all things lovely

An even BETTER comment of the day

2011-01-27T21:31:00.002Z

We had a power cut at work today. The whole street went out. A rip roaring pain in the arse when you run a coffee shop. I had a bowl full of carrot cake batter, another bowl full of mushrooms ready to cook, and customers who (bizarrely) got very excited about the whole 'lights going out and sitting in the dark' thing.

So, picture the scene. No lights. No coffee machine. No till. No heating (minus one degree this morning. Ouch) and all a bit dull and rubbish really. Four members of staff, all very keen for a nice hot cuppa.

One of the girls who works in the cafe said.....

Ready?

Ready for comment of the day?

"Shall I go home and get my kettle, bring it back here to plug in so we can have a cup of tea?"

Send help.

Please?

Hearts and Flowers

2011-01-23T16:07:00.003Z

This week at work has seen much experimentation in the cake department. We acquired an enormous silicone cupcake mould which has been sitting around for a while now, unused. It has been picked up, turned over, muttered about in a 'How many eggs would that take' type way (cafe talk for how big a Victoria sponge mix would we need-7 eggs as it turns out, and 12 ounces of everything else) until finally we decided to stop wimping about and get on with it.

I am so pleased we did. The mould itself has a dip in the middle which basically means that when it's cooked you have a hollow in the cake which can be filled with sweets, presents or anything else that takes your fancy (diamonds, etc.etc) and then iced around it. Cool eh? We filled ours with a mixture of buttercream and hundreds and thousands (also known as fairy dust)

We make a HUGE amount of cakes in the cafe, several a day usually, but never has one gained quite as much attention at this. Apart from possibly the Guinness Cake, which Terry Wogan mentioned on his radio 2 breakfast show once...I digress...small girls and boys Ooohed and Aaahed, as indeed, did their parents. It would make a fab birthday cake for a party too. I think it would be great with jelly beans in the middle. And obviously it can be decorated in a million and one different ways too. I only wish I had taken the photo alongside a regular sized fairy cake to give you an idea of scale. It wouldn't fit in our glass cake domes, which means it has to be made and eaten the same day until we can find a tall enough container to store it, but as it turns out it didn't hang around for long anyway.

If you are keen on buying one I got ours from Amazon, for a fiver, in silicone. Having done various bits of research I discovered that they are more popular than the normal cake tins as the heat is controlled better. And they are much cheaper and go in the dishwasher. Hurrah!

The lovely husband bought me some beautiful red (of course) tulips this week which look beautiful in the kitchen on the table we inherited from a friend of a friend. This isn't actually our main kitchen table (doesn't everyone have two?!) but a general dumping ground and recipe book reading table. Very handy. I love the duck egg blue formica and the drop leaf style.

These are the other cakes we have been experimenting with, for Valentines Day. We have designed two sizes, small and large, with the idea being that children can buy the small ones for their Mums and Dads or teachers, etc.

And big ones for big people! I haven't worked out a gluten free version yet but that's work in progress. They are both chocolate, with chocolate ganache and chocolate hearts.

So there you have it! I have also made an orange and cardamom cake, several lemon drizzles and a sticky marmalade cake with orange icing this week. Yum.

Back to the diet....

Comment Of The Day

2011-01-13T19:41:00.002Z

Mr F and I frequently get home from work and share a 'comment of the day' story.

Today, this was mine.....

Two regular customers came into the cafe this morning. I guess they are in their mid to late sixties. Both ladies are quite well to do and we sometimes have a bit of banter. One of the ladies has a gluten intolerance, and as some of you know we do try to have a good selection of cakes, including at least one gluten free choice. The ladies in question do tend to sit in the cafe for at least two hours nursing one cup of coffee each, and today I made a point of popping over to say hello and see if we could offer them some more coffee and a slice of cake.

I mentioned to the first lady, let's call her Patricia (because that's her name!) that we had made a fabulous dark chocolate gluten free torte which I thought she would enjoy. Whilst I was describing it to her, I was aware that her friend (Bev) was looking me up and down. I turned to her and she said, very kindly,
"Ooh, you do look well you know. You really do look lovely and slim, how on earth did you manage it?" I was about to reply and her Patricia smirked and said (wait for it)

"Yes, but to be honest you were VERY chunky, weren't you?"

Several months ago I would have cried with mortification. Today I laughed and resisted the urge to reply with

"You won't be wanting any torte then?" Instead I pretended to be busy and dashed off for an emergency coffee to try and restore sanity levels.

The lovely girls who work in the cafe were outraged and ready to throw bread rolls at her, but actually, a lot of older people I know are not afraid of being honest. Think of someone you know, anyone, and then think of them losing a few stone. You would notice, wouldn't you? So in a roundabout, rubbish way with words, kind of way, there was a twisted about compliment in there somewhere! and today, fortunately, I could see it!

Does anyone else play the 'Comment of the day' game? if not, give it a go, I almost guarantee it will raise a laugh.

Shhh! there's still a Waitrose Christmas Cake in the kitchen cupboard

2011-01-06T20:32:00.005Z

Well where did the last few months go? I really do need to get my blogging mojo back. Only I am not too sure where I left it...I did look behind the sofa and in the cupboard under the stairs (admittedly I was looking for a pair of red ballerina pumps at the time-still missing in action) but all I found was dust and a lonely mitten.

Still, hopefully this is a positive step in the right direction, no?

Did you have a lovely Christmas? New Year? Isn't it cold out? Really miserable?-just some of the questions I answer on a regular basis at work! Truth be told I am rather pleased it's all out of the way now and we can just Get On. I might be able to save a bit of money now as well. I am really hoping that this will finally be the year of the purchase of the camper van. I have dreamed about it long enough! I hope to be able to get some holidays to Cornwall in as well (or maybe just the one given the previous camper van thing) and practice some more sewing, maybe even go to a night class or two.

Plans are afoot to re-vamp the menu at the cafe too. Lots of warming winter stews and soups, new cakes and sandwich fillings. If anyone has any ideas they would be greatly appreciated. I just feel the need to stir things up a bit on the food front.

Other plans involve getting back to a respectable standard of running, where I was at the beginning of December. It has all fallen by the waywise and I am blaming it on chest infections and snow. The lovely husband and I were due to do a charity run on Boxing Day which was actually cancelled due to deep snow on Cheltenham Racecourse, and actually I was quite pleased. Because I probably would have only managed half of it. Now that the roads and pavements are clear of snow though we can get out again in the evenings, and start building up some decent distances.

Christmas morning,canapes and champagne,yum!

I always HATED exercise and sports at school, because I was rubbish at it and would rather have been baking cakes. My friend and I used to hide in the tennis court when we were supposed to be doing Cross Country (sorry Mum) and deliberately choose positions in hockey that meant we could stand by the goalie and watch the boys on the rugby pitch instead (sorry Dad)

And about 2 hours later......well done the lovely husband!

But since I started working for a living I did quite fancy the idea of getting home and throwing a pair of trainers on. Shame I didn't actually do anything about it throughout my twenties. Would have saved me a fortune in cigarettes and alcohol! But something else I needed to do for ages was lose some weight. I know it's a new year cliche for many, but last February when along with my colleagues I signed up for Race for Life I decided it Was Time. I didn't want to see yet another photo and cringe with embarrassment at being lardy in leggings. So I joined Slimming World. I bought a pair of trainers. I stopped eating biscuits quite to regularly (God how I miss you, biscuits) I swapped my full fat lattes for Skinny lattes and slowly but surely it worked. I have lost just over 4 stone now, and feel great. I just hope it stays off. Lots of lovely tasty food still gets consumed, there is still a bottle of wine on the shopping list and although in theory I probably shouldn't have inhaled quite so many mince pies over the festive break they were blimmin marvelous.

I am not trying to sound smug, it has been a long slog and hard work but I am getting there and it is starting to all make sense in my head now. Lots of people ask me if I feel different. But no, not really. I think because it's taken such a long time, and has been a gradual process, that I probably still feel exactly the same really.

Ooh! maybe I lost my blogging thing alongside an inch or two of thigh?

I hope I get it back. No, not the thigh.....

Sewing Success!

2010-09-12T18:56:00.003+01:00

When you spend time reading blogs it is hard not to be inspired by the wonderful things being created. I love reading craft and sewing books and have been known to knit the odd scarf or two (odd because they are usually wider at the top than the bottom) and make jewellery etc. but still I had a yearning to be good at sewing.

I have fiddled about with a couple of patchwork quilts which I was quite pleased with, but what I really wanted to be able to do was make clothes and handbags, things I could use on a daily basis.

Not being a sewer I found it very hard to justify buying a sewing machine. When I enquired at the local college about night classes in sewing they said you had to take your own machine. But I didn't want to buy one in case I was rubbish at it! A tricky situation indeed. Then one of my lovely customers come to see me. She has Parkinsons Disease and was struggling to use her beloved Bernina sewing machine. She knew I was crafty and keen to sew. Would I like it? Could I give it a good home?

You can guess the answer.

Then I got chatting to another customer. She is a professional seamstress. Can you see where this is going yet?! So yes, I have been a very lucky girl indeed and am now the proud owner of a Bernina and have had several free sewing lessons from my very lovely friend. Who also supplied copious amounts of coffee and homemade cake. Hurrah!

I showed her the Amy Butler pattern I had and explained how I needed help with it. I have never cut a pattern out or measured myself before, so she gave me loads of help and advice. The patience of the woman!! She found it all very exciting as well as she has never used American patterns before, and couldn't believe how 'simple' it all was. Hmm. I bought fabric from the local shop, nothing fancy, just something cheap and pretty, ideal for a summer skirt for a beginner.

Do you want to see then? do you?

So with the skirt sorted and worn several times I decided to brave the bag myself. I found the pattern for this ages ago on Sew Mama Sew, and printed it out to put in my 'Things I want to Make One Day but Probably Never Will' file. So I measured and cut the pieces out a few nights ago and today I finished it. I am SO pleased with it. Seriously. I have put things in it. And taken things out of it. And cooed over the lining (lightweight flowery print cotton) and stroked the handles.

I need to send a big thankyou to all of you bloggers who sew. For all of the words of wisdom, and for not assuming when you blog about your projects that we are all sewing geniuses! Thanks for keeping instructions as simple as possible, and for explaining each step clearly. I am hoping to move onto winter skirts and tunics next.

Raspberry Roulade Recipe

2010-07-13T17:40:00.005+01:00

I have had a day off today and despite spending most of my working week baking and feeding the hoardes bacon sandwiches, I have still enjoyed a peaceful afternoon in my kitchen at home. Relaxed cooking, not to order, not for anyone in a mad rush on a lunch hour, but instead cooking for us, for our meal this evening. We have picked the first courgettes from the allotment now. Small yellow ones, and a striped green variety. I can never remember their names, and the packets seldom last. At home we are growing large tubs of peas, staggered in planting so that they last over a period of time. There are hanging baskets of tumbling tomatoes, grow-bags with beefsteak tomatoes and several large terracotta pots with Sungold and Gardeners Delight. But for tonight, as the tomatoes are yet to ripen, we are having Tesco Tomatoes instead!
We all have our specialities when it comes to cooking. My husbands is risotto. And roast chicken. And actually most main meals, in fact. I do soup and puddings and cakes. So I have prepped the veggies ready for tonights risotto, and then moved onto deciding what I could do with several pounds of raspberries also picked from the allotment.

I had planned on sitting in the garden with a cup of coffee before the rain came. Typical isn't it-blazing sunshine for days and then my day off comes-rain! I did pluck a rose from the garden though and bought it inside to sniff every now and again. It really does smell beautiful.

So, raspberries!! Sarah Raven has come up trumps yet again, and although I am yet to have her latest book, I do love her Garden Cookbook. I have made a lot from it, but never Meringue Roulade with Raspberries.

Until now! Ok, here goes people....

Feeds 6...(oh no, and we didn't invite anyone around for dinner....)

6 egg whites

300g caster sugar

50g flaked almonds

350ml double cream

400g fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 200 degrees, or gas mark 6.

Line a swiaa roll tin with greaseproof paper and brush very lightly with oil-sunflower, not car.

Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until VERY stiff.

Gradually add sugar a spoonful at a time until all gone. Continue whisking until the mixture is very thick and glossy.

Spread the mixture into the tin and scatter with the almonds.

Place the tin fairly near the top of the oven and bake for 8 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 160 degrees, gas mark 3 and bake until golden brown (this took another 8 minutes in my oven, and I also lowered it in the oven as it was browning a bit quickly)

Remove from the oven (as above) and then flip over. Don't ask me how I did this. I am just pleased no one was here to take photos) make sure you flip in onto a sheet of greaseproof paper or parchment though. Peel off the paper from the base and leave it to cool (as below) for 15 minutes.

Whilst it's cooling whisk your cream until it's stiff and then stir in half of your raspberries...

When it's cool spread your cream/raspberry mix carefully across your roulade. I didn't go right up to the edges with mine as I knew I would end up covered in the stuff.

Using the greaseproof paper to help you, roll up the roulade as tightly as you can. I didn't read the recipe properly, as you are supposed to roll it lengthwise. Ahem. Mine is slightly bigger than it should be as a result-but I think it looks fab, so no matter.

Scatter the rest of the raspberries over the top to serve.

Wait for husband to come home and find pudding in the fridge....

I guess you could use any fruit you have, I think it would be lovely with thinly sliced peaches or nectarines, or strawberries...go crazy.

Race For Life

2010-07-07T21:14:00.002+01:00

Yes indeed, Sunday was Race For Life Day. After signing ourselves up back in February to do the 5km walk/jog/stagger around Cheltenham Racecourse the day finally arrived. I have never taken part before but am so pleased I did.

The atmosphere was amazing, 5000 women all joined together to take part in an event that raises money for such a good cause. Our team, all ladies from the cafe, have raised in excess of £600 so far, which we are delighted with.

Thankyou to all of my family and friends who have sponsored us, it is hugely appreciated. Hopefully with all of the money being raised by ladies across the country we will eventually find a cure for cancer.

As for me, I am definitely going to do it again next year, hopefully running it next time. No promises though...!

How does your garden grow?

2010-06-01T19:02:00.005+01:00

Ahh, yes, so as per usual I have been VERY busy in the garden and at the allotment, producing all manner of wonderful vegetables and flowers....

Ok, so not really. For a very fabulous birthday surprise last week the lovely husband took me on a surprise trip to the Chelsea Flower Show. What made it even better was that I had spent the previous few evenings watching it on television and saying "ooh, we really must go next year" whilst he sat quietly next to me knowing that he had surprise tickets and picnic hampers at the ready.

There was so much to look at it, and it really is an amazing place to go if you are into gardening.
I came away with loads of ideas, the main one being that I am going to put vegetables in with flowers this year in our back garden, as well as at the allotment. We have a small garden but borders all around, and quite a large patio, so there is quite a bit of space that can be filled.

So far we have courgettes, cucumbers, tomatoes, squashes, pumpkins, kohl rabi, french beans and peas. I bought a couple of packets of seeds back with me which have gone straight into pots.

The allotment has rhubarb, peas, broad beans, potatoes, asparagus, raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, blackberries, carrots, parnsips and a kiwi plant.

I don't think any of us will be suffering from vitamin deficiency any time soon. Hopefully we'll save a small fortune as well!

No photos, just me!

2010-04-20T16:44:00.002+01:00

Hello folks, long time no speak. Me that is, not you. I still manage to find some time to read all of my favourite blogs,(even if I haven't been very good and left a comment!) but somehow the inspiration hasn't been there for me personally to write a post. Not sure why, no great reasons behind it...just...normal life I suppose.

I got a bit tired of logging on and seeing those gingerbread men below though-the ones from Christmas 2009! and now here we are, Spring (ish) 2010, and I have had so many lovely messages from lots and lots of you asking if I am still alive, and Yes, I am! Hurrah!

We have had the usual frantic few months here in the Cotswolds, with things going very well indeed at the cafe, I am pleased to say. Lovely bloggers still keep coming in, and I am always so very touched that they have made the effort...despite the fact that I never seem to have time to do anything other than shriek in surprise and dump a cappuccino in front of them before serving the masses.

We are open 7 days a week now, which may seem like madness, but it does mean that I have a WHOLE weekend off every now and again, which is hugely exciting. Lots of camping trips during the summer months, is the plan. And perhaps some sitting in the garden with a good book and enjoying the sunshine with a glass of pimms to hand. That would be splendid.

So, if you're reading this, and are still with me, then Hello! I will try harder, promise. And I will write again before another quarter of a year passes, promise. And I will share some FABULOUS new cake recipes as well. Promise.
Bye for now.....
xxxx

You can run but you can't catch me

2009-11-29T16:29:00.006Z

Gardengirl is very busy baking, sewing, and running N0.9, so this is the second guest blog by Mr Gardengirl.

The village is building up to the festive period and the switching on of the Christmas lights took place yesterday, which also marks the window display competition.

For this the girl decided on a Gingerbread Man theme.

Did she

a) Order them from the internet?
b) Purchase them from John Lewis?
c) Spend every night for the last week making them by hand, with limited help from me?

She started with Brown felt and scissors

Then the smile, buttons and heart were added. The eyes were out sourced to a man, as you can clearly tell.

Next came the filling and sewing together.

The night before deployment, a team meeting was held to discuss 'Operation Dangle'. All the boys were there........

...and the plan was put into place at 1700hrs on Friday

Everyone was in place, however when we returned on Saturday morning some of the candy canes had disappeared and nobody knew where they had gone.

To answer the most popular questions during Saturday trading

1) Yes, they are handmade.

2) No, they are not edible.

3) No, they are not for sale.

4) Yes, she is very talented

5) Yes, it was me who sewed on the eyes, yes the wonky ones, really all of them.

Gardengirl will return to blogland shortly, mostly likely in the new year.

In the meantime you can up with goings on via my Twitter musings, you can find me as Beakery.

It's ILLEGAL!!!

2009-09-08T18:43:00.003+01:00

Two glasses of champagne and please note the rosy cheeks!

Cocktail making ingredients above, and below, making mojitos...

Just a few tame photos of the drunken celebrations from our first birthday party! Much champagne was consumed, giggling was done and 'remember when' conversations took place.

None of us can quite believe how quickly the last year has flown by. We have been lucky to have had so much support from all of our lovely customers, and fabulous staff. We have a great team surrounding us who all work so hard, and it is down to their help as well that No.9 has been such a success. Rest assured they were rewarded!

I thought I would share a conversation with you from my (very) early morning visit to the supermarket today. I had to go and buy a few provisions on the way to work and decided at the last minute to add a couple of bottles of pear cider to the basket for when I got home tonight.

At that time of morning, and being a very small supermarket, you have to pay at the cigarette kiosk. So I wandered over to the kiosk and stood there for a couple of minutes whilst waiting to be served. One of the shop assistants stood feet away from me with her back to me, piling up the newspapers onto a stand. Eventually another assistant from further down the shop saw me with hand on hip and raised eyebrow, and called to the girl

"There's someone at the counter Chelsea!" she turned, saw me and replied,

"Yeah, I know, I'm nearly done now"

By now there were two more people behind me int he queue, sighing and impatient as well, waiting to pay. Chelsea then finished doing the newspapers and decided to wheel her now empty cart to the front of the store before coming to serve us. On the way she clocked the pear cider by now on the counter.

"Is that ALCOHOL?" she practically shouted from the front of the store. I looked around to make sure she was definitely talking to me.

"Um, yes, it is alcohol" I replied.

"Well you can't buy it, it's ILLEGAL!" she shouted. The woman in the queue behind me started giggling and I was ready to sink into the floor.

"Well believe me I'm more than old enough, unfortunately" I said, thinking Chelsea must have thought I was under age.

"No, it's illegal to buy it, the law SAYS SO. It's ILLEGAL to buy alcohol before 8am. MIKE! MIKE! I was just saying, It's ILLEGAL to buy alcohol at this time of morning, isn't it?!"

Mike nodded in agreement.

Good grief. I wanted to die. Everyone that was coming into the store was looking at me whilst she continued yelling.

"You'll have to go and put it back Madam, it's illegal. Or wait fifteen minutes and buy it then instead" I stood and stared at her, as she was by now in front of me and positioned at the till. I took a deep breath, and counted to five.

"I don't really have time to wait fifteen minutes because I'm late for work. And if I can't buy the cider because it's illegal, well then I'll have to have something else for breakfast, won't I?"

Woman behind me was crying with laughter and mortification on my behalf.

I passed the cider to Chelsea and suggsted gently that she would probably be able to put it back on my behalf and handed her some money. She didn't say A WORD.

Happy Birthday To Us

2009-08-29T19:17:00.002+01:00

Yes indeed folks, it's a year today since we opened No.9. We can't believe how quickly it's flown by. Seriously, a WHOLE YEAR?!! Lots of customers came to help celebrate our first birthday, and us staff celebrated by drinking glasses of bucks fizz at 8.30am. Possibly not a great idea.

Being in charge of a coffee machine whilst under the influence= frothy milk all over the floor. Oh well.

So just a quick one today, as we are now off to celebrate properly and enjoy a proper weekend for a change-two whole days off! We haven't had a bank holiday off since we opened so we decided to spoil ourselves.

Fingers crossed for sunshine and blue skies.

Back with photos soon!

How Big is Your Boot?

2009-07-26T15:21:00.008+01:00

Because ours is quite big, as you can see!

I was just trying the boot out for size in case we got rained out of the tent. Fortunately we remained very dry and cosy.

We managed to escape to the New Forest for a few days a couple of weeks ago and had a lovely time wandering, reading, drinking endless cups of tea and chilling out. Bliss.

The ever increasing book pile....one which isn't pictures which I read and laughed hysterically at, is Dawn French's 'Dear Fatty'. If you are a fan you must read it, I insist!

