Bryher strawberry and white peach smoothie....(serves 2)

 Today's been the first day I've really felt the sun stinging my skin. The layers are off, visitors are having picnics on the beach and getting up at 5am is less of a chore and more the best part of the day. 

We've been to the Abbey Gardens and lay in the sunshine the sun on our toes. This little man came along to say hello...

Our garden may not have such exotic visitors but it is in full bloom....

And even the seagulls are out sunbathing and not harassing my chickens!

The best part of the sunshine is that island fruit and vegetables are starting to blossom. Last week saw the first fat, ripe strawberries on the stall. Picked and eaten on the same day. Now they are an everyday staple in the house. But they are best of all at breakfast. If I have a few left over we make them in to a smoothie with the amazing white fleshed peaches Bryher Shop have in at the moment....

Bryher strawberry and white peach smoothie (serves 2)

150g strawberries (hulled)

4 small white fleshed peaches (peeled)

200ml almond milk

Put all three ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. 

Bananatoffeerama....

Buds are starting to appear on the fruit trees, ferns are bursting through the ground and there's the coconut  smell of the bright yellow gorse flowers whenever the sun shines. We've made use of the sunshine by clearing the garden. It's stage two of the garden plan which should take us about five years to get looking presentable. This week we had friends to stay and they helped Gareth put in the chicken run. (These chickens are going to have one of the best views in the world.) They'll arrive once the passenger boat starts running in the next couple of weeks. 

I've been working on the old entrance. I've been clearing brambles as thick as a 50p piece and as long as swimming pool. I'm constantly followed by a robin and a fat blackbird taking advantage of all the bugs and worms that are exposed as I pull rocks back. 

Then this week the sunshine stopped. The forecast said snow (which we kind of ignored as it's so rare.)  But it did snow and very heavily. Unfortunately it didn't stick. I had high hopes of building a sledge but there wasn't even enough for a snowball.  

On our friends' last night we cooked pizzas in the wood fired oven. We had a few black bananas left and between them they came up with this recipe....which may become a post pizza tradition.

Wood fired bananas with fudge, chocolate and biscuits (serves 4)....

4 bananas

4 chunks of fudge (preferably Veronica Farm Fudge available here) 

8 chunks of chocolate

4 chocolate digestive biscuits

Chop up the fudge and chocolate. 

 Make a slice down the middle of the bananas (leaving them in their skins.)

Stuff the bananas with the fudge and chocolate. 

Wrap them tightly in foil. Pop them in the embers of the woodfired oven or barbecue for 5-7 minutes (or a 200'c) oven for 15 minutes (using oven gloves). Crush the biscuits in a bowl. 

Carefully take the bananas out and very carefully unwrap the foil using oven gloves. Sprinkle the crushed biscuits over the top. 

Cereal killer...

I've always been a cooked breakfast kind of girl. Eggs benedict, sausages and pancakes, waffles and bacon. But when we started the guesthouse we wanted to make sure that we provided as varied cold options as we did hot. One of my friends gave me a granola recipe and I can't believe how popular it has been. The other cereals are barely touched.

Samson Hill Granola with Cornish honey....(makes about 20 bowls worth)

8oz/225g oats

100g nuts ( I use almonds)

50g sesame seeds

2 tbsp spoons of leftover apple sauce

2tbsp Cornish honey

2 tbsp golden syrup

2 tbsp dark brown soft sugar

2tbsp Cornish rapeseed oil

1 big pinch Cornish sea salt

1 handful dried fruit

1 flat tsp cinnamon

1 flat tsp ground ginger

Preheat the oven to 180'c. Put all the ingredients in a bowl. No batch is ever the same as I use whatever I have. I have lots of brazil nuts at the moment so the next batch will probably have those in. The batch I took photos of had lots of tropical fruits, dried pineapple, strawberries, figs etc as I had several Graze boxes to use up.

Lay out on a non stick tray (or two if they are small). Bake in the oven for half an hour turning every now and again.

Then turn off the oven and leave there for 4-5 hours (or overnight). Keep in an airtight tin for up to 3 weeks.

If I have some leftover I make a sauce of melted syrup, butter and sugar and bake in a 180'c oven for 25 minutes to make granola bars.

Dairy free rhubarb crumble...

This has become my favourite moment of the day. Drawing back the curtains in the living room and trying to catch the sunrise. Sometimes there's an early morning runner making their way around Samson Hill or the odd bird on the patio which flies away in a panic once the curtains are suddenly pulled back.

