SATC 2: sorry, not quite stylish enough...

So, I've not posted for, like a week. It's been busy; three features, a birthday and travelling between two cities, on the go all at the same time. Among all that, last night I went to the press preview screening of Sex And The City 2 at the very nice Charlotte St Hotel in Soho. I assumed, wrongly, that while the rest of the movie is drivel, and the clothes awful, that there might have been some redemption in this Carrie-and-Big-Fifth-Avenue-apartment that was also talked up in the movie's hype.

Fifth avenue, blah. Too much big printed stuff, slightly gaudy, not much to say. Ditto the Abu Dhabi place they stayed in. If you do want to see the SATC stuff, head to Elle Decor. But if you want to get a real feel for New York style that isn't ditzy or faddy or designer simply for the sake of it, let me leave you with this: the Crosby Street Hotel, part of the very same Firmdale group that includes the Charlotte St hotel I went to. With a writing-research trip to NYC on the cards (watch this space), I'd love to experience some of this real New York style. Simple, clean, classic and crisp. Learn a thing or two from that, Carrie.

Big photo shoot for The Times tomorrow - the basis of a very tantalizing piece. So I'll be back soon - happy bank holidays.

Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup

Some of my regular readers may be forgiven for assuming that I don't actually eat anything other than cake, considering my last few posts and indeed published pieces have been on nothing but cake, but you'll be pleased to know that I do occasionally eat other stuff too.

Ever since her PR people sent me a copy of her new book, I've been dying to try out the very first recipe from Gizzi Erskine's Kitchen Magic - a recipe for Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup. I tried it out tonight and I have to say I'm smitten with this soup full of everything for supper: a spicy broth packed with chilli, shredded chicken, sweetcorn, tomatoes, onions and garlic, topped with avocado, coriander and crispy teared-up tortilla shreds. You essentially cook the chicken in stock, with softened fried onions, garlic, chilli, tomatoes and sweetcorn; let all the flavours swell, shred up the chicken, return it to the pan and top with the avocado and torn up tortillas.

Gizzi's book is such a delight (I have to say, the designaholic in me loves the circus font too) - and if you want to sample more of her recipes before you buy, you really must visit her website, here.
Simple with a twist, quick, easy, colourful - and tastes fabulously wholesome too.

Chocolate aubergine cake

... yes, that really does say chocolate aubergine cake. And, as you shall see from the picture below, it doesn't look as insane as it sounds.

I've spent the last few days researching for my next Times piece (which will be appearing soon in the Saturday Weekend section) on whether or not such a thing as a healthy, tasty cake exists.

I discovered Harry Eastwood's book, Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache, which is all about cakes on this premise and baked my way through several recipes for the piece. You'll discover what I, and my band of willing tasters, thought of them when the piece (complete with recipes) is published soon. But for now, even though the idea of aubergine cake sounds wrong, think of this: the entire, well-risen and firm chocolate cake you see there above contains absolutely no butter at all (or sugar, for that matter) - and that is intriguing if not delicious in itself.

Straw poll: baking with vegetables?

Can you help with a little research for a piece I'm working on?

Following on from my blog post on baking the natural way, I'm wondering if anyone has any really, truly bizarre but still scrumptious recipes using random vegetables that you'd never, ever think of putting in a cake. The oddest I have found so far has been aubergine in a chocolate cake - but any even more strange but still healthy and tasty? Please do let me know, along with your tips on how it tasted, how you incorporated it, or how to get family and friends to eat it (I'm assuming you just don't tell them what's in the cake)...

(Picture of vegetable knitted rattles, via All of the Fun of the Fair)

Thanks xx

For your coffee table: The Genius of Design

A few months ago, I wrote a piece for the Guardian on iconic classic furniture, pointing out that what we now see as normal, unexceptional pieces (a regular glossy white chair, a glass table) was, at its time, considered a "product of the age in which it was designed."

