Bunions should be pickled

 

The bunion extracted toe re-aligned and scar trying to heal. Plenty of protein required!

Pickled bunion: Ingredient Bottle of Red Wine, Method - Pickle from the inside out, take a bottle of good red wine Bordeaux and drink.

Well this is the beginning of my blog.

I've had bunion surgery and I'm bored. I can do some things like read books, watch tv, practice my ukulele and answer emails from work. What I really want to do cook. I'm fed up of being horizontal.

Cheadle Hulme the most inspiring place of south Manchester or north Cheshire you could be driven too.
Don't get me wrong I do not mind the old bog (hulme). So this is post bank holiday blues I think because the weather is so overcast and rainy. Still it was unusually pleasant yesterday. How can I complain?

I'm lying on the sofa nearly four weeks into recovery from bunion surgery. I'm doing this blog because daytime tv, books and learning the notes of my ukulele are not enough to burn up my creative skills.

I keep having these ideas of cooking something nice, baking some Chelsea Buns, making a chocolate cake or testing out arancini. Can't though because I have to keep my left leg elevated. If I put it down for too long the swelling returns and the top of my foot feels tight at the end of my foot. Like a nil nil cup final extra time has been added to my lounging around because the surgeon's incision after the repair has split open and is taking longer to scab up. I reckon he should have used a few butchers knots. But then what do I know it's not like boning out pigs trotters or maybe it is.

Right that's it I need to have a sugar rush bugger that diet and all the good work I was doing in the gym up until the 8th April I'm going to make a chocolate cake after I finish doing this writing and watching Inspector Morse while I'm at it.

Managed it stood up for 15 minutes. Baked this cake and the recipe is below.

150 ml vegetable Oil 
50 g Cocoa powder (sifted)
125 ml boiling water
2 tsp vanilla essence
125 g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda 
200 g caster sugar
3 eggs

Heat oven to 170°C. Grease a 23 cm cake tin a little oil and line with baking parchment.
Place the cocoa powder in a bowl and whisk in the boiling water and vanilla extract to a smooth consistency. Then set aside to cool a little.
Put the sugar, oil and eggs into the bowl of a mixer with a whisk attachment and whisk together vigorously for about 5 minutes until you have a pale thick cream.
Turn the speed down a little and pour in the cocoa mixture and whisk well then you can slowly tip in the flour and bicarbonate of soda. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and using a spatula fold in.

Pour this batter into the prepared cake tin. 

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very centre, on top, still looks slightly damp. Insert a cocktail stick it should come out clean but with a few sticky chocolate crumbs clinging to it.

Let it cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, still in its tin.

Remove from tin and leave to cool completely or eat while still warm with some ice cream as a pudding.

Not perfect cake but not bad with so little ingredients.