How did our Royal Wedding menu compare to theirs? / C'était meilleur à Buckingham palace ou chez nous?!

Our Royal Wedding high tea :)

Our teatime on the day of the Royal Wedding was probably a bit more modest than the one staged at the Buckingham Palace reception.  Not having a team of professional caterers on-hand, everything was made by Emma (with the exception of the scones - thank you Tesco and home freezing!).

Ok, notre "teatime" spécial mariage royal était UN PEU plus modeste que celui de Buckingham Palace...mais j'ai tout fait moi même, excepté les scones (merci Tesco et le congélo!)

Much of it was prepared on the eve of the wedding to save time.  You might remember that I posted at the time that Emma was busy in the kitchen - well this is what she was preparing.

I am a very lucky man!

One funny coincidence...during the afternoon, the BBC read out part of the Royal menu and mentioned that they would be enjoying financier aux framboises (a soft almond cake with raspberries).  Guess who had made exactly the same thing for US!?!

J'avais prévu des sandwichs oeuf/mayo et rosbif/mayo/crème de raifort, des panna cotta au golden syrup, des mini crèmes brûlées au thé Earl Grey, des mini bread and butter pudding clémentine et Grand-Marnier, et des financiers aux framboises, finalement le truc le moins british de la bande....SAUF que il y en avait au VRAI menu du mariage, et je ne le savais même pas, je suis TROP FORTE!!!! ;-)

It goes without saying that we were dying to know what else was on the menu.  Emma soon found the official menu which she has kindly translated herself into French for our French-speaking readers.

Et rien que pour vous, les gens, vous trouverez plus bas, après les photos, le menu du mariage (essentiellement sous forme de canapés, environ 10 000.......) que j'ai traduit en ne bavant presque pas...

We've included it after the photos...

Bottom layer - egg mayonnaise sandwiches...

...and roast beef and horseradish sandwiches

Top layer - sweet stuff!  Coincidentally it includes exactly the same
type of raspberry cakes that the Royals had :)

Bread and butter pudding with clementine orange jam
and Grand Marnier

Mini crème brûlée perfumed with
Earl Grey tea

Pannacotta topped with Golden Syrup
and crumble

The newlywed Royals jealously eye up our high tea...maybe!

The Royal Wedding Reception Menu

* Cornish Crab Salad on Lemon Blini

Salade de crabe de Cornouailles sur blini au citron

* Pressed Duck Terrine with Fruit Chutney

Pressé de canard et chutney de fruits

* Roulade of Goats Cheese with Caramelised Walnuts

Roulade de fromage de chèvre et noix caramélisées

* Assortment of Palmiers and Cheese Straws

Assortiment de palmiers et flûtes au fromage (la classe!!!)

* Scottish Smoked Salmon Rose on Beetroot Blini

Saumon fumé d'Ecosse sur blini à la betterave rouge

* Miniature Watercress and Asparagus Tart

Mini tartelette au cresson et asperges

* Poached Asparagus spears with Hollandaise Sauce for Dipping

Pointes d'asperges pochées et sauce hollandaise (pour les y tremper, précise le menu, des fois que se demande quoi faire!)

* Quails Eggs with Celery Salt

Oeufs de caille et sel de céleri

* Scottish Langoustines with Lemon Mayonnaise

Langoustines d'Ecosse et mayonnaise au citron

#Pressed Confit of Pork Belly with Crayfish and Crackling

Pressé de poitine de porc confite avec écrevisses et.....couenne croustillante

* Wild Mushroom and Celeriac Chausson

Chausson aux champignons sauvage et céleri

* Bubble and Squeak with Confit Shoulder of Lamb

Légumes sautés caramélisés et confit d'épaule d'agneau

* Grain Mustard and honey-glazed Chipolatas

Chipolatas (ils font un barbecue ou quoi?!) glacées au miel et moutarde en grain

* Smoked Haddock Fishcake with Pea Guacamole

Palet de haddock fumé et guacamole de petits pois

* Miniature Yorkshire Pudding with Roast Fillet of Beef and Horseradish Mousse

Mini "Yorkshire pudding" (sorte de pâte à crêpe ou à clafouti salée soufflée, délicieux...) avec fillet de boeuf et mousse de raifort

* Gateau Opera

Euh.....Opéra?!

