Recipe: English Treacle Tart
English treacle tart recipe Oh, treacle tart! Just find me an English person who wouldn’t enjoy a slice right now. In order to make this wonderful comfort food, you’re going to need real English Golden Syrup. If you can’t buy it locally – and it’s in lots of American supermarkets now – it’s easily ordered online. You’ll love this scrumptious dessert and if you serve it to English...
Mom’s Apple Pie: Grand Prix Gourmet, USA
There isn’t much sweeter than the aroma of an old fashioned Apple Pie baking in the oven. Not only for the scent of the apples and cinnamon, but also for the reminiscing. It always takes me years and decades back, to family times when we were all together. Mom in the kitchen making crusts, Dad teasing about how many apples he had to peel to make the pies. Happy moments laughing together. Besides, doesn’t an apple pie...
Summer Pudding. Grand Prix Gourmet, Britain
Summer pudding with strawberries and blackberries. This was a popular dessert in our family when I lived in England and we still love it. It’s easy to make and inexpensive, especially when strawberries and blackberries are plentiful. In fact, you can use other berries too and the fruit will go even further if you add chopped apple. This recipe is incredibly versatile. It’s quick to prepare too. The pudding requires just a...
Irrepressible: The Life and Times of Jessica Mitford
Irrepressible: The Life and Times of Jessica Mitford. Jessica, almost always known as Decca, was one of the famous aristocratic Mitford sisters who were notorious in the twentieth century. There were six sisters (and one brother who died in the Second World War) and all drew notoriety in their own way. As society girls,they were constantly in trouble during their teens. Their mother always remarked that if ever she saw newspaper...
Who Was Evelyn Nesbit?
Who was Evelyn Nesbit? When Evelyn Nesbit died at the ripe old age of eighty two, she had been in obscurity for years. But at one time, her name was well-known on Broadway and in the theatres of Europe. She became even more well known in 1906 when,openly and in public, her husband shot her lover dead in a glittering supper club in Manhattan. Evelyn was only twenty at the time and had met her much older lover, Stanford White, when she...
Gifts for Animal Lovers: Dragonflies
It is said that dragonflies bring success, victory, happiness, strength, courage, and adaptability. They have two set of wings but can fly with one if need be. They zip and zoom around flowers, ponds and ever around the world. They are fast. They are known for their ability to hover in one spot for a very long time as well there darting from place to place. They are amazing insects. They have a wonderful ability to adapt to their...
Pavlova: Grand Prix Gourmet, Australia
Pavlova: Grand Prix Gourmet, Australia We know that this delightful confection was created in honour of the Russian ballet dancer, Anna Pavlova. This was at some time in the nineteen twenties when she had a successful tour of Australia and New Zealand. Both countries claim the dish as their own and the reality has never been one hundred percent established but what is certainly for sure is that the dish is delightfully sinful...
Grand Prix Gourmet: German Apple Cake
German Apple Cake. This recipe dates from 1931! And unlike other apple cakes, this features a dough rather than pastry. It’s a very adaptable recipe but I have written it below in its original version. There are many changes you can make to suit your tastes. For example: Add a little nutmeg – I always find that it goes so well with apple dishes Top the cake with slivered almonds Sprinkle powered sugar on top before...
Nora Ephron: Everything is Copy
Everything is copy – true? Writer Nora Ephron was told this by her mother. Her parents were both writers and Nora took the words to heart – she wrote a great deal about her own experiences. I think most writers would agree that writing about personal experience is not only easier, it’s more fun and quite possibly more interesting to the reader simply because it comes from the heart. But I’m not talking here...
Rufus Estes – the first African-American Cookbook
Rufus Estes – author of the first African-American Cookbook In 1911, Rufus Estes published cookbook. There is nothing particularly unusual in that except Estes is believed to be the first African-American chef to publish his recipes. Rufus was born in 1857 in Tennessee and given the last name of his master; the man who ‘owned’ Rufus’ mother, a slave. When civil war broke out he said that most of the male...
Planning Your Kitchen
Planning your kitchen If you’re remodeling or reorganising your kitchen, it’s very tempting to design it yourself. After all, you know your kitchen and the habits of your household better than anyone else. You want your kitchen to be gorgeous, you know that the more attractive the room is, the more time you and your family will spend there creating delicious meals … and memories. For many years I was a kitchen...
