IF I KNEW YOU WERE COMING.... » Maisie around town

Fancy a snog?

Maisie — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:00:31 +0000

I was having lunch with my friend Jim and my husband today. It was Jim’s birthday and so I gave him a box of my newly, freshly made ‘Chocolate Cake Truffles‘, he is a chocolate lover so I new that they would go down a treat. Walking through Soho, we stumbled across this new café! A brightly lit and very colourful shop selling frozen yogurt – ‘Snog’ is a truly healthy treat. They sell 3 different yoghurt flavours – plain, green tea and chocolate and best of all they contain no added refined sugar. The yogurt is sweetened with ‘agave nectar’ a natural plant extract with a high fructose level. Once you have decided on your flavour and your portion size you can choose toppings from the ‘toppings bar’ – fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts and seeds or for the not so saintly – cookies, chocolate brownies and chocolate chips! After eating chocolate truffles and wedding cake off-cuts all week, a healthy sweet treat was just what I fancied, so I bought a green tea with fresh fruit. Yum.

Visit their website here – http://www.ifancyasnog.com

La Maison des Roses

Maisie — Thu, 07 May 2009 06:00:43 +0000

Yesterday, I was driving to a friends house for tea and while on the way I discovered the most wonderful shop. ‘La Maison des Roses’ is a florist dedicated to the rose. Of course, I couldn’t help but stop. It really is the loveliest place! Roses are such beautiful flowers, there are over 100 species and they are the perfect decoration for cakes and wedding cakes. Even a simple single tiered tea time cake would benefit from a scattering of small roses or petals. I recently read that In Rome a wild rose would be placed on the door of a room where secret or confidential matters were discussed. The phrase Sub rosa, or “under the rose”, means to keep a secret — derived from this ancient Roman practice.

Visit the website here – http://www.maison-des-roses.com/

Tea and cakes at ‘Ladurée’

Maisie — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:00:55 +0000

My sister and my little niece came to visit today and she got very excited when I suggested that we all go for tea at ‘Ladurée’. Ladurée is a luxury tea salon originally based in Paris. They have outlets in Monaco, Switzerland, Tokyo and a London boutique at ‘Harrods’ in Knightsbridge. In the late 1800’s tearooms were a big success with ladies of the Parisian high society, who enjoyed the freedom of meeting and socialising at the tearooms rather than in their homes. Ladurée’s rise to fame came in 1930 when they had the original idea of the double-decker, sticking two macaroon shells together with a creamy ganache as filling, fifteen thousand of which are sold every day! I love this place so much. It’s like stepping into a fairy tale and a real treat to the taste buds. I had rose petal ice cream with lychees and Chantilly cream served in a silver bowl and a chocolate eclair! As I spooned some chocolate sauce from my niece’s dessert on to my ice cream dream the flavours inspired me to make a chocolate and rose petal cake. Recipe coming soon.

Oh the dilemma! My niece at Ladurée