Happy Halloween!

A Whole New World of Food Shopping

Working close to London’s Oxford Street is a double-edged sword. It’s a shopper’s paradise, there’s no doubt about that, you can find just about anything here, and there’s always Regent Street just around the corner for anything you can’t find. I’ve spent many a lunchtime browsing (and buying). Of course the downside to this is the money spent, usually on things I wouldn’t otherwise have bought had I not been lured by the shops on my break. The other problem I find is how busy Oxford Street gets, more and more so in the months leading up to Christmas. I find this particular frustrating when I leave the office, tired and anxious to get home. Battling with the crowds is the last thing I want to be doing.

But overall this famous street is good to know. It’s bustling with London life and character and, despite how busy it gets, it does have a certain magic about it at Christmas time. And in recent weeks something else has made me very happy to be working nearby – ladies and gentlemen I give you the new Waitrose food hall at John Lewis.

Described as ‘an emporium for food lovers, bursting with seasonally-sourced and speciality foods’, let me tell you this is a gastronomic heaven. Well, as much as it can be under the umbrella of a supermarket. I was very impressed by the array of fresh meat, fish and vegetables and I was particularly pleased to see such a high percentage of free-range or organic meat, along with a rather fantastic selection of game – yes my friends, game, in a supermarket. Let me see, off the top of my head, I recall partridge, pigeon, quail, venison, select cuts of mixed game for casseroles, and I know there was more but I just couldn’t take it all in.

The hall boasts a fabulous cheese room filled with over 100 fine cheeses and offers daily cheese sampling and a gift box service which allows you to put together your own cheese board, with portions cut to order and wrapped in parchment. And as if this wasn’t enough there is also a bakery and a patisserie. What's more, there are 20, count them, 20 tills with a post office style queuing system and a member of staff directing customers to the next available till. At first glance the queue looks horrendous but it moves so quickly you hardly notice it. John Lewis are certainly giving Selfridges, home to another fabulous food hall in the vicinity, a run for their money. The food hall is well worth a visit if you happen to be in the area.

I thought I’d pop in today to pick up some lunch and something up for dinner, but the problem I had is what on earth to buy when faced with such a choice? I was literally wandering around wide-eyed and completely unable to decide. After a phone call to Rob for inspiration, I picked up some Welsh organic minced lamb, some rocket and four rustic rolls, for home made burgers for dinner. I followed my burger recipe, adding a crushed garlic cloves and a pinch of dried chilli flakes, crushed down. Fantastic!

Halloween Biscuits

When I was a little girl my Mum made Halloween so much fun. We had very little money so things were tight and we had to make do with what we had. But in actual fact I think we had much more fun because of that. It’s easy to go out and buy or hire a Halloween costume, but to put one together from nothing at home is so much more exciting. Mum used to dress my sister and me up as witches, making dresses from black plastic dustbin sacks which she painted with gold and silver stars. We had matching tall witches hats made from cardboard and more black sacks. Then she’d paint our faces with make-up and off we’d go to join the other children in terrorising the neighbourhood. Everyone said we were the best dressed witches in town!

Then there would be the pumpkin carving, apple bobbin and the biscuit making we so looked forward to. Mum would make a huge pile of biscuits to give to the trick and treat-ers and of course we got some too. She’d make up little pots of coloured icing and paint the biscuits with moons, pumpkins, ghosts and witches. We’d help too and our messy creations would be added to the pile.

The whole thing brings back so many delightful memories and puts a smile on my face, so it’s in honour of my Mum that I’ve recreated those Halloween biscuits. Thanks for making it all so magical Mum, you’re still the best Mum in the world. xxx

Halloween Biscuits

Ingredients
100g unsalted butter, softened
100g caster sugar
1 large egg
250g plain flour
A few drops of vanilla extract
150g icing sugar
Food colourings

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

2. Beat in the vanilla extract.

3. Beat the egg and gradually add it to the butter and sugar.

4. Mix in the flour then bring everything together with your hands to form a dough.

5. The dough can be used straight away but is best after at least half an hour chilling in the fridge. It will be fairly sticky so you'll need to roll it out on a floured surface and sprinkle over more flour as needed. Roll the dough out until it’s about 1/2 cm thick.

6. Cut out discs using a biscuit cutter

7. Bake the biscuits at 180C for about 10 minutes, but do keep an eye on them, they may need a few minutes less or longer. They should be very lightly golden when cooked.

8. Put the biscuits onto a wire rack to cool.

8. To make the icing mix sifted icing sugar with a few tablespoons of hot water to make a thick paste. You can add more icing sugar to make it thicker, or thin it out with more hot water.

9. Divide the icing into separate bowls and mix in drops of food colouring.

10. Have fun decorating!

Makes about 20-25

Come and join me on Facebook!

I'd love for you to come and see me over on Facebook. Search for my email address asliceofcherrypie AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk and add me as a friend!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.


P.S. Sorry for the strange way I've written the email address, I've been told this helps to prevent 'spamming' engines from finding it. Anything to reduce spam is good in my book!

P.P.S. There's still time to enter 'In the Bag' this month and I'm extending the deadline by a couple of days so you have the weekend to get cooking!