The Stint at 46. And doughnuts.

Good evening all,

Sorry it's been so long, but hey, I've been busy.  ON TO BUSINESS!

Things are coming together a bit at the inlaws (and the sitch that shall heretofore be called 'the stint at 46').  Today I completed the glosswork in the bedroom (skirting, doors and coving) and got another coat of blackboard paint on the cupboards in the kitchenny bit.  I also got to smash 'Bizarre Kitchen Island Unit' with a sledgehammer.  That felt pretty good.  I also painted the wall my old favorite, Chic Shadow by Dulux.  We got a lot of stuff cleared out of the room too, which helped a buttload.

Mid progress:

The grey on the walls really calms it all down a notch.

 And here we have the best shot I took of the missing kitchen Island.

I had to all the painting with a brush and not a roller because it's actually tongue and groove panelling, so that was fun.  On the plus side however, because we did a whole bunch of work there today, this is what we had for dinner:

That's right, you crazy kids.  Homemade sugar doughnuts, fresh out of the pan, smothered in sugar and cinnamon.  They were truly epic.  

So, to recap:

Cons:  Essentially homeless.  Pros:  Doughnuts for dinner.

Oh, we also had a charity bake sale at work, you know the drill.

Check it, yo.

Smarties Cake and Friends...

Good evening,

I've spent the last two evenings baking my arse off in the name of charity.  To raise money for my companies charities we often hold bake sales.  These rather inoffensive events can easily turn into a competitive 'Great British Bake Off' if you're not careful.  Ask anyone who knows me, they'll tell you I'm not famed for being careful.  So, I baked a cake I've seen over on the Pinterest.  I present...

The Chocolate Smarties KitKat cake (Hell Yes).

In all fairness, it was a pretty easy cake to make, although I never want to unwrap another KitKat, ever again.  It's basically a chocolate sponge, covered in buttercream, with KitKats stuck to the outside and Smarties poured on top.  Simple, but effective.  This cake is going to be raffled at the bake sale, so it had to be robust enough to stand a journey both IN and OUT of work again.

I also baked a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, a regular chocolate cake, some vanilla cupcakes, a ginger cake aaaaaaaand a lemon drizzle cake.  What can I say?  I like to bake.

More epic Smarties cake... Actually, I think I'll dedicate this to my Blog Stalker.  You know who you are ;-)

And on that rather delicious note, I shall leave you!  I'll try and get some pictures of the cake trolley tomorrow laden with goodies, including homemade flapjacks, made by someone else, but from my secret recipe! (FYI, the secret is cornflakes.  Shhhhh!)

Good evening all,

I found a photography challenge on Pinterest quite a while ago and have been waiting to start it for ages.  Waiting and waiting and waiting.  Well, I shall wait no more!  I'm just going to jump on in and get started.

Wish me luck!

My own personal Forest

Not much going on around here lately, so here's some allotment updates... We're off to paint the shed and do some digging tomorrow.  My peppers and tomatoes are coming along finely and have been repotted.  Aren't they doing well!?

In other news, I've mislaid my memory card for my camera, so until I find it we're back to iPhone pics.  (Or I could pinch one off the Mr...)

Seedlings are a-growing...

Hi Everyone,

After three weeks on a sunny windowsill above a radiator, my seedlings have started to flourish.  I've got two types of tomatoes and a couple of pepper types.  Soon it will be time to pot these babies on...

See you soon!

Cooking for a New Mum...

Good Morning All.

My sister has just given birth to a beautiful baby girl (cue 'ahhhhs')...

I know absolutely nothing about kiddos, and when I held her in the hospital I was straight up petrified.  I know it's nice to offer to help out at home when someone has a new baby, y'know, so that mum can nap and get clean and rest, but I have NO CLUE.

I figured the most helpful thing I could do would be to batch cook a few meals for them.  (There's mum, dad, and two boys already...)  Oh, I also made cupcakes with pink satin flags.

Welcome to the world, little'un!

Allotted time!

Good Morning!

After sitting on a waiting list for three years, I have finally become the proud owner of an allotment.  It's a half size plot, and in pretty good shape, but there's still plenty of work to be done.  I'll keep you all updated as things grow, and will probably end up posting recipes for my produce too!

Watch this space!

Furoshiki!

Good Afternoon all,

I'd like to share with you my latest obsession:  The Japanese art of Furoshiki, or cloth folding.  This is usually used to wrap gifts or carry things such as books or even watermelons!

I've been using a (homemade) furoshiki wrap for my lunch this week, and I think it's super cute!  I made the furoshiki wrap by cutting up a square of fabric (that I made from the same fabric as my ironing board cover) and hemmed a simple edge onto it.  Then the fun started...

 Lay the cloth out in a diamond in front of you...

Pop your lunch in the centre of the cloth- I use a small clippy box for fruit and a medium clippy box for soup or leftovers or whatever.  There's usually a banana or a cereal bar balanced in there too...

 Take the left and right corners and bring them up over the lunch and tie in a double knot...

 Turn the whole thing round so the loose sides are on the left and right again and bring these up, a bit like wrapping a present.

 Both sides up...

 ...And tied in a double knot.  I tend to do this quite loosely, and not tie the knot too close to the lunch inside, so it acts like a carrying handle.

You can even slip your chopsticks through the 'under-knot'.  I really like the way this looks, and the way it holds your lunch together, especially if you're like me and end up with all sorts of random or loose items in your lunch!  The good thing about this is that it doesn't matter if your lunch is an awkward shape either, because you're not forcing your food into a square box! :)

Sugar Skull Facepaint!

Good Morning,

We went to a Halloween themed birthday party last night with the instructions to 'maybe, sort of, dress upp, y'know, if you feel like it'.  We went down the plain-clothes-sugar-skull-face route, and I think it worked quite well!  Enjoy!

Mini Apple and Blackberry Pie

Good Afternoon all,

As progress with the house has slowed a little, please indulge my frequent posts about baking. I've just bought two tiny, super cute pie dishes from Cargo Homestores, via Amazon. They arrived on Wednesday and I was amazingly keen to make a cute dessert for the Mr. Cue rummaging through the fruit bowl and freezer...In the end I used an apple and some blackberries that I picked and froze from our trip to Manor Farm Country Park. I also decided to try a lattice crust, which I've never really done before, and I think it worked rather well.

And here is a pic of the pie once baked and crispy...

To give some idea of size and scale of the cute mini pie dishes, here is how big they really are!

The pastry was ready roll shortcrust pastry (I know, I'm lazy) and the filling was made using one apple (I think it was a golden delicious or something, just what I had in the fruit bowl) peeled and cut into chunks. I popped this in a bowl with about a tablespoon of caster sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon and microwaved on high for 2 and a half minutes. Then I added in a handful of frozen rasberries and drained off the syrupy liquid. I lined the dish with pastry and filled it with the fruit. I cut the rest of the pastry into strips and put a lattice on top, brushing the edge with milk to make sure it stuck. Then I trimmed the edges, brushed the top with more milk and sprinkled a little lot more sugar and cinnamon on top.

Bake at about 180C for 15 to 20 minutes (perhaps longer if you're making more than one) then EAT!

Baby Shower!

Good Evening All!

I've just finish clearing away after a very successful baby shower.  Unfortunately this is going to be another cake-related post.  I will get back to the house at some point, I promise...

So,  Remember the chocolate ombre cake I made a few weeks back?  Well that was a practice cake for the baby shower.  I made a pink one this time and made the 'roses' a little smaller, and I'm pretty proud of how it turned out.  (I also made cake pops, sausage rolls, quiche and biscuits...)

Sorry the pictures aren't that great but the lighting kinda sucked and people were arriving whilst I was trying to put it together!  It was great fun though, and I think my Sis had a really ace time!