Appetite, Hazelnuts and Women on the 6th Floor

Recently I have been discovering what my local library has to offer. Movies, magazines, baby books, regular books and cookbooks of course. I have always loved libraries, when I was a kid in elementary school my library card was out of control, I loved reading. I just looked through shelves with books and picked whatever I thought seemed interesting. Some I would love, some not so much. Marcel Proust, for some reason, not my thing, and sorry to my fellow Canadians, Margaret Atwood- not so much.




But my libraries did not carry dvds, nor VHS tapes. And it is the first time I have seen such a great selection of movies and watched quite a few recently- La Vie En Rose for example. I had no idea Edith Piaf had such a complicated life. I watched few other ones but there is one specific movie that deserves some special attention.

It is about a middle aged man, who always lived his life without trying something new or noticing other people around. Everything changes when he makes friends with some immigrant women, who, even though they have much less than him, seem to be very happy about everything. They are enjoying their lives while people around him complain about every little thing. It made me think about my life and how I question it sometimes- this could have been, would have been....but really, not wanting too much and not being afraid as well as smiling even in difficult situations, facing them as opposed to running away and saying "Why Not? instead of Why?" (click for a great fashion blog- I am quoting one of the authors here )are key to inner happiness. 

The cookbook I also got from the library was Appetite by Nigel Slater and right away I wanted to try this cake. I cannot believe this book goes for something around $120 on Amazon! It must be a bible!

http://books.google.ca/books/about/Appetite.html?id=B0N4AAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y

I love his style of cooking and the fact that he believes cooking should be a source of inspiration and not following the recipes. Which cannot be said about baking.

 

This is one of those recipes that you will keep on making, because it is pretty fast and easy. You can make it on many occasions- as a birthday cake or to accompany your coffee on these dark and rainy days. I took this cake over to our neighbours for a dinner party and they loved it.

Hazelnut and chocolate cake

250g butter

250g sugar

75g hazelnuts, roasted, skins removed and ground

120g dark chocolate, chopped

4 large eggs

125g flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

4 tsp espresso

Start by heating the oven to 350F (180C) and buttering a nine inch round baking tray.

Place the softened butter in a bowl and cream it with sugar until fluffy. Keep on beating adding eggs one at a time. Now, add half of the flour mixed with the nuts, mix it in and add the rest of the nut-flour mixture. Now you are ready to add the cinnamon, espresso and chopped chocolate. Add to the pan and bake for about 45 min or until the toothpick comes out clean.