The essential hat for covering bed hair on the way to the shower block in the morning....I think it is actually a mans hat, but it cost £2.45 and is very soft and comfy. I have an enormous head, which is why I ended up with a mans hat instead of the miniscule lady hats on offer!

The even more essential ENORMOUS bottle of gin, and much smaller bottle of tonic...Rob's canny camping tip is to take an ice box to Tesco (other supermarkets are available) and fill it with ice. Then bury all alcohol (pear cider is especially good for camping) into the ice. You then have a ready made ice bucket which keeps drinks cold all weekend and lots of ice to put in your gin.

I have just realised that I am 101 today! Or at least my blog is. Does that mean I get cake and candles?? No?

Oh.

Well despite that, I have to say I am most chuffed to have managed to hang on in there and keep going. I realise 100 posts may seem a bit rubbish to some of you old timers, but to me, well...yay!

I thought you may like to see my lovely Grandads 90th birthday cake. He has an incredible vegetable patch, and always knows the varieties of things he groes (whereas some of us just chuck in whatever seeds we have to hand..) when I was little he grew tomatoes professionally and my brother and I used to make tomato boxes for him in the summer holidays. Whenever I smell tomato plants now I instantly think of him.

Lots of family and friends gathered to help celebrate his big birthday a couple of weekends ago and had a lovely time.

The weather was sunny and we sat in the garden catching up with people we don't see enough of.

Nothing much else to report, apart from the enormous pile of courgettes that we returned home from camping to. Since then we have made courgette and carrot soup, iced zuchinni tray bake, courgette and mint soup, baked courgette, roasted courgette, courgette and pasta, you name it.

Tomorrow I am hoping to attempt Zuchinni Chocolate Cake at work. Oh yes indeed. And that, my friends, will be a whole different story.

And The Comment of The Week Award.....

2009-07-06T18:26:00.004+01:00

Goes to a lady in her late seventies, leaning towards me when I took her her coffee and saying in rather a loud voice
"Do you know, it's so bloody hot I didn't put any knickers on this morning".

There really is no polite response to that, is there?!

We'll Eat Again....

2009-06-21T17:41:00.006+01:00

Well had I realised that being 31 would lead to such slapdash-where blogs are related-behaviour then I wouldn't have accepted it quite so readily!! Sorry folks. But I have been busy and have a very good list of excuses lined up!

We have had masses and MASSES of strawberries at the allotment this year. I have made several strawberry pavlovas now, and Rob has made dozens of jars of jam. In fact, as I type, a pan of gooseberry and strawberry jam is bubbling away on the hob. It smells fantastic, really summery.

The Sweet Williams are also growing really well. They last for ages and smell beautiful. I have a vase of them on the bathroom windowsill that feel rather decadent when Iam wallowing in the tub.
Strawberry Streusal. There is definitely a strawberry theme to this post, is there not? I made this a couple of weeks ago after a customer brought me the recipe in one day. We sold it all in one day. It has crushed hazelnuts in the base, and then a crumbly hazelnut topping..yum..

Two weeks ago was the annual Street Fayre. This year is the first time I have been involved. There is a theme every year, and this year it was World War 2. Everyone gets really involved, there are stalls everywhere, loads of entertainment put on and a fabulous atmosphere. All of our customers had warned us of how busy it would be in advance, so we drafted in lots of people to help.

We weren't too sure on what to do regards dressing up, so eventually decided on having customised t-shirts designed. It just wouldn't have been safe or practical in our work environment to be wearing uniforms etc. So we went for Your Cafe Needs You on the front, with the trusty Kitchener logo, and had our names and ranks on the backs.

We had such a fun day. It was madly busy, there wasn't a spare seat to be had, and the atmosphere was amazing. Unfortunately I could only get photos of before-no during or after shots due to the madness! I was (handily) on drinks and cake duty that day, and it was constant. The rain held off, it was warm and sunny and we had heaps of support from our regulars, as well as seeing lots of new faces. We were all shattered that night, and some of our younger workers looked done in, but it was well worth doing. I am really looking forward to planning next years event properly, as we'll have an idea of what to expect rather than just go on hearsay.

Things have settled back to normal again now though. We have a couple of new girls who are working out well and we are just enjoying the summer.

Sewing wise I have a new quilt on the go. It must have been inspired by all of that Union Jack bunting, as I am going for a red white and blue theme this time. There are squares of stripes ginghams and spots on various surfaces around the house, and a couple of rows sewn together. The machine has had a few off days but I think it's sorted now. It only seems to like using 100% cotton, so that is what I'm sticking to from now on.

Thankyou for all of your Happy Birthday wishes cards and pressies, I am a very lucky girl indeed. (still calling myself a girl,ha!) I have only just realised that I am about to hit my 100th post as well! Madness. It seems a long time ago that I joined the blogging world, and despite the infrequent postings these days I do still enjoy reading everyone elses. Most evenings I spend half an hour checking out what everyone has been up to. A very enjoyable way to relax after a busy day.

I won't leave it so long next time, promise.

Another year gone

2009-05-26T22:30:00.004+01:00

Yes indeed folks, tomorrow is the big 31. I am not one of those people who like to moan about getting older. There is absolutely nothing that you can do about it but accept it. See you back here on the eve of my 40th though?! (you bring the tissues, I'll bring the waterproof mascara and wrinkle filler..)

Despite a weekend of working we did manage to spend some lovely sunshine filled hours in the garden.
I have never seen so many forget-me-knots in one place. I do love them though, and they do well at filling flower beds that are a tad unloved in places!

Subday morning. Toast on the terrace! Please ignore the white bread, pilfered leftovers from the cafe.

Remember the quilt I mentioned?

Well it's nearly finished. Just a few bits of tinkering around the corners and binding.

Not bad considering I started off with a pair of kitchen scissors and a bundle of fabric! Thankyou to Nancy and Tess for the inspiration!

I will show you a proper photo when it's finished. Meanwhile I have treated myself to a proper rotary cutter and am already collecting samples of fabric for the next one! It's really rather addictive, isn't it?!

It's been a busy couple of weeks or so....

2009-05-03T18:56:00.008+01:00

These pictures will all make sense when you reach the bottom..Blogger is still messing me about, but I shall sort it soon! In the meantime feel free to coo over the pretty pink cakes!

Today- Making pavlova for tomorrow when my folks come for dinner. Never fear, Ma, it will also be laden with cream and strawberries...

Last week- teaching myself at last (with the help of a ladybird book!) to crochet. It may have wobbly ends but there are no holes and I am quite impressed so far..will it be a rug? (for a very small person) or a cushion cover perhaps? Hmm. Don't cushion covers require sewing though? We'll chat more about that venture another time, perhaps.

Sliding around whilst exploring rock pools in St Ives. A lovely early birthday present, and one most thoroughly enjoyed by us both. But not my jeans, unfortunately. A diet of salad and fruit from here on in. After strawberry pavlova, obviously.

Mussels clinging onto the rocks- the photo doesn't do justice to the amazing sight of thousands of shades of blue.

It would be fair to say that it rained just a little. But who cares when sights like this greet you when you look out of your window?

The pirates were also in residence.

Wave watching from the balcony

A couple of weeks ago we held another birthday party at No.9. This time for 13 girls with a fondness for pink. It would be fair to say I was in my element! The cake pictures at the top of the page won't let me move them to the bottom of the page, for some reason.

Nancy, thankyou so much for the loan of the party book- none of it would have been possible otherwise. I promise to send it back soon, honest!

Happy Easter

2009-04-11T18:41:00.003+01:00

This is what happens to cute easter chicks when they spend too much time sat at the cake counter....

And this is our new tablecloth fabric. Very summery and pretty, I thought.

It's been a big hit with the customers and has made the inside of the cafe feel all bright and cheery.

Yet More Cake!

2009-04-01T18:04:00.011+01:00

At the risk of turning into a cake making bore, check out these bad boys! These have been created from my new purchase, Rachel Allens BAKE book. If you are a baking goddess then I insist you buy it now, as it is bloomin marvellous, yes it is!

So first up to tantalise you taste buds, we have the delectable Mocha Cake. Oh yes, she is smothered in espresso icing with a touch of chocolate for good measure, and sandwiched together with more of the same. Finished off with a sprinkling of shaved Green and Blacks dark chocolate this is one sophisticated loaf!!

Secondly, Blue Poppy Seed cake with vanilla icing. Not, I would imagine, everyones cup of tea, but it was certainly popular this afternoon. I have a poppy seed cake recipe from Cowboys and Custard that I much prefer, but you have to try these things, don't you? The icing is a touch sickly, so only a small slice is needed at a time.

It also goes particularly well with a lovely cuppa! (although truth be told what I could really do with right now is a LARGE glass of white wine...but tea will have to do, Saturday night is Alcohol night!)

I have finally decided to sign myself up for a sewing course. At last! I now have the sewing machine, the book for beginners, the pile of squares ready for my first ever patchwork quilt, and enthusiasm by the drawstring laundry bag load. But I don't -have-a-clue. Nope, not one. So the lovely Victoria (my new friend who I have plied with tea and soup this week!) and I are off back to college. Hurrah! I am most excited.

This is the sight that greeted us when we finally managed a trip to the allotment last week-a host of golden daffodils. Our plot stood out from far far away due to the abundance of bulbs that Dad put in. The Sweet Williams are coming, as are the irises. The kiwi is spreading across the shed and the rhubarb! Remember when I used to make jam and marmalade? Remember when I used to make things in my very own kitchen, in my own home?! Well I decided to go mad and make some Rhubarb Orange Lemon and Grapefruit Marmalade. It was a recipe I spotted in The Times, called Dalemain Marmalade, after a National Trust place, I believe, in the Lake District. They hold an annual jam and marmalade festival, and the one I made is one of the specialities. It is truly fabulous, and if anyone would like the recipe then do let me know!!

Staying on the subject of Domestic arts, I was given a marvelous present this week from a very special lady. We had a lovely lady called Mary who used to come into the cafe most days for her lunch and we always had a chat and a giggle. For an 80 year old she had a wicked sense of humour and always have me in stitches. I got to know her, and her fabulous sister Gracie really well over the past few months since we opened. Mary sadly died quite quickly a couple of weeks ago now, and Gracie travelled down from her home in Scotland to sort out the funeral and other bits and pieces. She popped in most days to see us and have a cuppa and some lunch. I heard lots of stories about her and Mary when they were younger, and it was lovely to spend time with her. Before she caught her train home Gracie came in to see me with something she thought I might like that belonged to Mary. A very old, very well used (and therefore all the better, in my view) copy of Good Housekeeping's Home Encyclopedia. What a wondeful present. I clutched it (and Gracie!) to my chest and shed a tear or two. It will be so well loved and cherished, and also used! I thought I would show you one of the pictures from it that made me smile..but then Blogger went stupid on me and wouldn't allow me to insert the pictures where I wanted to. Has anyone else had this problem with them? Usually I can move pictures around the page easily by clicking and dragging, but have really struggled with this post for days now. Any helpful suggestions would be gratefully received!

In the meantime, Mary, I miss you massively, but am sure that you are looking down on us from a very lovely place with a ciggie in one hand and a pint in the other. Here's to you, lovely lady, I am delighted to have known you X

Fairy cake-tastic

2009-03-15T20:18:00.003Z

After a hugely exhausting and highly entertaining, in many ways, week, we raised a brilliant £470.13 for Comic Relief. We are all delighted with the support we have received from our fabulous No.9 Team and customers, who have all been so very supportive.

And Mr Wogan? Well, he gave us another mention on Friday morning!! This time it was a general update with how much we had taken so far from the sale of fairy cakes, the Silent Cake Auction (which in itself raised £140) etc.etc. Cue much cheering in the middle of the cafe when we heard it!

We really are so amazed at peoples generosity-one person bid nearly £30 for one cake! Customers were stuffing notes into our Red Nose bucket, and the whole atmosphere all week was totally brilliant.

Oooh, and as Columbo would say, 'Just one more thing' - To the very nasty ahem 'lady' leaving me vicious emails, you might want to brush up on your computer skills and learn exactly what 'Anonymous' means-it's not as secure as you had obviously hoped... I know exactly who you are, and if you feel the need to keep emailing me, maybe we can get together and I can share some 'home truths' with you as well? Get a life, concentrate on your own business, and stop making up rubbish about mine, you saddo.

To everyone else-thankyou! You make blogging such a pleasure. xxx

Do Something Funny For Money

2009-03-11T18:54:00.002Z

To gain as much cash as possible for such a great cause, we decided to have a Comic Relief week instead of just a day this year. I am so aware that I don't want to turn the cafe into the sort of place that is constantly asking people for money for this that and the other. I think we shall stick to Macmillan Coffee Mornings and Comic Relief for now. And The Poppy Appeal. And National Chocolate Cake Day. Never heard of it? What do you mean?!

So anyway, I digress. We have several things going on if you are in the area. And before I go further, a big HELLO to Victoria and Claire, both who have come a-visiting in recent days. Both fellow bloggers and readers-of-bloggers!
Right, so, we have made several billion red nose topped fairy cakes for sale, of which all proceeds are going in the bucket. Very popular with small people in particular. One of the girls who works with us has a sneaky habit of asking small people (in her very best small people sing-song voice) if they would like a 'special cake' with 'a special cherry on top' No child (or parent) has been unable to refuse. Naughty yet effective. Well they are only small, and it IS for charity.
Secondly we are holding a 'Silent Cake Auction'. If any of you are Terry Wogan fans you may have heard him giving our humble cafe a mention this morning.....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00j02pj/Wake-Up-to-Wogan-11-03-2009

For some reason I am struggling to link you directly to the relevant piece, but if you can be bothered, we are mentioned at approx 8.30am( or one hour and seven minutes on iPlayer, just to be specific! just after Girls Aloud!
Now the weirdest thing of all was that five minutes later the door opened, the first customer of the day walked in and announced that she had to come in because she had just heard Terry talking about us! And then her mobile rang and it was her husband saying "You know that cafe we keep meaning to go to, well Terry Wogan has just mentioned it on the radio!" Much laughter excitement and jumping up and down was had. Cue second customer of the day, Marton, a regular and a very nice chap indeed. "Have you heard Terry Wogan this morning?" I joked.
"Yes, I have, here you are" and he thrust a poster at me that he had made. There, in full colour, a picture of Sir Terry and a write up,
'Silent Cake Auction held here, and Mrs F's legendary Guinness Cake, as mentioned by Terry Wogan'. What a lovely lovely thing to do. All splendid stuff.

The Silent Cake Auction, by the way, is where people make secret bids on a cake of their choice (off a list supplied by us) pop it in the bucket with a donation, and then on Saturday we see who has bid the most for each cake. Those people then pay the money pledged and we make the cake whenever they want. So if they have a special occassion, people coming to stay etc. then they can have a freshly made cake for the event. We have had lots of very generous bids, which is fabulous.

Now, moving on, Cheltenham Race Week. Great excitement descends this time of year. The streets are full of happy smiling people soaking up the atmosphere that seems to rub off on everyone. Lots and LOTS of Irish folk come over for Race Week. I thought it only fitting to make Guinness Cake. The first Irish customer of the day was offered a slice.
"Eurgh, God no! Get me a tea cake, will ya? In fact, what the heck's a tea cake? Is it like a scone?" Hmm. How to make friends.....He got his tea cake, and ate half of it. Such a waste. Should have had the Guinness Cake.
Thankfully lots of other people(including Irish!) did sample said cake and LOVED it. Oh, it really does taste so very good. It's a Nigella recipe, I believe, but I just googled Guinness Cake many moons ago and came up with the recipe that I use. I made a second one this afternoon, ready for tomorrow.

And here it is, the finished article. Can of Guinness, anyone? God no, me? Can't stand the stuff...Give me a teacake any day.

Simple Pleasures

2009-03-01T20:27:00.006Z

Evening All.

Good grief, it really has been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about that. 'Normal' life just seems to take up so much time though, doesn't it?

I am still doing extremely well when it comes to arriving home and collapsing on the sofa of an evening. I can just about manage to lift cutlery and eat whatever meal has been lovingly prepared by the husband. And I am highly skilled at soaking in a hot lavender scented bath whilst my pj's are warming on the radiator.

Such simple things bring me the most enormous pleasure. Freshly laundered bedding, in which I climb into by half past nine most nights. The crocuses that are blooming rather beautifully in the herb garden. Our beautiful new/old antique teachers desk, at which I am sitting right now. I have had great fun arranging things on it so they look just so. A jug of roses here...a lamp there...an artfully placed pile of books in that corner...our old fashioned red telephone in the other...drawers full of paper and envelopes and pens in all colours of the rainbow. I love sitting here and watching people walk past. It makes me feel most creative! (when in actual fact I am being most nosy)

New cake recipes are bringing HUGE pleasure, of course, and the latest creation is Nigellas Victoria Sponge, which i pilfered from someones blog. Apologies that I can't remember whose though! It really is verrrrry tasty indeed. Cherry jam and chocolate sponge. It's really a re-vamped Black Forest Gateau, is it not?

Speaking of simple pleasures I have jars of daffodils everywhere at the moment. Loads of customers have commented on how cheery they are, and the instant reminder that Spring has arrived. Apparently.

I wouldn't say no to a teeny weeny bit more snow though.

Just a little?

No?

Photo at the top of the page (because for some reason I am unable to move it to the bottom of the page) is of myself and my brother, who is back in the UK for a while. He saw the caff for the first time yesterday and said lots of lovely things about it, so he is now allowed to stay for a while longer.

This week I am mainly going to be teaching myself to use my new (ahem) sewing machine. Yes indeed, I have finally decided it is time to teach myself to make the things I covet so much on everyone elses blogs. Whether I will manage it or not is another matter. All suggestions for a complete sewing beginner will be VERY gratefully received!

Obviously next time I post I will be showing off patchwork quilts, a living room decorated in home made bunting, cushions and loose sofa covers. Hmm.

Here Today Scone tomorrow

2009-02-01T17:55:00.003Z

The lovely Catherine from Mollycupcakes sent me the red spotty pegs AGES ago and I have been looking for the perfect place for them ever since. I finally found that place on Saturday, and here it is!

So many customers have commented on my 'Menu washing line' and it's in the perfect place to be seen. Thankyou C, I knew I would get there eventually! Hopefully you will be able to see it for yourself again soon, when you next come to Cheltenham.

The tea shelf has now grown into two, and the collection is ever increasing. The newest flavour to grace the shelves is Chilli and Mint. Only two customers have braved it so far. We have bought Slimmers Detox Tea as well, but un-surprisingly the hot chocolate has sold better!

I discovered a jar of mincemeat left over from Christmas that I didn't want to go to waste and so it was turned into Mincemeat Cake. I think I may have to market it better if I make it again, it hasn't been a winner! I guess it's not an attractive title! Tasted lovely though. Just like fruit cake.

What has been a number one seller has been our homemade scones...I make them fresh every morning now (very therapeutic) and they rapidly disappear as the day goes on. I hadn't made scones before but they are so easy and really tasty, especially warm from the oven...so here is my recipe, try it if you dare!

Fruit Scones...

Pre-heat oven to 220 C

Sieve 1lb of self raising flour into a bowl with a teaspoon of baking powder.

Add 4oz soft butter and rub into the flour with your fingers

Add 2 tablespoons caster sugar and 2 tablespoons of sultanas/dried cranberries/raisins etc. and stir.

Add a little milk and stir with a palette knife or a silver spoon. Keep adding milk, a little at a time until the mixture comes together. Don't add too much in any one go or it will become a sticky mess. When the mixture comes together give it a knead for a minute and then turn out onto a floured surface.

Press the dough down with your hands until it's about an inch and a half high (I don't bother with a rolling pin, I go for the rustic look!) and cut out with a biscuit cutter. I use quite a large one -obviously the larger your cutter the bigger your scones will be! This recipe makes exactly seven with my cutter size....Place onto a baking sheet and put in the oven for 13-15 minutes. I don't brush them with egg or milk but some people swear by it.

I made heart shaped ones yesterday which worked quite well as well.

I keep looking out of the window in the vain hope that the two snowflakes that have fallen so far today are soon to be joined by billions more. Alas it hasn't happened yet. I love snow. R pointed out that the best sort of snow is overnight snow. I think he may be right. How fabulous to pull back the curtains in the morning and find the streets transformed into a winter wonderland whilst you have been snuggled up in bed. Magical. Give me Winter and big jumpers over Summer and bikinis any day, thankyou very much!

My favourite things about Winter would have to be,

1) Snow

2) Open fires

3) Big woolly scarves gloves and hats

4) Not having to display flesh of any description, and therefore not scaring any customers

5) Crisp winter walks along the river

6) Big mugs of tea and slices of fruit cake on a Sunday afternoon, snuggled up with a film on the telly

7) Comfort food!

8) A hot bubble bath followed by a comfy pair of pj's, ready warmed on the radiator

9) Thick socks and winter boots

10) Cold crisp mornings

11) Hot Chocolate

12) Big Winter coats

12) Hearty home made soups

13) Sticky toffee pudding (at any time of year in fact...)

I can see a food theme emerging so had better stop...you get the general idea though!

Time for a bubble bath. Swiftly followed by Roast Chicken. Yum.

Still no snow.

Nope.

Definitely not any.

Not so much as a white flake in sight.

Rubbish.

Maybe if I go to bed now then it will come quicker??

Oh I do like to be beside the bedside

2009-01-21T19:03:00.004Z

Sleeping is perhaps one of my most favourite past times. I know, I know, life is too short to waste it sleeping etc.etc. but that is not a motto that I hold with. No no. I LOVE to sleep. And snuggle. And lounge in the warmth. The sad fact is, that the minute I get up each day I look with longing at the warm fluffy cuddly duvet that I have climbed out of and spend the rest of the day looking forward to climbing back in again. I guess bed is a safe place, which I tend to associate with being relaxed, chilled out, a spot of reading,etc. (Oooh, the romance!)

