DULCIE MAY'S KITCHEN

A Year ago my dear friend Toni Shepherd,  a special home school mum friend, purchased a recipe book for me and gave it to me for my birthday.  It was a book written by the Women in the pictures above called Natalie Oldfield.  She had gathered a whole lot of her grandmother's old recipes together and put them into a book.  You know the 'good old' recipes that your nana use to make or your mother if you are old like me now  OUCH!  Anyway Nix and I fell in love with the book and every recipe we tried was just amazing!  We purchase her second book and then last weekend we purchased her latests book which you can see below!




We found out that Natalie had a cafe/takeout in Mount Eden and Nix and I have been wanting to go there since my first book.  So on the weekend of my birthday we went for a ride across to Mt Eden to visit the shop.  We took Nix Mother in law,  Ani Murray (a very cool women), with us.

On Arrival we went straight to the front counter admiring some of the treats,  identifying them from the books etc.  We are such foodies/fatties and were in Heaven!  We purchased about 10 things all together and cut each little treat into 3 pieces so we could all have a sample of each thing!  LOL!  We were served by Natatie's mother and we told her how long we had wanted to come and visit her shop.  She appreciated our passion and after we had been sitting outside for about 10mins she sent a lady from the kitchen out to us to give us some little jams samples etc that they had made.

When we were finished, we were about to leave when 'Natalie' herself turned up!  We were so excited to meet her and we chatted with her for about another hour about her whole success story etc,  she was such a 'down to earth' person and very inspiring to talk to.    We couldn't have asked for a cooler afternoon as all of us 'Foodies' shared, ate and talked together.  When we were about to leave she gave us another little sweet treat (Yummy Caramel Slice), and she signed my book personally which was very cool!

Oh the Napoleans  on the blog entry before this one.  Hers look a little better than mine LOL..Here is the recipe below.

Napoleans

Gran's Napoleon's seem very popular for us - it is a great treat for me as it seemed that we never often had them, only on special occasions, however here at Dulcie May Kitchen it can be a daily treat!  So here is an opportunity to make it at home for your special occasion.  These are really easy so give it a go!

3 - 4 Sheets Puff Pastry
2 cups Icing Sugar
2 tablespoons Butter, softened
Boiling Water
Raspberry Essence to taste
Raspberry Jam
300ml Cream, whipped

Cut pastry into rectangles, a little larger than desired size as they
shrink during cooking (roughly 8cm x 15cm).

Place on greased oven tray and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 10
minutes. Set aside to cool.

Sift icing sugar into bowl and add butter. Cream mixture while
slowly adding boiling water to a spreadable consistency. Stir in
raspberry essence.

Spread bottoms with jam then whipped cream, and spread the tops
with icing. Sandwich tops and bottoms together.

Here are the photos below of us on our special outing to Dulcie May's Kitchen.

Look at our spread, Piggies!

The following shots are of us with Natalie outside her shop.

I really like these shots of her Grandmother and Natalie below taken from her website.

Our family has always been prize "foodies" - none more so than our grandmother, Dulcie May Booker. She was born in 1913 and has lived all her 95 years in Weymouth, Auckland, a community in which she is a local star and inspiration. She started cooking as a child, on her family's coal range, and was an active member of the Weymouth Country Women's Institute from age 18, famous for her prize-winning scones. She and our Pop, Fred, raised four children, and were market gardeners (at harvest time, Dulcie would stay up all night, bottling fruit), before owning a fish shop. Fred was a fisherman, and on stormy days when he couldn't go out to sea, Dulcie sewed wedding dresses while Fred looked after the children. She has also been neighbourhood hairdresser, dancehall decorator, and neighbourhood counsellor, always there with a sympathetic ear and kind, loving advice. She is our heroine!

Dulcie May Kitchen was established by Natalie Oldfield. Natalie was born and raised in Auckland. With her families passion for food she has long experience in hospitality, including establishing several corporate café's and function venues. Dulcie May Kitchen is part of Natalie's tribute to her grandmother and the love of cooking she has inspired. She is joined by her sister Michelle Burrell who has worked as a chef for 18 years, and brings her ability to create traditional recipes with a modern flair. Her father Ashley Burrell, who has been in hospo for a number of years and works as a chef at Dulcie May Kitchen,  as well as her mother Heather that has a passion for life, people and food.