My super healthy horde of goodies

I’d say I was relatively healthy. Sure, I indulge in chocolate, wine and other ‘guilty’ treats. But fruit and veg play a big part in my diet; I eat beans, pulses and unsweetened cereals – so, yeah, I suppose I’m reasonably healthy.

But then I was challenged to be super healthy, with a week of eating all the superfoods I could get my hands on. Okay so broccoli, avocado, goji berries – I can do this.

Cue a visit to the nearest health food store where the friendly shop assistant starts speaking in another language: Manuka honey, alfalfa sprouts, Spirulina…err, right. Perhaps I’m not quite as healthy as I thought.

I left with my horde of antioxidants, wondering whether I’ll be rewarded with clear skin, boundless energy and a rock hard immune system.

Saturday

After slightly overindulging last night, my body couldn’t be more in need of vitamins and nutrients. So I bravely drag myself to the kitchen for a superfood breakfast: muesli with a handful of dried goji berries and blueberries, followed by a mug of green tea.

I’m supposed to take one tablet of Spirulina – a blue green algae full of vitamins and minerals – half an hour before eating, three times a day. And to get the most out of my Manuka honey, which contains antibacterial properties, I should eat a teaspoon’s worth 30-60 minutes before eating. So before lunch I swallow one tablet (not particularly pleasant, leaves behind a nasty algae taste) and a teaspoon of honey (a lot nicer than the algae).

Lunch is a tuna salad wrap with a good handful of alfalfa sprouts. They have a nice clean taste and contain “all known vitamins” according to the packet. I drink my white tea – three times the antioxidants of green apparently – with a smug sense of inner wellbeing.

For dinner, I bake what could easily be the world’s largest sweet potato. These things are packed with beta-carotene and vitamins C and E, which are great for the skin. I have it with hot chilli and more alfalfa sprouts.

Sunday

Breakfast is cereal with berries. I remember to take my Spirulina and honey beforehand, and follow it up with a mug of green tea.

For lunch I add alfalfa sprouts to my salad, and dinner – a Sunday roast – includes roasted sweet potato (cut into cubes and added to the other veg), and plenty of broccoli.

Monday

The combination of honey and an algae tablet is not the most pleasant thing at 7.45am, but I force it down. More berries with breakfast.

Lunch is a chicken and avocado sandwich to which I add alfalfa sprouts, and a white tea. A mate recommended eating the sprouts straight from the packet – it’s a bit like eating grass.

Alfalfa sprouts and avocad salad: ultra healthy

For dinner, I find a great salmon stir fry recipe packed full of superfoods: salmon, broccoli, avocado, honey, spinach (high in vitamins and minerals) and walnut halves (a great source of protein and antioxidants).

I follow it up with a mug of hot cacao (pure chocolate without all the sugar and saturated fat; full of antioxidants) by mixing together warm milk, two teaspoons of grated cacao and honey. It has a lovely rich taste though still quite bitter, like a very dark chocolate.

Tuesday

Bought some fresh blueberries and add a handful to my porridge along with a swirl of honey.

I add some leftover cold sweet potato to my lunchtime salad, and chuck in alfalfa sprouts and sliced avocado. Today’s green tea is flavoured with peppermint – a refreshing change.

Because dried goji berries taste like sour nutty cranberries – and not in a good way – I buy some natural yoghurt (high in friendly bacteria) to which I add a handful of berries and a spoon of Manuka honey for good measure.

For dinner, I oven bake a fillet of salmon (protein and omega 3 fatty acids) with garlic (anti-viral, antibacterial and anti-fungal properties) and soy sauce. Top it off with more alfalfa sprouts.

Wednesday

Cereal and berries for breakfast, with more berries mixed into natural yoghurt and honey as a mid morning snack. I add grated cacao this time – despite raw cacao being incredibly bitter, the sweetness of the yoghurt and honey made the whole thing lovely and chocolate-y.

I make myself a chicken and avocado sandwich for lunch, and dinner is another sweet potato. To mix things up a bit, I slice the potato into wedges and put them in the oven with olive oil and a sprinkle of chilli flakes. Yum.

Thursday

Porridge with berries and honey to start. My Manuka honey is running low, which is a shame. At £5.99 for a 250ml tub it isn’t cheap, but it is quite possibly the tastiest (and healthiest) honey I’ve ever bought.

For lunch, a few of us go out for pizza. I chose one with spinach and, embarrassingly, I sprinkle some of my alfalfa sprouts on top. Ice cream for pudding – I cunningly choose a topping of blueberry sauce.