After reading The List Writer, Driftwood and Ali's blogs on bedsides, I thought I would share mine.

Within easy reach of my pit are always the following...

1) Books books and more books- a novel, a poetry book, a recipe book, an interiors book and a short stories book.

2) Weleda Skin Drink...the most fabulous moisturiser on earth

3) Chamomile oil-as recommended by the List Writer and now from me to you-If you ever have trouble dropping off at night you must invest in a bottle of chamomile oil. It's magic!

4) Candles-please note the cupcake shaped candle, a gift from my Mum.

5) My wedding tiara. Not really necessary to keep on my bedside table- obviously I only wear it on Sundays- but I do love the pretty sparkliness of it and it reminds me of a fabulous day.

6) Notebook and pen- for 2am when I suddenly remember something work-related.

7) Red rose corsage-usually ends up pinned to various outfits

8) Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir perfume. Absolutely bee-yootiful.

19) Burts Bees lemon cuticle butter-fabulous stuff, my hands are constantly in an out of water at work and wrecked as a result, this lemon scented stuff works wonders on my cuticles.

10) Neals Yard Rose Water

11) Kiehls lipbalm-my desert island essential!

12) My alarm clock-how I look forward to the day when I no longer need one!!

13) A lamp.

I only hope no one starts a post on chests of drawers...gulp. I can't remember what colour mine is, it's covered in so much junk.

So there you have it.

Sweet dreams. x

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

And the winner is.......

2009-01-13T19:33:00.003Z

Us!

I can't believe I forgot to tell you all in my last post, especially as you were all so full of well wishes, that we actually we won the business award! Hurrah!

The awards were all organised by the Chamber of Commerce, and nominations and votes were made by the public, in various categories. We won for customer service, in joint place with a shoe shop up the road that has been open for over thirty years. The judges decided to award us joint first place because they felt that with the shoe shop being such an old business and us being so new, it would be unfair on us both to go to a 'tie break' situation.

To say we're delighted would be an under statement. I am just thrilled to bits that all of our hard work has been recognised and paid off. It's hardly an Oscar, but to me it feels like one.

I had a regular customer come in today with his boss (they work for an insurance company) asking for some advice. Basically the regular chap, Nick, had told his boss about the cafe and then found out that he also has aspirations to open a cafe/deli/coffee shop, and has been seriously looking into the lease of an empty unit in a town a good few miles away (!). Nick suggested that his boss come and talk to us to get some ideas and advice on how to go about it.

As I was chatting to Mike and telling him about how our cafe came about, what we did, recommended contacts and suppliers to him and gave him a tour, I realised just how much I love our little empire. Truly, I love it! We have fabulous customers, there is always someone to chat to and someone 'willing' to road test the latest cake. Mike asked me if I had any regrets.

"None. We're never going to be millionaires, and it will take a while to pay off the mortgage, but I wouldn't go back to sitting behind a desk for anything." The fact that he went off smiling made me feel very happy indeed. Imagine, someone asking ME for business advice! Heehee.

I promised a 'hello' to my very lovely Grandad, Auntie (sorry Christine) Uncle and cousins, Nicola Bethany and Matthew. I hadn't realised that they were regular blog readers. I shall have to watch my language and behaviour from now on. If you look very closely you may see yourselves in this photo! We all had a most enjoyable big family get together on Sunday which was organised by my Grandad. A belated Christmas gathering, if you will. We don't get to see each other very often due to logistics, but it was lovely to catch up with you all, hopefully we will see you again soon!

Hmm. Possibly not the best family photo ever taken!

This is 'Cake of the Week' Apricot and Almond. I have made two so far. Very yummy indeed. Today I have made parsnip cake. Any takers?

Prison Break

2008-12-30T21:01:00.006Z

A few days before Christmas the husband and I took Mum and Dad for a night in a prison cell in Oxford....No, they hadn't midbehaved, far from it, but a night in the Malmaison was their christmas present from us.

If you have never been you really must. The prison was still being run up until 1996 when it was all converted into the sumptuous hotel and surrounding restaurents and shop complex that it is now.
The original landings and stairs are still in tact, and all of the original cell doors remain. Each bedroom and bathroom suite is made up of three old cells, with arched ceilings and high windows with bars up and shuttered windows.

The bedrooms are beautiful inside and come complete with chaise longue, mini bar and the most amazing room service menu. Not that we needed that as we had a fabulous meal in the restaurant in the cellar!
Me stealing toiletries from the bathroom. In the vain hope they may bang me up for longer...?!

Another reason we decided to stay in Oxford is that Mum and Dads Christmas present to us was a trip to lake Como in Italy for Christmas. Oxford being halfway between home and Heathrow seemed like the perfect start for our Christmas holiday.

We had five days in a beautifully elegant hotel right on the Lake, with breathtaking views and scenery.

On the first day we went to a traditional Christmas market in Como itself, which was very interesting. Pigs trotters, anyone?!

The sunsets were amazing....

And the villas were spectacular- this was my favourite!

Obviously we had to do lots of work related research, so plenty of cappuccinos were consumed!

Below is Bellagio, the most beautiful village. We caught a boat outside our hotel and went over to Bellagio a couple of times. On Boxing Day the village was full of Italians, meeting for coffee, socialising, walking by the Lake. Everyone we came across was dressed BEAUTIFULLY. Fur coats hats and boots galore!

This was our hotel, taken first thing in the morning from our balcony. The colours changed throughout the day, the light was amazing.

It was just what the doctor ordered, being away for Christmas. Away from work and home and bad memories of a rubbish year. A great big Thank You to my very fabulous parents for an extremely generous present. We appreciate it far more than you realise.

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas, have managed to banish the sniffles sneezes and flu from your homes and raise a glass of Limoncello to 2009. (god, have you tried that stuff? 30% alcohol-evil but fabulous!)

Ciao.

Bakey Cake-iness

2008-12-11T18:42:00.003Z

Blimey, I'm really getting back into this blogging lark, am I not?!

Well today has been a bakey kind of day. In fact, all week has been a mass baking fest in the No.9 kitchen. With a few angels thrown in for good measure.

As many of you are aware by now, I am a massive fan of recipe books. Really cannot get enough of 'em. There is nothing I enjoy more than sitting down next to one of my teetering piles of recipe books and having a flick through, finding things I haven't baked before. So today, I baked these.....

Please note the fact that I got through a cup a tea, a cappuccino and a glass of water whilst creating! I have no idea what the scissors were for though...

I have never made a carrot cake before. Can you believe that? I think it's mainly because I'm not a huge fan of carrot cake. I would always go for chocolate cake, or fruit cake over carrot, but I am obviously not going to be eating this one myself! It has lemony cream cheese icing. Yum. Maybe I could be persuaded to sample a teeny slice...just for research...

The strudel cups are dee-licious. Seriously good. I made up a lot of the recipe, but basically it consists of filo pastry, half a jar of mince meat, ground almonds, lemon zest, chopped nuts, a sprinkle of cinnamon and some sultanas and sugar.

This is my trusty Bara Brith (Welsh tea loaf)...sells VERY well and lots of people come back for more. Oh dear, I don't mean to brag, it's just such an easy cake to make and very popular. It basically consists of fruit soaked in strong tea overnight and then flour eggs and sugar added. It freezes really well and tastes fabulous with a little butter spreaded on.

We have been selling these hearts and stockings for one of the girls who runs the crochet and knitting classes for us. They're made from recycled jumpers and blankets and filled with lavender. Clever eh?! (Not as nice as the ones over at the Ragged Roses house though- these ones are a bit scratchy!!)

These are my favourites, our stained glass Christmas decorations. We have hung them in the front window of the cafe and when the sun shines they twinkle beautifully. Several people have made purchases already (including one of the girls who works for us- we paid her her wages and then she gave us most of it back again!)

Despite all of this I am still not feeling Christmassy!

We have had some really exciting news today...two official looking chaps came into the cafe this afternoon and said that we has been nominated for a Business of The Year award. Apparently the winner is going to be announced next week. I don't expect for a minute that we will win, but one of the guys said that he is amazed, given how long we have been open, that we have been nominated at all. I have been beaming ever since. Yay!

Well maybe I am feeling a little bit festive....

Seven

2008-12-08T16:04:00.003Z

Well good afternoon folks. It's taken me a while to keep up with the rest of the blogging world and do my list- kindly passed on by the lovely Alison AGES ago. Sorry about that, but I got there in the end. Really must work on my list of Celebrities I admire. I am not great with celebrities, it must be said. Anyway, here goes,

7 Things I plan to do before I die:
1. Have a family
2. Visit my brother in Canada
3. Buy a VW camper van and use it as our family car. Whilst wearing love beads, obviously.
4. Learn to dance so I can impress people at weddings (as well as get invited to more weddings)
5. Open a huge cafe with a florists in one corner, book shop in the other and a deli/gift shop/crafty section thrown in for good measure.
6. Learn to sew more than a button on.
7. Live by the sea

7 Things I do now:
1. Make a lot of soup
2. Sleep whenever I can
3. Cut out recipes and tips from magazines. There are piles everywhere.
4. Have too many baths.
5. Drink pink wine on Saturday nights
6. Chat to my customers
7. Smile a lot. Even when I don't want to!

7 Things I can't do:
1. Run further than the end of the road
2. Diet successfully. I give up, life's too short
3. Stop going on about something when it's in my head.
4. Walk past a bookshop without going inside
5. Smell/touch/eat Tuna. Bleurgh.
6. Bring myself to buy a pair of crocs. I just can't do it.
7. Stop buying knickers.

7 Things that attract me to the Opposite Sex
1. Someone who is smiley
2. Sarcasm-but good sarcasm, not nasty sarcasm
3. Smelling nice!
4. Good Manners
5. A good sense of humour
6. Honesty
7. Glasses

7 Things that I say most often:
1. Morning!
2. What can I get you?
3. Really?
4. Have a good weekend
5. What shall we have for dinner?
6. Rubbish
7. How Lovely!

7 Celebrities that I admire:
1. David Mitchell- he makes me laugh hysterically. I love his sense of humour
2. Gordon Ramsey. Grr. Hmm, I think I may have changed 'admire' to 'fancy' for a second there...oh well.
3. Victoria Wood
4. Ummm
5. Hmmm
6. Errrrr
7. ?

7 Favourite Foods:
1. Marmite on toast (you knew it was coming Kim!)
2. Rob's Risotto
3. Strawberry Pavlova
4. Roast Vegetable soup
5. Toasted teacakes
6. Lobster
7. Scallops

I have been particularly rubbish at using my camera of late, so apologies for no piccies. Slapped wrist. I shall put it in my bag now.
I am not yet feeling remotely festive. Is it just me?
x

How are you feeling? Souper thanks!

2008-11-25T18:09:00.003Z

I meant to share this photo weeks ago, taken at the market in Cheltenham. Don't they look fabulous? Something far more appetising about clementines with leaves still attached than those without, for some reason...Hmm. Very Christmassy though!

Thankyou so much for all of your get well wishes..they must have worked! hurray! I am feeling A LOT better now, thankyou muchly.

It was so so lovely to go back to work this week. I had lots of smiles and cuddles from regulars, and lots of 'we missed you' type comments, which thrilled me no end.

It feels rather good to be getting back into the swing of thing, kicking the coffee machine, 'testing' new cake that is being made, inventing Christmas waffles recipes, etc.

Today was the second knitting and crochet morning, which was just great. Such fun to see a group of ladies having a whale of a time. Today was crocheted scarves, and despite being sorely tempted into joining in, I resisted. I struggled with the urge and then reminded myself that I have just had two weeks off...maybe next time! I don't want to become unpopular with our lovely staff for being a lazy bugger.

We have been making lots of new soups this week, Roasted Vegetable, Lentil Potage and Parsnip Ginger and Leek, to name but a few. I succumbed to yet ANOTHER new recipe book the other day, 400 Soups! But I am putting it down to being a work essential, obviously...I am not sure if it's a good thing, but I seem to constantly smell of soup! Could be worse, I guess.

Now, what shall we have for dinner tonight?

Remember me?!

2008-11-18T11:06:00.004Z

Oh it really is hard work being poorly. I have tried so hard not to feel sorry for myself but am soooooo bored.

You know those periods in life when you seem to spend weeks on end dashing from one thing to another, with lists of things to do, normal life rushes past and sometimes, just sometimes you think, "Ooh, I'd love a duvet day" or "How wonderful it would be to have a day or two at home to do XYZ..." well I have had DAYS at home, ill, sleeping, coughing, sleeping, reading, sleeping...and still haven't tackled X Y or, indeed Z.

What started out as a nasty cough ended up with me being admitted to hospital, wired up to drips, injected with all manner of lotions and potions and frankly quite poorly.

The lovely LOVELY husband has been a fabulous carer. He turned up at the hospital armed with new pj's, books, digestives (have to have digestives when you're poorly, it's the law) tissues, toiletries...you name it. The only benefit of being in hospital was that I had my own room because I was infectious. Shhh! It's true, I really was. Gastric flu. Hmm, not pretty...But I did have my own television. Good grief daytime television is crap. But also addictive. I really care who wins Rosemary Shrager's School For Cooks this week...

My Dad has stepped into my cafe shoes and has been working his socks off, making soup, serving customers, hosting birthday parties and crochet lessons....all of the things that I had organised and was so desperately gutted to have missed. Still the birthday party was a success, my lovely Mum baked fairy cakes and made sandwiches galore and apparently a fabulous time was had by all. The crochet lessons (thankyou for the PR, Julia!) were good fun, apparently, and the Happy Hookers (!) will be back next week for another session.

I am hoping to be back on my feet by the weekend, and normal life shall resume once again hopefully.

Thankyou so much for all of your get well wishes, I really am touched. Your blogs have all kept me entertained in my deepest darkest moments!

I promise not to leave it so long next time....x

Time Flies

2008-09-28T17:50:00.000+01:00

I can't believe how quickly the weeks are flying by at the moment. It is the first time in a long time that I can honestly say that I do not know where the time goes.

We have had a fabulous week at the cafe. The sun has shone, people have sat outside and enjoyed the weather and everyone has seemed happy. It is amazing what a little bit of sunshine does for the spirit. (yes, the lady in the photo did agree to it! She asked if she could put a bit of lipstick on but I assured her no one would see that close up to notice)

The Macmillan Coffee Morning on Friday went without a hitch. Mum and Dad came and helped out and we had a steady stream of generous customers between 9am and 11am. We raised the grand sum of £130 and were absolutely delighted with ourselves and all of the lovely people that gave so kindly to such a worthwhile cause.

We set out loads of cups and saucers, flapjacks and danish pastries and did it 'canteen' style. We had time to circulate, chat to customers and hand around cakes. It's amazing how people will be 'forced' to have another piece of cake with a bit of encouragement!

This afternoon I have been making Elderberry Cordial, after stumbling across a recipe a while back. The hedges surrounding our allotment still had plenty of berries, despite the council giving them a haircut! Have you ever removed dozens of berries off a plant with a fork? Very satisfying experience, I must say. So easily pleased...Use a fork to remove berries and put into a pan. Add a little water and simmer until the juice all comes out..I mashed them with the back of a spoon a little to help them along.

Strain off the juice, return to the pan and add 1lb of sugar for every pint of liquid. Boil the liquid until it turns into a thick syrup.

And bottle!
Now the idea behind this stuff is that it is supposed to get rid of colds and lurgy if they should appear. The berries are rich in antioxidants which help cholesterol, diabetes, ulcers and colds! I must say that the berries don't smell particularly pleasant until you add the sugar, so be warned if you try it!

This morning after a trip to the allotment we went to Worcester for a wander and I bought some fabulous pumpkin lanterns from Lakeland to hang in the windows of the cafe. They have battery operated lights inside, so are completely safe and re-useable. I can highly recommend them for childrens bedrooms or living room windowsills if anyone is feeling Halloweeny! (I realise it's a while to go yet but I am trying to get prepared-hell, I've even been thinking of what we can do for Christmas and Easter...)

I am now off to watch Strictly and dance around the house, pretending I am wearing a ballgown. There's an image!

Muffin much going on here except a bit of baking

2008-09-24T21:26:00.000+01:00

Sticky toffee muffins, to be precise..

They haven't been road tested yet. Or even cafe tested, but that is where they shall go tomorrow. I finally managed to find some muffin cases that fit the holes of my muffin tins. They are pretty silver ones purchased from a very cool cake decorating shop in Oxfords undercover market-do you know it? You must go! A VERY inspiring place (the market, not just the cake shop) The List Writer and I have spent a couple of very happy hours ambling around there.

Talking of inspiring, I need some ideas please! I am holding my first birthday party at the cafe in November for my friends little girl. We are having a Cake Decorating Party. Oh yes, pink and glitter and hearts galore, no doubt. But if anyone has any suggestions (not too expensive please) as to ways to cater for small fluffy girls then I would be grateful. Ta muchly.

This Friday we are holding our first event, a Macmillan Coffee Morning. 9am until 11am if you're passing?! We have been bullying our regulars into coming along, and have seen several people jotting down the information as they have gone past, having not been able to miss the ENORMOUS poster I have put in the window. So if you fancy a coffee and a piece of flapjack we will be there.

The toblerone cookies sold out in two days. I didn't get to try one, but had lots of vigorous head nodding when I did that annoying thing of asking customers if everything was OK the minute they took a bite. Hate it when people in cafes and restaurants do that.

Thankyou for the handcream suggestions! I may pass on the udder cream for now though (?!), as my lovely Dad bought me some cocoa bean hand cream from the Body Shop which is doing a fabulous job.

Had better go and do the washing up now.

That Sunday Feeling

2008-09-21T18:58:00.000+01:00

Good grief. Can you believe here we are, Sunday night yet again? Time to finish the ironing (or at least one pile of 'essentials' anyway) throw some bleach around the bathroom, do some much needed grocery shopping and tidy the house.

Sundays are funny aren't they? Rob and I still refer to them as school nights, and I have to admit that even though I now have my own business I still get that tummy churning thing on a school night that I did all of those years ago. I am sure it will get better in time, but you see I am a bit of a perfectionist. I just want everything to be perfect at work each day, not give anyone any reason to complain, and want all of our lovely customers to leave with smiles on their faces.

So far so good. And yet whilst I realise that we must be doing OK, with lots of regulars and customers saying encouraging things, I do worry that if I become complacent, if I start to relax, then something horrible may happen. So for now I shall continue to get up at stupid o clock each day, carry on worrying (carry on losing weight-see there are benefits!) and then we should be fine. Oh dear, maybe I need to see a shrink...

I do thankfully still find baking relaxing, and here are todays experiment, GIANT toblerone cookies. Hmm, they really are rather enormous, you know. Rob has road tested one and confirmed they are good. So tomorrow shall have them sitting prettily in a glass cake dome. And someone may even buy one!

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I haven't been to the allotment for a while, due to time constraints. I do thankfully still have time to step out of our kitchen doors and onto the patio though, reach an arm through into the greenhouse and......tomatoes. They taste sweet, smell fabulous (I love the smell of tomatoes) and are keeping us in lots of tasty meals. Pasta bakes, spanish omelettes, bolognese sauces, soups, etc.etc. There aren't masses left but we have done well from just three plants. The cucumbers have done brilliantly as well. I just stuck three plants in a grow bag and put them on the patio. We have had huge amounts of cucumbers off them-I can highly recommend them for next year!
Sorry the picture is a bit blurry!

Since opening the cafe my hands have suffered dreadfully. Whereas I used to sit behind a desk for a living and spend my days slathering handcream on, now I spend most of my time washing them. Obviously I can't use hand cream at work (doesn't tend to taste that great on a bacon baguette) so they have become dry and old looking. Rubbish. All is not lost. On our trip around a very well known supermarket today (OK, Tesco!) I found white cotton gloves. Which always reminds me of WH Audens Poem...'Let traffic policemen wear white cotton gloves'

So tonight, when you are all sat watching telly, reading books, surfing the internet or lying in the bath, I shall be sat here with mountains of hand cream on and my white gloves. Pretty attractive, I'm sure you'll agree...(please be aware that I was giggling hysterically whilst Rob took this picture)

I hope no one rings the doorbell.

Soup and Cycles

2008-09-14T14:19:00.000+01:00

This is part of the enormous piles of vegetables my lovely Dad harvested from the allotment for us this morning. Pretty impressive, eh? even more so to me, considering I haven't stepped welly on the plot for weeks. It's not for lack of wanting to, more down to pure knackered-ness (and rain) on my part.
So tonight we shall be dining on corn on the cob, potato wedges and leftover quiche and coleslaw from the cafe! Tomorrow shall be spent cooking up pots of soup, some of which will come back home and some which will be hopefully be sold to the masses!
We have unusual courgettes and gourds, heaps of potatoes, beautiful leeks, kohl rabi, parsnips and sweetcorn. Yum.

I have been thinking recently that I really should consider changing my name from 'Garden girl' to 'Cafe girl' or similar. I seem to have spent less and less time doing any gardening and more and more time thinking up lists of recipes, what to order from suppliers, interesting sandwich fillers, new cakes to try etc.etc.
HOWEVER, now, obviously, I will darn well be sticking to Garden Girl, because LOOK!!!

Pretty amazing, I am sure you will agree. My very own, beautifully hand painted Garden Girl mug. The very lovely Moss Stitch (still can't do links, but do look on my side bar) sent this fabulous present to the cafe this week. The postman was quite scared when I snatched the box out of his hands as he approached the cake counter. Several customers were trying hard not to look as I carefully unwrapped (ie. ripped) the sellotape off the box, and unravelled the bubble wrap that was safely packaging the delights within. Can you see the bumble bee on the handle? Can you? And another inside. Sigh. It is so very beautiful, I have used it for every cuppa since.

