After a somewhat hectic week, I was very much looking forward to going to the Christchurch Food Festival, a celebration of all things yummy from the local area. There were so many stalls all selling delicious looking foods from around the world, all with one thing in common, the ingredients were, where possible, sourced locally. We made a b-line for the Garlic Farm stall and stocked up on some condiment sauces, although they did not have any of their garlic pesto or delicious garlic butter.
I also picked up a soda loaf from the Dorset bread stand, which is currently residing in our freezer for the time being, until I can find a weekend for us to devour it!
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To mark my last week with the People Team and my first within Marketing, I decided that I wanted to make a gingerbread house, it's something that has been on my 'to bake' list for a while and finally we found the time to do it, although we were both up in to the wee houses finishing it.
To further decorate the door and window I used white chocolate stars using the water icing to hold them in place . . .
. . . for the roof we used the large Cadbury's buttons and overlapped them slightly, using the water icing to glue them on to the roof. There was definitely room for improvement on our design, so here's hoping that our next house looks a little more professional!
There
was some gingerbread going spare so Jason decided to crack out his 3-d
dinosaur cookie cutters, which came out much better than expected!
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It has been an age since I posted anything on my blog, and has suffered a bout of neglect on my part, I promise there has been a very valid reason, a lot has happened in this past month; we've finally sold the flat, and are now looking for our new home, which is proving somewhat of a challenge! We've therefore been very busy using our evenings and weekends to scour the local property market for a characterful gem of a house, of which we have yet to stumble upon, although I'm sure our perfect house is out there somewhere just waiting for us to find it :)
I've also got a new job!!! :) I am now a part of the Marketing team, which I am extremely excited about, although I am very sad to be leaving the People Team, I had a wonderful surprise on my last day, a beautiful bouquet of flowers, they smelt divine! And are just how I envisage the garden at our new home to look . . .
All in all it been a busy month, however I have made a vow to myself to blog at least once a week until we find our new home, and then once we're settled get more of a regular schedule going with all of our baking experimentations, crafty makes and all the places new places we have visited on our travels, watch this space!
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Our beloved family dog Rosie, died last weekend, I rushed from work back to Suffolk to see her before she was buried in our garden (one of her favourite places for an afternoon snooze).
Our family is now pet-less for the first time in 24 years! (my Mum has fish but these I've decided they do not count!) It felt very strange being home with no one to greet me in the mornings at the bottom of the stairs, or waiting for me at the gate with a smile on her face and a ball for me to throw when I came back to visit. She was a one of a kind dog, and will be missed by us all . . .
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The weather man has been promising blue skies and sunshine for many weeks now, and when it kind-of came true today, we jumped in the car and zoomed off in the direction of Beaulieu for a much needed afternoon out in the New Forest. I made a friend along the way in the form of a very curious pony . . .
After exploring the local shops we then set off for Bucklers Hard, an old ship building village, full of the most beautiful cottages, set a top an idyllic green overlooking the harbour. Hopefully next time we visit it will be a little bit brighter and warmer so we can take advantage of the pub and ice cream shop!
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I ended up in the lovely Molly's Den again yesterday, I was eager for Jason to see the vintage loveliness that is Molly's Den and show him some beautiful pieces of furniture I'd seen on my initial visit. I came out with a lovely vintage jar that is to be the new home for all of my ribbons, as they're currently spilling out of the one I'm currently using.
I'm hoping to get some spray pain or something similar so that I am able to colour the lid in a lovely pastel shade, as it's currently looking a bit tatty, but for £1 one can't really complain!
Jason invested in this beautiful decanter, for our bar, it's already in use, decanting his tipple of choice Amaretto, all for the bargain price of £20!!!
Mollie's Den are holding a vintage market to mark the launch of the new warehouse over the road, unfortunately I'm going to be in London, so we'll have to make a date in the diary for when we are both free to go over and have a look, hopefully we'll be in our new place by then, and I'll actually be able to invest in some of the furniture I've got ear marked!
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I have been wanting to make an Easter cake since last Easter, so this year I got my ingredients in early and made this beast of a cake from Lisa Faulkner's cookery book 'Recipes from my Mother to my Daughter'.