For dinner, I stir fry strips of steak and broccoli with ginger paste, chilli, spring onions and noodles. A great and very simple recipe. (NB cut the strips of beef as thin as you can.)

Delicious porcini and chocolate risotto

Friday

A berry-filled breakfast, followed by a mid-morning ‘superfood smoothie’ from a shop round the corner. Blueberries, goji berries, pomegranate seeds (full of antioxidants and vitamin C) and organic honey all blitzed together with other fruit and coconut milk. Lovely. I follow this up with a wheatgrass shot – nasty but full of super-duper antioxidants.

A salmon and avocado wrap with alfalfa sprouts for lunch, and a mug of white tea.

I feel experimental at dinnertime, so I look up a recipe for Porcini and chocolate risotto – the mushrooms and cacao go surprisingly well together.

Looking back now, I’m surprised at how easy it was to include most ‘superfoods’ into my diet. Other than the Spirulina tablets, which I admit I forgot to take more than once, everything else can easily be thrown in with your favourite dishes.

Of course, I wasn’t expecting miracles, especially not in a week. My skin looks clearer – other than that I haven’t noticed much of a difference.

But the fact is that each of these foods are bursting with antioxidants to fight free radicals and reduce the signs of aging; vitamins and minerals to improve your skin, teeth, hair and nails; properties shown to ward off cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s; and energising nutrients that also boost the immune system. One week might not show much change, but keep eating these foods over time and there’s no doubt you’ll look and feel healthier.

I suppose the foregone conclusion is don’t buy into the marketing hype. As always, there is no quick fix – no matter how ‘super’ your diet is.

Huma ready to blog (image: Sarah Ahmed)

In the first of our Blogging in Heels features, we quizzed one of our favourite bloggers, Huma Qureshi who writes the blog Her Little Place; a fascinating (and hunger-inducing) insight into design, interiors and yummy food!

When and why did you start blogging?

I set up my blog one spring Sunday in April last year. I was on the tube, and there was a discarded copy of the FT House & Home lying there; in it was a feature written by a blogger all about home and interiors blogs. The piece struck a chord with me that I could set up my own. And so, the very same night, I set up HerLittlePlace.com.

What’s your blog about?

I’ve always been interested in design and interiors, and moving in to my own apartment meant I could really indulge in it. So, HerLittlePlace.com started off as a blog on everything and anything that inspired me home-style wise. It was an extended wish list of sorts, of things I wanted for my own apartment or styles that inspired me. But as it developed, it’s become about two real elements that I love the most – homestyle (through interiors) and comfort food (mainly cake recipes).

What inspires you?

Interiors style-wise, my inspired switch flicks on when I see clean lines and pops of colour; contemporary and quirky modern with the slightest hint of vintage. I don’t like showiness – so low-key simplicity, and gentleness in both a person’s or a place’s character and style is also my inspiration. This picture sums it up for me; and I guess the woman whose home it happens to be is pretty inspiring in herself too.

What’s your day job?

By day, I’m a features writer for Ikea Family Live Magazine, an aspirational lifestyle interiors magazine that’s all about contemporary living – so it’s right up my street. I also write freelance for The Guardian, the Times and the Metro. I write on anything to do with lifestyle – food, books, health, interiors, craft. Before joining Ikea Family Live, I worked as a features writer for The Guardian for five years.

What do your family and friends think about your blog?

I was initially quite shy about telling my friends and family about HerLittlePlace.com; it’s not as if they all share my interests, so I was worried they’d see it as fluffy nonsense. But it turns out my shyness was unfounded – they all like it. Plus, my brothers are more business-savvy than I am, so they helped with my site’s shop-function, which sells cookie giftboxes and cards. But judging from the comments, most people who read my blog are other bloggers or people who just stumble across it and keep coming back; those who are into what I am into. It makes it more of an achievement to know that it’s not just friends or family reading it.

Do you read any other blogs?

There are some that are my inspiration staples – Apartment Therapy, Design Sponge Online – but also I love quirky, characterful blogs that reflect personality, such as Conversation Pieces, From The Right Bank, Truly Smitten and What Katie Does.

How do you use Twitter and has it changed how you blog?

I’m a latecomer to Twitter (follow @Huma_Qureshi). I’m still getting used to it. It hasn’t changed how I blog, but when I’ve written something new, be it a feature for a paper or a new blogpost, I’ll always link it up on Twitter and it’s nice to get positive comments back on my work. I also like connecting with bloggers who I feel like I already know because we always comment on each other’s sites already. It’s good for work – a great way of making contact with PRs and finding case studies.

What couldn’t you live without?

Lipbalm, laptop, love; faith, family, friends. Not necessarily in that order.