This was the amazing handmade card that came with the mug. I am going to try and find a box frame for it and put it on the wall of the cafe. Ms Stitch, you are very very clever and thoughtful. Thankyou so much, I am delighted with it. xxx

We decided to drag our bikes out from the shed this afternoon, having been inspired my The List Writers latest interest! I love cycling along the roads where we are so used to driving or walking. It has been a year since we last used them, which is shameful!

Somehow being on a bike, you observe things you wouldn't normally. People smile at you as well, probably because of the massive grin I had plastered across my face (they probably thought I had escaped from somewhere-I had, the laundry).

I felt like a big kid as we whizzed through the back streets, wind in our hair, cheeks rosy. Fresh air and a bit of exercise were definitely the tonic I needed this afternoon. If you have a bike gathering dust and cobwebs somewhere I can recommend you dig it out, pump up the tires and go for a spin. Smiles guaranteed.

Back to the laundry. Have a fabulous week everyone.x

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

2008-09-07T18:03:00.000+01:00

THIS is my most favourite place to be at the moment. Ah yes, Sleep, the thing I seemed to do without for so long, despite craving it so much, is back!

I realise that it is incredibly sad to be tucked up in bed by 9.30pm most nights, but after chatting with Mrs Cowboys and Custard in the week and sharing our views on snoozing, I am no longer ashamed to admit that actually, my first thought on waking most mornings is 'I can't wait to go to bed tonight'.

I love being snuggled up, chamomile oil sprinkled on pillow, lavender pillows (courtesy of Mrs Ragged Roses) plumped up on the fireplace, duvet pulled up to my chin and then...Zzzzzzzzz.

No longer do I lie awake staring at the ceiling for hours on end. Instead I quite literally fall into a deep slumber the minute my head touches the pillow. I drift off to the scent of chamomile and lavender, thoughts of cake recipes, menu changes, best selling jacket potato toppers dancing through my head.(ooh, the romance!)

10 hours of standing up, smiling, making pots of tea, unloading dishwashers, making sandwiches, chatting to customers, grinding coffee beans, stirring soup, wiping tables, re-stocking fridges, ordering stock, hoovering and mopping floors,....etc.etc.etc. makes for a good nights sleep...as does this....

My Cath Kidston sale bargain from a couple of years ago. Two nights ago we succumbed to its beauty yet again. It lives in the spare bedroom for several months of the year until the weather turns and we feel the need for an extra layer. Two nights ago we were really chilly and decided the time had come! I love the print on this side in particular. It is pink with white spots on the reverse side.

Have you found Petticoat Lanes blog yet? Do go and see her, she is incredibly talented, amusing, thoughtful and has very cute children. As well as a shopping obsession. Petticoats and I have known each other for a very long time now, in fact she used to be my boss! (but a very lovely one indeed) Anyway, she bought her beautiful girls and her Mum to No.9 last week for lunch. It was fabulous to see them, although at the time I recall thinking 'Oh hell, the place is a right bloody tip and we've run out of soup. I hope they don't want soup. And I haven't got any lipstick on' or similar rambling thoughts...Thankfully they didn't seem to mind, and settled themselves in, for hopefully not TOO long a wait, for lunch. And look what she bought me!!

Isn't it lovely? Please note the spottiness of the box the letters are sat on- it matches perfectly our spotty tablecloths. Good eh? A truly thoughtful present. Thanks Petticoats. x

Speaking of thoughtful presents (not that I have ever received one that wasn't...) this arrived this week as well. And oh, it really is SO fabulous after a day spent in a pair of Birkenstocks. The List Writer, you are, as ever, a star! thankyou. My feet smell delicious!x

I have been so lucky to have met several bloggers now, all who have been to visit. In fact whenever the door opens now and I see an unfamiliar face I start to wonder..thankfully two Saturdays ago I knew to expect Mollycupcakes, who very cannily has a mother in law living down the road from No.9 in Cheltenham. I knew she was coming, but that didn't detract from how great it was to see her. I recognised Catherine immediately as she walked in clutching a very lovely red spotty handbag in one hand, and a pretty pink paper bag in the other. Which contained this, for the cafe!

Although it was a No.9 cafe warming gift I think I may sneak it home and keep it in the kitchen. Otherwise it may be used by business partner extraordinaire to whisk tuna or something. He wouldn't appreciate it's pink spotty perfection and would think nothing of lobbing it in the dishwasher, unfortunately.

Before I jump into my P.J's for the night I would like to say thankyou to you all for your very thoughtful comments and emails about the cafe. It's very encouraging to have such supportive fellow bloggers! And extra special thanks to Michele, Dragonfly, Petticoat Lane, Julia and Mollycupcakes for visiting. One day when I am feeling brave I think we should hold a bloggers cafe day!

Maybe next year..when I've caught up on my sleep!

Fancy a cuppa?

2008-08-27T19:32:00.000+01:00

Firstly I have to thank Mr GG (as he has become fondly known by several of you!) for his regular updates on the blog of late. I apologise for being out of action (or order, depending on how you look at it!) but he has built up quite a fan base it seems in my absence!

As you are quite possibly aware by now, we are officially....

Thankyou to April for the beautifully crafted sign!

Because I have been up since stupid-o-clock this morning and am fit to drop, I thought I would keep it brief and bore you with a few more pics of No.9....

Thankyou to Tessa for the pink gingham bunting above the till! It has had many admiring glances, and one small princess has requested we keep it there for her birthday party in November!

The 'poseur' tables, which have attracted all of the young trendies...

Colouring pencils, books and paper to keep the small people amused.

Some of the paintings and mosaics created by local artists. The idea is that people will buy them all and we can change the decor continuously, to help change the atmosphere.

Heart shaped blackboard from the fabulous Vintage Amethyst!

And one of the absolute best things about the cafe? Having individual heart shaped marmite sachets. How cool?!! Sigh.

I have been incredibly fortunate to meet TWO bloggers this week. The delightful Mr and Mrs Cowboys and Custard arrived on a surprise visit on Monday morning, and we managed to sit and have a coffee together before the mad rush began. Yesterday afternoon the lovely Dragonfly arrived to sample the Hazelnut Latte. It was lovely to meet you all, and thankyou so much for making the trip over to Gloucestershire, I hope you come back again one day!

Dragonfly has also awarded me with this, which is gratefully received, thankyou!

And this, from Petticoat Lane AND Cowboys and Custard. How fabulous! Thankyou so much to you all, ladies, I am incredibly touched that you thought of me. And I thought it pertinent that I put them .....here, next to the shiny teapots...I just need to find a special home for the marmite first though!

I know it's a bit naughty, but rather than forward my awards to any particular bloggers, I am going instead going to award it to all of you, with my grateful thanks for all of your support and warm wishes over the last few difficult months. You have helped far more than you realise.

I think that's probably quite enough to be going on with! I am off for a lovely long snooze...thankyou once again for all of your wonderful comments, well wishes, cards and gifts. It makes all of this even more worthwhile to know that you're interested!

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Cosmopolitan Cotswold Cafe Society

2008-08-23T18:43:00.000+01:00

We are open!

Firstly, it's me again, Mr GG.

As will become apparent from this weeks ramble, the girl has been somewhat busy. Above are team No.9 at about 9.30am, completely oblivious of the impending demand for coffee, cakes and lunch. Which henceforth shall be known as 'The Rush'

The first paying customer arrived at 8.40am, and for the record ordered a cappuccino. I know a photo of a cup of coffee really isn't necessary, but it is mighty fine coffee.

In the 'Calm before the storm', the cafe is ready to receive.

The sign writer did a cracking job and with Bloke's hard work, the cafe had been transformed.

The particularly fine weather this morning made our pavement tables irresistable to the 'the ladies who'

Anyway, back to 'The Rush', nobody is sure where it came from and nobody is sure when it started, but when it came team No.9 sprang in to action and stood shoulder to shoulder, resolute and unwavering. Even Connie the cow, who lives over the coffee machine, remained stedfast.

......okay, so that was just an excuse to crowbar in this great photo of a cow!

The most rewarding part of the day was when two ladies who had lunched at No.9, returned in the afternoon for coffee and cake. Repeat business on our first day!

To finish off, I would like to thank everyone who has helped us to get this far and for the cards, gifts (all of which are in the cafe), encouragement and support. I know the girl has found you all a great source of inspiration. A special note to The List Writer, the fabulous aprons will be featuring in a blog of their own shortly!

Garden Girl will return...........

In my home town

2008-08-17T13:19:00.000+01:00

I had better start by way of an introduction, as I am sure that it will soon become apparent, as I do not have her way with words, that I am not Garden Girl. I am for the want of a better description, Mr Garden Girl, you may have spotted my short and irreverent contributions to the comments section as Red.

This is my first foray into blog world, so I thought I would stick to what I know and take you on a tour of our home town as seen on our Sunday Morning constitutional. The first event of our walk was to bump into the girl's folks in Bridge Street. So a well earned breather and cappuccino at Costa’s seemed like the only option, as we had been walking for a good 7 or 8 minutes.

Fully refreshed we set off and headed over the River.

....and then a stroll along the southbank until we reached.......

......The Whale Bone, which is a jaw bone from a Bowhead whale caught in 1820 by the aptly named Andrew Marvel. The stones have been laid to represent the 20m length of the whale.

The next photo opportunity was presented by a group of locals enjoying a civilised game of petanque.

Then we arrive at the scene of my sporting youth, Evesham Rowing Club, where strangely I had a squash membership and for those of you wondering, no, I did not have a rowing membership at the Squash Club.

Having retraced our steps over the river we entered the park and took this picture of the bandstand, please note the people on the bridge….

….to show the difference that just over 12 months makes. The top of the blue bridge is just about visible.

Also in the park is the Bell Tower, which originally formed part of the Abbey built in AD709, and with the exception of some of the boundary walls, the two churches and the Almonary, is pretty much all that survived the Reformation in 1540.

An orginal entrance to the Abbey, which now leads to allotments.

St Lawrences, All Saints and the Bell Tower.

The Almonary, which houses the town's museum.

As we turn towards home, we pass Ye Olde Red Horse, know locally as the Dead Horse, which every year puts on an excellent floral display. For the VE day 50 year celebrations in 2005 the timbers were painted red, white and blue.

The round house was built in the 15th century and is presently houses the local Natwest branch.

What Sunday walk would be complete without a trip to Tesco's? Where we secured the latest Cath Kidston charity shopping bag. The staff thought they had hidden these from view on a closed checkout, how wrong they were.

The girl has just baked a fabulous lemon cake, a recipe supplied by Cowboys and Custard, so it must be time to draw to a close and resume my role as Chief Tasting Officer for Cafe No.9.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of Evesham.

Cake Baking, Tabbouleh Making, Done! (that was my Gordon Ramsey impression. You had to be here)

2008-08-07T19:35:00.000+01:00

Frankly I don't think any of you realise quite how hard it is, this running a cafe malarkey. Especially when it isn't even open yet! Well let me tell you, today I had to make yet more cakes. Purely for experimental purposes, of course. I didn't get the slightest bit of pleasure from it, and neither did any members of my family who were forced to eat the results.

The cakes in question are miniature tiramisus. Sort of. Basically you make muffins (or fairy cakes for those of you who intend to use a muffin tin only to find that every single muffin paper case in your posession is actually too big for said muffin tin. Like me then. How weird, surely these muffin paper case makers should be in conversation with the muffin tin makers? Yes??)

Anyway, the tiramisu cream is in fact mascarpone, whipped cream and coffee essence, all mixed together and once the cakes are cool you peel the cases off, slice them horizontally and dribble each slice with instant coffee and then stick them together with blobs of cream mixture. It is very fiddly and time consuming, but also quite therapeutic. I pottered about in the kitchen, listening to the radio, adding to my shopping list as I went and had a cup of tea on the go. All very relaxing.

I haven't actually eaten one yet but lovely husband has assured me his was very nice, although he may well need to try another later just to confirm the fact.

I also made tabbouleh for dinner. Thanks for the recipe Nic! This is bulgher wheat, chopped up spring onions, mint, parsley and cucumber. Drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil. Mmm. I can also confirm that it tastes very good with cold roast chicken.

Eek. Soon I'm going to have to make things for real people who will be paying for it (hopefully!) not too scary then....

Lunch at Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons

2008-08-06T16:27:00.000+01:00

One lovely present that I received for my recent 21st birthday....(oh ok, my 30th birthday) was a fabulous invitation to lunch at Raymond Blancs place in Oxfordshire. My brother Dave, and his wife, Nic, are INCREDIBLY generous and VERY good at thinking up great presents for people, and I am a very lucky girl indeed.

Anyway, Rob and I managed to find a day in our very busy schedules where we could actually enjoy this treat and today was the day...

I am going to bore you with practically every darn photo that I took-sorry! But it's such a beautiful place. The staff were welcoming, attentive, had a sense of humour and such attention to detail.

We were shown into the lounge to start with where we had Gin and Tonics and canapes. They were so beautiful. They had individual leaves on them, tiny bits of gold leaf, probably not the sort of thing we will be serving in the cafe, but very inspiring all the same! They tasted fabulous as well.

This is me after one gin and tonic, mis behaving. I think I was chewing an olive at the time of the photo being taken, just in case you wondered! Either that or I was stifling a giggle at the man braying with laughter in the next room.

Above is delicious smoked salmon which was 'With compliments from zee head chef' so that's nice. Very tasty, and I had to laugh at the small boy on the next table who had an espresso cup of 'zee crab bisque' as his 'special' poor boy, I am convinced he would rather have been tucking into a Happy Meal.

I was VERY excited about this, below. It was the 'Soupe au pistou du Manoir' which roughly translates as Garden vegetable soup with Parmesan Croutons. They brought the bowl out with prettily arranged vegetables in the bottom, such as broad beans, peas, carrots etc. and then poured the soup over the top from a silver jug! Good eh?! I had to hide my 'I'm incredibly impressed' face and just pretend I ate in places like that all the time whilst adopting a lofty expression. Inside I was squealing with excitment at the loveliness of it all though.

Next up was 'Truite, sauce epicee au concombre et wasabi beurre blanc' but for those of us who aren't fluent in french and only just scraped a GCSE ..Shetland sea-trout, samphire, cucumber and wasabi beurre blanc.

This was actually Robs desert, which was 'Fondant au chocolat "Alpaco" glace the jasmin "au Tibet" which roughly translates as chocolate fondant and ice cream! I had Exotic fruit 'Raviole' with kaffir lime leaf and coconut. Yum. The photo of mine didn't come out very well though.

Coffee and petit fours in the gardens...aren't they exquisite? I deliberately zoomed in so you can appreciate the work that has one into them. They didn't last long though. The top left one was a pavlova with basil cream and red currant jelly...it was as light as a feather and melted in your mouth. Well not your mouth, actually, mine!

The gardens are so beautiful. They do their best to provide all of the vegetables from the gardens for the hotel and restaurant. I was really looking forward to wandering around them as have seen them on television on various gardening programmes and they did not disappoint. I could have spent hours wandering around taking photographs.

The well manicured croquet lawn.... Scattered around the gardens are bronze sculptures by artists Lloyd Le Blanc and Judith Holmes Drewry.

These are the Dancing Cranes, by Lloyd Le Blanc.

And this one is aptly named 'The Reader', sitting quietly under her tree.

'Sarah with her basket' keeping an eye on the vegetable and herb gardens.

There is also a fabulous bronze sculpture of a Scarecrow, but I couldn't get a very good photo of it 'up close' unfortunately.

I think he was my favourite.

We had a lovely time, and hopefully will get to go back again one day. It was a lovely way to remember my 21st (ok, 30th!) birthday, thankyou so much Dave and Nic for a lovely treat. Coffee and waffles on me when you're back in the UK!

Help!

2008-08-03T17:51:00.000+01:00

Does anyone know where I can buy these?? I have ebayed to no avail.... I have tried junk shops as well, but no joy there either...any suggestions gratefully received, thankyou kindly.

We didn't get away this weekend. The campsite we had in mind was fully booked, and I have to confess I was glad, especially late on Friday evening when the heavens opened. And boy did they open! I lay in the bath listening to the rain pound on the porch roof and thought the ceiling was going to fall in. I think we can safely admit to being fair weather campers. And why not?! Not a great deal of fun to be had in sitting in a wet field, no matter how lovely a view.

Thankyou for your kind words and questions regarding the cafe. We are STILL not open, largely due to the solicitors, who seem to be particularly relaxed about the whole procedure. The decorating is done though, the menu more or less decided (although open to changes!) and this coming week will be spent finishing off little bits and pieces, like cleaning fridges, sorting recipes and finalising the sign writers' designs.

I am quite excited about meeting the 'Mosaic Lady' as she has become known, tomorrow morning. She is bringing over her work so we can decide what to hang, and where. It will be lovely to have some art on the walls, as despite them being beautifully painted now, they do look a bit bare.

In case I haven't mentioned it yet, the cafe is called No.9, because it is erm, number 9 in the road...nice and simple (just like me...)

NEWS JUST IN!!!- Liz, thankyou for your comment, that would be great, but I can't get hold of you, your message won't let me! have googled the store in Tunbridge Wells but it is 'under maintenance' which is a shame...would you mind emailing me?Thankyou!

Fields of Gold

2008-07-28T21:58:00.000+01:00

What better way to relax, with a lovely glass of something chilled and the sun setting overhead...
The barbecue lit, a comfy bed only feet away and the promise of doing it all over again tomorrow...

Outside our tent we sat, only an hour away from home yet it could have been several. We watched the sky turn pink (along with my cheeks!) and finally started to remember what Summer should feel like. You will see from the picture above that the orange squash has now been happily replaced with a very large bottle of rose from tesco for a fiver. It lasted the whole weekend and was very gluggable indeed.

The campsite we stayed at was just outside Bourton on the Water, a really lovely place. Have you been? you should. It is INCREDIBLY touristy, but we very smugly snuck in early on Saturday, whilst only the locals could be found, grabbed provisions (ie. bacon, bread rolls) grabbed an even quicker coffee (have turned into a complete coffee snob since buying the cafe and learning about coffee) and then headed back to camp to enjoy the peace and quiet.

This was the beautiful sight we were met with when we first arrived at the site. Isn't it beautiful? Golden fields as far as the eye could see...

The cafe is finished, decor wise, and I am now turning into a real Monica and cleaning everything in sight. The oven, the griddle, the dishwasher?! I think the cutlery is next. And then maybe the floors again..

I can also start accessorising a bit now. We have a 'mosaic lady' frantically mosaicing as you read, so we can decorate our walls with her fabulous works of art. There may be a potter to come on board, as well as an artist...I love the idea of having lots of beautiful things to look at whilst enjoying a cup of coffee, and supporting local artists and businesses as much as possible is important too. We have found a new, local ice cream company which is very exciting, as we can help each other out on the PR side, and we are just about sorted with local meat as well.

Exciting times...think we may go camping again next weekend, if only to get a little bit of sleep...

ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Happy Birthday to my lovely Mum for tomorrow. Hope you have a great day. I promise I won't embarrass you by putting up an awful photo of you eating cake or something,

So instead I found this one! You look great in this photo, very slinky! Happy Birthday To You.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Peasy Does It

2008-07-21T22:09:00.000+01:00

The peas on our allotment are SPECIAL. Oh yes! They are square...and if you are really clever (or bored) you can build blocks with them..like so! And no, no superglue was used, you cheeky lot!

Unfortunately the Gladioli are just normal, no super powers or anything. But they are rather beautiful in colour. They are also very traditional flowers to have on an allotment. Our were bought very cheaply from Lidls, and have been watched over anxiously ever since. I have never grown them before, and am so pleased with the result. they really liven up the bottom section of the plot.

And just to show some of you kind souls, who have worried that I have been working myself too hard... this is a typical Sunday evening in our household! Please note several things,

1) The dead mans arm on the television screen!

2) A couple of you may recognise certain cards on the mantlepiece!

3) And a couple more of you may notice the vase of dead flowers. They really are going to be thrown out today. Honest.

4) That is orange squash in my glass. What is happening to me?!! "Must not drink on a school night" perhaps? Nope. I just didn't like the wine!

Just to keep you updated...

2008-07-20T15:14:00.000+01:00

Thankyou for all of your fabulous emails and comments, and your recipe suggestions. I have started to put them all into a 'Bloggers Recipe Folder' and they are going to be experimented with next week. It's so kind of you to send your own family recipes, I am incredibly touched by the sentiment. So far I have made Nancys recipe for Mars Bar Cakes. Rob is munching on it as I type. I fear we may be in the bad books with the dentist. It really is yummy stuff indeed. And cannot be wasted on children!

We have had another really busy at the Cafe, but are starting to see results now, whereas before everything just seemd like an enormous mess with paint tins scattered everywhere.

I have grouted the toilet floor, put up shelves and a newspaper rack, cleaned and scrubbed everything in sight and done lots of PR work (ie. gossiping outside with the locals)

The boys have painted, moved the safe (quite some feat, believe me) put up tiles, moved fridges, sanded walls, taken out wiring and pipework, laughed and taken the mickey out of me for 'shirking' my reponsibilities (they don't understand PR work, obviously).

The painting is nearly finished. The splashback is grouted and splashproof! (and I have the yucky fingernails to prove it) the doors and skirting boards are sage green. The glasses are washed and sparkling. The coffee machine is still foxing me! But I am getting better.

We have lovely cream walls, beautiful new lights and loads of enthusiasm. In fact the bags of enthusiasm I have almost match those under my eyes, in size.

I have even had time to partake of some 'experimental cafe cooking' and here is one attempt..herb bread. It's from a book by The National Trust called 'Traditional Teatime Recipes' that I bought on a recent shopping trip to Oxford with Nancy. It's the only thing I have made from the book so far, but it was a success. We had it for lunch today with (homemade!) Sweet Potato, Red Pepper and Lentil soup. Alas there is no recipe, I just made it up as I went, but the recipe for the bread is as follows...

