Sweet Sunday: Take Your Pick!

Welcome to a special edition of Sweet Sunday! Why? Because I've now reached over 300 followers! And being, ahem, rather broke, I would like to show you all some love the best way I know how: with yummy scrummy food!

For the past few months, almost every Sunday I've written about one of my favourite treats. And so, in thanks to everyone who has been reading and commenting, I would like to share them all with you. Please, take as many as you like and enjoy! And the best bit? They're calorie free!

Thank you again for being such wonderful blog buddies.

Let the feast begin!

Start off with a cupcake or three to get your taste-buds going.

Enjoy a bite of blueberry grunt.

Have a bite of my scrumptious wedding cake from Patisserie Valerie.

Go crazy with banoffee pie!

Finish it off with some warm sticky toffee pudding.

Sweet Sunday: Blueberry Grunt

Today's Sweet Sunday is in honour of my Nova Scotian roots: blueberry grunt! You have to love a dessert with 'grunt' in its name.

Lots of gooey blueberries, plenty of sugar and some very yummy dumplings, all baked together and served up with a helping of cream.

Oh, my mouth is tanging already (and I don't care if tanging is a word or not, it's the perfect description for what my mouth is doing!).

Gotta get some grunt!

Happy Sunday!

Sweet Sunday: Creme Cake

It's warm and sunny, and really what could be better than spongy vanilla cake filled with fresh Chantilly creme and topped with fruit? It's like a little bit of summer in your mouth.

This photo is an actual slice of my wedding cake last August. My husband and I decided to buck tradition and go with a cake you could actually eat... and enjoy! So we went 100 metres down our street to Patisserie Valerie and ordered up a goody. It was delicious.

Right. I must have cake. NOW!
Happy Sunday!

Sweet Sunday: Churros

Churros, churros, churros. Say that three times fast! Despite their rather, um... phallic appearance, these are worth getting over any Freudian hang-ups and indulging in their hot, deep-fried goodness - and make sure to get some chocolate sauce for dipping!

If you're unfamiliar with these little pleasures, churros are a Spanish treat usually eaten for breakfast. I call them my market treat, because whenever I brave the crowds at nearby Portobello Market, I always make sure to reward myself with a cup full of steaming churros. It's the perfect combo of crispy and chewy.

Happy Sunday everyone!

(A small announcement before I sign off: massive thanks to Alexandra Shostak for putting The Hating Game on Goodreads! If you're on Goodreads and you feel so compelled to add it to your to-read shelf... it would be lovely! Right. Announcement over.)

Sweet Sunday: Chocolate Eclair

This is a tale of love lost and rediscovered. You see, when I was young, I embraced the creamy goodness of chocolate éclairs with all my heart. But as I got older, other goodies beckoned -- creme brulée, sticky toffee pudding, cupcakes... well, you know the story. I turned my back on the lowly éclair and plunged into the goodness that awaited.

Fast forward twenty-odd years or so. I'm standing in the local Tesco's, clutching a £10 note in my hand. I'd used up the other £9 and I had £1 remaining for the all-important dessert (because I couldn't go back home without one, naturally). Scanning the shelves, my heart sank. Everything was at least £2 -- but wait! What was that? Four éclairs for a pound? I grabbed the packet. They looked rather forlorn, pushed back on the bottom shelf, but éclairs were better than nothing. Or so I thought.

But oh, OH! When I bit into the first one after dinner, I remembered straight away why I liked them so much. The rich cream, the light pasty... and the chocolate! Perfect!

Please forgive me, éclair. How could I have forsaken thee, for so long? Never again, my love. Never again.

Sweet Sunday: Lemon Tart

Oh dear. My mouth has filled with saliva and I've only just begun writing this -- a true testament to how much I adore the tangy taste of lemon tart.

It's the perfect way to end a rich meal: the lemon filling and light pastry base cleanses your palate, leaving you wanting even more. I have been known to buy a pie-sized tart, pick it up, and demolish it bite by bite (although I probably shouldn't be so eager to share that).

It's the kind of thing that's so good you take another bite before you've even finished chewing the one in your mouth!

Lemon tart, I love you!

