Kathryn Warwick

Well I’m sitting writing this at the computer in the spare room. I guess that is some progress - I can now get into the room. There was always going to be some problems sorting out this room entirely. I’m storing some of my sister stuff in it until she buys her house. I only ever wanted to make sure that the room functioned as a place for people to stay over, for me to be able to use a desktop computer (or a laptop at a desk), and to be able to use my sewing machine.

The fact that I’m writing this post at the desk means I’ll call this project a success! There is still some sorting out of household papers to do but the desk is clear and I can see (most of) the floor.

Let the creativity begin! (Hopefully.)

Better get started…

I haven’t done anything creative in ages.

Project az is my way of making sure I stick at it. For a year. Starting today.

The list isn’t finished yet, I’d love to hear your suggestions on what I could fill the missing weeks with… (I’ll just add to this list so it will eventually be filled so you better get in quick.)

Once a month the project has to be free or almost free, and I’m trying to get in a few projects I have never done before.  I also may change some of the projects or the order they are they are on list. Hey, it’s my list, I can do that if I want!

I’ve now marked over 300 comments as spam on this blog.

I’m either doing something very wrong or very right.

As I’ve had not one real comment, I’m going with the former.

• 100g of dark (at least 70%) chocolate
• 150g butter
• 300g of caster sugar (golden if you are going out specifically to buy it)
• 4 medium eggs (if you have large use 3 plus one yolk)
• 150g of self raising flour
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp of vanilla essence (optional)
• 100g of nuts, pecans or walnuts are best (optional)

Get out whatever tray you are baking the brownies in. A small deep roasting tin, or a square cake tin both work fine. If you have a dedicated tray bake tin use that you lucky person!
Line it with a bit of butter and greaseproof paper, I know it’s tedious but it it will be worth it later. Switch your oven on, somewhere in between 140 and 180 degrees centigrade. I’d love to give you a more accurate temperature than that but I really can’t, the numbers have been cleaned off my oven round the dial…

melt the butter and cholocalte in a pan over a low heat
take the pan off the heat and stir in the sugar until it is less grainy
beat in the eggs one at a time
stir in the flour and salt
add the optional ingredients if you are using them

Stick the mix in your prepared tin and chuck it in the middle shelf of your oven.
It’ll take around 20 to 40 minutes depending on the size of your tin and your oven. You know both better than me so just use your judgement. It is done when they have risen away from the edges of the tin, and a cocktail stick (or a fork) comes out clean when you poke it in the middle.
Leave to cool and cut into squares. If you like.
Tip: if you have under cooked them a bit and are a bit too squidgy, put them in the fridge, they’ll firm up a bit and they’ll still taste great in any case.

Change to policy direction for the Big Lottery FundYesterday saw the first meeting of The Arts & Business Culture Forum. The forum was set up jointly by Arts & Business and the National Campaign for the Arts in response to the new Government’s call to national debate about culture. The forum is made up of 26 representatives of the arts, who were nominated and voted on to the panel.

It seems relevant that this first meeting took place amidst the week that saw the announcements that arts and culture quangos are to be abolished or merged. It still remains to be seen if they are being cut purely as a cost cutting measure or if the Government really believes that they are no longer necessary.

Judging by the reactions of many it seems that getting rid of the UK Film Council and the MLA (Museums Libraries and Archives Council) is a bad move, but isn’t this what everyone asked for? These aren’t “front line” arts-producing organisations being cut. I’m not sure how much of an effect the half a percent cut passed on to regularity funded organisations from the Art Council had on arts producers earlier this year but I’m sure it could have been a lot worse.

Money is still being spent on the arts. Southampton has been give 7.2 million by the Arts Council for a new art complex and it’s estimated that it will create 300 direct jobs.

It remains to been seen what will happen on 20 October, everyone should be prepared for further cuts, but if the Government are willing to talk about cuts as part of their Big Conversation, it seems sensible that we speak up about what we don’t want to see cut. We already know how “cheap” the arts are but no one has really mentioned how many people are turning to the arts as an escape from the dreary situation of recession that most of us have found ourselves in at some point over the last 2 years. Perhaps that’s the real value for money.

I think the government will listen. The Arts Council has been cut but it’s not gone, and the arts have their share of the lottery back. The people shape the culture of a country, not the government. If Catalonia can ban bullfighting something that is deeply rooted into the culture of Spain, then we can shape the future of the arts in Britain in any way we choose.

• You can follow the arts funding debate on a specially set up community website and on twitter using the hash tag #artsfunding.
• You can also follow the outcome of the Arts & Business Culture Forum meetings on twitter using the hash tag #cultureforum.
• The Culture Media and Sport Committee has launched a new inquiry. Get your thoughts to them by the 2 September. What impact do you think the cuts will have?
• Change to policy direction for the Big Lottery Fund.
• And don’t forget you can write to your MP, find yours on the dedicated government website.

Spring is here, and I am begrudgingly admitting that the sunshine today is cheering me up. I’ve got washing on the line and my sweet peas are shooting away nicely. I always think I prefer the winter until spring arrives properly. Would I prefer to be wrapped up in two jumpers, under a duvet with a good film on the telly and a cup of hot chocolate? Yes. But not today.

My Grandma is 79 today and I know she will be enjoying this lovely day.

I discovered this recipe in one of those magazines that comes with a Sunday newspaper in 2006. (If I’m going to admit to it, it was You that comes free with The Mail on Sunday, I hasten to add that I did not purchase said paper, but I usually do scour any supplements lying round the house for recipes.)

