My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen...

Tea and tatties

nobody@vox.com(Tubbydammer) — Thu, 08 May 2008 08:48:59 +0200

Knowing that I was going to want a really good cup of tea when I got back from New Orleans I asked Julie for recommendations on somewhere in Santa Monica. She suggested the Tudor House and I gave it a go. Good call.

The tea menu was everything I had hoped for and the tea came in a generous pot and wasn't the weak, insipid stuff I drank at another place the week before. The service was friendly as you could hope and as fast as you'd expect in the US. I really didn't need the fried potatoes that came with my omelette but they were very good and I thoroughly enjoyed them. I deny anyone not to enjoy fried potatoes or a really good pot of tea.

I think I know where I'll be drinking tea when I'm next in the area.

Tea Cup

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Cup of Tea Cake

nobody@vox.com(Tubbydammer) — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 18:59:01 +0100

When I was a child, my mum used to make a fantastic cake that I called "Cup of Tea Cake" because it's made with a cup of tea. When I visited her in London last weekend she had made one of those cakes for a tea party she hosted. She sent me the recipe and I made one for myself this morning. Frankly, I'm quite impressed with the cake and will be sharing it at work tomorrow.

Cup of Tea Cake - Just Out the Oven

The recipe is very simple and unlike most baking, the exact amounts aren't terribly important. It's the proportions that count. So the cups you use just need to be the same size, they don't all need to be eight US fl. oz.

You will need:

1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of dried fruit, like raisins
1 cup of good, strong tea
2 cups of self raising flour
1 egg
1 pinch of nutmeg

Start off by making a good strong cup of tea. Ideally, use a really good tea and make it stronger than you would normally drink it. Remember, it's going to be mixed up with a lot of other ingredients, so you don't want the flavour to get lost.

Soak the dried fruit and sugar in the cup of tea overnight. In the morning, pre-heat the oven to 325°F (435K if you use metric) mix the flour, egg and nutmeg into the soaked fruit. Grease a bread shaped dish, fill it with the batter and pop it in the oven.

I baked the cake for about 1¼ hours and then turned off the heat and left it in the oven for another few minutes. Every oven I've ever used has cooked at a different speed from all the others, so I expect the time it take to cook will vary. Especially if you use an Aga.

Cup of Teak Cake (Slice)

Serve the cake with a cup of tea. It's really great if you spread some butter on it, too.

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Sweaty work and Naked Video

nobody@vox.com(Tubbydammer) — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 14:54:38 +0200

I'm off to Brussels again, tomorrow, to pick up the keys to my new apartment. I'm moving there as soon as possible and I'll be staying for a year or so. So far my experience of Brussels has been very good: efficient public transport and efficient and friendly banks. We'll see if that lasts.

Meanwhile, I've had a very sweaty morning packing things up into boxes in advance of the movers arriving: date to be confirmed. I've also taken about a dozen bags of unwanted stuff down to the bins in the street and I've not finished.

Frankly, I'm tired after just three hours and I'm going to have a cup of tea and sit down to watch a couple of episodes of my new Naked Video DVDs.

Siadwell from Naked Video

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QotD: I'm Working. Really.

nobody@vox.com(Tubbydammer) — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 13:29:14 +0100

We know you never slack off at work, but if you did, what would you do?

I'd make a pot of tea in the shiny tea pot I got for my birthday. Then I'd drink it.

IMG_0520_tea_pot

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