Banana 'Ice Cream'

Ingredients
3 large very ripe bananas
3 Tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup soya milk
5 tsp sunflower oil
2 tsp vanilla

Method
Cover a baking sheet in cling film. Slice bananas and place on the baking sheet. Freeze for at least 3 hours.

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

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This fake ice cream actually tastes and feels like real ice cream. Other fruits can be substituted. Although care should be taken with fresh pineapple, kiwi and mango.  There's a chemical in them that causes problems when making 'ice cream'.

Warm Salmon and Potato Salad

Ingredients

750g new potatoes, quartered

1 red onion, cut into wedges

1Tsp oil

200g cherry tomatoes

4 salmon fillets

Dressing

juice of 1 lemon

1 Tsp wholegrain mustard

1/2 Tsp sugar

50ml oil

Method

Preheat oven to 220°C. Put potatoes and onion wedges into a medium roasting tin, add oil and stir to coat. Spread vegetables out and roast for 35min, or until just tender.

Remove the tin from the oven, stir in the cherry tomatoes and lay the salmon fillets on top of the vegetables. Season well and return to the oven for a further 12min, or until the fish is opaque and cooked through.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, mustard, honey, olive oil, a splash of water and plenty of seasoning until combined.

Serve on a bed of salad leaves. Pour the dressing over the salmon and vegetables.

Review

This is good! Very good. It shall become one of the regulars.

The original recipe had honey in the dressing. I really did try to use honey in the dressing, but as I was squeezing the container all I could smell were bee farts. Turning away in disgust at the smell, I decided on using a bit of sugar instead of honey (and put the substitution in the ingredients). Next time I might try maple syrup instead, but just a little bit.

Parsnip and Maple Soup

Ingredients

1 Tsp oil 
2 onions, finely chopped 

2 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped 

1 'thumb' of root ginger

2 tsp whole grain mustard

750g parsnips, chopped 

2 large potatoes, chopped 

2 litres vegetable stock 

Garnish

pecans, chopped 

maple syrup 

Method

Heat the oil in a large pan and gently cook the onions until soft, but not coloured. Add the garlic, ginger and mustard. Cook for 1 further minute. Then add the potatoes, parsnips and stock. 

Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. Blend the soup until smooth. Check the seasoning.

Garnish with pecans, black pepper, and a little drizzle of maple syrup.

If you forget to add pecans to the shopping list, but have pumpkin seeds, add those instead.  

15 Minute Declutter: Recipes

At the end of the month, the challenge is to declutter recipes and recipe books. This challenge is hanging over my head, and I must admit, I'm panicking a little.

I've decided as I have finished this week's declutter challenges I am going to work on the recipes and recipe books. It is going to take a great deal more than the 4 sessions allotted!

A small pile was picked up, dusted off and examined. One of the books I believe belongs to a friend and will be returned tomorrow. One has been saved, and four will go. The manual for the tumble dryer was mixed in with the pile. This will be added to the recycling box. Paper manuals are not needed as they are available on-line.

This leaves me with a Good Housekeeping 2014 magazine which has had loose recipes stuffed into it. I'm going to be have a quick sort through the recipes. I shall go through them again at the end of the month.

15 Minute Declutter: Mugs

This challenge is on the cards for next month, but last night the mood for mug-decluttering came over me. That was fine when it was just me, but when The Beloved got involved it turned into a bit more of a challenge. 

By the sink there is a shelf and hanging space for mugs. 18 can fit in that space. Surely 18 mugs is sufficient for three people! Apparently not!

There’s a set of  white mugs just like the one below. 

There’s 5 Doctor Who ones, and a couple of Sheepy ones, and a Crystal Gems one too. The Beloved added one patterned mug. I can understand that one as it’s bigger than the rest, and sometimes he needs more coffee. But he also added in five plain white mugs (heavy, clunky, thick). I was going to take them into the office for use there. His reasoning was that the rest of the mugs were mine, and he didn’t want to coffee-inate my mugs! At this point I reminded him of two very important things. The first being ‘all my worldly goods I thee endow’. The second was mugs washed in hot, soapy water come clean, and are uncontaminated by the the evils of coffee!

I have a migraine hangover, and thinking isn’t my things just now. I tried to reason with him, and gave up and said I would bribe him instead. A Snicker bar (chocolate, nougat and nuts) was handed over. He declared himself two thirds bribed as I hadn’t given him a full sized Snicker. It was only a 2/3 sized one from a multipack.