Huma's delicious lavender shortbread

How do you stay motivated?

Since going freelance, I’ve had no choice but to stay motivated – my career depends upon it. Every feature of mine that ends up  in print spurs me on to score another one. If you have any sort of creative outlet, be it words or photography, you sort of end up motivating yourself because you have to get it out there, so to speak – or else, what’s the point?

Typical blog wardrobe?

A variation on skinny jeans, dresses and ballet pumps.

Blog soundtrack?

Bizarrely, I can’t write with music on – but when I’m in the kitchen, trying out or inventing new recipes for my blog, I invariably have my iPod plugged into my docking station. It’s a completely, utterly random mix of tunes. Either that, or the radio’s on.

Favourite European city and why?

Hands down, London. I’ve lived in Paris and Bordeaux, and seen lots of European cities on holidays, but it’s always been London for me. Whenever I’ve been away from the city too long, I end up missing it and get a real buzz to come back. It’s so much more than just somewhere to live or somewhere to work, it’s one of the most amazing cities in the world. I secretly love London in the winter – look beyond the bad weather, and there’s something movie-scene-charming about wrapping up in layers, cold winter air and bright city lights. Throw in good company, a little central heating and hot chocolate and it becomes nearly magical.

Do you ever get blog block?

I used to. When I first started out blogging, I set myself a goal of doing a blog post a day. It was completely unrealistic. When I blog, I don’t want to just re-write what someone else has done, I want to create my own editorial value, write something new and where possible use my own images. Sometimes a new post is a note-to-self; a reminder of something I’ve seen that I want to bookmark. I don’t put myself under pressure to blog constantly. In an ideal world, I’ll post a few times a week, but if I’m short on ideas or time, it’s no big deal and I’ll leave it until I’ve got more of both.

Dream purchase?

A loft apartment in New York; a loft apartment in London; a house in Hampstead. Lofty dreams indeed.

Desert island blog?

I’d rather a good book than a blog, but Design Sponge Online. There’s so much to read, I’d never get bored.

Is blogging a viable career?

For the blogger with the right, original idea, then yes. I wrote a feature about bloggers who had turned their blogs into careers for The Guardian; most of those that “made it” did so by their blogs being turned into books, or commercial ventures – but it happened at a time when blogging was fairly new. Now, with there being so many blogs on so many subjects, and many so similar in style, I think it’s much harder for a blog to stand out. For me, although there is a business element to my blog, with the online boutique, the products I sell are things I love making or sourcing; the love or enjoyment of it comes before any sense of it being a viable career.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

In an ideal world, I’ll be settled down with my own little family in that home of my dreams, working as a magazine editor with maybe a book to my name (I’m working on a food-based book concept right now). Ultimately, if I still have the people I love in my life, I’ll be pretty content with my lot.

Can you run in heels?

Run in heels? I took flamenco lessons for a year to tone up my legs. If I can dance in heels, I can sure as hell run in them!

Check out Huma’s blog Her Little Place and follow her on Twitter @Huma_Qureshi. Images of Huma are courtesy of Sarah Ahmed.

Pretty and perfectly-presented scallops

There’s been a trend in gastronomy recently to really get to the blood, guts bones and soil of food. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall appears with snot and tears dribbling down his face as he beholds the corpse-bestrewn floor of his own battery-farm shed; Gordon Ramsay slaughters pet sheep live on air and supermarkets flood our advert breaks with straggly carrots being pulled  from clods of earth by stubbly farmers.

Mark Hix’s latest cookbook, Hix Oyster & Chop House, based on the menu for his restaurant of the same name,opts to carry on this noble tradition. It’s very hands on. Very earthy. The brown paper front cover has a look and feel of those papey bags you might buy your fruit and veg in at the market, and inside there are lots of pictures of raw meat and oysters. There’s reference too, to the fact that oysters were once working class food, dontcha know, and were bought by the fistful from cheap street vendors. So they’re very down to earth, and not at all upper class, despite the fact that Mark Hix starts his book with an anecdote from The Groucho Club. So that’s okay and we can eat them without feeling pretentious.

All this justification is a shame though, because oysters really don’t need to be justified. The best cook books are the ones which recognise the food they’re dealing with for what it is. As Hix displays an obvious passion and love for the food he writes about, you’d think he’d realise that anyone eating an oyster doesn’t really want to know how perfectly down to earth they are – they want to savour every overpriced mouthful. That said, you can’t escape this book without savouring food: I’ve never seen it made to look so pretty. The photos make the oysters almost pearlescent; steaks are juicy and succulent; puddings look as light as air, yet thick and creamy at the same time. Let the book fall open at the middle and you get an almost forensic dissection of the main cuts of meat, bony and bloody.

