Black Forest Slice

I'm a sucker for Black Forest. Black Forest chocolate, black forest gateau, black forest anything. This got me thinking, what exactly is the Black Forest? Before researching I knew (or thought) that the Black Forest was a region in Germany, in Bavaria to be precise. From what I can gather, the Black Forest was called thus due to it being a huge area of uninhabited land with lots of tall trees which didn't let in much light; hence Black Forest. Next question, how does that translate into a cake type? Simply from the cake  Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte , a torte from the Black Forest region. Specifically, it is the cherry liqueur that gives the cake its name. In order for a Black Forest cake to be called as such, it must contain kirschwasser, a clear spirit made from sour cherries, (it's written into German law that this must happen - so says Wikipedia)

Cadbury Chocolate makes Black Forest chocolate which I love, but Cadbury's are bastards at the moment because they are shutting down the Cadbury's factory in Dunedin with the loss of 300-odd jobs. I digress.
A colleague from work made Black Forest fudge slice which was a sin on a plate. So I decided to make my own.

What you need:

• A packet of super wine biscuits - any sweet tea biscuit will do
• 1/2 can of sweetened condensed milk (bet you can't not dip your finger in it)
• 120 g unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
• One block of Black Forest chocolate - the biggest one.

What you do:

•  Crush up the biscuits - as fine or rough as you like. Set aside.
• Place the butter and condensed milk in a  saucepan and melt gently over a low heat.
• Stir in cocoa powder
• Add butter to biscuit and mix well.
• Turn biscuit mix out into a large slice tin covered with baking paper
• Melt chocolate however you like - microwave if you're lazy. over a double boiler if you're a purist. *
• Pour melted chocolate over biscuit mix, Refrigerate until set.

* if using a microwave, use low power and short bursts. Stir and go again. I used power level 5 for 20 seconds at a time, even then I smelled the biscuit part of the chocolate heating up.

Lemons = limoncello

What's not to like about lemons? Their vibrant colour and sharp taste are the perfect addition to anything and everything from a humble glass of water to a Middle-Eastern inspired dish.

Stock photo

My lemon tree has finally decided to grace me with fruit, and bloody good fruit it is too. Here's the downside; there was only 4 of them. Yes, 4 decent sized lemons was all that was deemed worthy this year. Lemons can be tricky to grow in our patch of Eden, we have a mild to hot summers and heavy frost in Winter which is not conducive to lemon growing. I never remember to fling a frost cloth over the lemon on frosty nights but it is happily ensconced in the greenhouse where hopefully it will flourish and become prolific.

I put the call out in the local community for some lemons as I wanted to have a crack at limoncello. Limoncello is  an Italian liqueur, traditionally hailing from the Amalfi Coast. Its supposed to made from St Teresa lemons (who knew there were such a thing) and grain alcohol - specifically vodka.

The idea is to peel the skin from the lemons without peeling off any of the white pith. The peel is then steeped in vodka from anywhere from 48 hours to a couple of months. You then make a sugar syrup and mix it together and serve chilled in cold glasses. What could be better?

Update: May 14 - my limoncello has been brewing for one week. It's very "vodka-ry" with a hint of lemon. I would like that to be reversed

Wash your lemons, these were straight from a tree so there was no wax on them but I am not sure if they had been sprayed or not.

Carefully peel the lemons, taking care to avoid getting any white pith - this makes the limoncello bitter

Pour at least a litre of good quality vodka (best you can afford) over the peel.Put
in a cool dark place and let it do its thing. I'm leaving mine for 4 weeks.

Jelly in the shower

Jelly in the shower? There I was browsing in LUSH some time ago, tempted by the smell that wafts out of the shop. I enjoy poking around inside, picking up the soaps and having a good sniff of all sorts of goodies on offer. Their philosophy is 'fresh handmade cosmetics' and I like that they don't test on animals or have any animal derivatives in their products. They  use Sodium Laurel Sulfate in their shampoos which surprised me, I thought they were chemical free and only used natural products. On their ingredients list they show natural products in green and 'safe synthetics' in black.  I guess that natural is a marketing term these days. Something to think about.

Anyway, there is more that I really like about LUSH so let's focus on that.

1. They don't test on animals. Big tick of approval there from me.
2. They have minimal packaging. Their pots can be recycled and if you bring back 5 you get a free face mask. Another tick for recyclable packaging.
3. Ethical buying - we like that

My favourite LUSH products at the moment are their shower jellies. These things are crazy, it really is like a slab of jelly in your shower. It lathers slightly, cleans your skin and its fun to use.

photo from lushusa.com

I'm using Needles and Pines presently and it's great. I LOVE the smell of a pine tree, it's Christmas, serenity and mindfulness all rolled into one. For me, the smell of pine trees evokes my childhood; I have memories of running around in pine forests, collecting cones and hearing the dead needles crunch under my feet.

 The jelly  refreshes your senses whether you use it to wind up in the morning or to wind down in the evening. It has grapefruit oil infused in it as well.

Photos are stock images