Category: General ramblings

Birthday baking (although no excuse needed)

Yup, of course I have been baking!

We had a lovely few days in and around Bath, but as Andy took the photos I need to wait for him to send them to me before I do a post. So you have to make do with a baking post instead.

It is Andy’s birthday today, and yesterday we went out for a meal with his parents, brothers and their girlfriends. His brothers especially are massive chocoholics, so I decided to make a brownie cake for after. I had seen Lucy make her recipe into a cake before, so I decided to try it out.

Now it was my own fault because I lined the cake pans with foil, but did not grease them. Duh. Anyway, I did manage to get them off, more or less in one piece!

I made some mint filling by creaming a little bit of pure spread, some mint extract and icing sugar.

Then I topped it with the rest of the cheat icing that I bought a few weeks back (I found it in the fridge) and decorated with stars. Those stars are my favourite!

We went to Prezzo, which I love because they do an amazing goats cheese salad with artichokes, roasted peppers, tomatoes, spinach, toasted bread and balsamic. Yum. Although I had to save some space for the cake. It went down very well indeed (although Andy’s Dad thought that the “30” referred to how many slices it should be- to be fair my parents forget how old I am too) but it was sooooooo sweet. I only had a small slice but I could only just manage that. Anyway it satisfied all the chocolate lovers- and there was lots left which we made them keep for another day.

Andy had requested that I make him a fruitcake (his brothers don’t like it and one of the girlfriends hates dried fruits) so I did that today.

I used a recipe for Light fruit cake from an Eric Lanlard book (I was kindly sent the book after writing the blog post about Baking Mad)- this has dried fruit (which I soaked before using as I find otherwise it is too dry) but also lemon zest for a lighter taste. They smell delicious anyway.

The recipe said it would serve 6, and I wanted to use my new mini loaf pans (I think each mini pan would be a good two servings) so as you can see there was a lot more! I think they will freeze well too. I am going to put some marzipan on them in a bit.

I have had a pretty chilled out day today, compared to the last few days. I did manage a lot of walking (more than I have done in months) but I was so exhausted in the evenings. Andy was off at football today so I have been enjoying time to relax.

Including having an Earl Grey tea and a cookie from Tam via the cookie swap.

Also, I did my first ever guest post! Laura from Mommy Run Fast has been doing a series called “Purposeful Running” and mine was posted today. You can check it out here.

I hope everyone had a lovely long weekend- anyone get any Easter Eggs? My Dad got us a rake for our allotment (he said he was going to get us an Easter egg, but then saw that and knew we needed one- he wants to start a new tradition!), and we did not get each other anything, but Andy’s Mum gave us one to share yesterday. Although we need to eat the birthday cake first!

WIAW- a collection

Hey peeps

I forgot to take photos of one day this week, so again I have a little collection of what I have been eating.

Breakfasts:

After seeing grapefruits on Lucy’s blog recently, I decided to buy some. I love them, but have only eaten them on holidays for some reason. I do need to wear safety goggles however as they squirt all over!

I have also been loving fresh fruit and muesli combos- this was fig, pear, fruity muesli and coconut milk.

And of course lovely overnight bircher muesli- this was tinned peaches, chia seeds, almonds, fruity muesli, almond milk (all left to soak overnight) then topped with cinnamon in the morning.

Lunches:

(Broken) ryvita with red pepper hummus, spinach and fig salad with balsamic dressing.

A lovely wholemeal wrap (these are the discovery ones which are smaller than normal, and I freeze them which is why it is a bit broken), with hummus, rocket (arugula for our US friends), roasted butternut squash, baby avocado, basil and a fig, red pepper and rocket salad. MMMmm.

Another wrap with hummus, rocket and basil. Yum. Plus apple and more figs. Can you tell I have been eating a lot of figs recently?

Snacks:

Shake (? Smoothie?), with Good Hemp strawberry flavour and coconut milk.

Chocolate tea, persimmon, fig, and a carob and cherry cookie. This was part of what I made for the cookie exchange, and it broke, so of course quality control meant I could not send it!

Dinners:

Sweet potato, hummus, roasted veggies (peppers, aubergine, onion, courgettes) with hemp sprinkles.

Another wrap (obsessed?), roasted butternut squash, hummus, baby corn, spinach, avocado, basil tofu and fresh basil.