(sigh)

Who’du think it would be so difficult to get rid of mugs?!

Today, the mugs were washed, along with two cups!.  Ten mugs and two cups have made their way into the pile of items to be donated.  And I'm now looking forward to decluttering plates and bowls.

15 Minute Mission: Sinking (part 2) and Laundry

The sinking feeling has gone!  I was putting it off time and time again.  But, it's done.  The cupboard is clean, tidy, and some items have been decluttered.  It's looking so much better.

The other thing done today was keeping the laundry up to date. It's something I've been working on a while, and over the Christmas holidays I was able to totally empty the laundry basket.  There were no dirty clothes, and no clothes is the process of being cleaned/dried/put away.  Since then, I've been trying to wash and dry a load of laundry each day.  

As it's winter, the tumble dryer is in use as it's almost impossible to line-dry clothes at this time of year.  When the dryer has finished, and the clothes are still warm, they are folded and sorted.  This prevents creasing.  They are then put away. 

This is so very much better than the previous 'system'.  There was an overflowing laundry basket, clothes on the floor, and cries of "Eeek! I've run out of knickers/socks/t-shirts."

15 Minute Missions: Sinking!

The challenges for last Saturday and Sunday were to "declutter and organize under kitchen sink." and "declutter and organize pots and pans". That so didn't happen! To put it simply, it was neither was a 15 minute task.

The only things under the sink are pots, pans and roasting trays. The cupboards needed to be emptied, cleaned, the contents cleaned, decluttered and put away.

The cupboard has now been emptied. Round one of cleaning has taken place, and it's looking a bit better. The section where the roasting dishes are kept is oily-gunky. This is going to take more than one attempt at cleaning to get it properly clean. A start has been made on washing the contents. This will be finished tomorrow.

15 Minute Mission: Address Book

As the only task I've had in 'Pantry and Spices' has been to clean the drawer we keep spices, stock pots and nuts in, I'm casting my net wide to find other missions for this week.  Today's is Update and organize address book information. In my case, it's 'Create and organise'!

At some point, years ago, I had a physical book with people's names, addresses, and phone numbers.  This has long gone.  Information is now spread out over various location, my phone, the Beloved's phone, Amazon, etc.  It's not a problem for me, but if others wanted to access the information they might have problems. 

I'm going to have to come back to this one and add information in chunks.  It will take time to create.  It might be a good idea to print it out and keep it beside important documents.

Week 3: Pantry and Spices

Monday: Read Week #3: Pantry. Done.

Tuesday: Declutter and organize bake-ware. This was done last week when the task was to declutter plastic containers. They had already been decluttered, but I took the chance to give the cupboard a clean out and a re-organisation. There's the same amount of stuff in the cupboard, but it looks a great deal more organised.

Wednesday: Declutter and organize canned food. This was done in mid-December.

Thursday: Declutter and organize spices. Done.

Friday: Declutter pantry or cupboard shelves. Again, this was done in mid-December. Everything was taken out, cleaned, re-organised.

Saturday: Fill out pantry inventory. I really don't feel the need for this. The pantry is shallow, and I can see everything at a glance. We go through it on a very regular basis, and we know what is there. We check the pantry, fridge and freezer, make a menu, and then shop to fill in the gaps.

Sunday: Declutter kitchen cabinet shelves. The only cabinets left are the ones containing dishes and glasses, and they will be tackled in February. These is an area we didn't do last year, and it definitely needs to be done. We have too many dishes and glasses.

What's happened?!

A post each and every day for the New Year, and then nothing! This is fairly typical of my life. I get stuck into a new project, and then struck by a bit of lurgy, and I end up retreating to my bunker. The good news is that the bunker is being maintained in a good state of order.

My aims were to lay my clothing out for the next day, make my bed each morning, to wash the dishes each evening, and to have a clean, tidy kitchen. This has happened pretty much every day this year. There was one evening when the dishes were not done, but that was a grand total of three plates and three glasses, and it was remedied the next morning.

A number of websites/blogs have been extolling the virtues of laying out your clothes the night before. I'm pretty much a morning person, and I don't have problems deciding what to wear etc, but I decided to give it a try.