We tiptoe around the kitchen trying to be as quiet as possible. I thought a fry up would be the most popular but at the moment the homemade granola and fruit seems to be a winner.

After breakfast it's a room tidy and hoover. My other half has managed to go out kitesurfing five times since Saturday and is definitely enjoying island life and it's great to be able to watch him from the living room rather than from a car park.

The guests staying this week don't eat dairy. Saturday I served elderflower jelly which was a great spring pudding I will do again and was easy. Tonight it's dairy free rhubarb crumble....

Dairy free rhubarb crumble....(serves 4-5)

6 rhubarb stalks

caster sugar

water

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

125g plain flour

1 handful porridge oats

100g dairy free spread

1 handful caster sugar

Top and tail the rhubarb and slice into chunks. Put in a pan with the vanilla, a splash of water and 2 tbsps or so of sugar. Put on a high heat. As it starts to boil add more water a splash at a time until the rhubarb is softened. Taste and add more sugar if you need it. Leave to cool.

In a food mixer put the flour, oats, sugar and spread and blitz.

Put the rhubarb in a heatproof tray and sprinkle the crumble on top. Put in a pre heated 200'c oven and bake for 20 minutes or so or until the crumble is browned.

Drifting away....

At work we have a post show meeting. We finish playing the news jingle, make sure the next programme is underway and then discuss how the show went. On Monday it went a bit like this....'So who wants to start....what did we really like about this morning's show?' Me: 'Yeah great show. Can I tell you all about my dinner at the Driftwood on Friday night....' then for about 15 minutes I launched into a full scale review, course by course. Cue weatherman with his head in his hands. Presenter shaking his head trying to work out what I'm going on about. But I couldn't help it. That's just how good The Driftwood is. You want to tell everyone about it.

I'm so over excited by just how great Friday was that my written review will be rubbish. Because even when I think about how to describe it the sentences in my head speed up and phrases like 'yummy crumbly stuff' and 'a red sauce thing' keep making an appearance. Basically it was fantastic. The only thing I will go into detail with is the pudding. I don't really order puddings mainly because I love cheese so much. So I ordered the cheese board and the other half went for a chocolate pudding under the agreement that I could have a spoonful.

It was a chocolate mousse (although it could have been a foam it was so light) a chocolate ganachy layer, puffed rice and then....salted caramel. Not just any salted caramel but the best I have ever tasted. I had my one designated spoonful. Then I went in for another. I think I even managed another swipe before my other half threatened some kind of scene if I didn't return it to his side of the table. Oh God I miss that pudding.

So The Driftwood closes for a couple of months from Friday as it does every winter. And I need something to fill that pudding shaped hole. So I made my own salted caramel pudding. No where near last Friday's effort. However when the other half thought his father in law had polished it off he did almost cry...so it can't have been that bad.

Banana and salted caramel chocolate cheesecake....(serves 8 but probably more...)

2x 200g tubs of cream cheese

250g mascarpone

3 tbsp condensed milk

1 vanilla pod

2 tbsp icing sugar sieved

1 pkt chocolate digestives (I think it was 200g)

100g salted butter

4 bananas

2 tbsps golden syrup

50g butter

2 tbsp dried milk powder

2 flake bars

a little melted chocolate

Crush the biscuits in a food processor. Melt the 100g of butter and add to the crumbs. Push into a cake tin with a detachable base. Chill for an hour or so. To make the salted caramel melt the butter and syrup together when it starts to boil take off the heat and sieve in the dried milk. Give it a good stir and put to one side.

In a bowl put the cheeses, condensed milk, sieved icing sugar and vanilla and give it a good stir. Once the base has been chilled slice the bananas onto the base and drizzle over the salted caramel. Spoon the cheese mix over the top and sprinkle with the crushed flake and the melted chocolate.

Ideally leave it overnight in the fridge. I only left it four hours and it was spooned into bowls. It still tasted awesome but didn't look very cheesecakey. By the next day it was much firmer.

Thanks again to everyone at The Driftwood for a brilliant night.

The Driftwood, Portscatho, 01872 580644

Bonfire Night cake....

It's a race against time. Wasps vs me on who can get through the most apples and pears.

