Now I must apologise, as this post contains references to a certain traditional holiday that is coming up in less than 2 months.
Now personally I get a little annoyed with Slade blaring from the shops, and mince pies being on sale in September, but I also like to be organised. At work we bought the presents for the children back at the start of October as there was an offer for free postage, plus it spreads the cost.
Also we are going away for Christmas (well, hopefully not like last year) and so need to be prepared- I am seeing my parents on the 10th December! Super early!
One of my blogger challenges was to start getting things ready, so I thought I would share a few things with you.
I bought this cool (decorative) cockerel watering can for my mum, from The Natural Collection– she loves her chickens and chicken things, plus the garden, and I could not resist it! We also got our cards from a local charity (Grove House Hospice)- they are of St Albans Abbey (we have a lot of family there) and also one of a pretty decorated tree.
I have also been getting ready to make presents. I bought a lot of these jars from Ikea- they were only 90p which is so much cheaper than anywhere else I have seen. Plus some pretty silver twine, labels and red ribbon (and that bottle is pectin as I am going to make SuperJam which uses fruit juice instead of sugar). I just need to get some nice fabric for the tops.
I have also been practising my icing skills (?) to get ready for the big cakes later on!
Away from the holiday theme (although these would make fab presents) I was sent some Booja Booja truffles to try. I was sent the “Rum Sozzled Sultana Chocolate Truffles” and they are rum sozzled for sure! Booja Booja chocolates are always so amazing- really velvety and rich. I do not drink alcohol but I did always used to like rum truffles from bakeries (did anyone else love those?) but I don’t think they actually contained rum. These do for sure! I do quite like them, but I prefer the other flavours. If, however, you like a bit of rum in your chocolate then you will love these!
Thanks Booja Booja! 🙂
Also I ordered some tasty treats in my shopping this week- I keep seeing these mini gingerbread men on Rachel’s blog, so I ordered them in this cute tin. Plus some goodies summer peaches sweets- they sell them on Ocado and they are so tastu (plus free from gelatin).
Do you like to get things ready in advance or are you a last minute buy it all on Christmas eve type person?
Porridge with figs cooked in there. I used Kallo soy milk which was on offer on Tesco, and rather nice. It is sweetened a little (but was not too sweet I didn’t think), but has calcium added too.
A sandwich thin (I found one in the freezer) with some hummus, and a pear. Not a great lunch but we were not having our shopping delivered until Tuesday. Not surprisingly I was rather hungry in the afternoon and glad for my luna bar 🙂
An apple chopped and microwaved, with some warm alpro soya custard. Yum.
Look! I am super excited-for our allotment we get to buy seeds super cheaply from a catalogue and they all arrived! They even had seeds for spagetti squash! Plus some really pretty beetroots 🙂 I just hope some of them grow….
I also enjoyed an old favourite the other day- porridge in a jar! I finally finished one of the massive Whole Earth pb, so I got to enjoy super peanutty porridge. Mmm.
This morning I got my race bits ready (clif bar for breakfast to eat in the car, banana for after).
Like the Thundercats style timer chip? It was a sticker on the back of your number which was a good idea.
Then we drove to Sherwood Pines Forest, where the race started. The parking was right by the race start- you had to walk through these lovely paths to get there.
There were real toilets (as it was a visitors centre) as well as port-a-loos. You can see the start/end inflatable arch thing in the field.
The scenery made it just fantastic- the first few km smelled so strongly of fresh pine trees.
Most of the trees were turning, the run was on wide tracks (sort of dirt roads) and there were lots of walkers and cyclists out too- perfect.
So pretty!
Near the end my Nike+ lost the signal from my shoes, and then told me I was going at 15 min miles, so I really had no idea how I was doing for time. But I was steadily overtaking people and I felt like I was pushing myself quite hard although I wanted to save some in the tank for the last little hill.
I overtook a few people going up the hill, and put on an almost sprint finish at the end (didn’t quite catch the last person!)- there was no clock but when I stopped my Nike+ it said 61 mins (and looking on the computer it was 61.33)- I was so pleased with that- close to my best ever 10K time but still not breaking the hour mark. Ah well, maybe next time!
I was still very excited about my time!
It has the list of the runs on the back- I think the kids run was the Maid Marian dash or something! It is a womens large, but proper cut so I might actually wear it as I rather like the colour too. We also got a £5 sweatshop voucher and some High5 samples.
I loved this race sooooo much- I think it could be my favourite race ever! I pushed myself hard, but still enjoyed the experience and the scenery. It was busy so I was never running alone, but the paths were wide and it was never congested so I felt I could run at my own pace and never struggled overtaking people.
HOORAY!
Colour your icing first of all. On the course they said that Tescos ready ice was the best one, and we used Sugarflair gels (instead of runny food colouring that messes up the consistency of the icing). They also said to put some tylo powder in there, which helps it to set and keeps it stronger, but I have not got any of that. Only use a teeny tiny amount of gel- you can always add more, and knead it in. Use icing sugar if your hands get sticky.
To make spots, roll out the main colour, then put little balls of the other colour all over the icing. On the course they suggested keeping back a bit of each colour, or doing a small amount at a time as if you are doing spots if you do not have enough you cannot squash it all back together and start again. I winged it!
Then roll it with a rolling pin- it makes cute little spots! I think I should make the balls even smaller as these spots ended up quite big!
Then cut up your pieces. For each bow you need 2 fat rectangles for the loops, one thinner shorter rectangle for the centre, and two longer pieces for the ends.
Get the two loop pieces and fold them over.
Then pinch them together in the middle- try to push up the bows so they don’t flop (easier with the tylo powder I think).
Stick the two ends to the cake (using warm water brushed on) in an upside-down V. Then wrap the centre part around the bow loop middle.
And put the bow part on the ends (again use some water).
🙂
Kind of latte- some warmed Ecomil hazelnut milk topped up with Christmas tea. Yum.