Pie n Mash Dash

Posted May 20, 2012 by Alice

It seems South London is slightly neglected when it comes to a proper old fashion pie, mash n liquor shops. Unlike East London which seems to be littered with pie stops, South London has very few, so when you find a good un, it’s definitely something worth shouting about.

Harrington’s in Tooting is not so much part of the south London pie industry, it is more the backbone of it. Upon my visit I sat next to a man of 64 who told me Harrington’s had been a part of his life as long as he could remember. From early childhood, his parents brought him here for a Saturday treat, and today he still frequents the place regularly as ‘it’s the one place which never lets him down on service or quality’.

That’s a big statement, but one I can gladly reiterate. The pies are delicious (but be warned they make one pie, which is the Harrington’s secret recipe, there are no alternative choices. ) and the family are still as passionate as ever about their food and top notch produce.

Delicious, ludicrously cheap and full of Character, Harrington’s is the Pie n Mash shop to frequent if you don’t mind cosying up to the locals on the always packed canteen style tables.

Go hungry and leave satisfied.

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The Fab 5 Minute Hot Cloth Cleanser

Posted February 5, 2012 by Alice


 

At this time of year I tend to wear a ton of moisturiser and make up to hide my true dry winter face. Unfortunately a side effect of these layers of winter protection is extreme blocked pores. So when I discovered this quick and easy way to a 5 minute skin makeover, I was over the moon.

Soap and Glory’s Fab Pore Hot Cloth Cleanser is perfect for cleansing your pores and face over the winter months. Skin can often become slightly lack lustre at this time of year, and I have found using this compact compound everyday for a month has saved my skin. Plus it’s only a tenner – major bonus!

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A Red Velvet Valentines Day

Posted February 3, 2012 by Alice

Now let me start off by saying, I am not a baker. But, I do take joy in trying to make various cake creations.

One of my favourite sweet treats has to be hummingbirds red velvet cupcakes. The texture, the flavour, everything makes this cake one of my favourite show stoppers. So as I’ve decided to start getting into baking, I decided to tackle a challenging red velvet cheesecake a la recipe girl last weekend. To say it was a challenge was an understatement, as you can see mine isn’t quite a patch on her marvellous creation as the cheesecake centre didn’t quite work out.

The result was of my failure was  tears, disappointment and hissy fits from yours truly. But once I calmed down I decided to adapt my recipe into a red velvet victoria sponge. I have to say that it was an immense cake, and was incredibly rich, so I’m not sure how I would have felt about a cheesecake middle as well (although the cheesecake middle does look super impressive!)

Anyway here is my relatively simple adapted recipe:

RED VELVET CAKE:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups vegetable or canola oil
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup (two 1-ounce bottles) red food coloring
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons white vinegar

(as stolen from recipe girl!)

Creamy Middle

One small tub of Philadelphia Cheese
Caster sugar
Two dollops of double cream.

Cream Cheese Topping:

One large tub of cream cheese
Caster sugar
One dollop of butter

PREPARE THE RED VELVET CAKE LAYERS:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.  Spray cake pan with Dr Oetkers Cake release spray.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add eggs, oil, buttermilk, food colouring, vanilla and vinegar to the flour mixture.

Using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat for 1 minute, until blended. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula.

Beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pans, dividing equally.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pans, then invert cakes onto a plate to cool completely.

CREAMY MIDDLE 

Mix the cream cheese, sugar and cream until it makes a thick sweet and creamy filling.


CREAM CHEESE TOPPING

In a large bowl,  mix the caster sugar, cream cheese and butter and vanilla until it is smooth and creamy.

Finally once all your prep is done top one half of the red velvet sponge with the creamy filling

Once the filling is complete sandwich on the other layer of red velvet cake.

Top the cake off with the sweet creamy topping. And create a ripple effect using a fork.

Finally grate some white chocolate and top the cake off with the white shavings.

Et Voila!

Make sure to share with girl friends over a gossip and you’ll be the talk of the town!

Posted in Eating In, Food, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Pitta Bread Pizza

Posted January 26, 2012 by Alice

Yesterday I got home and was starved. After opening my store cupboard I quickly realised I was running incredibly low on just about everything. What I did have was some pittas, some tinned tomatoes and a few vege’s. So I decided to create a pitta bread pizza, which literally is a mini pizza with a pitta base. It turned out so well I decided to share my recipe…

To make this recipe you will need:

INGREDIENTS
6 Pitta bread’s
A tin of tomatoes
One onion
Three cloves of garlic
A Quarter of a cooked chorizo sausage
Three green chilli peppers
One mozzarella

First things first I created a tomato base by frying garlic and onions with a tin of tomatoes.

Once thoroughly cooked I toasted 6 pittas until they were thin and crispy, but not too overcooked. Next up chop some mozzarella so you have thick slice of mozzarella cheese for the topping.

