Starting the decorating (of the cakes, that is)

Hooray!

Hooray for so many reasons! It is the weekend (at long last! It has been a busy week, and I spent Friday night back at work as we were running the PTA quiz). I am feeling better (also at long last, in fact longer). I went on a run this morning before the rain! It was a speedy run- 4 miles with every mile under 10 mins! Usually I can keep it up for 3, but not 4. Feeling it now though!

Breakfast of pumpkin choc chip pancakes + apple was well needed! (I started off making pancakes with some protein powder I was sent with an i-herb order, but it turned green, and smelled so bad- really sickly, and it reminded me of the old protein powder I had before, and why I just don’t get on with protein powder, so anyway I made a second batch with just flour and they were scrumptious).

Plus, I got to start decorating my cakes today. Hooray!

Originally we were going to go in to London for the day, but seeing as the weather forecast predicted torrential rain, we gave it a miss. In fact it was not raining at all when I woke up, so I was pleased to squeeze the run in. Instead we have been sorting out things at home- we had to buy new blinds for a couple of windows- so anyway while we were out we went to the little cake decorating shop nearby and I bought some red and black icing.

I had to ice the final cake, as I had run out of icing when I did the other ones.

Then I got down to colouring the icing- I bought red and black as apparently they are hard to make, but the green and brown could be coloured using the little gel colours that I have.

I tried to follow the instructions from this recipe, but when I clicked on the step by step bit it would not work.

I thought they still looked cute anyway.

All assembled on the cake!

This one is for my Mum and Dad, as they love birds, and bird watching, so I thought robins would be perfect for them. I think it needs a red ribbon or something, to set off the red of the robins, but I can do that later. I did buy some ribbon, but then this week I bought an icing ribbon cutter thing as it was super cheap on Amazon (love the black Friday deals), so I could try to make ribbon with icing. I got some bargain tins from Sainsbury’s last week (reduced to £1.95) so I am keeping them in those before I give them away. The cake boards don’t fit in the tins which is why they are on silver foil.

Now I need to decide how to do the other ones. I quite fancy penguins this year. Any other ideas?

How have you all been? We are off to see some friends this evening, so no more decorating for me today! Have a lovely weekend 🙂

Winter bugs, go away!

And also can the rain go away too please.

Although luckily we are not flooded here- I hope everyone else in the UK is doing OK at the moment.

Anyway, I just have not been back to my normal self- after the week of feeling dizzy (well nearly), then getting a cold (which was fine, just annoying) this wee I managed to have a little stomach bug too. I was OK Monday, but went to see a friend after work so didn’t have a run (plus I did the 8.3 miles on Sunday so I wanted a little rest)- but then feeling poorly meant I missed aerobics and Sweatshop ( yet again). I am going to forget all the routes we run!

I have been having tea (as usual ) to stay warm- I was sent this Twinings stuff, which smells lovely, but does not quite taste as nice as it smells- it tastes quite watery. I think I might try it in porridge or something like that. Or maybe in a spiced tea bread?

Anyway, I have been managing to get into the Christmas spirit a bit. I have iced the Christmas cakes now too, and I am starting to think of how to decorate them. I am looking to do a robin on my parents one- something like this one perhaps? Cute!

Talking of Christmas, Ffion has a super Hotel Chocolat giveaway at the moment- check it out 🙂

 Feeling Christmassy yet? Only about a month to go 🙂

Change of plans

Hey all,

Hooray for the weekend!

I was going to have a long run this morning, but it was raining, and drizzling, and as the weather is predicted to be lovely and bright and crisp tomorrow, I decided to have a shorter run today, and have a longer one tomorrow. Just as well as I was aching loads after body pump on Thursday. I did the same run as Wednesday (when my Garmin went crazy- those 2 and a half minute miles!)- when I downloaded it, it thought I was miles away at first, which is why I was apparently going so fast. Anyhow, the actual route I did today was 3.5 miles. Nice to stretch the legs.

Then I was going to make some panforte.

When we were in Florence we went to Siena, and the speciality there is panforte- a cake made with nuts, dried fruit and spices. We shared a slice for lunch one day, and it was amazing.  Some were made with cocoa, or covered in marzipan, but we stuck to the plain one.

I basically spent a lot of the time looking at it in all the windows!

Anyway, I googled it when I got home, and found so many recipes. I settled on this Jamie Oliver one, as it sounded fairly simple.

Chopped nuts (hazelnuts, almonds and pistachios), mixed peel, cherries (for colour), flour and spices in the bowl.

Honey, blitzed figs, sugar and more spices bubbling away.

I even bought some rice paper from amazon to use for the recipe (to line the pan with).

Ready for the oven. I had to cover it in clingfilm to press it down into the pan, as it was so sticky.

Then this happened:

Oh dear. It baked fine, I left it to cool in the pan, but then it was a total nightmare to get back out the pan! I checked and there was nothing about oiling the pan, but maybe that needs to be done?

