Well, it has been an eventful weekend as Imogen sat her entrance exam yesterday to get in to Loughborough High School. Competition is pretty fierce so all we can do now is wait two weeks to see if she gets a place.So, with that out of the way Scarley thought it would be nice to make and decorate a cake wishing her "well done" for taking the exam..I think I've just been conned into making a Victoria sponge with a tenuous excuse!

I tried Delia's Victoria Sponge many years back and was very disappointed. My friend Lolly suggested Nigella so that is what I have used ever since! It is in her "How to Eat" book and hasn't failed me yet!

Here are some photos of work in progress as well as the finished article!

As we've said on numerous occasions, the secret to dinner party success is all in the planning.

Later today we have some great friends coming for Sunday Lunch. With all of the other stresses of everyday life and Christmas just around the corner, this could be a time for hectic rushing about, but hopefully all will be in control (or will at least appear so for our guests).

We haven't planned a formal "sitting down" starter, serving instead bite-sized nibbles that can be enjoyed as our friends arrive while sipping a glass or two of wine. We have found that younger children then don't have to sit for hours at the table and keeps them happy too.

As a starter, we have minature crab and parmesan tarlets (Heidi made these yesterday while I went to buy the Christmas tree), and prawn and chorizo skewers. The advantage of both, is that they can be made the day before, so reducing the amount of cooking needed as guests arrive.

Main course consists of a large rib of beef, roast potatoes, dauphinoise potatoes and a selection of vegatables. The beef was bought from our local Q-Butcher, Clarkes of Queniborough and they never fail to supply only the best meat - essential for such a key part of any meal.

For dessert, we will offer Vanilla Pannacotta, served with fresh raspberries in a raspberry coulis. Yet again the pannacotta is a great recipe for preparing the day before. The recipe calls for 4 vanilla pods, which can prive expensive if bought from the supermarket, but we have discovered a company selling vanilla on-line, Vanilla Mart and they delivered 10, premium quality vanilla pods, the next-day, for just over £5. Great service guys!

Photos and results will be posted soon.

Bit of a random entry here, but there we go!! Have got a day off work today to look after the kids but the weather is terrible again so we are stuck at home this afternoon. We have just made a Victoria sponge to kill the boredom and it reminded me to post something about Victoria Sponges! I am not a big fan of baking (I've never had a sweet tooth luckily) but the first time I attempted a proper cake was after much nagging from my two little girls to make a cake for their Daddy on his birthday. I dug out Delia and ploughed on but unfortunately there was great disappointment. It just didn't work.
I was fairly traumatized by my ability to mess up a Delia recipe (only once before done with a homemade chili with chunks of beef in?) but was relieved the next day at work when my friend Lolly Finnear agreed with me and advised if ever attempting a Victoria Sponge again, reach for the Nigella "How to Eat".
I've never looked back - Nigella's is perfect - just off for a slice in a minute!

Lamb Burgers
Just a quick comment on ready-made lamb burgers. I normally make my own, but when pushed, it is handy to pick some up ready made. I have discovered Tesco's Finest lamb burgers (not cheap - I think they might be around £3.88 for 2??) but they are completely scrumptious! They are big, juicy, tasty and really a meal on their own with a bun and a bit of salad. Thoroughly recommended and the kids love them.
Being clever (or so I thought!) last time I was in Asda I noticed they had lamb burgers (Extra Special) at 2 packets of 2 for £5. Bargain - much cheaper than Tesco but sadly they were disappointing - my daughter thought too sweet (we checked - they had red current jelly in), a bit dry and a bit rubbery. Won't be buying them again! Never mind!

The cake is calling...

Wimbledon has been and gone, England are playing Australia in the Ashes, and it's raining, so that must mean only one thing - Summer's here!

The arrival of summer also allows us to fire up the barbeque and invite friends round for a summer party, but rather than serving up the same old frozen beef-burgers and burnt sausages, why not go a little further and set a higher standard this year.

Take a look at our Summer Dinner Party Menu Ideas to get you thinking. If you have any further ideas, why not add your comments at the foot of this post.

Ring up your friends, mix up some Pimms and have fun.

Oh and if it rains, remember - it's only water!

This may seem like a bizarre thing to write about but I have to share my disappointment in my first Jersey Royals of the season yesterday!! Why can you not get them like you used to? What do they do differently now so that they just don't taste as good?
When I was little it was almost a ritual in our household - rumour would spread through Tenby that the first Jersey Royals were in Handicott's greengrocer and my Dad, Tommy and I would rush up there. Part of the ritual was the 10 minute banter between Dad & Peter about how could anyone pay that much for a few potatoes...10 for that you must be mad! Dad would pick out the tiny ones, begrudgingly pay the extortionate amount (and always tell a little white lie to Mum about the actual cost!) and bring them home. He would then personally scrape the peel off and serve them up as lunch with just butter and parsley - I can taste them now - totally delicious!
Funnily enough we would have the same ritual with the first Pembrokeshires a few weeks later.
Anyway, Tesco's £3.00 for a small bag yesterday were thoroughly disappointing - too big and no special flavour. I shan't be buying them again!

