A new year beckons...

Quite a heady end to 2011 for one reason or another. We have sadly had to say goodnight to our beloved little fox terrier, Pike. After 14 years, his little body had had enough and it was with a very heavy heart that my lovely husband bravely took charge. Night night Pikey, you have been a wonderful companion.

We blew the cobwebs in the mind away with a wonderful, if extremely windy, walk along a section of Hadrian's wall with some friends.

Steel Rigg has to be one of my favourite places on earth. It is just spectacular and well worth making the effort to see. We used to come and stay in one of the National Trust holiday cottages located about 100m from Steel Rigg

http://www.nationaltrustcottages.co.uk/north_of_england/northumberland/springwell_cottage/259

It is a beautiful little cottage that was just perfect as a base for exploring the wall and the whole area in general.

What will the new year bring, I wonder? Hopefully it will bring a buyer for our house so that we can get on with all the jobs that need doing in this one! And a bus, just a little one.....large enough to take us to Europe for the summer.....

Catching up..

I met some new people today at a meeting about Epiacum, or Whitley Castle as it is better known, and I was reminded that I haven't updated my blog for a while. I think life just overtook me.... I'm off to London for the weekend tomorrow with the delightful Daisy but I will make an effort to start posting again on my return. I am off to have afternoon tea at the The Marriott Hotel Marble Arch - a Groupon special offer £25 instead of £60 - photos to follow. Then off to see Les Miserables with some very special friends.

If any of you find yourselves at a loose end over the weekend and can get yourself to Liverpool, check out:

http://www.everymanplayhouse.com/show/The_Resistible_Rise_of_Arturo_Ui/584.aspx

written by the Liverpool born playwright, Stephen Sharkey. Home grown talent at its best.

Project number 2...

Finally finished a cardigan that I have made for myself out of one of my charity shop finds -A bag of 10 balls of one of  Louise Hardings yarns - Jasmine. I paid £3 for the lot and it was beautiful to knit with. I added some vintage buttons (another charity shop find) and made a small decorative brooch using a knitting nancy that my daughter got for Christmas. The pattern is from a book out of the library. In total, the cardigan cost me £3.50. Bargain.

Not the most flattering picture as it doesn't really show the quality of the yarn which is a mixture of cotton, bamboo & silk.

Off to see what else I can finish....

Busy busy busy...

I have had a busy time trying to finish various little projects - I will try and post some pictures as I complete them. The first to be finished is a cardigan for Daisy - I thought I'd better complete it whilst it was still able to fit her!

Cardigan for Daisy

 The three children have all been eager to bake just recently - these are Alfie's cupcakes that he made, and quite delicious they were too.

Alfie's delicious cupcakes

Feeling very proud of his efforts - he didn't want to share!

I was lucky enough to be given a voucher for Little Salkeld Water Mill at Christmas from my wonderful husband. I used it to pay for two breadmaking courses and I went on my first one last week. What a wonderful time I had. The mill is such an amazing place with incredible staff and the most delicious food, I honestly don't think I have ever tasted a better Bakewell tart in my entire life. The bread was tasty too. I have my second course in a few weeks and I am so looking forward to it.

Inspired by my course, I made some more bread once I got home.

The poppy and sunflower seed loaf is my favourite.

Fabulous Flapjacks...

Daisy came home from school today having made these....

Delicious flapjacks

Don't they look yummy? They tasted as good as they looked. Delicious and crisp, not at all heavy or stodgy. I think I like cookery after school club.

Tried my new loaf pan for bread. Not sure about the result, I think I left it to rise too long as the crumb was a bit more open textured than I usually make. Needs a little tweaking I think.

More baking...

I thought I would have a go at making brioche. I mean, how hard can it be? Well, actually, quite hard. Despite my best attempts at following the Guardians recipe, my first loaf didn't turn out at all buttery and light. Hmmm. Second attempt I thought I would go for safety in numbers and make lots of mini brioche. This was a much better idea as the empty plates I came down to this morning testified. My three little angels gobbled them all up with no complaints at all. I can only think that the cooking temperature in my ancient Aga is not conducive to making a decent brioche loaf. Too much heat, too quickly. Will have to tweak the recipe and try again.