Sweet Sunday: French Toast

I've just had this for breakfast so it seems very a propos to make it my Sweet Sunday spotlight! For me, bread is key to the making of good French toast. It needs to be slightly crispified (or stale). Mix the milk with eggs, put in a drop or two of vanilla extract alongside a generous sprinkling of cinnamon, then heat some butter in a pan and fry it up til it's golden!

Smother it all in rivers of glutinous maple syrup, and if you really want to be posh you can throw in a berry or two.

Could getting to paradise be any easier?

Happy Sunday!

Sweet Sunday: Creme Brulée

I think this one is a 'love it or leave it' kind of dessert, but I happen to love it! If it's done properly, there's paradise to be found under the crispy sugary coating.

Tap your way through the top and ladle a spoonful of smooth creamy goodness into your mouth.

I always tunnel through the surface, eat the cream, then finish it off with a blast of sweetness sticking to my teeth.

Thank you to everyone who gave me an award this week! I'll pass them on shortly!

Sweet Sunday: Banoffee Pie

Yeah, baby. BANOFFEE PIE! Juicy bananas, cream and a crumbly toffee base! If you don't love banoffee pie then you've clearly burned each and every single taste bud in your mouth -- or you're dead.

It's so popular it was even featured in one of my all-time favourite films, Love Actually, when Juliet (the wife of Mark's best friend and the woman of Mark's dreams), goes round to ask for his video of her wedding day.

Juliet: Banoffee pie?
Mark: No, thanks.

Juliet: Thank God. You would've broken my heart if you'd said yes.

Mark: Oh, right. Well, lucky you.

Life just wouldn't be the same without it.

And on other sweet notes, I got some awards this week! Yay!

Thanks to the lovely Amy Saia, who gave me the Bold Faced Liar award. Since I've already had great fun at lying, I'm going to pass this on to:

Office Girl from Tired but Writing

Aubrie from Flutey Words (check out her 100 followers contest!)

Jaydee Morgan and Jon Paul of Sky Meets Ground were so kind as to give me the Prolific Blogger award. Thanks, Jaydee and John Paul! I'm going to give this one to:

Alexandra from the Publication Follies of Alexandra Shostak
Alyson from MayDay Writer


Have a great weekend everyone!

Sweet Sunday: Cadbury's Creme Eggs

Happy Easter Sunday! I started the day by making pancakes for my husband, a task even more difficult than scraping glumpy noodles from the bottom of a pot. The challenge, you see, is that we own no measuring implements to speak of (seriously - not even a measuring cup). We clearly love to cook, ha!

So, as I approximated the flour and the milk, I crossed my fingers they would come out all right. They tasted delicious, but as I said on my Twitter: If they were in a pancake pageant, they'd only win Miss Congeniality. (Are pancakes female? Hmmm...)

We topped off the pancake meal the only acceptable way on Easter: with a Cadbury's Creme Egg. Can it get more sugary than this? Thick chocolate, with gloopy faux-egg filling just oozing from inside. One bite and you're up to your teeth in rich creamy goodness.

What's your favourite Easter treat?

Sweet Sunday: Sticky Toffee Pudding

If I had to choose between cupcakes and sticky toffee pudding, I think my head would explode. They are both super sweet, rich... oh, I'm drooling just thinking about it.

I went through a phase in the winter where I had to have sticky toffee pudding every night after dinner (you can imagine how that went over with my waist-line). Still, nothing could stop me tucking into the warm, spongy, gingery cake topped with a delicious runny toffee syrup (yes, I know I've overloaded the adjectives, but it simply must be done).

My all-time favourite brand, after many taste tests, is Farmhouse Fare. No icky sultanas, just pure sugary goodness. Put on a splodge of cream and you're good to go.

Sweet Sunday: Cupcakes

Veering slightly away from the writing theme, every Sunday I shall wax rhetoric about one of my favourite sweets (because they are also an invaluable part of the writing process!).

London is experiencing a cupcake (or fairy cake, as they used to call them here) revolution. With two shops in striking distance, it's easy to fall prey to the lure of their wonderful spongy goodness.

Feeling stuck on how to move a character forward? Why not try a cupcake? the sugary little voice in my head bleats. And usually, I succumb. My favourite is Red Velvet, a vanilla sponge base dyed to a deep red colour topped with cream cheese frosting. Sometimes I also plump for double chocolate (chocolate base with chocolate frosting).

Thank you, cupcakes, for all you've done to help my writing!