One of the growing trends that has been seen, during the recent economic downturn is for a return to home cooking and hosting dinner parties at home. Visits increased by 32.8% between February 2008 and February 2009 as reported by "Hitwise United Kingdom - hitwise.co.uk".

We have always enjoyed entertaining at home and so this comes as no surprise to us. You will see that much of the content on the Dinner at Home website relates to planning a dinner party and other dinner party ideas.

According to Hitwise, the Top 10 Food and Beverage - Lifestyle and Reference websites, in 2008 are as follows:

1. www.bbc.co.uk/food
2. uktv.co.uk/food
3. www.deliaonline.com
4. www.waitrose.com
5. www.bbcgoodfood.com
6. www.channel4.com/food
7. www.qype.co.uk
8. www.jamieoliver.com
9. www.laithwaites.co.uk
10. www.sugarvine.com

I find it interesting to note that of all the supermarkets, only up-market Waitrose has found its way onto the list and with the exception of the London Review Guide Qype, all other websites are aimed at anyone looking to cook at home.

So join the rest of us in dusting off your recipes books and throw a dinner party! The Credit Crunch alternative to eating out.

Well, suffice to say that Mother's Day was all it promised to be! My breakfast in bed was lovely - always presented by, and shared with(!) my little girls! Why does something fairly simple like scrambled eggs and bacon taste so nice when someone else cooks it and presents it with a fresh red rose??

We had a few jobs to do in preparation to our trip to Tenby next week but still managed a cheeky pint down at our local pub - the Golden Fleece, South Croxton. It was full of mothers obviously but still nice to sit and people watch for an hour or so! The food there is fantastic, but on a Sunday it is my non-favourite - the carvery which is why we gave it a miss this year.

Anyway, the reason I'm writing this is to completely rave on about Gressingham duck! My girls LOVE roast duck so we decided to get a Gressingham Duck from Tesco (at £14!) instead of the normal ducks at around £6. Any posh chefs always tell you to buy this but I've never seen them in the mainstream supermarkets before now. Check out their website - it is obviously the crème de la crème of ducks!!

We roasted it a la Delia (plenty of Maldon sea salt & black pepper) in a hot oven on a rack for over 2 hours and then let it rest for 15 minutes. Total heaven - loads of breast meat and crispy tasty skin and totally delicious! I so recommend it to anyone and it is so worth the extra money.

To be honest we normally have to buy 2 normal ducks for 4 but one Gressingham was enough for 4 so look at it as good value, not expensive! Served with delicious Dauphinoise potatoes and baby veg followed by strawberries and cream.

Hooray for being a mother!

Mothers Day is always a bit of a trauma for me as my mother died just before my 11th birthday (5 days to be exact). This has always resulted in mild embarrassment rather than sadness - how do you explain what you're doing on Mothers day when you don't have a mother?? I still miss my Mum very much which is what inspires me to try to be the best Mum ever to my girls.

Anyway - many years later I have my own family - two beautiful daughters and a gorgeous husband so Mothers Day always starts with a fabulous breakfast in bed and lots of nice presents!

The trouble with Mothering Sunday is - it's on a Sunday! What is wrong with that you may ask? Well - there is just something lacking to me in going out for a Sunday roast when you can do a much better job yourself at home with the best rare beef or the best garlic infused leg of lamb! I just find roast dinner out a bit of a waste of my "eating out" budget! (Trust me - I'd be upping my budget if it weren't for this damn credit crunch - all in the interests of my website obviously!!).

Anyway - we have discussed this - the lovely Jon has advised that NO ONE is doing anything but Sunday roast (all at ridiculously inflated prices!) so we have postponed Mothers Day to the following Wednesday where myself & the girls will meet Jon for lunch at the legendary Cafe Bleu in Newark - one of my favourite eating places ever and totally worth a visit if you are ever in the town!

In the meantime I can't miss up an opportunity to indulge in a food fantasy on Sunday so am going to my local Q butcher (Clarkes in Queniborough) to get a single rib of beef (or 2 if the kids are good!!) to cook like a fillet steak - just like I had at the Hoste Arms a few weeks ago (and there is a recipe in Good Food last month I think!)

So happy Mother's Day to all you Mums. And just remember Dads - breakfast in bed with the Sunday papers is the ultimate treat!