The Genius of Design, a new book by professor Penny Sparke, takes that concept and dissects it detail by detail, to accompany the new show of the same name on BBC 2 (the first part of which aired on Friday). Like the show, this isn't a book that's just full of pretty pictures - it's got an intelligent commentary that anyone who works in design or writes about it will find brilliant as a resource to explain, say, how 1980s consumerism, say changed the experience of what people sought for in design in their homes - even if sub-consciously. If I had this book when I was researching the Arts and Crafts movement for a gallery on the origins of Heals, I could have probably saved an awful lot of time by simply reading the first chapter.

Of particular relevance to lots of design bloggers is how Sparke focuses on esteemed female designers - pages on Coco Chanel, and Zaha Hadid; not gushing, but factual and analytical on the designs that changed and shaped what we do, wear and surround ourselves with today.

For those who just want the pictures though, it doesn't disappoint either - there's that fabulous black and white shot of Monroe clutching her Chanel No.5 bottle; the gorgeous Cecil Beaton photo for Vogue of ball-gowned, couture-draped models in a neo-classical ballroom.

I wouldn't recommend this for anyone who has just a passing interest in design or interiors; it will probably seem to you too much detail, not enough imagery. But if you write about it and need to know how it's developed and what has shaped our choices, then yes, this should be on your bookshelf.

The Genius of Design, published by Quadrille, £19.99

Baking the natural way

Another bank holiday, another family get-together, another baking frenzy - only this time I'm afraid it may have to be my last at least for the short-term, as all this baking is making us all turn into sponge cakes.

With this in mind, I've been spending time trying to find lower fat ways to bake, including using as little artificial additions as I can. I don't know about you, but much as I love flipping through my baking books, I'm always slightly aghast by the rainbow coloured icing made from bottles and bottles of e-numbered magic potions. My feature that appeared in the Metro this morning covered some of the natural alternatives for food colours, which I put to the test this weekend.

First up was a batch of white chocolate and raspberry cupcakes - made from Eat Me - went down a treat. A few things that are different about these; firstly, the white chocolate in the cupcakes isn't just in chips-form; instead, it's melted down, mixed with cream, and then layered into the middle of the cupcake. (Admittedly, this is not low fat. At all). Anyway, you remove some of the cupcake sponge (once baked of course) with an apple corer, then spoon in the creamy chocolate mix, and finally replace with the "lid" of sponge you've just removed. It means that when you bite through, you get the freshness of the berries and the moreish pin points of berry seeds mixed with a light vanilla sponge, and then in the centre you suddenly get a thick oozing of rich white chocolate. Use Green & Black's white chocolate for an added vanilla shot through the middle.

Secondly; the icing. This is the more natural bit. The buttercream icing was meant to be pink, so instead of cheating with a bottle of food colouring, I stewed down a healthy handful of raspberries with a tiny teaspoon of sugar and a little water until it became almost like a jam (almost; you still don't want it too thick), and added it, in three parts, to whipped-up butter and icing sugar. The colour was fantastic; the brightest pop of berry pink, while the bite of the berries through the icing sugar stopped it from being too sweet. We kept the left-over berry jam to smear on croissants the next day.

Second up was a batch of lime cupcakes. Except, they weren't really lime. Confession to any siblings who may be reading this: the flecks of green in the sponge weren't lime as I told you they were. They were courgettes. Could you taste the difference though?! Nope, thought not. To be fair, the icing was meant to be lime flavoured, but I skipped the icing as I wanted something less decadent. These were simple, light and low-fat (there's no butter, just a little vegetable oil instead to bind) and there's a vegetable in there to boot. They basically just tasted like light vanilla cupcakes - but with one of your five a day thrown in there for good measure too. Proof that you can have your slightly more calorie-less cake and eat it too!

I'm intrigued by these vegetable-cakes, particularly if it means you can have a healthier treat without compromising on the taste. I'm planning to try out a few from Red Velvet and Chocolate Heartache by Harry Eastwood (of the Cook Yourself Thin brigade) and shall let you know how I get on. Since these all incoporate vegetables in some form or the other, I figure they can do less harm on the waistline. Speaking of the CYT bunch, has anyone tried out Gizzi Erskine's new book, Gizzi's Kitchen Magic? It's on my wish list; would love to know what you make of it.