For 11 evenings I dutifully laid out my clothes before I went to bed. It worked fine. Yesterday I decided to switch it around, and made the conscious decision not to select clothing. This morning I ran into a little problem, the black tailored trousers I wanted to wear were in the washing basket. A quick re-think was needed.

I am now fully dressed, and appropriately dressed. However, I am going to continue to select my clothing the night before. It's simpler.

15 Minute Declutter: Baking Cupboard

The baking cupboard has now been decluttered, cleaned and tidied. Baking ingredients are in their original packaging or clip top containers. I have two different styles of clip tops, glass Kilner jars and plastic Lock and Lock. My preference is for the glass jars. Over the next few months I will buy more glass jars and use for things like dark brown sugar, and drinking chocolate. Later still, I'll buy some large jars for white sugar, gluten-free SR flour, gluten-free plain flour, gluten-free oats, and icing sugar.

Recipe to retry: Cranberry Seed Bars

Ingredients

100g sunflower seeds

100g sesame seeds

100g pumkin seeds

200g semi-dried cranberries

100g gluten-free porridge oats

2 Tsp soft brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tin of condensed milk (400g)

150g butter

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Line a 24cm square baking tin with baking parchment.

Gently heat the condensed milk and butter until well blended and hot. Stir the seeds and fruit into the condensed milk mixture. Spoon the mixture into the tin and pack down lightly with the back of a spoon.

Bake for about 20 minutes until slightly golden. Cool and then cut into 16 bars.

Review
It is delicious. However, it's too soft and doesn't hold together well. Definitely more oats are needed.

Recipe to try: Maple-glazed Pecans

Ingredients
500g pecans
75g melted butter
4 Tsp maple syrup
1 Tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt

Method
Pre-heat oven to 190C.

Place all ingredients in a large bowl an large bowl, and toss to combine.  Spread the nit mixture in a single layer n a rimmed baking sheet lined with baking parchment.

Bake for about 12-15 minutes, until browned, stirring frequently to ensure even browning.  Allow to cool.  Store in an air-tight container.

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Tuppence's original recipe also included 1/4 to 1/2tsp of cayenne pepper.  As I react against peppers I have omitted it.

Chocolate Bombs

This is a firm family favourite.

Ingredients

100g digestive biscuits (Graham Crackers in the US)

2 tablespoons  (rounded) drinking chocolate

3 tablespoons (rounded) desiccated coconut

half a tin of condensed milk

50g of melted butter

chocolate vermicelli or coconut

Method

Place the butter and condensed milk in a saucepan and heat until the butter melts into the condensed milk.  Crush the digestive biscuits. Add the biscuit crumbs, drinking chocolate,  and desiccated coconut.  Mix well, and then leave to solidify.  

Roll into balls, and then coat in chocolate vermicelli or coconut.

Recipe to try: Pear and Walnut Cake

Ingredients

150g SR flour

150g butter

150g sugar

3 eggs

Topping

100g butter

100g brown sugar

70g walnuts

2 poached pears

Method

Preheat the oven to 175C.

Peel, core, and poach two pears.  Mix together flour, sugar, butter and eggs. Whisk until light and fluffy.

Thinly slice poached pears. Spoon half the cake mix into the 23cm cake tin.  Add the pears in layers, and cover with the remaining cake mix.    

After baking for 20 minutes, prepare topping by placing butter and brown sugar in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Fold in walnuts.

When the cake has been baking for 30 minutes, spread the topping over the cake and return to the oven for another 15-20 minutes, or until done.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, before removing cake from pan. 

Week 2: Kitchen Cabinets and Drawers

Last year, these challenges were a huge deal of work, and I needed to split it over two weeks. As a result of the work done last year, it is incredibly simple to do these challenges. Last year, eliminated the junk drawer. It's contents were decluttered, and the items that were kept (eg light bulbs, candles, keys for windows...) were given permanent homes in other parts of the house.

The last two days are a combined challenge for me as the cupboard under the sink is where the pots, pans and cooking (as opposed to baking) sheets and dishes are kept.

Monday's challenge: read Organized Home Challenge #2: Kitchen Cabinets. Done

Tuesday's challenge: declutter and organize cutlery drawer. Cutlery was been washed and dried, as has the drawer and the cutlery container.

Wednesday's challenge: declutter and organize kitchen junk drawer. None!

Thursday's challenge: declutter and organize cling film, parchment, foil and bags. Absolutely nothing needed to be done.

