Little Pots of Baked Chocolate

Hello dear!

I can't say I'm surprised at all by Margo's ostentatious new kitchen - if ever there was a woman who had it all and never tired of telling us about it, it's her. Chandeliers?! But I do see a chink in her armour - did you say a shiny red food processor? I thought Margo was a stickler for the wooden spoon and mixing bowl; what a duplicitous woman she is. I shall no longer feel inferior because I have to get by with a Sainsbury's Basics electric whisk! I can work wonders with it and don't need to pretend; I bet she distresses shop bought mince pies at Christmas and passes them off as her own...

This evening I am feeling most satisfied, even a little smug. After a particularly challenging week, I decided that the Chino Family needed a little spoiling and set to planning a lovely evening meal. We ate chicken and mushroom risotto followed by Little Pots of Baked Chocolate (heavenly!) and yes, the 'molten chocolate centre' did 'ooze out' as I broke the crust. I believe that even Raymond Blanc would have been impressed.

[This picture was taken after the pudding had cooled so, Margo, the inside is not oozing.]

The recipe required 300g of good plain chocolate; when I came to inspect the contents of my larder cupboard, I only had 200g of Bourneville; drat! I rifled through the fridge and found another 50g and a single chocolate from a Christmas variety box; getting closer! But how could I make up the final 50g? In desperation (on so many levels) I was forced to use the last of my Cherry Green & Blacks. What resulted was actually quite pleasant, however, one of my youngest nearly went apoplectic when he came across the alien fruit in his desert. Honestly, if it's not a banana, he won't go near it. I bet Margo's children eat all sorts of exotic things. By the way, what is that black speck in the marmalade? Heaven forbid it's anything untoward; as long as it's not your charred flesh, Lucy...

Speak soon, Cathy x

Margo's Marmalade

Dear Cathy

Nice of you to drop me a note but I wasn't worried about you. I remember only too well last year when you went AWOL for a month and it turned out you were sitting on your backside without a care in the world somewhere on the Costa del Sol. I was beginning to wonder about Margo though, as we haven't heard from her for a while, so I popped in on her today.

It was a surprise visit, and I found her in her newly remodelled kitchen making Marmalade. The kitchen looked beautiful I must say. She has a classic cream Aga, a stylish kitchen island, several stained-glass windows, one of those fab red food mixers they use on The Great British Bake-Off, and not one, but two HUGE chandeliers. The place was spick and span, and there she was, just about to do the wrinkle test - on her Marmalade.
When the boiling mixture had reached setting point she lifted the huge preserving pan off the Aga and poured the contents into jars (and over the table) 'freehand'. I was holding the jars steady and let me tell you it's a wonder I've got any skin left on my arms. If you want to know what to buy Margo for Christmas next year, for god's sake get her a funnel. Anyway, while I was there she made a phone call and while she was distracted I took the opportunity to run my finger along a few of the less conspicuous work surfaces, but not a trace of muck anywhere. (I bet her bedroom is strewn with wet towels and dirty underpants.) She was kind enough to send me home with a (small) jar of her freshly made marmalade - pictured. I could ask her to write with the recipe if you were interested?

Did I ever tell you about the time Margo and I went to see The Vagina Monologues together? We were waiting for curtain-up and Margo was just telling me that she'd left her brood with a roast chicken, stuffing, roast potatoes, carrots, beans, cauliflower, cabbage and god knows what else, when she received a text from Mr Margo which read: "No gravy - gutted!"
I'd left Mr Latte a piece of toast on a plate with an unopened tin of sardines on top. Some men don't know they're born do they?

Speak soon dear. Love Lucy. x

PS Did I tell you about my new Breville 'Cafe Style Sandwich Press'???

Happy New(ish) Year!

Happy New Year, Lucy! I can't believe that we're almost in February! Where is the time going?

I have to apologise for my lack of baking - I'm afraid that my beloved has transmogrified into somewhat of a foodie fascist in a bid to rid himself of a spare-tyre's worth of festive fayre. The least mention of anything more fattening than a limp crudite has him launching into a rant about health and fitness. I wouldn't mind, darling, but there is a cupboard full of left-over chocolates that I'm having to consume, surreptitiously; it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it...

I'm hoping to be able to bake later in the week as the Chino children are about to take packed lunches to school, and shall want something 'cakey' to accompany their sandwiches. I do hope it all goes well, Mr Chino has volunteered to make their lunches, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the responsibility will fall to me ere long; 'twas ever thus - I remember the long discussions we had as a family before we got the dog, last summer: "Oh, yes! We'll all walk her!", "I'll get up at 6 o'clock in the morning to take her around the block, Mum.", "We'll have lovely family walks at the weekend!"Needless to say, I'm the only person who remembers the aforementioned conversations and the only one who turfs out at all hours and in all weathers! (But that's how I can get away with finishing-off all of the chocolates without my jeans giving me away!)

