novel34

  I do get sent the nicest things.   I am sure you get quite tired of reading about the latest things I have been sent to try sometimes, but I do try to make my posts more interesting by creating something tasty with whatever it is that I have been sent! The East India Company recently sent me a couple of their products, a pot of Strawberry and Pepper Jam and a jar of Chocolate Island Cane Sugar.   I had not heard of the East India Company before they contacted me but what I learned about them was very interesting indeed. Granted a Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth I in 1600, The East India Company was founded to explore the mysteries of the East. As The Company grew, it mapped trade routes through unchartered territory and changed social customs, tastes and ways of thought to influence the very fabric of our lives today. The Company’s pioneering spirit and sense of adventure created British India, founded Hong Kong and Singapore and introduced tea to Britain and India. T...

I love muffins.  I love them even more than cupcakes.   Cupcakes are nice, but they don't stay with you as long as a muffin does.  Muffins are heavier and when you eat one, you feel satisfied.  A muffin is a meal that feels and tastes like a real treat.    I saw a joke poster the other day that said that once you lick the frosting off a cupcake that turns it into a muffin . . . so that made it a healthy option.  I beg to differ on several fronts.  A cupcake can never be a muffin . . . muffins aren't cake.   And a muffin can't be a cupcake, not if it's a true muffin that is . . . they are two completely different animals.  Mind you . . . that is only my opinion. They also differ greatly when it comes down to mixing them up.   Cupcake batter is mixed like cake batter . . . you cream the fats and sugars together first until light and then you beat in the egg (s) . . . adding the dry and wet ingredient alternately and normally mi...