The recipes aren’t too bad either: Dorset crab on toast;  strawberry and sparkling wine jelly; beef and oyster pie, crayfish soup; amazing sauces, dresses and butters… There’s nothing in here that doesn’t look delicious, and, better still, not much that the average foodie would have a hard time preparing. Hix’s lively, enthusiastic approach to food shines through in his writing, and his eagerness to spread the word makes him a clear and concise teacher. His conscious, earthy approach means he assumes his readers aren’t all experts, and so you get good, welcome info on how to shuck an oyster and cook various meat cuts There’s no jargon here, and the instructions rarely take up more than one column of a page. The receipts for your food bill may end up doing so though – a book containing a recipe for quail’s egg shooters might not be that practical for those of us feeling the bite of the recession, but it’s a lovely, guilty pleasure.

Hix Oyster & Chop House, by Mark Hix is published by Quadrille and available to buy online here.

Recipes that stand the test of time...

The sweet smell of freshly baked cakes wafting around the house is one of the most delicious scents in the world. There is nothing nicer than sitting down for a gossip with friends over a big pot of tea and home-baked goodies. Shop-bought simply isn’t the same and the satisfaction you get from home baking is unbeatable. Unlike cooking a meal, there is something restful and frivolous about baking that makes it a perfect Sunday afternoon pastime. Here are the best five baking books money can buy….

The Best of Mrs Beeton’s Cakes and Baking – Isabella Beeton

Mrs Beeton was the original domestic goddess, publishing books on household management, cooking and baking in the mid 1800’s. Her tips and recipes have easily stood the test of time and her books contain the very best of traditional baking. From lemon cake to macaroons, Mrs Beeton offers a wealth of mouth-watering classics. One of the best things about this book is the rather fabulous names given to the products; from economical cake to rich bride or christening cake, these titles are guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. My personal favourite is common cake (suitable for sending to children at school.) Who wouldn’t fall in love with that name and want to make it immediately, children or no children?

The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook – Tarek Malouf

London’s answer to the Magnolia Bakery in New York, this little shop has become the fashionable destination for all cupcake lovers. The Hummingbird Bakery’s rather fabulous book means you can recreate its delicious recipes at home. The recipes are simple, easy to follow and fairly fool-proof. From the basic vanilla sponge to the more elaborate Red Velvets, these cupcakes are a treat for the eyes as well as the mouth. The frosting recipes are equally good and the beauty of doing it yourself means you can mix it up however you like. Also included are brownies, cakes and pies; all sure to get your taste buds tickling.

The Delia Collection, Baking – Delia Smith

No list of best baking books would be complete without an offering from Britain’s first lady of food, the lovely Delia Smith. This book is part of the massively popular Collection series, which brings together recipes both old and new, selected by Delia herself. There is good reason for Delia’s enduring popularity; her ability to create easy to follow, fool-proof recipes that guarantee delicious results. From cakes to muffins this book is a veritable treasure trove of great recipes that will delight anyone with a sweet tooth.

Rachel serves up nostalgia with a twist

Bake - Rachel Allen

This charming book focuses on both sweet and savoury baking; from quiches to pies, no mixing bowl is left unturned. Rachel also offers troubleshooting solutions to many common baking problems and provides wheat and gluten free recipes as well so there is something for everyone. There is a nostalgic feel to the cooking here; the warm gingerbread will transport you back to childhood. This is nostalgia with a twist though; Grandma probably wouldn’t have produced Seville Orange meringue pie or Lime and Yoghurt cake with rosewater and pistachios as her Sunday dessert. A great addition to any kitchen.

How to be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking – Nigella Lawson

The Nigella Lawson phenomenon just keeps on growing and with good reason. Her evident enjoyment of food is inspiring and her often calorie laden recipes are a lesson in pure indulgence which is needed from time to time. She proves that the effort that goes into baking a cake is always worth it and demonstrates how every woman can be domestic goddess in her own kitchen (possibly sadly without the incredibly shiny hair.) I used this book for my very first attempt at making pastry, a notoriously tricky thing to make. In Nigella’s calm hands I managed to produce something that both looked and tasted good, which is testament to how easy it is to follow her recipes.

It's not just about the colour you know

There’s nothing like a crisp white wine on a summer evening or a deep, seductive red while curled up by the fire on a dark, cosy evening. There’s so much more to wine than the colour, but even the year or the country of origin isn’t everything when it comes to a beautiful bottle. New ways with wine are coming into fruition worldwide, bringing new ideas and techniques to the market and a whole new twist to what we know as wine.

