British Sweets & Confectionary - Choosing The Best

There is a wide range of exclusively British chocolates and gifts that you could choose to purchase for someone that you love and care about, but finding a nice store in Australia to buy this stuff from may be difficult at times. If there is something that you would like to buy with a distinct British style or flavor to it, then it is time to search for it online. This should make it fairly easy for you to find some nice gift stores from where it would be possible to buy chocolates, confectionary, and other items that you could give out as gifts.

Deciding on the right kind of gift is one area that you might have a bit of trouble with, but this is mainly because you will likely run into a lot of variety. Making up your mind about the perfect gift can take time if there is so much to choose from. If you are still not completely sure about what gift would be best, even after spending many hours browsing through an online British gift store, then it might be time for you to ask someone who is close to the person you are buying a gift for to provide you with clues to this person's interests.

If you have a basic idea of the sort of things that the person you are buying a gift for likes, it will be a whole lot easier for you to make a decision. However, you may also just prefer to go with your gut and be creative by picking a type of gift that its original. Chances are the recipient will end up liking it quite a bit anyway, and it is important to recognize that it is really the thought that matters most in any case.

One thing is true though - people all around the world appreciate British culture to some extent, so there is a fair chance that the person you end up buying this gift for will be happy with what you get them. Another thing that you might want to concern yourself with, however, is the overall price of these gifts. While it it is true that the kind of things you ordinarily would find at a gift store are usually within the average person's price rage, in some cases you might find that these products can be quite expensive.

As such, just remember to take all of the time that you need to look around the store for the best deals available. It is probably not necessary for you to spend hundreds of dollars on a simple gift, unless this is something within your means and also something that you would really like to do. In most cases you will find simple gifts like chocolate and sweets to be ideal, and most people around the world like to have a sweet treat every now and then. With British sweets, you will find a lot out there to choose from and plenty to keep people happy.

For those who cannot afford to actually visit Britain or those who couldn't make purchases on their recent trip to Britain visiting a British shop in Perth would be an excellent suggestion as they offer all kinds of British memorabilia for sale. For more information click here .

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Rhodes & The 'Worlds Best' Brownies?

Well it is 1:30pm in London (5:30am in Seattle). Despite being here two nights, I'm still completely jet lagged. I'm managing, though the Little Humble is not, so we've been staying close to home (Greenwich) and trying to adjust before conquering central London next week.

The trip from Seattle was pretty uneventful. Apart from me splitting my trousers while attempting to assemble a stroller in Heathrow, which as far as air travel disasters go, I'll take it.

I'm blaming shoddy construction of course, as the pants didn't split, they disintegrated. Splitting completely from front waistband to back. Essentially creating black trouser chaps. Naturally it has nothing to do with the size of my bottom. Nothing! Though, after today's--and possibly tomorrow's--bakery raid… it very well might become an issue.

You see, I heard that a bakery in Greenwich possessed 'the worlds best brownies' with such a claim and being walking distance from our temporary London home, I had to go check it out.

Paul Rhodes' bakery
Situated near the Thames and the Royal Naval College

The 'worlds best brownies' are sold at the Rhodes bakery, run by Paul Rhodes. I like this man, not because he has three Michelin stars to his name, but that his bakery serves up slices of princess cake the size of my daughters head. Rock on, Paul.

Some bakery photos:

Huge strawberry, chocolate and vanilla meringues!

A small portion of the pastry case... nom.

Sandwiches and savory pastries

Lovely breads

So I loaded up at Rhodes, selecting as much as I could carrying home:

• Two sausage rolls
• One sourdough boule
• Two world's best brownies
• One hefty slice of princess cake

The total cost? $20 (13£) which felt very reasonable, as I can pay upwards of $4 for a single bakery or coffee house brownie back in the States.

So Mr. Humble and I hiked back home with our loot and commenced with the eating.

First the sausage rolls, which had been beckoning me from the cooler cases at a couple grocery stores we toured today.


