Saturday Morning Bike Ride

Ha, I jest!

The roads aren't exactly in a condition suitable for happy cycling so I take a long walk instead.

I do go up my usual hill out the village and I'm pleased to note that it does actually take longer to walk it than cycle it (I did wonder sometimes!). I love how the countryside opens out once you reach the top.

A little group of friendly robins pose in the foreground here.

Compared to some of the country we don't actually have that much snow but what we do have has been here from before Christmas as it's been rather on the cold side since then. We did have another light dusting last night just to freshen things up for my walk though sadly I'm denied the gorgeous bright blue skies of recent days.

The sun rises through the clouds. The little folly can be seen right in the middle of the above photo. At this point I can take a right and turn the walk into a big loop, so I do.

Looking back towards the sunrise. There are lots of pylons around here, sometimes I try to avoid photographing them but they are part of the scenery so they do creep/march into my photos now and again.

I like the landscape layers.

It's pretty much downhill from here all the way home. As the road becomes more travelled it is less pleasant to walk on as the cars expose the ice previously hidden under the snow.

Back home and I manage to finally get a good photograph of "our" robin.

We also have a song thrush and a redwing who visit regularly. They and the robin like to chase each other away from the food. I'd never seen a redwing till this year and had to look it up in my book - he's the one on the right!

Hubby and the children are still visiting Grandad after swimming lessons so I have time to make some lentil soup and have a bash at some fattie cutties. Fattie Cutties? I'd never heard of them either but the recipe was on the opposite page from that for the crumpets I'd attempted to make earlier for breakfast, plus the girdle was still out. They're like flat buttery currant scones and hail from Orkney. And they were delicious, they were all eaten before I could take photographic evidence but I'll definitely be making them again, just need to buy some more butter. I lurve butter, for this I blame my Dad. I thought I spread it quite thick but after visiting the parents again at New Year I realise I'm quite modest in my portion control in comparison. Talk about teeth marks! It has to be proper yellow salty butter too. Mmmmmm...

No wonder I need to get out on my bike more often.

First Trip for 2010

Our New Year's resolution took myself, A & N to Semple Loch today. It's somewhere we visit a lot so it doesn't really count as a new trip BUT at the moment it's completely frozen over. We've never seen it like this so it is a new experience for us.

The children weren't actually too keen to go and did a lot of whinging while we were there. I also got a little frustrated at not being able to walk as far and as fast as I'd like and to take lots more photos so so it wasn't a complete success but at least we got out the house, and the sun was shining!

Swans sit on top of the ice.

The flat area to the right is the loch. There were quite a few dog walkers right out in the middle of the loch. We weren't so brave/daft.

Some more swans fly in. Despite wearing two pairs of socks the little girl in the foreground has feet so cold that they "sting like nettles" and isn't very happy.

The scene just in front of where we parked the car.

I took the Christmas decorations down last night. The tree is now out in the back garden, I like to get a Norway spruce as I love its fragrance, however, having been unable to smell anything since the middle of December it all seemed a little bit of a waste of effort this year. (A has been letting me know when N needs his nappy changed - one smell I don't miss!) While the living room was in disarray I decided to rearrange the furniture. It's still rather a mess but I'll try and tidy it up enough for a photo soon, just wish the room was a foot or so wider.

Tonight I'll be doing some more of this...

... I'm going to a friends for a craft evening and hope to do a couple more rounds of what is intended to eventually be a crocheted cushion cover.

The rounds are starting to take quite a long time to do now and it's not as "exciting" as it was in the beginning. Although I'm trying very hard to be random with the colours it is working out quite ordered in effect. Perhaps for the other side I'll do two rounds of each colour so that the bands are wider. Hmmm...

A New Year's Resolution...

Hello and Happy New Year!

Today is the first day I have ventured outside for any length of time since before Christmas. It was fantastic to be outdoors again!

We wandered down through the village to attend one of the local Toddler groups and I took a couple of photos en route.

It's been so cold that the snow which fell before Christmas is still lying. We had another light dusting of snow last night.

Our destination is old church hall on the left which dates from 1724.

We're first to arrive. A would normally be at nursery on a Tuesday morning but the schools and nurseries aren't back on till tomorrow. It was a big treat for her to go to Toddlers again! It's a lovely big hall and there are lots of cars and tricycles to zoom around on. Great fun. I enjoyed getting back out and about too.

Next to the church and hall is the Weaver's Cottage.

As can be seen from the inscription above the door the cottage dates from 1723. Although we've lived in the village for 8 years we've still never visited it - something to rectify this year I think. A will be going to school after the summer so it would be good to make the most of the time I have with her before then - I'd like to take her (and N of course!) on a few trips and visit some of our local attractions. I suppose that's a New Year's resolution then! We'll see how we get on...

It's a cracker...