Traditional fermentation techniques are still popular in countries all over Europe, but in a crowded marketplace, winemakers are experimenting with different ideas to make their products stand out and make an even more sensational product. Two ideas which have appeared recently are organic vintages and biodynamic wines. Never heard of them? Fans of the techniques claim the particular care put into these wines make them extra special. But what exactly are they?

Organic Wines

For a winemaker to be able to call their wine organic, the wine must be made from organic grapes. And organic grapes come from organic soil – no artificial chemicals are allowed to fertilise the ground, and pesticides must be kept to an absolute minimum. To keep the soil healthy for growing in an alternative way, farmers will develop nutrient-rich soil by encouraging wildlife and rotating crops as necessary.

Not just anybody can claim to be making organic wine. Certification is necessary, with the Soil Association giving accreditation to vineyards in England and Ecocert inspecting businesses in France.

There are a wide range of organic wines available, from whites and reds to sparkling bottles and even champagne. Vintage Roots, for example,  sell a huge range of organic wines and other alcohols from Europe and beyond. There are many vineyards importing directly into Europe, however, such as Paul Dolan Vineyards. Though based in California, they ship to many countries in the continent, including the UK, Germany, Norway and Sweden. Certified organic for several years, the founder believes there is a real difference between organic and non-organic grapes.

“After tasting the real difference between organic and conventionally farmed grapes, side by side in a sun-drenched vineyard in 1987, my entire way of thinking about grape growing changed,” he says. “The organic grapes were expressive, interesting and balanced while the conventionally farmed grapes were bland and insipid.”

As well experiencing its special taste, buying organic wine can help your green conscience as well. According to the Soil Association, organic farming releases fewer greenhouse gases than non-organic farming. That’s one good reason to open a bottle!

Biodynamic Bottles

It might sound a little ‘out there’, but biodynamic wine is all about harmonising the growth of the grapes with the environment in a wider context. The concept has been around for many years in the agricultural field and was first introduced by Rudolf Steiner in 1924.

Biodynamic wine harmonises growing

The requirements of biodynamic farming are complex, but come down to two main areas of winemaking – preparation and timing. The idea is that the soil must be prepared well in order to grow good produce, and this largely follows the same stipulations as those for organic wine. Soil is enhanced with natural herbs and wildlife to enhance its fertility.

When it comes to timing, biodynamic theory says that there is an optimum time to plant different produce according to different cosmic conditions (for example, in relation to the cycles of the moon). It may sound unlikely, but theories have existed for years that animals respond to cosmic cycles – why not plants? Biodynamic farms are certified by Demeter, and biodynamic wine is also sold by Vintage Roots. If you’d like to learn more about biodynamic vintages, we suggest  Nicolas Joly’s Biodynamic Wine, Demystified.

Be it organic wine or biodynamic, any change to make wine taste better has got to be worth a taste. It might be a little pricier, but as more customers seek out these alternatives, the prices are bound to come down.

The gleaming stainless steel kitchen at L'Atelier des Chefs

It’s this flawed argument and worrying disconnect from food that inspired French brothers Nicolas and Francois Bergerault to set up L’Atelier des Chefs in Paris in 2004. Its aim is simple: to reinvigorate people’s love of quality food and to spread a passion for cooking through simple, accessible one-off classes rather than extended courses. Six years after its foundation, the company operates 13 units in France, Dubai and London and taught more than 100,000 people how to cook last year.

L’Atelier des Chefs’ London branch is a few minutes from Oxford Street, straddled by nondescript offices and the same homogeny of coffee chains that perforate every city centre. Apparently tailor made for local office workers then is the school’s Cook, Eat & Run class, a half-hour lesson that takes place at lunchtime each weekday. Completely incapable in the kitchen but eager to improve I joined a recent class to see just how much it’s impossible to learn in 30 minutes.

First impressions on entry to L’Atelier des Chefs in Marylebone are good. A homely reception leads to a glass-fronted open kitchen, resplendent in stainless steel and with four separate counters comfortably accommodating up to three students apiece. As it happens such an expanse was unnecessary during my visit – we totalled three students to one chef and while the small number of attendees meant we all received individual attention I had to reschedule a previous class as I was the only one to book a place on that day.

Like me, both other students were on an hour-long break from work and with time of the essence we started promptly. The class’s menu changes frequently and on our visit it seemed particularly ambitious: squid-ink spaghetti with sautéed squid and rocket. All of us inexperienced cooks, we agreed it’s not something we would have considered tackling but our instructor assured us we would have created something at least somewhat edible by the time the lesson concluded.

