Happy L Day

There's nothing that signifies winter more to me than making a roast dinner on a cold day in November. After all, despite my adoration for roast dinners, I never feel like making them on warm or hot days - which in LA is most of the year (I can hear the little violin playing right now).

Roast dinners remind me of home and make me feel incredibly nostalgic. Plus, growing up in Blighty, I'm the quintessential meat-and-potatoes girl. So what better excuse to make a good roast than on the American holiday, Thanksgiving? We don't have Thanksgiving in the UK, but I think it's a worthy holiday. We sometimes don't make enough time for the ones who mean the most to us. The older I get the more I appreciate my family, and Thanksgiving is the perfect opportunity to spend time with the ones you love, especially if they live hundreds of miles away like mine.

That being said, my mum went to Norwich, England this Thanksgiving to visit my sister and little niece, so I decided to stay in LA and spend the holiday with my man, Monsieur Baker. We're not huge turkey fans so I opted out of making the traditional American roast turkey in exchange for a traditional English roast lamb instead. So without further ado, this is is my step-by-step guide to making an English Roast Lamb Dinner for Two. Bon appetit!


Step 1: Grab a couple of bulbs of garlic and peel. Don't be alarmed by the vast number of cloves. They will be roasted for so long that you won't be scaring any vampires away, I promise. 

Step 2: Make small incisions in the lamb and push the cloves of garlic inside the slits. Touching raw meat makes me feel a little queasy, so I try I do this step as quickly as possible. Season the lamb with freshly-ground pepper...

....and sea salt...

Step 3: Wash some fresh, organic rosemary. I try to use organic products as much as possible. It's better for you and you can really taste the difference.

Step 4: Sprinkle the rosemary all over the lamb. Now it is ready to be chilled in the fridge for anywhere from 2 to 12 hours. The longer the lamb is marinating the more fragrant it will be when cooked.

Step 5: I'm not only a huge roast potato fan but a serious lover of potatoes in general. Mashed, fried, scalloped, stuffed, hashed...you name it, I'll devour it. My favourite potatoes are King Edwards which are typically only found in the UK...they are buttery, floury and fluffy in texture. Since I don't have King Edwards, I'm going to use some good old Russet potatoes. Peel...

..and then chop into same-sized chunks

Step 6: Place cut potatoes into a saucepan of water to prevent them from turning brown due to oxidation

Step 7: Grab the milk, flour and eggs from the fridge

Step 8: Crack 4 eggs into a measuring jug and notate the measurement of the eggs. If you don't have a measuring jug, use a bowl but find some way of making a note of the measurement. I used a tiny piece of wet paper towel (pictured in Step 11).

Step 9: Pour the eggs into a large bowl. Using the same measuring jug/bowl that you measured the eggs in, pour milk up to the same line. 

Step 10: Pour the milk into the same large bowl as the eggs (I improvised and used a large saucepan) and whisk. Let it sit for 10 minutes. 

Step 11: Using the same measuring jug/bowl that you used earlier for the eggs and milk, pour flour up to the same line as the eggs and milk 

Step 12: Sieve the flour into the egg/milk mix and whisk until a smooth consistency is reached. Add a pinch of salt. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to 2 hours. 

Step 13: Take the marinated lamb out of the fridge and place on a roasting pan with a rack

...and wrap with foil...

Step 14: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and find a handsome Englishman to place the heavy roasting pan into the oven. If you don't have a handsome Englishman, a handsome American man will work as well ;)

Step 15: I wanted to make a chocolate cake from scratch, but after doing some extensive research online, I wasn't convinced that I had found the best recipe out there. If you're going to make a chocolate cake from scratch, you need to do it right. It needs to be rich, moist, gooey and super chocolately. In the end Monsieur Baker chose the chocolatiest brownie mix he could find and a pint of Ben and Jerry's "Everything But The..." made with chocolate and vanilla icecream, Heath bar chunks, white chocolate chunks, peanut butter cups and chocolate-covered almonds to name a few of the naughty ingredients. The icecream was not pictured due to its extreme naughtiness.

Step 16:  Convince the handsome Englishman (or alternatively, American) from Step 14 to make the brownies while you tend to the roast. Start by whisking 1 egg, water and vegetable oil in a bowl...

...add the brownie mix...

...and whisk it all together. Licking the bowl is optional...

Step 17: Wash and trim the asparagus and green beans

Step 18: Now that the lamb has been roasting for 30 minutes, take off the foil and place back into the oven. Par-boil the potatoes (this means to "partly-cook" them). 

Step 19: Drain the potatoes and "chuff" (shake) the potatoes to rough them up a bit. This will ensure they're extra-crispy on the outside when you roast them. 

Step 20: Place the potatoes on a baking pan and season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven, switching the lamb to the second tier and the potatoes to the top tier. 

Step 21: Set the table. Note the extra plate for the Yorkshire puddings, as they will take up too much space on your plate!

A funny story about the wine pictured below. I was on the way to my friend Juve's birthday party last week. I stopped off at the store and grabbed four bottles of Pinot Evil - two to take to the party and two to take home. To my horror when I got to the party I realised that the wine had screw caps! "Oh how tacky!" I exclaimed to Monsieur Baker. I toyed with the idea of snatching back my wine from Juve's countertop and shoving them into my bag but Monsieur Baker, ever the voice of reason, told me not to be so ridiculous. 

