Tea and Cakes

A while ago, I posted about liking coffee creme revels.

Following this Glenda very, very kindly sent me a Canadian classic: Coffee Crisp. 4, to be precise. (They were actually sent before christmas, but as they had a long way to travel they arrived afterwards, while I was in the UK, and then there was the weekend, so I couldn’t get to the post office to collect them etc etc.) Anyway, I’ve been remiss in my blogging.

Coffee Crisp then.

Although I’ve been to Canada a few times for various reasons (namely family holiday, rugby tour, summer working  and 3 day business trip), I hadn’t noticed Coffee Crisps before. It may be because the look is, well, classic? Vintage? It could be that I was distracted all the time by the novelty of Hersheys (disappointing), and some tasty peanut butter filled things (not Reeces) that were really addictive and I’m really glad I haven’t seen over here.

Anyway, Coffee Crisp. Old style packaging:

See what I mean? I have to say, I like it.

Now, my interior photo is a bit blurry. I apologise.

The Coffee Crisp is essentially coffee flavoured wafer wrapped in milk chocolate.

It shouldn’t be substantial, and I wasn’t sure if it would satisfy my cravings for sweet deliciousness.

However. I was very pleasantly surprised. It was delicious! Really really tasty. And filling! Light, but filling. Perfect with a cup of tea, and I’d imagine pretty damn good with a cup of coffee too. Similar to a KitKat chunky, but not the same. Not as much thick chocolate, but sometimes that’s a good thing.

I still have two left, but if you’re hoping for me to be offering them as some sort of prize you can stop that thought right there. These are all mine and nobody else is getting their hands on them. I’m almost reluctant to eat them because then they’ll be gone.

Thanks so much Glenda!

A couple of months ago, Cheryl asks me: “Hey, fancy going to Edinburgh for the day?”

Well, there’s only one answer to that question, so I got up at 4am on Tuesday to make the 6.30 flight, and by 8am we were on the airport bus watching a beautiful sunrise over the city.

Our first stop, at an hour that really was too early to expect such wonderful hospitality, was with Karen from Cornflower. Karen welcomed us into her lovely home with tea and a delicious passionfruit cake that was light a creamy and sweet and mmmmmmm. (and some lovely Scottish angora yarn that’s deciding what it would like to be). I’ve been reading the Cornflower blog for a little while now, and I suspect that some of my reading material for 2009 will be based on recommendations from there. Thank you so much for having us to visit Karen, it was lovely to meet you.

Delicious treats chez Cornflower

Our next stop was a short bus ride across the city. Ok, It was walkable sort of, but we had bus tickets, and a long day planned, and the bus went right where we needed it to. So. Justification over. Our next stop: Fidra Books. Oh boy, am I glad I don’t live near here, I don’t think they’d ever get rid of me. Ostensibly a children’s bookshop, Fidra also has a small but extremely well selected (to my mind) choice of adult books books for adults too. The shop was welcoming and friendly, and Vanessa, Malcolm and Teaga all lovely. Teaga (the dog) is quite big, so I think they would have noticed if I’d tried to sneak her home with me, but I was very tempted.

Fidra also have a publishing arm, for classic children’s books. The editions are lovely, and if you’re a fan of classic children’s adventure stories or books about ponies do check them out. They also have the later books in the Trebizon series, that I didn’t know existed. I may need to see if my local library has the earlier ones, as I haven’t read them since I was a child.

Lovely Fidra Books editions

Now, when we’d arrived in Edinburgh, the very helpful lady at the information desk told us about a German christmas market and a highland market that were on in the city. These were down by the Scott memorial, and also featured a ferris wheel. Hmmmm, is all I have to say about that.

