My sister's wonderful wedding

My wee sister - now Mrs Weir!

Two weeks ago my sister got hitched and she went with an afternoon tea themed reception. During planning, it became clear that the man who runs Blairquan Castle where she was having the reception didn't entirely approve and saw the whole affair as being rather unorthodox. By the end of the tea though he was thoroughly convinced that afternoon tea is a great way to celebrate a wedding - or indeed anything.

I love afternoon tea - I think it does a good job of suiting everyone - with different sandwiches and savoury bites to choose from in quantities that match your appetite and appeal to old and young alike. As for being able to try out several types of cake and sweet treats I much prefer that to agonizing over the pudding trolley.

For Emma, we handmade her invites and place settings with cupcakes fashioned from Laura Ashley patterns and my Mum sources different styles and designs of bunting and cake-stands.


The beautiful cake-stands my Mum found.


My sister Alice and my Mum hard at it pinning bunting to the tables.

My Mum also made the wedding cake - a three tiered stand of vanilla iced cupcakes topped with two pink hearts cut from sugar paste.


Emma's cupcakes awaiting transportation!


The finished wedding cake!

We all went along to the castle the day before to decorate and set everything out and Emma's friends (and my Glasgow flatmate!) Ailie and Alison both came along too to help out.

It was great fun decorating the rooms and it really felt like a true family wedding with everyone doing their bit.


Making the wee pink hearts for the cakes.


More cakes!

On the day Emma looked amazing - her dress was just perfect and she looked beautiful and so grown up which is strange for me as her big sister. Of course, the vows are very important, and the Mass was very moving and my Dad singing the psalm was very special. But, also very important, is feeding all of the guests! And the afternoon tea was just amazing. I have posted previously of Betty's in York and their afternoon tea but I have to say Emma's afternoon tea beat Betty hands down!

After the wedding my Mum asked each of the bridesmaids and Emma's friends to choose a cake-stand and because they were all different designs we each got one that suited our personalities and styles. Mine is a two tier silver art deco-ish stand with glass plates with a star etched in the middle. So now I can't wait to have my own wee afternoon tea!

Easter Sunday Dinner (2)

The menu is as follows:

Starter



Matzo
Tomatoe and basil salad
Boiled egg slices
Houmous



Main
Roast leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary
Roast potatoes
Roast veggies (carrot, parsnip, shallots)
Broccoli
Gravy

Pudding
Strawberries in balsamic vinegar

You can link to the recipes!!!

Easter Sunday Dinner (1)

Today I kicked off not by stuffing my face full of chocolate but by having a wee morning bike ride - so that when the chocolate eating commences I can feel I have earned it!

This years Easter Sunday Dinner I am trying out roasting a leg of lamb. I am also fusing passover and Easter Sunday traditions by having a starter that uses matzo alongside a tomatoe basil salad and houmous and, if I get the time, boiled egg slices. Not quite a scorched egg but it will do. For pudding I am doing strawberries in balsamic vinegar served with cream fraiche and, because you can't have too much chocolate, a chocolate cake (Granny McCall's recipe) decorated with chocolate buttons.

The chocolate buttons themselves are pretty special as they are chocolate copies of vintage buttons produced by Hotel Chocolat a company that makes gourmet chocolate.




Anyway - I will post up the recipes separately else this will turn into a very long post.

Valentine's Day

Andy and I don't go in for big fancy stuff around Valentine's Day - we tend to take turns to cook a nice dinner or order a take away! We sometimes take a day out somewhere but we don't usually go out. This year it was Andy's turn to sort out Valentine's Day and I have to say he did a great job!

We use Google Calendar a lot to keep track of dates and what is going on as I am often away with work. And a couple of weeks before the 14th I spied an email letting me know I had an invite in my Calendar. It was from Andy and he was asking if I would be free at 6.30pm for dinner in a secret location with a sexy/smart dress code! How exciting! Well, of course I had to check my busy social diary and break a few hearts but I said yes.

So where did my romantic husband take me? There is a new-ish restaraunt in Dundee called the Playwright and we had been there before for cocktails but not for food. I was a bit worried going out for food on the 14th would mean being surrounded by heart shaped ballons and being forced to order from a menu based on pink food and smutty innuendo for the name's of the dishes.

