** NEW BLOG !! **

Hey folks!! Just to let you know my au pair experience is over which means I'm back in France and my life is not really exciting at the moment. So I decided to create a new blog on the Blogger platform where I gather all my recipes. I would be happy if you could have a look and follow me on this new page. I will not delete hungry explorer because it collects all the memories I have made abroad.

So my new blog is named annabellecuisine and I am still on Bloglovin. You can also like the Facebook page I have created to give you updates. The blog is written in French but you are able to translate it thanks to Google translator.

Thank you!!

A year in UK

I made another video especially for London that I will upload as soon It's finished.

Greenwich Park + my emotional night with One Direction

What an unbelievable day! A week ago I was getting sad and desperate because the One Direction's UK leg was kicking off and I still hadn't any tickets. But two days before the show I wished to attend, they were releasing more tickets so without thinking of the state of my poor bank account, I clicked on the link to buy some. It was the best idea ever!! Good seat with a very good view for a very good price. I just could not believe it! 

SO Saturday finally arrived and I was more than impatient. Not to waste the cost of my train ticket to London, I thought it would be a good idea to visit Greenwich before heading at the O2 Arena. My feet placed on " the Big Smoke" concrete, I took the Tube and DLR to Cutty Sark. After being a bit lost at Canary Wharf to find the DLR station, I finally managed to get in this massive green space. Walking around beautiful white buildings, I found out the Nationale Maritime Museum. Not very keen on boats (but it's free!!), I decided to give it a go in the aim to keep me busy  and calm down my impatience (I swear I was buzzing like a child before Christmas!). In my opinion the museum was not really entertaining but in the back of it, it led to the park and the Royal Observatory which I didn't visit because the queue at the entrance was long. So I just stayed a bit to admire the view of London (very worth it!). Then having one more hour to kill I went back down to sit down on the grass and enjoy the rays of sunshine. But I could not wait any longer so I headed to the O2 earlier than expected. 

17:00- already out of North Greenwich station waiting for my friend. 

(Sorry in advance if I fangirl a bit in the rest of the post)

After collecting our tickets and getting some food, we are now ready to discover our seats and wait for the show to start. Once we were inside I could not believe it was currently happening. We were in the lower tier close to stage and the view was fantastic. I have to admit I am gutted my pictures and videos are bad quality because it does not reflect at all what I could see in front of me (hoping that one day we could take pictures with our eyes... *sigh*). The show was great!! Whether you like them or not you cannot deny that the members of One Direction are great performers. The four of them were so cute, Harry was hilarious, Niall waved back at us (and it will remain on Youtube forever), Louis' family and the sons of David Beckham stood underneath our block. 

Even today I do not entirely realise what happened. All I can tell you is I am more than happy I could see them live before their well deserved break. I know it sounds really cheesy and cliché but they really saved my life 4 years ago. I remember during my depression, their music was the only thing that made me "happy" or at least made me stop crying. Everyday I was promising myself not to end my shitty life (I am so ashamed to write that down) to thank them for making me feel better and to prove me you can fulfill your dreams. I sincerely owe my life to these boys because I would probably not be part of this world anymore (oh god I hate talking about it!! Sorry.) if they did not exist (thanks Simon even if I don't approve evrything you do). 

I wish I could see them again

Shoreditch Street Art Gallery

Top 5 of my summer songs

I know summer is over... Well at least summer holidays! But I still have these five songs that I often listened during my month off that I decided to share this little playlist with you. I am not goign to London before the weekend so be patient! :)

• Fréro Delavega - Le chant des sirènes  x
• Felix Jaehn ft Jasmine Thompson - Ain't nobody x
• Kygo ft James Parson x
• Louane - Jour 1 x
• Charlie Puth ft Meghan Trainor - Marvin Gaye x

Chausey Islands + Zoo

As you may know I am on holidays at my parents in France. Even if I know my little Normandy by heart I still love to discover new places or revisit the ones I have already done. This week, for the first time, we went to Chausey. It is composed of small islands in the English Channel. The weather was nice and it only took about 3 hours to walk all around the main island. 

On Tuesday afternoon we visited the zoo of Jurques (Normandy). We went there so many times when we were young so it wasn't a great discovery for me but for my little nephew it was. 

 

Coffee cake

As we need to empty the cupboards because we are going on holidays, I wanted to try a coffee cake. I didn't have enough to do a sponge cake so I looked on the Internet for the recipe of a normal cake. 

Ingredients:
For the cake
-75g butter or margarine
-75g sugar
-2 eggs
-75g self-raising flour
-1/2 and 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
-1 tablespoon boiling water
-1 tablespoon coffee granulates

For the filling:
-200ml double cream
-2 tablespoon icing sugar
-1 teaspoon coffee granules for 2 tablespoons boiling water

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4. Grease your tin.
• Beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy. This will take only a few seconds.
• Lightly whisk the eggs in a mug. Gradually add them to the mixture. Add flour a tablespoon at a time whilst beating. Beat in baking powder.
• Dissolve the coffee granules in boiling water and fold it gently. 
• Pour the mixture in the tin and bake for 30 minutes and let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes. 

• For the filling, add all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until the cream forms soft peaks. 
• With a piping bag or a spatula spread the filling on the cake and done!

Almond cake (the easiest and quickest cake ever!)