I later found out some interesting facts about screw caps. As it turns out, wine companies are slowly switching to screw caps as they do a much better job at eliminating oxidation and also avoiding the problem of the musty odour sometimes caused by corks. Also, corks are made of 9-year-old cork trees that are now becoming scarce. 

So. The next time you turn your nose up at screw caps and only associate them with cheap wines, tell yourself to stop being such a snob. Although I have to say, there is something quite romantic about opening a corked wine rather than a screw-capped one, but it appears that screw caps are the way of the future. Plus you can give yourself a pat of the back that you've saved a couple of cork trees. So there. 

But enough of my ranting. A must-have for any roast lamb dinner is MINT SAUCE. Make sure it's mint sauce and not mint jelly - which is like mint sauce's evil step-sister. This particular mint sauce comes all the way from London. I hand-carried it myself! You can also find mint sauce at more specialty, gourmet grocery stores like Bristol Farms or Whole Foods.

Step 22: Place trimmed green beans in steamer and season with salt and pepper. I used a microwavable steamer that my mum bought me last Christmas. Put a little water in the tray underneath, pop it in the microwave for 5 minutes and voila - easy, steamed green beans

Step 23: Lamb should take 90-120 minutes to cook, depending on the size. Take the lamb out of the oven and let it rest. Your humble abode should be smelling pretty bloody heavenly right about now...

Step 24: With 25 minutes left til the potatoes are done, move the potatoes down to the second tier and turn up the oven to 450 degrees. Get a muffin pan and place a teaspoon of vegetable oil in each cup. Place the pan in the oven so the oil gets really hot. Pour the Yorkshire pudding mix into each cup. 

Step 25: Grab a seat and obsessively watch the Yorkshire puds rise...

...and rise...

Step 26: Use the juices collected from the roast lamb and make a gravy with another British must-have: Bisto gravy granules. This shit is gooood. Yes, I said shit. I also hand-carried this from London but you can pick it up at Cost Plus World Market or Fresh and Easy. 

Step 27: Season and steam the asparagus for 7 minutes

Step 28: Once the Yorkshire puds are big, fluffy and golden brown (approximately 20 minutes), take take them out of the oven and plate them

Step 29: Ask the handsome Englishman to carve the lamb and plate the food 

Step 30: Dinner is served! Well done, Monsieur Baker, although the visual person in me would not have laid out the asparagus quite so haphazardly! Ah well...

Step 31: Started digging into the brownies and then realized I hadn't taken a picture...oops...Verdict on the brownies? A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! The most decadent brownies I've ever had. 

Silver Threads and Golden Needles

I was a late bloomer when it came to hair, makeup, fashion and all that girly stuff. My sister, who was three years older, was so good about saving up her pocket money and buying amazing, key items for the season. I, on the other hand, would blow all my pocket money on sweets, chocolates and music and have nothing to show for all my hard work (I was on dish-washing duty at home, as well as car-washing duty). Act first, think later; that was me.

Vintage-inspired Lace Shift Dress: Forever 21, Black Opaque Tights: Forever 21, Mixed Metals Necklace, Rings and Bracelet: Silver Lake Arts & Crafts Fair & Forever 21, Glasses: Tom Ford @ Optometrix

Quite ironic, really, that I ended up in the fashion industry. I still don't really invest much time on my hair or makeup. My daily makeup routine consists of a bit of Clarins tinted moisturiser, a lick of L'Oreal liquid eyeliner, Benefit rose-tint for my cheeks, and my signature MAC red or pink lipstick. Sometimes I switch the lipstick for lipgloss. I usually let my hair air dry and run out the front door. Occasionally, if I'm feeling extra eager, I'll run a curling iron through my hair.

But clothes, shoes and accessories? FORGET ABOUT IT! I'm hooked. As I get older I'm a lot less impulsive, and my pieces are more versatile and not so much trend-driven. Although I keep abreast of fashion trends, I love putting my own spin on things and I never try to force things that don't look good on me or suit my body type.

I draw my inspirations from past and present artists, musicians, designers and people off the street. I love the thrill of the hunt, the feeling you get when you walk into a thrift or vintage store and have no idea if today is going to be your lucky day.

              
To me, Forever 21 is the thrift store of the mall. With new shipments arriving every day, you can pick up an entire outfit for as little as $60. If you have an eye for fashion, you can score with amazing designer-inspired pieces for a fraction of the price and mix it up with your vintage or designer finds.

Suedette Fringe Booties: Forever 21

Forever 21 is far from a secret. But most people feel overwhelmed by the abundance of merchandise on every fixture and wall. My tip for shopping at Forever 21 is to go at the beginning of the day. It gets thrashed throughout the day by crazy shopping fiends. It's the Topshop of the United States, and with new stores opening in Birmingham and Dublin this weekend, Forever 21 is about to take over the retail world with its killer fashion, jaw-dropping prices, and fun and inspiring window displays and merchandising (*patting myself on the back*).