Tag Archives: #imclever

Indulge yourself with the yummiest dessert books on the market

2021, Author, Cookbook, Cooking, Dinner Inspo, Food, Gifts, Homemade, Ideas, New Release, Non-fiction, Recipe Books, Recommended, Science, Top Books, , , , , , , , , , ,

Ohhh, how exciting is this week’s blog post? We have had a blast scouring the globe for the newest, yummiest, books hitting the market in our favourite culinary course – dessert! It’s been a tough task, but someone had to do it and we have found six of what we think are the best dessert books to indulge in. Apologies if this blog post makes you hungry but we hope it will inspire you to whip up something super sweet and tasty in the kitchen this weekend. 

Settle in, make yourself a cup of tea and prepare to get a little peckish. 

A Year in Cake by Peggy Porschen

With its fairytale pink façade and picture-perfect cupcakes, the Peggy Porschen Parlour has become a destination bakery for Londoners and tourists since it first opened ten years ago. Half a million people follow Peggy’s creations and seasonal floral displays on Instagram and her customers include celebrities, global fans and influencers who come, often dressed in ‘Peggy pink’, for an exquisite sweet treat, as well as to take selfies in the always-beautiful floral archway entrances of the parlours in Belgravia and Chelsea. 

This book pays tribute to the magic Peggy weaves with her bakes through every season. Going through the year and punctuated by special occasions, the recipes will cover cakes, iced cookies and cupcakes and will reflect the changing seasons. Peggy will also share some of her unique style secrets so that fans can recreate the lifestyle at home.

La Vita e Dolce: Italian-Inspired Desserts by Letitia Clark

La Vita è Dolce is an exciting take on Italian baking by food writer and trained pastry chef, Letitia Clark. Featuring over 80 Italian desserts, the book showcases Letitia’s favourite puddings inspired by her time living in Sardinia. Whether you’re looking for something fruity, nutty, creamy, chocolatey or boozy, you will be seduced by the sweet aromas of every bake. Complete with anecdotes and beautiful location photography throughout, each recipe will be authentic in taste but with a delicious, contemporary twist. 

From a joyful Caramelised Citrus Tart to a classic Torta Caprese, this is a stunning celebration of the sweet things in life, and is guaranteed to bring a slice of Italy into your home. 

Gelupo Gelato by Jacob Kenedy

Gelupo Gelato presents a rainbow spectrum of simple, sophisticated gelato recipes from tangy Lime Sherbet to fruity Peach & Blood Orange, creamy Marron Glacé, and decadent Chocolate & Whisky. And that’s not all! There are definitive recipes for a classic granita (like grown-up slushie), barely-melting semifreddo, ice cream cake, profiteroles, ice cream cones and brioche buns as well as the only chocolate sauce you’ll ever need and a tip sheet for pairing flavours.

Crazy Sweet Creations by Ann Reardon

Join food scientist Ann Reardon, host of the award-winning YouTube series How to Cook That, as she explores Crazy Sweet Creations. An accomplished pastry chef, Reardon draws millions of baking fans together each week, eager to learn the secrets of her extravagant cakes, chocolates and eye-popping desserts. Her warmth and sense of fun in the kitchen shines through on every page as she reveals the science behind recreating your own culinary masterpieces.

For home cooks and fans who love their desserts, cakes and ice creams to look amazing and taste even better. Take your culinary creations to influencer status, you’ll also learn to make treats that get the whole family cooking, create baked goods that tap into beloved pop culture trends and impress guests with beautiful desserts.

Crave by Ed Smith

Why do we choose to cook the things we do, when we do? Most of the time, it is simply so we can eat what we really fancy; a subconscious response to a constantly fluctuating state of mind and appetite that’s influenced by mood, season, weather, memory, occasion, outside events and internal feelings. Ed Smith helps readers hone in on their cravings (whatever the reason for them) by organising his recipes within six cleverly conceived flavour profiles: fresh and fragrant; chilli and heat; tart and sour; curried and spiced; rich and savoury; and (best of all) cheesy and creamy. There’s also a directory of alternative cravings at the back, providing additional ways in. All bases are covered, from snacks through sides, to main courses and puddings. 

Baked to Perfection: Delicious gluten-free recipes, with a pinch of science by
Katarina Cermelj

This is the only gluten-free baking book you’ll ever need, with delicious recipes that work perfectly every time. From proper crusty bread, pillowy soft cinnamon rolls and glorious layered cakes to fudgy brownies, incredibly flaky rough puff pastry and delicate patisserie everything that once seemed impossible to make gluten-free can now be baked by you.

Baked to Perfection begins with a thorough look at the gluten-free baking basics: how different gluten-free flours behave, which store-bought blends work best, and how to mix your own to suit your needs. Covering cakes, brownies, cookies, pastry and bread in turn, Katarina shares the best techniques for the recipes in that chapter, and each recipe is accompanied by expert tips, useful scientific explanations and occasional step-by-step photography to help you achieve gluten-free perfection.

Enjoy!