Friday's challenge: declutter food storage containers. Again, absolutely nothing needed to be done. This time it was because it had been done in mid-December. The containers we use as 'take away' containers. There were two styles, but I decided to ditch the less robust style. These are fantastic. I often cook extra portions and freeze the leftovers for lunches.

Saturday's challenge: declutter and organize under kitchen sink.

Sunday's challenge: declutter and organize pots and pans.

Banana Bread Muffins

Ingredients

285g plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

110g butter

225g caster sugar

2 eggs

4 ripe bananas, mashed

85ml milk

100g walnut pieces

100g chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 180C.

Mix all of the ingredients until light and fluffy.  Spoon into muffin cases.  Bake until cooked all the way through and the top is golden brown.

I found this was enough to make 14 muffins, although I've no idea how long they were baking for as I was in the kitchen pottering around and forgot to check the time!

15 Minute Declutter: Linen Cupboard

The towels were decluttered earlier in the week. And now the duvet covers, pillow cases and sheets have been done too.  My aim is to have my linens arranged in nice neat packages that contain everything needed to change the bedding.

I've realised I don't have enough fitted sheets to do this, and some of my linens need to be replaced. This is going to be a job for February.  I'll buy some new fitted sheets and a new duvet set.

When I open a cupboard or drawer and it's tidy, there's a little moment of peace.  It's wonderful.

15 Minute Mission: Christmas Decorations Away

It was a 45 minute mission rather than 15, but the Christmas decorations have been taken down.  The ornaments have been packed away carefully, and stowed in large, clear plastic boxes. I am going to buy another one.  This can be stacked on top of the existing two, and it will be for gift bags, wrapping paper, and sundry gift things.

The 6th of January is Epiphany, when the Wise Men arrived to see the infant Christ.  The Nativity set have been moved, and the Wise Men are entering from the East.  They will be popped back in their boxes at Candlemass, on the 2nd of February, and ready to reappear on the fourth Sunday in Advent.

Repurposed Christmas cards

To go with the new gift bag, some gift labels. These one have been made from last year's Christmas cards.

The problems I had in the summer with my hands and wrist have returned.  The gift bags and labels have given me a crafty outlet whilst i am unable to knit, crochet or hand sew.

15 Minute Declutter: In the office

Today's declutter was in the office. A load of Christmas decorations were sorted and uncluttered. The storage room is looking a great deal better. The Christmas tree has yet to be put away, but that's tomorrow's task.

15 Minute Declutter: Towels

It's 23 years since we married. One of my memories was my Mam's friends looking at the stacks of towels we had received as wedding gifts and exclaiming over them. They were commenting on how beautiful they looked in comparison to their old, worn out towels. Their wedding towels had all been received about 25-30 years ago.

Last summer I bought new, beautiful, big, white bath sheets and dainty hand towel as our towels were looking so old and weary. Today, I finally got round to decluttering the ones we don't use. They will gain a second life at the local animal shelter for drying/rubbing down dogs. The old towels we are keeping will be used for mucky jobs around the house, like dyeing hair etc.

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I ran out of 15 minute challenges this week, so I've 'borrowed' one from the future.

An Upcycled Duvet Cover

Every so often I get annoyed with how inefficient and wasteful wrapping paper is. But, it looks so pretty.  Today, I've done something about it. I've started making fabric gift bags that are drawstring and lined.  They will be suitable for use for at Christmas, and other present-giving occasions. 

What's even better is that the fabric used to make them has been salvaged from a lovely duvet cover was damaged whilst being laundered.  Very little of the duvet cover will go to waste, and this will help reduce our consumption of wrapping paper in the future.

Oooh... I've just realised the matching pillow cases can also be used, and they will make excellent large gift bags.   

I'm

15 Minute Declutter: Restocking the Kitchen

The Saturday challenge from Week 1 was to declutter potholders, kitchen towels, tea towels etc. I was able to to do that, but it left me rather short. Short to the tune of only having two dish cloths!

A trip to the local supermarket didn't yield ANY results. Looking on-line at Mark and Spencer, and Lakeland did not result in any purchases. I just wanted 'clean and simple', not fancy patterns. Thankfully Amazon was able to supply.

  

Amazon was also able to supply a simple milk jug and a set of 6 coupe plates.

