Homemade Autumn Spiced Latte

It is that time of year where coats, hats and scarfs are starting to make an appearance.

With halloween just round the corner, pumpkins are popping up everywhere.  Starbucks have the autumn/winter warmers in. When you are cuddled up at home with a good book or curled up on the sofa and want something to warm you up,  the coffee shop is just that much out of reach. So making your coffee with the inspiration of the seasons is easier than you first thought.

This recipe can be made with what you already have in your spice rack.

Recette

Autumn Spice Mix
3 tablespoons ground Cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground Ginger
2 teaspoons Nutmeg
1 and half ground Allspice
1 and half ground Clove


Latte 
One dose of strong coffee
Half a teaspoon of autumn spice mix
2 dollops of honey
125ml of milk


Methode 

For the spice mix, put all the spices in a small bowl and mix throughly all together. This can be stored in a small jar, so it is ready to use.

I used our Nespresso coffee machine and Aeroccino machine which warms the milk. But never fear for that you can also make this with out a coffee machine.

Start by putting the honey and spice mix together at the bottom of the mug and then proceed to warm the milk up in the Aeroccino with the whisk so that you have light and fluffy milk. If you do not have the Aeroccino machine warm the milk up on the stove and whisk throughly so get the desired affect. Pour the milk in to your mug then add the coffee last to get that barista effect. I used the Fortisso Lungo which is the deep green capsule.

Now just sit back, light your pumpkin and put a scary film and enjoy your seasonal latte in the comfort of your home.

Bonne Degestation

Mauricettes a la Tonton

Mauricette is a soft bread that can be used as a roll for sandwiches, the side of a plate of charcuterie or even as a little snack on its own. Now you wonder what is so special about it. Its another speciality from Alsace, its very similar to the bretzel (pretzel in english).

Tonton had a new recipe that he wanted to try, as it was one that did not require to long to wait for the dough to raise, and as a bonus it was a recipe for the Thermomix. As the weather was a bit sour we spent the day cooking and baking different recipes.

La Recette.

Dough: 
225g Water
500g bread flour
1 packet of instant yeast (we used Levure Boulangere)
10g Sugar
40g oil
1 egg
1 tsp salt

Water Bath:
1L water
1 tsp salt
40g baking soda

Finish: 
1 egg
topping, salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds....

 

Methode 

First start with the dough. Put the water in bowl of the Thermomic and heat at 37°C for 2 minutes, the speed set at 2. Add the remaining ingredients of the dough mixture, set the timer to 2 min 30, make sure your bowl is locked and then press the kneading button. Once all mixed together, pop the dough in to a container and leave to rest at room temperature for 35 minutes to an hour.  Meanwhile preheat your oven to 190°C or 180°C for fan ovens.

Once your dough has risen, put the dough on a floured surface and flatten it with the palm of your hand to roughly 5cm thick. We only roughly had it at the height of 1cm and a half. Now you can divide the dough as you like, we used different cutters to get various shapes.

Prepare the water-bath by boiling the with the salt and the baking soda together. With a slotted spoon briefly dip each bun into the boiling water and out again. Place each bun on the baking tray that is lined with baking parchment or a silicon sheet. Then beat the egg and then brush the egg on each bun. To make the buns darker you can use just egg yolk. Sprinkle you desired topping, indent the top of each bun with a sharp knife two or three times. Pop them in to the oven for 15min, keep an eye on them as they can brown quite quickly.

While choosing the cutters we had a slight family debate as my Tonton choose a clover and two different crescent moon. My recommendation was a heart, (obviously) but he said it was too Christmasy, and we just burst out laughing and asked that moons aren't, he simply replied, its a talking point. 

Fresh from the oven.

These little treats can be made in to a bigger bun, that could be used to make a sandwich. The smaller size is lovely for l'aperitif. You can make them in their traditional shape that of a oval bun or a knot with sea salt sprinkled over it. 

We used these little light mauricettes to go along side my Tonton Foie Gras. Which is always a lovely treat.

Bon Appétit. 

Wolfberger Cocktails

This year we were invited to enjoy a glass of wine at the newly refurbished stand of Wolfberger at the Foire aux Vins. We go each year but this year we didn't have to visit the two different stands as they fused them together. 

