Top with Cinnamon: Ricotta Hotcakes with Honeycomb Butter

It's no secret that ricotta is a favourite ingredient in these parts. So it's really quite astounding how 79 days passed since Top with Cinnamon published her recipe for Ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter before they appeared on my plate on a Sunday morning. I mean, ricotta and honeycomb and butter - 3 of my most loved ingredients - why haven't I been eating these hotcakes for breakfast every day of my life?

This weekend I seized the free time that had been granted me and crawled out of bed, into the kitchen, to whip some honeycomb into some butter, and to splodge fluffy egg whites into ricotta pancake mix. B and I took our time munching our way through towers of them, only getting up when we needed to make one more cup of coffee.

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5 Things & 3 More

I'm just back from a hugely therapeutic week away: time with maman and papa, sleep and a little bit of sunshine are exactly what I needed. 5 happy moments:

1. Climbing volcanoes

2. Pretending to be on the moon (I think Lanzarote really is the moon)

3. Grilled fish

4. Sleep

5. Pimientos de Padrón

And 3 things that I've read and think you might like to read too:

1. All about Ragú. I think I need to spend more time on ragú.

2. Martha's vineyard looks like a heavenly place.

3. This piece on my favourite Towapath café sums this magical place up brilliantly.

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Pimientos de Padrón

Every night on this volcanic island that is Lanzarote, we have nibbled away at a plate of pimientos de padrón.

B's request from the daily supermarket shop has been 'More pimientos please', always fearing that we may forget and therefore have to go an evening without them.

While papa gets to work on the gin and tonics, we heat up the olive oil until it's searing hot, toss in the peppers and jump back out of the way while the oil spits and hisses. As the peppers blacken, soften and crackle, gradualy softening and losing their structure, we liberally cover them with our favourite Maldon Sea Salt (yes, even in Lanzarote), before tipping them onto the most rustic looking plate we can find.

We then watch the sun disappears behind the nearest crater, with a gin and tonic in one hand and a pimiento in the other.

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5 Things & 3 More

I'm off abroad again. This time to find some sun. I promise I'll stay in the UK for more than 10 days after this little trip...

5 happy things from this short week

1. Turning our kitchen into a balcony

2. Bircher muesli

3. Mint

4. My walk to work

5. Bunny post-it notes

And 3 things I've enjoyed reading:

1. I finally got round to reading Angelina Jolie's bold and brave 'Diary of a Surgery' piece on the NY Times.

2. This dark chocolate cream-cheese frosting cake sounds magically decadent.

3. Maple pudding cake. Because I love maple and pudding and cake.

Love to you all!

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Celebrating Saturday with Violet Cakes

After a few hours of intense yoga on a sunny Saturday morning, we were in need of an afternoon treat, to accompany a pot of tea and a whole load of exciting sporting events.

There's not many places in London I would go out and buy cake from. I tend to bake one of the many bookmarked recipes in my own kitchen rather than go out to purchase someone else's creation. However, Violet Cakes is an exception. Every time I pass by Claire Ptak's café on Wilton Way or her stall on Broadway Market, I gaze longingly at the sticky loaf cakes, the perfectly miniature cupcakes, the fluffy whoopie pies, and the chewy biscuits. Every so often I give into my tummy's rumbling noises and buy a cake or two: the secret ingredient to the best weekend.

Yesterday we gobbled up a peanut butter whoopie pie and a slice of banana buttermilk bread. The whoopie pie was spongey and light (not how it looks, I know, but I need you to believe me here), with the most prettily-peanut-y filling. In contrast, the banana bread was dark and nutty - a calming accompaniment to a huge mug of tea. I couldn't help thinking it would also make a rather wonderful breakfast...

Violet Cakes, 47 Wilton Way, E8 3ED

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5 Things & 3 More

It's Friday already. Aren't 4 day weeks just the best?

5 happy moments from a magically short week:

1. Sunshine at home

2. Easter egg hunt

3. Porridge

4. Light evenings

5. Seeing an old friend after a long, long time

And 3 things I've enjoyed reading:

Making fruity pebble meringues - how could anyone not enjoy these?

Catching up on Food 52's podcast, Burnt Toast, a great new discovery.

And maybe I'll try my hand at making cruffins with a pasta machine one weekend soon...

Happy weekend! 

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5 Things & 3 More

The last week has been windy, snowy and chilly. And I'm feeling all the better for it. 5 happy things from 5 happy days:

1. Powder

2. Cheese

3. Snowflakes

4. Hot Chocolate

5. Baths

And 3 things I've enjoyed reading in these lazy, post-skiing evenings (my alternative to après-ski):

Did Andreas Lubitz commit suicide or mass murder? A novel angle from Slate.

When I get home I will be baking this Smitten Kitchen Carrot Graham Layer Cake.

And while I've got my apron on I probably won't be able to resist Molly Yeh's Chocolate Peanut Butter Sprinkle Cake, because, well, chocolate, peanut butter, and sprinkles.

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