Do See Eat

DO read The Handmaid's Tale by the amazing Margret Atwood. A dystopian novel of a late 20th century Northern America which has become the Republic of Geilead; where women are subjected and their right to their bodies is removed. A novel I found myself completely obsessed with and unable to put down.

I know I've mentioned it before, but seriously DO go to the rain room at the Barbican by Random International before it ends on March 3rd. Going at the beginning of the Christmas holidays, we queued for about an hour and a half, but it felt well worth it! Sit in the queue with a cup of coffee and your be pleased you sticked it out in the end. (Here are some of my own photos from the room and a very very short video which may give you a small glimpse to the impact of the litres of rain falling down on you.)

SEE Matthew Bourne's latest sensation Sleeping Beauty at Sadler's Wells. With the original music by Tchaikovsky, contemporary choreography from Matthew Bourne and stunning fairytale costumes and set you can't not see it. Your find yourself breath taken in a completely different world with vampires, fairies and the like. Although sold out (but with the possibility of buying returns on the day) fear not because it's going on tour! and will be on in the New Wimbledon Theatre in April. 

My other recommendation to SEE is My Mad Fat Diary on E4. Based on Rae Earls own Mad Fat Teenage Diary, this programme touches spectacularly well on metal health and teenage life with much sensitivity yet great humour (something which seems rarely well done). A great watch.

EAT this delicious, moorish chocolate, raspberry brownies! I baked them this evening and I'm struggling to resist eating another. I got the recipe from BBC goodfood. 

• Ingredients                              
• 200g dark chocolate , broken into chunks
• 100g milk chocolate , broken into chunks
• 250g pack salted butter
• 400g soft light brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 140g plain flour
• 50g cocoa powder
• 200g raspberries  
• 
  
• Method
• 1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line a 20 x 30cm baking tray tin with baking parchment. Put the chocolate, butter and sugar in a pan and gently melt, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat.
  2. Stir the eggs, one by one, into the melted chocolate mixture. Sieve over the flour and cocoa, and stir in. Stir in half the raspberries, scrape into the tray, then scatter over the remaining raspberries. Bake on the middle shelf for 30 mins or, if you prefer a firmer texture, for 5 mins more. Cool before slicing into squares. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Do See Eat

(Image from the Guardian)

DO pay a visit to the Barbican to experience the rain instillation there by Random International. An experience quite like no other, where you control the rain. Queues have been extraordinarily long (about 2 hours), but now that half term is over I suggest going mid week if you can. It's on until the 3rd of March so you have plenty of time.

However if you don't fancy standing in line for hours then DO go to the Tate Britain to the Pre-Raphalite Victorian avant garde exhibition. Generally not a fan of their realistic style, I was presently surprised by the exhibition this afternoon. I learnt lots about a period and the brotherhood I hardly new anything about and found myself excited as I linked writers I loved such as Wilkie Collins (author of one of my favourite novels Woman in White) to his artist brother Charles Collins, and Christina Rossetti (author of the Goblin market) to her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Visiting with my Granddad, an extra joy was found in locating all the paintings painted or inspired by the village of Ewell, my granddads home as well as the home of Millais's uncle.

Sir John Everett Millais, Bt
Ophelia 1851-2
The background painted on the banks of the Hogsmill

SEE Billie Piper at the National Theatre in her latest stage debut The Effect, a new play by Lucy Prebble (Secret Dairy of a Call Girl, ENRON) Previews begin tomorrow evening and with my tickets booked for Wednesday night I'm excited to see if her stage performance can match her success in Reasons to be Pretty at the Almedia. Running until February 2013.

 
EAT these amazing Chocolate Fondants and indulge! I baked these for the first time (but not the last) about two years ago, and these are photos from that batch (which I won't lie I was pretty proud of for a first attempt at fondants ever).

The recipe is one from Gordon Ramsay which I adjusted slightly and is pretty simple to follow. The recipe makes 9 (but I halved it to just make 4 this first time).

Ingredients:                                   

• 50g melted butter , for brushing
• cocoa powder , for dusting
• 200g good-quality dark chocolate , chopped into small pieces
• 200g butter , in small pieces
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 4 eggs and 4 yolks
• 200g plain flour

1. First get your ramekins ready. Heavily brush the melted butter all over the inside of the pudding mould. Place the mould in the fridge or freezer. Brush more melted butter over the chilled butter, then add a good spoonful of cocoa powder into the mould. Tip the mould so the powder completely coats the butter. Tap any excess cocoa back into the jar, then repeat with the rest of the ramekins. 
2. Place a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, then slowly melt the chocolate and butter together. Remove bowl from the heat and stir until smooth. Leave to cool for about 10 mins.
3. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and yolks together with the sugar until thick and pale and the whisk leaves a trail; use an electric whisk if you want. Sift the flour into the eggs, then beat together.
4. Pour the melted chocolate into the egg mixture in thirds, beating well between each addition, until all the chocolate is added and the mixture is completely combined to a loose cake batter.
5. Divide the fondant mixture between the moulds. The fondants can now be frozen for up to a month and cooked from frozen. Chill for at least 20 mins or up to the night before. To bake from frozen, simply carry on as stated, adding 5 mins more to the cooking time.
6. Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Place the fondants on a baking tray, then cook for 10-12 mins until the tops have formed a crust and they are starting to come away from the sides of their moulds. Remove from the oven, then leave to sit for 1 min before turning out.
7. Loosen the fondants by moving the tops very gently so they come away from the sides, easing them out of the moulds and plate up.