Showing posts with label New Year. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Year. Show all posts

Sunday, 31 January 2016

Welcome to 2016!


Happy 2016! How has January been for you? We started very differently this year. Took a longish break to visit family in Australia, which was incredible. A great way to see in the New Year...hot, sunny and surrounded by amazing food. Australia has some really exciting restaurants and food destinations...fabulous produce...and influences from near-neighbours in the Far East as well as so much that is grown in the vast country itself. I always leave feeling inspired and excited to get back to the Sugar Moon kitchen for some experimentation!

One of our brilliant wholesale customers, the Egg House Butchery likes to be surprised from time to time...so we introduced this Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies to them recently and it's flying off the shelves. Full of roasted peanuts, with a peanut butter and dark chocolate chip swirl to finish, it's one that I have to bake and get OUT of the kitchen as the temptation is so great!

If you love this combination, then you can find it there currently...but for how long?! Another surprise flavour may replace it before too much time has passed....
While you are visiting this really special shop in Haddenham, pick up some of the free-range meats on offer too. I bought this beautiful spare-rib joint for a family lunch last week...

and everybody raved about it. Ricky and his team make their own amazing sausages too...with guest flavours including the really popular MyMate version (guess what they contain?!) A highly recommended 'proper' butcher...some of the guys even sport handlebar moustaches (although sadly not straw boaters yet...I wouldn't put it past them soon though!)

Another of our wholesale customers is the independent and hugely popular ice-cream/waffle & crepe land of dreams that is The Works. They make all their Italian-style ice cream on-site, as well as the waffles and crepes (sweet and savoury) of course. Their sundaes have to be seen to be believed...my 7 year old nephew's eyes were literally popping when he saw his! They are launching a new Brunch menu in early February, and Sugar Moon has developed a couple of cakes to add to their list..the first is a Sour Cream Espresso Cake...
It has a swirl of espresso & cinnamon sugar running through it....
...and is finished with chocolate espresso beans....


Just the smell wafting through our kitchen is addictive!
As for the other cake, watch this space for the recipe in the next blog post.....

Over the NewYear period, while the kitchen was closed, we took the opportunity to update our beautiful Sugar Moon website . You'll find that it's now been redesigned to be completely compatible with your phone and tablet, making ordering a much better experience. You can also now choose a guaranteed delivery date....although we still retain our non-guaranteed free postage option as well. And there will be some exciting new additions throughout the year as well.

 Don't forget that Valentine's Day is creeping up on us now too...and Sugar Moon Brownies are the perfect way to say 'I love you'...either to someone else, or to yourself!

Thanks for visiting Sugar Moon !



Friday, 30 December 2011

Join the party...?

Last Friday evening, we threw a party for our neighbours & friends-within-walking-distance. 22 in all...
Plenty of wine...plus iced pitchers of a non-alcoholic cocktail I found in Nigella Lawson's Christmas book called a Mistletoe - lime cordial, fresh lime juice & ginger beer...

warm & shiny house with plenty of candles...bowls of spiced nuts and pretzels...

a table ready to receive the food - which everyone helped themselves to...

a bright & sparkly Christmas tree in the corner (essential!) At last year's party we served lots of plates of canapes and small bites...but while these are lovely, I found that I spent most of my time in the kitchen replenishing platters instead of talking to people! So this time, I did things differently...a big pot of slow-cooked (for 24 hours) shin of beef, with red wine, star anise, coriander, orange & white beans...so soft that it could be eaten with a spoon...a deep bowl of steamed rice...a giant pan of crispy & delicious Greek Spinach & Feta Pie (Spanakopita)...

and two marvellous salads from the first Ottolenghi book - Fennel, Pomegranate & Sumac (supposed to have feta in too, but I left that out as it was in the pie) and Green Bean, Orange & Hazelnut...all wonderful. And just plates & forks so minimal washing up! To follow...nuts & dried fruits...

to go with the 3 whole cheeses - Blacksticks Blue, a strong cheddar truckle & a whole brie...

plus chocolates & squares of brownie & gingerbread. Everything except the rice (which took 10 minutes) was done in advance...and so I had plenty of time to enjoy talking to people that I usually only say 'hello' to throughout the year, as well as relaxing & having a few drinks myself! The perfect pre-Christmas evening.

On Wednesday, we took a trip out to the Cotswolds to have lunch at a gorgeous pub I've long wanted to visit - The Kingham Plough and it didn't disappoint. Wonderful food in a gorgeous setting in a small Oxfordshire village of creamy stone cottages...

the fire was glowing and the pig was lifesize!

A blue-skied mild day in that magical limbo between holidays. Lovely treat!

Hoping that you are embracing the fun of the season too...and taking time to relax and enjoy it all...

Wishing you the happiest of New Years....filled with love and luck and everything good
xo