Coleslaw for People Who Don't Like Coleslaw

Coleslaw is a perfect accompaniment to anything barbequed or grilled-- burgers, ribs, chicken, corn, potato wedges. Generally though, I find coleslaw contaminated. Whether it's with onions, too much cabbage, too much mayonnaise, or too little something; I feel like coleslaw should be good, but generally isn't. Then I discovered celeriac. 

So, how does cabbage become glorious? My recipe is basically like a celeriac remoulade with a Waldorf salad. I really think this is especially good for kids and vegetarians as there's sweetness, crunch and nuttiness. Pretty much any of the ingredients can be omitted (apart from the dressing), but together they really are insanely addictive. 

Celeriac Coleslaw Recipe:

Adjust the quantities according to what you have and like. This is what I love.

1 SMALL celeriac (the smaller they are the sweeter they are, and the smallest in the shop is enough for 6 decent portions)

About 4 cabbage leaves- savoy cabbage is my favourite.

2 celery stalks

1 apple- I'm a fan of the Pink Lady.

2 handfuls of pecans

Dressing:

Juice of 1 lemon/lime

1-2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 tablespoons half fat creme fraiche/thick yogurt (I use these to cut the fat a bit, but you could use all mayonnaise)

2 tablespoons dijon mustard (Go for English mustard if you like it hot, but still in slightly smaller quantities).

1. Cut cabbage into strips. Chop celery into bite size pieces.

2. Quarter apple and slice thinly. Grate celeriac. Add lemon juice (like apples, the celeriac will discolour slightly without the acid).

 3. Spoon mayonnaise, yogurt and mustard on top and mix into the coleslaw. Add any more ingredients according to your taste.

4. Toast pecans and add to coleslaw. 

Makes 6 decent portions. The coleslaw will stay fresh in the fridge for about 2 days. I love it as leftovers in my lunch.

I'm always trying (and usually ignoring) to eat more salad and vegetables. Do you have any tasty salad/vegetable dish recommendations?

Cake To Impress a Mother-In-Law

Unlike most bloggers, I do not create perfectly pretty cupcakes. If you're one of those people, I'm jealous. I've only really gotten into domestic goddressry since I've wanted to impress my husband and his family. Easter was one of the those occasions. Being Easter and not going for the chocolate option, yellow became the obvious choice. I pimped this fine recipe from the warm yet no-nonsense Mary Berry; here is her recipe for lemon yogurt cake (link here). I really think this lemon cake will impress girlfriends, men, colleagues or whomever. It's easy, not too sweet but still intensely flavoured.

How I Pimped the Mary Berry Lemon Yogurt Cake:
1. Use more lemon zest. Whether vanilla, cinnamon, lemon or any flavouring I almost always double what the recipe advises. I zested a LARGE lemon and another half. If you're going for an impress the foodies option, grapefruit might grab their attention more; if I were making it for my Mum it would be a lime cake. For the mother-in-law and the three men, I went classic.

2. When the cake is cooked, poke some holes in it with a skewer the way you would for a lemon drizzle cake. I drizzled the juice from a lemon and a couple capfuls of limoncello I still have (limoncello recipe here) .

3. Use a more interesting cake mould, if you have one. A plain loaf is harder to make look elegant. I juiced a second lemon when I turned the mould over (make sure the cake's cool before turning it out) and added some more limoncello.

4. The quantities recommended for the icing produce a very firm, seriously sweet, royal icing. I added more lemon juice to make it more of a drizzle and iced the cake by making diagonal stripes. Add the zest from another lemon on top of the icing.

5. Add a sauce. Lemon goes wonderfully with berries, so this was my effort- raspberries and tayberries from the freezer. Blueberries would also look and taste fresh. I cooked the berries down with a bit of raspberry wine that I had; any red juice or water would be fine though. 

The cake did indeed impress. Impress the in-laws mission accomplished.

Wedding circa 1965

It's 1965- you're invited to an April wedding in England. What do you wear? In England, you're still definitely wearing a hat. Your hair hasn't quite grown to the dream of straight Michelle Phillips California hair. Swirls and flower power haven't quite hit. The reception is in the local pub. Your journey brings you to a butter yellow shift with puffy chiffon sleeves.

A pale blue veil gives you the something blue, even though you don't need it, as you're just a guest. You flip out the ends of your hair.

Stepping outside for a bit of fresh air, your date takes these photos.

Outfit: The dress and top were my Easter outfit, but it just felt so 1960s wedding that I thought I'd add a ridiculous/wonderful hat to it.

Hat- local charity shop.

Yellow shift dress stolen from my sister's old closet- last seen last summer, here: http://thefabulousmission.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/mellow-yellow.html#comment-form

Chiffon top, Forever 21- last seen at New Year's Eve here: 

http://thefabulousmission.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/what-are-you-doing-new-years-eve.html#comment-form

Black and white brogues, Asos. They're falling apart right now as they're my work shoes that I wear to tromp around at the weekend too. Still, I think they've been good value.  http://thefabulousmission.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/back-to-school.html#comment-form

I've been stalking the patent Topshop pastel brogues since the new year as their sweeter replacement.  Irritatingly, they're also twice the price of my original spats. Are they worth it?

Are you embracing spring colours? Has anyone found some reasonably priced pastel clothing that might be work appropriate? After February, shops don't seem to sell sleeves or anything with much material, never mind length. Let me know if you have any underground tips.

