süsk & banoo

Y'all Want Some Pah?

We've been trying to eat a little healthier around here (mainly to give my poor, over-stressed jeans a break) and I have been experimenting with sugar-free, low carbohydrate baking. One of my favourite things is pumpkin pie, and luckily, pumpkins are a relatively low-sugar veg! I found a few recipes for an almond and hazelnut crust and a with a pumpkin "pie" bake I use all the time, combined them to see what happened.

Phwaorrr.

The pumpkin and cinnamon bake, mixed with the crunchy roasted nuts? Dance party in my mouth! If you'd like to give it a try, here is the recipe: (The pumpkin bake served alone with a dollop of cream is also heavenly, if you don't fancy faffing with crusts)

For the Crust:

100g toasted, roughly ground almonds

100g toasted, roughly ground hazelnuts

2 oz. unsalted butter

4 tsp splenda or sweetener

pinch of sea salt

3/4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

6 tbsp soy or almond flour (the recipe called for whey protein powder, but the ones I found were packed with extra sugar and had weird banana flavours added)

Melt the butter in  a saucepan, keeping an eye on it so it doesn't burn. Keep it going until it turns a nice deep brown colour. In another bowl mix the almonds, hazels, flour, salt, sweetener, ginger, and vanilla, then add the melted butter. Stir it all well, and then press into a pie plate. Chiiiilllll.

For the filling:

8 oz. cream cheese

5 eggs

1 can Libby's 100% Pumpkin (NOT the pumpkin pie filling, which is full of chemicals and sugar) (You can find this on Ocado)

1/2 cup Splenda or sweetener of your choice

1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

Blend the cream cheese until smooth. Bung in eggs, pumpkin, and everything else and blend until smooth. Pour into pie pan or greased pan, if you don't want a crust, and bake at 190 for 40 minutes. Stick a toothpick in to check if done, then let cool on a wire rack for a while before refrigerating.

Easy, yummy, and not packed with sugar! Keep it in the fridge and serve with a dollop of whipped, splenda-sweetened double cream for a little extra boost. Because of the cream cheese and eggs you have the EXACT texture of real pumpkin pie. SNARFTIME.

 

 

 

36 Hours

I haven't done a Book Find in months, and what better way to show off the book I got from Anthropologie yesterday? Thanks to the generous birthday voucher they posted me, I was entitled to 15% off of anything in shop. Well, considering I'm a bit podgy from Easter/General Miseating, nothing in the shop really looked nice on me so instead I picked this beauty up.  A book always fits, eh?

Now granted, we are a bit far away to enjoy 36 hours anywhere in the US or Canada, but someday...someday! This book, based on the New York Times column of same name, plots out wonderful places in North America to spend your weekends. It's conveniently laid out by region and by what is close by rather than alphabetically, and hello!- rainbow bookmarks? This book could have been a chronicling of litter and I still would have bought it. It also has nice little tabs to help you thumb your way through. In colouurrrrs.

Inside, clear maps and lovely photos illustrate the places you should visit, as well as mentioning a few not-in-every-guide activities (New York Trapeze School? I didn't even know such a thing existed!) to have a go at. I can't wait to sort out the passport issue for Mr. Ban so we can spend months at a time in North America without pesky Visa issues. We've been watching a bit of Portlandia and can't wait to see if it's accurate. Plus Ban has a cousin there. Who owns an "alternative" clothing shop. Yep! 

America, look out. Two massive nerds are coming soon, with a heavy-ass book in tow.

Snacks

We snack a lot in this house. A lot. On any given day you can be sure we have eaten one of the above.

1. Hard-Boiled Eggs

Yeah, I know- curl your nose up, but I love them! I eat them mashed with a little mayo and a drop of artificial sweetener. Shut up, it's awesome! Lots of protein, too.

2. Herta Jumbo Sausages

They have to be Herta, and they have to be the jumbos. The skinny ones are disgusting, but for some reason once they supersize them, they taste better. With some yellow mustard? Get in there.

3. Ants on a Log

Ban likes this. He'd never had them before he met me, and peanut butter and celery seemed absurd to him. (This coming from the man who eats whole cucumbers like they're a banana. Seriously. He used to keep them in the fruit bowl.)

Not pictured: Copious amounts of fizzy cola bottles (Ban) and absolutely ANYTHING with Manischewitz Dill Horseradish Sauce for me. That shit is good.  I'd eat a shoe if it was dipped in that stuff!

Minä Olen Beyond Proud

Gasp!

I didn't want to post anything sooner lest I jinx it, but at this exact moment, as I type, Banoo is in Helsinki signing his contract to work for the prestigious mathematics department! My chest could explode I'm so proud! Well done, mon chou! 

No more scuzzy backstreet buildings miles away from the main campus, shared offices with 6 people, or people stealing books from your desk. No more getting the ruaround from staff unwilling to help you in any way. Instead, hello gorgeous location, art-gallery-esque facility (look at that place above...would you think it was a mathnerd den? It's like someone's super sexy modernist house!) and a secure and wonderful position. It's just...awesome. I'm so proud of him, and so excited for his future work! AND because Finnish people are gracious and flexible and (I know I've said it a million times) the best people on Earth, they are letting us remain here until we finalise Ban's citizenship, while he commutes up there once in a while to check in.

...

