It's been one of those weekends where loads seems to have happened if you know what I mean. As it had seemed like such a long time since Mr C and I had had a day out anywhere we planed to make the most of the dry weather and lack of snow and headed up the A1 to the RSPB reserve at Sandy. We've been RSPB members for a while now, but often don't seem to make enough use of our membership and this trip was an attempt to turn that around. I was amazed at how large the reserve site was as it provided several different walking routes around through a mix of heathland, ... read more
Food for thought
Although we didn't get any snow, yesterday was a very grey day. Even by nine o'clock in the morning the skies still looked very heavy and made it see much earlier than it was. A day that needed to be spend inside the house. A fresh batch of scone (from a tried and tested Delia recipe) enjoyed with a cup of tea and catching up with the BBC Cranford series (how did I miss this when it was originally on TV?). Lovely. It also gave me time to make great progress with a second bootee, this time to match the version 2 one that I completed earlier in the week. The other thing ... read more
52 in 2010
Rosie drew my attention recently to a plan that she and some other bloggers have to try 52 new recipes in 2010. I figure that a challenge like that looks like a good one and it may also give me a good reason to make better use of the large number of cookbooks that are sat in my kitchen.I figure 52 in a year is only one a week and that shouldn't be too difficult, should it? I admit things may get a bit difficult come the summer, but I'm determined to give it a go. I'm not sure if there are any formal rules so to speak, but I plan to count any recipes in my tally - main meals, ... read more
Countdown to Christmas
Only four more working days to go and then the level of blogging really should increase - or more accurately, the point at which I no longer have a valid excuse for a lack of posts.Along with finishing work there is the obvious count down to Christmas going on as well. The tree is up, the wreath is on the front door and I've even started writing cards. Shame that I'm not so organised on the present front. To make up for not seeing friends for far too long Mr C and I did have a bit of a festive gathering at the weekend though. My baking efforts went into overdrive with ... read more
A busy afternoon in the kitchen
In fact such a busy afternoon that I didn't get round to picking the camera up at any point to share it with you - sorry!A batch of ginger cup cakes are made and cooling on the rack before they get iced with some lovely fudge flavoured icing that I've got the recipe for. I've also completed a batch of mince pies for some friends that are coming round on Saturday. First time I've done these in the new oven though and they ended up in there for nearly twice as long as I used to do them in the old oven. I may therefore have to get Mr C to try one later on to ensure that ... read more
Planned excitement
Still feeling rough from a cold that I seem to have picked up, but to cheer myself up I've this morning booked tickets for a couple of things that I'm planning to do over the next couple of months.Firstly I'm going along to the annual Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace. This is an event that I've been along to many times over the last few years. I normally spend most of my time going round the stalls, but this year their theme is make do and mend, something that I'm always interested in. The demonstration parts of the day may therefore be of ... read more
The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
By the time I reached central London on the train yesterday morning I felt so hungry! The culprit being an impulse purchase in the garden centre on Sunday of The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. One of my work colleague J has being going on about this cookbook for ages, mainly as his two young daughters keep feeding him with various things that they'e been baking from it.I've not had the opportunity to actually bake anything from it yet, but I did manage to read it cover to cover on the train and the photos make it all look so yummy! The Hummingbird Bakery specialises in ... read more
Making a change
I'm not at all afraid of hard work, I just wish I was working directly for myself in a slightly nicer working environment. Possibly one that looks like the above, which is very conveniently located at home. How to make that a reality, whilst still paying the mortgage is what makes it a little more tricky.Unless someone wants to pay me to stay at home and bake, read, knit and blog! Any offers or ideas considered... These lovely cupcakes provided some late night snacks at our housewarming party over the weekend. A very simple sponge and then topped with lovely icing made by taking a hint ... read more
Delia’s Plum & Cinnamon Oat Slices
My Mother in Law brought round a bag of plums from her neighbour's garden the other day which was lovely - but left me with the question of what the heck to do with them! I have to admit that I've never cooked or baked with plums before, but it's always good to try something new. A quick check through all my cook books found a couple of recipes, but in the end I went for plum and cinnamon oat slides from The Delia Collection: Baking. It's quite a simple recipe where you end up baking a flapjack like thing with a layer of plums between two layers of oat mixture. The plums ... read more
Gran’s ginger biscuits
One of the strongest memories from childhood is being given home made ginger biscuits whenever we went to visit my Gran. There was always a supply in the biscuit barrel in her sideboard and my sister and I loved them. Gran's now in her nineties and arthritis in her hands prevents her from baking as much as she would like. Whenever I smell anything with ginger in I am taken back to sitting in her back room and munching a biscuit with a glass of squash. Tomorrow is the WWA AGM and I offered to sort out refreshments. Biscuits was the obvious thing to make and it seemed a while since I'd ... read more