The market was, well, small. A couple of stands, some hot wine or sausages, and that was the German market. The Highland market was pretty similar – tablet, fudge, or hats knit in Nepal with the Scottish flag on them. Oh, and crepes. Meh. It was raining at this point anyway, so we didn’t linger, and instead visited the National Gallery of Scotland for art and lunch. There are some fabulous pieces there. I especially liked the fact that their famous painting of the ice-skating preacher, The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, by Sir Henry Raeburn, might not have actually been painted by Raeburn, was probably painted ten years after they thought, and doesn’t seem to be of Duddingston Loch.

Anyway, refreshed from our lunch and culture, we ventured up many steps…

…and down more, to K1 Yarns, which is a lovely and friendly shop with a small but nice selection of yarns. I’d imagine it’s a lovely place to hang out and knit.

K1 Yarns

By this time it was about 3.30, and we were flagging a little. Coffee, shortbread and knitting were required, and we spent a very pleasant hour in Always Sunday, a bright and comfortable cafe on the Royal Mile.

Chocolate chip shortbread and a cappucino

A very small shop later, and a stroll along Princes Street, and we were ready for home.

A very quick photo of the castle in the dark

I fell in to bed back in Dublin at about 11.30pm, very tired, but very happy.

I know, it’s been a while. Everything sort of exploded and a few things had to be put on hold to ensure my general sanity and well being, and blogging was one of them. Everything’s good, it just got a little busy there.

So. I return with the very exciting news that Revels have temporarily got rid of the coffee ones, and have introduced a new mystery sweet. I have a packet here with me now and I’m blogging as I eat them.

If you’re not familiar with Revels, they’re a sort of mini selection of chocolates. There are chocolate covered raisins, toffees, maltesers, chocolate discs, orange cremes and coffee cremes. It’s fairly obvious which are the raisins and chocolate discs, and the malteser ones are slightly bigger than the rest, but you should pretend that you don’t know what you’re getting each time.

I may be an anomoly, but I like the coffee revels. We used to have a rule that if you were sharing a pack, at the cinema for example, if someone took a sweet and got a coffee one they could take another one too. This worked out very well for me.

Before I start I would like to state for the record that I have not been researching this matter, and I have no prior knowledge of the new sweet, but I’m guessing that it’s a strawberry creme.

Anyway, onwards:

First sweet… raisin. I played it safe. Mmmm.

Sip of coffee.

Second sweet… orange. Oh yum.

Sip of coffee.

Third sweet. Going for one of creme ones again… Ewwww! Ewwww! I was right, it’s strawberry. Oh yuk, that’s really nasty. Sweet and artificial tasting. Eww ewww eww. Quick! raisin one again.

Lesson learned. No more Revels until this stupid experiment of theirs is over.

Ahh, back to Saturday knitting. It’s great. The cafe we meet in has great coffee from Ariosa, a small Irish company, wonderful sandwiches, and fantastic cakes from The Cake Cafe. I had a piece of delicious moist gingerbread. I adore ginger. I’ve been looking for a good parkin recipe for ages, if anyone knows of one please let me know. Bonus points if it’s vegan so I don’t need to buy eggs.

We were a small group this week, but were joined by four lovely new people, which is great. Afterwards we all went our separate ways but all ended up in the new This is Knit in the Powerscourt Townhouse. I think this could become a habit. I failed miserably in my working through my stash plan. I managed so well at the launch party on Friday night, but a project idea’s been niggling at me, and the perfect yarn presented itself, so I couldn’t resist and have cast on.

The hats I was working on yesterday are for Innocent Smoothie bottles. For their Big Knit campaign, for every little hat knit €1 will go to Age Action Ireland. I have 8 made so far, but I’m taking a tiny break for a couple of days. The hats are really quick to knit up though, and the perfect opportunity for a little sampler of stranded knitting, which I’ve been meaning to try for a while. The sweater I want to cast on for next is a lot more complicated than a tiny hat, but it’s a start, and I have another intermediate project in mind for some extra practice before I get to the complicated yoke of the sweater. (Plus, you know, I also need to swatch and start the project, I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself).

(The innocent smoothie bottle above can be seen modeling this season’s latest style: Fair Isle in the Galway colours)

Oh boy, there’s just too much catching up to do.

