Coffee and cake in High Barnet

How do you take yours? 

Until early last year I was a Caramel macchiato type girl; skinny, extra hot, with stroopwaffles please. And then I saw an infographic about calorie content of popular coffee drinks and had to have a rethink. So I turned to the Americano, a bit dull - but didn't have that sickly aftermath of the milkier drinks and is considerably cheaper. 

Now without wishing to mire my blog in economics and politics - it is relevant to note that the whole tax furore kicked off. I believe that everyone should pay their fair share of tax so was somewhat outraged at the tax evasion exploits of those major chains that populate our high streets. It didn't deter me completely, but was another nail in the coffin. 

A few weeks back I was in High Barnet and noticed a new shop Harris & Hoole. Inside it's steamy windows was a higgledy piggledy collection of battered chairs, some squishy sofas and huge blackboards showing calendars with events and activities (including baby yoga - how cool is that? I may need to borrow the nephew to try that out!) 

Under the glass display cabinet are a selection of sandwiches and cakes. The ubiquitous cupcakes were not making an appearance, but lots of loaf cakes, some cookies and the world's largest brownies (not Brownies).  We dashed in, securing a table and I ordered a latte, a cappuccino, a white chocolate cookie and a brownie. 

I was somewhat surprised to be handed what looked a little like a cross between a remote control and a mobile phone (M says to say 1990's vintage) We were told that when our coffees were ready it would buzz at as. Very high tech! And as we sat and read - a necessary part of  ensuring that coffees and teas are brewed correctly for the best taste. 

The coffee comes from the same people my last coffee based interaction was focused around: Union Roasted Like the workshop in Brighton, the focus is on single estate coffee that's in the main fairly traded (where it doesn't meet the fair trade regulations, it's still directly traded (click the link for details). 

The coffees were neither bitter, nor hot milkshakes, but much stronger and more flavourful than either of us are used to. Not that that's a bad thing - far from it, we both really enjoyed our drinks. The cafe was lovely and busy when we went in, the staff super friendly and chatty. We'll definitely be back. 

The white chocolate cookie was full of white chocolate chunks, and not flooby at all. Contrary to normal coffee shop offerings it tasted of butter, vanilla and white chocolate not leaving that oily film in your mouth. 

And now for my brownie. I should warn you that I have very high standards for brownies. I've been spoiled by Utterly Scrummy's confections and loathe loathe loathe the powdery, cakey, dry offerings that abound. In fact I almost never order them. This definitely was neither cakey nor dry - it was lovely, dense, fudgey and if anything? Slightly too rich and certainly too big. I can't believe it either. 

The baked offerings are made in house daily (I'm not sure if 'in house' is central and transported out to the cafes, or in each location) and come in a little cheaper than the high street alternatives.  

If you have a Harris & Hoole near you, I would definitely suggest a visit, a coffee (or a tea) and a cake. 

This isn't a sponsored post, I just really liked it this much.

4th Friern Barnet Guides do... Random Bakes of Kindness (part 2)

 

So here we are again... part 2 of our ongoing series of Random Bakes of Kindess. Inspired by Vanessa Kimbell's idea earlier this year, Fourth Friern Barnet Guides will be baking, and blogging a bake each week for someone who has touched their life in some way; be it big, or small.

Today's bake was chosen and made by Maria (see below) and she gave it to Jade one of our other Guides. No words were exchanged at the giving, but these two are inseparable, lovely girls. Look at the pride here!

Maria chose to make Mocha vanilla latte cookies that she cut out into star shapes - what you can't see here is that she made small stars, and big stars too, some were vanilla, others coffee

1 sachet instant latte

1.5 tsp hot water

225g softened butter (again, Stork)



140g caster sugar

1 egg yolk lightly beaten

250g plain flour

1tsp vanilla extract

3tbsp cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees/ Gas mark 5

Make the instant latte powder into a paste with hot water in a little bowl

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg yolk.

Divide the mixture in half, beat the latte into one half, and add half the flour and salt into the mixture and stir until combined

Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge (allegedly for 30-60 minutes, but we popped it in the freezer for half an hour - we only meet for 2 hours and need to clear up too!)

Beat the vanilla extract into the other half of the mixture, then add the rest of the flour and the cocoa powder and salt

Stir until combined and again shape the dough into a ball, wrap in clingfilm and chill.

Unwrap both flavours of dough, roll out and cut out cookies.

Bake in a preheated oven for 10-15 minutes.

