Alternatives to Peanut Butter

While I was at Whole Foods in London last weekend with my fiancé, I discovered a miracle in the form of sunflower butter.
As a former vegan, I used to eat all kinds of different nut butters besides peanut butter. My top two favorites were almond butter, and cashew butter. Both are so much better for you than regular old peanut butter, and livened up any sandwich or toast.
Unfortunately, for some reason I became very allergic to tree nuts and ground nuts after about 6 months of being vegan, and had to give up my favorite tasty, healthy snack.

When I found sunflower butter at Whole Foods, it was like the world had opened back up again. Alight - a bit dramatic, but I loved my peanut butter sandwiches and peanut butter toast.  I highly recommend it, and it's perfectly safe for those with nut allergies!

What other alternative types of nut butters and seed butters do you recommend?

Laura Marling at Royal Albert Hall

Since moving to London two years ago, I've purchased tickets three times to see Laura Marling. On Saturday, July 7, the third I purchased tickets I finally got to see her at Royal Albert Hall in London.

What kind of (former gig!) photographer doesn't bring her camera on a a weekend trip away, especially when going to a concert? A very tired one. I have been suffering on and off from glandular fever since the end of May, and after a trip to London the Wednesday before where I had relapsed a bit, I didn't want to lug around another bag when it was supposed to be a nice weekend with my fiancé.

But I digress.

Laura was brilliant, though the sound at Royal Albert Hall was dodgy. My fiance and I started out in the stalls, sitting. Laura played in the middle on a circular stage, turning to each four miss so that her back was only to one part of the audience audience a quarter of the time.

She began the night singing the entirety of her 2011 album A Creature I Do Not Know. She said she was nervous and had "never felt so alone", but every time she began a song she sounded confident and clear.

There was a brief intermission, and she came back to sing other tracks off her other two albums, as well as two new songs.  During this time my fiancé and I snuck down to where people were standing up around the stage, where the sound of the concert was much better. Laura informed the audience she didn't do encores two songs before the end of her set, and the night ended around ten pm, as she was the only act.
It was a pretty lovely experience, and even though the sound of Royal Albert Hall is historically bad, it is a really beautiful and historic venue.





Photo couresty of Katie Sara Anderson via flickr.
*edit*

The fiancé in front of the stage after the gig.

Me in front of the stage after the gig. 

Book Reccomendation

I've been busy alternately reading dissertation materials, and also the amazing book The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. It's part of a series - or a cycle, as it states in the beginning of the Prisoner of Heaven.

I first read The Shadow of the Wind, the first released book in the cycle in 2005. It instantly went to the top of my favorite book list, and has stayed there ever since. Here's the book description from Amazon.co.uk.

Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is the 'cemetery of lost books', a labyrinthine library of obscure and forgotten titles that have long gone out of print. To this library, a man brings his 10-year-old son Daniel one cold morning in 1945. Daniel is allowed to choose one book from the shelves and pulls out 'La Sombra del Viento' by Julian Carax.
But as he grows up, several people seem inordinately interested in his find. Then, one night, as he is wandering the old streets once more, Daniel is approached by a figure who reminds him of a character from La Sombra del Viento, a character who turns out to be the devil. This man is tracking down every last copy of Carax's work in order to burn them. What begins as a case of literary curiosity turns into a race to find out the truth behind the life and death of Julian Carax and to save those he left behind. A page-turning exploration of obsession in literature and love, and the places that obsession can lead.

It's such a beautiful novel, and the translation from Spanish to English is absolutely seamless. The language in the book is beautiful to read, and the story is absolutely fantastic. I re-read this book probably once every year and a half or so, and end up appreciating it in new ways.

The other two books take place in the same world of the cemetery of forgotten books, one being a prequel of sorts.

The Angel's Game.

The Prisoner of Heaven. 

The BEST Scone Recipe

I didn't end up making it down to London this weekend due to financial reasons (it would have been £125 for two rail tickets, with rail cards, which is insanity). But before I knew that, Friday I made two batches of my all-time favorite scone recipe to bring down to the barbecue.

Scones are perfect - eat them for breakfast, as a snack, for desert. Butter, jam, clotted cream or plain they suit for all occasions. This recipe doesn't use eggs, and is so simple and quick.

Ingredients:

225g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
30g caster sugar
55g butter
55g raisins or sultanas (optional)
150ml milk

-Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and caster sugar in a bowl, then rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the raisins or sultanas, if using.
-Bit by bit, add 150ml milk until you have a firm dough. Turn out onto a floured work surface.
-Pat the dough into a circle about 1 1/2 cm thick and cut out the scones
-Put onto a non-stick baking sheet and brush the tops with milk. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Serve with butter, or jam and cream.

I find usually that I tend to have some milk left over at the end, and it's not necessary to use it all. I just use the excess milk to brush over the tops before popping them in the oven.

Recipe from BBC GoodFood.