Wanderlust - Marvellous Macaron, Eastbourne

Making beautiful Macarons in this cute kitchen in the heart of Eastbourne

Today's post is a change to usual as I wanted to create a wanderlust post with a difference - in my home town! 

Eastbourne is a tourist town as it is - people come here from round the world for its victorian charm, the carpet gardens down the seafront, the gorgeous South Downs Park and that we are in fact the most sunniest town in the UK! 

Of course when you visit, those are things that will be high on the list of things to do, but what if you fancy having a go at learning a new skill or doing something creative? 

That's where The Cookshelf/The Potteryshelf comes in, its right in the centre of town and 

offers a cook school and pottery painting cafe under one roof! 

I visited the Cookshelf last Sunday mid-afternoon after booking myself in for a Marvellous Macaron making class (ideal as I was still feeling pretty rough from going out on the Saturday for a charity run and needed the morning to recover!) I'd seen these delicious treats during my visit to France a couple of months back so couldn't wait to learn how to recreate them myself! 

The classes are kept fairly small (no more than 4-6 people) which is great as it allows you to get more out of the class and participate more.

 Our tutor (Kate) was warm and welcoming and got us all involved with the mixing, measuring and piping needed to make the huge batch of 60 Macarons. Its definitely worth learning how to make these from a pro as I had no idea how difficult they were to make being a total novice baker, but Kate made us feel at ease and was patient with us as we followed her instructions and taught us how to make the perfect macaron - I literally cannot wait to try making them at home :) 

Whilst we waited for them to cook we were also treated to tea and cake which was delicious! 

Here's the final result! :) lovely scrummy chocolate ganache filled macarons! 

At the end of the class Kate also sent us the recipe, piping templates and other flavours of macarons to try out at home so you really get your moneys worth out of the class - an ace tutor, a really nice afternoon baking and met some lovely fellow bakers. Oh - and of course I went home with a lovely big bag of blue and pink macarons! 

All you need to bring is yourself, all the ingredients are provided. 

I'd totally recommend visiting the Cookshelf and booking a class. There's so many types of classes to choose - Thai Tapas Supper Club, Pasta Making and An Introduction To Spices to name just few.

You can also book a party at The Cookshelf - not just for kids but adults too! 

I'll be back for the pasta class for sure and most definitely the pottery making! 

Marvellous Macaron Class - £35

The next class for Marvellous Macaron is on Sept 18 - book now online to make sure you get your place as they are limited :) 

Whats on at The Cookshelf this month? 

Intro to Pasta

Pottery Workshop

Thai Tapas Supper Club

Kids Play with Clay Kids Club 

See the full calender here

Visit the Cookshelf website to find out more! 

x

Wanderlust: Fudge Kitchen Experience

On our final day in Edinburgh we went for a Fudge Making Experience at Fudge Kitchen in Edinburgh with the lovely manager Will & his assistant Bradley!

Being a total sweet tooth I knew I wanted to do this when we visited Edinburgh since I first added it to my Pintrest list years ago! :) We don't have a fudge kitchen locally to us (the nearest is in Canterbury, Kent) so it made sense to go to the Royal Mile shop in Edinburgh whilst we were there so we donned our aprons and got making some fudge!

Will has been working at Fudge Kitchen for over 17 years and was a total pro and helped us quite abit with the makingness as its actually pretty hard work making the fudge - need alot of upper arm strength  for all the mixing! He was really knowledgeable about the history of fudge and was really funny.

We started by heating the secret ingredients for a toffee fudge in a large brass cauldron on a fire stiring away until the mixture had reached the right temperature (200 something degrees if I'm remembering right??)  and then we poured it on to a huge marble table to cool between a frame to keep all the mixture on the table. Then we then ate some fudge that Will had made earlier and waited for it to cool down and set a little.

We used these long shovel like things (imagine a snooker cue with a shovel on the end of it) to mix everything again until the mixture became a lighter colour (images from the Fudge Kitchen above show the process)


By this time the fudge was starting to set so we shaped it with some smaller shovel things to get it in to a long rectangular shape ready to cut.

Cutting the fudge was actually the hardest part! I was terrible at it, Rich was slightly better :) After we cut off 6 nice big slices we popped these in a box and kept these. As part of the experience we also were allowed to pick 6 of the fudge blocks we wanted behind the counter. We chose Eton Mess, Lemon Meringue Pie, Rum & Raisin, Double Chocolate, Chocolate & Vanilla Swirl, and Chocolate Orange.

I also ended up picking up the Fudge home making kit so I might have a play with this again at Easter time whilst we are off and the hot drinking fudge :)

After our great time at Fudge Kitchen we got the tram & hopped on our plane back down south. Can't wait to go back to Edinburgh again , will def do one of the Ness bus tours again and maybe be daring enough to go in the Edinburgh dungeon!

Love , Sarah x