* Blood Orange Pate de Fruit

Pâte de fruit à l'orange sanguine

* Raspberry Financier (us too :-p)

Financiers aux framboises(Yeeeeeeeees!!!!!!!)

* Rhubarb Crème Brulee Tartlet

Tartelette Rhubarbe et crème brûlée

* Passion Fruit Praline

Praline au fruit de la passion

* White Chocolate Ganache Truffle

Truffe au chocolat blanc

* Milk Chocolate Praline with Nuts

Praline au chocolat au lait et noisettes

* Dark Chocolate Ganache Truffle

Truffe au chocolat noir

Bon App' les gens :)

Royal Wedding Fever! Jour J - 1 du mariage du siècle!!!!!!

Cor blimey guvnah, we couldn't let something like a Royal Wedding go by without making something in miniature to mark the occasion...especially as we're 50% British :)

C'est demain.....ZE mariage!!

On vient d'aller pavoiser la maison aux couleurs de l'Union Jack, eh oui, on va se gêner, tiens, c'est vrai quoi, on est moitié frog moitié rosbif ici, qu'on se le dise!!

So we made these:
D'où les miniatures de circonstance, collector et tout ;-)

A cup of Rosie Lee?

Some of  them will soon be available in our store - click here or on any of the images to find them.

So I'm off to hang up some Union Jack bunting and Emma's been as busy as a bee in the kitchen all afternoon preparing 'secret things' to eat tomorrow (I have no idea what but it smells divine!).

J'ai préparé quelques provisions de bouche pour ce jour spécial (surprises, chut!) et nous nous apprêtons à descendre des litres de thé en commentant les images tant attendues de ce mariage royal, c'est pas tous les matins, quand même!

We're looking forward to spending the whole day on the sofa tomorrow, watching the festivities while troughing down scones, crumpets and teacakes, drinking copious amounts of PG Tips (and running up and down the apples and pears to the bathroom afterwards!) and doing whatever else we can think of to bring us closer to the throngs of people lining the streets of good ole Landan Taaahn :)  I'm not ruling out the possibility of Miss Emma wearing her posh wedding hat!

Il y a deux choses auxquelles il m'est IMPOSSIBLE de résister dans un magasin Marks & Spencer's: les sandwichs (oooooh yes!), et les chapeaux.....

Alors merci, Kate et William de me donner l'occasion de porter enfin ma dernière acquisition chapelière, car si le couvre chef en question ne ferai pas tache dans la scène d'Ascot de "my fair Lady", je dois bien admettre qu'il est importable au supermarché du coin....merci donc, et tous nos vœux, mais on en reparlera demain :)

Et vous les gens, quelque chose de prévu pour demain? :)

How will you be spending the day?

Happy Easter!!

Have a lovely day! :)

Easter Baskets

I love Easter and it's not just because of the chocolate! :-p

The trees are covered in blossom as they prepare their summer clothes, the birds are singing like nobody's business, and despite that thing that I just said about the chocolate....there's chocolate everywhere!!!  A stroll down our local high street this morning revealed shop windows bulging with chocolate hens, eggs and rabbits of all shapes and sizes.  And not just the chocolate shops - the chemists, tea rooms and even a kitchen show room were getting in on the action!

Mix in a bit of sunshine and the promise of the first BBQ of the year this weekend, and you have the ingredients for the perfect start to Easter!

Anyway, here are some of the Easter baskets that we teased you with yesterday :)

Now on Etsy!

New Easter Miniatures! / Vous le sentez le chocolat?!

If Easter or Spring

Happens to be your thing,

Then these new mini treats,

Will make your heart sing!

Coming this weekend - click here

.....paraît que ça arrive de Rome, les trucs de Pâques, c'est pour ça que c'est long :) .......mais mi-Janvier, pour moi, c'était vraiment trop tôt ;-).....pour les voir de plus près, c'est ici, et bon week-end les gens :)