Custard Creams.

For my last birthday one of my gifts was a lovely little cookie recipe book, since then I have had great fun testing out the recipes. As you can imagine this goes down with very well with my sweet-toothed other half. Many of the recipes are home-made versions of shop bought classics. I love playing around with them, there is great satisfaction from home making custard creams and chocolate digestives! 

BiBi's.

I've been doing well on the eating out front recently. My "must visit" list has had two strikes.
I went for lunch to BiBi's, a very cute little cafe deep in Dublin 8. As far as I know it's run by two sisters, one half of the venture is a clothes shop the other this cafe. The food is lovely I had a thai-style butternut squash soup and shared a carrot cake for afters. The food was good but I think my favourite thing was  the crockery. It's beautiful hand thrown stoneware, even the water beakers are ceramic. I loved the style of the place, the cakes are displayed all higgle-de-pigglety on a counter top, the menu written up on a chalk board. The one thing I couldn't understand is the fact that the outside tables are very close to a line of wheelie bins. With such attention to other detail I found this amazing, I know I am anal about hygiene but in this case I would not be alone. I hope the bins find a new home soon.
Also on my radar was Murphy's Icecream parlour. I had the joy of having some of this icecream when I was down in Dingle a few years ago. They have come to Dublin, the shop is on Wicklow street. I cannot rate their ice cream highly enough. It was fantastic. I loved the flavours they have some really good unusual ones. Check out the burnt caramel, sea salt, brown bread and lots lots more. The staff are amazingly upbeat, offering samples of any of the flavours. I had to restrain myself consoling myself that I'll just have to have a return visit to sample more! 

Birthday Cake.

For my latest adventures in cake making I took on the challenge of creating a very special cake for a 40th birthday. I went through a few design ideas before coming up with my final plan. The problem with not having loads of experience is I have a idea in my head but it doesn't always come out the same when in food form. I had some glam ideas but then realised it might look too like a wedding cake if it was all white with sparkles. I hit on the idea of using macarons to bring some chi-chi glamour but with colour! I have to admit I was pretty pleased with the end result, and when it was lit up with sparklers it looked good. The celebration was in The Cobalt Cafe on North Great Georges St. I had never been there although I had heard of it as a venue for small gigs and art exhibitions. It is gorgeous, It has beautiful georgian rooms with high ceilings ornate plaster work and massive gilded mirrors. I will definately keep it on file for events in the future.