Irish Ice Cream and Chocolate
Irish Ice Cream and Chocolate recipe This is our absolutely favourite dessert. And that’s not just because it’s delicious. It takes only a few minutes to make and yet it’s elegant enough to serve at your next dinner party. It’s also a wonderful finale to a romantic dinner a deux. You can make this ahead by assembling the ice cream and the chocolate in attractive glassware and then keep them in the fridge...
Who Was Bessie Coleman?
Who was Bessie Coleman? Bessie Coleman was a pilot. When she was born in January 1892, it was several years before the Wright brothers even began to explore the possibility of flight. For Bessie, as a child, human flight was simply an unknown. And yet she became a well-known pilot – the first woman of African-American descent to do so. When she was older, and when flying was in its infancy, Bessie knew that this was what she...
My Mum’s Christmas Pudding Recipe
My Mum’s Christmas Pudding Recipe. We’re quite traditional with our Christmas meal but, our Christmas pudding is a little different. A lot of people don’t like it; it can be dense, have lots of crunchy currants, taste burnt or overdone and perhaps seem steeped in too much alcohol. That’s the difference, though similar in some ways, my mum’s Christmas pudding recipe is light, full of juicy, tasty fruit and...
Macadamia White Chocolate Dessert Bars, Made with Coconut Oil
Macadamia White Chocolate Dessert Bars, Made with Coconut Oil. It is always a delight to have a sweet taste of dessert for a snack or after a meal. Often at our house that will include Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars or cookies of some kind. In the mood for something different, I decided to make a cookie recipe into a dessert bar. Using coconut oil for baking has also been a goal of mine. It worked great for these bars. You don’t...
Campfire S’mores
Campfire S’mores. I love to sit around a campfire on a nice cool evening making S’mores. It is so fun to put a marshmallow on a stick and put it over the fire. Sometimes I even burn it by accident instead of getting it a light brown. Either way it still good! Sometimes we’ve added a peanut butter cup along with the chocolate bar and marshmallow in between the graham crackers. It’s so good but the traditional is...
Jello Fruit Cocktail
Fruity desserts are a very refreshing summer treat. Especially this simple jello dessert. Doesn’t it look yummy! This is super easy to make. All you do is pick your flavor of jello out and make it as directed on the package. Then you add a fruit of your choice either canned or fresh. Mine is made with a strawberry flavored jello with canned fruit cocktail. I topped it with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry. A mixture of...
The Flight of the Phoenix: Classic Movie
The Flight of the Phoenix: Classic movie This 1965 film wasn’t a huge box office hit, although it was nominated for two Academy Awards. Since then though, it has become a cult classic. Maybe it was a little ahead of its time. It was based on a novel which is equally full of suspense and conflict (see below). As you can see from the image of the left, the film has a distinguished cast, including James Stewart and Richard...
Derek Bentley & Christopher Craig
Derek Bentley & Christopher Craig. True and tragic story. Derek Bentley was hanged in England on 28th. January, 1953. Derek, who had learning difficulties, was nineteen when he was hanged – and he was innocent of the crime. What’s just as bad is that everyone knew he was innocent – and that included the jury who had found him guilty and the judge who sentenced him to death also knew. This was due to the...
Mom’s Cherry Cobbler
Mom’s Cherry Cobbler Today it was time to go back in time to when my mother used to make this basic, light cobbler for our family. It is so easy to stir up, takes little time to bake, and makes a wonderful, colorful dessert. There is barely any sugar in the mix, but it is just enough to add a slight sweetness to the Bisquick mix. Compared to some of the heavier, richer toppings, this is just right. I served it with whip...
Strawberry, Cream Cheese Pie
Sweet, Sweet Memories. As long as I can remember, my mother made the best pies! Everyone always loved them, and asked her to bake one kind or another. Naturally she made her own wonderful flaky crusts for each of them too. When we had our apple trees, she would make a bunch to freeze. Dad would always tease that he was the one always peeling apples so he should get credit for the pies. Apple, Banana Cream, Lemon Meringue, an...
Pecan pie recipe from 1964
Pecan pie recipe from the White House This recipe was published in the Free Lance Star newspaper in 1964. It was said to be the favourite of Lady Bird Johnson. The recipe was devised by their chef, Zephyr Wright, who had at that time been working for the Johnson family for over twenty years. It’s said to be incredibly rich so small portions are recommended. Therefore I’m rather surprised that it is served with whipped...