Week 1: Kitchen Countertops and Sink

Each week (starting on a Monday), the challenge is to 'read the challenge'. As Monday is my day off, it makes far more sense for me to not just read, but to do as well, and to fit in a few of that week's challenges too.

Monday's challenge: read the weekly challenge - this gives an over view of what to expect, and why it's being done. The reasons are important to me. I hate doing stuff because I have been told to do it. Give me a reason, and I'm on board!

Tuesday's challenge: declutter and organise kitchen sink area. Done.

Wednesday's challenge: clear kitchen counters. One of the presents I received from the Beloved was a new Kenwood food mixer. This is replacing a food processor we received as a wedding gift (almost 25 years ago). It's currently out on a work surface, and needs to be put away. The cupboard where the food processor was has been emptied and cleaned. I've gone through the items removed. Things that haven't been used in a year have been put in a box, and if they are not used by Easter they will be recycled/donated. The new food mixer is now away, freeing up a bit more space.

Thursday's challenge: clear kitchen table. We have no kitchen table.

Friday's challenge: declutter kitchen utensils, measuring cups etc. Done

Saturday's challenge: declutter potholders, kitchen towels, dish cloths etc. It's time for a whole new set of kitchen linens! I'm tired or having a mis-mash of randomosity in the kitchen.

Sunday's challenge: create a household notebook. I'm not sure I'm sold on this idea. We already have a financial folder where we keep important information. I think I would prefer to have a separate folder for each thing, eg finances, recipes, cleaning rotas etc. Most of this will be on my computer.

No Resolutions for 2017

This year, I have no new resolutions. Instead, I'm going to be undertaking a number of challenges.  

There's one on-going challenge, 52 weeks to an organized home. If I am unable to follow all 52 weeks it's not a problem. I dipped in and out of it last year and found it really helpful. The areas I tackled are still looking good, but could do with a re-fresh, and the rest of the house could definitely do with a bit of organisation. I don't expect my house to be organised within the year, but I know it will be in a better state by the end of the year than it is now. Baby-steps forward are what I'm after.

One of the challenges set at the end of 2016 was to establish an evening routine. This will be a re-establishment for me.  Previously, I would get ready for bed at 10pm, then sit on my bed in pjs, and listen to an audio-book whilst crafting. This really put me in a good frame for sleep. Sadly, when I developed De Quervain's disease (inflammation of the tendons in the thumb extending in to the wrist) this good pattern stopped.

My new pattern will be to start getting ready at 10, getting into pjs, laying out my clothes for the next day, reading and a little bit of crafting.

Christmas Treats

A couple of Pinterest ideas made in nom-nom form.

And so to bed!

Whew! That's another section done! This time in my bedroom.

On Sunday I split the bedroom into seven section, with the idea of doing one section a day for a week. This would result in a very tidy, clean bedroom Two sections have been completed. This makes me very happy.

During the 52 week challenge I sorted through a lot of clothes and did some serious decluttering in the bedroom. This hasn't stopped a load of stuff accumulating though. As I was moving things around I realised that four of the boxes were things belonging to my daughter. I think they are items she no longer wants, but I'd rather she gave them another look over when she is home for Christmas. I would hate to be getting rid of treasured items.

One of the boxes is full of things to be donated to a charity shop. We shall attend to this on Saturday. The rest is crafting materials seeking a home. For the moment, that home will be in my study. After Christmas, I will need to get into the study and declutter in there too.

What do I use, what do I need?

Whilst thinking, planning and designing the new house, I have been stopping and pondering what I actually need, and what I use. My conclusion is 'a whole heap less stuff than I have!'

I'm going to list all of the the household items I have used. This will help with the planning and design. It makes sense to ensure there's a sensible place for everything that is used regularly. It also means that at the end of a period I can get rid of things that are not used.

Here's the things I have used today, assembled in a useful sort of manner.

bedroom: bed, bed linens, duvet, pillows, bath towel, hand towel

electronics: Kindle, laptop, phone, phone charger

kitchen: cooker, frying pan, wooden spoon, veggie chopping knife, chopping board, fridge, plate, mug, kettle, larder, sink, draining board, utensils storage, cutlery storage, recycling boxes, towel

Back on the Wagon

A while back I started a challenge to declutter my house in 52 weeks. My thinking was that even if it only 'stuck' for a few weeks then it leave me in a better state. It stuck for a couple of months, and things (most especially in the kitchen) improved.