I'll write to you again very soon, with results of my latest bake.

Hope all is well with you and that your oven is sparkling, once again.

Much love, Cathy x

Fa la la la la, la la la la!

Ho Ho Ho Cathy!

Gosh, what a lot of baking, and it all looks so good. Your presentation is second to none dear.

We had a fabulous Christmas and only finished off the last of the turkey gravy this afternoon. We've been eating roast dinners every day to use it up, all except for yesterday when I went to London for my lunch. It was a very special occasion as an old friend from abroad was visiting, so I made the trip to Covent Garden to see her. We had a light lunch accompanied by Champagne Cocktails. Ever so slightly dizzy, I just about made it to the right platform at Paddington to catch my train home. On alighting at our local station I had a twenty minute walk, which might have been a bit spooky, had the bubbles I had imbibed not kept me all warm and floaty.

We have enjoyed all the usual festive village traditions including the Christmas Coffee Morning and the Christmas Pudding. The latter, is a special evening when a mixture of villagers get up on stage and do
a turn, a little bit like all the wonderful ingredients that go to make a Christmas Pudding in the culinary sense. Speaking of which, I didn't make a pudding, but not to be out-done by you my dear, I did make Mince pies (with home-made mincemeat),

a Christmas cake,

a Trifle,

Christmas cookies with the children,

and some Bread Sauce. I know that Bread Sauce doesn't really count as baking but I do so love it. I go a bit heavy on the cloves as you can see.

On Christmas day I cooked the lunch, and all was going swimmingly until I went to prep the sprouts and found there weren't any. The silly woman who put together my veg order at the local market had not put them in and I had not checked. It didn't really matter because we had lots of other veg and I put some frozen peas on the plates for a splash of green. When I gave mother the bad news however, she looked gloomy and remarked:
'I always say it's not Christmas dinner without sprouts' - typical.

The next thing was that the oven started smoking. Some of the juices from the turkey were leaking onto the bottom shelf, so I took out the bird and got on my hands and knees with a fish slice to scrape up the sticky black mess. Just then Mr B from up the lane stuck his head through the open window to give me some of his chocolate covered Vodka Damsons. I must have looked a right state when I got my head out of the oven to wish him Merry Christmas. To top it all, as soon as I'd cleaned up the mess I managed to drop my delicious bread sauce on the exact same spot. I was quite upset, so I scraped it up and put it back in the bowl. Nobody seemed to notice, although it wasn't quite as creamy as it had been and there were a few little black flecks in it.

Anyway, we all survived. It's turkey curry tomorrow and the day after we are off to the panto - oh yes we are!

Speak to you in the new year, much love, Lucy. xxx

PS The Damson Gin worked out very well and I shall be making more next year. I found out too late that when you have drained off the liquid you can make a very nice crumble out of the gin-soaked damsons. Alas, ours were already on the compost heap!

Chocolate Shortbread

My dear Lucy; Happy Christmas! You didn't need to apologise for being so busy in the run up to the holidays - it was madness, wasn't it? But so joyful! We attended all the Chino children's nativities, which were wonderful; the little ones were a shepherd and a traveller and the eldest was a boy in a play about being homeless at Christmas. I cried at them all and for very different reasons: the 'traditional' nativity was so sweet, complete with X-Factor-style dancing from some of the angels! And the more contemporary offering made me so grateful for what we have that I admit I wept with gratitude. How awful it must be to be alone and struggling, when everyone appears to be so happy at this time of year...

Anyway, needless to say, Christmas for us was joyful and my baking was triumphant!

I made a couple of batches of Chocolate Shortbread [Page 31] and gave some to friends, with a bottle of wine, as a gift; the rest I kept for the boys, but felt the need to sample some myself with a cup of tea... Yum!

We had a houseful, so I ended up baking quite a lot: Saturday was Death by Chocolate (as recommended by you) and was delish!

(I added white chocolate stars for a more festive feel!)

I was "brave" enough to bake on Christmas Day due to the fact that Mr. Chino cooked the lunch. Pudding saw me revisiting the Lemon Meringue tart [Page 168], but this time with less disastrous results due to cheating and buying ready-made pastry cases from the supermarket - this provided a delicious, and safe, alternative to the debacle that ensued when last I tried this recipe. Unfortunately, I neglected to take photographs so Margo won't get to see that I really can make this dessert.

