Vinegar

Salad dressing is incredibly easy to make with ingredients you probably already have around the house. And the basic recipe is so versatile that anyone and everyone will be making their own favorite dressings in no time at all. You start with a simple mix of oil and vinegar - 1/3 to 1/2 oil, and the rest vinegar. Use whatever type of oil you like - olive, canola, vegetable, or as we use here, grape seed. Same goes for vinegar - really all you are looking for is something with a bit of tang. So regular white vinegar works, but some of the fancier ones usually add more character. Regular off-the-shelf apple cider vinegar is one of my favorite. In this video we experiment with rice vinegar for the first time. Lemon juice also works exceptionally well.

When I was a kid, the grandmother of one of my friends used to make toffee apples and sell them to all the kids in the neighbourhood. This was an important part of the summer in the Red Row - Mrs Fiefield's toffee apples! Recently a friend was talking about making caramel apples, and this reminded me of my childhood. I finally got around to making these for the boys, and the first attempt turned out extremely well. As I perfect the recipe I'll do a video.

This was surprisingly easy to make even for someone like me who has never made boiled candy before. I did not have a candy thermometer but I did have my trusty brewing thermometer, which is accurate even up to the 150C required to make this.