I was amazed at how many raisins and other dried fruits this cake took, containing 1kg of raisins alone! I thought I may have been a little heavy handed with the Brandy when initially mixing, and then feeding the cake with additional brandy before final assembly, thankfully there is no overwhelming brandy taste. The inside of the cake is incredibly moist, due to the assembly of the cake before baking, spooning half of the mixture into the cake tin, then inserting a disc of marzipan and then the remaining mixture on top.
The cake was then cooked in the oven for 3 hours and then left to cool completely. I then wrapped the cake in baking paper and cling film, before placing in an air tight container to seal in all of the moisture from the fruit, brandy and marzipan.
Today both Jason and I completed the decoration of the cake with the final disc of marzipan which was then topped with marzipan balls, depicting the 12 disciples minus Judas. The cake was then put under the grill, making the marzipan bubble and crisp up; I've now discovered that marzipan tastes amazing warm!
We couldn't resist the cake once we'd finished decorating it, and both had a slice. The base and sides were a little dry but the inside was incredibly moist and moreish, definitely a recipe to be made again next year, although maybe with a little more finesse when it comes to the decorating of the cake, as it doesn't have quite the finish I was hoping for. . . practice makes perfect!
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I had the orange juice left over from making the breakfast muffins on Thursday, and thought rather than throw them away I'd make use of them. I couldn't decide on cookies or muffins, but in the end decided to make some more muffins.
I used a recipe I found on the internet after not being able to find anything suitable in the baking books we've got, however I tweaked the recipe slightly, adding in some sultanas to make them even more moist! They are the lightest muffins I think I've ever made, definitely one to type up for the recipe box . . .
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Thursday evening after I'd got home from work saw me undertake quiet a task in our small but perfectly formed kitchen, baking 48 breakfast muffins, comprising of 24 Carrot and Sultana, 24 Banana, Pecan and Oat. I'm pleased to say it all went rather well, that was until the recipes, which I'd already doubled, failed to make the required 24 of either flavour, resulting in another round of weighing and mixing to make half batches of both flavours. This turned out to be much more complicated and tiresome than first thought, as by this point, after a rather hectic day at work, and a tad sleep deprived, my brain had pretty much given up for the night, but I powered on through, and with a little helping hand from Jason I was very pleased with the end result.
The muffins where then presented in two willow baskets, filled with raffia, and then cellophane wrapped (easier said than done given the size of the baskets) and then topped off with an 'Eat me' tag detailing the flavours of each basket. I had wanted to get woven baskets or trugs that were big enough to hold all of the muffins without the need to stack them, unfortunately I couldn't find one.
I'm now keeping everything crossed that they were okay for consumption this morning. I decided to bake them on Thursday evening, and then kept them in air tight containers overnight and packaged them in my lunch break, so hopefully they should of been okay, especially considering the amount of banana and carrot that both flavours had in them! Fingers crossed . . .
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Today I've had the whole day to myself (Jason has been off on a chocolate making course) so I hopped in the car and went to visit Molly's Den, a huge warehouse full to the brim with beautiful pre-loved furniture, vintage clothing and bargains galore. There was so much to look at downstairs is full of beautiful wares, whilst upstairs houses the onsite cafe and yet more vintage loveliness. The space not only has items sourced by Molly's Den vintage scouts, but also from local artists and businesses, who can rent a small space to sell their vintage/reclaimed wares.
It will definitely be one of the first places we visit for new furniture after we've moved, I've got my eye on at least two dressers, some dining chairs and a beautiful chest of drawers, as well as plethora of vintage glassware and paisley eiderdowns.
There are plans afoot for the warehouse across from the current site, to hold 70 new sellers from the local area, and I for one can't wait! I couldn't leave without treating myself to one purchase, I couldn't resist this beautiful embroidery sampler, which is currently taking pride of place in our hallway, greeting everyone that comes through the door . . .
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This weekend has been a whirlwind of house viewings, cleaning and de-cluttering, so it was nice today to have a somewhat relaxed day. Jason's Mum came over for a Mother's Day Sunday roast, which was quite delicious (even if I do say so myself!) unfortunately the Yorkshire puddings more resembled Scottish mountain peaks; for some reason I haven't quite managed to crack the art of Yorkshire pudding making quite yet, but they were tasty nonetheless!