Thankfully, the Playwright steered clear of this the only nod to Valentine's being a single red rose alongside your dessert. A nice touch though was that they closed the cocktail bar to anyone who didn't have a reservation, so after dinner there was no crush at the bar and the noise/busyness levels didn't get too high.

We both had the scallops to start which was a good choice - meaty but not too heavy and with some nice cripsy potatoe rosti and cured ham. Then Andy had the beef - a huge doorstep that was cooked to perfection that he rather reluctantly gave me a wee taste of. I had the duck, which was served with parsnips, potatoes cooked in stock and grapes. The duck was really tender, cooked to just the right balance of pinkiness inside and not too fatty.

But the best part of the meal (apart of course from the excellent company!)was the chocolate and Grand Marnier terrine. It was bliss - very chocolatey but not heavy and a good sized portion. There was a lot of mmmm-ing and ah-ing and licking of the spoons!

We then had cocktails at the bar - I stuck to Pink Collins and I was very impressed with Andy's Victorian Mojito which replaces rum with gin - very tasty. We did join my sister and her friend Ruth for a quick drink at Underground but felt that the mad dancing could be left in their capable hands and us old folks toddled up the road - happy, full and perhaps a little bit tipsy.

Christmas Photos!

Here are some photos of my Christmas.

Our Christmas Cake



The smokies before being made into pate.



The pate!



Me cooking...





The meal - fallen upon and devoured in about 30 seconds flat...

Our Christmas

Well, we have had a fantastic Chrstmas - including dinner at the in-laws (my mum-in-law's parsnip gratin is a real favourite of mine - the sweetness of the parsnip and sharpness of the parmesan is a perfect partnership) and Christmas Day at my Mum and Dad's with my Mum's amazing cooking. My Mum is my main inspiration when it comes to cooking. The food itself is very important (and always really good) but also important is the idea that food is also about family and friendship and the social side of things. It is not often we are all together and sharing the traditions we have had for many years, including the food my Mum makes, is very special to me. And despite a house in turmoil due to work getting done on the heating, and my poor Mum having tendonitis, there was still the home made Christmas pudding and cake and all the elements that make up a McCall family Christmas dinner.

And that brings me to 'our Christmas'. Over the years Andy and I have created our own Christmas with a merging and molding of our two Christmas family heritages. So the food reflects both sets of parents and we have crackers and a tree. But we also have our own touches. We always have a Christmas walk once the turkey is in and we have the same wine each year.It's Faustina V Reserva and is around £10-15 and you can get in Tesco. I am sure that wine afficionados will have their view as to whether it is 'good' or 'bad' but we like it and enjoy it.



We also like to just let the day run as it develops, so we get up when we feel like it and laze through the day. And we always take a pic each year of us enjoying our meal.



This year we weren't having Christmas day at home, so we designated Monday 22nd December the Judson Christmas Day. And it is amazing that just by deciding that would be Christmas how Christmassy it felt - as we sat down to dinner I had forgotten it wasn't actually Christmas.

My favourite thing about Christmas is having time to cook dishes that have such a history and emotive effect on people and sharing a meal with the people who know and love you best. Certainly each Christmas dinner this year made me feel very lucky that, despite the no-doubt tricky year ahead, I have the best thing of all - an amazing husband and family who really know tha value of a meal shared and enjoyed!

Christmas!!!

I got 'Nigella Christmas' recipe book! Hooray for Santa!!!

It's nearly December...

I love Christmas. Not the commercial Noddy Holder version - the mince pies in front of a fire version. I can be quite puritannical about Christmas - we put up the tree and decorations on Christmas Eve and come down on the 6th January. And Andy won't even talk about Christmas until it is December. No crazy and manic present buying - we take one day off during the week and blitz it. I use brown paper and string to wrap the pressies. But when it comes to teh food - I begin to secretly plan meals and lunches and cakes and all manner of luscious goodies in my head. I scour my recipe books and look out old favourites and seek out new taste bud teasers. for those of us who do the main bulk of cooking and baking, Christmas needs to be thought of with a bit of time to spare.