*Guides pictured have full photo permissions

Over the Rainbow: a round up of food and drink on Skye

Mark and I had a lovely holiday recently - a week on Skye, where we ate, drank, walked and generally pottered in the sunshine (I know, I was shocked too).

I thought I'd do a bit of a round up as we ate so well, we had chosen to self cater so breakfasts, packed lunches and a couple of suppers were down to me (bacon and eggs, sandwiches or salad, courgetti spaghetti and chilli since you ask). Outside of that we picked where to eat purely on the basis of somehwere that looked nice, or that caught our eyes as we passed.

Our first stop for morning coffee was at the Glencoe visitor centre, this is a very family friendly venue, offerring 'Explorer backpacks' with quizzes, binoculars and magnifying glasses to entertain their smaller visitors. To say I was disappointed that 5 foot 4 doesn't count as a smaller visitor is an understatement. Us big people made do with tea and coffee. My first hint I was going to love Scotland? Proper milk, none of this UHT stuff that everywhere seems obsessed with that makes tea taste foul. The visitor centre is tucked away, and we made the most of the weather, sitting outside and watching the birds flit, and fleetly fly around our heads. Treats here included a new discovery for me - one which was going to be repeated a few times during our trip. Homemade versions of shop biscuits! I know! So pick something you like, but (like me) don't eat because of the transfats, general rubbish within, then imagine it made out of shortbread, filled with homemade jam and a list of 4 ingredients. Butter, sugar, flour, jam. That's it. God they were good. Here I had a Vienese Whirl.

Goodness, now I'm wracking my brains... our second stop was for an afternoon tea (are you seeing a pattern here?) Not on the same day I might add. We stopped at the Blue Shed Cafe on our way back from Ergol. Slightly sunburned, and squeeish with delight having seen a multitude of seals as well as enjoyed a lovely walk and clamber around the loch, we were definitely in need of refreshment. The blue shed, is just that - a blue shed. Inside, an eclectic mix of tables and chairs, artwork, postcards, and homemade cakes were to be found. Two pots of tea, an enormous slice of Victoria sandwich (you know when you can tell it's homemade. Yep, that good) and some rocky road. Also blatantly homemade, no vegetable oily mouths here. Again, proper milk, tea in a pot and tasty coffee.

Other places we stopped for snacks and coffee were Jan's Cakes in Dunvegan. This tiny shop come tea room (that also sold chocolates, of which I sadly did not partake) was amazing. The confections were truly breathtaking and truth be told a little overwhelming. There is no denying the artistry that had gone into the making of them. I'm afraid to say that it being elevenses, we opted for a simpler accompaniment to our tea, lavender and heather honey shortbread. These seemingly simple biscuits were a revelation, honey, instead of sugar used to sweeten was a beautiful floral flavour, in the short crumbly biscuit, with a more, earthy undertone from the lavender. It illustrates my ignorance that I had expected these to be the other way around. I had a really personal interest in this as I made lavender sugar a while back for my sister's birthday present to go with her copy of Vanessa Kimbell's Prepped (I don't think she reads this blog so hopefully the surprise isn't spoiled).

We were staying close to Armdale and in our eternal quest to find an otter we went on the otterly delightful (see what I did there!) woodland trail that takes you up through the woods and to the hide by the seashore. Sadly once again we saw no otters, but did manage to get another delightful cup of tea and some cake at The Shed - possibly the tiniest cafe I have ever eaten in. Oh and from the gift shop nearby, an owl suncatcher for me! It's a guiding thing - you become a Snowy Owl and all of a sudden owls are amazing, plus I could hear them at night from our bedroom. Once again, good tea, and coffee, but the highlight has to be the slice of peanut butter and chocolate cake I had. Best described as a light sponge, topped with a peanut butter and chocolate fudge. The combination of sweet and salty is one I am pretty much gaga for at the moment, and it seriously worked here. Much like my peanut butter and jam bars I made for the Cherry working day and Guide camp in May actually. I am thinking of recreating this with a digestive biscuit cheesecake type base, but am still looking for a decent fudge recipe. Recomendations welcome.

 One of our happy accidents was to go to Columba 1400 - I had read about it, and being the misplaced youth worker I am at heart was keen to go. I had however completely forgotten about this until we were passing, when I demanded we "Stop! In the name of goodness..." Mark totally doesn't get my Wicked references, but they do make me happy. Once again, tea, coffee and homemade shortbread were the order of the day and owing to a chaotic attempt at ordering as part of a tourist group (that we weren't a part of) we were so thoughtfully given an amazing slice of an apple and cinammon cake that I have to say, albeit sadly - was better than mine. Organisations like Columba 1400 do amazing work within communities and I think their cafe and enterprise are an amazing example of what youth integration and engagement can do when there is access to external support.

Well that's my rundown on places to go for tea, coffee and cake on Skye, still to come in parts two and three of Over the Rainbow... are Red Skye (the only place we went back to) and ice cream at Minchella's in South Shields.

Taylor the latte boy: For UK Coffee week

Picture credit: Mark Reader

In September (see I'm catching up! Albeit slooooowly) my boyfriend and I went to the Brighton Food and Drink festival for the day. It was a surprise, and a lovely one at that - I think there's something special and exciting about a day trip to the seaside, so take-away tea, a copy of The Guardian and a brochure for the festival in hand, off we set from Victoria station.

Mark knows Brighton far better than I so we took advantage of the late summer sun to potter down to the seafront, and slowly wander around the Farmer's Market that was close by. I have mixed feelings about Farmer's Markets, I'm sure there are gems out there, but the ones I have been to feel a little samey and - dare I say it... smug. Overpriced produce, the ubiquitous producer of condiments that serves them on crackers, bread that's allegedly sourdough that looks like I would need one of Mark's power tools to slice it, and fruit and veg that really looks no different to what's on offer at the supermarkets, and people who seem to exude smugness from every pore (not that I'm judgemental at all. Nope, not me). Anyway, this wasn't really a Farmer's Market per se, but more a collection of stalls of people selling meals, and the mix was incredibly diverse - as well as the expected burgers and sausages (traceable of course) there were West Indian, Chinese, and Thai stalls to name a few. Mark and I actually felt a little overwhelmed (and also not hungry so early on in the day) so we continued to wander.


I had spotted in the brochure that there was a chocolate (branch? Offshoot? Section? One of those words anyway) bit to the festival which we duly searched out. Stuck in the basement of a shopping centre, were less than a handful of stalls and the depressingly ubiquitous chocolate fountain. Now I hate to sound snobby, or like one of those foodies who doesn't lower herself to such things ( I have just dunked a Dairy Milk into a large mug of builder's tea so I can't really judge anyone) but I hate chocolate fountains. Loath them with a passion. They taste of oil. And just oil, and that's all you can feel in your mouth. Oil. Who wants that. Give me a fondue pot, or a bain marie anyday. Or lets face it a mug of builder's tea and a Dairy Milk. Anyway, we gave that a wide berth, and moved on to lunch.



We had lunch at the Sanctuary Cafe (I didn't tell Mark it was nearly entirely veggie - sometimes it's best to skip the details when you're with a confirmed meat eater) which was lovely. Fresh, tasty incredients, and the sort of food that I love to cook as well as eat. Simple, straightforward and so very very tasty. I didn't take pictures, because (and I know lots of bloggers disagree with me, but anyway) my time out with someome, our meals together are times when we talk, we connect and communicate, share and love. And as much as I love my blog, I love my friends, and family more. And in the same way that I don't believe in watching television whilst you eat, I also don't believe in focussing on the blog whilst we eat. If I step down off this soapbox I can tell you that I had a properly oven-baked potato - there really is nothing as depressing as ordering a baked potato and discovering it was cooked in the microwave is there? - and Mark had a sandwich which was freshly made.


After lunch we continued to wander around Brighton, as to be honest I'd kind of given up on the festival, it having been somewhat of a let down thus far. As a final push we headed towards a cafe for a workshop on coffee. There's a certain irony in this, as both Mark and I are confirmed tea drinkers. And I confess, when I do drink coffee I like it sweet and milky, and I'm not averse to a caramel macchiato or gingerbread latte from Starbucks. However, this workshop was at the other end of the spectrum, run by Union and looking at single estate, micro climate coffee. Basically it was akin to a wine tasting, only not only does each coffee itself have diferent elements of taste, but also the way it's ground and brewed affects it similarly.



We looked at filter brewing, using an aeropress, and surprisingly overlooked the expensive, complicated machines that seem so much en vougue at present, in favour of something which looked like it belonged in a chemistry lab!

Coffee Siphon (picture from Google)

This, a coffee siphon was certainly the most dramatic, but also made the lightest most flavourful coffee without any of the bitterness that I associate with black coffee (hence the quantities of milk and sugar I add). Both the aeropress and filters picked up different flavours, and our trainer explained how the different ways of making coffee require a different grind and time before pressing. I think what we found most interesting was the different taste that one set of coffee beans could produce when worked with in different ways. Coffee isn't my drink of choice, but it does start to become more attractice when you realise how versatile it can be. I have to say that this workshop, was worth the trip to Brighton alone.

Aeropress (picture from Google)

Our day ended with a cwtch on the train back to London, with a bag of beans in my bag for my (then) flatmate - we got that ground for her espresso pot and with warmed milk made a light and flavourful alternative to Starbucks.

Whilst I don't think we went to the Food and drink festival on a day that was really up my street - it ran for the whole of September, and there did seem to be many days that had more of the workshop type events on and if those were of a similar quality to our Union Coffee one then I would heartily advocate going along and taking part. Mind you I am one of life's eternal learners, and tend not to think I know everything about anything. You can find details of this years festival here http://www.brightonfoodfestival.com/

Now if I could just find somewhere doing the same kind of workshop but for tea, that would be brlliant!

New York! New York!

Firstly, apologies for the lack of posts of late: I have tendonitis which flares up from time to time and the last month or so it has been hellish so I've been avoiding using a computer when I don't have to (meaning when I'm not at work) Anyway, hopefully everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and of course Happy New Year, and with any luck 2008 will bring you everything you hope and wish for.

More importantly, earlier this month I went gallivating to New York, in a 'post break-up, just watch me be a fabulously independent single woman' type adventure. And an adventure it was... my other great love (aside from food) is theatre and I had planned to entirely indulge myself with a week of Broadway show after Broadway show. Sadly (and it must be said, most inconveniently) Broadway was hit by a devastating strike in November, and this dragged on into the week I was in NY which was intially most upsetting. However, as a Guider I am nothing if not resourceful and so immediately set about putting a Plan B together. Plan B was undefined, a little wooly and very disorganised, but mainly involved exploring Manhattan in the same way I have learned to love London, on foot and at my own pace with lots of breaks for tea. Well coffee... actually that's a good place to start.

New York... sadly has no tea making abilities, and not wishing to be one of those travellers that comes complete with kettle, PG Tips, and marmite I decided that coffee was the way forward. I do have a small Starbucks habit, but manage to keep it in check most of the time at home. New York unleashed my inner coffee demon I swear. French Vanilla, Non-fat Hazlenut, Spiced pumpkin (I gave that one a miss... vegetables and coffee... Hmmm... not so much) whatever your heart desired could be found in a large mug in any coffee shop. My love of baking of course came through and I was often to be found, large mug of non-fat French Vanilla (why is the Vanilla French? Doesn't vanilla come from Madagascar?) sipping away happily in the window of a coffee shop.

Something that struck me about eating and drinking in New York, is that you have things how you want them. Now I'm not a faddy eater by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't like butter on sandwhiches, or raw onion and this wasn't a problem. Ever. Because I was by myself I found myself eating in little cafes or diners and so ate a lot of sandwhiches and drank a lot of juice. Snaps to Tropicana for their strawberry and orange juice, which I picked up by mistake and loved! The sheer variety of bread, and sandwich fillings available bemused me, but within the space of a couple of days (my until then deeply hidden) demanding New Yorker rose to the surface!

Now... cupcakes. Well my first trip to NY had to include some Sex and the City content! Duly I booked myself on the tour which is way overrated, but did have a Cosmo in Aidan's bar, and a cupcake from the Magnolia Bakery. Only, it wasn't. Confused? I was. Apparently the co-owners of the Magnolia Bakery had a falling out and went their separate ways, a judge decided that both partners could make the cupcakes to the original recipe, and lucky bint that I am I was staying right by the Buttercup Bakery which is the sister shop to the Magnolia one. Only without the queues, or limits on how many you can buy! Go me! Go cupcakes...

The Magnolia Bakery: Cupcake & Sex and the City heaven

And the strike did end, on Thursday morning. I swear half my hotel must have heard me squeeing with excitement. And in my final four days I managed to see (brace yourselves) Rent, Wicked, A Chorus Line, Spring Awakening (twice, once onstage). I LOVE Broadway and will be going back as soon as funds allow, this time with a friend I think so that I can add restaurants to my review!

The Nederlander theatre for Rent

Jonathan Groff from Spring Awakening; an amazingly talented and quite lovely man

John Gallagher Junior also from Spring Awakening, also amazingly talented and quite lovely. I retain the right to be somewhat smitten with these two