A total no-brainer - maple syrup and cheesecake; what’s not to love? Well Nigella Lawson apparently as this is adapted from one of her recipes. I’m quite fond of the voluptuous chef but I know there are quite a few that don’t like her sexy-food-ways on the television.

When I moved out a while later, I thought I took the ragged, ripped out pages with me inside one of my cookery books, but when I came to look for it to make the cheesecale, I had misplaced it.

I checked through my copies Nigella’s books and through the ones I didn’t have at my boyfriend’s mam’s house but I couldn’t find the same recipe. I could remember most of the ingredients, but not the quantities. (Turns out this recipe is in Nigella’s Christmas if you are after an un-bastardised version.)

On my next phone call home to the parents, I asked my mam if she knew where the loose pages were. She had seen that I had pulled them out to take with me and thoughtfully put the pages inside another cookery book. That wasn’t mine. That was hers. And therefore still in her kitchen.

Anyway, she read me the ingredients and quantities over the phone and as I was writing them down I changed them a bit. So this is my resulting recipe based on Nigella Lawson’s Gleaming Maple cheesecake:

• 100g of unsalted butter
• 12 Digestive biscuits
• 600g of cream cheese (I’d recommend you use full-fat)
• 125ml of maple syrup (it’s usually half a jar if you don’t want to dirty a measuring jug)
• 50g of caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons of cornflour
• 4 eggs
• Half a teaspoon of cider vinegar (you can use lemon juice as directed by the original recipe but I think the taste is a little distracting)
• 20-22cm spring-form cake tin
• A roasting tray big enough to get the cake tin in (for the bain-marie or water bath)
• Cling film and strong foil
• Oven set to 170 degrees Centigrade

A couple of hours before you start get your eggs, cream cheese and maple syrup out of the fridge, and make a space for the cheesecake to go in later. Turn your oven on to the right temperature.

If you have a food processor - get it out, it takes a fraction of the time to make if you have one.

First blitz up the biscuits, or split them into two food bags and bash them to pieces with something heavy if you don’t have a food processor. Then add the cold butter in chunks and blitz again until it has clumped together in the mixer. If not using a food processor, melt the butter in a saucepan (big enough to accommodate the crushed biscuits) then stir in the digestives.

Push the biscuits into the bottom of the tin with your fingers or the back of a spoon, then wrap the tin in two layers of cling film and then two layers of foil to protect the cheesecake while it is baking in the water bath. Put the tin in the fridge.

Clean out the processor jug or grab a quite big mixing bowl, and whack in your cream cheese, sugar, maple syrup and cornflour. Mix this up until it is all incorporated. Use a whisk if you aren’t using a processor, but try not to whisk in too much air. Baked cheesecakes are supposed to be dense.

Put a full kettle on to boil.

Add the eggs one at a time and mix or process again. Finally add the cider vinegar and mix.

Take your tin out of the fridge and place it in the roasting dish. Top the biscuits with the cheesecake mixture and level out the top with a spatula. Fill the roasting dish with hot water from the kettle - about half way, then put into the middle of the oven.

The cheesecake in my experience will take between 50 minutes and an hour and a half. I once made this at my boyfriends parents house, they have a fan assisted oven - I set the timer for an hour, and it was overcooked when I got to it. On the other hand when I make it at my parents house, they have a Rayburn - it can take up to an hour and a half. Don’t worry how long it is in the oven for, just keep checking on it, it’s not like baking a cake, it won’t sink. You just have to set the eggs in it. It will be perfect when, when you shake it gently, it will wobble slightly in the middle.

Serve with a little more maple syrup poured over the top.

Nigella reckons this serves eight, but if you are serving it after dinner you can get away easily with ten servings.

Cake:

• 100g of unsalted butter
• 100g of caster sugar
• 100g of self raising flour
• 1 large egg
• Juice and zest of one largeish orange
• 10 cardamom pods

Topping:

• 150g of cream cheese
• 50g of unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons of icing sugar
• A little bit of juice from the orange

Decoration:

• 50g of caster sugar
• A little bit of juice from the orange
• 18-20cm cake tin

Set your oven temperature to 190 degrees Centigrade and grease or line your cake tin.

Put the cardamom pods in just enough water to cover them and simmer gently over a low heat for around five minutes. Leave the water to cool for another five then take out the pods.

Cream the butter and sugar together until it has lightened in colour slightly. Beat in the egg, and add the orange zest. Sift the flour into the mixture and fold in carefully. Add the cardamom water, then enough orange juice to give a good cake batter consistency. (Remember to keep some back for the icing of you can, otherwise just use another orange later if you need all the liquid.) Put the cake mixture in the tin and bake for around 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

In a clean bowl mix together the sugar, butter and cream cheese. Then add enough orange juice to make it change colour a little bit, but not so much that it goes runny. You probably need no more than two tablespoons. Reserve to spread on the cake later.

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan mix together a little orange juice with the remaining caster sugar over a low heat stirring all the time. Once the sugar has melted turn up the heat and stop stirring. Bubble the sugar down until it has turned caramel-ly. (Keep smelling to check it hasn’t burned, as you won’t be able to see when the sugar burns as it will already be orangey coloured from the juice.) Allow it to cool for a moment then spread it out on to something non-stick. That re-useable cake liner stuff is good for this, but you can use a chopping board. Pop it in the fridge if you have room, until is it hard. Give it a couple of hours.

Once the cake is out of the oven, cool on a wire rack until cold. Tip the cake out onto a plate and spread the top with the cream cheese icing. Take the orange sugar out of the fridge and break it up with your fingers or the handle of a knife. Sprinkle on the top of the icing. More pictures on Flickr.