I love looking out the recipes used year on year (mincemeat, stuffing) and discovering new ones (Nigella's christmas ham looks like it will feature this year for the first time). For me Christmas is about spending time with family and friends, being warm and cosy and eating and drinking things that make you warm inside and taste oh-so-good. And that doesn't mean wolfing down several boxes of Quality Street. I mean proper old fashioned Christmas fayre. The things I am thinking about for this year include:

Home made mince pies
Home made Christmas cake with a wee glass of port and some Wensleydale cheese
Chipolatas wrapped in streaky bacon
Porridge with cream and honey (I have porridge for breakie most mornings but this is special for Christmas)
Black Bun
Big chunky broths made from proper stock made from the turkey bones and accompanied by bannocks or soda bread
Hot chocolate with ginger biscuits
And making all the food I usually don't have time to make when I am working

Traditions must be kept. My mum mentioned that she might buy a Christmas cake this year and she got her ear chewed off for it by my sisters and I. My mum's Christmas cake is the best cake ever. It is dark and moist and the fruit is distributed perfectly and you just can't buy what homemade Christmas cake doused in spirits every week tastes like. Anyway, no matter that my mum is a nurse and is busy and has wee brother Theo to look after and the house has the builders in - in the true spirit of Christmas we have ignored all of that and demanded our homemade Christmas cake. You have to understand, it is not that we are extremely selfish and cruel; if there is no Mum's cake then there is no Christmas!

And I love mulled wine. The smell, the warmth, the taste. The mince pie that accompanies it. The feeling of being snug and safe and cared for that you get tucked up in front of the fire after a long walk in the cold, crisp winter air. Sharing this with friends and family. That is what Christmas is to me. And when we have our Christmas dinner and Andy takes our annual 'about to eat teh dinner' picture (laugh if you like, I don't care) and tucks in like someone who hasn't seen food for weeks, I feel that Christmas is complete.

Bonfire Night

I rushed back up to Dundee on Wednesday so I could see the fireworks with Andy and my sister as we have done for years now - working in Glasgow wasn't going to stop me! And, of course, a hot, comforting supper for us to come home to was top of the priority list. As I was on the train Andy grilled up some sausages and when I got in we put baking potates in the oven to cook while we were out.

The fireworks were great - although walking through the dark in the dark was quite a challenge! And the night was cold but not bone achingly cold - just enough to give us an appetite and appreciate central heating.

Once home, I cut up the sausages and stir fried them with red onion, red pepper and two large potobello mushrooms. For the last minute or so I threw in some cherry tomatoes - I love warmed tomatoes and they provided a juicy addition to the rest of the ingredients. I then served this as the filling to go with the potatoes and a tray of chutneys and relishes. It was a lovely warm dish to tuck into after the bonfire and fireworks.

It also reminded me how good baked potatoes are when they are done properly. One of the things that really annoy me is when cafes or pubs serve half cooked or microwaved baked potatoes. A baked potatoe needs to be fluffy on the inside with a lovely crisp skin on the outside. Don't serve me a baked potatoe that looks like it has been boiled! And I have nothing against blasting it in a microwave to cut down on the cooking time but at least finish it in the oven to give it that oven baked flavour. And if the cheese isn't melting as soon as it hits the tattie then it isn't cooked and shouldn't be served - I have been served it this way so many times I now very rarely order baked potatoes when I am out and about. Well, that is my rant over - viva la baked tattie!

Hogmanay

Tonight is New Years Eve - or Hogmanay. While I like a party, a few years ago we stayed in on our own for Hogmanay and had a really good time cooking dinner for ourselves and relaxing, eating the food we like and watching the bell's come in. And so that is what we have done since. Sometimes, like tonight, my sister and my best friend will come round before the bell's - and I make my best friend first foot me just after midnight.

For dinner, my husband is cooking this time around and he is making his famous mushroom risotto. It has a mix of mushrooms, a load of parmesan, and I love the smell and sound of the Vermouth as it goes into the pan. He serves it with a good crusty bread and a salad of green leaves and cherry tomatoes. The toms are a good companion to the creaminess of the risotto. He got the recipe from a Jamie Oliver recipe book and it has become a firm favourite. The basic risotto recipe can be adapted to whatever takes your fancy.

