It’s blackberry and hazelnut madeleines season! Well, it’s really just blackberry season but think about all the delicious things you can make with this delicious berry: jams, desserts, fruit salads, savoury sauces, etc. I have shared a few recipes using this wonderful fruit on the blog before such as this blackberry fruit salad or this blackberry and almond chantilly roulade.

​I cannot remember the last time I baked a whole cake. At least, I don’t think I have made one since I moved to Belfast. I definitely bake less during summer time and tend to privilege fruit salads, ice creams and sorbets for dessert. But I do like the scent of summer fruit cooking and bubbling in a crumble or clafoutis such as this cherry and dark chocolate one or this version with raspberries and white chocolate. 

​My fruit bowl on the kitchen counter has seen a serious rotation of raspberries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, blueberries and strawberries over the summer. They have been mostly eaten as they are and sometimes added to a weekend smoothie with frozen bananas, almond milk or coconut water. But lately, I found myself wanting to bake a few things. It could be a combination of the weather cooling down and wanting to take advantage of all the wonderful produce before summer fruit season ends.

​It is quite warm these days and I am happily swapping mugs of mint green tea for a lot of water and when I crave it, a refreshing glass of homemade lemon, lime and mint soft drink.

​In everyday cooking, I use a lot of my own recipes or ones that I know by heart and can make without opening a book or checking out the steps on the internet. And when making recipes I have shared here over the years, my favourite thing is to see if I can improve them a bit.
For example, I have tweaked the recipe for chocolate and hazelnut brownies many times until it reached the perfect texture and taste I wanted. This was actually one of the first recipes I shared on the blog nearly seven years ago.

​Days are getting longer, blooms are starting to appear more and more on trees and I can hear a lot of birds singing from early in the morning to late at night. Spring time is finally here and it feels nice not having to put on so many layers every time I want to go outside. 
The other nice thing about the weather changing is that more and more fruit and vegetables are becoming available. The Winter options can be a bit limited but there is still some fruit I want to enjoy until it is out of season: pears. 

​Breakfast is and has always been part of my everyday routine. I might swap it for brunch occasionally at the weekend but other than that, I just cannot skip it.
The thing with breakfast and me is that I cannot stick to the same things to eat day after day. For example: two pieces of toast with butter and jam, a fruit and a mug of green tea. That sounds great and perfect to start the day, and honestly it would be so easy to have this everyday. I like eating this type of breakfast, I really do. But after a couple of weeks, breakfast food boredom starts to set and I need to find something else to eat. 
I usually swap the pieces of toast for slices of brioche or toasted challah bread, and green tea for a mint infusion. Another time, I like to move on to porridge and a mug of lemon and ginger infusion. And on occasions, I make myself a bowl of Greek yogurt topped with granola and drizzled with Irish honey (we get ours directly from E.’s family, it is so delicious!). Since I am in a granola phase at the moment, I thought I would try and make my own so I get to choose what flavours go in it.