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Monthly Archives: October 2013

Salon Du Chocolat: Chocolate Fashion show

27 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by Fiona in Food

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Chocolate fashion show, chocolate treats, Chocopassion, Comptoir Du Cacao, cupcake dress, divine chocolate, halloween chocolates, lauden chocolate, Lindt, nudge pr, Olympia events, Paul A Young, Salon du chocolat

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Last Friday night was an exciting evening as I kindly received two tickets from Nudge PR to attend the Salon Du Chocolat Gala event. A massive chocoholic, as I’m sure you can see from previous posts, I simply could not wait!! The event was held at the National Hall, Olympia, a close walk away from Olympia overground station or 8 minute walk from West Kensington. Upon arriving half of the building looked closed as all the lights were off which made me panic slightly as I thought I’d come to the wrong place! Luckily we hadn’t and arrived in plenty of time, giving the opportunity to explore the stands before the gala event.

The Salon Du Chocolat event took place from Friday 18th to Sunday 20th October and was the first ever London edition. The event had been in full swing earlier in the day with plenty of the UK’s best chocolate companies from Paul A Young to international brands such as Lindt. When we arrived some of the exhibitors had gone for the evening, most likely resting up or preparing for their second busy working day; however there was still plenty of opportunity to walk around and read about the companies as well as sample lots of chocolate from the exhibitors who were still around…always a bonus!

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My first stop was at chocopassion as their display was one not to be missed! Animals, pumpkins and ghosts all made out of chocolate, there were so many exciting chocolate sculptures to look at and be amazed by. Not only did they have little chocolates which would make for a fantastic present but they had life size chocolate cameras and towers. I had previously come across chocopassion on a trip to Brighton. It was during lent and I had given up chocolate so the day wasn’t as fun as it could’ve been if only I’d be able to try something from their incredible stand. This time there were no restrictions so I was rather content digging into a delicious solid milk chocolate pumpkin.

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We continued exploring and stopped by Lindt where there were flavours such as crème Brule and velvety vanilla almond. There were samples of several of the bars and many more on the shelves. The staff were lovely and said if there was any chocolate we wanted to try just to let them know and they would get it for us. There was one I hadn’t tried before which was the orange and pistachio. I’m not a lover of orange in chocolate, the only one I can just about manage is Terry’s chocolate orange, however I am a big fan of pistachio so though I’d give it a go. Surprisingly I really enjoyed it, the two flavours worked together to create a fresh nutty combination that left a zingy aftertaste.

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Take time to dine at Bincho

20 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by Fiona in Film, Food

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Bincho, embassey ces, enokibacon, healthy food, Japanese food, japanese tapas, Old Compton Street, open grill, rice dishes, sake, sweet pepper

Bincho

Bincho Old Compton Street

Bincho

Five years ago now, oh god where does time go, I signed up to be an activity leader for Embassey Ces summer school. It involved a lot of taking students on tours around London- informing them about facts and historical figures (I’m pretty sure I made a few up!), showing them dance moves at discos and other exciting events like performing a Jack the Ripper Tour! I lived in central London in the university accommodation for the whole summer and although I worked ridiculously long hours for less than the minimum wage, I absolutely loved it and formed some of the best friendships. One bond of friendship which blossomed from this exciting summer was meeting Jen and Marta, who became my two embassy buddies in crime. Marta didn’t even live in the accommodation during the summer but I usually forget because she was around so often. We bonded over lots of things, from moaning about the crazy hours and airport pick ups we had to do, to some of the behaviour of the students, however, we all found common ground and passion in our love of food. We used to receive meal tokens and we would sometimes save them up and go all out at lunch buying coffee republic milkshakes and humongous baguettes from upper crust. These meal tokens were definitely the perks of the job. Continue reading →

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Pascale’s Moreish Peanut Treats

10 Thursday Oct 2013

Posted by Fiona in Food, Recipes

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Tags

chocolate and peanut, Easy delicious recipes, Lorraine Pascale, Peanut Butter Slabs, Peanut Butter Squares, peanut deserts

Lorraine Pascale Peanut Butter Squares

Lorraine Pascale- you can’t help but be jealous- gorgeous and a talented cook, it’s not quite fair really.  I have looked through her books and watched her show  but if I’m completely honest I had yet to try out a recipe. However a couple of weeks ago my lovely friend Ali invited us round for dinner and not only did she cook an incredible chicken noodle dish but she baked pistachio carrot cake and wait for it…chocolate peanut slabs! A perfectionist to the core, Ali’s slabs were cut identically and not only did they look incredible but they tasted it too! The trouble is they are too addictive! Even though they are quite rich, you eat one, say to yourself, wow that was great I couldn’t possibly have another and five minutes later your hand is edging toward the biscuit tin again. I left with a takeaway bag to bring home with me and ended up eating another one on the train ride home! Not good!

