Conversations through the middle

Life from a (slightly) more mature perspective

Ice cream anyone?

So many toppings to choose from – and who is that in the crowd?

So tonight I attended the launch of the Magnum pop-up shop in Westfield shopping centre, Stratford. When I was invited I thought why not, it’s on my way home, it sounds like fun. To explain – as you know Magnums are yummy ice creams, and this event was to mark the inauguration of the build-your-own magnum shop, which is open from tomorrow until September. So far, so good.

You choose your base – either traditional vanilla or a chocolate one, then you choose your covering – milk, dark or white chocolate – then you choose your topping. There were (from what I can remember) rose petals, chilli flakes, chocolate curls, white chocolate sprinkles, flaked almonds, chopped hazelnuts, marshmallows, meringue, coconut flakes, caramel twirls – and probably more that I’ve forgotten.

For some reason I thought it would be all multi colour sprinkles, lots of balloons and children. What in fact it was Champagne, Kelly Brook and a crowd outside the door waiting as if at a premiere! I arrived and I couldn’t see a way in. I had to push through loads of people (I did say excuse me, I am polite) to get to the lady with the clipboard and get in.

I was dressed normally. Lots of people were dressed in what I can only describe as black tie party wear. I felt very under dressed. And very fat.

The place was full of beautiful people! And Kelly Brook looked stunning.

Choosing her flavours

Helping behind the bar – is she after extra toppings?

They had a pod that measures your emotional response to eating your Magnum – Kelly tried it, I didn’t. I have no idea what response she got.

This is the pod

This is what the pod is about/ does

Art on the walls included a picture made from those little wooden ice cream spoons and a silhouette of a woman eating a Magnum made up of the word Magnum – or it might have been Walls – I wasn’t close enough to check.

But what a good night! Totally not what I was expecting, which is probably why it was so good. Too much Champagne drank and too much ice cream eaten – but I bet it’s popular this summer.

I did mean to take a photo of the work of art – goji berries, rose petals and chopped hazelnuts – but I forgot.
And I ate it, or at least half of it, then I remembered and took this photo, which gives you no idea of how lovely
it was as the pic is over exposed and looks a bit messy. You just have to trust me, it was delicious!
And she liked it too

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Baking class – strawberry and cream scones

This recipe comes from the Be-Ro Book again, which was a staple in our house when I was growing up as baking was a regular event – pies, tarts, cakes and scones were all homemade, never bought from shops. This was one of my favourites and still is, but rather than just butter I thought I would add a touch of summer (seeing as there’s precious little evidence of it outside) with strawberries and cream. I have used double cream but go with whatever you prefer, whipping cream is an alternative, or if you’re feeling really indulgent there’s always clotted…

I will upload images for this tomorrow hopefully as I’m unable to make the scones today – I’m off to see The Boss at Hyde Park so I’m cultivating my Rock Chic persona rather than my Baking Chic one. I’ve got my pac-a-mac at the ready and my brolly is in my bag. Sexy.

Ingredients
225g Self raising flour
Pinch salt
50g Butter
25g Caster sugar
50g Sultanas
1 Medium egg (beaten with milk to make up to 150ml liquid)

Method 
Heat the oven to 220°C/ 200°C fan/ gas mark .7
Grease a large baking tray.
Sieve the flour and salt together, rub in the butter until it resembles small breadcrumbs. 
Stir in the sugar and sultanas.
Add the egg and milk mixture, keep a little back for brushing the tops of the scones. Use your hands to mix the ingredients together until they form a dough.
Turn the dough out on to a floured surface and knead lightly (do not over knead the dough or you will end up with hard biscuits rather than scones). Roll out the dough until it is around 1cm thick then using a scone cutter or something round – the top of a mug or cup works well – cut out circles of dough. 
Gather up the remaining pastry, roll out again and cut out more circles. Place them on the baking sheet – you should have around eight scones.
Brush the top of the scones with the remainder of the egg/milk mixture and bake them in the over for around 10 minutes.
Turn the scones out to cool on a wire rack. When cool, cut them in half and fill with cream, topped with strawberries, then a little more cream and sandwich together. Yummy!