Six Books that Help Us Create a Personal life Philosophy

2021, Non-fiction, Personal development, Philosophy, , , , ,

Do you have any rules, beliefs or principles that you live by? Many of us do – even if we don’t realise, or can’t articulate them yet. These rules or principles are components of a personal philosophy that can contribute to our wellbeing by giving us clarity and direction in our daily lives. If you are interested in discovering your personal life philosophy, or explore how it can benefit your life, here are a few tools to get you started:

How to Live a Good Life: a Guide to Choosing your Personal Philosophy edited by Massimo Pigliucci, Skye C. Cleary and Daniel Kaufman
If you were inspired by last week’s blog post about using philosophy to solve life problems, then How to Live a Good Life will offer further guidance. This essay collection introduces fifteen schools of thought – from ancient Eastern and Western philosophies, to religious traditions, to modern philosophies – and what it is like to live according to those philosophies. Each contributor offers lively, personal accounts of what it means to live an examined life in the twenty-first century. How to Live a Good Life offers a clear, accessible guide, backed by deep academic expertise, for anyone considering their life-choices and looking for options for change.

Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies: and Other Rituals to Fix Your Life, from Someone Who’s Been There by Tara Schuster
This hilarious and relatable memoir has gone straight onto my To Read list.  Tara Schuster is a successful playwright and entertainment industry executive; but beneath that high-flyer veneer, she was a self-medicating mess trying to deal with depression, anxiety, and shame borne of parental neglect. Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies tells the story of Tara’s path to re-parenting herself and becoming a “ninja of self-love.”  She shares how she learnt to establish simple, daily rituals that helped to bring her mind, body, and relationships back to good health.  This is the book Tara wished someone had given her – and so she wrote it, hoping it will help other people feel less lonely in their experience.  A terrific guide to self-care for these times.

Be Bold: Manifest your Dream Life by Alexis Fernandez
Alexis Fernandez loves to understand how the mind works – so much so, that this Pilates instructor and personal trainer returned to uni to study neuroscience. She has been weaving her knowledge about body and mind into a successful podcast (Do You F*cking Mind?) and now her first book – Be Bold: Manifest your Dream Life. Alexis suggests that our brains are often conditioned to be more avoidant and protective than is necessary; and by realising how much control we have over our thoughts and our emotions, we can learn (and unlearn) how to unlock the best version of ourselves. Full of tough love, practical advice and ‘mindset hacks’, Be Bold: Manifest your Dream Life can help us set healthy boundaries, move on from regrets, and overcome feelings of self-pity.

The Success Experiment: FlexMami’s Formula to Knowing what you Really Want and How to Get It by Lillian Ahenkan
DJ / Podcaster / Entrepreneur / “Professional Opinion-Haver” and now Bestselling Author: Lilian Ahenkan, aka FlexMami, is an Australian social-media star with a global following. She thinks of her current success as an experiment; having transformed herself from “a uni dropout with poor time-management skills” to highly sought-after media personality, within the space of a few years, while retaining her unapologetically fierce and funny self. The hypothesis at the heart of The Success Experiment is that anyone can create a unique formula for their own personal success. You don’t have to be exceptional – you just need to learn the algorithm. FlexMami will help you discover yourself – what you want, what you value, where you want to be, and why; and turn these into goals based on what actually fulfils you, instead of what feels easy or achievable.

Emotional Intelligence: a Simple and Actionable Guide to Increasing Performance, Engagement and Ownership by Amy Jacobson
This is a great primer about the What, Why and Hows of Emotional Intelligence, written by an expert on emotional intelligence and human behaviour. As organisations around the world put greater focus on the mindset and wellbeing of staff, they are also placing greater value on Emotional Intelligence as an essential attribute of high performance. Amy Jacobson, an experienced EI specialist, shares a range of tools and tips to help us identify and manage our personal emotions and the emotions of those around us, using the five key concepts of self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, social skills and motivation. This guide is a practical, easy-to-use resource that offers powerful tools and actionable steps to create successful outcomes not just at work, but in personal and social situations as well.

Belonging: the Ancient Code of Togetherness by Owen Eastwood
Owen Eastwood is a performance coach who has worked with some of the most prestigious teams in the world, including national soccer and cricket teams, Royal Ballet School, the British Olympic Team, as well as the Command group at NATO. In Belonging: the Ancient Code of Togetherness, he explains how he helps teams to succeed by drawing upon the idea of Whakapapa from his own Maori heritage. Whakapapa is a powerful spiritual belief about belonging and identity that helps people connect and find a shared purpose. Belonging is not just about sports psychology; Owen Eastwood’s unique approach, which also weaves in insights from evolutionary science, personal development and philosophy, can unlock high performance in many different group contexts.

Raise your heart rate with Booko: Ninja Wilderness Survival Guide

2021, Craft, Environment, General Knowledge, Hacks, How to Guide, Learning, Lifestyle, New Release, Non-fiction, Personal development, Sport, Top Tips, , , , , ,

If you find yourself in an unexpected extreme situation a fundamental understanding of your surroundings can make the difference between life and death, Ninja Wilderness Survival Guide shows you how.