Our friends arrived yesterday for our annual 'Fakemas' and after a delicious meal at the Fish Inn in Ringwood, we all headed back to the flat for pudding . . .
This is a recipe I've been itching to try out for a while and thought it would be a healthy-ish alternative to the Swiss roll, despite the marzipan that it has inside. The jam topping didn't go quite to plan; I couldn't get any fresh cranberries so had to use dried ones, and consequently went quite hard and chewy once the sugar had dissolved. However the loaf looked and tasted good nonetheless.
Jason has been wanting to make a Swiss roll or a roulade for quite some time after watching the Great British Bake off, and decided on a new take on a traditional chocolate Swiss roll, spreading Nutella on the sponge base and then applying whipped cream on top. Next time around we need to be a little more generous with the filling, it was somewhat lacking in this department!
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I had to have another round of Christmas pudding making, after discovering that the one's I'd made previously had gone mouldy, grrrr! This time I made sure to let the puddings leave to cool completely before wrapping them in copious amounts of baking paper and cling film, and then putting them in an air tight container for safe keeping until Tuesday, fingers crossed they make it otherwise I'm going to have to dig out the emergency puddings i bought from the supermarket, plus a little embarrassing in front of Jason's whole family!
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We had a festive bake off at work, and our team took an innovative approach and made mincemeat muffins and then decorated them in the style of mini Christmas puddings, unfortunately we didn't win (we came a respectable joint third) but they tasted really good, one to definitely experiment with further . . .
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Winchester market has been at the top of my list to visit for quite some time, and leapt at the chance to go recently, however was left a little disappointed. There were not as many stalls as I was expecting, and a lot of the beautifully crafted items I found to be a tad on the expensive side. The cathedral was the perfect setting for the market, with the grounds and courtyards housing each stall.
There were some gorgeous Christmas decorations that were very tempting, and I would of invested in a few pieces, had I not made a solemn promise to myself to not buy anymore (I don't think our Christmas tree can take any more) unfortunately I didn't manage to get many good photos as by the time I'd finished skating may way around the resident ice rink it had gotten quite dark, hopefully if I get the chance to go again next year I'll get some better snaps . . .
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The finishing touches have been made to my Mum's Xmas tree, just in time too, I left to come back to Bournemouth the next day!
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Today we ventured out into the Suffolk countryside in search of the family Christmas tree. The farm was plonked in the middle of nowhere (Stanningfield to be exact) but it was well worth the expedition. The barn was brimming with the smell of Christmas, there were some lovely decorations and wreaths on display, as well as mince pies, shortbread, teas, coffees and hot chocolate to keep the energy levels up whilst searching for the perfect tree. This years search was significantly quicker than lasts years, which might of had something to do with the freezing cold temperature! Eventually we settled on a 6ft traditional tree, fingers crossed it will last until the big day without dropping too many of it's needles!
There were also some animals housed in the barn to keep the children occupied (and myself) whilst the grown-ups browsed. I ended up spending more time petting the animals rather than helping my Mum look for the tree . . .
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We had a lovely craft market at work today, with everyone with crafty talent put had a stall selling their wares, I bought this beautiful piece from Sea-Saw designs by Caroline Harris, an early Christmas present to myself!
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These are so simple and inexpensive to make -
What you'll need -
Cardboard luggage tags - a size that will fit your chosen stamp on comfortably
Festive coloured Ink pad - I've gone for a Christmassy red, but you can use any colour that you like that corresponds with your wrapping paper.
Stamp - I picked up this 'Merry Christmas' stamp from Paperchase, a snip at just under £3, however ebay and Etsy are great places to start looking, shop around as they vary greatly in price.
Garden twine - I've found that garden twine seems to work the best with these tags, and is relatively cheap in comparison to ribbons and threads, have a look in local garden centres, there are a range of festive colours available
How it's done -
1. Ink up your chosen stamp, making sure that all areas are covered.
2. Then simply centralise the stamp above the tag, once happy with the position, stamp the design on to the tag, making sure to press down quite hard.
3. Remove the stamp, and leave to dry for a couple of hours or preferably overnight.
4. Cut the string to the desired length andfold in half, thread the through the luggage tag hole. Pass both ends of the twine through the lop and pull tight.
6. Annnnnd, voila! you have your luggage tag!
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