One of the songs A sang at her nursery show (on the theme of Christmas around the world) was Kling Glockchen Klingeling. I looked it up on YouTube, as you do, and came across this version by Marianne and Michael. I have to say that I find it absolutely fascintating and have watched it so many times though can't quite understand why! Is it the costumes, the naff musical arrangement, what they're doing with their hands, the audience... it led me on a YouTube journey following Marianne & Michael - what an enjoyable waste of time that was!

A's show was on the 16th Dec which was when the "worst cold I've ever had" started. Since then I've not been able to taste or smell anything which is perhaps just as well as it means I can't taste the yucky green stuff I am exuding - I've never experienced so much snot/phlegm during a cold! To top it all, we all succumbed to a vomiting bug the weekend before Christmas - N managed to cover his bedroom floor and A the sofa (we had to cancel the big family get together we'd planned for the Sunday). Then I developed sinusitus. Today I'm now finally feeling human again though still unable to small or taste and also my ears are now blocked. Thankfully the sinusitus seems to have cleared up as although I'm still bunged up it's no longer painful. Ahhh woe is me! Not a Christmas I'd like to repeat. We've had lots of lovely snow but I can't wait for it to go as I hate the horrible cold damp air that comes with it - just sets my coughing off again.

I've pretty much been hibernating over the Christmas period. Hubby kindly did the Christmas food shop. I'd put crackers on the list as it's not Christmas without crackers, except he bought biscuit crackers! There was also no fresh poultry left so he bough a frozen turkey which is fine except we left it out in the snow as we didn't have any room in the fridge/freezer and didn't read the label till the morning of Christmas eve when we realised it took 48 hrs to defrost. Fortunately he was able to get back to the shops & buy some proper crackers and a ham. We've still the trukey in the freezer - I'm looking forward to eating it once my sense of taste returns.

His family have a big "do" on boxing day where we all take something to eat. I didn't go this year but I had made a key lime pie when I was feeling better which I'd frozen. Hubby took it and the children along. It was in a springform tin. He didn't know that you had to support the base when you released the spring...

Hope you're having a better Christmas than we are!

...SPLAT!

Christmas Preparations

Well! I'm a little bit busy and a big bit disorganised but I wanted to post some photos from the last week. After seeing Chritsmas trees up and decorated on other people's blogs at the weekend I was motivated to get a move on with ours, it looks and smelled nice (I can't actually smell it at the moment due to a completely blocked up nose!)

At the last minute I now have family descending on the 20th for a meal and a present swap so Christmas has suddenly moved forward 5 days. Added to that, aside from baking, writing cards, present buying and wrapping, I still have a mirrror order to complete... (help!)

We had freezing fog the day we collected the Christmas tree.

Earlier that morning I did manage to get a Christmas cake made. It's this one - Nigella's chocolate fruit cake though I added Pimms No3 instead of coffee liquer.

I'm not that keen on rich fruit cakes, this one was suggested to me as an alternative which I might like.

It still looked & smelled pretty rich and fruity to me though so I'll wait till I actually taste it before recommending/condeming it! I've not decorated it yet either, so the final ta-da photo is yet to come.

Festive mantlepiece.

A close-up of the little nativity scene in front of the clock on the mantlepiece. It's so small that all the pieces fit into one matchbox.

The crafty books shelf.

My favourite Christmas card received so far.

Santa!

A little sprig of holly with berries rescued from the holly tree in the garden which is now bare, the blackbirds and thrushes having taken their fill.

Fairycakes for N's toddlers Christmas party.

I had some icing left over so iced these gingerbread hearts from Ikea. They've not been hung up, just eaten!

I thought this fairycake was really pretty, I kept it back for A.

Some pelargoniums still flowering in a frost-free spot.

One morning we awoke to fantastic frosty scenes though by the time I'd dropped A at nursery a warm front had moved over. I took this photo when I got back from nursery not long before the frosty spider's web on the gate disappeared completely.

A long distance shot of a bluetit enjoying the fat ball. I like to think the out of focus quality makes it look more like a painting than a photo.

A's robin. I love the colours.

So, a bit of a photo collection with not many words I'm afraid. I hope your Christmas preparations are going better than mine! Have fun...

Tablet Recipe

OK, I'm about to reveal my tablet recipe. Such things are not done lightly! In the past, when asked for the recipe I've been rather coy - I wanted to be the only one who could make such yummy tablet!

If you don't have a sweet tooth though you won't like it! When you measure out the ingredients you will appreciate just how unhealthy it's going to be, I remember being quite shocked in that respect the first time I made it. Also, it is quite a buttery soft tablet so if that's not the way you like it then it's not for you either! But I like it best out of the many that I have tried over the years.

It's known in our family as "Mum's Tablet" my Dad also having a recipe he uses but which I'm not quite as keen on. At Christmas my Mum and Dad used to make a batch of tablet each plus my Mum would also make fudge (not to mention all the mince pies, cakes, biscuits, etc - no wonder I and my three brothers all love sweet things!)