Next up as I’m addicted to spice I decided to chop up some chilli’s to get the flavour flowing. I roughly chopped three chilli’s to give my pizzas a touch of spice.

If you are a meat addict like me then you meal will not be the same unless it has a meaty topping. For this reason I always have a whole chorizo in the fridge which I use for soups, sandwiches pasta, everything!

For this recipe I chopped up a quarter of a chorizo sausage and fried it until it was totally crispy and flowing with juices.

Once this is done you’ve done all your prep and you are ready to make your pizzas.

Top the pittas with the ready made tomato sauce, the cooked chorizo, chilli’s and mozzerella.

Once your done place the breads under the grill for 20 minutes, or until the pizza looks cooked.

Finally place on a wooden board for presentation and throw some salad leaves around the pizza.

Et voila you’ll have a super easy super tasty dinner.

Let me know if you give this recipe a go, I’d love to know if it worked for you!

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Leftover banana cake

Posted January 7, 2012 by Alice

I’m not sure about you but I seem to go a little crazy at Christmas time. I buy for too much every year and spend the majority of January trying to throw these ingredients into some sort of recipe. This week I had a banana dilemma when realised my leftover bananas were on their last legs.

So I decided to I throw them all together into a cake recipe and I must say, I throughly enjoyed the results. Here are the ingredients you will need for my ultra tasty leftover banana cake.

Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas (overipe is best)
170g caster sugar
170g self raising flour
170g soft margarine
3 eggs

1 – Sift flour, a pinch of salt and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl.

2 – Cream the butter and sugar until you are left with an ultra fluffy mixture.

3 – Mash together eggs, banana’s and milk in a bowl.

4 – Slowly fold in flour mixture to the ready made egg mixture.

5 – Grease a tin and add the complete mixture to the tin.

6 – Bake mixture for about an hour, or until the middle of the cake runs clear.

7 – Sift Icing sugar over the top for the final touch.

8 – EAT!

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Happy New Year

Posted January 5, 2012 by Alice

As usual, this year I have been terrible at finding sale bargains. I always start with the best intentions, but as the I enter a store to find hundreds of ladies fighting over a dress I panic and head to the nicely presented new season stock.

This week history repeated itself and I found myself in the middle of a sale flurry, eyeing up next seasons full price stock. Then I spotted this cute little black number, picked it up, tried it on and instantly fell in love with it. Totally 60′s and a steal at £20.00. H&M strikes again.

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Mama Lan

Posted November 12, 2011 by Alice

Ever since I returned from a 6 month road trip around Asia, I get these uncontrollable cravings for noodles that I simply have to satisfy instantly. So today when I started to a get a mouth watering craving for all things chinese I was glad I was in Brixton Market, as you can find pretty much every type of cuisine to satisfy all taste buds.

After roaming around looking for a suitable eatery I stumbled across the smells of Mama Lan. A supper club come restaurant, Mama Lan is what it is, but it’s bloody good at it. The dumplings were insanely tasty, the noodle soup was just as I remembered it in Beijing, and the salad was refreshingly superb.

The price range was also very affordable, a small salad, dumplings and 2 hearty bowls of noodle soup all came to a very respectable £19.00.

Mama Lans definitely took me back to Beijing in a mouthful. I loved it.

Posted in Bargains, Eating Out, Food | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Saturday Night

Posted November 8, 2011 by Alice

Sometimes after sitting around on the Sofa on a Saturday night, a gal needs to throw her gladrags on and hit the town. So this Satuday after a day of domesticated duties I jumped in the shower and donned my NFD (new favourite dress) to do just that.

The dress is a silver number from River Island which ticks all the boxes. A perfect fit with the right amount of pizzaz, it’s not too OTT and not too plain, plus its only £35! Bargain.

Dress – River Island – £35.00
Leather jacket – ASOS (last year, £100)
Shoes – Office £95.00
Fur trim – Vintage from Beyond Retro

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Sunday Roast

Posted November 6, 2011 by Alice

This weekend I spent most of the weekend baking and testing different meat options for Christmas Dinners. It’s definitely got me thinking about whether to go with Turkey or a Goose for my main Christmas meal…

So I’m thinking of doing a Christmas round up of the best value meats for Christmas, testing each of them out. Has anyone got any tips for where I can get a good quality festive bird?

Today I’m wearing:

Playsuit from Urban Outfitters – £52.00
Headband – Primark – £1.00

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Autumnal Highs

Posted October 10, 2011 by Alice

Everyone needs a good coat, especially one that costs a mere £25. So when I stumbled across this beauty in H&M it’s fair to say I was mildly obsessed. A great camel coat which goes with pretty much everything I have worn it everyday since I got it, I LOVE.

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments