Reading this month’s Martha I came across a recipe for Pistachio cupcakes with raspberries which is kind of the inspiration for this recipe. Now Martha and I have a love-hate relationship. I like the styling, tips and “idea” of her recipes but her actual recipes can sometimes ‘lack’ some vital ingredients. Cupcakes with no baking powder? How’s that supposed to work? Not great coming from the biggest domestic Goddess. I thought she would have enough assistants to proof read the recipes. Anyhow I took the recipe added stuff, took stuff out, mixed around and basically came up with my own recipe. That’s how recipe writing works. Take an exisitng recipe and add your own flavour.

I was at OFF this Monday, a big food festival in Normandy checking out the new generation chefs and some heavyweights too. Take a look at Khookie for the whole story.

Raspberry & pistachio mignardise

250g ground almonds
3 eggs
120g butter, melted
120g flour
2 tsp baking powder
180g sugar
100g pistachio, chopped plus 25g for decoration
150g fresh raspberries (save a few for the decoration)
Vanilla ice cream
Raspberry coulis or 300g fresh raspberries (heat with a little water, add sugar to taste and pass through sieve).

Preheat oven to 180°c. Mix flour, baking powder, sugar and ground almonds. Beat in the eggs and melted butter. Add the pistachios and mix. Carefully fold in the raspberries. Bake for 20 minutes.
Leave cakes to cool slightly before serving (you can serve them cold too). Top with ice cream, hot raspberry coulis, fresh raspberries and chopped pistachios.

“When the going gets tough, the tough gets going!” Everyone has some phrase or another for times which are trying. I’ve been hearing a lot of them recently. And I think the saying above is great way of handling things. So I went on a bit of a mission this weekend. Sleeping was definetly not on the menu. Discovering new things, places and lots of dancing (I love dancing = instant happiness for me). On Saturday I came across a new blog which described an exhibition in Paris I just had to go to. I instantly rang to make a reservation, crossing my fingers they would have some spaces free.

Luckily they did, so the next day I made my way to find this 3 day only café/exhibition. Hidden behind a heavy door and up some winding steps, the gallery was situated in two apartments. Anne, the curator and creator of the exhibition gave me a guilded tour. Explaining the work of Guillaume Hillairet and the beautiful ceramic objects she had made. The tea salon was situated in the living room which had wonky doors and floors. She served a warm orange flowerwater rice pudding with orange compote and a buckwheat biscuit. The tea cup (which was designed by Anne like all the tableware) came wrapped up in the cutest red and white polka dot fabric. She also had a very interesting documentary on Japanese food preparation running on two screens in the tea salon.

So all in all I had a delightful Sunday afternoon and weekend. No recipe unfortunately but I thought I’ld share this with you instead!

Talking about sharing some gems, a while ago I was awarded an Excellent blog award by Happy Love Strawberry. The idea is you pass on the award to 5 other food bloggers. It’s a pretty difficult one to do as there are so many beautiful food blogs out there. But here’s my selection (in no particular order):

Whiteplate

The fact I don’t understand what Liska @ Whiteplate writes about (although she does translate the recipes sometimes) is outshone by her tasty and beautifully photographed recipes.

Fayeki

With recipes like Cherry blossom cardamom English cream or Raspberry swirl brownies and stunning photography, how could you resist?

Sooishi

Ok, it’s in French (but google does a fairly good translation and I’m sure Sooishi would help you if you ask nicely ) Great inspiration if you want to try something a little different.

Nordljus

If only I had just half the patience and skill to make these amazing dishes.

Nectar & Light

A little less foody but there’s just something about these images. Looking at them you know that the dishes have been made with a lot of love.

And voilà my little selection. Tough one to make with so many amazing blogs out there.

Just a quick mention: Last week I won the DMBGLIT edibility category for my Blueberry pancakes. Thanks you judging panel! I could not believe it. I had to do a little celebration dance when I saw the results announced on Cookbook catchall.

The lovely Fanny from Foodbeam sent me an email a couple of weeks ago, asking whether I could participate in the Menu for Hope IV event. Menu for hope is an annual fundraising event masterminded by chez Pim raising money for the UN World Food Programme feed the hungry.

Each year, food bloggers from all over the world join forces to host the Menu for Hope online raffle, offering an array of delectable culinary prizes. For every US$10, the donor receive a virtual raffle ticket toward a prize of their choice. This year, the prizes include once in a lifetime experiences such as touring the elBulli laboratory with Ferran Adrià , dining on a historic British meal prepared by Heston Blumenthal, or joining Harold McGee on a lunch date to satisfy a lifetime’s worth of cooking curiosity. You can also tag along with your favorite blogger on a tour of their favorite markets, restaurants, or even receive a care package fashioned especially for you from your favorite bloggers themselves. All you need is $10 and a bit of luck.

Wanting to do my own bit I’ve submitted two prizes for the raffle…

EU08 Teatime for two at La Cocotte

Pop by La Cocotte, the tastiest bookshop in Paris (as seen in Elle à table, The New York Times, Gourmet Traveller…) for a personal guide to the boutique by me. And after enjoy a cup of tea and our house speciality, coquetine biscuits.

How to enter…
Buy raffle tickets now…
More prizes from around the world at chez Pim…

EU09 A box of coquetines

Les coquetines, the speciality of La Cocotte are delicious artisan made (yes, it’s me who makes them ) shortbread biscuits which are filled with dulce de leche. Packaged in a beautiful handmade origami box these biscuits are the next best thing to visiting La Cocotte, if you can’t make it.

How to enter…
Buy raffle tickets now…
More prizes from around the world at chez Pim…

So get your tickets now. I’ve got my eyes on a few things:

UK33: Heston Blumenthal will cook an historic British menu for 2 at the Hinds Head
EU31: A personal tour of elBulli kitchen laboratory with Ferran Adria
EU11: Foodie week end with French girl Fanny of Foodbeam

Crossing my fingers

Drum roll, please…here are the absolutely fantastic chocotastic entries for the Stop the Traffik chocolate competition. And what a range there has been. Each entry has had me licking my lips and going yum yum. Thanks to everyone who participated I’m truly impressed with all the effort everyone has made. If I’ve forgotten your entry or made an error, please let me know.

So start drooling over your keyboards (click on each image for the whole entry) and send me your votes to rkhooks@gmail.com by Tuesday 16th October.

P.S. Only one entry per person. I know you guys want to win the goodie bag