While my mum and auntie enjoyed a glass of wine from the region, a Muscat and a Pinot Blanc. Dulcie and I ventured on to the newly revisited cocktail bar, and was introduced to the barman and he made us samples of different cocktails using the Néo from Wolfberger. 

With the barman, we were talking about different types of cocktails and the ways we make them. He made two different types of cocktails for us to try, one sweet and the other bitter. Both were nice, the bitter one was very refreshing. The sweet one won us both over, especially as it had one of my favourite fruit in it, passionfruit. He made us a version of the "Pornstar". 

Now this recipe is a perfect one for us girlies sweet and with a kick, a lovely excuse to organise a get together as the summer comes to an end but not the good times. You could also use this as an apéritif a simple way to impress your guests.

La Recette 

2.5 cl Passionfruit Juice

1.5cl Néo Maracuja (passion fruit)

1 squeeze of fresh lime

3.5cl Vanilla Vodka

Methode 

Fill your shaker up with ice and pour all the ingredients in, pop the lid on and shake it, shake what your mumma gave you. 

Pour in to your martini shaped glass, you can garnish your drink with a slice of fresh passionfruit or even just the fruit mixed in to your glass. Now just to enjoy your drink and your company.

Bonne Dégustation 

Fashion Tea For Two

A very belated blog post. Us girls all love dressing up, cake and fashion and this is where they all meet. 

We all love the typical English high tea. Finger sandwiches, scones and a selection of cake, what’s not to love? But what happens when tea meet fashion.

Paul Smith Tea Pot

Where cake and fashion meet.

Imagine a fine selection of loose tea and herbal infusions, from typical Earl Grey to some new blends of Pear Caramel. The ‘Well Being’ had a variety of fruity teas, Amazing Apple, Cheeky Cherry Spice and Caramel Indulgence.

Biscuits, cakes and mousses with inspiration taken from this autumn/winter collection. The Fendi sell out ankle boot and Marc Jacobs’ showstopper blazer, both as eye catching biscuits.

Fendi, Boot - Marc Jacobs, Coat

This is the perfect outing for girls with the love of fashion and cake brought together in one place.

To finish of the day, we got given a little take away box with a few goodies to take home with you. This was such a lovely afternoon out and perfect for an outing with a twist. 

Bon Appétit.  

Thai Style - Food on the Go.

Walking down Beach road, across the Soi's and along pretty much any road, using various ways of grabbing your attention by using horns, bells, squeaky toys they are everywhere. Each selling there goodies. You can buy prawns, crab pinchers, spring rolls, thai sausage even milkshakes and ice cream. Or you can try the specialities which are found here like, beetles, grasshoppers and if you want, scorpions.

Parked up on the pavement out side the school

Best sweetcorn in town

Food cook on the road

Broom, duster? anyone?

This year a couple of my friends made me try some new goodies from several of the food carts. I tried some crispy pork, and learnt the name for pork in Thai which is moo. You can imagine how confused I was. I also tired BBQ'd sticky rice and a spicy oyster salad. That is only the start of the list, there is so much more.  

Bon Appétit

Underwater Adventure

I haven't been diving for over 14 months, so back in the city where I learnt to dive in, I thought why not get back in to the water. So booked my self in to a few days diving. The first day we dived round the islands of Pattaya. This was to get comfortable in the water and refresh my skills of being back in le grand bleu.

The day flew past with making new friends on the boat, this always makes the day more fun, diving is always a good way of meeting new people. The dives where good fun and a drift dive (swimming with the current) for a first dive is not a bad start either. After the day diving a couple of the instructors and I went to grab a drink and chill out for a couple of hours.

The second day we went to Samae san. An earlier start, as the meeting time was 8 at the dive centre. Got all the equipment together and the daily supplies ready and set off for the 45min thai-style taxi ride. Imagine your standard pick up truck, but in the back with small benches running along the the side and metal step to get in and out, and that is your thai bhat bus.

Back of the Taxi

Sitting and waiting to dive.

