Mountain Berry & Desert Spice by Sumayya Usmani {book review}

Pakistan is one of those countries that intrigues me. I have never visited myself, but it sounds like a place of mystery and enchantment and I would love to go one day. Sumayya Usmani is based in the UK, but grew up in Pakistan, and has written an award-winning book Summers Under The Tamarind Tree. Following the success of that book she has written a second one titled Mountain Berry & Desert Spice: Sweet inspirations from the Hunza Valley to the Arabian Sea, which is the book we are here to discuss and it's out now!

There was a point when I first started this blog that I did a lot of research on sweets and treats from countries around the world and it's still something that intrigues me. Sumayya gives us a collection of great recipes inspired by family recipes and from travels across Pakistan. I read this book cover to cover and with so much choice I'm not sure what I will try first!

The "Key ingredients and techniques" chapter is very useful in knowing where to source or how to make  key things used in the following recipes. The majority of the ingredients I have heard of and/or used before, but a few of them are completely new to me and that gets me excited as I love trying new things! The following chapters are full of amazing sweet recipes full of flavor and the recipes listed below are the ones I would definitely get started with!

Sweet Vermicelli Pudding - with black cardamom and vanilla
Sweet Parathas - filled with date, walnut, and milk fudge
Bramble Gulgulay aka blackberry doughnuts
Gajrela - carrot rice pudding
Rabri kulfi sticks - with honey, cardamom, and bay leaf
Dar ni puri - sweet bread filled with channa daal and candied peel.
Sohan saffron honey caramels - with rose water, pistachio and almonds
Pakistani jalebi - spiralled fermented doughnuts in turmeric-infused syrup
Semolina halva ladoos - with buckwheat groats, pine nuts, aniseed and coconut.
Spiced apple samosas
Chitrali rishiki - pancakes with mulberry syrup
Mulberry and cherry fruit leather with crushed walnuts and pistachios
Fresh curd burutz cheese with walnuts, apricots, figs, and honey
Pakwan - wheat flour and jaggery rolls with aniseed.
Afghani gosh-e-fil - elephant ear-shaped fried pastry with ground pistachio and cardamom
Badami kulcha - almond and cardamom meringues
Khanfaroush - spiced saffron crumpets with honey
Meva naan - sweet bread with dried fruit
Saffron-infused zaria - sweet rice with nuts, coconut, candied fruit and khoya
Dadi's rasyawal pudding - cane sugar molasses rice pudding
Karachi halva - with pumpkin seeds and cashews

This is only a short list of what this book has to offer! If you have ever been curious about sweet treats in other parts of the world this book is for you! It's also for you if you just have a sweet tooth and need a change from your chocolate bar or bag of pick n' mix! And last but not least it's for those of you who have tasted and experience sweets from Pakistan, now you can create your favorite treats in the comfort of your own home!

*I was given a copy of Mountain Berry & Desert Spice by Sumayya Usmani to review by the publisher, Frances Lincoln. Retails at £20 and available now from your local book retailers or online! All opinions are my own, I was not given any other compensation nor was I asked to give a positive review, please see my contact/policy page for more information.

Caramel Biscuit Fudge aka Twix Fudge

The blogging world has changed. Years ago people followed and read blogs all the time, but not any more. First because the world wide web is saturated with blogs. Blogs of fashion and beauty, food and parenting, gaming and movies the topics are endless. Then we have the internet aka social media outlets feeding our need for instant gratification with short videos showing us how to make ... well anything and everything!

Of course I am in the foodie world so my social media channels are full of short videos making fun recipes and one of the things that keeps showing up is fudge. How to make fudge with only 4 ingredients or by just using this or that! So, I thought I would give a few of these recipes a try. See if these simple recipes are that simple and to see if they taste like the fudge that takes forever......

So, I started with this recipe from Sally's Candy Addiction by Sally McKinney and Sally's Baking Addiction blog - One of the blogs I follow like a groupie.

