Today is an orange day....

Hello all!

I hope all is well with you out there in the world.

Like I mentioned in my last post, I felt the need to do some baking this weekend.... and I've been baking! It's a bit of an orange theme today... you'll see soon enough...

I had the morning to myself so I pulled out the aging Kenwood (which has been passed down to me from my mother and from my grandmother so it's knocking on a bit. Touch wood it's still working.) and decided to whip up a cake.

Now, my wonderful friend Mrs H in Cornwall made me the most amazing orange cake for my birthday last month and I really fancied making it. Unfortunately I didn't get the recipe but I'm sure I can prise it out of her! So I searched through a few sites and books and kinda concocted my own.

So, here is The Pengelly Bellys Orange Polenta Cake with Rosemary Syrup.

Ingredients:
2 oranges, diced but with skin on, pips removed
4oz margarine
4oz caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
6oz polenta
3tsp baking powder

Heat oven to GM 4/ 180C. Grease an 8" cake tin (or cheat like me and use a tinfoil one!)

1. Place chopped oranges into a food processor and blitz to a pulp. Leave to one side.
2. In a clean bowl or mixer, cream together the sugar and margarine until light and fluffy.
3. Start to add the eggs slowly the the butter/sugar mixture.
4. Stir in the polenta and baking powder.
5. Stir in the orange pulp.
6. Pour batter into cake tin.
7. Place in oven - first 10minutes at 180C, then reduce to 170C for 40minutes.
8. Leave to cool in the tin.

To make the rosemary syrup, add 200g caster sugar, 200ml of water and two sprigs of water into a saucepan, bring to the boil and then simmer for 10minutes. Slowly pour over the cake and it will absorb all the the syrup. Leave for absorb for 30minutes before taking out of the cake tin.

Pouring the rosemary syrup onto the cake...

I've got a lovely retro orange glass cake stand that my mother gave me and it fitted the occasion perfectly, along with the orange stripey tablecloth and clashing flowers!

I love this dish soooo much!

Orange lovelyness

The first slice, moist and yummy...

...and all cake shots deserve a close up!

Cake update... mmm there's not much left of it after one day! Mr P seems to like it served warm with a dollop of yoghurt and honey!

Give it a go! I think it will also work well with lemons!

Cheers for now xoxox

Mr P's new canvas bag.... handmade of course

Hey ho everyone! How's it going?

Finally I've finished Mr P's new canvas bag. I offered to make him a bag as he kept complaining that he couldn't find a funky man bag for town (instead of me carting all his stuff around!)...

There are so many funky fabrics out there for boys and since he's bike mad, bike fabric was the way to go.

So. last weekend I started the project. I used my own pattern. Fabric was from a couple of places on Etsy and all metal bits was from U-handbag who have all the bag making supplies that a girl needs! If you really want to venture in bag making Lisa (who owns U-handbag) has written the most amazing book - suitable for all levels!

So here are the results....

Can't wait for him to take it to town on the weekend! I also think that some baking time is well over due! So watch this space!
See you soon,

Nic xoxox

Greetings from Sunny Cornwall!

I'm so excited! I'm in Cornwall! I've come home for a week's holiday and I'm having a great time. Mr P has abandoned me to watch the first week of Le Tour in France.... but he's home soon and we'll have a few days together before we head back up north....

Ma and Pa spoilt me on my birthday. We went to one of my favourite restaurants in St.Ives, the Porthgwidden Cafe but we ate all for food before I remembered that I had the camera with me! Doh! Anyway, I had the squid with miso and citrus dressing for starters, followed by a open Newlyn Crab Salad all washed down with a glass of Polgoon Raspberry Aval of course!

After an amazing lunch we headed off to the beach for the swim. Dad and I hit the (refreshing) water... and I was joined by a seal who swam past me!

I'm the swimmer furthest away and the big dark shadow is the seal!

We finished the afternoon with some Moomaid of Zennor Icecream which was delicious! Limoncello, pistachio, orange and mascapone, passion fruit... just some of the flavours that we enjoyed!

Anyway, here are some more photos of Cornwall that I would like to share with you!

jubilee bathing pool and the stunning flags

Jubilee Bathing Pool - where I learnt to swim as a babe!

Jubilee Bathing Pool

Jubilee Bathing Pool with Penzance Prom and Newlyn in the distance

Steps into the sea at Battery Rocks, Penzance

I've got four more days left in Cornwall to cram in more ice-cream, a cream tea, a pasty and a crab salad! I think we can manage that! I'll remember the camera this time!

