Cherry Blossom Season in London: 6 Pretty Pink Spots

After the pink magnolia trees, the cherry trees begin to bloom in London, making bits of this city look like fluffy cotton candy dreams for a few fleeting weeks.

Cherry blossoms are normally supposed to appear in March and April, but I saw my first pink blooms in late February. Actually, our spring weather this year has been pretty wacky. In fact, late February was warmer than the entire month of March; and now in the middle of April, we are still experiencing near freezing temps at night. What is going on?

Different varieties of cherry trees blossom at different times. I also think that certain neighborhoods in London have different weather patterns or temperatures that effect when certain things bloom.

Well, read below to learn where to find some of your own pretty cherry blossoms, either right now or for next season.

Eltham Palace and Gardens
At the end of February, we cycled 13 miles from Clapham Junction to Eltham Palace and Gardens in East London, which is probably best known as the childhood home of King Henry VIII. Today, this English Heritage property is a unique marriage between a Tudor palace and a 1930s millionaire’s mansion. Surprisingly, the nearby neighborhoods and around the palace were already awash with cherry blossoms.

Regent’s Park

In mid-March, I re-discovered the beautiful grove of pink-blossomed trees at the southern end of Avenue Gardens in Regent’s Park. There are lots of photo opportunities here! If you continue walking north through the green park, you’ll end up in Camden, where it’s mandatory you grab a pint at one of the many local pubs.

St. James Park

At the end of March, I finally had a chance to get over to say hello to the Queen. Just kidding. But I did walk past the Buckingham Palace and then wandered around nearby St. James Park to admire the cherry blossoms. While this park is quite pretty and filled with all sorts of birds, I usually avoid going here because there are too many tourists. Don’t miss the pretty pink pelicans if you stop here as well.

Kew Gardens

Since we’re members, I’ve already been to Kew Gardens three or four times this year. My recent visit in April meant a surprise sneak peek at the amazing exhibit of Dale Chihuly, an American artist that specializes in blown glass. The exhibit officially opens tomorrow (April 13^th) and runs through October, so I can’t wait to return and see more of it.

Don’t miss the cherry blossom trees near the Temperate House. You’ll also find Chhuly’s striking, fiery Cattails and Copper Birch Reeds sculptures here.

Greenwich Park

Besides attending a concert at the O2 center in the autumn, I hadn’t been to Greenwich for two years. Getting to Greenwich is a trek from where we live – more than an hour involving two trains or a train and a bus. But I finally went this week to take photos of the cherry blossoms. Coming from Blackheath station, you’ll be entering Greenwich Park from the south where you’ll find several pretty cherry trees awash with pink and white blossoms near the old Deer Park.

Approximately, 100 selfies later taken by my camera remote in Greenwich Park.
Wearing my red and white cherry dress that I bought in Istanbul when we lived there. 

However, the main event at Greenwich Park is a Japanese-style cherry blossom tunnel, which is located on a straight path to the west of the Observatory and Planetarium. If you have the patience, you’ll have to wait a long time to take a photo without people in it or edit them out later. These cherry trees are super popular on Instagram if you search for recent photos of #greenwichpark.

Battersea Park
Since we live near Battersea Park, it’s easy to check out the changing seasons here. There’s an area in the southwest corner of the park which I like to refer to as cherry blossom row. My husband still doesn’t understand what area of the park I am referring to when I tell to meet me by the cherry trees. Sigh!

You might also like:

9 Places to See Spring in Lovely London

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DIY Boozy Sour Cherries

Every time, I’ve decided to do some canning this summer I am reminded of my grandmother and my mom.

When I was growing up in Nebraska, these two matriarchs would spend countless hours in the kitchen preserving our garden’s apples, cherries, peaches and pears. I remember the canning process being a hot mess in the kitchen. Come winter though, I certainly didn’t mind having a bowl of preserved peaches for dessert.

It's the very end of cherry season at Hala Mirowska.

But I know my grandmother never would have thought about making a batch of boozy cherries like I did. For whatever reason, I decided I wanted to preserve some cherries and started looking for recipe ideas online. My husband likes making Manhattans now and then, so homemade maraschino cherries sounded like a good recipe.

