May I recommend to you the very pink '211 things a bright girl can do' by Bunty Cutler.
Including how to mix a Harvey Wallbanger, re-point a wall, do a handbreak turn or ride a space hopper in a miniskirt. And best of all, a recipe for Turkish delight. Bunty writes...
''There is certainly something seductive about Turkish delight, with its evocations of the mystic Orient. It's a delicious combination of perfume, taste and texture, the best-made yeilding to the tooth in a gelatinous but firm way, and glowing beguilingly like chunks of amber or some precious pink crystal. The sparkling icing sugar and starch mixture with which it is dusted not only prevents the cubes sticking together in the box but looks wonderfully pretty too. Of course its taste is divine - owing cheifly to the presence of a secret ingredient which I will reveal in a moment. There are numerous formulae out there for Turkish delight but my 'Sultan's Mistress' recipe is based on a traditional one from the Middle East, where Turkish delight is known as lokum.
INGREDIENTS:
* 4 cups granulated sugar
* 2pts water
* 5oz cornflour
* 1tsp cream of tartar
* 1tbsp lemon juice
* 1 1/2 tbsps rosewater (the magic ingredient)
* 1 cup icing sugar
* Oil for the baking pan
INSTRUCTIONS:
The unique physical properties of proper Turkish delight are the result of a delicious alchemy between starch and sugar that produces a heavy sweetmeat with a density something like that of Jupiter. There is no gelatin in my recipe. Gelatin has a tendency to produce transparent, bouncy and rather ersatz characteristics that are at odds with the opaquely viscous properties of the authentic confection. The best Turkish delight is golden of cast or just faintly pink.
1. Grease baking pan with vegetable oil and line with oiled greaseproof paper.
2. Mix 1/2 pint water, lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan. Turn heat to medium.
3. Stir all the time until the sugar has dissolved (the liquid will clarify).
4. Now turn up the heat and let it boil, then turn it down low.
5. Simmer gently without stirring, until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, when you cand drop a blob off the spoon into some cold water so that it forms a ball that you can squeeze flat between your fingers. If you have a sugar thermometer, you will see that this happens at 238-245 F / 114-118 C. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside.
6. In a saucepan over a medium heat, mix the cream of tartar with 4oz of cornflour and the remaining water. Stir out all the lumps and let the mixture begin to boil. When it reaches the consistency of glue you can stop stirring.
7. Mix in the syrup and the lemon juice and keep stirring for about 5 minutes. Then turn it down low and simmer for an hour, stirring frequently. This is when the magic change begins to happen.
8. As soon as your mixture has attained a golden colour, add the rosewater and stir well. Have a little taste and if you can't detect the rosewater add a little more until you think it's right.
9. Pour the delicious sludge into your paper-lined pan. Spread it around evenly and let it cool overnight.
10. Sift the icing sugar together with the rest of the cornflour and sprinkle a little on to a board. Then turn out the turkish delight and cut it with an oiled knife into sensibly-sized cubes.
11. Coat your Turkish delight with the rest of the cornflour and sugar mixture. You can layer it in an airtight container with greaseproof paper between storeys. Or you can just eat it.''
Do let me know if you try making some! I'll post a picture when i do.
I think the handmade hook finished them well and I love the effect you get when you flatten wire slightly with a planishing hammer and anvil, as you can see on the loop at the top. This week I've made some more of these small mosaics, which are now available from my 