Enjoy! xoxoxox

Greetings from Oxfordshire...

Hello All!

My my what an exciting couple of weeks I’ve had! My life is in a bit of a spin at the moment and I don’t know if I’m coming or going!

One of my most amazing friends got engaged! About time too! So let’s all raise a glass and toast Rebecca and Brendan! I’m delighted for them both! They are such a amazing couple. They also responsible for one of the best wedding magazines out there... http://www.wedmagazine.co.uk/

Last weekend Mr P, myself and two friends headed over to London for the Hard Rock Calling Festival at Hyde Park. We had two days of music, rain and sunshine! We saw the Kaiser Chiefs and the Killers on Friday... and it rained in the evening. Luckily I remembered to pack the binbags and was sporting a very nice binbag skirt and jacket with an Asda bag as a hat! Stayed dry as a bone... though I did get some odd looks as I was walking through Knightsbridge after the concert to catch the tube.

On Saturday the sun came out and we were blessed with great weather. We were also blessed with a trip to Borough Market to stock up on goodies for our picnic in the park! We stopped off at Patisserie Lila for a morning coffee and I had the most amazing macaroons – lavender, pistachio and vanilla http://patisserielila.com/. Mr P and the others had cupcakes which were amazing! I’ll have to download the photos from the phone and upload them! We brought breads, cheese, olives, quiche, biltong, cherries, peaches and other goodies to feast on! All washed down with a pint of cider!

So the picnic in the park was amazing, and was followed by three hours of Bon Jovi and lots of singing and dancing! He was awesome! And even better... the sun was on full heat!

And to top my weekend, I’ve landed myself an excellent job! More to follow soon! And I’m off to Cornwall on Friday for a week and can’t wait to visit some of my favourite foodie places! Yay!

Cheers for now!

Nic xoxoxo

Girl about town... and men (and women) in lycra!

Totally off the food and craft thread I’m afraid... I need to ramble on about my other interests here and share my weekend experience with you all.

Firstly, however, there is good news from the Pengelly Belly Kitchen! The new oven has been installed! Say hello my double fan oven! I can’t tell you how delighted I am! I can now get back on track with cooking yummy creations which include a batch of cakes for the lovely boys from the Estates office who replaced it for us. My my, they do get spoilt. No wonder they like coming to our house.

Anyway way, back to the weekend. We were supposed to be climbing Snowdon and I was ready to make a stash of Pengelly Belly Granola Bars and Tiffin for the climb, however the walk on Sunday got cancelled because of the weather forecast – snow and high winds. Sorry, did you say snow!? Yes I did! And it did snow, so I’m glad we didn’t go. Snowdon will still be there for another day and I am determined to climb it again and get a good view from the top as last time it was foggy and I saw bugger all! As you can imagine, I was very disappointed. I’d been seeking myself up all week.

Then Mr P had a bright idea... careful now! He’d seen in his weekly edition of Cycling Weekly (here comes our shared passion along with food) that there was a premier cycling event taking place in London at night. It was the LG Markets London Nocturne Event which takes place around Smithfield Market. Since we now live within a sensible travelling time to London we thought that would make the weekend. So I packed a picnic, we hopped in the car and headed towards London. By 1230 we were sat in Hyde Park eating out picnic, watching the world go by. And of course the Trooping the Colour was taking place in London on Saturday as well and we saw the fly-by as we were sat in the park. Very impressive!

We walked over to Smithfield Market, via the Museum of London which was very interesting – worth a visit if you are ever in that area of the City, and then made our way to our spot in behind the railings to watch the cycling events.

It wasn’t all about professionals cycling – the event started off with Penny Farthing Races, Brompton Races, Time Trials and then the Pros. See photos here and here Very exciting! The crowds and the atmosphere was electric. The Pro race didn’t start until 0930 and the streets were packed. Everyone how cow bells that we rang out everytime they passed us and we were banging the boards on the side of the railings. The noise was deafening!

We also witnessed a spectacular crash which made me feel a bit ill. Ambulance please. Seeing a crash in real time vs. Seeing them on TV is quite a difference. After 10minutes or so, the guy did get up and walk over the finishing line (big respect) but he was a mess and was then carted off in an ambulance.

I must admit watching the pros was awesome. They went past us so fast that it actually took your breath away. Team Sky's Alex Dowsett was just amazing! He led from the front and lapped everyone...he even had time to cheer on the crowd! What a guy!

The whole event didn't finish till gone 11pm... and we didn't get home till 0130! A very long and exciting day! Just gearing up for Le Tour now!

Cheerio,

Nic xoxoxo