Home-made sourdough (I put some chia seeds in the dough and it was lovely) which I had with some bean and veggie bake, and cheese. I only took a photo of the bread as I was so proud of how it looked 🙂

Desserts:

Chocolate frozen yoghurt. This was OK, not as nice as the fruity flavours.

Blueberry frozen yoghurt- this was lovely, although I thought the pumpkin seeds were a strange topping. I really want to try the tropical stuff but have not seen it in the shops. So the strawberry flavour is my favourite.

Thoughts:

My meals have seemed quite repetitive this week. The thing is, if I buy something I have to use it up- so things like the hummus were going out of date quickly, so I had to use the tub up in a few days. I roasted a butternut squash, but it was too hot for soup, so I had it in wraps and in salads for a few days to use it up. With the theme for this month being add in an extra cup of veggies, I think I have been doing this OK. My lunch can lack veggies (pb on something toasted and an apple being my fave) so having wraps has been good as I have loaded the veggies in them. Also fresh basil makes anything taste ten times better.

Improvements:

Less frozen yoghurt! And a bit more protein is needed.

Thanks to Jenn for organising it as usual. 
Anyone doing anything lovely over the long weekend? We are off to Bath for a few days (glad we did not choose the Lake District after all the snow- we were looking at somewhere up there), so I am looking forward to visiting a tearoom or two 🙂

Spring Clean

Afternoon peeps.

I am in the middle of a bit of a spring clean today. I had to wait in for a delivery, so I decided to do some cleaning, sort out the recycling and then attack the piles of stuff that seem to build up. Anyone else find this? I think when I tidy I often just put things in neat piles, but today I went through some of the piles- found some great stuff including a load of travel brochures for Norway (from 2010!).

After the delivery came, I popped out on a walk (but had to be back because our shopping is coming) but I might have another one later.  I have taken a few photos from my walks in the past few days.

The other day I went around the lakes. I used to love running around them, and had to go to the leisure centre to get some vouchers, so I decided to treat myself to a walk.

I saw several herons, and a rabbit! 🙂

I have also been doing my usual walk of the fields behind my house, and have made the walk a little longer. It is so lovely to see everything coming to life over the past few weeks.

I love the blossom that is around at the moment!

And I saw a little rabbit by the side of the path. I stood and watched it for ages, but then I felt a bit bad because it did not seem to see or hear me, and it’s eyes looked like they were shut, so I don’t hold out much hope for it surviving.

I was only about a metre away and it was hopping about, eating grass and things.

On my walks I usually listen to my mp3 player- I like to download podcasts to listen to, and usually use my running headphones. Last week I was sent some to try, so I have been using them on my walks.

These are in-ear headphones, whereas my usual ones have a band that goes around the back of my head. I tried them at first as they were, but they kept popping out while I was walking, which was very annoying. They come with 3 sizes of ear buds, so I swapped to the smallest size, and they stay in much better. I like the clip too.

It can also attach to a phone (side point- as my contract was up I decided to go for it and get a phone that can go on the internet! My transition to living in the 21st Century may well be complete! Oh, except my car only has a tape player…), and as there is a little microphone in the earphones you could take a call while out and about (although I have not tried that because I hardly ever phone anyone, and also only just got this phone and have no music or anything on it). I think they are meant to be more for an iPhone, because I suppose you would have music on them? Anyway, the earphones have been great for me, because to wear my running headphones I have to tie my hair up (the band gets in the way otherwise). The sound quality was very good too- I had to turn the volume right down. I could still hear what was going on around me, but the buds did fill my ears, so they did take a little getting used to as the sound was different.

Because the weather was so warm, I also moved away from normal hot tea, to iced tea.

This was with an apple and cinnamon teabag– part of my last i-herb order. I brewed the teabag in a little hot water (in a cup), then took the teabag out, added cold water and poured into the glass with some ice. It was lovely- so refreshing, so I will be trying that with some different teabags soon.

I have also been adding some fresh mint leaves to my morning mint tea- yum.

Although I did see on the weather today that it is getting colder and that it might even snow! Craziness!

Right, off for some more sorting out. 🙂

Is anyone else getting on with spring cleaning at the moment? Anyone else get a bit upset by poorly wild animals? When I was little I watched a lot of nature documentaries, and I remember watching one about penguins. One baby penguin was dying and I was so upset and I was saying to my Dad “why can’t the cameramen save the penguin?” and he had to explain to me that humans should not be getting involved in wild animals- the baby penguin might end up being food for a baby seal or something. Same with that rabbit I suppose, but it is still not nice thinking about it.