HERB BREAD

8oz Self raising white or wholemeal flour (or a mix of half and half) sifted

1tsp dry English Mustard powder

2 tablespooons of fresh chopped herbs (chives, basil, thyme, sage etc.-from ones' herb garden!)

4oz grated mature cheddar cheese

25g (1oz) butter (melted)

1 egg, beaten (defeated, cannot take it any more...etc..)

150ml water (5 fl.oz)

Preheat the oven to 190 C, 375 F, gas mark 5. Grease a 1lb loaf tin.

Mix together the flour, mustard herbs and cheese.

Add the melted butter, egg and water and mix to a soft, wet cake like dough.

Turn into the tin and bake for 45 minutes until well risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or cold with butter. Or soup!

It is incredibly easy to make and really tasty. You can use any herbs you have to hand, and I used chives and basil, which made for a great combo.

So the week ahead holds more cooking, costing up recipes, finishing the writing of the menu (or the provisional menu, anyway) finishing the painting, sorting out the kitchen, finalising suppliers, chasing up the solicitors and meeting with the sign writers. As well as more tiling, cleaning the glass fronted fridge, cleaning the windows, cleaning, cleaning and possibly a bit more cleaning.

Did I mention the cleaning?

Have a great week

It feels a bit like the Oscars, you know

2008-07-13T13:43:00.000+01:00

How simply splendid to receive awards, I feel like an Oscar winner! (well, I imagine it feels similiar, obviously never having been awarded an Oscar, nor is it likely that I ever will...you know what I mean!) anyway, this one above is from Steph at Curlew Country-have you met her? Pop in, she lives in a beautiful part of the country and is always up to something interesting. Her house benefits beautiful countryside views and her garden is fabulous, considering she hasn't been a gardener for long. She certainly puts me to shame.

This one below is from April, at Cake Makes the World a Better Place (it does, you know) if ever there was a blog with a more apt title, I don't know what it is. April knows her cake. Oh yes, if you are in need of a sweet, icing laden fix then go and see April. She also likes pink, which is never a bad thing, in my opinion.
Thankyou so much, girls, to you both, I am incredibly flattered by the awards, and I need to pass them on, obviously! I forgot to do that last time, sorry, but am blaming it on my general scattiness of late...so, here goes,

5 Blogs that make my day to be awarded to...(drum roll, please!)

* Lucy at Attic 24- Lucy's blog is a recent discovery of mine, and I get incredibly excited when I see she has done a new posting. We seem to share a very similar sense of humour, and her photos are fabulous, whereas mine are always taken in a hurry and seem to be very blurry. Ah well...she also cooks a mean fritatta...

* Catherine at Mollycupcakes- she has been incredibly supportive to me since I started blogging and for that I thank her greatly. She also has VERY cute children, makes amazing spotty bits and pieces, some of which are scattered around my kitchen, and she always makes me smile.

* Kim at Ragged Roses, for thinking of me when she is getting dressed in the morning!! (haha) I always check in on her blog late on a Monday or early on a Tuesday, if I can, as it is almost guaranteed that she will have shared another interesting post of what she has been up to. Kims' blog is one of those that has me shouting at the computer (in a good, 'Me too!' kind of way)

* Michele at Cowboys and Custard, (have you seen her kitchen?!) but also, she makes me laugh so much. Again, a huge support to me since I started blogging and I do believe if we lived closer I would be permanently camped out on her doorstep, actually. If that's ok...don't go calling the police or anything...

* Nancy at Philosophyoflists. Blimey that girl can write a list, you know. And she is so good at it, as well! Nancy is the person who inspired me to blog in the first place, so really she is to blame. Sorry about that. I think she probably has a few lists simmering as I type, so do go over and check regularly, won't you?

And 5 Brilliante Weblogs! to,

* Alison at Vintage Amethyst- do you have room for any more awards, Alison?! Alison has a fabulous online shop full of beautiful things for sale, so do check it out. It's the perfect place to buy presents for yourself (or others, of course) Alison and I are on the same wavelength and do share some bizarre similarities...she is a very amusing, kind and lovely lady with a brilliant blog. Go and visit her!

* Val at Dottycookie. She has got a new allotment, you know! Val has een working VERY hard, weeding, digging and turning over soil to get her new plot in prime condition. Her blog always makes very interesting reading

* Tess at Driftwood...officially now a charity worker, due to the billions of pink gingham aprons she has been sewing of late for charity..atta girl! She should hopefully be emerging soon, more or less unscathed from the enormous pile of aprons, out into the sunshine!

* Tracey at Dragonfly. Her garden is AMAZING. Seriously, it looks like it should be in Homes and Gardens. Tracey is a wonderful person, who has been through so much but remains upbeat, supportive to others and actually makes me feel quite humble, really. She is incredibly talented, from crochet to stained glass to gardening to cooking. Darn it, I think I've talked her up too much now...Have a look at my bug infested nasturtiams, instead!

I don't know if I have bored you before on the fact that guttering is fabulous stuff indeed for growing, especially for radishes, as they don't need masses of space for root growth. They also grow very quickly...
And remember the herb garden that was first planted up a few months back? Well as you can see above, the plants are growing madly. A combination of far too much rain and a teeny bit of sun seem to be just what they like. Unfortunately some plants, like the parsley have gone to seed but the flowers are still pretty!

Hope you have all had a fabulous weekend. We were planning on going camping, but didn't make it due to the weather forecast. Instead we have been mooching about at home, cooking and gardening, and down at the allotment digging potatoes and pulling up weeds of triffid like proportions.

Thankyou all again for your continued support on the cafe front...I shall no doubt be back to bore you with further news soon!

Well you did ask...

2008-07-10T20:02:00.001+01:00

For the 'before' photos, that is....am hoping she is going to 'forget' the Cath Kidston Roberts radio..but I bet she won't! The lovely red coffee machine is still being experimented with. It's much harder than it looks to make the perfect cappuccino, you know! I'll get there.
Some of you will be pleased to hear that Ihave met a lovely coffee supplier today who does a great line in flavoured syrups to add to the coffees-chocolate, vanilla, almond, cointreau...the list is endless.

The big nasty fridge below is going-too much like a chip shop bottle fridge, but we are going to move it into the back kitchen instead.

And these are the 'during' photos....my lovely Dad at the back in the 'ghostbusters' outfit, wielding a paintbrush. He has painted all the red out, ready to be painted cream in the next week or so. As much as I love red I wanted to make the place look totally different, and we have decided to go for a cream and sage green colour scheme, with oilcloth on the tables, nice and subtle, and hopefully, welcoming.

Everything that you can see was already in the cafe, but we have bought the lot. So now we just need to focus on how we can keep the stuff but change the atmosphere a bit.

Thankyou so much for your fabulous suggestions so far, it really has been incredibly helpful. They have all been written down in the ever expanding notebook, and we are going to start finalising the menu next week hopefully.

Any thoughts on a seperate childrens menu? Or is that making things complicated? Should we just keep a section for the little people inside the main menu?

As well as the kitchen area you can see in the photos there is another kitchen at the rear of the building, and a toilet. We have also got an office come storeroom which is rather handy for shoving boxes in as they are delivered.

So, what do you think?? Please remember it is work in progress- I am slightly scared at showing you these photos!

And now the hard work begins!

2008-07-06T11:57:00.000+01:00

Lovely Catherine at Mollycupcakes has awarded me with this-hurray! Thankyou so much. It makes the weather outside seem slightly brighter somehow.

I am as usual, staggered and massively happy by your supportive responses to my new venture. Thankyou so much. If you're ever passing, come in, I'll get you a pinny sorted and hand you a cake slice. I think we may be busy.

It's all very well choosing paint colours, browsing through recipe books for the perfect cookie mixture and trying to decide which soup should become our first 'soup of the week' but really, I think we are going to have a heck of a shock the day we actually open the doors to 'real people' Eeek.

Still, we have a few weeks to go yet. The lady who currently owns it has kindly given us a set of keys to basically do whatever we like. Her solicitor would quite rightly go bonkers if he knew, but who am I to argue? She is pregnant and fed up at the moment, so has shut the cafe and is at home with her feet up. I have had to force a smile onto my face when she has started grumbling about how she hates being pregnant. I don't want to make her feel bad about it, but am finding it rather a struggle to sympathise. Instead I shall have to concentrate on chocolate brownies, I think, to take my mind off it.

So I have been playing with very scary looking coffee machines, grinding my own beans and opening random boxes in the kitchen which have housed all manner of weird and wonderful things. Pre cooked hard boiled and shelled eggs, anyone?! Cans of sliced mushrooms? (bleurgh) frozen slices of pre-cooked chicken? I don't think I am on my own with thinking that they will all be filling a very large dustbin soon.

Tomorrows job is to start emptying out and cleaning the kitchen whilst the boys start decorating. I think the kitchen was put in by an incredibly tall person. I practically have to stand on tip toe to reach the sink. A trip to ikea for a set of their wooden steps is in order if I ever want to reach the top shelf. Or perhaps a pair of platform shoes...

Now, despite thanking you all already for your words of encouragement and glee, I have a favour to ask. But a fun one, hopefully. I would like suggestions for menus. Including boring things like your favourite sandwich fillings. I need your likes and dislikes about cafes you go to, in order to help us get it right! If you have any ideas at all, about anything that may be of help we would be grateful.

I am planning on being incredibly child friendly, so little people will be catered for (0nly well behaved ones though, otherwise they have to do the washing up) and I am hoping in time to encourage book clubs/ crafty clubs in for the evenings. I have a lady on standby who creates beautiful mosaics, pictures, mirrors etc. that we will hang on the walls and have for sale. Lots and lots of ideas floating around on that score. But any more will be gratefully received!

Thankyou again, you're all wonderful. I hope you pop in if you're ever in Gloucestershire!

Coffee, tea, or me?

2008-07-02T19:42:00.000+01:00

Something mad and crazy and ever so slightly scary has happened. I am buying a cafe.

Yep, no longer a horrid estate agent (well, a nice one actually, but lets face it, they don't have the greatest of reputations..) I shall instead be spending my days making sandwiches, learning to make fancy cups of frothy coffee and hopefully having a grand old time.

I do appreciate that I shall also have to be getting up very early, sweeping and mopping floors, cleaning toilets and being very nice to people even when they are being grumpy, but then I am used to that anyway. I do a great line in gritted teeth conversations...

It wasn't planned, oh no, it sort of just fell it into my lap. Well mine and my 'business partner' Tee hee. Makes me laugh every time I say 'business partner'. Sounds like the sort of thing a grown up would say.

After posting about my 30th birthday on here I had so many encouraging comments and emails from peope, saying how their 30's were just the best time. How you found yourselves, suddenly felt comfortable, realised what it was all about. And it made me think, really. I did enjoy my job but it wasn't the be all and end all. I worked to live, and that was ok, more than ok, in fact, but I wasn't passionate about it. I started to become complacent and that's not a good way to be in a sales job, in my mind. If the decision hadn't been made for me, if I hadn't have lost our baby then I would no doubt still be there, crossing off the days and counting down on my calender until maternity leave was due to start. Instead, a different path has been carved out for me, for now, and this seems to be it. I'm thrilled that I have something to keep me occupied, something exciting that keeps my mind busy every waking moment. There are lots of those. I am struggling to sleep, have been for a while now, and this news has only made the insomnia worse. At least now I can think about cake and soup recipes though, rather than sadder subjects.

So hopefully in early August we shall be open for business. Please stop by, all of you, when you are passing. I will pop the kettle on, or make you a frappuccinomochalatte extra foam hold the marshmallows or whatever...and take a nice fat slice of homemade cake from my glass domed cake stand. It would be lovely to see you.

The loveliness continues...

2008-06-24T15:31:00.001+01:00

This has to be the easiest laziest bread recipe in the world. Although in all honesty it does taste a bit more like tea bread than 'normal' bread. It's from Nigella Express, her Lazy Loaf. Rob made it at the weekend and it's yummy.

Ingredients

200g sugar free muesli

325g wholewheat flour

7g sachet of yeast

2 tsp Maldon salt or 1 tsp table salt

250ml low fat milk

250ml water

Put all the ingredients into a bowl and stir. Transfer to a greased loaf tin and transfer to a cold oven turning the heat onto 110/gas 1/4 for 45 mins, this will allow the dough to prove.

When the 45 mins are up, turn the heat up to 180/gas 4 and bake for an hour. By this time the bread will be cooked through and when you tap on the bottom of the loaf it should sound hollow. If it doesn't sound hollow pop it back into the oven for a few mins without it's tin.

Smother in butter and home made blackberry jam...which leads me to...

Blackberry Jam

Ingredients

2 lbs blackberries

2 lbs sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Put a saucer in the freezer!

Pour blackberries into deep heavy based pan. Put on a low heat on the hob and stir gently every now and then until the fruit starts to go mushy and soft.

Pour in the sugar and stir gently, then stir in the lemon juice. Continue to stir until the sugar has dissolved. Then bring to the boil and boil rapidly. Stir every couple of minutes to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Continue to keep it on a rolling boil (all small people and animals to be locked elsewhere!) and then take saucer out of the freezer. Let a bit of jam drop onto the saucer (not too much, don't waste it!) it has reached 'setting point' when you can push it with your finger and it goes a bit crinkly, if that makes sense. If it doesn't crinkle then keep boiling and do the saucer test again a few minutes later.

When it's ready pour into sterlised jars, very carefully and put on sterilised lids. I sterilise mine by putting them through the dishwasher and filling with boiling water afterwards.

It tastes seriously good. This pair of jars is making its way to Oxford on Thursday for two small people who have become fans.

Alison from Vintage Amethyst sent me this fabulous rosebud heart after my name was pulled out in her prize draw giveaway a couple of days ago. If you haven't checked out her blog and FABULOUS shop you must, right now!! Her address is in the side bar-over there, see?

Thankyou Alison, you are very generous and sweet. If I could post you a jar of jam I would. However I fear for the postman.

My cucumbers are coming along well in the back garden-this is them first thing this morning. I think we will be able to keep the street in cucumbers for weeks to come.

The first rose on our beautifully scented bush by the back door. It smells beautiful. I think it has been in our garden from when the house was built. It's huge and every summer we have an abundance of these deep red blooms.

Home grown radishes. I grew these in pots. Highly recommended if you want to grow your own at home and only have a tiny garden or window box-these take about 4 weeks to grow, so are particularly good if you or your children are impatient!

I went to the allotment this morning and picked some more strawberries with Dad. The strawberry patch smells beautiful. They are now covered by huge cages that Dad made, covered in chicken wire to keep the birds away. We are having a bumper crop this year, due to the weather conditions. We're really pleased with how they've done.

We also met our old friend Len up there this morning, complete with baseball cap and roll up ciggie. He spends all day every day up there. I may have mentioned before that he owns several allotments all together in one corner of the site and has been a fixture up there for years, as have several other old boys. I love watching them sitting together putting the world to rights, or swapping tips on how to grow the perfect cabbage. Len is particularly good at 'suggesting' when something isn't being done quite right. He has told me 4 times now how to grow the perfect parsnip, having seen us sow them a few weeks ago. We did it wrong, by all accounts and I don't think he will be happy until he sees a trench dug a foot or so deep. Then he may stop bringing it up!
He can talk for England. I sometimes struggle to understand him and start to get tired of saying 'Pardon?' (he doesn't like that, starts to shout as if Im deaf-although he thinks I talk too quietly so is always saying 'Eh?' when I mutter something.) So instead I sometimes smile politely and nod. Seems to work.

He gave me a couple of lettuces this morning and a big bunch of spring onions. His allotments and vegetables are PERFECT. Seriously, there is not a weed in sight. He has built sheds, greenhouses, fruit cages, even a toilet on his plots. It's like a home from home.

I'm not actually that wild about spring onions, but will throw them in something or other. It is good allotment etiquette to take things when offered, otherwise you don't get offered again!

Happy Birthday to You!!

2008-06-18T16:17:00.000+01:00

Happy Birthday to my elderly brother...(sorry, I didn't have any photos of just you-at least none that wouldn't cause embarrasment) Hope you have a lovely day, even though you're at work in sunny Canada. It was lovely to speak to you last night, and I can't wait for you guys to come back to the UK . Miss you loads. Lots of love xxx
p.s-walking stick is in the post...

Camping it up

2008-06-16T20:47:00.000+01:00

We have just come back from a fabulous weekend of camping in Wales. This is the first weekend we have packed up the tent this year (along with everything else we own, by the look of our car) and headed off. We are slowly working our way through the Cool Camping Guide, and being so close to Wales it took less than a couple of hours to reach our destination...Pencelli Castle in Brecon.

When the sun is shining and everyone else seems to be at work or school, there is nothing that appeals more than pitching a tent in an almost empty field....

Especially when the view from the field looks like this.....

Or this....

When all you have to worry about is if your drink is cold enough and your book is long enough. They even made the clouds fluffy for us.

There were a few friendly residents though... so we weren't totally alone.

But they were quiet and didn't interrupt the sense of calm.

We did get up once or twice. We even managed a trip to Talybont Reservoir. It was absolutely beautiful. We were totally surrounded by trees and mountains, and the water was so calm.

Back at base for champagne and cider, a barbecue and more rest and relaxation. And a photo of my husband pretending to be in the shower scene of 'Psycho' by the looks of it...

The picnic benches were dotted about all around the edge of the field so we dragged one over for our own personal use. Ideal for reading newspapers and admiring the view.

If anyone is considering camping and has never done it- DO IT! It's cheap and relaxing, there are no time constraints and no one thinks twice of you staggering across a field in your pj's to have a shower, if you so desire. Children are safe and out in the fresh air, socialising with other kids. You can live in the same pair of jeans for days on end. You can play house and make your tent all cosy with flowery duvets. You can have a marmite sandwich whenever you fancy it (you can't do that in a hotel!) Ahhh, yes, many reasons to give it a go, I think.

Have I convinced anyone?!

Envelope stuffers need not apply...

2008-06-12T20:20:00.000+01:00

One advantage of temping part time, as I have been for the last week or so, has been the time I have had free in the mornings to spend in both the garden and the allotment. The weather has meant there has been plenty of time to potter about, do some much needed weeding, and chat to fellow allotmenteers, as well as the best bit- harvesting!!

Thankyou for all of your wise words and advice on the temping side of things. I have been incredibly bored, but it has been very interesting 'working' (ie.stuffing envelopes and answering the phone) for another company and seeing how differently things are done. It has been rather nice to be anonymous. No one has particularly cared who I am, where I live, what I'm like, and in a way I have quite liked that. It's given me a chance to do lots of thinking about what I do or don't want to do in the future. I have had the confidence knocked out of me a bit over the last few weeks but probably didn't notice it much when I was working for the same place I have done for years..it was the prospect of being 'the new girl' in a new company that scared me a bit. When we were kids we moved quite a bit and I hated being the new girl at school. My first day of temping felt a bit like that. I think I realised quite quickly though, that unlike school, if I didn't like the job I could walk away. I wouldn't actually do that, it't not my style at all, but I think the knowledge that I could helped.

I have to say that nobody has been mean to me or made me feel unwelcome. Equally I haven't made any lifelong friends, but then I didn't expect to. It's just been nice and quiet, boring at times, but easy. I certainly haven't done anything to earn my pennies. Apart from filling several million envelopes.

Anyway, back to the gardening!

The garden itself is starting to look good. Bulbs I had forgotten about have emerged, and everything is looking lush and healthy.

This is the yellow rose that Rob bought for me soon after we got together, after telling him that yellow roses were my favourites. It has grown massively from the small pot it first came in and is at the bottom of the garden, amongst the bamboo.
I have never grown radishes before but these have done brilliantly. I can't say I am a huge fan of them particularly but they are such a fabulous colour and I am sure they will taste great.

I have just been pulling leaves from these lettuces as and when we want them. They have flourished, and are so quick and easy to grow

At the back are my Kohl Rabi, ready to be transported to the allotment, along with summer squash next to them. At the front some little gem lettuces, along with some free lettuce seeds from Gardeners World magazine a while ago.

It looks a bit rubbish at the moment but this is my flowerbed! There are several types of seed thrown in here, Marigolds, Cornflowers, Asters...they are all coming through now after much snail culling!
Another rose bought for me, this time by a friend when I first bought this house- a 'garden warming' present. It doesn't smell particularly but is very pretty..ignore the fence if you will!

There is a new girl at the allotments who has taken on a plot about half a dozen along from me. It's great to have another female on our side of the allotments (although all of the men I have come across are very pleasant as well!) but girls appreciate flowers and pink sheds and funky wellies. Boys do not. My new friend has made beautiful wigwams of sweetpeas with a wide entrance for her children to hide in and use as a den. It will look so fabulous once the flowers are flourishing.

The other good thing is that we have been able to swap produce. Today I had an enormous bunch of sweet williams given to me, and returned the favour with a bag of broad beans. Hurray! Broad beans are coming out of our ears at the moment, so to be honest I was quite glad to get rid of some of them (sorry Dad) and the flowers are beautiful. I have another big vase of them on the windowsill.
Todays broad beans...shelled and ready for the pan...

Loose leaf spinach..really tasty and grows madly.

These are the outdoor cucumbers I have been growing in the back garden. Complete with very expensive irrigation system!

Tomatoes in the greenhouse.

Lastly I want to thank Catherine for the very fabulous box of birthday goodies she sent in the post.

It was so kind Catherine, thankyou, and fabulously wrapped as well, I might add!! Thankyou for such a lovely present.x

I am now off to scan the job pages to see what might tempt me!

Tagging

2008-06-06T18:28:00.000+01:00

I have been tagged, hurray! by Driftwood..

What were you doing 10 years ago?