The I Knit day was fab. I had a lovely time, met some lovely bloggers (including Luke!), had a lovely lunch with my mum and ChicwithStix, bought some lovely yarn, went to The Yarn Harlot talk which was, yep, lovely. Stephanie very much lives up to all the lovely things you read about her on other blogs. Then I met up with my lovely friend Ceri, who I don’t see anywhere near often enough, and we went off and had lovely coffee and then lovely dinner and dessert desert cake.
It was pretty much an all round lovely day.

I finished my Hemlock Ring Blanket and it’s keeping me very warm at the moment. All the details are over at Ravelry. I used the pattern as collated by The Rainey Sisters, and worked the standard size throw. It’s ended up 44″/112cm in diameter. Big enough for a lap blanket, but I’d go bigger next time, although I’ll need a longer cable for my needles. The knitted bind off looks great but took forever, so next time I’ll also need to brush up on my crochet skills as that would be much, much easier.

While I was in France I made a Baby Surprise Jacket. I love it. I love the pattern, and I love the yarn I used (Rowan Wool Cotton). I still need to sew up the seams, sew in the many yarn ends and find good buttons, but there are a good few months to go before it’ll get any wear so there’s no great rush (it’s for my neicephew-to-be).

At the moment I’m working away on a Clapotis for me, a February Baby Sweater for the neicephew, and a small off-blog project. (There might be a few other things kicking around too, but I’m talking about projects I’m actually interested in knitting right now). I think it’s time to start swatching for another sweater for me. Winter’s coming, and it ain’t getting any warmer. I think it’s time to try fair isle.

I’m very excited that this coming Saturday is knitting group. I miss everyone. It seems like ages since I went along. Tonight I was in Borders just as my closest group was starting, but I was tired and hungry and hadn’t been home after work so I didn’t stay (that’s also why I never manage to make it). Anyway, yes, Saturday. I’m looking forward to it.

I’m frustrated with the weather. The sun came out on Saturday afternoon, and it was lovely, but it hasn’t been seen since. That’s why my photos are so bad. It’s always grey here.

I’ve been twittering a little as teaandcakes: is anyone out there? Knitters seem to mainly plurk I know, but I think twitter’s the one for me.

This, my friends, is the best ice-cream you’ll find.

To find it you need to fly to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, get a bus for 2 hours to Plovdiv, and take a walk down the main shopping street, past the roman ruins, past the on-street cafes, until you come to the small ice cream stand just before the main square with the post office on it.

Then take your pick from the selection there. I recommend two scoops, although scoops implies a carefully measured small portion, and in reality it’s a giant spoonful or two in a massive sugar cone. Add your choice of sprinkles, and you’re off. The cost is calculated by weight, and the above ice-cream cost a bit less than €2. Yes, you read that correctly.

I tried a selection of flavours, some mine, some a sample from my companions, all of which were excellent and obviously made from what they claimed to be made from: Cherry – Mmmmm, Strawberry – Mmmmm, Vanilla chocolate – Mmmmmmmm. Above you see hazlenut, which was the nuttiest most delicious nutty ice-cream I’ve ever had, with chunks of praline chocolate in for good luck, and the one I came back to time and time again: Coffee and Whiskey flavour. Oh boy. This tasted like it had a generous slug of both in it and was top. Just wonderful.

It’s a good thing I was eating salads most of the rest of the time, I had a giant ice-cream each of the 4 nights I was in Plovdiv. I’d do it again too.

Filling:
300g rhubarb, washed and chopped into 1 inch pieces
360g red gooseberries, topped and tailed, washed and dried
140g tayberries
75g unrefined caster sugar

Heat gently until rhubarb is softened and starts to break up.

Topping:
50g unrefined caster sugar
50g brown sugar
150g wholemeal flour
75g butter
half teaspoon ground ginger
half teaspoon ground cinnamon

Rub together until it looks like breadcrumbs.
Mix in:
40g oats
30g chopped hazelnuts

Put filling and topping in dish and cook at 220C for 20 mins.
Serve warm with cold natural yoghurt.

