kimbofo

Piccadilly, 16.35

Place: Picadilly, London.
Date: January 23, 2012.
Camera: BlackBerry Curve.

Taken from my favourite seat on the bus — the front row of the top deck of the number 9 to Hammersmith.

Frosty landscape

Place: Richmond Park.
Date: January 16, 2012.
Camera: Panasonic TZ3.

Taken mid-way through a 15-mile cycle to the park and back earlier today. Beneath the winter sky the ground was covered in a light dusting of frost — even at 11am.

Lemon cake with lemon curd, cream cheese frosting and toasted almonds

Place: My kitchen.
Date: January 9, 2012.
Camera: BlackBerry Curve.

When we went on our little excursion to the Maltby Street market at the weekend, the cheesemonger gave us a 250g block of short-dated unsalted butter for free. So, with a block of butter in the fridge and six amazing-looking free-range duck eggs — the shells in a range of delicate blues, greys and creams — I decided to bake a cake this afternoon using ingredients I had on hand. That included some caster sugar, a little bit of flour and a giant organic lemon.

I found a recipe for a lemon cake in 101 Cakes and Bakes, published by BBC Good Food Magazine, and with some slight adaptations in presentation, a recipe for frosting discovered on the internet and a new jar of lemon curd just waiting to be opened, this is the result!

If you're tempted to make it yourself, here's the recipe:

Ingredients for cake

175g butter, softened
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
175g SR flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon warm water
finely grated zest of one lemon

Ingredients for topping and filling

200g soft cream cheese
60g unsalted butter, softened
120g icing sugar
Juice of half a lemon
Handful of flaked almonds (optional)
Jar of lemon curd

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas 5/Fan oven 170°C. Lightly butter and line two 18cm/7in round cake tins.

2. Cream butter and sugar together, then add eggs.

3. Fold in flour, baking powder and lemon zest. Add the tablespoon of water.

4. Divide the mixture between the two tins, smooth, then bake for 25-30 minutes until the cakes spring back when pressed with a finger.

5. To make the topping, put the cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and lemon juice in a bowl and whisk with an electric beater until combined.

6. Heat the almonds in a small fry pan over a medium heat, shaking all the time, until the almonds begin to change colour. (They burn very quickly, so take care!) Leave to cool.

7. Once the cakes have cooled, sandwich together using the lemon curd, using as much or as little as you like (alternatively, you could make extra topping and use that instead). Then spoon the topping over the top and add the almonds.

Enjoy!

A visit to The Kernel Brewery, London

All pictures taken: The Kernel, Bermondsey.
Date: January 7, 2012.
Camera: BlackBerry Curve.

Behind this roller door in the back streets of Bermondsey is an Aladdin's cave filled with delicious brews — pale ales, India pale ales, London porters and stouts.

This is the home of The Kernel, a brewery that has recently been named "Brewer of the Year" by the British Guild of Beer Writers.

At the risk of revealing London's best-kept secret, the brewery opens its doors to the public every Saturday between 9am to 3pm. You can buy beer to take away or you can ask to have it decanted in a glass to enjoy on the premises — there are tables and benches outside, but you need to be quick to nab a seat!

To begin with we tried the Centennial 2010, a gorgeous big-tasting fruity beer (see left) that went straight to the head. It's only now I realise that this probably wasn't surprising given the alcoholic content was 9% and I was drinking on an empty stomach!

We then tried the Nelson Sauvin (7.2%), which was slightly cloudy and tasted of grapefruit and malt. Really delicious.

The premises also sells cured meats — there were people next to us devouring paper-thin sheets of parma ham — so you can arrange your own spread of charcuterie, if you're that way inclined. (I'm not, because I don't eat red meat.)

And nearby properties — part of the Maltby Street market — sell everything from cheeses to coffees, bread to organic vegetables, seafood to pastries so you can really make a day of it and do lots of drunken fresh-food deli-inspired shopping.

Without really planning to, we went home with half-a-dozen fresh duck eggs, a selection of cheeses from Mons Cheesemongers and double-chocolate cupcakes and giant meringues from Bea's of Bloomsbury. It was definitely worth a visit, although the heavy dent in the bank account may suggest otherwise!

Goat's cheese and tomato cannelloni

Place: My kitchen, before sticking the cannelloni in the oven.
Date: January 5, 2012.
Camera: BlackBerry Curve.

Sick of cooking the same meals over and over again, I've dug out some of my cook books to add some new recipes to my repetoire.

I made this cannelloni earlier in the week, and despite the fact I accidentally used chili-infused olive oil, it was quite a delicious and easy-to-make meal.

Here's the instructions, adapted slightly from 101 Veggie Dishes, published by BBC GoodFood Magazine.

Ingredients

5 tablespoons fruity olive oil (chili oil gives it a nice kick!)
750g cherry tomatoes
2 teaspoons golden caster sugar
6 tablespoons green pesto
12 fresh lasagne sheets
225g soft rindless goat's cheese
350g ripe vine tomatoes, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan
basil leaves and green salad, to serve

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas 7/fan oven 200°C.

2. Oil a shallow baking dish.

3. Halve 250g of the cherry tomatoes and put aside.

4. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the remaining (whole) cherry tomatoes, cover and cook over a high heat, shaking the pan, for 5 minutes. Add the sugar.

5. Spoon half this freshly cooked tomato sauce into the shallow baking dish.

6. In a separate bowl beat the pesto into the goat's cheese.

7. Lay out the lasagne sheets and spread the cheese mixture on the top of each sheet. Top with the thinly sliced vine tomatoes and roll up like a Swiss roll.

8. Put the rolls into the baking dish, on top of the sauce. Spoon over the remaining sauce, then add the halved cherry tomatoes and scatter some basil leaves on the top.

9. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

10. Uncover and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake for a further 10 minutes, until brown. Serve with fresh basil and a green salad.

Enjoy!

Boxing Day sunset

Place: West London.
Date: December 26, 2011.
Camera: Panasonic TZ3.

Taken midway through an afternoon stroll — which turned into a sort of pub crawl — along the Thames.

A dancing flock of starlings

This is rather spectacular footage of starlings "dancing" in the skies over Loch Ree in Ireland as they prepare to roost for the evening. The hundreds of birds appear to move as one, expanding and contracting, in a dynamic, hypnotising and rather magical display.

It's a long film but it's worth watching in its entirety — the action and the film-maker's language heats up at around the 5.10min mark.

(Via Irish Central)

The phenomenon is known as murmuration. The Danes call it sort sol, which means black sun.

A very British icon: the red telephone kiosk

Place: Red telephone box on Whitehall, London.
Date: November 21, 2011.
Camera: Panasonic TZ3.

This is not just a red telephone box.

It's a K6 telephone box.

The K6 (which stands for Kiosk number 6) was designed by Giles Gilbert-Scott in 1935. It has become a British icon.

Despite the prevalance of mobile phones, these kiosks are particularly popular with tourists — for photograph opportunities! I lost count of the number of people I saw today striking poses — holding the doors open and smiling at the camera — as I wandered along Whitehall.

Just to prove my point, here's a set of photographs, dedicated to tourists posing in front of London phone boxes, hosted on Flickr!

Long lunch Sunday

Place: The Bridge Hotel, Barnes.
Date: November 20, 2011.
Camera: BlackBerry Curve.

We took the VIPs out for a leisurely four-course lunch today.  I don't think I've eaten so much food in one sitting — ever. But I enjoyed every. single. delicious. mouthful.

Catvertising: the funniest spoof I've seen in a long time