So, another change of plan. I chopped it up (scooped up some of it) and put it in to paper cases instead. Still tastes nice!

I also marzipanned the Christmas cakes. It seems very early, but we do not have many free weekends left between now and Christmas, so I wanted to get them started. I might ice them tomorrow, and then all I have to do is find time to decorate them.

This afternoon I popped to the shops, and treated myself to a Starbucks- it is becoming a bit of a weekend habit. This time I asked for steamed soya milk with gingerbread syrup- seriously this is their best drink ever (and cheaper than a gingerbread latte)- they had the syrup for sale and I was very tempted, although it didn’t have a price on it.

I also got a very exciting delivery- gingerbread clif bars! They do seasonal flavours and they get rave reviews (coincidently, in the summer we tried a panforte “special” flavour which really was amazing- having never even heard of it before then)- anyway, they have been out of stock at i-herb, but I found them on amazon USA, and decided to treat myself. I also got some spiced orange yankee candle tealights (but from the UK amazon) because I just love their candles so much. Smells like Christmas in here now.

Any suggestions regarding getting the panforte out the pan next time? 

What are you up to this weekend?

Tea India

Hey peeps

I hope you are all well.

A little while ago I was sent a lovely parcel from Tea India, filled with some of my favourite things- tea!

They sent me some Black tea, and some Cardamom Chai.

Right away I had to try the cardamom chai. I love chai tea anyway, and this intrigued me as usually chai teas have a variety of spices in them. The tea is lovely- very spicy indeed, and less sweet that traditional chai teas. I bet it would make wonderful tea bread, and it will go so well with Christmas cake (or anything sweet really). Just hope I can save some for then!

The black tea is very strong tea- Andy loves it as he likes Assam tea and this is strong, but not bitter or anything.

I also think that the packaging is really pretty- simple with the black boxes, but also eye catching with the intricate designs on them.

They have some other flavours too- ginger chai as well as the traditional Masala chai, plus some “mantra teas“, which include rooibos chai. So many lovely teas, so little time to drink them all!

Last night my cold was not that great, so I missed aerobics in favour of going to the cinema- we went to see Argo, which was excellent– so tense! I would recommend this over Bond (or most films) any day- Ben Affleck seems to direct the good ones. Anyway, today I was feeling better, but instead of pushing it on my Sweatshop run, I went out by myself as soon as I got home. My Garmin went a little crazy- apparently I did the first mile in 3 and a half minutes, and the second mile in 2.36 or something! Not even Paula runs that fast!

Seen any good films lately?

Wonderful Autumn

Hey peeps

I know I have used this picture before, but I didn’t take any new ones, and yesterday was such a beautiful autumnal day- this picture just captures for me what I love about those days- bright blue sky and wonderful colours on the trees.

Well, last week didn’t go as planned. I felt better on Thursday- no dizziness, but I gave pump a miss because I had such an awful headache- I went out on a walk with Andy instead.

On Friday I did a short run after work, as I was feeling much better, and then Saturday morning was my usual favourite run- a long one of 8.3 miles. The weather was drizzling, and actually much colder than I thought, so I did worry that I would be too cold in my t-shirt, but actually (of course) I warmed  up. The only time I got cold was when someone asked me for directions (well actually she asked for help reading her map)- I did explain I was rubbish at maps, and could not work out where I was on the map but she kept insisting that I help her. In the end I was stood talking to her for 5 mins, and I was really cold after that.

Anyway, it took me 91 mins, so I think I was running quite fast, because I was stopped for all that time, but anyway it was great to be out there.

After lunch I popped to the shops for some bits- got some yummy mince pie filling and soya crisps from Holland and Barrett,  and treated myself to a gingerbread latte (no coffee)- they are the nicest warm drink ever!

Saturday night we went to a birthday party, and then Sunday was a relaxing day- started with pancakes and cooked apple- yummy.

Then I had a cooking session- I roasted some butternut squash with paprika (for a chilli I made today) and I made some mexican casserole (roasted veggies in one tray, quinoa, tomatoes, sweetcorn, beans and chilli in the pan)- one of my favourite winter meals.

Then I made some caramel shortcake for Sunday tea- mmm I love those so much.

We also went out on a lovely walk in the autumn sunshine, and had some warming tea when we got home- lovely teapigs tea 🙂

Now I have got a bit of a runny nose (so maybe the stuff last week was down to me getting a bit of a cold?)- after work I went on a 3 mile run, just to get some fresh air, and I think it was the right decision because I felt better once I was out there. On the drive home I was thinking “shall I just have a cup of tea? Or shall I try a run???”- and in the end I am glad I chose to run. I think I am much better now at knowing when I am OK and when I need a break, although because I had a few days off last week I did feel more like I should.

Right, off to relax in front of the TV now- I think there is a slice of caramel shortcake left over from yesterday…