The summer camp edition.

So I had a bad day back in December and decided that the perfect fix would be to apply for a job in Vancouver, BC. Then I actually got it.

Fast forward 8 months and I have just finished up the most intense 9 weeks of my life. It turns out that working at a residential camp for kids with special needs is more draining than pulling all-nighters at University ever could be, but also a lot more quotable and for the most part very fun.

There are two treats I have tried this summer which have probably blown my mind. The first, Nanaimo bars.  Thought to have originated in the town of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, in the early 50s, these little no bake cookies have 3 layers of delicious; chocolate biscuit base, vanilla custard center, dark chocolate topping. Worth sneaking into the kitchen after curfew for.

The second of the Treats I Stole From Canada is apparently a campfire classic - Bannock. The origin of this one is controversial; some swear it is an indigenous quick bread while others claim it is of Scottish origin, but whatever the case it takes no time to make, has four ingredients, and is especially tasty when you add chocolate chips to it. I assume the oven baked version would be equally as nice, but there is something particularly satisfying about mixing ingredients up in a bag, wrapping it around a stick, then accidentally setting it alight over a campfire.

This time in 2 weeks I will have moved East and be wandering the streets of Montreal eating pastries and attempting to learn French at ILSC. In my Quebec fantasies I work at a patisserie, spend my days baking croissants and pain au chocolat, and my evenings drinking homemade chai and going on adventures with my housemates - who will obviously be dreamy bilinguals with exceptional taste in music, clothing, books, and crockery. In reality? Watch this space. At the very least it will be nice to have my own room with a bed, and access to a kitchen again.

Until next time.

xCB

My new favourite celebrity baker

As it turns out, Jamie Oliver is a baking god. My two most recent baking adventures - which, I'll admit, have been few and far between of late - have used recipes from his website.

In January, the most incredible chocolate brownies which I made for the first - and disappointingly only - installment of my summer 'dessertation' project (work in progress, that one)


And, just this week, toffee apple tart to take to a friend's place for dessert.




Although the latter took upwards of 6 hours to make in total it was pretty tasty, and making everything from the pastry right through to the dulce du leche satisfied my inner homemaker.



Conveniently I had enough pastry left to make a few tartlets as well. Hello, afternoon tea.

Recipes here and here.

x CB

Kahlua chocolate cake

Dinner parties are one of my greatest pleasures, and a last week we had a few people over to our house for a night of delicious food and wine, and seriously bad youtube.

We started off with potato and leek soup, followed up by two baked pasta dishes - lasagna and cannelloni - and finished with kahlua chocolate cake.


A rich cake topped with kahlua cream cheese icing and two types of Lindt chocolate. Over indulgence in it's finest.


x CB

Vegan gingerbread with lemon icing

Sometimes there is nothing better than baking when it's awful out.
On Tuesday there were thunderstorms in the Springs, and I spent the afternoon in the kitchen baking a vegan version of a personal favourite - gingerbread.

I realised pretty early in that I don't have my cookie cutters at my flat as yet (have to track those down before my next cookie adventure, I think!) but despite not looking quite as amazing as the Post Punk Kitchen batch the recipe came from (I used golden syrup in place of molasses) these tasted delightful and went down a treat with a cup of tea post-Slammers workout.


The icing for these, a must know: juice of one lemon, icing sugar, and vanilla extract to taste. Tart but sweet, so perfect.

xx CB

Chaos Cakes: They hold the inside line

A few weeks ago the Alpha Beta Slammers' pinkest Scot, Mazzy Chaos, accepted an amazing job and headed back to her homeland.

Although sad to see her go (it's not every day you make friends with a pack-savvy blocker with a penchant for "eating the baby" and listening to the Go! Team, after all) we threw her quite the Boozy Tuesday leaving party, complete with spontaneous dress ups, plastic wine, and "Chaos Cakes".


For some reason the food colouring I used in the mixture caused the cupcakes to rise in funny directions, so they were a bit weight heavy on one side. No worries, however! Nothing a little frosting couldn't fix and, as aptly pointed out by Scheisse Minelli, these pink and yellow adorned creations look like they're "holding the line"!


Enough with the roller derby references, I'm off for a nap and some snacks.
Stay tuned for more frequent posting (I promise!) and some very exciting projects in the coming months.

xx CB