Caramel Biscuit Fudge

1 can of sweetened condensed milk (from 14 oz can)
2 tablespoons caramel sauce
546g white chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla
⅛ teaspoon salt
140g Twix Bites

Line 8-by-8-inch pan with foil, leaving overhang on sides to remove fudge later.
In medium saucepan over medium heat, combine condensed milk, caramel and white chocolate. Stir constantly with a rubber spatula until the chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat before stirring in vanilla and salt. Cool mixture 10 minutes.
Slowly and carefully fold in chopped Twix bars (to keep chocolate swirl intact). Pour and spread mixture into prepared pan. Cover pan with foil and refrigerate 4 hours or store at room temperature overnight.
Remove fudge from pan using foil as handles. Use sharp knife to cut fudge into 64 1-inch squares (if fudge has been refrigerated longer than 4 hours, let fudge sit at room temperature 20 minutes before cutting).

* for more delicious recipes like this check out Sally's blog (link above) and if you want to know more about her book Sally's Candy Addiction you can check out my review here! 

Have Your Cake and Eat It by Mich Turner {book review}

It's an interesting phrase "have your cake and eat it" - generally one hears the phrase being said as "You can't have your cake and eat it too." Meaning that life isn't perfect; that sometimes you get one thing, but that means you miss out on something else. You can't have both!

Why can't we have both, why can't we have our cake and to eat it too? Mich Turner probably asked the same question and she is telling us that we can have our cake and to eat it! 

Mich is not only a baker, cake decorator, and author she has a degree in food science and a founder of a company! She's done it all and she's done it again with her latest title Have Your Cake and Eat It! A book full of nutritious, delicious recipes for healthier, everyday baking. 

When we bake at home we can control what is put in it and Mich shows us how best to do that! I will get to all the delicious cakes and bakes recipes, but for just a moment I want to point out that the introduction, ingredients, and dos and don'ts chapters are great because Mich not only tells what we are going to need, but educates us on the why and how of baking! It's what turns it from a good baking book to an amazing one! 

Now to all the glorious recipes Mich gives us. First chapter Muffins, Cupcakes, & Buns - The easiest of all bakes. The next chapter Biscuits and Cookies - my favorite type of bake because they are easy to make and they come in all sort of varieties: crispy, crunchy, soft, gooey .... Bars & Flapjacks come next my second favorite type of bake! Finally we get to the Cake chapter the longest and most extensive chapter followed by the last chapter on Meringues! 

My list of recipes to try: 

Date, Banana, & Peanut Butter Muffins 

Raspberry, Rose, & Pistachio Cupcakes

Pumpkin Scones

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Party Rings

Almond & Cranberry Biscotti 

Almond Toscaner

Date & Apple Squares

Salted Caramel Pumpkin Brownies

Strawberry & Walnut Flapjacks

Pumpkin & Carrot Bars

Queen Elizabeth Date Cake

Citrus Coconut Layered Cake 

Soured Cream Vanilla & Blueberry Cake

Layered Chocolate Orange Cake

Lemon Meringue Chiffon

Lemon, Pistachio, & Honey Loaf Cake

Banana, Coconut, & Caramel Pavlova

Raspberry & Rose Meringues

*I was given a copy of Have Your Cake and Eat It by Mich Turner  to review by the publisher, jacqui small. Retails at £22 and available now from your local book retailers or online! All opinions are my own, I was not given any other compensation nor was I asked to give a positive review, please see my contact/policy page for more information.

Blueberry Scones

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce: I wonder if asking Ms. Chase to dance would...
Giles: For God's sake, man, she's 18, and you have the emotional maturity of a blueberry scone. Just have at it, would you, and stop fluttering about. 
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer - season 3 episode 20

I started watching Buffy when I was in high school and I was obsessed with it! My friend and I would call each other during the commercials for any "OMG" moments. We related to all the teenage angst and felt we were a part of the Scooby Gang.

Re-watching it now I am still taken into all the angst, but with less "OMG" moments not just because I have seen it before, but because I have more life experience. Now it's more like "Yup that's how it happens, that's life." Which is why it's such a great show.

Watching Buffy has been a trip down memory lane and when I decide to watch it again in like 20 years I am sure I will see it differently once again. Sometimes long for the days of having the emotional maturity of a blueberry scone, but mostly I'm glad those days are over.