By and large, the areas decluttered have remained decluttered and organised. However, the pantry (ambient food storage cupboard) didn't get done. Yesterday evening, I made a start on it. There's 6 shelves, and two of them have been decluttered.

I called The Beloved and The Offspring to come have a look at my wonderful decluttering ability, and in the space of 8 minute another two shelves were done! Those were the two high ones, the ones I can't reach. I've no idea what I'm going to put in that space. Hmm... here's a random thought! Do I need to put anything in that space?!

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It appears the answer is "Yes!". In decluttering the lower two shelves I moved things around a bit. There's now a shelf for gluten-containing foods, eg pasta and breakfast cereals. There's also a shelf for non-gluten starches, eg gf breakfast cereal, rice, lentils, pasta, and rice noodles. Thankfully, all of the shelves are only half the normal depth of kitchen cupboards. I can store things on the front of the second highest shelf, as long as the items are at the front. The top shelf (which I can't reach unless I stand on something) now has paper napkins, paper plates, and plastic cutlery. If it's not used within 3 months it's going out.

Christmas Cake

The cake is made to a recipe my Mam has been cooking for 55 years, a very tasty, rich, dark, moist fruit cake. It's dense and juicy, with the cake part being a matrix to hold all of the fruit in place. The cake was marzipan-ed, then iced using fondant.  The holly and ivy were made from a mix of flower paste and fondant. The leaves were glued in place using royal icing, and the berries were also made from royal icing. 'Noel' was created by pressing in an embosser whilst the white fondant was still very soft. Later when the fondant had dried, Noel was painted using powdered food dye/pigment mixed with alcohol. (The alcohol evaporates very quickly, leaving behind the pigment.) A little Scani-inspired ribbon finished it off.

This cake will donated to a local charity that works with elderly people, providing friendship, lunch clubs, social activities, etc.

Christmas Cake recipe

175g butter

175g sugar

225g plain flour (I used Dove Farm's gluten-free flour)

1tsp mixed spice

1/2 tsp baking powder

4 medium eggs

700g mixed fruit

1 Tsp ground almonds

1 Tsp rich dark treacle

Oven temps: 180C and 150C

Method

Cream the butter and sugar. Sieve the flour, baking powder and spice together. Beat the eggs. Add the flour and eggs to the butter and cream, a little at a time, alternating. Add the almonds and treacle. The bake in a lined tin. Bake at 180C for 1 hour, then at 150C for 2 hours.

This quantity makes a 20cm round cake, about 10cm high.

Designing a kitchen

Over the last few months I have been thinking about a house for the next stage in my life, a time when there's just two of us.

My current thinking is to have a great room (sitting room, dining room and kitchen) about 6m x 12m. The kitchen will be along one of the short walls, and a kitchen island on lockable casters.

Cake Decorating Classes

I've been going to cake decorating classes, and here's a couple of cakes (and a penguin) I have made at home.

Cake Decorating

C and I have enrolled in cake decorating classes. Last night was our first class, and it was great fun. People were there to learn, and to have fun whilst do so.

A neighbour is coming round for tea at 5-ish today. We have decided to make some biscuits and to use our new royal icing skills to decorate them.

The recipe I'm using for the biscuits is:

• 50g butter (soft)

• 75g caster sugar

• 1 medium eggs

• 1 tsp of vanilla extract

• 250g gluten-free plain flour

• 1 tsp gluten-free baking powder

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 180C.

2.  Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla.

3.  Add the flour and baking powder.

4.  When the mixture has come together, chill for 10 minutes.

5.  Gently kneed the dough, then roll out to 1cm thick.

6.  Use cutters, and place biscuits on baking sheet.

7.  Bake for about 12 minutes until golden brown.

As usual, my attempts at following a recipe weren't spot on. The royal icing I made earlier used 2 and a bit egg whites. I combined the 3 egg yolks and the left over egg white and substituted them for 2 whole eggs. The rest of the ingredients were doubled. The mixture was split into two, and two heaped dessert spoons of Cadbury's Drinking Chocolate were added to one of the batches.

The chocolate dough was a bit dry, and the vanilla one a bit too soft. I cut out the vanilla biscuits, and then combined the leftovers into the chocolate dough. This gave a much better texture to the chocolate dough.

