cheer myself up with my family and cooking away the blues in my kitchen!

Goddess Mx

A world made of chocolate

I often wonder what it would be like if the world was made of chocolate. I am not kidding, that is how much I adore the stuff. I love the Lynx advert when the guy walking down the road is made of chocolate. Now that is the kind of man I like - I don't wonder why he is eaten in the cinema, gets his bum bitten on the bus and has his arm ripped off. Hansel and Gretel was also one of my favourite books, probably because it gave me an excuse to daydream about a house made of sweets and chocolate.


It was no contest when Maison Cupcake challenged us with the latest Forever Nigella to 'Seduce with Chocolate'. Chocolate brownie bowls are not brownies as you know them. They are not gooey but more sponge-like so that they can hold whichever filling you wish to load them with. In Kitchen, Nigella strongly advocates using a special 6-Cavity Dessert Shell Pan. She does also say that you can use Yorkshire pudding tins instead, which I did (I do live in Leeds after all). My brownie bowls were actually saucers which I prefer as I was able to fill more ice-cream into mine!


I added horlicks, cocoa powder and boiling water to melted butter mixed with sugar. To the mix I poured in some yoghurt, flour, bicarbonate of soda, egg and vanilla and whisked up. The mixture was then poured into a couple of Yorkshire tins and oven-baked for just over ten minutes, pressing down on them with a teacup to get the 'saucer' effect, and voila, perfect little holders for a never-ending list of fillings. My choice du jour was good quality vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce.

The great thing about these puddings is that they can seduce just about anyone with chocolate because the bowls are not rich so you can really go to town with the topping. Master M reckoned they would be good with poached pear or stewed apple, and even suggested a Black Forest brownie bowl (eighties chic)! Nigella's dried cherries soaked in cherry brandy (from her Christmas book) would work a treat for this. I like 'death by chocolate' so would go for choc ice-cream, sauce, sprinkles and might even add a cheeky flake.

One last fab thing about these bowls is that you can make up a batch and freeze them to seduce yourself whenever you have the urge. Now if you will excuse me, I have a date with a brownie saucer...

Goddess Mx

A little slice of Carribean magic

I first tried jerk chicken with rice and peas at Leeds West Indian Carnival a couple of years ago. I liked the rice but struggled with the chicken, probably because I am a bit of a baby with bones. I do however love the concept, especially all of the different flavourings, and who can argue with chicken dowsed in rum?? Last night I made Nigella's version and was glad I did.

Nigella suggests using chicken breasts with the peg bone still in, but I couldn't source these so just went for the regular bone-free option. These are marinaded in a long list of spices and other ingredients which I whizzed up in the food processor, namely:

allspice
dried thyme
cayenne pepper
ground ginger
ground nutmeg
ground cinnamon
garlic cloves
root ginger
muscovado sugar
dark rum
lime juice
soy sauce
cider vinegar
whole (yup hot!) red chillies
onion

The chicken was then cooked in the oven for an hour in total until it looks worryingly charcoaled on the outside.

For the accompanying rice and peas, I fried off some chopped onion in vegetable oil, added chopped red chilli, garlic, long grain rice, coconut milk, stock, kidney beans and let simmer for 15 minutes. To serve I added some thyme and seasoned a little with salt.


All-in-all a pretty decent dinner for a Wednesday, but very spicy so is not for those who can't handle a bit of heat. The chicken wasn't tender inside but I'm not sure it is intended to be. All that was missing was a can of Red Stripe, some live louder-than-loud music, dancing and a procession of colours.

Looking forward to this year's event. It is second only to the Notting Hill Carnival which to me says it is pretty special, and something that we Yorkshire folks should be shouting about!

Goddess Mx

'There's no place like home'

This weekend we strayed from the usual routine at home, and visited friends in Redhill. After a few hours singing ‘Tommy Thumb’ and ‘the wheels on the bus’ we arrived at our destination. It was well-worth the journey to meet our friends' 18 month old son, and to see their sprawling period property that they moved into shortly after his arrival (jealous, moi)?

On Saturday we went to Godstone Farm – the one that was affected by E.coli a couple of years ago. The boys loved wandering around chatting with the animals (Little M was particularly taken by the huge amount of tractors and diggers onsite). The highlight of the trip for the adults was a cosy hot chocolate in the play barn where the children ran off some steam. I was a little on-edge about all of the posters reminding us to wash our hands, and the notice that said to assume that all of the larger animals have E.coli. I guess it was an exercise in learning to not continually wrap Little M up in cotton wool (although it might have been warmer)! Back home, we had some delicious lamb shanks cooked with chickpeas and harissa, followed by ginger bread and butter pudding (a la Nigella, but not cooked by me for a change). We attempted to watch The Social Network on DVD, but embarrassingly Master M and I fell asleep midway through. We do like our early nights.

Sunday was spent driving home, with a stop at Heathrow to watch the planes take-off and land from the top of the car park. Little M loved this and aeroplanes are now his new favourite topic of conversation. All-in-all we had a thoroughly good weekend - great company and food. I think we had both forgotten how nice it is to get away for a few days.


The really great thing about going away for the weekend is coming home. Once in the door I made a batch of Buttermilk Scones, which we had with some of the Jumbleberry Jam I made at Christmas. The scones are so easy to make – flour, cream of tartar, butter, vegetable shortening, buttermilk, caster sugar and bicarbonate of soda; all mixed together, rolled out, cut into discs and egg-washed. The scones are then popped onto a greased baking sheet and baked for 12 minutes. The result is a nice light scone with a lovely bronzed topping. They taste plain yet tangy but the slight sourness really works well against the homemade jam. We all couldn’t resist going back for more.

Looking forward to a trip to the cinema tonight to see a chick flick – perfect start to the week. Happy Monday everyone.

Goddess Mx

PS - didn't get the 'Britain's Best Dish' gig. Their loss not mine! Happy that the pressure is off in a way as now I can get back to what I like to do best - work my way through 'Kitchen'. What shall I make next??

"Better the devil you know..."

"... than the devil you don’t", or so the saying goes, meaning that sometimes it is best dealing with someone or something you know (but find difficult) than with the unknown. Is this true? The other school of thought is ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’ which can open doors for you aplenty. Which one sways you? Do you thrive on change and live on the edge or are you more of a home-comforts kind of person who likes the here-and-now and would happily stay there?

Last night I made Devil’s Food Cake for a colleague who is turning forty this weekend. The ingredients of the cake are made in three different bowls. Firstly, cocoa was mixed with boiling water and muscovado sugar, mixed and set-aside. Secondly, butter and caster sugar were mixed in another bowl with some vanilla extract. Thirdly, the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda were mixed in a further bowl. All of the ingredients were then gradually mixed alternately with eggs. The batter was poured into two lined, buttered sandwich tins and baked in the oven according to Nigella’s recipe.

Once in the oven the frosting was made by melting butter with muscovado sugar and boiling water, adding chunks of dark chocolate and then mixing until melted. This mixture was then left for an hour to become spreadable. I never thought it would - it seemed quite oily and like it would just slide off the cake. However, it worked its magic and the overall result was a devilishly good chocolate cake, filled and covered with the dense topping. This takes rich cake to a whole new level!


I attempted to decorate the cake with smarties, in a 4-0 fashion, but gave up and went for a more random approach. It was also adorned with 40 candles which I felt added a certain special something (dontchathink)?

Goddess Mx