Marshmallows

Since British Telecom have not yet been able to restore our connection to the rest of the world I have to sneakily post this entry while on my lunch break at work. I wanted to get at least one more in before the end of April! Oh, how this year is slipping away...

These marshmallows that I made were so sweet they just about burnt our mouths! But considering that they are made purely with sugar, gelatine, vanilla and water - that's hardly suprising.

They were to be for my Easter post - and I did make them for Easter since it really reminded me of being young and making fluffy bunny mashmallows instead of colouring eggs. Bunnys are so much cuter than boring old eggs, no?

For the most part, the recipe is the Cooking for Engineers test recipe. On their site they do go into a load of detail which was really helpful but I did change a couple of things.

Firstly I used a balloon whisk. According to the testers they used the beater because the marshmallow would get stuck in the whisk. Now, personally, I don't have a problem with this. I know exactly what to do with the marshmallow that has been stuck in the whisk - and so does my tongue.

The testers also took the temperature to hard ball state but I wanted a soft and fluffy marshmallow so kept it to soft ball. This is also why I reduced the amount of gelatin to three sheets.

I then toasted the coconut and once the marshmallow had set rolled them in the coconut and some icing sugar and cornflour mix. Next time, coconut all the way!

Bacon & egg with thyme & potato rosti

Never has savoury food been so appealing to me. For years and years I've had a sweet tooth and although I'm not about to denounce all sweet food, I must admit that its savoury ally has been ambushing me in an attempt to beat me down and win me over. And on the breakfast front it has worked.

Our lazy (or not so lazy) weekends usually begin with a large main meal size brunch and like today, we ended the day with a simple soup - fennel. Apart from a little light snacking during the day this pretty much does for us until the morrow.

When Dan flipped over the calendar to display April's offer, I yummed at first sight. I had to make this bacon & egg with thyme & potato rosti. A right fancy fry up.

Bacon & Egg with Thyme & Potato Rosti

6 good sized potatoes, like desiree
1/2 of a white onion
2 or 3 sprigs of thyme
Bacon
Eggs

Boil the unpeeled potatoes for 8 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool until comfortable to handle. Peel the potatoes then grate into a large bowl. Chop the onion and the thyme finely. Mix into the potato and season well. Melt some butter with some olive oil in a 23 centimetre frying pan. Place the potato in the fry pan and pat down. Cook on medium for 15 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side for another 15 minutes or until golden brown. While the second side is cooking, grill the bacon. In the last few minutes poach the eggs. Serve with fresh leaves of thyme and a grind of pepper.

A lot of excitement...

My life is in the jet stream at the moment and thoughts come tumbling out of my head at a million miles an hour.

Among other things, my life has lately included the following:

• Stepping onto the property ladder

We're about to fall heavily into debt - expecting to exchange later this week, we're soon going to own our own little spot on earth. And I cannot wait! Anything to get me out of the current horrible kitchen! Speaking of kitchens...

• Optomen TV has asked me to create some video blogs

Soon to be shown on UKTV Food, a new show called Market Kitchen is going to be aired on a daily basis from the Borough Market. They're teaming up with a number of UK Food Bloggers to feature a segment called Food Tube. My submissions so far can be viewed at D.D.TV.

• Cupcakes are coming out of my ears!

And I'm loving them! A friend of mine and myself have started a new little company called Daydream Cupcakes. Our first venture out will be at a local farmers' market in Impington on the 21st of April. I've also got a new blog up and running mostly detailing my recipe development but it will soon show ordering details and where they will be available... Hopefully (fingers crossed) on a regular basis.

• Allotment anticipation

Another friend of mine, her husband and I have all gone in for an allotment together! Today we spent 3 hours turning and digging the soil. The dirt is excellent with few brambles and loads of busy worms. We're hoping to have the spuds in soon - once we've worked out how to chit them. I dream of eating fresh vegetables on the day of picking and relishing in the therapy of it all. Have I gone mad?

All this and more - a milestone birthday for Dan is about to be celebrated, a writing competition has been entered into, a review of a local fish & chip shop has been submitted to Olive magazine and work is going through a busy time.

And I'm still enjoying myself! Well, why wouldn't I? Life is fabulous and things are looking good. Now I'm off to bake a carrot cake to celebrate... ;)