Formula One Books You May Not Have Read
Now you may be an F1 fan yourself or perhaps you’re looking for a gift for someone you know who regularly talks about the ‘F1 season’, ‘winter testing’ or ‘this year’s championship’ and I bet it’s getting harder and harder to find something different. Well maybe I can help you out. I’ve been following formula one since I was little – and I mean little. At the age Lewis Hamilton started karting I’d been following the sport for at least...
New Orleans Beignets recipe
New Orleans Beignets recipe. If you’ve been to New Orleans,then the chances are that you’ve visited the Café du Monde in Jackson Square. And if you have, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that you enjoyed a plate of beignets. There are many very excellent reasons to visit New Orleans and the beignets are certainly on this list. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to recreate them at home? Or maybe you haven’t...
New Orleans Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce
New Orleans Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce Oh, this is so delicious. It’s remarkably easy to make and the bourbon sauce elevates this from a family meal to a dessert you’ll be happy to serve to your guests – and they’ll love it. The crowning touch is by far the bourbon butter and this can be made in advance. The pudding itself takes about forty minutes to bake in the oven but only few minutes to prepare....
American Beach, Florida
American Beach, Florida American Beach is located in Amelia Island in Florida. Of course, Florida is well-known for its wonderful beaches – so what’s so special about this one? It was founded in 1935 by a local millionaire. It was intended to be a resort for the people he employed in his Jacksonville insurance company – plus others, of course. But not everyone. This was an exclusive beach. Why? The photograph below...
Peach Melba: Nellie Melba and her Prince
Peach Melba – Nellie and her Prince. Sadly, many of the recipes we see for Peach Melba today use canned peaches. These are all very well and good but when this recipe was developed by Auguste Escoffier in 1892 or thereabouts, the lovely, fresh fruit was used. Famously, the dish was created for Australian Dame Nellie Melba, a celebrated opera singer of the day. At the time, she was having a torrid affair with Prince Philippe, the...
Tangy Lemon Pie
Lemony, Cream Cheese Goodness. Tangy lemon pie with cream cheese has been a hit with my family for over fifteen years. I’d been looking for another pie recipe using cream cheese, since Mom’s Strawberry Pie—also using cream cheese—is my favorite. I was pleased when I found this one. This recipe provides the tart lemon flavor much like you would find in a lemon meringue pie. Instead of the meringue, which I’m not crazy...
Glazed Lemon Jello Cake
If you like lemon, you will love this extra moist, extra lemony dessert. Lemon Jello Cake was one I always requested when Mom would ask what cake I would like for my birthday. Without traditional frosting, it is lighter, yet with the lemon jello in the cake and juice in the glaze, it has such a moist sweetness in every bite. Every bite offers that tart lemon taste that is simply delicious. It’s simple to put together too, and takes...
Blueberry Bran Muffins
Blueberry Bran Muffins Save Print Blueberry Bran Muffins Rating 5 from 1 reviews Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 35 mins Serves: 12 to 16 Ingredients 1½ cup wheat bran 1 cup low fat buttermilk ⅓ cup vegetable oil ¼ cup egg substitute (or 1 egg) ⅔ cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon...
Baked chocolate dessert
Delicious baked chocolate recipe. This recipe dates from the late nineteen seventies and I’ve reproduced it here just as it was originally given. I rarely cook with salt though and find that I don’t need it in this delicious, chocolate-y recipe. It’s easy to make and I like to serve it in individual glasses or ramekins. The originator of the recipe suggests serving it with whipped cream but I find that a little rich...
Why Do Cats Lie On Their Backs? Pic of the Week
Do you ever wonder about your cat and the things they do? I know I do since I’m still learning about having an indoor cat. My Cat Jazzy This photo you see of my Jazzy laying on her back is one of my favorites. She is so relaxed sunning herself by the deck door but she can be so funny when she lays on her back too. Every time I come down the steps in the mornings she runs down ahead of me and lays on her back all stretched out. Then...
Betty Crocker Apple Crisp
I’ve made this apple crisp recipe for as long as I can remember. I have a Betty Crocker Cookbook that I’ve had for years. It looks quite worn but this is where this recipe comes from. Apple crisp is so easy to make. I love to fill my pan to the top with apples which means I don’t always go by the recipe in how many apples to use. Apples cook down and I like my crisp to be thicker not thin. I’ve never had a pan of apple crisp that...
Apple Crock Pot Dessert
Apple Crock Pot Dessert Recipe. Autumn is time of the year that apples are ready to pick and enjoy. I know I do since I grew up on an apple farm when I was younger. We had many apple trees always loaded with many different kinds. With those apples are all kinds of desserts you can make but I’d never made one using a crock pot before. So I looked up some recipes and thought I’d give it a try. I soon found that out that not only is a...
