I'm co-hosting the Follow Who? Social Hop!

SWHop14...

Yes, it's another Follow Who? Social...

Week by week we gather together to have this great party. Thank you for your support and we hope that you all have made some new friends. Let's continue to spread the word to see if we can get some new faces around here.

This week joining us a Co-Hostess is Franny from "So Good so Franny".  Here is what she has to say:

"Hey, I'm Franny and I hope you'll enjoy your visit to my blog, So Good... So Franny!

Since cooking is one of my passions, I thought it was fair to start my own food blog, so here you will find recipes for the things I cook, recipes that catch my attention and random rants about everything related to food."

Please give her a big welcome and make her feel at home.

Remember to come every week to link, follow, be followed, and like as you like :). #SWHOP.

 

Blog Hop

We love to like and follow back. Link up, like & follow, leave a comment below with direct links FB & twitter, we will stop by.

Let's get the Party started by spreading the Word, the more people know about it, the better for you, for me and for all. Please tweet about this Hop.

Tweet

<a href="http://www.craftyspices.com/hops/swhop" title="Follow Who? Social Weekend Hop"><img src="http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j453/CraftySpices/Others/SocialWeekend_zpsfa4ca127.jpg"; border="0" alt="Follow Who? Social Weekend Hop" /></a>

Rules for this Hop

1. Follow and like your Hostess and Co-hostess.
2. Grab our Follow Who? Social Weekend Hop button and place it somewhere in you site, or link back to us in your own way. It would be greatly appreciated.
3. Visit, follow, like, it's Social Weekend... Like from PERSONAL PAGE ONLY leave a comment that you come from the "Follow who? Hop" or from "Crafty Spices" and be sure to include your Fanpage link so all can follow back. Please follow back
4. Link only in the appropriate category Blog, Facebook Fanpage, etc.
5. Make new Friends... Hop, hop, link, like and follow back.

Link your Blog Here:

Direct link to your Site.

Link your Facebook Fanpage Here:

Remember to Like via you personal page!

Link your Twitter page Here:

Follow Who?

Link your Pinterest page Here:

Follow? is it a pin?

We can all count on each other to keep growing if we do it together.
Let's see how the "Follow Who? Hop" does this week.
Thank you for joining.

Taste Of Music

Today's very quiet and relaxing, and whilst I'm baking Mochaccino Slices (recipe to follow soon!) I wanted to share with you a little something... It's an episode of the show Taste Of Music with one of my fave musicians: Christian Kane. Enjoy!

And remember, Taste Of Music is not a cooking show... It's a show that cooks!

Custard Tart

For those who have read all of my previous posts, you'll remember that I tried to make shortbread pastry from scratch and failed miserably. I also shared a tart recipe by one of my most liked cooks, Andy Bates. While looking for something to do for the Christmas holidays on the Food Network UK website, I stumbled across another recipe of Andy Bates, Custard Tart. I watched the video very carefully, paying attention to everything he was saying and doing, and when I saw that he was making the pastry using the food processor, my eyes shone and I decided to try it myself. After all, I too had a food processor, so nothing could go wrong, right? WRONG! The beginning was excellent, I mixed up all the ingredients, formed a ball and let it chill in the fridge. I rolled it out, blind-baked it, let it rest.... I followed all the instructions and everything seemed to go fine... until I poured the liquid custard. I did it slowly, like he said to, but after a couple of seconds the custard started pouring out from under the tart tin, expanding all over  the baking tray. Very astonished and heart-broken, I had to throw everything away. AGAIN. 

I have come to the conclusion that I am in no way capable of making any kind of pastry from scratch. However, for those who can, here's the recipe for the delicious Custard Tart by Andy Bates.

I'm back!!

I've been really bad at taking care of this blog, and this past year has been really difficult for me. However, everything is going to change now. I'm settled down in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, and I'm glad to say that all is well, and since I'm happy in my new apartment, I kinda found my will to cook again (not that I lost it, I just wasn't feeling the love for cooking outside the vital needs).

2013 is going to be a big year, and I have lots to share. I had fun over the holidays and tried a few new recipes I've never done before and I'm totally happy with how they turned out, so stay tuned!

I also decided to offer free advertising for foodie lovers on my blog. If you have a food blog and you'd like to exchange banners, just send me an email and I'll be glad to promote your blog! 

Spring Vanilla Cupcakes

I am usually not a cupcake person, especially because they all have frosting and I find it too sweet for my taste. But I was in baking mood today so when I went to the supermarket I bought a few things to make what you see in the picture here :)

Now, I am not swimming in a pool full of gold and cannot afford a food mixer so I always have to adjust and do things with an electric mixer. That's why I used a cupcake mix. And I had ready made vanilla frosting. Lots of people consider this cheating. I am not one of them. And if you watch TV shows, lost of celebrity cooks use shortcuts. So don't worry, you don't have to feel bad :P

This is a very easy thing that even beginners can do, so keep reading to see the rest of the ingredients you need.

Rocky Road Crunch Bars

As you all should know by now, I adore Nigella Lawson and her cooking, so I wanted to share one more recipe from her "repertoire".

You can find this recipe in her book Nigella Express, along with many others :)

Rhubarb and Custard Tart

I have to admit that I don't like rhubarb (truth is I've never tried it, and it's something that doesn't inspire me very much), but when I saw this recipe on TV, it was presented in such a beautiful way that I just had to share it (and let's admit it, Andy Bates is kinda cute :P)