Yet, most of the recipes I found called for ingredients that I don’t have such as:

Pomegranate juice

Pure cherry juice

Almond extract

Italian maraschino liqueur made from Marasca cherries

Sure, I’ll run right out to my nearest Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. Oh, like 5,000 miles away from Poland! Maybe some of the ingredients can be found here, but I don’t know yet.

The Poles do make their own cherry liqueur, but the flavor reminds me a bit of cherry-flavored Nyquil. I don’t mind this liqueur as a shot now and then, but I didn’t want to steep a batch of fresh cherries in it.

So, let’s talk about commercial maraschino cherries. Have you ever looked at the ingredient listing on the back? It’s pretty disgusting! The label reads: cherries, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, FD&C red #40 (a petroleum-based product for that neon red color) and sulfur dioxide. (You can read how American maraschino cherries are basically bleached and processed here.)

I even found neon green and blue processed cherries at the store. Yuck!

So I found a way to make my own boozy cherries using whiskey. Bourbon would work well too. I don’t like drinking Manhattans, but I did like the flavor of these delicious boozed-up cherries. The recipe couldn’t be simpler too, I promise!

Hmm….I’m wondering how these cherries would taste as an ice cream topping?

Cheers! Şerefe! Na zdrowie!

Boozy sour cherries are the perfect garnish for a Manhattan cocktail.

Boozy Sour Cherries
Yields: 4-5 pints

500      g.         (16 oz.)            sour cherries (pitted) (Frozen ones would work here.)
Juice from                               1/2 a lemon
1          ea.                                vanilla bean, split2

1-2      ea.                                cinnamon stick
220      g.         (1 c.)                granulated sugar
500      ml.       (2 c.)                whiskey or bourbon

In a medium-sized pot, combine your booze of choice with the sugar, vanilla bean, cinnamon stick, sugar and lemon juice. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. If you have a gas burner, be very careful so your pot doesn’t flame up.

Place cherries in the jars. Ladle hot liquid into the jars, leaving a ¼-inch headspace. Seal.

You can either refrigerate the jars now, or proceed with canning. Place jars into boiling water and process for 10 minutes.

Once canned, let cool. Age in a cool, dark place.

So, who wants a jar of boozy sour cherries for Christmas?

More recipes:

DIY Maraschino Cherries

This NY Times recipe for Maraschino Cherries is popular.

More cherry ideas from a fabulous preserving site called Punk Domestics.

A scientific approach for Cocktail Cherries.

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DIY Cherry-Lemonade Cocktail

Using Turkish Kiraz to make Limonata

Cherries, from bright red to sunset orange, are everywhere right now in Istanbul.

I love cherries, but sometimes I forget I have them in the fridge. So the other day, I came across a bunch of kinda mushy kiraz and decided to cook them in a simple syrup.

Mountains of cherries at the pazar and manav in Istanbul. 

At first, I was thinking of making a refreshing lemonade or limonata as the drink is called here in Turkey. Restaurants charge as much as 12 tl for this drink, but I made enough limonata mix for 4 drinks for about half that price.

Making this cherry-lemonade mix from scratch is fairly easy - a similar method to my Homemade Ginger Ale recipe.

If you want a fun summer cocktail instead, just replace some of the sparkling water or soda water with vodka (which you have stored in the freezer, of course).

What's your favorite way to use summer's bounty of cherries?

Afiyet olsun!

Sipping my pretty cherry-lemonade cocktail at home.

Cherry-Lemonade Cocktail

Ingredients:

1          c.         (210 g.)            granulated sugar

1          c.         (240 ml.)          water

About 1 lb. or 500 g.               fresh cherries, rinsed but not pitted

Juice                                        half a lemon

As needed:      Sparkling water (I used Uludağ Doğal Zengin Mineralli Su) or soda water

                        Chilled vodka

                        Ice cubes

                        Lime wedges

In a medium-sized pot, add the sugar, water, cherries and lemon juice. Cook over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves, stirring often. I let my mixture come to a boil and then pulled the pot off the heat.

Let the mixture cool until it is room temperature.

Then, strain the mixture, pressing down on the cherries to extract as much liquid as possible; or strain the mixture through cheesecloth. The cherry syrup can be used now or stored in a clean container in the refrigerator for later use. I prefer to have a chilled syrup.