Olympic fever! And questions for Matthew Pinsent!

Hello all.

As you all know, England (London for the most part) is lucky enough to be hosting the Olympic games this summer. I am really excited as I think it is the event of a lifetime- although I remember when it was announced that we had got it and I worked out that by then I will be 31! Doesn’t time fly? We applied for tickets in the first round, but didn’t get any. I was determined, so for the second round we got up super early, had the website loaded up and ready to go, and managed to get some (a hockey match and an athletics session I think- both on the same day). I am also planning on going in to watch the women’s marathon (it turns out we are on holiday when the men’s one goes on). Anyway, I was lucky enough to be sent a guide to the Olympics to review.

This is London 2012 Olympic Games The Official Book, published by Carlton, £12.99, available from all good book shops and online (I have seen it on Amazon for pre-order).

The book is really fantastic. It is set out really well. It has a section about the different stadiums being built, what events they will host and what will happen to them after. This includes the venues that are not in London.

It has an overview of the games in a little grid, to show what events will be happening on each day, sort of like an “at a glance” guide.

Then it has several pages on each sport, including little facts, athletes to watch, current champions and when the events will be held.

At the back it has a few pages of Olympic records- most gold medals, most medals, most appearances, youngest and oldest medal holders and so on. And in the very back it has photos of the London medals. It is all very exciting! The only thing I would say is that the Paralympics are not mentioned very much. I personally think they should run side by side, and not after, so perhaps that is just me.

I think the book is really lovely (Andy called it “a posh programme” which describes it well)- I think it will be a lovely reminder of the games once they have been here. Plus the information about the different sports is interesting too (and probably handy for a quiz night). The price is £12.99 which I think is pretty good value as it is a pretty good sized book and is packed with information, not just a load of photos.

The book is being launched on the 18th April, and to help launch the book the publishing group are getting people to put their burning questions to 4 time gold medalist and legendary sportsman, Matthew Pinsent. The best questions will be asked to him on the 18th April, and people can win signed copies of the book too! Exciting!

If you are on Twitter (I am not, so I hope I explain it properly) you can tweet @carltonbookspr using the hash tag #AskMatthewAnything. You can also leave the comments at the bottom of this post, or on my facebook page, and I will email them on.

So, what would you ask to Matthew Pinsent? Are you excited about the Olympics? If you got tickets, what are you going to see? And anyone else planning on going in for any of the free events? 

Baking for swapping!

I was so excited when Tam posted about her blogger cookie swap. I took part in it when I had first started blogging, and it was fun. I need no excuse to bake, plus you get to receive a surprise in the post too- what could be better?

I could not decide what to make, and in the end made 3 types to send off.

I had my eye on this nutty apple loaf recipe from Hummingbird for ages, and decided to make mini loaves with the recipe.

I also decided to make some cookies (using the Millies Cookies recipe)- I used dried cherries and carob as I love that combo.

The recipe made a lot, but luckily I was seeing some friends on Saturday, and one of them cannot have chocolate, so these were perfect.

An awful lot!

I also made some peanut chocolate squares. These were based on the minty brownies (from Sweet Vegan ) but I made a sort of peanut caramel for the centre by mixing peanut butter with some brown rice syrup, heating it up, and adding a little icing sugar to thicken.

This was poured on the base.

And then left to set.

Then I made a topping by melting some dark chocolate with some dark chocolate peanut butter (it makes the best topping ever) and then sprinkling with white chocolate stars.

So pretty 🙂

Then I packed them all up and sent them off. As I made 3 recipes I had a lot of spare, so my freezer has quite a few baked goods in it now!

Today I received my parcel in exchange 🙂

It was packaged up so prettily- with strawberries on the box. Tam has made me some lovely peanut butter buttons (which I was so tempted to try before breakfast, but I did wait until just before lunch to sample (but I did not take a photo- too busy munching!) and they are amazing) and also some carnival cookies. She also included the recipes-(and a recipe card) thanks so much!

I love taking part in this, so thanks Tamzin for organising it 🙂

If you like baking, why do you think you enjoy it so much? To coin an Early Years Teaching phrase, “it’s the process not the product” and I think that is why I enjoy it so much. Of course I do enjoy eating the baked goods too, but actually it is reading the recipe books, weighing out ingredients, mixing it all up, and of course the lovely smell it creates too, that I most enjoy.