My New Cookbook has Arrived!

I have been watching Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cookery Course on catch up recently and have really fallen in love with the recipes and the ease that Ramsay cooks with so I was even happier when my boyfriend came home one evening and presented me with this;

My New Cookbook has Arrived!

So you can expect to start seeing lots of recipes that have taken inspiration from my new cookbook on my blog coming up! If you have this cookbook and have tried any of the recipes I would love to know how it tasted!

Being Tourists in Berlin

I think this is the longest I have been without posting on my blog, however, I have a good reason, last weekend we had guests come to visit all the way from Hong Kong! So instead of my usually relaxed weekends that are focused around baking and watching sport mostly, we were off out being tourists in Berlin for a few days!

Mainly the weekend consisted of seeing the usual tourist sights here in Berlin, the remains of the wall, the Reichstag, Brandenburger Tor, the Memorial to the Jews of Europe and the list goes on here in Berlin. We also ate out a lot, meals that included a delicious halloumi burger and lunch in a lovely Italian restaurant, as well as the foolish task I set upon myself of cooking for 8 that went surprisingly better than I thought it would. However the stand out visit for me was our visit to the Pergamon Museum on Museum Island in the centre of Berlin.

I had been to the Pergamon Museum before but after a long day attempting to make the most of my ticket and visiting all of the museums on the island – not advisable! So I was really excited to go again and truly remember what I had seen, as you enter this museum you will not be disappointed by what it has to offer, the glorious gates of Babylon stand proudly in the entrance rooms of the museums and the sight is impressive, all I could think was ‘how did they get them here’ but I was in awe all the same.

The Impressive Gates at the Pergamon Museum

The antiquities they have to offer are breath-taking and impressive and unlike some of the museums the size of the Pergamon Museum is great for a 2 hour trip. However the one disappointing aspect of the museum was the logical flow in which you were guided around the museum was not smooth and left me feeling slightly confused and a little lost as to whether there was any chronological  to the exhibits or whether it was just a case of ‘look at all this cool history stuff we have’.

I would still recommend the Pergamon Museum to anyone visiting Berlin as a tourist as the site of the gates is very impressive however, if you are a history buff or expert this one might not be for you!

I am also extremely happy to be getting back to my normal weekend routine this week and I am currently in the process of baking my next exciting recipe!

Fruit Tarts with White Chocolate Cream Filling

Yesterday was Canada Day and I was invited around to my Canadian friends apartment for a ‘Happy Canada Day‘ party.  There was a plentiful supply for food and drinks but I thought it would be rude to turn up empty handed so I made Fruit Tarts with White Chocolate Cream Filling. The idea for fruit tarts has been inspired by the hot summer we have been having here in Berlin this week and my craving for fruit as opposed to the usual need for chocolate. I have been seeing lots of these recipes about and wanted to try one for myself, I will admit this recipe has been adapted to make up for the slight kitchen disaster I had when the tarts collapsed in the oven, but I managed to save them and they still tasted great. So this is my recipe;

Ingredients

• 192g of Flour
• 113g of Butter
• 50g of Sugar
• 1/4 Tsp of Salt
• 1 Egg
• 200g of White Chocolate
• 4 Tsp of Icing Sugar
• 300g of Cream Cheese
• 1 Kiwi
• 50g of Strawberry’s

My Tart Shells Ready for the Oven

Method

1. Combine the sugar, flour and salt in a bowl
2. Cut the butter into thin slices and add to the mixture
3. Mix together until it is crumbly
4. Add the egg and mix together until all of the ingredients are moistened and beginning to form together
5. Lightly press the mixture into a ball and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes
6. After 30 minutes take out of the fridge and pull of a small chunk of the dough and press into a silicone mould with your fingers – be careful to keep the thickness consistent
7. Use a knife to trim any excess from around the top and repeat this process until all of the dough is used
8. Place into a preheated oven at 180C and cook for 20-25 minutes watching carefully as cooking times can vary
9. Remove from the oven and leave to cool
10. Whilst the tarts are cooling you can prepare the filling
11. Mix the cream cheese and icing sugar together in a bowl
12. In another glass bowl melt the white chocolate over a pan of simmering water
13. When all of the chocolate has melted add half of the cream chesses and stir thoroughly, then repeat with the rest of the cream cheese
14. Set side and slice up your kiwi and strawberry’s
15. One the tarts have cooled remove them from the mould carefully and fill with the white chocolate cream filling and place the desired fruit on top
16. Chill for 1 hour before serving

My Fruit Tarts with White Chocolate Cream Filling

These little tarts came out really well in the end, thankfully better than I had expected half way through. They were really delicious and not sickly so they were great to enjoy for Canada Day in a very hot and humid Berlin. If you are going to make these I would love to know how they come out for you, but be warned this recipe is time consuming and fiddly!

