angeltreats's Profile

Think about what you've got on your floor. I bought a huge flokati rug second hand from someone who had to get rid of it when their baby started crawling, because the baby kept getting stuck in it!

My husband's grandfather was a carpenter. Now my husband has quite a few of his tools including a plane with a beautiful wood handle, and they have been put to good use in renovating our house. I like to think his grandfather would be pleased that they are still being used.

My parents are still alive but live in a different country, and are quite elderly now. I have their engagement photo framed beside my bed, it was taken in 1968 and they look so happy and young, I love it. I also have a gorgeous photo of them in St Mark's Square in Rome taken around the same time, they're kind of cuddling and my dad is holding a pigeon that landed on his hand. Those two photos are two of my favourite possessions. And I also have some paintings my dad did in his younger days. I miss my folks a lot and these things are comforting to have around.

My dad has a small rose bush that used to belong to his mother, who died in the 1970s. He took it from his childhood home and it has moved house with them three times since then. He now has it in a pot on his patio (as they live in an apartment with no garden as such to plant it in) and it's thriving, it's absolutely beautiful with lots of huge deep pink blooms every year. He is very attached to it and I know one day it will fall to me to look after it, which I dread as I am not blessed with a green thumb and I'd hate to kill it.

Are you buying or renting the new house?

Honestly, the lack of gas lines would be a total deal breaker for me. I just wouldn't live there. I know that's probably a bit pathetic but I can't get used to electric at all and having an electric cooker for 8 months absolutely ruined my enjoyment of cooking.

In my home town there were no gas lines at all up until recently and lots of people had gas cookers that they ran from propane bottles kept outside (they had to be in special cages or little cupboard things) with lines running inside to the kitchen.

Parnassus: I agree 100%.

Looks like the large one is £85 in th UK. That's a LOT of money! I have a large Bialetti moka pot that does the job when several people want coffee at once, of course it doesn't keep the coffee hot but I don't think you can beat it for flavour and I suspect most of Italy would agree.

The Espro press is very pretty though and undoubtedly a good idea, just far too expensive for me.

Doughballs with garlic butter. Make pizza dough, let it prove, then knock back, roll into walnut-sized balls, and leave in the fridge on a baking tray till you want to bake them. Then just before you want to serve them, pop them into an oven around 240ºC or 460ºF for around 12 minutes. Serve with whatever garlic butter recipe you like. I've done these lots of times when we've had friends round and they are always very popular.

4 oz butter (softened)
4 oz caster sugar
4 oz self raising (or plain/all purpose with 2 tsp baking powder)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
a tablespoon or two of milk

Put all of the above in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat together for about 2 minutes (or do it by hand with a wooden spoon, it'll just take a bit longer).

Divide between 12 to 14 cupcake cases, depending on their size.

Bake at 180ºC 0r 350ºF for about 15 minutes or until golden brown and the tops are springy when you touch them lightly.

This is the recipe that most of the UK knows by heart and uses as their default cake recipe, and is absolutely foolproof and infinitely adaptable. The same recipe scaled up a bit (3 eggs, 6 oz everything else) will make a victoria sponge, divided between two tins and baked for a bit longer.

A coffee liqueur (kahlua or tia maria) works really well in lots of cocktails.

We also use quite a lot of amaretto and Baileys.

Bexsa -I'm also a real Irish person but I grew up in Northern Ireland, and we have always had white soda bread. In fact if it was made with wholemeal flour, we would call it wheaten bread rather than soda bread. Perhaps it's a local thing.

But yes proper soda bread contains flour, buttermilk and baking soda and a pinch of salt, and that's it.

I have an orange one of these, bought from Aldi for about £25, and a slightly smaller no-brand one in a kind of cappuccino colour (which I really like) for about £20. Both of them are about three years old now and have taken quite a lot of use and abuse and are still going strong, a few signs of wear but nothing major. I'm really quite attached to them as they've produced some memorable meals, and would hate to have to replace them, even for a Le Creuset!