For the bell's, I don't really make much myself but we have some items that are traditional to have. Some are traditional all over Scotland, and some are traditional to my family:

Shortie (shortbread. Sometimes I make my own but I have gone with Dean's all butter shortbread this year)
Cherry cake (because my Gran always served this)
Ginger cake (my own favourite - with real butter)
Cheese balls (must be from M&S!)
Madeira cake
Christmas cake
Hot Bites - sausage rolls, and the party food you get from the freezer section - usually some asian inspired snacks appear!

It sounds like a lot but you pick at it through the evening and over New Year's Day.

Christmas and New Year!

So I started doing this site in May last year but I was studying for my MBA which is now over so now I actually have some time to do fun stuff! And I have had two weeks off over Christmas which has meant I have been able to do a bit of cooking. So I am now, for 2008, going to try and keep a note of all my recipes and what I learn about cooking.

Christmas Dinner!

This year the menu was (for two):

Arbroath Smokie pate and oatcakes
Roast turkey served with roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots, chipolatas, pork, cranberrie and apple stuffing and cranberrie sauce.
Christmas Pudding

The Arbroath Smokie pate is really easy to make and I got the recipe from the Arborath Smokie website. I like to put a bit more horseradish in it than the recipe says but you can try it out and then modify to your taste. It was yummy with some Nairn's oatcakes. I thought about making my own but then couldn't be bothered!

For the turkey dinner, I got my meat from our local butcher - West End Butchers. If you are ever in Dundee you should get your meat from them (195, Perth Rd, Dundee, Angus, DD2 1AT, Tel: 01382 667718. In particular they are good at helping you work out what amount you need. Because a lot of my recipes are just in my head, or are made up of several recipes, I don't always know how much meat I need, but if you say 'I need enough steak mince for 5 people' they can tell you. When roasting the turkey I tend to just go with my instincts on time to cook but if you are a bit unsure, and if you have bought from a butcher rather than a supermarket it's likely the turkey won't come with instructions, you can check with the British Turkey website which has a roasting time calculator. The key think is to use a skewar or knitting needle to poke your turkey to see if pink or clear juices run out - clear is good, pink means more cooking time! I used the calculator this year and it was spot on.

When I cook my turkey, I put some olive oil on its skin and I rub it in gentely with my hands - like a massage! Then I place it breast side down in the roasting tray. I cook it breast side down for the first half of the cooking time because then the juices collect in the breast meat while it is cooking which is important to keep the breast meat succulent. I also cover the bird with foil. Then, halfway through, I take the foil off and turn it over. Then the skin can brown and get crisp during the remainder of the cooking. I always let the bird rest for 30 minutes, covered in foil, after cooking. It keeps it's heat and lets the juices settle. And this year my husband told me about a technique for carving he saw on a Jamie Oliver programme which worked really well. I always struggle with carving eth legs, but instead of using a knife, I pulled the leg back towards me as if you were pulling a lever, then twisted it - and it came clean away and ready for eth meat to be taken off. Much easier than mt usual hacking-at-the-bones effort.

The chipolatas were easy - wrap in streaky bacon and roast! Yum!

My roast potatoes are something we don't have often but when I make them I make plenty. I like to use a good quality olive oil but because it seems extravagant I mix it half and half with normal vegetable oil. That way you don't feel to guilty but you still get that lovely nutty flavour coming through. A wee trick I learnt - once you have par boiled the potatoes, let them cool a bit and then 'rubble' them about in the pan - shake them in the pan to make their outsides fluffy. Then, when you add them to the hot oil you have heated in the oven, the contrast in tempratures and the increased surface are from the 'rubbling' will make for very crisp outsides to your tatties.

I made the cranberrie sauce up myself - I just got a bag of cranberries, heated some water and dissolved some sugar in, then boiled the cranberries till they started to burst at which point I reduced the heat to simmer for about ten-fifteen minutes. Then take a wee taste and see if you need more sugar or not. I put in a small cupful of sugar for 500g of berries. Not sure if this is what a recipe would tell you but it works for me!

The Christmas pudding was a bought one - I have never made my own pudding although I used to help my Mum make hers. I will need to try that next year. The one I got though from Tesco was really rather good though.

The meal went down really well with my chief taster, my husband. And it was much better than last year when, due to study stresses, I managed to buy stuffing but didn't make it and forgot to get bread sauce and cranberries!