Apple Crisp, The Old Fashioned Way
Apple Crisp, The Old Fashioned Way Mom often made this simple, old fashioned apple crisp for us when we were growing up. It was always a favorite. Dad liked ice cream with it, but I like it just the way it is, especially when still warm from the oven. The flavor is delicious, the crumb topping just crumbly enough. It’s very easy to make too which is always a plus to me. The hardest (or most time consuming) part of the recipe is...
Almost instant strawberry tart
Ten minute strawberry tart. This was a popular recipe in the nineteen sixties and seventies and I see no reason why it can’t be revived today 🙂 Yes, it uses a pre-baked pie case (I use the graham cracker type) and, apart from the fresh strawberries, it uses items from the store cupboard but the labour involved is ten minutes tops. Kids love it but you can give it a more adult, sophisticated flavour by adding just a few drops of...
Berry Ice
Yum Leftover berries? Make a Refreshing Icy Dessert With all the berries looking so appealing last week, I stocked up on strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries. A little too much, I guess, since I couldn’t use all of them. So into the freezer with a portion of each. So today, I thought I’d try to make an iced dessert to use them. This one combines strawberries, raspberries, and a few blackberries. I bet...
Fresh Fruit Salad
Calling All Fresh Fruit Lovers! A fresh fruit salad is delightful and refreshing on a warm summer day! This is a super easy salad to make. I had a variety of watermelon, honeydew, strawberries and blueberries in my refrigerator and thought I’d put them all together to make a nice salad with. All I did was cut up the fruit except the blueberries of course. I tossed them on top and stirred it all together. You can use any fresh...
How to make proper English pancakes
How to make proper English pancakes I’ve seen many an English person try to hide their bafflement when, on visiting America, they have ordered pancakes and syrup for breakfast. Instead of what they expected, they were served with thick little cakes rather than the delightful plate-sized English pancakes they were expecting, slathered in lemon juice and Tate and Lyle Golden Syrup. I’ve never tried to make American pancakes...
British custard tart recipe
British custard tart recipe In 2006, we watched a BBC series on television that was fascinating. A banquet had been planned to celebrate the eightieth birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. The banquet, for three hundred people, was planned for June 16th. The theme of the banquet,naturally enough, was British foods. The television programme showed various well-known chefs as they competed to have their dishes chosen to be served at the...
Is your kitchen designer a professional?
Ten ways to check your kitchen designer’s skills If you’re remodelling your kitchen, you’ll more than likely be using a professional designer. After all, it’s an expensive home improvement and you want the best. The cliché tells us that the kitchen is the ‘heart of the home’ but it’s also the most dangerous room in the house. Every kitchen has electricity and water – which can be a...
Yorkshire Cooking: Mint Pastry
Yorkshire Mint Pastry. A Hidden Yorkshire Recipe Gem. This is a recipe from Yorkshire that tends to get passed down through families, rather than written in cookery books. It is a combination of garden mint with currants (or raisins) in a plain pastry tart that offers a taste surprise. The blend works surprisingly well, and the smell of fresh mint and fruit hot from the oven is sublime. The main ingredients are stock items in most...
Baked Alaska: Recipe and history
Baked Alaska: Recipe and history In 1867, ownership of Alaska was transferred from Russia to the United States. Delmonico’s restaurants celebrated the fact with the invention of a special dessert created by chef Charles Ranhofer. You can imagine how these Victorian-era guests were delighted. The dish, named Baked Alaska, consisted of a beautifully light cake covered in delicious meringue. Inside the straight-from the oven-cake...
Raspberry and Blueberry Muffins
WARM MUFFINS FOR BREAKFAST When you can’t decide what sounds good in a muffin, why not try using several? That certainly made these muffins one of my new favorites. These little guys are so delicious! A luscious combination of fresh raspberries, blueberries, and melting white chocolate, just out of the oven. I love these! You can frost them with powdered sugar/milk frosting, you can sprinkle the with powdered sugar, or simply eat them...
Organize Your Home and Work
Organize your home and your working life Officially, January 14th is ‘Organize Your Home Day’ but here at JAQUO we have lots of ideas for organizing all year round – for your home,your working life, your garden, seasonal organising, DIY ideas and even products that can help you.. See a selection of our organizing articles below: A Simple DIY to Organize Some Clutter Feng Shui 101: Getting Started...