The class provides each student with all the ingredients and tools needed to create the dish and our teacher started by demonstrating the basics and then getting us to follow his example. We first learned how to correctly chop garlic, shallots, lemons and cherry tomatoes, with the top tip of that section being to cut fruits – are tomatoes a fruit? – from side to side rather than from top to tip. It ensures they remain juicy and retain flavour apparently. With the countdown on our teacher then put the squid-ink spaghetti on the boil – don’t forget to add olive oil to the pot! – and we set about preparing the squid.

This was unchartered, and slightly uncomfortable, territory for all of us. Did you know squids have beaks? We didn’t. A flaying net of tentacles drift from squids’ bodies, tasked with grappling for food and then feeding it to the animals through their beaks. We were tasked with cutting the tentacles from the squids and then removing their beaks before scooping out their entrails and organs with our fingers. For true cooking novices the resultant slime and sinew can be somewhat off-putting, the gelatinous globs of creamy mush looking not unlike wads of greyed semen. It’s an unappetising image but one that our class couldn’t help but comment upon – communal cookery begets candour it would seem (and the social aspect of creating a meal with other people was actually just as satisfying as the process of learning how to prepare it).

The dining area, if you have time to stop for lunch!

With the bilious bit done and dusted, the rest of the class was a doddle. We chopped the gutted squid into rings, drained the pasta, slapped the ingredients into the pan, sprinkled in some seasoning, seared the lot and were good to go. And the results were impressive. Around thirty minutes after our arrival – the class overran slightly – we’d worked together to create a dish that wouldn’t look out of place on the menu of a high-class restaurant. Really. And with the class providing all the ingredients and training and costing £15 it seemed substantially better value than a fancy lunch out too.

Some things don’t change though. While the other students stayed to eat their meals in the L’atelier dining area I had to take the Tube back to work, with the squid packed ‘to go’. Unhealthy working habits die hard but the class did show that it’s easy to create tasty, nutritious and ostensibly ambitious meals quickly, a lesson that’s well worth learning.

For more information, see the L’Atelier des Chefs website.

Cook, Eat & Run classes cost £15. The dish to be prepared changes frequently but to try your hand at making squid ink spaghetti with sautéed squid and rocket you can access the menu here.

Balmy nights make for a perfect party

Glorious sunshine, friends and food; summer offers the ideal opportunity for easy entertaining not least because most things can be pre-prepared and served outside. What better backdrop for a party than blue sky, trees and fresh flowers? If you don’t have a garden or little patio, just take the party to the local park.

Here are a few tips to help you plan for a long balmy afternoon to evening party.

Summer Decorations

A beautifully set table makes a feast for the senses and everything seems to taste better even before it has been eaten! I take my dining table outside as I don’t like to own anything that does not get maximum use, but if yours feels too precious or is impractical for outside use, opt for a trestle table. Cover the table to suit the party – starched cotton is perfect for a crisp clean look, French antique linen for easy elegance or try Rachel Ashwell’s flouncy ruffle-edged linen for a little grandeur. The cheap but equally appealing option is an old sari or a pair of Ikea linen curtains.

● Lay the table with flowers – either in an old jug or little shot glasses set in a row. These will only need one flower head each but the idea of a vase outside is even prettier than inside.

● If you are short of space on the table, get yourself a cake stand – Amazon sell some simple acrylic ones and you can put pretty much all your food on a seven-tiered stand, allowing space for places and glasses around the table itself.

● Old wine bottles as candleholders in a cluster create a wonderful atmosphere, as do glass jars filled with tea lights. Use the bottle decorating tips below or just cover the rim with a row of flowers using garden wire.

● Outdoor lighting draped on trees, fences or trailing along the ground creates a magical glow especially as day turns to night.

● One of the easiest and most effective ways to decorate for a summer day is by simply spreading bunting around the garden or indeed indoors. There are many online companies selling a variety of bunting including florals, flags or just plain white which can then be decorated using silver fabric pens or brighter than bright pinks for a little zing.

● Chairs casually draped in sheer voile look lovely as the summer breeze gives them movement and easy elegance. Not all seating needs to be so formal – lay blankets on the floor but rather than opting for itchy wool, use linen instead or floral bed sheets or throws. Cover with an assortment of pretty cushions, and for sturdy low-level surfaces for resting drinks and food, simply cover some old MDF with paper or fabric.

Refreshing, zingy homemade lemonade

Serving Up Summertime

Wine or water; everything looks better decanted into old glass bottles. You can find beautiful bottles in flea markets or simply save wine bottles and when you are not using them for drink, they make pretty vases. Cover the middle with wrapping paper or use brightly coloured paint and chalk the description onto it. Not only does this look lovely, but also it means you can go for your favourite budget buy supermarket brands and having them looking as tempting as anything from the fanciest deli or better still make your own drinks.