Blueberry Scones

150g dried blueberries
orange juice, for soaking
150g cold unsalted butter
500g self-raising flour , plus a little extra for dusting
2 level teaspoons baking powder
2 heaped teaspoons caster sugar
pinch of salt
2 large free-range eggs
4 tablespoons milk , plus a little extra for brushing

A couple of hours or so before you start place the dried fruit into a bowl and pour over just enough orange juice to cover. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Put the butter, flour, baking powder, sugar, and a pinch of salt into a big bowl and using your (clean) fingers to gently rub the butter into the flour until just combined. The less it's touched the more crumbly it will be.
Make a well in the middle of the dough, add the eggs and milk, and gently mix with a spatula or spoon. Drain the soaked blueberries and fold into the dough. If needed add a little bit of milk, until it forms a soft, dry dough. It should be bit scruffy, the opposite of bread dough which is usually smooth and neat.
Sprinkle a little flour over the top of the scruffy dough and leave in a bowl (covered with with cling film) in the fridge for 15 minutes.
When the time is up roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it's about 2-3cm thick. Then with a 6cm round cutter or something with about that diameter cut out circles from the dough. Place them upside down on a baking sheet. Re-roll the rest of the dough and cut out as many as you can. Brush the top with either melted butter or milk.
Bake for 12-15 minutes. They will be risen and golden on top! Leave them to cool before serving with clotted cream and jam!

Scones are one of the most controversial afternoon treats here in England; from how they are pronounced and what gets put on first the cream or the jam? I myself pronounce scone like cone with an 's' and I like my cream first then the jam. 

*recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver's Crumbliest Scone recipe - found in Jamie's Great Britain

Banana and Walnut Muffins

No one ever eats a whole bunch of bananas. That's why I generally only buy 3 at a time, one for me and one each for my little people. I could continue down the path of going on about how these muffins are a great way to use up old bananas, but to be honest I bought discounted already brown bananas just so I could make these muffins! 

Actually I had a bag of walnuts in my cupboard - so this time it wasn't the bananas at all! Except for the muffins. The muffins are about the bananas. 

Banana and Walnut Muffins

3-4 ripe bananas, smashed

75g melted butter

190g sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

200g flour

100g walnuts, chopped up

Heat the oven 180C. Mix the smashed bananas and butter together. Mix in sugar, egg and vanilla. Sprinkle in baking powder and salt and mix. Slowly add flour, blending after each addition. Fold in the walnuts and scoop the batter into the muffin pan, lined. Bake 18-25 minutes. 

These muffins are super easy to make! They actually don't take all that long in the oven and can easily be made upon waking up on one lazy weekend morning! 

One Pot Peanut Butter Brownies

When I first moved to the UK when I talked about peanut butter people were like "eww." It was rare for me to come across a single soul who loved peanut butter as much as me. Then I start this new job and I have at minimum 4 co-workers who absolutely love peanut butter.

The fact they love it as much as I do gives me the perfect excuse to bake with peanut butter. Since we've had a bit of a stressful time of it the last couple of weeks I thought I'd do just that. What goes well with peanut butter? Chocolate! It is my strong opinion that the best baked chocolate treat is the brownie.

I have made a lot of batches of brownies in my baking career and I always come back to this recipe. They are super easy to make as they are made in one pot or saucepan if you want to be pedantic. I generally keep the ingredients in my cupboards for brownie making emergencies! Brownies solve a lot of problems. It's true.

So, if you have problems that need to be solved or co-workers who love peanut butter make these!!

Peanut Butter Brownies

150g dark chocolate, broken up
150g milk chocolate, broken up
250g salted butter
400g light brown sugar
4 large eggs
140g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
150g smooth peanut butter

Preheat oven to 180C/gas4 and line a brownie pan or an 8in square pan with parchment paper.
Very gently melt both chocolates with the butter and sugar in a medium saucepan. Just before the chocolate is completely melted, take off the heat and gently stir until it’s completely melted.
Then add the eggs one at a time to the melted chocolate mixture. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the pan and stir until just combined.
Pour into the prepared pan and dot the peanut butter over the top of the brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl the peanut butter through the batter. Bake in the pre-heated oven for a minimum of 35 minutes. Depending on your pan size and oven add an extra five minutes if need be. Cool before cutting into squares and sharing with friends, family, and co-workers!