To make a glass of Cherry-Lemonade Cocktail:

1/4       c.         (60 ml.)            cherry syrup

1/4       c.         (60 ml.)            fresh lemon juice

1/4       c.         (60 ml.)            chilled vodka

Fill a cocktail shaker with these ingredients and a couple of  ice cubes. Shake together. Pour into a glass.

Then top off your glass with 1/4 c. (60 ml.) sparkling water or soda water.

(HINT: do not add the fizzy water to your martini shaker like I did at first because it will make a HUGE mess! That's why hubby is generally the bartender.)

Garnish with a lime wedge.

To make a non-alcoholic drink, substitute 1/2 c. (120 ml.) sparkling water or soda water for the vodka.

Now, take your cocktail or normal limonata and imagine you are on the beach. At least, that's what I did.

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Baking with Vişne (Sour Cherries)

Since I’ve been on a roll with baking this week, I decided to make some cherry pies.

The other day I snapped up these late-harvest vişne (sour cherries) at a manav while visiting Büyükada.

Beautifully summer red sour cherries!

One bite of these Turkish vişne and it reminded me of the sour cherries trees in my backyard while growing up in Nebraska. Being the little monkey that I was, I would climb up in the trees and sit among the branches, plucking off the cherries and eating them one by one. My mom and maternal grandmother also would can dozens of jars with these cherries to last throughout the winter.

Cherry pie is an all-American classic dessert - a necessity in the summertime! It wasn’t difficult to make this recipe with Turkish ingredients as everything was fairly similar. However, how I decided to mold the pies turned out to be a real pain!

Last year, I received this cute, plastic pie mold as a wedding present. Something I never used until now because I never had the time when I was working full-time in the U.S. Well, it might be the last time I use it because making these individual pies were a pain in the butt! The mold is easy to use, but my pies didn’t seal all the way so the cherry juices came oozing out while baking in the oven.

Maybe I’ll try again down the road as I don’t give up easily. But for now, I’ll share the cherry pie filling recipe with you. Let me know what you decide to create with your Turkish vişne.

Afiyet Olsun!

At least these cherry pies sure look cute! Hubby approved and ate his serving with
 my homemade peach ice cream. Meanwhile, I enjoyed mine for breakfast.

Vişne (Sour Cherry) Pie Filling

Ingredients:
70 ml. (2.5 oz.) cold water
30 g. (3.5 T.) mısır nişastası (cornstarch)
825 g. (29 oz.) vişne (sour cherries), rinsed and pitted (Note: I purchased 1 kilo, but this is the amount I ended up with after I destemmed and pitted the cherries.)
210 ml. (7.5 oz.) water
230 g. (8 oz.) vanilla sugar or plain granulated sugar
1 T. fresh lemon juice
25 g. (-1 oz.) butter

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the cold water and cornstarch together. Set aside.
2. Place the water in a medium-sized saucepot. Bring to a boil. Whisk in the starch mixture. Return to a boil. (This happens rather quickly.)
3. Add the sugar, lemon juice and butter. Simmer until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture has thickened.

The mixture will look like this and boil very quickly.

4. You may have some starch lumps so you can strain the mixture, using a metal sieve. Then pour the hot syrup over the the cherries and mix gently, using a rubber spatula.
5. Let the cherries cool completely before adding to your pie shells.

Just a spoonful of cherries.

This filling also could be used and served alongside cheesecake or as a topping for ice cream.

Or use your favorite pie dough recipe and make a large cherry pie or individual ones like I did below.

After cutting out star shapes from your pie dough, place 1 star in the mold with
1+ Tablespoon of the cherry pie filling.

Place a second star, with a ventilation cut-out, on top. Slightly press down to seal
the edges. Then press the mold together, clamping down, to seal tightly.

Place your finished stars on a baking sheet. Place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes
so the dough has time to chill. Brush an egg wash over the top of each star.
Bake at 400 F/200 C for about 20 minutes or until the edges are
golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Remove from the trays shortly after
removing from the oven or they will stick if any filling has oozed out.

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Baking With Kiraz (Cherries)

When life gives you a bowl of cherries, bake a cake!