Homemade lemonade

Add 150g of caster sugar, the juice of 4 large lemons and a litre of chilled, sparkling mineral water into a blender and serve with crushed or cubed ice in bottles or jugs. Other options: elderflower cordial, mint tea, juice.

● Pink champagne served in little glass tumblers with crushed ice makes a lovely welcoming drink. Pimms is a summer classic and classic Mojito’s are a must with white rum, mine, lime and a little granulated sugar, soda water and ice. Just make sure you have plenty of ice to for drinks and to keep them cool.

● The important thing with summer food is it should look fresh and plentiful. A variety of breads and salads can be the mainstay and other options to add could be Spanish omelette, wild rice with caramelised red onions and olives, pasta with new potatoes, green beans, sweet corn and pesto, whole grilled salmon, lamb burgers and marinated chicken.

● When it comes to deserts, platters of fresh, seasonal fruits make for delicious afternoon snacking. For something more sinful, try lemon tart, sorbets, ice creams served with cones and mini flakes, or for a little alcoholic treat – champagne jelly looks and tastes quite delicious.

Sparkling Wine Jelly

Soften 3 teaspoons of gelatine into 1 cup of peach nectar and  put to one side. Place 2 cups of sparkling wine and half a cup of sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to boil and then boil for a further minute. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the softened gelatine and remaining juice. Strain the mixture into an old crystal bowl and place in the fridge for a couple of hours until set and ready to serve. Alternatively set the mixture in ice cube holders.

Keep your favourite play list ready on the ipod and speakers, get yourself ready and enjoy.

Some of our favourite summer entertaining ideas

]]> http://runninginheels.co.uk/articles/easy-summer-entertaining/feed/ 0 http://runninginheels.co.uk/articles/review-bake-decorate-fiona-cairns/ http://runninginheels.co.uk/articles/review-bake-decorate-fiona-cairns/#comments Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:02:50 +0000 Alex English http://runninginheels.co.uk/?p=17367

That delicious, but oh-so-simple Victoria Sponge

Baking has become uber-cool recently, but cake decorating? Not so much. Don’t get me wrong, I love to eat cake, but spending hours on sugarpaste and ribbons is still one for the little old ladies or those with a LOT of time on their hands. Fiona Cairns is here to change all that with Bake & Decorate, an inspiring new book with numerous tasty recipes and ideas to boost their looks from ordinary to spectacular.

Fiona is something of a cake baking supremo, with a company that supplies 750,000 cakes a year to Harrods, Selfridges and even Sir Paul McCartney. After training as a pastry chef at the Michelin-starred Hambleton Hall, Fiona started her own business from the kitchen table, selling mini cakes to the Conran Shop. Since then she has gone from strength to strength, but as Bake & Decorate shows, she hasn’t forgotten her passion for home baking and she knows how to make a cake look great without spending all day on it.

Bake & Decorate is a book of two halves. The first section is packed with recipes from a simple Victoria sponge to a delicate white chocolate and cardamom rosewater cake. Each recipe is accompanied by stunning photographs and the crystal clear instructions will make them a doddle for even the most unseasoned bakers. Fiona tells you how long you should be spending, how the mixture should look and how long you can keep the cake for. She’s bossy, yet effective and you feel safe in her capable hands.

The second section of the book takes the basic recipes from the first half and embellishes them with gold leaf, flowers, nuts and sweets. There are big cakes and cupcakes, chocolate, biscuits, fruitcakes and meringues. What is great about this book is that there are beautiful cakes for everyone to try – whether it’s simply scattering a few petals all over an iced Victoria sponge (the fresh petal confetti cake) or going all out on a three-tiered, gold-encrusted stunner of a centrepiece (the vintage glamour wedding cake), Fiona’s got it covered.

If you’re in a rush, stick with the first section. The cakes are simple and tasty, and perfect with a cup of tea. If it’s more of a celebration, move on to the back of the book and set aside a few hours to make something outstanding. And if you want to get really creative, head to the 25 easy cheats section at the end of the book, for more ideas: from fairy lights to button-shaped biscuits.

There’s even a tip for disguising a missing slice from a cake… now that’s the kind of cake decorating I can use!

Bake & Decorate by Fiona Cairns is published by Quadrille and available to buy online here.

The perfect summer picnic

The Met office has predicted a summer scorcher. It’s only the beginning of June and already the sun is shining. With gingham one of this season’s hottest trends what better way to accessorise than with a picnic?