Well I had just turned 20 and was working as a nanny for a family with three children, a girl and two boys, aged 7,4 and a few weeks old. I also looked after two more children as well on Thursdays and Fridays. My working day was from 8am until 6pm, how the heck did I manage that? In the school holidays I had 5 of the terrors! The 7 year old hated me on sight, so I remember trying to bribe her with her favourite meal (tuna lasagne, yuck). I was not the greatest of cooks and used to ring my lovely Mum at work and ask her how to cook certain things, and how long to cook them for, like jacket potatoes. It went like this,

Ring Ring

"Hello Anna!" (It got to the stage where she knew it would be so didn't bother waiting to check)

'Errm, how long do you cook a jacket potato for?"

"Well how big is it?"

'Errm, not that big...' (very helpful)

I was living at home still, just about, I think, but about to move into my first rented flat with my friend and a smelly boy who took the third room to help us pay the rent. We always knew if he was home by whether the smell of his socks was in the air or not..

We spent all of our spare time and money in the pub around the corner, and staggering out of the nightclub two doors down. Our flat resembled a greenhouse, great big windows from floor to ceiling, and was above a parade of shops. I remember lying in the bath with cold water dripping on me from the skylight above. It was roasting hot in there in the summer and freezing in the winter. My female friend and I used to huddle up in bed together on Sunday mornings with a pot of tea and watch telly, snuggled under the covers (usually with a hangover) to keep warm.

5 Things on my to do list today

Well today is nearly over! But...

* Find the recipe in the huge pile of torn out recipes in the kitchen for marinading the seabass I have just bought for dinner.

* Pack a weekend bag for our trip to London tomorrow to see the Flugtag in Hyde Park. (blog to follow)

* Wander around the garden with a chilled glass of sauvignon blanc and see how my seedlings are doing

* Change out of office clothes into something a tad scruffier and more comfortable

* Get the wet washing out of the machine from this morning

Snacks I enjoy

* Marmite on toast..mmmm

* Chocolate raisins

* Chunky kitkats ( but only from the fridge)

* Sunflower seeds (shelled)

* Raw broad beans from the allotment (so sweet and lovely, but only when they're tiny)

Things I would do if I were a billionaire

* Shout some expletives

* Open my cafe/ bookshop/ florists

* Buy a little cottage on the beach in St Ives, Cornwall

* And a helicopter to take me and my family there (to save that long drive, although I guess I could get my chauffeur to do it)

* Help my family and friends out with whatever they needed

* Give to charity

Places I have lived

* Ickenham, Middlesex

* Wokingham

* Tewkesbury

* Perth, Scotland

* Wisbech, Cambridgeshire

* Evesham, Worcestershire

People I want to know more about

* Nancy at Philosophyoflists

* Domonique at Shabby Chic

* Alison at Vintage Amethyst

* Catherine at Mollycupcakes

* Gill at Moss Stitch

and I shall leave you with fowl pictures from the weekend gone...

We went to visit the Domestic Wildfowl Trust which is about ten minutes away. I have never been there before and it was AMAZING. There were less than half a dozen of us wandering around the most enormous place filled with as many different breeds of chickens, ducks, geese peacocks...you name it. They also had baby bunnies..

They were the cutest things I have ever seen. Ever. I had to go back and have another peek at them before we went home.

Yet more presents...!

2008-06-03T18:14:00.000+01:00

I am a very lucky girl in many ways, and the last couple of weeks have proved that there are lots of very lovely people out there, and I am priveliged to know a lot of them and call them friends.
In my last post I mentioned a friend who had emailed me suggestions for my 'ten year plan' which many of you commented on. (hands off, it's mine!) I used to work for J a few years ago, we started in the same office more or less at the same time and had to get to know the area together to enable us to try and be successful. (no comment!) so we used to tootle off in J's company car around the Cotswolds, 'getting to know the area' getting lost, meeting odd locals and having a giggle. Our secretary, W, said we scared the locals, which was nice. Apparently they weren't used to 'glamorous women in suits' and that we were 'intimidating the way we strutted around the town'. One word I would not use to describe myself is glamorous, especially when I was probably wearing a suit at the time from Marks and Spencers (hardly Gucci). W used to have myself and J in hysterics with her stories and observations. If ever there was a crisis or tragedy W would be involved in some way.

Anyway, as well as starting together we also left together. Various reasons were had by us both, but we have stayed in touch since, although more so recently. After my post about the lovely Featherdown Farm and my rave reviews to J that she must go there I received this in the post from her...

J knew how much I had loved the red enamel ware at the farm and went out and bought this (and she HATES shopping! heehee) I am so very touched, it will be travelling to the allotment, to campsites throughout the summer and actually to my coffee table as well. Thankyou so much, J. And I loved the Cath Kidston wrapping paper as well..x

Remember my lovely birthday teapot?

What does every teapot worth its tea leaves need?

Lovely T from Driftwood sent this, to keep my teapot warm. It is BEAUTIFUL. The fabric is just what I would have chosen, and it has been much admired by visitors. T, you should be selling these in the shops!

Kim of Raggedroses fame is aware of my quilt envy from her trips to car boots sales, charity shops etc. and took pity on me! She sent me this exquisite cushion which arrived just before we went to Featherdown. I am, as always, in awe of the skills that you people out there have! I wish I could sew, although I expect I would end up spending a fortune on fabric.

I have had so many wonderful comments and emails letters and cards from lovely people offering their support over the last few weeks and I appreciate it so very much.

I would be lying if I said I was feeling 100% and I think it will take a while yet before I start to feel 'normal' and not feel a gut wrenching pain whenever I see a pregnant lady or a newborn baby, but I guess that's normal. I'm trying though, and that's all that matters.

As some of you know I have just been made redundant (it never rains...) and am no longer an Estate Agent (hurray! no longer will people spit at me in the street-joke) I did actually really enjoy my job but over the last few months it has been really hard work, and maybe it's not meant to be. I am hoping the second half of this year will be better than the first, and that I will find a fabulous new career that will have me jumping out of bed in the mornings with a smile on my face (miracles can happen!) In the meantime I am starting as an office temp tomorrow, which should be interesting. Any words of wisdom for office temps? I have visions of either being ignored or given loads of rubbish work to do! Hopefully I'm proven wrong though.

Sorry Mum, but it is my birthday!!

2008-05-27T18:24:00.000+01:00

Going by the chubby cheeks (which have only got chubbier, despite 'clever' hairstyling) I would punt a guess at me being about 6 months old in this photo (I'm the one front left) I haven't asked my Mum my exact age because I know she'll disown me as soon as she sees that I have put this photo on here. Sorry Mum, it had to be done, but you look brilliant, I particularly love the red dress. (and no I'm not being sarcastic)

Anyway, the point is that the above photo was taken a LONNNNNGGGG time ago, 29.5 years ago if my guess is right. And 30 years ago today my poor Mum had to give birth to me, a rather large baby (some things don't change). She went into hospital after lunch and was home in time for tea.

My Mum and Dad have 2 Gemini children, a fact that we are reminded of every once in a while, as apparently at times we two may as well have been four. (My brother and I were obviously angels and they are making the whole thing up) Although now that I look at the photo more closely, what is my brother doing to my arm? Hmm...I appear to be leaning, as if trying to get away from him...

Yes, that's right. I have only just become used to telling people I was 29, and now all of a sudden the BIG THREE OH has crept up and bitten me on the really quite large bottom. (great card Jane, thankyou)

The lovely husband, who really is quite marvelous at buying presents, surprised me with a Cath bag that has been coveted for quite some time now. I haven't stopped stroking it since I opened it.

I treated myself to some grown up ladies shoes...(a bit smarter than the flip flops that I have been living in of late)

And I became the really quite excited and proud new owner of a 'Persephone book' which Kim was blogging about a few days ago, I seem to recall. I have been through the catalogue which was thoughtfully sent along as well and started earmarking others which take my fancy. The stories I have skimmed through so far in the brochure really are fascinating. The one I have is 'The Shuttle' by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

The lovely Nancy who sent me the book also made me the most BEAUTIFUL reversible apron. I love it so much. I did have some photos taken of me modelling it, but to be honest the ones taken of it lying on the carpet are slightly more flattering! The pattern and colours are right up my street, and the green matches our living room walls..as I type it is hanging on an armchair in the corner and I keep glancing over at it and smiling.

The reverse photo doesn't do the delicate green sprigged fabric justice, but it really is so beautiful. I may have to take up baking full time just so I can wear it more often. I particularly love that you can tie it in a bow behind your neck as well as behind your waist. So pretty. Thankyou so much, clever girl.

My new Bridgewater teapot, also coveted from afar for a while. It has been christened, and we are rapisly running out of teabags. There is something rather satisfying about pouring tea from a teapot. The lovely husband was also responsible for this purchase, along with other goodies.

We both went to Montys brasserie in Cheltenham for lunch, and afterwards round to see Mum and Dad for tea and birthday cake. Didn't my Mum do a cracking job of the birthday cake? It was delicious, thankyou Mum. I was also given a beautiful pink sequinned patchwork bag full of presents from them. Candles, socks, books...I'm a very lucky girl.

One of my friends who I know reads my blogs regularly has done a fabulous job of late in keeping my spirits up and making me laugh. She knows Ive been down about the baby and being made redundant and sent me an email this morning with my 'next' ten year plan...here are some of her suggestions, slightly edited!!

10 year plan

* Update blog on daily basis so I can look forward to reading it each morning.(I'll try!)

* Tell Lovely husband how lucky you are to have each other on a daily basis.(Obviously)

* Look forward to receiving turqoise boxes with white ribbons on a yearly basis.(Will speak to bank manager first)

* Become a domestic Goddess(does toast and marmite count?)

* Grow lots and lots of lovely fruit and veg with marvellous bloke by your side.(getting there)

* Become scrummy mummy, but DO NOT become part of horrible playground mafia.(will do my best)

* Write best selling novel and buy cottage in Cornwall.(this is my favourite)

* Acquire a 'Featherdown' tent to pack into car for each camping trip.(may have to change the car)

* Buy VW Camper to pack 'Featherdown' tent into that way you can have another 'section' to your 'featherdown' home!(may need VW camper to keep Featherdown tent in, good excuse)

* Obviously VW camper and Featherdown tent will have to be painted in 'Cath Kidston' print to stand out in the crowd and make GREAT blog photo. (Obviously my friend knows me TOO well)

So there you have it, all great suggestions, I'm sure you'll agree. See you back here in 10 years time, we'll see how I've done.

Featherdown Fun

2008-05-25T13:43:00.001+01:00

We are lucky enough to live a ten minute drive from the Countryside, but it's rare we come across a sight such as this! These are the cows that live at Featherdown Farm in Dorset, off for their afternoon of milking...

After being met by our host and given a bundle of bedding for our stay, we were pointed in the direction of the carpark and the wheelbarrow park. No cars allowed outside tents at Featherdown (quite right too) but obviously our tent was the furthest away from the car park...at least the sun was shining.

And yes, we did pick the one with the sqeaky wheel...

The first glimpse of our home for the week. Comment of the day from me? "Ooh, it looks just like the one in the brochure". Hmm. It had been a long journey...

If you look closely at the lovely husband you can just about make out the 'God I'm knackered' look. In my defence it was hard work carrying a handbag and a 'Bag for Life' whilst wearing flipflops, let me tell you!

And this was the view that we looked out on from our tent. Not bad at all. The tents have been cleverly staggered at this farm, and no one tent is looking directly onto another. Thus giving privacy when you are hopping about in your knickers trying to put your jeans on.

Vegetarians look away now...bacon sandwiches EVERY morning, what a treat, followed by mugs of tea when we finally got the most enormous kettle in the world to boil. One very clever girl (thanks Kim) gave us the tip of taking a thermos, and filling it with boiling water the night before, thus speeding up the morning cuppa. It worked a treat, thankyou! (as did our supply of hot water bottles)

We couldn't explain to ourselves why we enjoyed washing up by gas lamp when the biggest trauma in our lives LAST year was the dishwasher exploding and it taking a couple of weeks to replace.
The camp wood oven. The one evening it was lit it poured with rain, so we hid in our tent rather than join the hoardes of small children in the wellies (still not quite ready to be surrounded by hoardes of small children in wellies)

The bigest highlight for me was the selection of bright red enamel cookware. So easily pleased! If you look carefully you can just about make out someone hiding in the background. The door to the left is the toilet (most impressive) and the little cupboard doors on the right open up to a cabin bed, which housed my clothes for the week.

The bed was sooo comfy. I don't know how we will survive when we next go camping in our tent.

We did manage to drag ourselves away from the farm for several outings. This was the most gorgeous cottage in Lulworth Cove. Although it was shut the day we went the sign says that they sell sweets fudge and ice cream. It had a beautiful cottage garden that were greatly admired by yours truly.And of course we all know what happens when we plant a bucket in the garden, don't we? You get a bucket tree. Perfect.

If any of you are considering a visit to Featherdown then we would both highly recommend it. It was just what the doctor ordered. Peace and quiet, fresh air, no television, no phone calls. We spent hours sitting in deck chairs, reading our books, drinking cider and beer (not to excess, I hasten to add!) and just chilling out. We went to sleep at night to the sound of a pair of owls hooting, and lovely husband was woken up one morning to the sound of a squirrel dancing on the roof. One evening on the way back from the squeakily clean shower I saw a baby deer in the field opposite, and the next evening the most enormous hare.

Hope you're all having a lovely bank holiday weekend, and thankyou so much to you all for your words, cards letters and gifts of support. It means so much, and will continue to do so for a long long time.x

Allotment therapy

2008-05-14T16:56:00.001+01:00

It's a shame the photo doesn't do the view great justice..this morning I could see for miles.

Dad and I spent a couple of hours this morning, weeding, sowing, planting and watering. The allotment is looking great. It was quite therapeutic to concentrate and think about something else for a change. I hadn't spent any time at the plot for a while, and was surprised to see how well things are coming along.

The rhubarb has been picked ready for rhubarb and ginger jam...

Since I first took an interest in growing vegetables I have taken a bizarre obsession with courgettes. I think it's largely due to the fact that they are so easy to grow. I transplanted these from home this morning. I haven't used this black plastic before but apparently it keeps the weeds at bay! We do suffer hugely with weeds unfortunately, and some of them are monster sized. Apart from the odd one poking through the sheeting though all seemed ok. These are just normal run of the mill courgettes, but I am nurturing some others at home which are quite special...watch this space!

This is one of two new gooseberry bushes, and Dad spotted teeny weeny berries on it today, so hopefully we shall get a fairly decent crop from them so I can make gooseberry jam. Jam is a big business in this household!

I quite like bucking tradition on the allotment, hence the weird courgettes, and this kiwi plant above. I bought it from Lidl a few weeks ago, one lunchtime when I was bored at work, and it really seems to have taken off. It's been planted against the shed as apparently they like to climb. We shall have to wait and see what happens. Maybe kiwi jam? Hmm, maybe not...

Dads' speciality, broad beans. They taste so amazingly good (well they did last year, these ones aren't quite ready yet) we have come to the conclusion that they will be perfect for picking slap bang in the middle of when we are on holiday next week. Excellent.

And good old potatoes. I got so excited when we dug up our first potatoes last summer, I can highly recommend it. One of my friends has grown some in a dustbin in her back garden, which is a brilliant idea if you only have a small area but still want to grow something.

We also planted carrots, parsnips, marigolds peas and various other flower seeds that we found at home this morning, so hopefully in a few weeks time it should be looking pretty.

The Gladioli which you can just about make out below were also a very cheap purchase from Lidl. I bought two huge bags of bulbs from there for a couple of pounds, and they seem to be growing really well. Gladioli and Sweet Peas seem to be the common staple flowers of allotments, so at least we are keping up with the neighbours! Can you see our block paved patio?? (courtesy of Dad)

These are the sweet peas, snug in their fleecy sheet!

So this morning I had sunshine, exercise and fresh air. We also have lots of fresh fruit and vegetables to look forward to. And jam making, obviously.

Slowly getting there (I think)

2008-05-09T14:18:00.000+01:00

Hopefully nobody went away and sank a bottle of vodka after my last posting- sorry for bringing depression to the blogging world but I did feel better (for all of an hour) for having written it all down.
I have been back at work for a couple of days. I think I probably did come back too soon, but just didn't fancy sitting at home and staring at the wall. Some people are tip toeing around as they don't know what to say to me. One of my bosses cannot do enough, he must have made me 50 cups of tea in the last 48 hours, whilst another keeps making jokes and whistling loudly while sticking his bottom lip out and making 'sad' faces at me whenever I meet his eye. I could quite cheerfully punch him, even though I know it's his way of dealing with a hormonal female.
I am starting to think about new jobs now, to keep my brain from thinking of 'other' things. I have had no luck as yet, sadly Sir Alan Sugar has no need for a new 'Francis' to answer his phone, and Gordon Ramsey isn't crying out for a personal masseuse, so for the time being I shall stick to scouring the job pages.
Thankyou so much to everyone who sent such kind messages, both on the blog and to me personally,it means a lot that you have taken the time to do that and I have read them several times over.
The one thing that has really got to me is the people who have avoided me altogether since this has happened. I know it's an awkward situation and no one knows what to say for the best, but even so. I just find it upsetting.
Time to see if I can wangle cup of tea number 51. Perhaps if I stick my bottom lip out and make a sad face, shouldn't be too difficult...

Apologies in advance...

2008-05-04T14:03:00.000+01:00

I deliberately didn't do a post on here announcing that i was pregnant as I didn't want to 'tempt fate'. I have now decided that fate is a load of old bollocks anyway (excuse the language) because this week we had a scan that told us at 16 weeks our baby no longer had a heart beat.
I know this is going to make uncomfortable reading, and I could write a list of people who will read this and think 'Christ, what is she doing?' but when I'm lying awake at night staring at the bedroom ceiling and trying not to cry, all I can think of is that it may help to write it down. It may also stop you all from wondering why I haven't done a post on the blog for so long.

People have been so kind. We have had a week of cards being delivered that we couldn't open. Within a few hours of knowing our news we had a bouquet of flowers delivered from my boss...the same boss who last week told me would be making me redundant at the end of June.
We have had a fabulous box of homemade chocolate chip cookies sent from London. We have had emails from 2 friends in particular (one of whom I have never met, you know who you are, coaster girl!) who just want to say Hi, and then continue to tell us about their lives as they would normally. That has helped hugely.

When I start laughing at something on the television or something someone says I feel guilty. I feel guilty when someone starts to tell me about their friend/ relative who went through the same thing and then went on to have hundreds of children. I feel guilty because I don't want to know about them. They are happy, I am not.

I have a fabulous husband who has been amazingly supportive and despite feeling grief of his own has looked after me, hugged me and held me. He knows all the right things to say and when to say them.

I still can't understand how this could happen so late in the pregnancy. I know we're just unlucky but just as I was starting to think everything would be ok, the rug was pulled from under us. We got to the 12 week stage where we breathed a sigh of relief. We started to think of names, look at prams and cots. I was looking forward to our first Christmas as a Mummy and Daddy.

And now. And now I have to start caring about myself and brushing my hair. I have to stop counting how many sleeps are left until I have to go back to work and cope with the pitying looks and hand squeezing.

Apparently there are several stages of grief to get through. I am still at the devastated and upset stage.
It will get better in time. Apparently.

Fraiche Snow

2008-04-06T16:26:00.000+01:00

It was the sunshine streaming in that actually woke me this morning, and I had totally forgotten the promise of snow until I peeked through the (not very efficient) blackout blind. I don't think I will ever not be excited at the sight of snow. Yes, I know it's supposed to be spring, but let's face it, there's not a lot we can do to control the weather so we may as well make the most of whatever it throws at us. (But no rain please, yuck)

Rob took the photos at half past eight this morning. Take my word for it, we are NEVER awake at half past eight on a Sunday usually (no children) but at the sight of snow we did behave like children and decided to get up. Is it possible that the back garden got more snow than the front?

A favourite breakfast destination of choice is Carluccios in Stratford, so off we toddled, half a loaf of old bread to hand to feed the ducks, and a beautiful journey consisting of snow covered trees and fields. The ducks were most appreciative of their breakfast. I had no idea they were so violent though! At one point two ducks jumped on the back of another and tried to drown him because he got to the bread first. I stood on the towpath helpfully shouting at them to get off him, and we ended up throwing bits of bread at them by way of diverting a duck- disaster. Oh dear.

(These are different ducks, not the ones mentioned above looking down and laughing at the third, sinking to the bottom. Just thought I would mention it)

Back home in the warm and I planted some more seeds, both for the allotment and for home.

I bought these yesterday to add to the stash. Seed buying can become quite addictive, if you're so inclined. This afternoon I planted the tomatoes, lettuce and courgettes and they are now enjoying the sunshine on the bedroom windowsills until they germinate. Then the tomatoes will go in a growbag in the greenhouse, the courgettes to the allotment and the lettuce into the garden, heavily proytected from slugs, I might add. Michele (cowboys and custard) very helpfully gave me some advice on my last post for Jasmine, who has now happily been re-homed into a bigger pot with new compost and looks much happier.

Finally I managed to make Driftwoods' Rhubarb and Orange cake this afternoon. We picked the rhubarb from the allotment yesterday morning (still loads of it) and as Sunday is baking day I decided to give it a go. Even if you're not a rhubarb fan I implore you to give it a go, it really does taste amazing, especially with a big spoonful of creme fraiche on top. Yum.

Myrtle bought it...