For pudding I made us a pecan pie which went down very well, it was the first time I've ever made one, but with my trusty copy of the Great British Bake Off's 'Showstoppers' book, all turned out well . . .
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I have to say, I'm rather enjoying my mid-week baking sessions. This week I made some birthday fairy cakes and an orange drizzle cake. I've also got my very first order for the Dandy-Lion Bakery that I have finally plucked up the courage to start . . .
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I've been making lots of cards for people at work and will soon have more listed on my Etsy shop, in the meantime I'd thought I would show how I make them . . .
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This weekend has been eventful to say the least, and to cap it all off I had an afternoon of baking to prepare me for the week ahead . . . bliss!
This Bakewell tart i made from the first Great British Bake Off cookbook using a Mary Berry recipe. I deviated slightly using crushed whole almonds, opposed to the flaked almonds specified. It was absolutely delicious, the frangipane sponge was so light, and the pastry cooked to perfection, no soggy bottom in sight :)
I had some short crust pastry left over so decided to put it to good use and made some mini Bakewell tarts using the Blueberry tart recipe from the second Great British Bake Off book, replacing the blueberry jam for raspberry and then using a traditional glace cherry on top instead of a fresh blueberry. I rolled the pastry a little too thick but apart from that, they were delicious, hopefully everyone in the office tomorrow will think so too!
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This weekend we stayed at Jason's parents who live quite close to the New Forest, so never one to miss an opportunity we donned our wellies and ventured out to Ashurst route map in hand, however we didn't make it very far before I became stuck in the mud, with Jason having to yank me out, although I almost lost a wellie in the process!
We decided to concede defeat and visited the forest instead, it was so peaceful and we had a lovely time exploring. I made a number of new doggy friends, in particular a very cute puppy dachshund, which I'm sure if our limbs weren't quite so cold, could of run off with given half the chance, he was so cute! Definitely somewhere to visit again, there are some lovely pubs that we've ear marked for a Sunday lunch pit stop after a morning out and about . . .
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For this weekend's new bake we attempted Sticky Toffee Pudding, a personal favourite of Jason's, however neither of us have ever backed it and didn't realise that the traditional pudding was made using dates (which neither of us particularly like). I used a recipe included a toffee sauce to be drizzled over, although I opted for custard as it was a little too sweet for my liking, but the sponge was tasty nonetheless, definitely one to try again . . .
Tip - If you're not too bothered about eating it fresh from the oven make it the day beforehand, the cake becomes a lot sticker and incredibly moist, delicious.
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For Christmas I made Jason a lap tray as the cushion that he was using was getting in covered in all kinds of food, and consequently ended up in the bin. I bought the wooden tray from Villeroy & Boch who do beautiful curved lap trays in a couple of different sizes, I went for the smaller option of the two. I then bought some fabric for the bean bag cover so that it would sit better on Jason's lap.
Ever since then I've thought about making one for myself as our table seems to be eternally buried under a pile of crafting bits and pieces, or cooling baked treats which means that we often have to have dinner on our laps (one of the draw backs of having a teeny tiny flat!) So I've therefore conceded defeat and invested in the same tray, and here's how I made it . . .
And here are the finished trays . . .
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Jason has the unenviable task of sorting out what we do for Valentine's day, and this year he cooked a delicious fish pie and for pudding . . . a lovely lemon souffle with homemade lemon curd at the bottom, courtesy of Delia Smith.
I've been wanting to try making a souffle for some time but always chicken out at the last minute, but they are quite tasty, particularly when served with some raspberries.
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I've been busy doing some new card designs, and seeing as Valentine's day is just around the corner I chose this as my theme. At the moment I seem to be really drawn to neutrals, creams and gold tones, so this was my chosen colour palette when making the cards. I also tried incorporating buttons into my designs, as I have so many just crying out to be used, and I wanted to try something different. I think they look a lot better stitched on, opposed to stuck on with super glue, as I was first tempted to do. . .
I've also decided to give my Etsy shop another go, now that Christmas is over and I've got a bit more time on my hands, so keep an eye out for lots of card making loveliness coming soon to the blog.
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