When I was sent these pictures recently of the Realepicurean reader Jane’s version of our Zebra Cake recipe, I couldn’t resist but to share them with you.  She baked it for her daughter Courtney’s 13th Birthday back in August (a belated Happy birthday, Courtney!), and it looks fantastic.

Our Zebra Cake

Unlike ours, which was served “bare” (that is, without any icing), Jane has shown she has some real talent in the kitchen by fashioning hers into a handbag (below).  Style is honestly lost on me (I’m a man, it stands to reason), but that just looks great, doesn’t it?

Jane's Zebra Cake, in the making.

Jane's Zebra Cake (2)

The challenge is on.  Can you do an even better job of baking a Zebra Cake than Jane did?

Remember the old nursery rhyme “Little Miss Muffet” (she sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey)?  Well when I was younger I didn’t even know what curds or whey were.  Come to think of it, I always thought that “curdled” referred to milk that had somehow gone bad (kind of right).  How messed up is that?

Curd Cheese

Lets start with the basics, shall we?  To be honest the basics of cheese making are all I know, although I have more than a passing interest in  trying my hand at some more complicated home-made cheeses, if I ever find the time…

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I must have been half asleep when I took the beetroot out of the water in which it had been simmering and cut into it.  Despite them having an orangey tint to the outer skin I still didn’t realise and fully expected to see purple flesh inside; imagine my surprise when they turned out to be bright yellow instead!

Golden Beetroot Carpaccio

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The Tomato Book

I received my copy of “The Tomato Book” a few weeks ago now, in the midst of my tomato growing frenzy.  Despite only having 4 plants growing in my conservatory, I’ve become a bit of an obsessive and am already planning world tomato domination for next year.

You’ve already seen evidence of my tomato obsession this year through my recipes; “Pappa al Pomodoro“, “How to Make Sun-Dried Tomatoes“, and “Wild Tomato Salad“.  For the last one, change “Wild” to “Heirloom” – a bit of an example of my lack of experience helpfully pointed out by my friends on Facebook.

So, I’m a beginner in every sense of the word.  I’ve learned about pinching out sideshoots and such-like from the internet but didn’t know what to do when my leaves started going brown around the edges. Luckily, The Tomato Book features easy to follow “What’s wrong with my leaves?” and “What’s wrong with my tomatoes?” fault finding charts.

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Life’s been strange this year, with hardly enough time to foodblog.  Much of the blame lies with Mia; the rest with my own laziness.  Despite this, I couldn’t resist sharing this delicious salad with you all, prompted by the “wild tomatoes” that arrived in my vegetable box this past week.  The colours are fantastic and I’ve already decided I just have to grow them next year.

Wild Tomato Salad

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This is something of a new experience for me; multi-coloured carrots.  I was impressed to find purple ones in my vegetable box last week (the flesh was disappointingly orange – unlike these, but they looked fantastic when grated into a salad), and these white ones were a great surprise, too.

No, they're not parsnips.

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Ready for the oven...

I’ve been going tomato crazy this year, boring the hell out of everyone at work with almost daily updates on how my batch of home grown ones are doing.  My modest 4 plants are in the conservatory and have been providing me with a reasonable, if not plentiful harvest.  My recent idea to fill pretty much all of the floor space with plants next year was met with instant disapproval from Gosia; needless to say I agreed with her opinion (like any good husband), but will go ahead and do it anyway.

Sun drying is just one technique you can use to preserve tomatoes should you be lucky enough to have a glut of them this year.  Even better, you don’t need the sun to do it – great for those of us living in England, where this summer is turning out to be yet another wash out.

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