2008-04-02T18:26:00.000+01:00

Oh dear. I fear I have not been a great blogger recently and have no excuse other than pure laziness, unfortunately. It hasn't stopped me from looking at everyone elses though.
Thanks for all of your thoughts and advice on jury service. I only did it for one day, hurrah! And then had to go back to work, boo! But I was secretly pleased. I can say that sitting in a room full of complete strangers was very inspiring for the writing of the old novel though. Talk about all walks of life. There was the 16 year old 'dude' who sauntered in twenty minutes late with his spiky hair and big fat knotted tie, and the older chap who collared me and told me his life story within minutes of me sitting down. There were the two girls in their late teens/ early twenties who spent several hours trying to check out each others outfits without being caught by the other, and the elderly lady who quite happily sat in the corner with her newspaper, oblivious to all around her. I just sat waiting for the sandwich bar to open and sat staring at everyone, obviously! (I did hold a book in front of my face to hide it though!)

Thanks also for your thoughts on Myrtle. Alas, she did not make it...but she had a long, chocolatey and healthy life, and made two people in particular very happy. Once we could decide which order to eat her in, that was...

I thought the ears to be particularly tasty, but there is something quite wrong about pink nose chocolate.

These were my weekend 'Sorry you had to go to work today' present from Rob. Aren't they beautiful? Rhubarb and custard tulips. They are still going strong and it's rather nice to get home whilst there is still daylight and see them looking very funky on the lounge windowsill. Speaking of plants, I am appallingly bad at keeping houseplants alive. I can grow peas, but seem to fail with anything that has to live indoors. Therefore the jasmine that I bought from tesco was a bit of a surprise and is starting to now take over the bathroom.

Do I need to re-pot it or nail trellis to the bathroom wall?! All suggestions gratefully received.

Kew and A

2008-03-22T20:23:00.000Z

Unfortunately not from my garden, but instead from the lovely Waitrose, where I think we spent enough to feed a family of 6 for at least a fortnight. Now I remember why we never go there more than a couple of times a year. (ish).

These, however, have been planted by my own fair hands and will soon be transplanted to the allotment. Peas, sweetpeas and more peas. They tasted so lovely and sweet last year, and some of them even made it home! Not much beats standing in the sunshine shelling peas and eating them straight.

These aren't from my garden either, but instead from Kew Gardens where we braved the wind and rain on Good Friday (and sun, snow, hail and lightning storms on the way home- bizarre)

I have been tagged by the List Writer to answer the following questions..

Why I started my blog ....
It seemed like the ideal thing to start doing after meeting The List Writer on a writing course and then later hearing that she had a blog. I agreed with her that it was a way of writing SOMETHING (anything) and building up my confidence, which in theory is supposed to help me get on with finishing my novel. Quite scary to know that people all over the place could be reading (and potentially interested) in what i have to say.

How I came up with the name of my blog ...
I didn't actually gave it much thought at all (that may be obvious) but I do have a bad habit of saying 'lovely' a lot. I guess I wanted to write about things I like and love, and subjects of interest to me.

Do my friends and family know about my blog? What do they think of it?
Yes, my Mum and Dad and brother and sister in law all know about it and read it, as does my husband. I think my Grandad has been known to stop by as well. I haven't told any of my friends about it apart from The List Writer as I don't think they would get it really. I quite like the fact that this is something they don't know about anyway. My colleagues would fall to the ground howling with laughter if they knew.

I think my family like it, from the positive comments I have had anyway.

How do I write my posts ...
I do give most posts some consideration, but am guilty of basing random posts on whatever half decent photos I may have taken within the last day or two. I think photos and pictures do tend to make the post- plus, I love seeing other peoples photos.

Ever had a troll or had to delete unkind comments ...
No, but I have had the odd kooky comment from Japanese orchid sellers. Bizarre but true.

Do I check my stats? Do I care who/how many read my blog? Do I try to increase traffic?
I have no idea how to check my stats as am a complete imbecile with all things techy. I can't even do a link properly. I definitely care who reads my blog though, and appreciate people taking time out of their day to do so. I get a thrill every time I check my inbox and see a new comment, it always makes my day. Lovely (!)

What I like and dislike about blogging...
I love checking my inbox and seeing new comments (may have mentioned that...) and have really enjoyed meeting people from all over the world who share my passions and interests. These are friends I will never meet (unless I get onto 'This is Your Life' one day)but still feel comfortable enough to share secrets with. Friends that are full of advice (which is usually right) and friends that religiously check in to see if a new post has gone up. Thats dedication.

Dislikes? Not thinking of interesting enough subjects and sometimes just sitting here thinking 'now what?' I think that's called writers block....

So there you go- yet more of an insight into the madness. Speaking of which, I am off to do jury service later this week, and quite frankly am dreading it. Any words of wisdom? Has anyone else done it? Has anyone any great advice on how to get out of it?!

If I didn't have a job based on commission I would be incredibly excited about the whole experience, but truth be told my job is hard enough at the moment, without potentially taking up to two or more weeks off. I'm quite nervous that it will be a horrid case, something upsetting, as opposed to some graffiti artist or shop lifter. We shall see.

Hope you all had a lovely easter, with lots of love from myself and Myrtle...

I just don't think she will ever be eaten, she is a creature of beauty!

Happy Birthday Dad

2008-03-17T18:13:00.000Z

Wishing my lovely Bloke a very Happy Birthday today (even though today is nearly over!)
Don't eat all the chocolate at once. Unless it's because Mum is threatening to.
Thankyou for all that you do for us, it is greatly appreciated.
Lots of love
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rhubarb Rhubarb

2008-03-09T19:03:00.000Z

Dad and I have been busy at the allotment this weekend, getting it ready for planting. We now have the bean canes in situ, pea nets sorted and a frame to grow Gladioli up. One surprise I wasn't expecting was that the rhubarb would be ready to cut..

I had a couple of bramley apples left from the week when I had all good intentions to make baked apples for pudding, but didn't get around to it. Largely because I couldn't be bothered- it's all we can do cook one course on a work night, let alone two. Anyway, they came in useful for...

Rhubarb and Apple Crumble
500g rhubarb, trimmed and finely chopped (destringed like celery if it is thick)
300g apple, peeled, decored and roughly diced
200g caster sugar
100ml water
1 cinnamon stick

Oat Crumble Topping
250g plain flour
100g brown sugar
100g butter (soft)
1 tsp cinnamon
100g rolled oats
To Serve
Vanilla Ice-cream, Custard or Cream (or all three in some cases...)

Method
Preheat an oven to 200C (180 if fan assisted-sorry- not sure about gas!)
Rhubarb and Apple Filling: Place the rhubarb, apple, caster sugar, water and cinnamon stick in a saucepan. Place the saucepan on the stove at a moderate heat and stir the mixture so that all the ingredients are well combined. Leave the mixture to simmer gently for 10 minutes stirring regularly until the rhubarb and apple is soft and tender but still holds it shape. Remove the filling from the stove and take out the cinnamon stick. Spoon the puree into individual or a single pie dish. Set aside while you prepare the crumble.
Oat Crumble: Place all the crumble mixture except the oats into a food processor and process it briefly so that you have a rough crumb mixture. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and stir in the oats until it is well combined. Scatter the crumble mixture all over the filling.
To Cook: Place the rhubarb crumble or crumbles into the preheated oven and cook it for 30 minutes or 20 minutes for individual ones until the crumble is crisp and golden brown. Remove the crumble from the oven and serve.

Mum and Dad came over for dinner last night as a belated Mothers Day meal. Rob cooked rack of lamb with a herb crust and roasted new potatoes with french beans for the main course. I was on pudding duty.

I really should have taken photos of the finished article,served up with a scoop of Ben and Jerrys' finest, but to be honest by that stage I really couldn't be bothered to find the camera. It tasted so good, and all the better for being homegrown. Well, the rhubarb if not the apples!

Today I have planted what seems like hundreds of bulbs in the back garden. We have a Lidl supermarket in the town where I work and this week was their gardening extravaganza! Although I am a bit wary of the weird tinned goods they sell, they do particularly well on their garden stuff. I was elbowed out of the way by little old ladies (seriously) at the bin that was selling bags of bulbs for 49p...the containers of wild flower mix were snatched from the shelves before I even got through the revolving doors. I did manage to buy a huge carrier bag full of bulbs and seeds for £7. I have gladioli for the allotment, to give it some colour, lily of the valley in the back garden as I love their scent and they look so pretty. There are yellow alliums and purple iris, and big spiky purple thistles. Well they looked good on the packet!

I have planted two seed trays up with peas, and another of sweet peas. They are now on various windowsills around the house, waiting to germinate ready to be transported down to the allotment.

May now be time to get the oven on ready for that second, smaller crumble..

From Welly to Belly

2008-03-02T18:26:00.000Z

We live a street away from the railway line and sometimes when I'm laying in bed at night and the wind is blowing in the right direction I can hear the gentle vibration of the last train on its way to London for the night. We also walk over the railway bridge on our way to the allotment.

I have been guilty of not having visited our allotment for a while. Largely due to wet weather, cold weather, feeling rubbish. Enough excuses for you?! The sun was shining beautifully this afternoon though and I was itching to go down there for a nosey around to see what was going on.

Part of the reason could have been a present bought for me by my lovely husband on our trip into Cheltenham this morning. There I was, all ready to leave Waterstones empty handed when he appeared with this treasure. I do already have Andi Clevelys' other book, 'The Allotment Book' but this is his long awaited follow up. It's full of useful info, articles on people who have allotments and what they like to grow, and original seasonal recipes. Even if you don't have an allotment but like growing vegetables in your garden I would recommend it.

We're quite lucky at out allotments in that there is a carpark (not that we use it much- we have a shed and only live around the corner, but still useful to have a carpark if you're heaving bags of compost about or transporting trays of seedlings from home). We also have water on tap ( I didn't realise that many sites don't and owners have to survive by keeping huge water butts, old baths, any large container you can think of and just being very sparing with water, or planting drought resistant varieties and mulching a lot) We still use water butts as the tap is quite a distance and we like to recycle as much as possible, but it would be a nightmare not to have a tap with such a huge plot.

The plots are full of imaginatively built sheds, greenhouses, tables and benches. I could wander around for hours just looking at everything. It's so interesting to see how people set up their plots..some are a jumble of plants plonked here there and everywhere, others are strictly uniform rows of plants, not a weed in sight (impossible! How do they do it?!) One old chap, Len, practically lives at his plot. He has a shed with a toilet, a cooker, armchair and resident dog. The allotments are his life, and fellow allotmenteers his friends. He will do anything for anybody and is always on hand with advice (but equally happy to tell you where you are going wrong!)

And this is our plot. The photo is taken from the top, and it slopes down to where the shed is at the bottom. On a clear day we have an amazing view across the town and over the Cotswolds. The crop in front are broad beans, beyond that Purple Sprouting and then Leeks. Behind where the photo is taken from are 5 massive rows of strawberries. Yum.

This is the view from the bottom looking up, as far as the blue water butts. The plot is terraced which makes life a lot easier when you realise you've left something in the shed.

Dad has been very busy in recent weeks getting the soil ready for spring planting, and it's looking great now, like a blank canvas ready to be filled. We have grand plans for lots of potatoes, cabbages, cauliflowers, courgettes, sweetcorn, carrots, parsnips, peas, runner and borlotti beans...the list is endless. I want to grow sweet peas up the side of the shed this year as well.

At home I am going to grow tomatoes cucumbers and peppers in the greenhouse, and continue to nurture the herb garden as it develops...it's looking good so far, just needs some sunshine now. Like the rest of us!

Q and A

2008-02-21T12:32:00.000Z

I have been tagged by Carolyn from Craftsby Carolyn to fill in the following info about me..not very exciting news I'm afraid, but here goes!
What were you doing 10 years ago?
Hmm, I was 19 and working as a private nanny for three children, a 6 week old, a 3 year old and a 7 year old. How did I do it?!
What were you doing 1 year ago?..
celebrating just over 2 years of wedded bliss, doing the same job I do now, but didn't have a blog and hadn't learnt how to make jewellery! Had just found out I had an allotment from the local council.
Five snacks you enjoy:...
1) Marmite on toast
2) Mini Cheddars
3) Pitta bread and houmous
4) Digestive Biscuits
5) toasted teacakes with butter (it did say enjoy!!)
Five things you would do if you were a millionaire
1) Buy a cottage by the sea in Cornwall
2) Fly out to Canada to see my brother and his wife (do I get brownie points for that, Nic?!)
3) Buy my husband an Aston Martin
4) Quit the day job (I don't get people who say winning the lottery wouldn't change their lives- why bother doing it then?)
5) Have a shopping splurge in Selfridges
Five bad habits
1) Leaving ironing until the last minute
2) Being rubbish at housework
3) Pulling faces down the phone at boring clients (like I'm doing now...grrrrr)
4) Putting the phone down and saying 'Oh shut up' after a conversation with boring clients...(just being honest)
5) Not being very good in the mornings until at least 2 cups of tea have been consumed.
Five things you like doing
1) Sleeping in on Sunday mornings
2) Sitting in bookshops surrounded by loveliness with no time constraints
3) Camping
4) Walking on the beach in winter in Cornwall
5) Looking out to sea in Cornwall from the warmth of a cafe with a latte to hand and the papers spread out
Five things you would never wear again
1) A mini skirt- I would be locked up
2) This shirt- I have managed to dribble tea all down the front of it this morning and I fear the stain will never come out
3) Linen trousers- I love them but always look like a hot sweaty crumpled mess by the time we arrive anywhere
4) A pink dress which I wore to a wedding about 4 years ago- I love it but it doesn't love me. I can't part with it though, it's beautiful.
Five favourite toys
1) Our camera- blogs wouldn't be the same without it
2) Ipod- brilliant.
3) Laptop- ditto
4) Our combi charger which we take camping, does a camera, ipod, mobile phone, the list is endless. A fab piece of kit
5) My big bead box- It relaxes me instantly, looking at all the glittery sparkliness.

So there you go, hope you haven't dozed off. Sorry no photos today but am at work ..shhhh!!

Let there be love...

2008-02-16T17:48:00.000Z

Hope everyone had a lovely Valentines Day, it certainly seems like there are lots of lovely chaps out there from all of the blogs I have been reading today at work (purely for research, obviously)

Rob surprised me with tickets to Dirty Dancing in London, which was great fun. We drove down to London on Thursday morning and spent the day ambling around in the sunshine, having lunch and shopping before seeing the show at night. Great fun was had all round. We had good seats (nobody puts Baby in the corner) and the dancing was out of this world. All very fabulous indeed, thankyou Mr F.

Also I received my Valentine Swap package from Jo at French Knots. I am so thrilled with it, and her cleverness!

Inside my personalised bag were beads, buttons, ribbons, heart shaped chocolates (see above!) pins, a beautiful pin cushion, a needle book, a hand sewn card....LOOK!

Jo is aware of my inability to sew, and in an effort to encourage me included the lovely bits and pieces above. Thankyou so much! I'm looking forward to next year now! I may have sewn a whole button on by then...

Pancakes and peanuts

2008-02-08T19:20:00.000Z

Sat at work on Wednesday morning, my boss and I were discussing the previous evenings success of various pancake toppings. My personal favourites were chocolate chips from my basket of cake decorating paraphernalia. And golden syrup (but not together) My boss has a 4 year old son who has serious food issues. The only thing he really loves to eat is marmite on toast- as a marmite lover I can see the attraction, but can also see why my boss and his wife are quite worried. I think they have visions of him going on a hot date one day and be sat there with a couple of slices of Hovis and a jar of the black stuff. Anyway, as a result they like to try and tempt him at mealtimes with all kind of weird and wonderful things, and this was the first occassion little Charlie had tried a pancake. To his credit he had a mouthful of pancake before pulling his favourite Bart Simpson face and pushing it to one side. Mum suggested drizzling a bit of honey on some pancake. Nope, not interested. Peanut Butter? (Yuck, that cannot have looked attractive) Still No. Whilst all this was going on, Jack, Charlies little brother was having a delightful time squeezing all manner of toppings on his stack of pancakes and finally settled on his favourite -honey and peanut butter. Together. I sat back in horror when I was told, but apparently it is a fabulous combination and has to be tried.

From pancakes my thought process moved onto cake (as is the norm) and I thought about peanut butter and honey cake and Googled it. Oh yes, there is such a recipe. And I have made it this evening whilst listening to Chris Evans and dancing around the kitchen to 'Jump' in manner of Hugh Grant in 'Love Actually' It is lovely, very very easy (the cake, not the dancing) and simple to make but looks quite disturbing whilst mixing. Stick with it though!

Peanut Butter and Honey Cake
* 1/2 cup peanut butter (crunchy if you want texture, smooth if not-or a mixture)
* 1 cup runny honey
* 3 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 3/4 cups plain flour
* 2.5 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt

Cream peanut butter and honey together. Add eggs and vanilla extract. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Add to the creamed mixture. Pour into a lined 9 inch square pan and bake at 180 C for 35 mins. (or 350 F)
That's it! It really is easy..I did cover mine with a square of greaseproof paper after 25 minutes to stop the top from browning too much. Leave it to cool slightly before peeling the paper off, and then leave to cool totally before slicing and spreading with butter. Mmmm.....
The cake above is travelling over to East Anglia tomorrow to my Grandad. I don't think I will be admitting straight away what's in it though. I doubt very much he has ever tried peanut butter and I want to break him in gently!

p.s- not necessarily in the same league as the 'Sticky Ginger Cake' but much less faffing about!!

He was a skater boy...

2008-02-04T14:57:00.000Z

Who says Graffiti artists write a load of rubbish? I thought that this was actually very helpful advice for all those novice chefs out there...and we certainly stood in awe as we watched the skater boys do their stuff. I did have to restrain myself from telling them to be careful though.

This was the scene of the dedicated skateboard area/park whatever the dudes themselves would call it on the South Bank in London. We watched them for ages on boards and bikes throwing themselves up slopes, bouncing off walls and generally just being pretty damn cool. They certainly pulled in a crowd of admirers, and lots of photographers as well.

We had a lovely weekend in London, starting off on Saturday afternoon at Twickenham to watch our boys and Wales in the 6 Nations. Oh dear, we lost horribly in the second half but the atmosphere was electric. Unfortunately the promised muddy rugby players thighs photos didn't turn out as hoped. We were sitting quite a way back and the zoom wasn't up to it! Instead you get these..

I had 36 layers of clothing on and it was still blimmin freezing, but the Christmas Hat helped a lot. I also wore the scarf that I started knitted last millenium but decided to finish on friday night. If you are a knitter please don't zoom in or examine it too closely, you may start to cry. It served it's purpose!! Despite losing the match we had a great time, and then drove into London and stayed at a hotel, went to the bar and then ordered room service. There is something quite decadent about eating steak sandwiches whilst snuggled up in a fluffy dressing gown!

On Sunday morning we met up with Nancy, G, O and C and had a sunny walk along the South Bank before demolishing more food in Giraffe. I have never been to a Giraffe restaurant before but the food was great, I can highly recommend it, especially if you have little people in tow- they get free balloons and colouring in sheets! (children are so easily pleased aren't they?!)

Hope you all had a lovely weekend as well, I am now off to make a start on the enormous pile of washing that seems to have been breeding whilst we have been away..

Not eggs-actly Easter yet though, is it?

2008-01-26T20:05:00.000Z

But despite that, Tesco and every other shop that sells food seems to be stacked to the rafters with chocolate. Not necessarily a bad thing, obviously. HOWEVER. I do feel a little bit sorry for all those people who are still detoxing from the Christmas festivities and are now faced with shelves groaning under the weight of every single make and style of foil wrapped delight you could imagine, when all they actually want to do is buy a pint of milk. That doesn't include me. Detoxing in this household involves a bit less wine and a squeeze of lemon in a big glass of water when I remember.

I am trying to be a bit thrifty this week because it has been such a long month and seems a VERY long time since I was paid any wages. As a result, instead of buying the large pack of chocolate mini eggs, I just bought the small cardboard tube for 55p. Clever, I think you'll agree. And whilst in Tesco and backing away from the largest chocolate bunny I have ever seen, I fell into the clothes aisle. Everyone knows that supermarket clothes are the cheaper option, don' they? Obviously being poor I was very good, and just settled upon this scarf for £5.

I am not really a silky scarf type of girl but I wore it to work today, to cheer up an otherwise rubbish Saturday, and even my 21 year old secretary said I looked 'well cool' which I think was a massive achievement. I was quite anxious I resembled an air hostess (nothing wrong with that, but not the look I was going for, I hasten to add) but she assured me scarves are 'well in'. What a result. Come to think of it they do sell it in red as well...

I am quite keen to buy some new beads and other jewellery bits and pieces come payday as supplies are running short, but have been waiting until my payslip lands on my desk before I dare. Therefore I was really chuffed to get home from work and find a parcel waiting for me. I ordered some supplies from Etsy a billion years ago and have to confess I had given up all hope. It was worth the wait though, I'm really pleased with them, especially the turquoise beads.

The photo doesn't really do them justice, but I assure you they are lovely! One day, if you're good, you will see them in my shop! (not long now, promise!)

I am now set to have a very lovely Sunday, of reading the papers, making jewellery, baking yet MORE ginger cake (the orders are flooding in, darn it!) and generally relaxing. Oh, and we are having boiled eggs for breakfast, as is our Sunday tradition.

Normal eggs, obviously...........

A host, of golden daffodils (well a jug actually)

2008-01-23T16:12:00.000Z

I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thoughtWhat wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils.
By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

I had to learn that at school- that and 'The Jabberwocky'. Quite pleased I haven't got one of those on my lounge windowsill though...

The Friday Night Project

2008-01-19T18:27:00.000Z

Yesterday I had a request for two pairs of earrings for a girl at work to match her red and pink outfits. Its been a while since I have made any jewellery and as I sat with my box of tricks last night I remembered how therapeutic the whole experience is. I love sitting with hundreds of shiny beads in front of me, deciding which size and colour looks best, and in which combination.