The post this morning brought a present from my wonderful friend, Tracy. It is a new home present and very apt as I have been making all our bread recently.

Pampered Chef Stoneware loaf pan

I'm really pleased with this as the metal one I have been using has been leaving traces of itself on all my bread. No such problems with this little beauty. I have lots of different stoneware and I definitely prefer it to  metal bakeware. It came with a recipe for Apple & Cinnamon Cake and so I duly christened it. Yum Yum. The cake was delicious and didn't stick to the loaf pan at all. I will try it in the morning to bake some bread and see how it turns out.

Baking day...

Three cheers for a good old fashioned baking day. Lots of freshly baked goodies and a home that smells delicious. I can feel the calories piling on just looking at the pictures!

Daisy kneading bread dough

The finished result! Yummy...

Buttermilk scones....

Cherry shortbread hearts...delicious

Sew and sew...

Spent a lovely couple of hours in Just Sew in Penrith today. The wonderful Pat gave a small group of us (3!) some great personal tuition in getting to know our sewing machines better. I can't believe how much I managed to learn in such a short time and will definitely be heading back to do some more one day courses. On leaving the shop I was tempted to buy all sorts of beautiful fabric (they have an amazing collection of stock) but I held of. I need to do some more practicing first before I let myself loose on new fabric! I did buy some more needles though so that I am actually able to practice!

Forgot to report back on the lemon & lime marmalade...it was very nice but needs a little less lime and a little more sugar....was inspired to make some grapefruit marmalade (think I've been bitten by the marmalade bug!) and it was.......also very nice. Am thinking about making some jam now as I saw an interesting recipe for rhubarb and ginger jam...mmm..sounds delicious but I think I will wait until the price of rhubarb goes down....currently £5.35 kg...

Tullie House Museum

The children and I spent a wonderful day in Carlisle last Saturday. We decided to give the castle a miss as it was not the weather for an open air adventure! Instead, we visited the wonderful Tullie House Museum. The children had so much fun! There was so much interactive involvement that they would have happily stayed another hour on top of the two we had already spent.

The small garden is beautiful and if the weather had been milder, would have been an ideal place to sit with a cup of tea and a cake.....maybe we will go back in the summer just to try.... The actual house part of the museum had the most incredible tiled staircase. It really is very beautiful and is a testimony to the wonderfully creative Victorians at Ironbridge, Shropshire.

The museum also houses a small collection of William Morris samples. The colours and designs are so beautiful, I found myself wondering about the new curtains I need for the downstairs room.....

A new month....

February has arrived with its promise of spring. The temperature is a little milder of late and there are lots of patches of blue in the sky.....the wind, however, is threatening to tell another story. Still, I've managed to spend time in the garden today, having a general tidy up and planting some bulbs that I had forgotten that I'd bought. They had started sprouting in the net they were in so I think they will be ok. I always feel so much happier when I've managed to spend time in the garden....is this the onset of middle age in the year I turn 40?

Actually, today has been quite a productive day so far. I've managed to bake some bread, and spurned on by the success of making some delicious seville orange marmalade, I made a fresh batch of lemon & lime marmalade. First tasting session tomorrow morning.....

I went to Birmingham a couple of weekend ago which felt like rather a strange experience. Despite originally being a city girl born and bred, I felt quite out of my depth......Soooo many people!  I stayed at the Jury's Inn which looked a bit like a concrete monster on the outside but actually was really rather nice inside.

To be fair, I did take this photo around 7am in the morning so it was only just starting to get light. It does make the hotel look rather foreboding though....

Happy Birthday Blog!

It dawned on me today that my blogging efforts are now one year old. I started after last new year when we had made the decision to move. A lot has happened in the last 12 months!

Mark and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary last week and marked the day by taking the children to visit the beautiful little village of Wetheral, about 4 miles east of Carlisle.

There is a beautiful church with a very poignant memorial to the first woman soldier to be killed in Aghanistan

A charming village green surrounded by Victorian villas

and a lovely railway viaduct with incredible views of the surrounding area

Just to make the day extra special, my lovely Marky had secretly arranged a babysitter and took me out for dinner at the excellent Cumberland Arms Hotel in Alston.