Expect ants in your pants, being chased by wasps and packing away in a moment’s notice when the rain starts to fall. You can’t stop nature or change the weather but you can avoid soggy cucumber sandwiches and drab cheese and onion crisps.

It seems that the early sunshine has encouraged everyone to start planning their picnic fare. This year, London’s Claridge’s has created its own picnic hamper. Those lucky enough to be staying at the five-star hotel during July and August can order a picnic packed with such goodies as asparagus truffle and wild salmon – unfortunately we can’t all afford such luxuries.

The perfect picnic doesn’t need to cost the earth. You can put together a delicious menu that won’t break the bank but will impress your friends. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Easy Pizzas

● Heat the grill.

● Put the ciabatta on a baking tray and spread with the tomato and basil sauce.

● Scatter with mozzarella, chorizo and oregano and drizzle with oil.

● Grill for 3-4 minutes or until browned and bubbling.

● Allow to cool and wrap in cling film until ready to serve.

Antipasti

If you can’t find a local Italian deli, most supermarkets now stock a good range of Italian meats and cheese.

Antipasti - perfect for lazy picknickers

● All you need to do is arrange the meats and cheese on a plate, garnish with olives, cornichons,cherry tomatoes and radishes.

● Cover with cling film until you are ready to serve.

● Your picnic guests can then help themselves to the ingredients. When they have chosen, drizzle with olive oil and season with pepper.

Pasta salad with pesto and prawns

You can't go wrong with pasta and pesto

● Plunge the pasta into a large pan of salted boiling water and cook according to packet instructions.

● Once cooked, drain the pasta into a colander and hold it under cold running water to cool it down quickly.

● Shake off the excess water and tip the pasta into a large bowl. Toss in 1 tbsp olive oil, then add the prawns.

● In a separate bowl, mix together the pesto, mayonnaise and lemon or lime juice with salt and pepper to taste.

● Pour the pesto dressing over the pasta and prawns and stir.

● Add the parsley and basil leaves and stir again.

● Place in a serving bowl, scatter with shredded basil leaves, and squeeze over lemon.

● Cover with cling film until you are ready to serve.

With the food sorted, grab some mates and a Frisbee and you’ve got all the ingredients for a perfect picnic!

So many cocktails, so little time

Rings of Fire: hot shots to warm you up after the winter blues

● First, take out any frustration on the raspberries and beat them together with the juices and the honey until they become a thick paste.

● Add some water, pass the paste through a sieve and then leave it to marinate in the fridge for a day.

● Before serving, heat up the paste over low heat, and add one spoonful to every shot of vodka.

● Throw a raspberry in for the piece de resistance and hope that no one chokes.

The Name of the Rose: the flower of love is a wonderful thing to imbibe

● Simmer the petals and the honey on low heat for ten minutes until the honey melts and infuses with the essence of the rose petals. Let it cool.

● Add a spoonful of mixture to every glass of champagne with a rose petal for decor.

● If only love could be this easy.

Mangorita: the ultimate classic with a twist

● Rely on your blender once more and feed it tequila, triple sec, lime juice, mango and ice to crunch. Let it go until the ice is crushed.

● Sweeten with mango nectar to your liking.

● Editor’s note: This particular writer/ aspiring alcoholic believes that the amount of tequila in this recipe is paltry so she added more and saw that it was good.

The I Carried a Watermelon

The I Carried a Watermelon: a zesty cocktail that will make you want to dance dirtily

● Puree the watermelon flesh in the blender and then pour it into ice-cube trays and leave it sulking in the freezer for at least four hours.

● Throw in some martini glasses for company.

● When they have cooled down, chuck the watermelon cubes and rest of the liquid ingredients (but not the martini glasses) in the blender and rock their world until they’re smooth.

● Pour into the frozen glasses and garnish.

The Hummingbird: the sweetheart’s cocktail

● Put the rum cream and coffee liqueur, milk and strawberry syrup in a blender and let them fight it out.

● Add the banana and crushed ice.

● Only let them out when they’re smooth.

● Have a lovely time all together.

Do A Good Job: Spice it Up

Like men, love, and almost everything else, have fun and make it up as you go along. My abode has developed a tradition of spontaneous cocktails, and when my friends pop by, they are always surprised by a concoction that reflect my mood. I say, “Enjoy a Lexitini; you never know what you’re going to get.”

So mix it up like an eighties mix-tape: switch apples for pears, whiskey for tequila, men for cocktails, and see what comes of it. Be warned though, if this article inspires you to create something completely awesome, this writer is going to demand royalties.