After quite a tough day at work I decided to do some baking on Monday evening whilst Mr C worked late. I've been reading Jane Brocket's Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer for quite a few months now, but haven't actually tried that many recipes from it.Mr C's a big raspberry jam fan and hence the recipe for Mary Poppins' strike-me-pink raspberry jam cakes seemed like an obvious choice. The recipe makes them sound quite simple to make - a soft dough, make into twelve balls and then shape each ball as if you're making a crude clay pot (like at school pottery ... read more
Low power usage fines…
I admit that this is all I've read about this, but I'm slightly frustrated all the same.This story that I found on the BBC news website today tells of a woman who is being "fined" by British Gas for using too little electricity. As someone who uses a pre-pay meter it seems that she is below the threshold that British Gas has set as minimum usage. Apparently Mrs Pracy made improvements under the Warm Front initiative and hence cut her usage down to below this threshold. I admit I don't have the full story here but I still ... read more
Bullfinches on the feeder
Since receiving a pair of binoculars for Christmas I've been watching out for birds much more than before - and have been able to see them closer up than ever before too.I was thrilled on Sunday whilst down at the WWA to see something bright and slightly unusual in a tree near the feeder. One of the other committee members that was down in the hide with me helped me to identify it as a bullfinch. Reading up now on the RSPB website I note that bullfinches now have a "red status" meaning that they meet the following ... read more
Home and woops…
I feel like I come here quite often at the beginning of a weekend to apologies for a lack of posts within the week. This may be a bit of a deja vu for some readers, but this time I have a damn good excuse (well at least I think so).On Thursday Mr C and I finally had an offer accepted on a house that we want to buy! This is the fourth house that we've tried to buy in the last year and to say that I am excited is an understatement!I know that there is still so, so much that may go wrong with this planned purchase but please indulge me on this for a little while and then I'll try and keep ... read more
A pair of socks
It's taken me a while, but I am so proud to say that I have finally finished my first pair of knitted socks!I did stop and start these quite a few times, but the practice on the first one certainly made the second one much easier. They're not perfect by a long way, and I'm not so keen on the yarn used, but they're functional as far as socks go. I started off using the pattern that came with the sock kit that I bought from John Lewis, but soon found myself quite stuck. Luckily the wonderful people at Web of Wool helped me out when I met them at the ... read more
Home sweet home
Mr C and I have spent the weekend trying to find a new home. In two days we've looked at eight houses in St Albans and driven round checking a few more out from the outside. We've been looking now for eighteen months and to be honest we're getting rather tired. Somehow when it comes to actually seeing the houses Mr C really enjoys it, but after a couple I start to feel rather weary. By the end of yesterday I was shattered.The good news is that we do seem to have found a couple that we like the look of. We obviously need to go back and look at them again, but it does at least tell ... read more
Dead Souls – Ian Rankin
I think that may have been my second reading of Ian Rankin's Dead Souls, but when I found a copy on the book sharing book shelf at work and read the cover I have to admit that I wasn't sure if I'd read it before or not. Even if I did it shouldn't distract from what is a fantastic book.I went through a bit of a Rankin and Rebus phase a few years back when I read every book that had been published at the time. It's been a while though since I picked up any of Ian Rankin's books and I'm so glad that I did as reading Dead Souls reminded me why I enjoy ... read more
National Trust typical visitors
As you may have picked up from previous posts, Mr C and I are National Trust members and enjoy popping into their properties and gardens as we travel around the UK. It was therefore with great interest that I read Dav's post about his visit to his local NT property Beningborough Hall. One particular paragraph grabbed my attention:"I was pleased to see the amount of visitors there, mostly fitting into the NT stereotypical demographics of families with young children and retired couples. I’m always happy to not conform."What true words Dav speaks! As ... read more
Would you shop here?
I'm always amazed at the obsession with "celebrity" that seems to go on and how some shops and restaurants try to cash in on this. Outside the Belvedere Palace in Vienna we saw the following adverts on a lamppost.The question has to be, would this make you shop here? ... read more
Playing for Pizza – John Grisham
If you're anything like me then I'm pretty sure that you'll hear the name John Grisham and instantly think of American lawyers and books in which the underdog beats a large company, law firm or even the law itself. That's how all John Grisham books that I've read before have panned out. Playing for Pizza couldn't be more different!In this book we follow the story of Rick Dockery. Rick played American Football for an NFL team in the States, until he gave the worst performance of his life in a crucial match. At this point he became a ... read more