Yesterday I made a delicious apple coleslaw with red cabbage from the Cornish Food Box Co. I sliced it with grated apple and carrot and a few slices of spring onion. It didn't even need a dressing it was so crunchy and sweet. This cake was made for bonfire night. It's not a cake for a birthday or a special occasion. It's just one of those cakes that takes about half an hour so when you fancy a cup of tea and a slice it's there hot out of the oven.

Toffee apple cake (8 slices, 6 if you're as chubby as me)

3 eggs (172g)

172g self raising flour

172g soft brown sugar

172g butter

2 medium apples (don't bother peeling, just core them and chop into chunks about the size of sugar lumps)

10 cubes fudge

Preheat the oven to 180'c. I weighed three eggs in their shells and it came to 172g so weight all the other cake ingredients to exactly the same weight. If your eggs weigh more or less alter the amounts for the flour, sugar and butter. Put the butter and caster sugar in a bowl and mix together. (I usually pop the butter somewhere warm to soften it.) Add a beaten egg one at a time. (If it curdles add a little of the flour. Then add the rest of the flour and give it a good mix.

Add the apple and fudge and spoon into a lined 8 inch tin. Pop in the oven for about 30 minutes or until a knives comes out clean.

Cool on a cooling rack for as long as you can.

I managed to take a photo of a piece with no 'toffee' in at all. #rubbishblogger

Stalker....

I got a shock last week. I was told that my rhubarb was ready. My poor forgotten rhubarb left to its own devices over the winter months. It knew spring was coming and was bursting with pink shoots when I finally caught on. It made the most delicious pudding.

Rhubarb and vanilla sponges (serves 2)..........

4 rhubarb stalks

2 tbsp light brown sugar

1 large egg

50g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

50g caster sugar

50 soft butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

Chop the rhubarb into 2cm chunks and put in a pan with the brown sugar and a couple of tbsp of water. Put on a low heat and leave to soften.

Preheat the oven to 180'c. Mix all the sponge ingredients together in a small bowl. Butter a ramekin with melted butter and pop in the fridge for a couple of minutes. Butter again. Spoon the rhubarb mixture into the ramekin. Then add the sponge.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Carefully turn out and serve with custard or clotted cream.

A mere trifle.....

The drama is what I love most about Christmas. Everything being sparkly and glittery. Houses being covered in twinkly lights, people being covered in sequins, drinking champagne at 11am and eating chocolate at 11pm.

On Sunday we met up for a last meal together before Christmas when everyone goes their separate ways.

We ate roast dinner with each of us bringing a different part.

I was in charge of the pudding and copped out completely by making a cheat's trifle. But I got out the gold spray and silver bowls and added a bit of Christmas drama...

Easy peasy Christmas trifle......(serves 10)

250g frozen berries (mine we all picked in the summer #smugface)

1 small jam jar of cherry conserve

2 star anise

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 shop bought Madeira loaves

1 litre posh supermarket vanilla custard

600ml double cream

1 handful silver balls

gold edible spray

Slice the cake into 1 cm slices.

Layer in the bottom of a large glass bowl. Defrost the berries in a pan. Add the spices and stir in the jam. Spoon half the warm berries on top of the sponge. Add the rest of the sponge and then the fruit mix. Leave for an hour or so.

Spoon the custard over the fruit and pop in the fridge for a couple of hours. Whip the cream until it is soft and marshmallowy. Spread over the top of the custard. Sprinkle the balls over the top. Then give it a light spray with the edible gold.

Apple and spice and all things nice....

There will be a time when autumn has gone. The allotment will be empty, the trees will be bare.....

The flowers will have wilted and it will be harder and harder to make spur of the moment dinners.

Our glut of rosy pink apples means we're having a lot of apple based dinners. But I want to make sure the apples last through January and February.

Today is Callington Honey Fair so I'll have to honey recipes this week in its honour.

Honey roasted pork loin chops with spicy apple sauce......(serves 4)

4 pork loin chops

2 tbsp honey

2 tsp allspice paste

3 llbs/ 1.3kg apples

1 star anise

half a cinnamon stick

1 bay leaf

half a tsp fennel seeds

1 heaped tbsp honey

1 heaped tbsp demerara sugar

Preheat the oven to 180'c. Put the pork in the oven for ten minutes. Mix the honey and star anise together and brush over the pork.

Peel and core the apples and chop into large chunks. Put all of the other ingredients in a pan with a little water. Bring to the boil. Try not to stir it too much as it's nice to keep the apple chunks whole.

Let the pork cook for another 10-15 minutes or until golden and cooked through.