Mini-holiday mutterings

The start of September is always busy for me at work, and then there's a little breather immediately afterwards.  Yesterday and today are days of in lieu of hours already worked.  Then there's the weekend to contend with, and my usual Monday off.  :o)  Five days in a row with nothing I must do.  It is glorious.  Actually, the weather was glorious yesterday, and it's rather fantastic today.

My wrist is a great deal better than it was back in July, and I'm able to do short stretched of crafting again.  I'm trying to be sensible and not do too much at any one time, and it seems to be paying off.

A while back I started heading off to bed about and hour before I planned on going to sleep.  I would get ready for bed, and then sit and craft whilst listening to an audio book.  This is a fantastic way to ready the body for sleep, a nice, soft gentle way to relax.  

When I started doing this my sleep improved dramatically.  Not being able to craft (due to the damaged tendons in my wrist) had an impact on my sleep.  Whilst I am not up to my previously length of time spent crafting, just entering the routine again has brought benefits to my sleep.

As well as crafting - a Granny Square blanket from sock yarn, I went into town to help C select new frames for glasses.  There was a special offer, and one pair is pure Harry Potter!  We also headed out to "Boards and Brews", a board game cafe.  

Graduation Photographs

Hannah graduated with a BA Hons in Jewellery Design.  Here she is with fellow jewellers and contemporary design people.

More graduation photographs will follow when they have been downloaded and then uploaded.

Gradu-bear

What does a new graduate need?  A bear of course.

Tin foil hat time!

Oh boys!  Not being able to knit, crochet, cook or bake is taking its toll.  I've painted, drawn, and today was the day to make a tin foil hat with a rather fetching feather.

Hot, hot, hot!

Oh my! Hereford is hot. It reached 33.3 today. This is too hot for a little bear.

At lunch time I was looking for an idea of what to paint with my new paint set. I was advised to paint some that would make me happy. This is it.

Experiments with posting from my Kindle

I've never attempted to post from my Kindle.  Will it work?

Flat Out Missing!

During TT, one of the Isle of Man Constabulary officers went missing.  He simply disappeared!

PC Flat has done sterling work in the past, helping to remind people to slow down!  A plea was put out for information on PC Flat's whereabouts.  It appears that he might well have been Shanghaied by some Royal Navy sailors who had been helping as medics during the TT Races.  The local Constabulary are hoping PC Flat will be returning in around 11 months, having had a tour of duty with Royal Navy.

Manx Pie

A little pie I made today.

The filling was made from a tub of cranberries, the remnants of a tub of raspberries, a couple of apples, a sprinkling of cinnamon, and a metric tonne of sugar!  (That might be an exaggeration.)

The pastry contained 100g plain flour (Dove Farm), 75g SR flour (Dove farm), 100g butter, 1 egg yolk and 2 tablespoons of cold water.  The butter was rubbed into the flours, and then the sugar was mixed in.  Then the dough was brought together with the egg yolk and water.  It's a pretty sticky dough.  This was popped in the fridge to cool.  The stickiness decreases during this time.

 

Granny loves rainbows

My yarn stash is continuing to shrink. More yarn is being consumed by projects than is being bought! This is a glorious state of affairs. My running total for 'balls used up or given away' for this year is 84.

A few baby items have been made using a lilac merino (hat, bootees, cardigan and snuggly blankie). I played it so the yarn would be totally used up. There was about 20cm left over at the end! Then, I discovered I had previously knitted a baby cardigan in the lilac too. It was a cardigan in need of cuffs, welts and button band. And, I had just used up all of the lilac merino. Cue a trip to my stash to see if there was anything I could use to finish it off. Of course there was!

The second lilac cardigan was finished with a crocheted cream border, and second border in a beautiful rainbow yarn. This resulted in a completed cardigan, and a hook in my hand. I started crocheting again.

About 8 years ago I made a baby blanket from the same yarns:

And I am going for a repeat performance.  

Last time round, I ran into a number of problems and the blanket sat in the naught corner for a good few months until my Mammy came to visit and took pity on it.

I have been learning my lessons. The first is than on a project with lots of ends, weave them in as you go. Some people like weaving in ends - I am most definitely not one of them! The second lesson is to crochet the squares together as you go - definitely do not sew.

The blanket above was made of 42 squares (6x7) and proved to be a good, useful size.

The yarns being used are King Cole Merino Mix, and Lorna's Laces Shepherd's Sock in Child's Play. Both are 4ply, and I'm using a 3.5mm hook.