Rubbish at baking but want to impress your loved ones? I have the solution for you! Let's just hope they are not allergic to nuts. This is the recipe for an almond cake. If you look on the internet we basically all have the same recipe: it's simple and quick. So you have no excuses now! Ready - Steady -BAKE!!

Ingredients:
-4 medium eggs
-200g ground almond
-200g sugar
-100g melted (unsalted) butter

• Mix the eggs and the sugar. Add the almond powder and melted butter. Mix well and pour in your greased tin. Place it in the oven (200°C) for about 20 minutes. 

• Now admire your great work! 

Windsor Great Park

Last weekend it was a new adventure for Annabelle and Lola! This time we went to Windsor Great Park... yeah we were too poor to visit the castle and July is not the best time of the month if you don't want to be annoyed by the tourists (sorry tourists!). We had a nice walk all through the day under a lovely British weather. Windsor Great Park is huge so we stayed at the 'Long Walk' starting at Windsor Caste and finishing at the statue of King Edward VII. To get back in the car we decided to go through the city of Windsor. It was really charming and there was a nice market walk. 

We could see Wembley Stadium and London's buildings from the top of the hill

Et voilà! Honestly I think it was my last "trip" in UK. From September I will have to start saving money if I want to stay and carry on my studies in England. Now I will go more often in London and I would like to plan a weekend in Paris so I could see my friends. I will probably have some more adventures when I will be settled and I will have money to travel in the North of the UK. My list is sooo long: Snowdonia, Lake District, Manchester/Liverpool, Scotland,... I wish I could visit some European cities too such as Berlin, Brussels, Florence,... I have to admit I am a bit sad to stop discovering UK for a while... but well, I love London and I can't wait to find some hidden gems out there and share it with you! :)

New name!!

Indeed, fromfranceto becomes hungry-explorer! I thought this username makes more sense as my blog mainly talks about food and travels. You can receive the updates on different social media such as:

Twitter: @hungry_explorer
Facebook: The hungry explorer
Instagram: @hungry.explorer

I really want to dedicate more time to this blog and to give you a nice website to read, to help you and maybe make you happy. I will try to update more often and give you more tips and delicious recipes. 

Hope you will still enjoy this blog,

Alf.

Jamie Oliver's Hummingbird cake

I will have to try this recipe very soon!!

Ingredients:

-250 ml olive oil, plus extra for greasing
-350g self-raising flour
-1 level teaspoon ground cinnamon
-350g golden caster sugar
-4 medium-sized very ripe bananas
-1x425g tin of pineapple chunks
-2 large free-range eggs
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-50g pecan

For the icing:
-400g icing sugar
-150g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
-200g cream cheese
-2 limes

For the brittle:
-100g caster sugar
-50g pecans

•  Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Grease and line two 23cm round cake tins. Sift the flour and cinnamon into a mixing bowl, then add the sugar and a large pinch of sea salt. Peel the bananas and mash them up with a fork in another bowl. Drain and finely chop the pineapple and add to the bananas with the oil, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix until combined, then fold into the dry mixture until smooth. Finely chop the pecans and gently fold in, then divide the batter evenly between your prepared tins. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until risen, golden and the sponges spring back when touched lightly in the centre. Run a knife around the edge of the tins, then leave to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

• Meanwhile, to make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a free-standing electric mixer, add the butter and beat until pale and creamy. Add the cream cheese, finely grate in the zest of 1 lime and add a squeeze of juice, then beat until just smooth – it's really important not to over-mix it. Keep in the fridge until needed. To make a brittle topping, place the caster sugar and a splash of water in a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat. Shake flat and don't stir it, just swirl the pan occasionally until dissolved and lightly golden. Add the pecans and a pinch of salt, spoon around to coat, and when nicely golden, pour onto a sheet of oiled greaseproof paper to set (check out the how-to video below). Once cool, smash up to a dust (you'll need about half to top the cake – save the rest for sprinkling over ice cream.

•  To assemble the cake, place one sponge on a cake stand and spread with half the icing. Top with the other sponge, spread over the rest of the icing, then grate over the zest of the remaining lime. Scatter over the brittle dust and decorate with a few edible flowers, such as violas, borage or herb flowers, if you feel that way inclined. 

  And here is my attempt of Jamie's masterpiece!! Everybody likes it.

Crêpes bretonnes (ou crêpes françaises)

Ingrédients:
250g de farine de froment
1 c.s de farine de sarrasin (blé noir)
100 à 125g de sucre (selon vos goûts)
10cl d'eau
2 oeufs
1c.c de gros sel
1 sachet de sucre vanillé
25g de beurre fondu
1/2 litre de lait demi-écrémé
Une pointe de rhum brun

• Dans un saladier mettez le sucre, la farine de sarrasin, le beurre fondu, l'eau, le gros sel, le sucre vanillé et les œufs. Battez l'ensemble et ajoutez progressivement la farine de froment et un demi verre de lait jusqu'à obtenir une pâte homogène et sans grumeaux. Délayez ensuite avec le reste de lait. Si vous souhaitez parfumer votre pâte ajoutez un fond de rhum brun.
• Graissez légèrement la plaque/la poêle entre chaque crêpe avec un chiffon de coton (ou un essuie-tout) imbibé d'huile. Versez une louche de la préparation en essayant d'obtenir une pâte assez fine (il est conseillé d'utiliser un étaleur). En cas de surplus vous pouvez réaliser un second tour. Laissez cuire 15-30 secondes, décollez avec la spatule et retournez la crêpe.

PS: English translation is coming up soon!

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