7 Movies for Singles to Watch on Valentine's Day

Generally speaking I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day, but as it's my first as a single person in a while I started thinking about how I might celebrate it. I figure I will celebrate as I spend most of my Saturday nights - watching a movie by myself in my jammies on my couch.

It sounds pathetic because it is. However, I really don't mind. I like my own company and a good movie with take out! Sounds like a great night in to me! So, I thought if you were like me you might need a suggest or a reminder of a great movie to watch this Valentine's Day!

Without further delay here are 7 movies I couldn't recommend more!

Bring it On! 
- Your first thoughts may be why would I want to watch a movie with a bunch of girls going "rah rah rah"? Don't be fooled as this movie is so much more. When Torrance takes over as team captain she thinks it will be another easy season, but when she learns of a well kept secret it turns her world upside down. You can't go wrong with this movie as it's a lot of fun and will get you cheering along!
Quote: "She puts the 'whore' in horrifying." - Courtney
Romance/Relationships: a terrible boyfriend vs a cute crush on the new kid

Pitch Perfect
- If you haven't heard of this movie you must have been living under a rock the last few years .... if you haven't seen it, it's a must! Becca starts university because her dad wants her too, she'd rather be in a recording studio anywhere, but there. To please her dad she gets involved and that is where the magic starts.
Quote: "Even though some of you are pretty thin, you all have fat hearts, and that’s what matters." - Fat Amy
Romance/Relationshops: moody girl doesn't let anyone get close to her, but will she make an exception for this one guy?

He's Just Not that Into You
- It's also maybe not the best movie for Valentine's Day. However, it's full of interesting characters in a variety of different relationship stages. It is easy to relate too because many of us have been where the characters have been at some point in our lives. If we haven't been there we will be.
Quote: "So trust me when I say if a guy is treating you like he doesn't give a shit, he genuinely doesn't give a shit. No exceptions." - Alex
Romance/Relationships: the whole point of this movie is how men and women behave in different relationships

Devil Wears Prada 
- Girl who has no fashion sense, but wants to be a writer, gets a job at the biggest fashion magazine as an assistant to the editor and hijinks ensue. Will she ever fit in? Will she ever be a writer or will she live life as a go-for? It's a must see!
Quote: "...It's for Paris, I'm on this new diet. Well, I don't eat anything and when I feel like I'm about to faint I eat a cube of cheese. I'm just one stomach flu away from my goal weight." Emily
Romance/Relationships: the sweet down to earth boyfriend vs the hot sexy guy in the publishing business

Now and Then
- A great coming of age film. Probably one of the best of all time. After making a pact with her best friends that whenever one of them needed they others they'd come running. With Chrissy due to give birth at any moment she calls her besties to be by her side and together they reminisce about the summer their lives were changed forever.
Quote: "As we grow older, it becomes difficult to just believe. It's not that we don't want to, but too much has happened and we can't." - Samantha
Romance/Relationships: young girls figuring out that not all boys have cooties

Waitress
- A dark comedy/drama about a waitress named Jenna, who is in a very unhappy relationship and is a waitress at a diner where she is known for her pies. She has all sorts of silly, life reflecting names to give to her pies. She has a plan to escape when things take an unexpected turn.
Quote: [after reading a news column about a woman contemplating suicide] Oh I love living vicariously through the pain and suffering of others. - Old Joe
Romance/Relationships: horrible marriage and an affair

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
- The title says it all. What more could you ask for in a movie to watch alone on Valentines Day. Miss Bennet and Mr. Darcy all hate and then love, but in the midst of it killing zombies!! I know which movie I will be watching first on Valentine's Day.
Quote: "A woman is either highly trained or highly refined. One cannot afford the luxury of both in such times. - Elizabeth Bennet
Romance/Relationships: it's Jane Austen at the heart and zombies at the brain plus of course marriage

What movie(s) would you add to the list?

Leave a comment below!

*Photos are not mine own