The Sun Will Shine on the Oxford Blues

                                         The Boat Race. "Terrible loss," you might say, if you're a supporter of the Oxford Blues. Even if you're like my sister and think you don't like sports, watch it. It'll certainly leave you with a grand game of "What If...?". Mega-aggressive Cox, Zoe De Toledo, was being cautioned constantly. As the wife of a Thames rower I've learned that this is a normal strategy for any cox-- the idea is to intimidate your opponents off the fastest water that you want for yourself.

Image of the intense Zoe de Toledo and her cox adversary Ed Bosson from
http://www.expressandstar.com/uk/uk-sport/2012/04/07/trapmore-braced-for-tough-challenge/.

I dressed in Oxford blue to show my support, finding solace in a field of lurid yellow rapeseed in the Oxfordshire countryside. I was pleased that an Oxonian noticed the matching of the polka dots and the dot-like quality of the pearls.

Were it not for the distraction of some Kinder chocolate and notice-me yellow blooms, the blues may have dominated.

What did you think of the Boat race?

What cheers you up? Found any lovely Easter sights lately?

Weekend Away in Torquay?

In 1955 Torquay was a wonderful weekend away- a romantic weekend, a family trip to the seaside, a place to lap up the English Riviera and get an ice cream and fish n' chips to enjoy on a pretty pier. Easily since the 1970s and Faulty Towers, Torquay has become a bit of a joke. It shouldn't be. All its charm remains.

If you like Edwardian prettiness, you'll find it. If you like 1920s and 1930s elegance, you'll be struck by it. If you like 1950s and 1960s slightly Californian beachsides, you'll be in heaven. Nonetheless, Torquay is quintessentially English, pretty, kitch and delightfully sunny. And I was there in February. Now and any time in the summer, it would be the wonderful English weekend away.

Mr Fabulous Mission and I stayed at Trafalgar House Bed and Breakfast for two nights using a Groupon deal for £99. Trafalgar House (pictured below) seems to regularly have deals on, and I would recommend it highly.

The rooms are tastefully decorated, there is a choice of breakfast (Full English with local ingredients, Continental, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, poached eggs and soldiers, whatever you could want essentially) with cereals, and ripe fruit salads.  The deal also included a decadent high tea that will leave you fine for supper.

 Meringue Mont Blancs followed for dessert- they were divine.

Where have you gone that you've loved? Any places that people often forget or disregard worth a visit?

What do you think of when you think of ribs?

Burley men with beer bellies, wearing wife beaters, and listening to Ted Nugent? A Southern barbecue with corn and Budweiser?

While these images may have some truth to them, ribs aren't just for rednecks or fat people.

Ribs aren't feminine or pretty, but let's face it, your taste in style and fashion is not necessarily your taste in food. Still, ribs are sweet, hard to ignore, delicious and one of the cheapest meats you can buy. I'm a fan.

The formula for flavour is simple: sweet, sour and hot.

The recipe I take pride in making is as follows. It serves four (1/2 rack/person) or 2 meals for 2. Buy the ribs with the most meat on them.

Ribs Recipe:
2 Racks of ribs
        +
Sauce

Sauce for Ribs
3 tablespoons of soy sauce
3 tablespoons of ketchup
6 chopped pepper rings or 1 small chili chopped
2 tablespoons of ginger
2 tablespoons of honey
Tabasco to taste (I'm not a person who likes it too spicy and I find 8 drops sufficient)
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Rinse ribs in hot water. Boil in water for an hour. Sometimes, ribs will release a great deal of fat in the form of cloudy white bits. Skim these off. I sometimes do this half a dozen times. Cooking the ribs in water will render the fat, cook them and make them moist.

2. Make sauce for ribs as the ribs are cooking in the water. Combine all ingredients and make to your desired hotness. The flavour will mellow significantly in cooking so make it hotter than you think you like it.

3. Preheat oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Cooking them in the hot oven will give them the smoky flavour and 'set' the sauce into them.

4. After the ribs are boiled, baste them in sauce.

5. Cook in hot oven for 10 minutes. Turn over, baste and cook for a further 10 minutes. Obviously, the bbq could be instead of the oven to finish them off.

5. Add the remainder of the sauce to your cooked, great ribs.

Serve with coleslaw and corn on the cob in the summer. My favourite cole slaw recipe is on the way. The one pictured was tasty (cabbage, carrot, apple and pecan), but it's not The One. 

Overshadowed by Accessories

Those of you in the U.K., did you celebrate the first no long sleeves Saturday? I did.

I thought the idea of a maxi dress was that it provided maximum length and maximum impact? I also thought black dresses were synonmous with elegance, instantly dressed-up sexy, strong womanliness. Angelina Jolie I'm not, evidently.

In person, I really do love this dress and feel some sort of statue-esque beauty in it. However, my camera was obviously infinitely more attracted to the pink and blue print and silver chandelier earrings that I wore as an afterthought. They were supposed to be like a bonus shot; something to improve an already great dress. Alas, the black dress seems to have been overshadowed to a dull, plain Jane dress. David Bailey's trademark white walls made his subjects all the more in-your-face fascinating and attractive.

Mick Jagger "Fur Hood" by David Bailey. 

The white backdrop has made my dress into a dark night, without much allure.

Alas, it is still spring and the white snowdrops and yellow aconites weren't afflicted by the same disease called light that seems to have spoiled the photos of my favourite dress. Maybe it is like an old-fashioned vampire, overwhelmed by light.

Outfit: Black maxi dress, Marks and Spencer; printed scarf, Oxfam; earrings, Accesorise.