Barbecue Party!!

Kenny and I decided we needed to get together with friends we hadn't seen for ages and the best way was to have a barbecue. About 30 arrived including kids and we had a great time.

Here are some of the puds I made - choc fudge cake, strawberry and blueberry pavlova and passionfriut and lime cheesecake.

Oliver's Birthday!!

My nephew, Oliver, celebrated his 2nd birthday on April 24th and a lovely barbecue party was finished off with this amazing 'Fireman Sam' cake made by my sister's friend Jo's mum!!!

He loved it!!

Afternoon Tea in Newcastle under Lyme!!

April in Paris went to the New Vic Theatre in April and about 300 yards away live Nick and Adam who are friends of John ( see earlier blog) who is a fabulous cook.

They invited me for afternoon tea and had made fantastic scones and a beautiful victoria sponge with a lemon curd filling -- gorgeous !!

Red Nose Day

Sorry loads to catch up with !!!!
Back in March was Red Nose Day for Comic Relief. Gracie's class at school decided to raise some money by making cakes to sell at break time and they raised over £300 - Brilliant !!!!

Here's Gracie with her creation - all iced by her !!!

And here are some I contributed!! - This was the 1st batch -- the same again was made for the next day!!

Dinner Party!!

Had a really great dinner party - great company and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
Gracie helped me with some recipes and I really enjoyed spending the day preparing the food.
Menu

Breadsticks with baked brie

Whisky and Chilli Tiger Prawns

Beef with Peppers and Prunes

Ginger and Mascarpone Creme Brulee with Rhubarb

Cheese with Eccles Cakes

Chocolate Pralines

All made by hand and really enjoyed it.

Had a great birthday meal last night at The Wolseley - beautiful food and surroundings and great to see Howard, Antony and Jos. Off to Derby this week.Sorry still haven't started Biscuit club - just don't seem to have much time !!  

Valentines's Surprise!!

I was lucky enough to be taken out for a Valentines Lunch - very unexpected after 21 years together!!!
We went for lunch to the Hand and Flowers in Marlow,Bucks.Really pleased because I'd followed Tom Kerridge (who runs it) on Great British Menu last year and loved his food.
Everything was just perfect - food ,service,surroundings - a really great meal.
Thought I'd share the puds we had!!

Mine was a warm pistachio sponge with melon sorbet and Kenny had a pannacotta with rhubarb jelly and honeycomb. 
Just been told I'm been taken to The Wolseley for my birthday so very excited!!
Having a dinner party on Saturday so will post menu and piccies.

Lavender Biscuits

Sorry been too busy with rehearsals and driving up and down the country to cook, let alone post!!
April in Paris has now opened and is settling in well so hopefully will start baking again in the next couple of weeks. We are all over the country until June - details are on the Hull Truck website ( on tour page ).

We were invited to some new friends, John and Neil, for dinner on Sunday evening and we had the most beautiful meal. John is a real foodie and had gone to so much effort. Everything was perfect and he had made three puddings and petit fours!!!I've decided he should definitely be on telly presenting a food programme and cooking!!!Here's John with the apple tarte tatin he had made for the 1st time!!

And here he is again with an chocolate and almond cake from Katie Caldesi' Italian Cookery Course book - a really beautiful book with some fab recipes!! 

Here's Gracie and Kenny about to tuck into a lemon and raspberry souffle - my favorite! I love anything lemony!!

And finally we were treated to some beautifully fragrant Lavender biscuits with our coffee.They were beautiful , melt in the mouth, and so pretty.
A really lovely evening and we went away with a doggy bag full of puds - Hurrah!!
Thanks John and Neil.