I've never had a British Sausage roll before, so this was supposed to be one of my foodie-tourist experiences. I have had the nearest U.S. equivalent, our '50s chic 'pigs in a blanket' which have nothing on these. The sausage rolls were delicious and substantial, consisting of flaky puff pastry wrapped around a mildly spiced sausage filling. Of course, the combination of buttery puff pastry with ground pork is the very essence of a cardiologist's nightmare. Nom.

Now usually I try to balance my dessert heavy diet with simple healthy food, but I'm on vacation, so bring on the fat-flagellation.

We followed our sausage rolls with the worlds best brownies:




I was a little concerned about these brownies being dry, as they didn't look terribly moist sitting there on the counter. However when I got them home I was happily surprised at the dense fudge-like texture. No, not fudgey, the ubiquitous descriptive term applied to almost all brownies. These were literally like fudge. The outside is a bit crisp, giving way with a delicate crackle to reveal the dense interior.

Mr. Humble and I agreed they were quite good. World's best though? I don't know… I would have liked a bolder chocolate flavor from them but I did adore the texture.

Next was the princess cake.

The Little Humble wants cake...

I love Swedish princess cake. Love it. It is my hands-down favorite cake. All that cream and marzipan, oh so good. In fact, it is the favorite cake of all the Humble women. It is a birthday staple for us and we don't like sharing. I remember as a kid, Mother Humble treating herself to this cake around her birthday and insisting that it was her cake and we--my three younger siblings and I--were to leave it alone.

Being wild, disobedient children, we never did.

This cake is a little different from the norm. For starters it is pink. Rather than containing a thin layer of jam, the cake had a layer of what I assume to be a diplomat cream flavored with strawberry. Also, the ratio of filling to cake is almost equal, where usually you see this cake loaded sky high with cream. In fact, that is what makes them so challenging to make, as layering marzipan over a high dome of creamy-goodness requires a bit of engineering.



It was so good. The sponge cake was so moist and despite loathing strawberries with every fiber of my being, the layer of flavored cream was delicious. Perhaps it's only flaw--and this is just my personal preference--is that it could of had a higher ratio of cream to cake.

I plan on trying to recreate a similar cake once I'm home for the blog. It must be done.

As for tomorrow... I might be popping into Rhodes' Bakery again. After all, I have three more pairs of pants to ruin.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Herbed Yorkshire Puddings

More holiday eats making their way onto the blog, this time a British import to our Northwest holiday meal: Herbed Yorkshire Puddings. The term "pudding" applied to something resembling a popover tends to confuse most Americans. However, I figure that the whole point of the British food naming scheme was to confuse and frighten foreigners. How else can one explain a 'toad in a hole' or 'spotted dick', right?

Anyway, this is one of the British imports I really love at the table. Another import is the traditional Christmas cracker, something that as a non-drinker I am probably never inebriated enough to enjoy properly. The type you pull, creating a large cloud of sulfur-tinged smoke in your dinning room. Yes, that kind of cracker.

In addition to lung damage, you get a prize, a bad joke and a paper/foil crown to wear throughout dinner. Mother Humble now has a large photo collection of me wearing theses silly crowns and I should probably make an effort to stay on her good side should she decide to blackmail me at a later date.

Let me simplify: Yorkshire puddings GOOD. Ms Humble photographed in silly paper crown BAD.

Good to have that settled, let's get to the puddings:

Herbed Yorkshire Puddings
From Epicurious.com
yield: Makes about 16
6 tablespoons reserved pan drippings from Roast Prime Rib or olive oil
3 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

Finely chop your herbs and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the milk and eggs together. Sift the flour and salt into egg mixture and mix until smooth. Once well blended, stir in the herbs and let the batter stand at room temperature at least 30 minutes (or refrigerate up to 3 hours). Mix once more right before using.

Preheat oven to 450°F. Place 16 standard (1/3 cup) metal muffin cups into the oven to oven heat for 10 minutes. Place 1 teaspoon drippings from your rib roast (or olive oil) in each muffin cup . Return pan to oven until drippings are very hot, about 8 minutes. If it smells a little smokey don't worry, that is normal.

Immediately spoon 2 generous tablespoonfuls batter atop hot drippings in each muffin cup. Bake until the puddings are golden and puffy, about 12 minutes (puddings will sink in center but edges will stay puffy). Serve hot.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad