Jam, picnics and cake, frogs to kiss, and a busy life...!

Ready for a catchup?! Here's what I've been up to of late...

 I made jam - plum jam, to be specific. I love plum jam, especially in PB & J's!












 The weather has been, at times, glorious! This was an amazing picnic we had as a house, with cake and biscuits and sunshine...!










 I made this cake for my housemate's birthday. It's a classic victoria sponge, with whipped cream and jam in the middle... mmmmn! Nothing quite beats a cake like that for the sunny weather!








 And I spent a weekend in Sherwood Forest, chilling out. I saw lots of these little guys, and rescued a few from the middle of roads so that they wouldn't get trodden on.




Other than that, I've spent a lot of time doing work for Nanny College. We have had many deadlines, and lots of preparations to make ready for job hunting in a couple of months. I handed in my last piece of work on Monday, and have been catching up on sleep ever since! I almost don't know what to do with myself now that I have some time off. But only almost! I'm headed back to my parents' in two days for a week or so, so I have to pack, and clean my bedroom here in Bath. I also have to clean the kitchen, as it's my job on the rota this week. I also want to do a little sewing - not much, but I want to make a block tonight! We'll see though. Tomorrow I'm meeting a friend for coffee - how I've missed my Niminy Cricket! I can't wait to see her tomorrow morning. And in the afternoon I'm visiting another friend. so I don't have much time left before I'm headed back to Manchester to do the cleaning needed... Who wanted a quiet life, anyway?!

I also received my bridesmaid dress for my best friend's wedding, so at some point I will post photos of it - once it's properly fitted to me, anyway!

Speak again soon.

Love love xx

The Maggot Aftermath with its ups and downs, and some welcome housemates who engage in baking with me!

I know, that last post was just disgusting, wasn't it? well, in case you were worried, the cupboard is now officially clean and spotless; no sign that the maggots were ever there:

See?! Ta dah! All better now! Of course, I wasn't all better - all the yucky maggot cleaning meant that I slept really badly the following night, and then was really vomity the next day, and really ill and whiny. My poor parents! They received numerous phone calls where there was nothing they could really do! But once I'd had a good sleep I felt I much better, and a week later I'm all good!

My housemates have almost all arrived back now, and I no longer have the house to myself - booo! but it does mean lots of good conversation and some wonderful friends who are willing cleaners! We are not your typical students...

I baked with one of my housemates today, Libby (the one who owns Norwegian Blue fish!). She has just started getting a children's magazine made by a particular well known global company which makes films about princesses and mice in clothing for children. So I taught her how to make shortbread, and she made these biscuits:

Not bad, huh?! We had leftover dough which didn't want to turn into the cartoon mouse heads, so I rolled it out and she chose another cutter from my box. the hearts go well, I think! The mouse head was one of those cutters where you cut the shape out, and then they give you another tool to press the face markings in:

Now, I'm normally a super lazy chef, and I just stick the biscuits in the oven straightaway. But as any baker will tell you, if you do that, your biscuits will spread. And we didn't want deformed biscuits. So we chilled them in the fridge first, then popped them in. And they came out very clearly! My recipe for shortbread is a very simple one, from the Good Housekeeping Cookery Book - I think it's under 1-2-3 biscuits. I double the amount, and tweak it a little. But, just in case anyone doesn't know it, here it is:

1 oz sugar
2 oz butter
3 oz plain flour
1 splash vanilla

Mix your butter and sugar together, then stir your flour. Keep stirring, even though it looks too dry, and it will eventually form into big lumps. Squash those together into a dough ball. Pop it in plastic wrap or a food bag and pop it in the fridge for 20 minutes (or not at all if you're feeling lazy!) Take it out and roll it out on a well-floured surface so that it's about 1/4" thick. Cut your shapes out and place them on a tray covered with greaseproof paper. When you can't cut anymore out, squash the dough back together and re-roll and cut untilt here's no dough left. Pop the tray into the fridge for another 20 minutes whilst you preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Pop the tray in the oven for about 8-10 minutes. take them out when they're light golden in colour.


And that's it! Try not to re-roll the dough or fuss with it too much, as it makes it tough. And be aware that the biscuits should still feel soft-ish when they come out of the oven, but they will harden as they cool. If you leave them in the oven until they're hard, they'll be horrid later! Of course, you know all this, I know, but it helps to say it anyway just in case!

Tomorrow I'm back to church, and Monday I start at my placement - I'm working with a family this semester, and they're lovely people. I had lunch with them on Thursday. Plus, they live only a 20 minute walk from me! Bargain! Wish me luck!

Love love xx

Mug Rugs, Pyjamas, Apron, Biscuits and a Book and a Booking

So I know I said I would update yesterday, but the male members of my family decided yesterday was the day to fool around with the internet connection in the house, so I was unable to!

So over the past week I've been making these things called mug rugs - about the size of a placemat and made like a miniature quilt, they're big enough to put a mug and a biscuit on at the same time, for cozy afternoons on the sofa with a good book or some knitting! I invented the design myself, which I'm rather chuffed about; and I will be making another post at some point as a sort of tutorial for making it. It may not be so great, though, since I've never actually done a tutorial before. But that will come later at some point. Anywho, would you like to see the four mug rugs I've made so far? Of course you do!






Don't you think they're pretty?! I'm kind of in love with them, even if I do say so myself!

Aand a little bit closer! They're all the same design, but I put the mug in a different place for each of them  for fun. And the backs are all rather pretty fabrics - but I don't have a picture of them right now, I'm afraid!








As I said, a tutorial on making those will come soon. Another thing I did this past week was to make myself some pyjama trousers. They're cotton and lightweight, and very comfortable:

 Isn't the fabric lovely?! And yes, those are gigantic cuffs on them! They have a sort of yoke at the top too made from the same fabric. And they're zipped, instead of gathered elastic. Now all I have to do is to make the top to go with them! I know what I'm doing, and I have two fabrics to choose between. But it's a pattern that can be worn during the day, so maybe I'll use the other fabric to make a top for during the day!




And the last thing I made this last week was my apron for college. I don't know if I mentioned at any point, I'm going to university to train to be a nanny? So we're required to bring an apron, presumably for cooking. This is mine:

 It's a sort of cotton canvas material, and my mum and I worked out the pattern between us. It's pretty basic, but has a pleated skirt. Hopefully this fabric won't show the stains too much!






And that's what I've been doing! I also baked some yummy biscuits, and read The Railway Children. I saw the wife for a few hours on Thursday. She's gone back up to Newcastle today, and her volunteering starts tomorrow. The next time I see her will be mid-August, when we're going to London to see Les Mis. Yes, we've timed it to be between the Olympics and the Paralympics. We originally did this so that accommodation would be cheaper, but then a friend with a flat in London has offered it to us as a place to stay. I haven't cancelled our bought accommodation yet, just in case he flakes out, because I don't entirely trust him. But when I originally booked it I paid the extra pound for insurance on cancelling, so I can cancel up until noon of the day of check-in and still get my money back. And then I won't see the wife again until Christmas, most likely! But there we go.

I'll try to write this tutorial tomorrow, but no promises. Until then - !

Love love xx

The Wife and Moving, Uncover, Rolo filled Cookies

The wife was round yesterday. She moves back up to Newcastle and into her new house tomorrow. Aside from our trip to London in August, I'm not going to see her for probably about the next 6 months. Don't ask me how I'm feeling about this.

Anyway, she was round yesterday, and we did a little more in this booklet called Uncover. We've been working on it for a while, doing one chapter a week. It's basically a walkthrough of key parts of the gospel of Luke, with questions about how the messages in it relate to today's society and problems. We've been finding it to be a great way to open us up to talking about our problems and then praying about them. And then we made cookies!

These are cookies we'd been planning to make for a while, ever since we saw them on pinterest. But when we went to the site with the recipe, we were a bit disappointed. This is a frustration I often feel about pinterest: you see a great idea for something to bake, pin it, click on the link, and the recipe asks for a box of some kind of cake mix. I'm sorry, but cake mix is not an ingredient!! But the site was pretty good other than that for instructions, and it was a great idea, and we had the rolo's. So we dug up my classic cookie recipe and played with it a little to make the cookie mix. And came up with these:

Okay, so they don't actually look much like the pin we were trying to replicate. But they were gooey, and chewy and so, so good!!

 Some of them had the rolo's melt and you got this amazing caramel bit which was just glorious! And who cares if they're not exactly like what we pinned? These were better, because they were near enough to us that we could eat them!








Recipe, you say? But of course!

3 oz butter
3 oz granulated sugar
3 oz brown sugar
a few drops of vanilla essence
1 egg
6 oz self-raising flour (substitute on tablespoon of flour for 1 tablespoon cocoa powder)
pinch of salt
3 tubes of rolo's

Cream butter and sugars together.
Thoroughly incorporate egg and vanilla essence.
Incorporate flour, cocoa powder and salt.
take spoonfuls of mix, squash a rolo into it and shape mix round it. I found 2 teaspoons were a good way to do this!
Drop rolo filled spoonfuls onto parchment-lined baking tray, well spaced.
Bake at 180 degrees C (fan oven) or gas mark 4 for 15-18 minutes. They will sink under fingertips when you poke them. This will pass as they cool.
Let them cool for 5 minutes on the baking tray, then transfer to cooling rack. Eat one whilst they're still molten. Enjoy.

Never say I'm not good to you!

Love love xx

Friday, other people's problems, walking and baking, recipe, visiting, new teeth, Fill In The Blank Friday

It's Friday. I was meant to be doing fun things with my very screwy friend, BM. But she cancelled on me by saying that she 'thought it was next Friday' I had suggested. I smell bull. Because when I say 'shall we do something next Friday' on a Monday I'm talking about the next Friday, not the one after that. But I'd never really expected her to do anything but come up with a reason why she couldn't meet up today. And if I'm really honest, I wasn't particularly in the mood for doing anything with her either considering how she's been recently. I know it's selfish of me - she has depression, and so can't help being how she is, really - but I'm just a bit worn down by other people's problems right now. There are so many people coming to me with their problems and inability to cope. And whilst I'm glad people feel they can do that, I can only take so much.

On the other hand, I went for a good long walk today, through the fields and across the train track and along the field paths beyond it. I saw many trains, and waved to one. The driver waved back as well! And then I came back and baked cookies and made another batch mix ready for when the trays come out of the oven. So I'm going to put that batch in soon and make another batch, and then I'll have done all the cookies I'm doing. It's a really simple recipe, from the Good Housekeeping Cook Book, but I vary what I add to the basic mix. Their basic mix is for chocolate chip and walnut. I don't think I've ever added chocolate chips or walnut to it. I have, however, added pecans, macadamias, hazelnuts, cranberries and cherries in various combinations. Here's the recipe:

3 oz butter
3 oz white sugar
3 oz brown sugar
drop of vanilla/almond essence
1 egg
6 oz self-raising flour
pinch of salt
4 oz whatever you're adding.

Cream butter and sugars. Add essence and egg and mix. Add everything else and mix. spoon onto baking sheets and cook for about 15 minutes at 180 c or gas mark 4. Eat them all. Start again.

See? Simple! Once I have done my third batch of these cookies I will pack for going to my sister's tomorrow. I'm just a little bit very excited! I haven't been up there in ages, so it should be really nice. I need to decided what knitting project I want to start, and she'll help sort me out with yarn and needles. And we're going to go and see the new Muppet film on Sunday, which should be lovely - I haven't been to the cinema in ages, either. My life is so sad! But I am really looking forward to seeing my sister.

Next week, can I just say, is so exciting for me! I finally will have my new teeth fitted!! as in permanently! Having worn a denture for a year, I am so excited to be getting rid of it for 3 new teeth. Yesterday I had them checked at their halfway stage of making, so they were matte and didn't look like real teeth yet. But the dentist was able to check the colour-match, shape, size and fit of them. The new teeth are made of two sort of screw-in centres which are hollow and pale white. The teeth will, I think be glued onto these. But when the dentist was screwing the centres in it was really painful, because they're flared to give a more natural look; and the 2 holes that have been made and formed and maintained by healing caps are narrow and cylindrical. So the dentist didn't screw them all the way in; and she changed my healing caps for some which were marginally bigger and flared to reduce discomfort when the teeth are fitted fully next week.

Finally, today is Friday! Here are my Blanks:

My favourite room in my home is the bathroom. It is the one place where you can have absolute peace - and where you deserve peace! With the job I do, I often find I can't even get a few minutes' peace to wee in the day. So the 10-20 minutes in the shower every morning is absolute bliss to me.

My current decor style is only based on my own bedroom. But light and breezy, I would say. Lots of white!

I wish I could redecorate the kitchen in my house to make it more interesting. My parents have very bland, safe taste; and I like to experiment a bit more with colour!

My dream house absolutely has to have a lot of quirks, like reading nooks and a door hidden behind bookcases and a swing sofa.

One house item I am willing to splurge on is doors and window frames. Weird, I know - but all too often they look shabby or mismatched to the house or just plain grubby.

A decor trend I just don't get is bunting to decorate random bits of house. I just can't see a point to it?

So! That's this week's. I hear cookies calling me; and I have some letters I need to write as well, so I'm going to stop here for now.

Love love xx