Here we go...

Above is the recipe as I use it. If you've made table before this is probably all you need. If this is your first tablet experience then I've taken a few photos and have explained the steps in a little more detail below...

Ingredients
1lb white caster sugar
1/2 lb butter (not marg, I usually use salted as that's what was always to hand in the old days!)
1 tin condensed milk (397g)
dash vanilla extract

Equipment
Large pan (the mixture expands by 2x or so when boiling)
Wooden spoon.
Tray, size 7"x11" or equivalent, greased.

Method

1.
Put the sugar, butter and condensed milk in a large pan and melt them together over as low a heat as possible. Give the mixture the occasional stir, especially towards the later stages as it can burn easily. If you've been a little lax in your stirring efforts and some brown lumps start appearing I've found you can break them up by stirring vigorously with a whisk.

2.
Once it's all melted it's time to bring it to the boil. I transfer it over to a larger ring for this and turn the heat up a little. Before starting this stage make sure you have your vanilla extract and greased tray ready!

3.
Keep stirring! After about 5-10 minutes small bubbles start to appear - the tablet is starting to boil. Definitely do not stop stirring now! From when the bubbles start appearing and until the tablet is ready takes approximately 10 minutes, but this can vary a little so it helps to know what to look for when it's ready to pour...

4.
After about 10 minutes of boiling it will have darkened in colour and thickened in consistency...

... and the tacky mixture will leave the sides of the pan.

5. Remove from the heat, add a dash of vanilla extract (approx 1/2 tsp) and beat the mixture...

... before pouring into the prepared tray.

It's best to undercook than overcook. If it's underdone you can always put it all back in the pan and boil it again for a few minutes (which is what I had to do here and though it actually ended up a little overdone it wasn't a disaster), if it's too overdone there's not really anything you can do about it.

6.
Allow to cool for a few hours before cutting into squares. I find it best not to leave it sitting in the tray too long otherwise it seems to absorb the taste of the metal, so I remove it as soon as it's cool.

7.
You'd be ill if you tried to eat it all yourself! Best to give some away, this batch was made to sell at A's nursery fair. I did make sure that there were an odd number of columns so that one column of squares would be left over for sampling just to make sure it tasted OK you understand!

Mmmmmmm! Talking of secret tablet recipes, anyone remember this?

Nice Things!

Phew!
I'm quite glad that last week's now over - nothing wrong with it at all, just busy. Fortunately, most of the time was spent on enjoyable tasks...

One evening last week, six of the mums got together to make Christmas felt decorations to sell at the local nursery's Christmas Fair which was held yesterday. I had meant to photograph all the ones we'd made but forgot. They included hearts, stars, Christmas trees, snowmen, gingerbread men and penguins. I took rather a fancy to two I'd made and they didn't actually make it to the fair (they are the Christmas tree and the snowlady shown above) and last night I finished making the robin and the Christmas pudding - it's a shame I didn't have these two designs ready earlier, but there's always next year...

Some homebaking activity was also scheduled, including...

...making tablet, yum! I took some photos while I was making it so will publish the hitherto top secret recipe next post.

At the fair I was one of the volunteers manning the homebaking stall and so got first choice of all the goodies on sale. I came home with rather a lot, most of which has now been devoured including two other tablet offerings - must keep track of the competition!

I was recently the lucky winner of a giveaway hosted by Beth of The Linen Cat and last week I received my prize.

First out the box were these three lovely hanging bird ornaments. I was thinking of making a feature of purple and gold in my Christmas decorations this year so these are perfect! Not that I'm waiting till I've got my tree up before displaying them - they're currently dangling from our standard lamp (on the scrolls visible here - my Lucy crochet bird has been relegated to my daughter's bedroom as she liked it better than I did in the end!)

Next...
...was this beautiful sugar plum fairy. She's going to look fabulous on top of the tree (replacing the rather wonky star we've been using for about ten years).

I was delighted to win the giveaway as I do like Beth's work a lot.

We've been having some rather dramatic skies here recently. I managed to ge a photo of this one just before collecting A from nursery one day.

And the sky was mostly blue earlier today when I photographed some of the snowflakes we've made and which are now hanging at the window.

I wasn't able to make my usual Saturday morning bike ride this weekend due to the Christmas fair. After all the homebaking I've scoffed in the last 24 hours I could really do with some exercise! I did work quite hard at the concert on Friday night, there being only two of us in the bass section. The concert was pretty much sold out as usual, I think the audience quoted was 2300 people. £7500 was raised in the collection during the interval and overall (with ticket fees, sponsorship etc) the concert typically raises £35000 for CLIC Sargent so it's time well spent on the part of the orchestra.

Finishing of this collection of bits and pieces from last week...

... some holly offcuts left on the picnic table made even more beautiful by the frost one morning.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Oh, and by the way, the tablet recipe I use is still the nicest I've tasted so far...