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Baking class – Rock buns

My mam used to make these when we were little, and my brother didn’t like the sultanas so she used to leave them out and make plain ones for him. I was reminded of how good these are when I was at the Hadleigh Show last month. I ended up buying and eating two – though at different ends of the day – from an artisan cake stand in the food tent. They are yummy.

This recipe is from the Be-Ro book, the same recipe as my mam used all those years ago; I would leave out the peel though as I’m not keen on it, which means you should probably add in another 25g fruit.

Rock buns

225g Self raising flour
Pinch salt
100g butter (cold)
75g mixed dried fruit
25g Mixed peel
50g Caster sugar
1 medium egg, beaten
Milk to mix

1 Heat the oven to 200C/ gas mark 6. Greast two baking trays.

2 Mix the flour and salt together. Cut the butter into pieces and rub it into the flour until it looks like breadcrumbs.

3 Stir in the dried fruit, mixed peel (if using) and sugar.

4 Mix to a stiff dough with egg and milk

5 Place in rough heaps on the trays (you don’t want them looking smooth as they are supposed to be rocks)

6 Bake for 10-15 minutes then cool on a wire rack. Eat. Yummy!

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Cupboard love – Poggenpohl kitchens

Gino D’Acampo – celebrity chef and thoroughly nice chap

I love kitchens. It might sound silly to somebody who doesn’t know me, but I do. Whenever I go anywhere I can’t help but notice worktops, cabinets, if the kitchen is country-style or minimalist chic, high-gloss or matt, knobs on or handleless; and the appliances also – make, style, material. It’s the same with sinks and taps, both kitchen and bathroom, I look for the brand and try to recognise the model; I smile to myself when I get it right. You might think I need to get a life (and perhaps you’re right), but I spend a lot of time writing about interiors, especially kitchens, which – I hope – explains my interest.

I was pleased to be invited to an evening reception at Poggenpohl’s Wigmore Street store in London last week. I was surrounded by exquisite kitchens containing the most high-tech appliances, professional spray taps and deep, quality stainless steel sinks. Heaven. Obviously the only kitchens there were Poggenpohl, so I couldn’t play my ‘spot the brand’ game, but there was lots of Champagne, live jazz, canapes … and a cookery demonstration by a celebrity chef to keep everyone amused.

Gino D’ Acampo was the chef in question and he was good. I hadn’t watched him cook before and he just made the entire process look easy. Ok, he did homemade pizza, which isn’t too complicated, but for someone who simply buys them in the shop and puts them in the oven I was impressed – homemade bread base and everything. I’ve already blogged about his pizza recipe here and it could become one of my signature dishes (I don’t cook much and definitely nothing complicated, my other half is the cook in our house and he’s excellent at it). Unfortunately Gino couldn’t bake the pizzas as I believe the ovens were not wired up or something, but he put ona good show, inviting a couple of members of the audience to help him. He also did a book signing – I bought one of his books as the money raised was destined for charity – and I had my photograph taken with him. Don’t know if I’m brave enough to put it up though, I’ll have to think about that one.

It was also great catching up with colleagues and meeting people in the industry. And of course I got to play with the furniture – I just leaned against one cabinet and the drawer opened, soft close, no handles – wonderful.

I’m not sure what kitchen this is but it is possibly the +Segmento by Poggenpohl
This is part of the +Integration design at Poggenpohl’s Wigmore Street store
Storage is crucial in any kitchen and these deep drawers do not disappoint

Separate storage areas make finding contents a piece of cake and is such a practical idea
Today’s kitchens are often designed to link with living areas, using the same shades, materials and textures in both. In this +Artesio design the living and kitchen zones are open plan, separate, yet one becomes the other. The key is multi-function and comfort 
Okay, here it is. Me with Gino D’Acampo.

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