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Showing posts with the label baking

Something for the weekend - Girls Night In

The world is a busy place so sometimes it's nice to slow things down and catch up with the important people in your life Every month or two I get together with my closest friends and have a girls night in.  Going out is great, I love going to restaurants, to the theatre, to the movies but sometimes being out socially doesn't give us a lot of time to catch up fully on what's going on in everyone's lives. So we will do things like; Have Afternoon Tea A 'formal' meal A buffet with board games This Saturday we had decided on a Games Night, so this is how I prepare; Generally cleaning my house  Setting the table  Preparing the food  - baking cakes, cooking pastry etc.   As we use the evening to catch up and relax I tend not to cook a formal meal, I create more of a buffet that we can snack on throughout the night as we talk.   I love cooking and baking so this gives me a chance to try out new recipes and relax in my kitchen I make sure I

Cosy Treats - Rock Cakes

I've been seeing and reading a lot of things lately about Hygge, which I've heard described as the feeling or mood created by taking genuine pleasure in the simple things in life.   There's  pictures of cosy knits, warm drinks, soft materials, books and baking. I think the concept of Hygge is a beautiful one from what I've read so far, it's something I plan to read more on in the coming months. From what I gather I think a lot of us have higgle in our lives maybe we just don't realise that that is what it is.   I can look back over things my grandparents used to do, like sitting together of an evening reading their books in front of the fire and eating freshly baked cakes or treats.  They just enjoyed those quiet moments together and if they were stressed it wasn't something I ever saw, I saw the quiet relaxed moments and maybe that's what Hygge was for them. Anyway, I was looking at the pictures of some of the beautiful cakes and biscuits and star

GoodBye Summer...Hello Autumn

Summer is on the wane now September is here, although there is talk of an Indian Summer next week.  For me however I'm ready for the cooler weather, heat has never been a best friend to me.  I'm pale skinned and I take after my grandad when I get too hot.  It just doesn't agree with me.  I like a few weeks of summer but clammy nights takes it toll on me as sleeping when you're just too hot is not easily accomplished. On the no so selfish side, it's also a lot better for my dog, Hero, when it gets cooler, his thick fur coat becomes more helpful than a hindrance. Besides, being born in September also makes me an autumn child, there's just something about the start of this season that is rather exciting.  So this blog will be me discussing why it is I love this season.... 1. The colours of Autumn Summer is bright and bountiful, the colours are amazingly bright, light and cool.  You wear clothes that are light in shade, aqua and yellow look brilliant in

Easter - Celebrations, Decorations and Baking

I love holidays, I am one of those people who starts there Christmas shopping in January just because I love to celebrate things. So after Christmas when it's those cold dark months of generally rain up here in the North I look forward to Easter and the time of year when everything starts to change and become new again. This year Easter is early, so its still quite cold so my garden isn't looking its best.  Since there's been so much rain and damp there's been no chance of tidying of planting so my Spring clean focused on the interior of my house.  This involved paining everything! Anyone who owns a dog especially a large one will feel my pain when it comes to white walls and light coloured carpets, they just aren't a great match.  Now the weather is picking up just that little bit the amount of mud being trampled through the house and shaken on to walls has reduced, it was time for the paint brushes to come out of retirement and the white paint to be sloshed

Death by Desert!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin So I seem to be going from weekend to weekend in these posts!  I promise I do other things but it's just the way events have unfolded! Yesterday, Saturday again, I got the chance to catch up with a couple of my girlfriends and have a nice meal and a killer desert! It's hard sometimes to see your friends when your working, they're working, your trying to fit a million and one things in to life so these moments to me are very precious.   Any way, as it was two of my friends birthdays recently we decided to have a catch up at the local pub and have a nice meal.  The meal was great, but the deserts were amazing! I had an Eton Mess Sunday - believe me you would have your calories for the whole day in this thing.  It was a tower of ice cream, raspberries, meringue and cream which took an age to get through!  my Friend went for the Chocolate Brownie Death by Chocolate and Sunday and my other friend went for Lemon Pie Sunday.  I think by th

Weekend Who Done It

So if you're reading my other blog, "My Life as a Writer" you're already following the path I take when writing my novels, this blog is an attempt to illustrate what else I do and love in life. Where to start, well I might as well start off with this past weekend as I indulged in something I do love. I have always had a love of movies and theatre, so on Saturday I indulged my theatrical love and attended the Theatre to see "And Then There Were None" (Agatha Christie). Now this not only plays to my love of theatre but also my love of Christie as a writer, in this 125th Anniversary year her work is still as entertaining and edge of the seat as it was then. The show, which is touring the UK stars Paul Nicholas, Verity Rushworth, Frazer Hines, Colin Buchanan and Ben Nealon, and follows the plot of her famous novel. On a secluded island a group of strangers come together having each received a mysterious invitation.  Following the path of a children