Finally, on Monday, I made Bread and Butter Pudding [Page 297]. Now, previous attempts to make this humble pud had baffled me, with something akin to a sweet toast and egg concoction emerging from my fan oven. Not so, this time! Hurrah! I am now able to produce something so light and moist it borders on the erotic; there were groans and murmurs of delight as we ate!

Now all the guests are on their way back to Shropshire, the beds are stripped and the vacuuming has been done. Christmas feels like a world away, but I am reminded of Santa's visit every time I hear the little ones knocking out a tune on the drum kit; wishing you 'peace and joy' for the season!

Much love, Cathy. xx

Sticky Nutty Flapjacks

My Dear Cathy,

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month! Did Santa leave you anything exciting in your advent calendar this morning?

So sorry for the delay in responding but I'm up to my ears, as I'm sure you are. Concerts, school trips, baking for this event, helping at that - I'm quite exhausted. Last week I helped the school with their Church of England inspection (ho ho ho), I have been asked to make trifles for the village christmas lunch next week, and I have been asked to sit on two more local committees. I might as well get a job darling! I'm dealing with wardrobe for the school nativity play (little Latte is narrating AND playing Mary. I have hand-made her costume out of crushed velvet). I was so behind with all my shopping, that I have just placed a panic order with Amazon which might just save my neck.

Now, I did bake a variety of little cakes for the Brownies last month and they were beautiful en masse, but I forgot to take a picture! Never mind, here are some Sticky Nutty Flapjacks (p61) which I baked in my electric oven on Sunday last. They turned out much better than previous attempts in my somewhat aggressive gas oven which you know all about. Very easy to make and you can pretend they're healthy because they've got oats in!

The Halloween party was fun by the way, but I was unable to make the grand entrance with my fabulous hat and costume that I had planned. Including my high heels and huge pointy hat I must have measured six foot nine, but the cottage has low ceilings which I had not allowed for, and as a consequence, I had to stoop all evening. The hostess had turned down all the lights to enhance the spooky mood and this made it difficult for people to see me. I had a terrible crick in my neck by the time we went home - which wasn't late because one little Latte was so scared of the gruesome decorations and sound effects that we had to leave early!

My diet is a great success thank you. I have lost a stone and a half. One or two people have been kind enough to comment, though I had expected a bit more reaction. Quite honestly, I think some people are just too mean to mention it. I even wore a shortish skirt to the Curry and Casserole Night at the Village Hall recently, but this only resulted in shocked faces. C'est la vie!

I may not get the chance to write in full again over the festivities, but I will try to drop you the odd short note if that would be welcome?

Toodle-pip, Lucy. x

Apple Scone Round

Dear Lucy,

And they say that village life is quiet and boring, well not with you around, my dear! I do hope that your past isn't catching up with you, we all know how rumours are hard to live down... It puts me in mind of a particularly rigorous customs search I once endured due to a small, yet innocuous, bag of white powder in a suitcase; those memories can scar, but at least none of my neighbours witnessed it. I do hope that the Village Gossip hasn't been told and that you managed to enjoy your Hallowe'en shindig.

We don't much go in for that 'trick or treat' malarkay, but we did hold our usual firework party on November the 5th; we had about 15 guests of all ranges and, I'm delighted to say that most of them brought pudding and alcohol! Perfect!

My latest bake was a masterpiece, though I say it myself. I know you're struggling to cope with your damsons, but my issue is cooking apples. We have a very tall tree in the garden, so the fruit is impossible to pick and I have to wait for the blighters to drop before I can do anything with them. That means I have to act quickly before they rot on the ground; it's feast or famine with apples in our house. Anyway, I was hosting our latest book club meeting (we'd been reading "One Day" which is very pleasant but not at all the 'masterpiece' the testimonials claim it to be) and the apples were there, so I tried the Apple Scone Round [page69]. It was so simple to make and designed to look rustic, so it suited me down to the ground. I served it with both clotted cream and Wensleydale cheese, but most of the Book Club members went for cream; it was delicious warm from the oven, but the problem, I find, is stopping after one slice... I had visitors the next day and offered them what was left of the round with a cup of tea; though not quite as perfect as the previous day, it was well-received and very tasty. I don't think a damson version would work, though...

How's the liquid diet going? I must say I'm very impressed as I find any kind of self-deprivation beyond me; have you managed to fit into anything without lycra, yet? I'm not quite into anything with an elastic waist, but I do find that jeans with a bit of stretch in them are far more forgiving once you've had children; the fat seems to move south, doesn't it?

Keep up the good work! Let me know how you're going on; I think you're marvelous for even trying (unless your liquid diet consists mostly of alcohol, that is!)

Much love, Cathy