Tastes like summer.

Cornwall was lovely.

I’d been down there twice before, once as a sulky teenager on a family break in Mevagissy, and once on a geology field trip.

The family holiday I remember very little of. I suspect this is because I was stroppy and sulky and antisocial and generally horrible to be around and I’ve blocked the whole thing from memory.

The a level geology field trip was mainly spent on beaches in the rain, mapping the layers and taking notes on the folds, or down mines. Actually, it was probably only one mine, but quite frankly that’s enough.

This trip was different. This was a few days relaxing by ourselves as a treat after lots of rushing around.

We stayed in Lostwithiel, a lovely little village with a pretty river to walk along and a surfeit of delicious places to eat. With only 2 full days we had to be selective about what we did, and I’m very happy with our choices.

We spent a day at the Lost Gardens of Heligan, which were beautiful and fascinating and I can’t recommend them enough as a day out. I’m halfway through the book written about the history of the gardens and their restoration and it’s really interesting.

The Jungle

Mud Maid

Giant Head

Our second day we decided to spend exploring some of Cornwall, ignoring the pull of the nearby Eden Project.

We started off in the little port of Mevagissey for a walk up above the harbour and to see if we could find where Merry lived.*

Then we headed off to just outside of Fowey, for a hike along the cliffs by Menabilly, the house that Daphne du Maurier lived in for a while, down and around to Coombe Farm.

Coombe Haven, a smugglers cove that I have no photos of because as we walked by it was playing host to a naked elderly man stood up to his knees in the sea.

While in Mevagissey we’d cunningly bought our lunch: pasties.

Cheese and onion pasty, and a chick pea and cumin one that was delicious. I now want to make everything into pasties.

After our big long walk it was time for a treat, so we headed into Fowey for high tea:

The Dwelling House is a grade 2 listed property, and serve absolutely fabulous teas and cakes. High tea in the garden was a delight.

I think next time we visit Cornwall we’ll be heading back there. I may have to diet first.

*Mevagissey is the model for Trewissick in The Dark is Rising books by Susan Cooper.

Cornwall is trying to kill me with delicious food.

Today we started off with breakfast at Muffins, an award winning tea shop.

Cornish tea (yes, grown in Cornwall), fruit with local yoghurt and museli, followed by fresh granary toast with local orange marmalade.

We spent the day at the absolutely wonderful Lost Gardens of Heligan, where I had a roll with Cornish brie and cranberry sauce followed by a fresh cream lemon cake.

Then a snack of vegetable crisps and organic St Clements (lightly sparkling orange and lemon juice drink).

Back to Lostwithiel in the evening, to Trewithen Restaurant, for one of the best meals I’ve had in ages. I can barely move right now, but I just couldn’t stop.
Parmesan and herb bread, and olive bread as a pre-starter.
Pea, spring onion and pesto risotto with parmesan shavings to start.
Red and yellow pepper tarte tartin with chilli and mango as a main, served with fresh steamed vegetables, new potatoes and potatoes dauphinause (yeah, I cant spell that.)
Then strawberries and champagne sorbet almost to finish.
I say almost because our enormous pot of great coffee was served with home made petit fours.
An awesome meal, in a lovely location, with great service.

Everywhere we’ve been, on top of all the delicious food (actual choices for vegetarians!), everyone has been super friendly and nice and helpful.

I don’t think I need to eat at all tomorrow.

So, lots (well, some) of you have wondered about the Mango KitKat balls.

Well, I managed one. The Gurrier managed two.

I was wondering what to do with the rest.

However, when confronted by a birthday boy who’d had too much beer and wanted some mango kitkat balls at 3am, I caved.

There are two left.

I will happily send them to anyone who is interested. Add your name in to the draw for the rest of the kitkats and I’ll pop them in the envelope if your name comes up.