Another Baking Blog - Macarons with Jols!

When you’re life is stressing you out, I have found that baking helps. Creating something that you have complete control over makes a nice change to living constantly in the whirlwind of landlords, banks, bosses and other pains in the ass. 

So it’s Friday, the last day before the heaving weekend shifts in the bar and I decided to rope in a friend, trained pastry chef don’t you  know, and have a go at Macarons. Having been introduced to Macarons at Lauduree in Harrods by my boyfriend (also trained Chef) my heart was sold. Give me Salted Caramel, Orange Blossom, Rose or Violet macarons and my day is made – hell, my week is made. 

However because I’d practically forced Jols to make macarons with me, I  pretty much let her choose flavours. Eventually we went with dark chocolate and raspberry and then dark chocolate and coconut. The left over dark chocolate from someone’s birthday seemed to be a recurrent theme in our recipes.

With my head spinning in the differences between italian and french meringue, plus likes of The Meringue GirlsCookbook and all the fabulous flavours and colourings, I had done my research and I was raring to go.  

Unfortunately, we fell at the first hurdle. We’d run out of sugar. 

A (semi) quick trip to Sainsburies and a Starbucks coffee later – we’re back in the kitchen. First up were the macarons that were meant to be black. Black and red we thought, how decadent and daring. Our black turned out to be more grey-ish, but it still looked pretty good with the red sprinkles on top. 

Those grey-ish macarons became our fresh raspberry and dark chocolate macarons. 

Next up, we let little Max (Jols’ son) sprinkle on some decimated Coconut and we created our next masterpiece – toasted coconut and dark chocolate. 

Only then did we get to big for our boots and attempt lemon macarons. Sadly, after a small oven malfunction, our pretty pale lemon mixture turned into grilled cheese when someone (naming no names) put the grill on, rather than the oven.

So, no lemon macarons but plenty of raspberry, coconut and dark chocolate ones.

And some homemade marshmallow to boot - keeping the little one happy.

Overall, I think we did good and we had nothing but good reviews. 

Hopefully you guys think they look as good as they tasted.  

Birthday in Brighton: Mexican Street Food at La Choza.

Good evening and welcome back. It was my birthday recently so my boyfriend surprised me with a day-trip to Brighton. Let me tell you how amazing this Mexican place we found was... Warning: FOOD PORN.
 
La Choza; the best Mexican street food I’ve ever tasted. 

After wandering around the beautiful Lanes in the birthday-Brighton sunshine, my boyfriend and I were both starved and steering away from chain store food, we favoured something a little more independent, a little more unique; a little more Brighton.
Open until 10pm everyday, we found La Choza and it’s cute outside tables on Gloucester Street; a little way from the Lanes but definitely worth the walk. James immediately ordered a beer on recommendation from our waitress who turned out to be the business owner and eventually, in high spirits, I went with a Passion Fruit Slushie. If you can’t have a Slushie drink on your 21^st birthday, then when can you?

After scanning the menu, I knew what I wanted. A homemade chorizo and melted cheese quesadilla. As soon as I read it, I knew it was what I had been craving all day. James went with a more filling burrito with spicy pork and salsa.
Although I have been to Brighton before, this was the first trip that I truly got to walk around and take everything in; James favourite record shop opposite Snooper’s Paradise on the North Lanes, the amazing street art and graffiti on the sides of all the buildings, my favourite being this Alice In Wonderland inspired piece – 

La Choza was the perfect addition to the day in Brighton, the staff were friendly and happy – the decor was completely to my taste and full of beautiful Dia De Los Meurtos skulls and the walls were papered with colouring in sheets finished by child customers.
By the time our food came we were ravenous – not because it took a while, but because we were so hungry to start with! Arriving in American-diner style plastic baskets it really was street food to go. My quesadilla was completely homemade and you could tell – the chorizo meat was ground and spiced in a way that you just can’t buy in the shops. James made his way through his burrito slowly but surely; it was such good food he wanted to finish it, but so filling!

My point is, if you’re looking for a gorgeous little independent food venue in Brighton, be it birthday-Brighton or not, please go see the guys at La Choza. They’re so friendly and laid back – they deserve our custom! It was so nice to find a place that weren't in a hurry to get us out and get a new table in, or rushing us through the meal. The atmosphere here is so easy it melts any troubles away.

Sorry about the photo quality, I’m no photographer. Please check out the La Choza links below and see if you can pop in and taste that Slushie!

La Choza on Facebook
La Choza on Twitter
La Choza on Instagram
La Choza on their own, beautifully designed, website. (Seriously, how pretty is it?!)

Til next time, stay safe. 
BarGirl. ♥