I love Finland. For serious. I want to bake the whole faculty a giant cake and knit them all jumpers. So lovely.

Now, though, with the job finished in London we are once again asking ourselves why we should stay in such a crimey, expensive, hectic city. Ban's secured a job in Helsinki and until we can or decide to relocate there, the only requirement we have for his naturalisation is to be in the UK for the next year or so- anywhere in the UK. Possibilities, possibilities! But that's something to think about once the Prof gets home. If he can find it- he just texted me that his glasses broke right across the bridge, so he is having to walk around holding one half of them like some ghetto monocle. That guy- tut tut!

Our New Car

What do you think? Lovely huh? It is, it is...but sadly it's not ours! I found this little beauty parked in front of a row of lovely houses on the back streets of Camden Town. I have a fondness for old white cars, especially since my dear old VW, Lucien, served me so well for many years in Germany. It was an '89 and I could still get it up to 220 on the autobahn. Downhill, but still! This Saab still looks like it could kick some ass, too. Loverly.

Shutterbuggin'

As an amateur photo-snapper, I'm always trying to learn how to best use my SLR and get the results I would like. I'm hopeless when it comes to the balancing of apertures and shutter speeds, which ISO to use and when, and all the other (to me at least) high tech bits of the digital camera I use. And I don't even use one of the big, bad ones! I have a little old Nikon, with a few buttons and a simple lens I picked up in France on a whim (and mainly because the long-haired in-the-know-looking guy behind the counter told me "C'est bon." when I asked if it was any good).

So, voila, my first attempts at taking a considered, proper photograph using only available light, at night. I don't suppose there are any photographers reading who are in need of a keen apprentice, are there? I make a mean cup of Earl Grey. Just sayin'.

Doodoo Cake

Try to ignore the shocking resemblance to a log of dookie and behold the sugar-free chocolate moelleux  cake!

For anyone watching their figure, this is a snappy recipe to satisfy a sweet tooth and not cause spiraling sugar levels and the post-cake slump. Plus it tastes pretty good- Banoo and I make this and then squabble over who gets the last bit.

You'll need:

• 3 eggs
• 4 oz unsalted butter
• 60ml water
• 3 tbsp sour cream
• 8 tbsp Splenda
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 45g finely ground almond flour
• 75g fine oatmeal
• 30g cocoa powder
• 1.5 tsp baking powder

For the frosting:

• 30g unsweetened chocolate
• 1 tbsp unsweetened peanut butter
• 40ml thick cream
• 4 tbsp Splenda

In a big bowl, beat the eggs till light and frothy. Add butter, water, sweetener, vanilla, and sour cream. Beat some more. Meanwhile,  in a small bowl mix almonds, oats, cocoa, and baking powder. Then pour into egg mix and blend together. Pour into floured baking dish or loaf pan and bake at 180 for 25 minutes. Then let cool on a rack.

For the frosting, melt the chocolate in a bain mairie, then stir in the peanut butter until melted, then add the cream and sweetener. Pour and spread over the chocolate cake and let set before cutting. Then INHALE.

 

Green

This post has a lot of green in it...and not much point. Have a lovely, (hopefully) sunny day, my lovelies!

Urban Recycling

There is a neat thing about living in London and it is something I call Someone'll Take It.

Basically, anything you leave outside your wall is up for the taking. I recently watched as, over the course of a few days, a whole tea set placed on the low wall by our neighbours was piece-by-piece taken for use elsewhere, along with a few other china chotchkies.

I passed these futuristic shoes patiently waiting for a new home on my walk home today, and wonder if anyone has picked them up yet. They seem in relatively good condition, especially considering they seem to be from the set of Back to the Future, which if I recall was filmed like, two decades ago. Snicker. But seriously, this system of leave-it-out-and-someone'll-take-it is really neat, and you never know what you might come across. I recently saw a whole fishtank with written instructions on how to set it up propped on the pavement. How considerate!

The only downside is that ocassionally something you didn't intend to be taken gets pinched. Ban's bike for example. I'm not sure if that can be considered a mistake, as someone had to leap over a tall ass wall and then chuck a bike back over it and then re-clamber over...but maybe someday we'll be walking and see his lovely green bike, maybe a little worse for wear, waiting patiently against someone's front wall for us to take it home. Maybe.

We ♥ Byron

I can barely type, so stuffed am I. We went to Byron. Again. For, like, the third time this week. Eye dart.

The discovery of our favourite burger place just minutes walk from our house is going to be hugely detrimental on our bank accounts and guts, but goddamnit, who cares when the Cobb Salad is bigger than your head and the burgers are cooked to medium-y perfection every time! And you can choose your toppings. And they even do a non-bun version for anti-bread folk like me. Bliss. What's that? You wonder if they have the deep-fried courgettes? HECK YES THEY DO. They're currently dancing a euphoric waltz in my belly, along with the avocado-n-mushroom topped burger I literally inhaled. One glance at Banoo's languid post-meal face says more than words as to how he enjoyed his meal, I think.

Oh yeah, the other reason we love it? The decor! It's 60's wallpaper-clashes, macramé lamps, and plastic chairs of the sort you used to have in school. The staff are lovely too, and it's never packed. Like their site says- if you're gonna do something, do one thing and do it well. It might not be those exact words, but my arm is too full of food to click open a new window and cross check it. Which means they're doing something right.