For the past month or so, the pazar stalls have been full of truly bright, pretty-as-a-picture kiraz (cherries). Every week, I buy a half kilo just so I can eat the kiraz plain or once in awhile, pitted and mixed into my yogurt. Oh, I guess I did make a classic French claufoutis one weekend and a cherry compote as well.

This weekend, while I baked the dulce de leche cupcakes, I set aside the remaining cake batter. I had nearly 4 dozen mini cupcakes already so I figured that was plenty. I dug out one of my round 9-inch cake pans, pitted a handful of cherries, placed them in bottom of the parchment paper-lined pan and poured the remaining cake batter on top.

The end result is a dense, brown sugar-vanilla cake studded with fresh cherries. The cake probably could use a few more cherries and a bit of tweaking, but it still is a good summer-time treat. It would be even better with some homemade ice cream if I had the time!

Today, I’m bringing the cake to a luncheon I’m going to with some of the other American expat ladies. I hope they enjoy it too!

Afiyet Olsun!

The cherry cake takes the stage on my newly, gifted cake plate designed
by Turkish cartoonist Behiç Ak, available at Paşabahçe Mağazaları in Istanbul.

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Making Cheesecake with Friends

When my pastry class was cancelled the other day, I decided to invite my friends to my home instead.

I was really disappointed there weren’t enough people signed up for my class at the Istanbul Culinary Institute. Luckily, I knew three of the gals and immediately asked if they’d want to meet during the afternoon instead.

A resounding yes!

So Monday morning, I printed out my recipes, measured and prepped all the ingredients and organized the kitchen for us. It was just like being back in my professional kitchens. I’m so happy I brought my 10-piece glass bowl set with me. I use it all the time to organize my ingredients!

I had a great time talking, laughing and sharing my knowledge with these friends. We all come from different backgrounds and places - the Midwest, Oklahoma, Ohio and the Congo - and are here for different reasons, which involve our husbands, of course.

They all agreed that the recipes were fairly easy! Exactly! That’s what I always try to point out to people. Anyone can cook or bake once you take the time to do it.

My friend and fellow blogger, Sheryl, at The Altered Passport, is offering up a challenge for those in the U.S. to make my recipe below. Please click over to her blog to read more and see all the photos she took from our fun afternoon.

I think I would like to host more pastry and baking classes like this one in my home this fall. Any locals interested?

Afiyet olsun!

Photo of a plain Turkish-NY style cheesecake topped with my homemade
cherry compote. Two of the recipes I taught my friends.

Joy’s No-Bake Cheesecake
Yields: about 8 individual glasses or 1 - 8 or 10 inch-round cheesecake (We used colorful, stemless wine glasses in my class.)

125 g. biscuit cookies, finely ground (I used Eti Finger Bisküvi) or graham cracker crumbs
75 g. brown sugar (Tip: I make my own brown sugar by mixing in a bit of üzüm pekmezi with white granulated sugar.)
pinch     ground cinnamon
75 g.         butter, melted

450 g.         cream cheese (krem peynir), at room temperature
10 ml.         (2 tsp.) lemon juice

475 ml.         heavy whipping cream (krema)
75 g.          granulated sugar
Splash vanilla extract (If you had a vanilla bean, you could also add that here too.)

Optional:         Top the cake with homemade fruit compote or canned pie filling before placing in fridge.

1.     In a small bowl, stir together the biscuit crumbs, brown sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter and mix well. Press into the bottom of an 8 or 10-inch springform pan or distribute into individual glasses. Chill until firm. Omit this step if you are placing in glasses. (Optional: you also can bake this crust for about 7-8 minutes for a crispier crust.)
2.     In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese and lemon juice until smooth.
3.     In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream and vanilla very stiff, gradually adding the sugar. Then add to the cream cheese mixture and carefully mix together so as not to deflate the whipped heavy cream. You should get no lumps this way.
4.     Pour into the chilled crust, and top with fruit filling. Or add the cheesecake filling into the glasses and top with the cherry compote. Chill several hours or overnight. Just before serving, remove the sides of the springform pan, so you can slice it.
(As you can see from Sheryl’s photos, we didn’t wait for the cheesecake to chill. We consumed immediately!)

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