A week later an opportunity to make the peanut slabs arose as the choir at work were putting on a cake sale. As tempted as I was to make them prior to this, I did not trust myself with not being able to eat the whole lot if I did, so I was very happy that I had an ‘excuse’ for baking. I was surprised at how simple the recipe is and also a little shocked at how much peanut butter you use but it is most definitely worth it. The ingredients are as follows:

  • 150g/5½oz butter
  • 200g/7oz dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa solids) or milk chocolate (or a mixture of both)
  • 250g/9oz digestive biscuits
  • 200g/7oz soft light brown sugar
  • 300g/10½oz crunchy peanut butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

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  1. Line a 20cm/8in square tin with baking parchment, leaving some excess paper hanging over the edges (this makes it easier to lift out once set).

011 (800x533) As you can probably see from my picture the tin isn’t quite the right size and therefore the mixture wasn’t as compact as it could have been. I definitely learned from it though and would advise when a recipe asks for a 20cm tin, you better use it! 013 (800x533)2. Blitz the digestive biscuits and brown sugar in a blender or food processor to give fine crumbs.

014 (800x533) 015 (800x533)3. Melt the butter in a large pan over a low heat.

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4. Snap the chocolate into squares and throw into a small bowl.

020 (800x533)5. Melt in the microwave in 30 second blasts, stirring well between each addition or sit the bowl over a pan over simmering water. Make sure that the bottom of the pan does not touch the water or the chocolate may ‘seize’ and go really grainy and stiff.021 (800x533)6. Tip the crumbs into the melted butter.023 (800x533)7.  Stir in the peanut butter and vanilla extract and mix together so everything is well combined.025 (800x533)

026 (800x533)8. Tip the mixture into the lined tin and press it down really hard with the back of the spoon. It needs to be really compact and tight. (As you can see my tin is a bit too large so it’s not compact enough but if this happens just keep the mixture as close together as you can)

030 (800x533)9. Then pour over the melted chocolate, tilting the tin back and forth a bit so that the whole thing is evenly covered.

031 (800x533) 10. Pop in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up (or the fridge for an hour).

Then take it out, cut it into squares and get ready to eat!

082 (800x533) I apologise for my pictures on this post, there’s only so much you can do with a peanut slab,  however, the taste most definitely beats how they look and this recipe is one I will be using repeatedly. They went down an absolute treat at work, and the following week I got to try them again as my friend Marie made them!

Lorraine says in her book that she was recipe testing some millionaire’s shortbread and found that she didn’t have enough of the correct ingredients. A family-sized pot of crunchy peanut butter sat in the back of her cupboard, caught her eye and inspired her for these peanut butter squares. Well all I can say to that is thank goodness for peanut butter! I’ll be trying it out myself in more recipes!022

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A cake to bring back memories- Angel Layered Cake

03 Thursday Oct 2013

Posted by Fiona in Food, Recipes

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Tags

angel cake recipe, Angel Layered Cake, buttercream ingredients, childhood cakes, coloured cake, food colouring, three tier cake

Angeled Layered Cake

One cake I loved when I was little was the three tier Angel cake, all pink, yellow and white with buttercream in between. I used to go to Sainsburys and buy the whole cake on a regular basis and usually end up eating the majority of it myself! My dad would sneak a slice but it was simply too addictive. When watching the Bake off the other week, one of the challenges was to make the traditional angel cake, and although a lovely cake in its own right, it got me thinking about the angel cake I used to love and how long it’s been since I had it. So with the challenge in mind I decided I would bake the angel cake myself.

Funnily enough when looking for a recipe online I had a lot of trouble finding one and this spurred me on more to want to make the cake and then share it with others. I found one recipe online but I have slightly tailored it.

Ingredients:

  • 225g butter at room temperature (a good quality one)
  • 225g caster sugar
  • 4 large free range eggs
  • 225g plain flour
  • 1tsp baking powder
  • 3 tbsp whole milk
  • 1tsp vanilla extract

1 Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees, Gas Mark 4 and lightly grease 3 loaf tins.
  2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2 3 4 52.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding the vanilla with the final egg. Fold in the flour and baking powder.

6 Continue reading →

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About Me

Hi I’m Fiona, a twenty something foodie living in London who loves nothing more than cooking, eating, listening to stories and exploring. I created Tea and Takes as a way of bringing my two loves together: food and film.
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