Spec Ops: The Line – Exciting Updates

The release date of Spec Ops: The Line is getting near and the exciting news just keeps coming;

Firstly, the game was featured on the cover of X360 this month and it was really exciting for me to go and buy a copy when I was back in the UK last month;

Spec Ops: The Line – X360 Cover

Secondly, The game is now available for pre-order in the UK, my friend sent me this picture at the weekend;

Spec Ops: The Line – Pre-order Available

And thirdly, the release of Spec Ops: The Line – TV Trailer available to watch here

It is really exciting to see the promotion of the game when we are out and about and I cannot wait for its release at the end of this month!

My Week in Pictures

As you may have read this week I was back in the UK visiting my friends and family in sunny Poole, I had an amazing time whilst enjoying the May sunshine that seems to have graced most of Europe over the past few weeks. As I have lived out of my suitcase for the past week, I have no recipes or cooking disasters to share so I thought I would share my week with you in Pictures.

Sunday – was the first day in the UK, after arriving late Saturday night, and I spend the day with my dad shopping at Gunwarth Quays Outlet Shops .

New UGG Shop at Gunwarth Quays – Must Go Back!

I was lucky enough to have my Dad spoil me!

My New Clothes

Followed by a drive through the New Forest and dinner in a lovely country pub!

Driving through the New Forest

Monday – I went to see my best friend and her daughter who is just beautiful and growing so fast.

Cuddles with Alice

Later that afternoon it made us very happy to hear the ice cream van down the road!

Ice-cream from the Ice-cream Van

Then we enjoyed the evening with a BBQ in the garden – with some of my favourite BBQ food including Halloumi!

Grilling on the BBQ

Tuesday – was spent with the bestie again and involved shopping in town, of course! I was also lucky enough to witness one her firsts – rolling from her back to her tummy, which made me a very proud Auntie!

Alice on her Tummy after a Successful Roll

Followed by a trip to spend the evening with a few drinks and snacks with some of my closest friends.

Enjoying my Evening with the Girls

Wednesday - my bestie and I (are you seeing the trend) spent some time with Alice’s nanny, my gran and my mum, so it was yet again a very busy day that did not end there;

Alice with her Nanny

Later that evening I met my dad for dinner and the cinema at Tower Park, we saw Men In Black 3 which was amazing and I highly recommend you see it!

MIB3 Cinema Tickets

And yesterday I headed back to Berlin and the excitement of starting my new job in the morning! However the UK will be missed, but I had a great time at home the past few days so I thought I would also share with you my favourite picture from my entire trip;

Jenny, Alice and I

I hope you enjoyed my pictures as much as I enjoyed spending the time taking them

Over and Out for now!

May Day in Berlin

May Day in Berlin is actually celebrated on May Day, not on the first Monday of May as it is in the UK, but if it falls on a weekday we still get a day off work. Although in Berlin May Day is not always the most celebratory of days with violent traditions of mini riots prominent within the city on this day.

However, we were luckily enough to avoid any of the demonstrations in the city and instead chose to spend our day off of work in Treptower Park, a large recreational park located on the bank of the River Spree. This park takes you away from the city and allows you to relax and watch the world go by, we even did a spot of feeding the birds after spotting this nest on the bank of the river.

A Bird’s Nest on the Bank of the River Spree

The rest of the day was spent here and we enjoyed laying in the sun and had a picnic and played card games with our friends. We were lucky that the day was really hot, my favourite denim shorts had their first outing this summer, and there was a wonderful little market open within the park so we could enjoy an ice cream at the end of the day.

David and I on May Day in Treptower Park

I hope that this lovely spring is a reflection of the summer we will have here in Berlin so we can enjoy more of the city and get a tan obviously!

Another Great Anniversary

I had the best day yesterday; my boyfriend and I celebrated our anniversary together. Last year we had just moved into a new home in a new country so the celebrations got lost amongst the chaos. So this year we decided to do something special.

We had a spending limit on presents, which is always ignored but it is at least a guideline, we are going to Canada on vacation later this year and that is taking all of our spare cash! Regardless I was so happy with my presents. As you may have gathered I love cooking but this love is sometimes hindered by my kitchenware, my collection of gadgets and dishes has definitely increased recently but it still needs some work. I am happy to announce my latest additions as a beautiful apron, I might be a good cook, but I am a messy one, and a cupcake cake stand which has encouraged me to adapt my chocolate cake recipe into cupcakes.

My Anniversary Presents

We both unfortunately had to work that day and the next so the celebrations could not be anything too exciting, so we decided to go for a curry at our favourite Pakistani restaurant ‘Sadhu’. The food is delicious and they have a great selection of curry dishes and side orders. The service is always great and the staff are really helpful, we have eaten there a shameful number of times but would always go back.

I had a great day and cannot wait to spend the next one doing something even more exciting together!