I got a bit carried away and ended up making several pairs, one of which I have been modelling today. I wear quite a lot of black to work, mainly because it is easy and doesn't take much brain power early in the morning, when quite frankly I am not at my best. These earrings are a new design and I quite like them as they are a bit normal to the ones I normally make...what do you think? All feedback gratefully received, especially if I am going to set up the Etsy shop! (work in progress)

These ones are a more standard design but still look pretty, I think. Hopefully Kerri will like them.

I have been to work day and it has been manically busy, which is great, but it's been so grey and horrible outside! I hear tomorrow is going to be the same. I do hate wet grey Sundays, especially when I have been sat in an office all day on the Saturday. I think some cooking may be in order tomorrow. Mum has made the ginger cake from previous posts today and I popped in to see her and Dad on the way home from work. The cake looked and smelled fabulous. I don't think I can force any more ginger cake upon the work lot so may have to try something new tomorrow. I am quite tempted by Nancys (Philosophyoflists) cherry marble cake but think it looks a bit beyond me..she has more patience than me! It must come from having children!

I forgot to show you the incredibly girlie heart earrings. I was just playing around really, with some new beads - I bet Barbie would love them!

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend so far...

Awards Night

2008-01-14T20:32:00.000Z

The lovely Tracy at Pinkpurl gave me an award! Hurrah! I feel very clever and special indeed. Unfortunately I now have to share 7 weird facts about myself (that is part of the deal, apparently) So here goes...

1) I love seafood and shellfish, but the mere thought of tinned fish makes me gag. I am sure I would be 2 stone lighter if only I liked tinned tuna. Every diet I have ever attempted seems to recommend it. Yuck. It smells of cat food, seriously.

2) Everyone thinks my hair colour is natural. It isn't. SHHHH!!! (not sure how normal it is to have such a serious amount of grey hair at my age, but it's not the end of the world, worse things could happen)

3) When I first met my husband I didn't like him. He does know that. Thankfully he grew on me. I like him a lot now.

4) My husband and I got together, moved in together and got married within six months. We scared a lot of people, but I think they have recovered, mostly. We have just celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. I realise we have a long way to go, but I am looking forward to every moment.

5) I work as an estate agent, but trained as a Nursery Nurse. No one EVER sets out to be an estate agent. Why would you? Having said that, I do love my job.

6) I have secret ambitions to open my own shop one day, which would be a bookshop come florists come coffee shop. With a few arty crafty bits and pieces thrown in for good measure.

7) I quite fancy Simon Cowell. But it's ok, because my sister in law does too.(Nic, if I have to suffer I'm bringing you down with me) I can't believe I told you all that. Now THAT is weird.

Tracy, I may now need counselling after that little lot, but feel I can sleep safely in my bed for getting it off my chest. Phew. Now, the best bit is that I get to pass the award on, so to 4 of my favourite fellow bloggers (can you hear the manic laughter?!) here you are...your blogs always cheer me up and make me smile!

Philosophyoflists

Pinkiecupcake

Dottycookie

Dragonfly

I am rubbish on computers (that is fact number 8) and therefore instead of clicking on these as links (no idea how to do that) you shall have to look under my list of favourite blogs where you will find those lovely ladies listed above. I look forward to your weird facts.Heeheehee...

Piece of cake...

2008-01-13T16:34:00.000Z

Weekends go far too quickly, don't they? Rob bought these lovely hyacinths for me yesterday on out trip into town to try and find Seville oranges so I could make some marmalade. No luck whatsoever unfortunately. Still, the flowers make up for it. There were two great big bunches, and as a result they are scattered throughout the house. The sweetie jar above worked better than any vases I had because it was a bit shorter...and the ones in the bathroom had to make do with a jam jar.

I did a post a couple of weeks ago on the lovely sticky ginger cake, and had several requests for the recipe. I made some more today and then felt guilty for not sharing it sooner. Recipes are just a pain to type out though, aren't they? I am quite impatient and rubbish at copying things. Here you are though...(I expect you all to make it and want photographic evidence!)

Sticky Ginger Cake

***********************

250g self raising flour

ground ginger-2 level teaspoons

ground cinnamon- half a teaspoon

bicarb soda- a level teaspoon

a pinch of salt (oops-forgot that today!)

golden syrup- 200g (nobody said this was good for your new year diet,did they?)

butter- 125g

syrup from the ginger jar-2 tablespoons

stem ginger in syrup-3 lumps-about 55g-diced up

sultanas-about 2 heaped tablespoons

dark muscavado sugar-125g

large eggs-2

milk-240ml

-You will need a square tin measuring approx 20-22cm, lined with baking parchment or greaseproof paper.

-Set the oven to 180 C or gas mark 4.

-Sift the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, bicarb and salt.

-melt the golden and ginger syrups withthe butter in a small pan. Add the diced ginger, sugar and sultanas and let it bubble gently for a minute, make sure you stir it gently as well to stop the fruit sticking.

-whisk the eggs and milk together in a bowl

-remove the butter and syrup mixture from the heat and stir into the flour mixture with a big spoon.

-add the milk and eggs and stir really well. There should be no traces of flour.

-the mixture will be quite sloppy, but sloppy is good!

-pour into the lined tin and bake for 35-40 mins. I tend to cover the top of the cake after about 25 minutes with a square of greaproof to stop it browning too much. The cake is done when a skewer comes out clean....

Leave it to cool in the tin, and then carefully lift it out, unwrap the greaseproof and cut into squares. It tastes fabulous a couple of days later as it gets stickier. Rob loves it warmed through with a dollop of custard on top. Keep it wrapped up in greaseproof paper inside a layer of tinfoil. Enjoy!

I hope some of you attempt it, it is really good, and great for lunchboxes! (although I will understand if you don't want to waste it on childrens' lunchboxes. They might not like the bits of ginger either)

Green Fingers

2008-01-09T15:41:00.000Z

Our front garden has been, up until now less than inspiring. Covered in gravel with a sad looking tree in the middle it didn't add much to the house, and looked rather like a giant litter tray. Although thankfully, the neighbourhood cats didn't agree!

On Chistmas Day Mum and Dad came for lunch and Dad stood looking out of the window and suggested that we could probably do something to liven it up at some stage. I don't think he, my Mum or Rob were expecting the gardening books to come out, along with pens and paper whilst we designed a new herb garden...

So here we are, a couple of weeks later and the garden is now beyond recognition. I cannot take once ounce of credit for though, unfortunately, and only have my gardener to thank!

This is the half way stage, and gives you an idea what it was like before...Dad built the wooden frames and bought them up to the house, drilling them together to form the framework. Very clever man...my Mum and I will hire him out for a small charge...

Today we went plant shopping, which is my next favourite type of shopping after clothes, books and food. So we now have a fabulous tree in the middle, and are slowly starting to fill the beds up with lavenders, thyme, rosemary and bulbs. Once the plants become more established and the weather gets warmer I am going to buy some Sage, Bay and and other herbs and fill the beds a little more.

The man himself, hard at work! I would have helped but I have hurt my shoulder. Plus someone had to take the photos, obviously. There are four sections which are filled with bark chippings so I can reach the beds more easily once they start to fill up a bit more.

And here it is, the finished garden! I will take more pictures as it starts to fill up. I think once everything starts to grow it will look less 'new' and start to look as if it has always looked like that. Plus I will be able to cook things without muttering about how Tesco don't sell Sage, and instead trot out of the front door in my apron with a big pair of scissors! How fantastic is that?
Thanks Dad, you are fabulous xxxx

Full of beans

2008-01-06T19:39:00.000Z

Is it really Sunday again already? I was feeling so smug at not having to back to work until last Wednesday, and having a nice short week. I also forgot I had to work yesterday, and now here we are again. A day of ironing shirts and tops. Cleaning the bathroom. Doing the washing. Does anybody else have an obscene number of tea towels? I counted 15. And there are definitely more squirrelled away in the cupboard. How weird.

I have begun my spring cleaning early (in the hope it will tempt Spring to hurry up). I made ginger cake this afternoon and hadn't realised I had run our of ground ginger. Not helpful. It was only when I started to sort through my jars of herbs and spices that I realised 6 of them were out of date...and not just by a matter of weeks, we are talking YEARS. Shameful behaviour, I am sure you will agree.
I am now feeling very smug though, because I emptied two kitchen cupboards, cleaned them, LINED them (oh yes!) and examined, tutted and then chucked things in the bin. I recycled the spice and herb jars and composted the contents. I am not sure if that was the best idea I have ever had, and now have visions of paprika and cardoman scented compost in the garden...it could be worse...

I have re-stocked the cupboards and treated myself to 2 new plants, fresh thyme to replace the jar of dusty dry thyme, and jasmine to go in the lounge.

I haven't got a photo of the ginger cake because it is safely wrapped up in layers of greaseproof and foil to try and promote 'stickiness'. I do however, have these fellas, who are also ginger flavoured although they like to keep it quiet in case anyone fancies a nibble...

My Mum and Dad bought them as a Christmas present, as I am quite partial to the odd gingerbread man. I am struggling to eat these though. I will have to remember to have a go at making some next Christmas and icing little hats like these ones have. Cute eh?

Is it really 2008? Where did that go, then?

2008-01-01T17:11:00.000Z

We have had a great couple of days, being thoroughly spoiled at my brothers in laws (does that make any sense?) it was quite the family occassion, and lots of champagne and yummy food was consumed by all.

Me and my Mum. Hmm, I suspect you don't need to be Columbo to work out that this was taken several glasses of vino down the line..the ruffled hair and shiny chin don't help to conceal my slightly daft expression. I also appear to have developed a shiny left boob...interesting. At least Oscar and George didn't appear to mind too much...

Baring in mind they were surrounded by 20 0dd fairly loud, tipsy 'grown ups' I think they did remarkably well. I only wish we had slept as well last night!

Husband on left, brother on right...

Come on then, hands up how many people were playing golf at 1am this morning...That's my Mums birthday present sorted. Rob was quite into it as well...

Ooh, the concentration! (slightly hindered)

I can't say I have much in the way of exciting resolutions for this coming year, apart from those I am keeping close to my heart. Other than that,

* No alcohol again. Ever. No really.

* No more chocolate. Ever. (heehee)

* More exercise (possibly a walk to the shop where they stock wine and Lindt chocolate)

* Open my Etsy shop at long last!

* Grow some weird stuff at the allotment. (I don't mean illegal weird stuff, more odd varieties of beans, etc.)

* Celebrate being 30 - we decided last night that we are going to hire a VW camper van for the week and be hippies.

* Continue to be very happy with my lot.

Happy New Year. xxx

Walking in the Woods

2007-12-27T19:39:00.000Z

I have decided that a walk in the woods on Boxing Day may become a new family tradition. Well a couple tradition, anyway, seeing as there are only two of us.

Batsford Arboretum is about 15 miles away from where we live and although I have had plans all year to go, we only made it yesterday. My intention had been to go each season, to photograph the changes, particularly in Autumn but there were still pictures to be taken yesterday.

There were loads of people out and about, enjoying the mulled wine on offer and the mild weather. Children with new bikes and trikes, dogs enjoying the leaves and adults sporting their new christmas jumpers (or hats in my case)

Ah yes, the old 'extend your arm and take a photo of ourselves' trick. I admit to looking a little worse for wear in the photo, although am blaming it on lack of make up, rather than over indulgence of wine the previous day. Or was it champagne?

I could tell a big fib and say that this is our house, but alas, it is just a fabulous place which looks as if it has been dropped in the middle of the woods. They have the most amazing view, and the porch is beautifully decorated with pots and planters, and bird feeders. It made me think of Hansel and Gretel, although was sadly lacking in gingerbread. It must have been lovely to wake up in a location like that on Christmas morning. Or any morning, come to that.

Or this place, which I think belongs to the Batsford family, although more research is needed on my part. It is right on the edge of the estate and is beautiful. We could just make out hundreds of twinkling lights through the leaded windows, there must have been a big family gathering, given the number of cars outside. How the other half live!

Tickets, please!

2007-12-23T16:51:00.000Z

This is our wall of tickets from everywhere Rob and I have been over the last 4 years together. The tickets cover what would otherwise be a very boring utility cupboard door. There are memories from our honeymoon in Dublin and Co.Wicklow, concerts at Westonbirt Arboretum, winning (and losing) matches at Twickenham, and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers in Hyde Park.

We have been to see James Blunt, Corinne Bailey Rae, James Morrison, Al Murray, Dara O'Briain and Snow Patrol.

There are reminders of films we have been to see together. One in particular stands out from last year, when we were suffering with horrendous hangovers from the night before from a large corporate work do. We had both over indulged hugely on the free champagne on offer on the Friday night, forgetting that we had to do the same thing all over again on the Saturday night, with a different company. So after checking out and travelling from our hotel on one side of london and then checking into another hotel on the other side of london, we had to decide on a soothing afternoon activity to tide us over until we had to don tuxedos and party dresses again. Rob came up with sitting in the dark at the Odeon in Leicester Square and whiling away the afternoon watching Casino Royal. Genius. He got James Bond action (I got Daniel Craig in shorts) and I also got relative quiet and dark in which to suffer, and recover, ready to do it all over again a couple of hours later.

There are our tickets from when we went to see Jools Holland in the park in Shrewsbury with friends, and had a lovely picnic. From when we went to see The Bootleg Beatles at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire, and again had a picnic with friends and family in the sunshine.

Every ticket or menu or receipt is a reminder of something different, like a scrapbook of the year, which we are constantly adding to. There are some still waiting to go up, like the tickets from the Veuve Cliquot Polo day, when Rob, myself and my brother had a wonderful day in the blazing sunshine, people watching, drinking champagne (again) and cheering. I'm still not 100% sure of what was going on with the polo, but it was fun all the same.

Twice now we have been to the VW VanFest at Malvern, where fabulous campervans of all ages, models and colours imaginable decend for the weekend. It's fascinating walking around, seeing how creative people have been, and hopefully one day we will have one of our own....

I know our door has nothing to do with Christmas, but Christmas is a time when a lot of people reflect on ups and downs of the past year and hopefully look forward to the coming year...I walk past our door several times a day but rarely stop to look and appreciate all of the lovely things we have done together. I am sure we will be adding to it next year, although we are rapidly running out of room...!

Vodka shots, anyone?

2007-12-20T11:47:00.000Z

Oh dear. The works Christmas party starts in approx. one hour. It will be my last Christmas party as a girl in my 20's. Next year I will be responsible and behave like a lady. I fear I may have a headache tomorrow....

Wedded Bliss

2007-12-17T18:07:00.000Z

Three years ago today at 4pm, with 38 close friends and family present we got married. We had such a fabulous day, everything went according to plan, it was simple straightforward and wonderful. We had candles, christmas trees, red berries and roses. We had champagne, log fires and crisp wintery weather outside. We had a string quartet to entertain the troops throughout the service, to walk down the aisle to, and to play christmas carols to entertain the masses whilst we had photos taken.
The best advice I had beforehand was to take a step back every now and again and drink it all in, to help me remember it all. I can remember everything, from how everyone expected me to be a nervous wreck (as is the norm in potentially stressful situations) and instead I was so excited I could hardly wait to get down the aisle. That must have been a good sign! I hardly ate a thing, again not because I was nervous, mainly because I was wearing a stupid basque under my dress and it hurt to sit down...It was so wonderful to feel like a princess for the day, to wear a beautiful dress and be surrounded by my nearest and dearest. The only person missing was my Grandad, which was so sad, but he was looking after his very poorly wife, which was understandable.
I have got an amazing husband, who makes me laugh, is supportive, kind, and wonderful and I genuinly can't believe how lucky I am. Even when he shrinks my cashmere jumpers in the tumble drier. And as he said today, here's to 300 more years...(am assuming that was because 3 and 30 would be too short a time, obviously)

Treesy does it...

2007-12-15T18:52:00.000Z

I am not feeling particularly Christmassy, it must be said. This is not a bah-humbug kind of feeling, more a 'Good god, I've still got presents to buy, mince pies to make (possibly) and I don't think I can cope with one more visit to either a shopping centre or supermarket..in fact if I bump into one more dawdling person in another shop I may scream loudly in their ear.' Humph. So not bah humbug at all then....not much...

In truth I have bought most of the presents. Robs' birthday is on the 30th December so I have that horrid task of trying to decide which presents for Christmas Day, and which for birthday. It seems like I have bought quite a lot, but then I consider these two celebrations and the little pile looks a bit stingy. Maybe I will buy that bottle of aftershave after all.
One of my favourite bits of Christmas is buying the tree, which we did today. It is FREEZING here today and we bundled ourselves into the car and headed off in the direction of one of many tree selling places nearby. I wanted a tree in a pot to save arsing around with stands and water and all that malarky. Last years tree erecting ceremony is still grating on my mind, sadly.

So we found the tree and whilst jumping up and down in the barn that was selling them and trying to be festive we tried to catch the eye of the tree-seller. The guy was obviously catching up with long lost relatives/ neighbours/ people he had never met before/ and fifteen minutes in, with my nose beginning to turn blue I started trying to catch his attention by coughing. He knew we were there but STILL carried on describing the tree, where it had grown, what breed it was (?!) and what he was having for tea tonight. Grrr. Eventually the perfect tree purchasers left and he turned to a guy who wandered in as they wandered out.

"Hello, have you found a tree you want?" I very nearly lost the plot at the point but think the young man saw my strained, frozen expression and the icicles hanging from my chin and very kindly muttered that he thought we were there first. God bless that man.

Tree seller guy then started to describe said squat tree, telling us how popular they have been (it being Christmas and all, obviously) and that even though it was in a pot he couldn't guarantee that it would grow. Hmm. GIVE ME THE GODDAMM TREE BEFORE I GET HYPOTHERMIA. IT ONLY NEEDS TO LIVE FOR ANOTHER TEN DAYS.I DON'T CARE IF IT EXPLODES AT MIDNIGHT ON CHRISTMAS DAY AS LONG AS I CAN GET BACK IN OUR WARM CAR. NO!!! I DO NOT REQUIRE FREE MISTLETOE!!

Here's a picture of the tree. I love it. Merry Christmas. Feeling much better now.

She sells seashells on the sea shore...

2007-12-08T18:04:00.000Z

I won't be selling them really of course, and I know it's no longer the done thing to take shells from the beach, but I couldn't resist these..they look so pretty in these old jars on the bathroom shelf, and partly inspired my 'seaside bracelet' which I made last night. I just need to put a catch on it and it's finished.

I love the silver fish and starfish in particular.

Back down to earth!

2007-12-07T14:53:00.000Z

We had a lovely time...that is me to the right, I like to think I was probably staring wistfully out to sea, but the likelihood is that I was checking out where we would buy a pasty from for lunch.

We were really lucky with the weather, apart from a few showers it was like this most of the time. We had a week of walking the cobbled streets of St Ives that we have come to know so well, had some delicious meals (more on that later) and saw lots of seals..great stuff. The great thing with going at this time of year is that we feel like locals. There are relatively few tourists, and the roads are traffic free.

The apartment we stayed in was great, fully equipped with everything we could need and literally just behind where I am stood in the picture above. I particularly enjoyed sitting in the window and looking out over the beach and sea, usually with a book or magazine to hand. (see the envious tourists looking through the window..heehee)

Rob particularly liked yomping along the headland trying to take the perfect 'wave' photo...

This is my future retirement property..I really wanted to find some buoys on the beach to bring home and hang from the garden fence, but had no luck. Rob refused to steal them from the side of the fishing boats as well. Spoilsport.

We went to Jamie Olivers restaurent, Fifteen on Tuesday for an early anniversary treat.

The food was great, very reasonably priced and worth it entirely for the view...and bizarrely, the hand driers in the toilets, but then I am very easily pleased. (They were so cool, invented by Dyson, and you put your hands into the big machine and they dry them in 10 seconds! Good eh?..don't think the old lady next to me thought so, she saw the dyson sign and thought she was going to lose her jewellery) Anyway. The view!

The restaurent has been designed so that all tables are overlooking the beach, so no one feels hard done by, and the kitchen is open so that you can watch all the chefs hard at work. If you are ever down in Cornwall I would definitely make a booking in advance as it was packed the day we went.

Anyway, we are now home and the bathroom floor is covered in washing, although we have a beautifully decorated living room to relax in. I shall take a picture when it doesn't resemble a jumble sale and you can see for yourselves.

Beadily beautiful

2007-11-28T18:06:00.000Z

The roses were a 'sorry you had to work on a Saturday whilst I got to play golf' present from Rob. Ahhh. I much prefer pink roses to red, despite having had red for my wedding bouquet. That decision was partly based on the winter theme of the wedding though, and partly because I do love red. (I may have mentioned that before)

Continuing with the pink theme I finally managed to aquire some memory wire on a shopping trip with Dad yesterday-hurrah! It really is clever stuff, and saves me having to worry about extension chains on bracelets or length of elastic bracelets. After all, wrists, like waists, differ MASSIVELY. I have very small wrists (the only part of my body that is slim..apart from my ear lobes) so it would be daft to measure all the bracelets I make based on my own.I also bought pink beads. And green ones. Hmm, and a few turquoise ones too. Here are the results...

There is a pink theme but only because I am going to send two of them to my cousins for christmas, and the others will hopefully be sold. I did get quite carried away, sat on the sofa making bracelets and watching repeats of Midsomer Murders. I really don't understand people who say they think daytime television is rubbish..Midsomer Murders is fab! (although I wouldn't want to live there, obviously) would be quite a good place to work though, I imagine there would never be a shortage in houses to sell with all of those murders going on. I digress...

See how you can wrap them around your arm? Good eh? I like the colours on this one and am quite into silver at the moment.

I really like turquoise but I think its quite a summery colour so may not be as popular as the silvery/purpley ones.

This is my favourite.

We are going to St Ives in 2 more sleeps. I can hardly wait. The washing and ironing is done. The books and knitting are packed. The wellies for surf walking are by the front door. I can almost taste the sea air ....