Here we dived at the Hardepp wreck and at Koh Chuang. On these dives we saw some blue spotted sting rays and some nudibranch along withe some other colourful fishes. Between dives you can find a spot on the sun deck and got some shut eye before the next dive, though keep one eye open, as cold water is only a splash away. On this dive trip, Rick completed his Dive Master training, so in the evening we all celebrated together. 

Ann, Dave, Rick, Me, Gordon and Andy

 

Rick doing his snorkel

The last day was back in Pattaya and we dived at Had Nuan and Koh Lan Sooth. Here we saw a large collection of coral and a verity of brightly coloured fish, also a blue spotted ray and another sting ray. Was like visiting the little mermaid and Nemo. Andy took his camera and captured some moments of the dive.

Photos from Andrew Jennings.

Me

Over the three days I was lucky enough to dive each of the instructors and make new friendships at the Pattaya Dive Centre. 

If you ever have the opportunity to dive where ever you are in the world, I strongly recommend to give it a go, you will see another side of nature you do not see every day and each dive is completely different.

Bubble, bubble, bubble. 

Lunch at the beach shack

This little treasure, found tucked away from the beach shore. While you enjoy some thai cuisine you over look the sea and the islands. This gem has been here for sometime now, I remember coming here when  I was like 14 or so, not so much has changed maybe the table and chairs. Apart from the stair case that they have built from the beach to the promenade. They have used natural found object on the beach, to decorate the stair case.

As a light lunch and a break from the morning sunbathing session, mum and I wonder along the beach to here. The fact that it is real thai food, another reason why we love it. Mum had an aromatic a Tom Yam Goong with coconut milk, its normally without the coconut milk but the milk makes it slightly less spicy and more creamy. I indulged in a Green curry soup with prawn rather than chicken.

Tom Yam Koon - with coconut milk 

Green Curry

Steamed Rice

We enjoyed our lunch with a young coconut, a coke, a glass of wine and of corse steamed rice. The food is slightly spicy, so had to ask for nic noï pet which means little spicy. You can use this where ever you go, so the chef uses less or no chilli.

Bon Appétit

Dinner at the night market - Thailand

Sa wat dee kha, means Hello in Thai, this is greeting that I have been using the past week as I'm currently in Thailand. As I have mentioned before in one of my previous blog posts, that you can catch up on Here - somewhere exotic. Thailand is our favorite family holiday destinations. Over the past week we have enjoyed various Thai dinners practically every night. My green curry still has a lot of room for improvement.

This weekend we started to venture round the night market. This market known as Therrprasit market has everything you are after, from souvenirs to hair accessories, clothes to shoes, and even new pets. This is one big market. There is even a food market here, this is more like a food court in a shopping centre.

Food in thailand can be found everywhere, and get this, it's all fresh and pretty much healthy. Whether you are in town, or at a market and even chilling on the beach. Some of the stalls are attached to scooters so that they can move around easily, or some are yet more old fashioned and that they are pushed around by hand.

Fresh Fruit

When you are so overwhelmed by choice and the food looks so colorful and yummy. Where do you choose to go? There are few tips to keep in mind. First tip, eat where there are the most locals. Let's face it, they know where is good. Another way also of telling if it's good, is by the amount of food what is left, if there seems that there is not much left, must be popular so therefore good.

Dinner that night mother and I, wondered round the food area to see what took our fancy. After exploring the different types of stalls, from fish, soups, sushi, fruit, smoothies, (whatever you fancy you could find here) so we finally found a stall that took our fancy. Once we had a closer look the choice was so vast, from green curry, Kaeng phet pet yang (roast duck in red curry), Tom Yam Kung Nam Khon (Tom Yam with coconut milk and prawns, pork cakes, curried clams, and yet so much more. 

Food anyone?

Our dinner - that I helped served up.

We opted for curried clams and some chicken and shared a portion of steamed rice. You can ask for a take away, and they put it in a plastic bag for you, sounds different to how we would be served a take away, right? But we joined in on the local atmosphere we ate in the market with the locals.

This was one of our cheapest meals that cost a full 180bhat, that is approximatively £3.60. This also included our drinks, we had a coke-cola and a local beer. 

When we are in Thailand we love eating amongst the locals and finding new places to try.

Bon Appétit.