Freya bakes

My daughter is really starting to take after me in so many ways I think. I see myself in her young years, spending time at her mother's side; learning the skills of a cook for her future years. She recently made some wonderfully tasting red pesto & Parmesan twists.

Life's too short to made puff pastry so I bought it. I directed & supervised her cutting the pack in half, then flouring, rolling, turning & rolling her pastry to make two fairly evenly sized squares.

She spread one square with the red pesto and then sprinkled that with plenty of freshly grated Parmesan. She topped it off with the other pastry square before cutting it into strips; giving each a little twist to create a lovely shape before I put them in the oven for her.

I was told when the cooking time was up to take them out of the oven (a little overbooked, but not quite burnt) before she carefully transferred them to a cooling rack.

Seal of approval given from her, her dad, brother & myself; they tasted fantastic and she did so well to make them with the absolute minimal intervention or help from me. (I can see future battles for kitchen domain coming in years to come!)

Spiced apple & sultana cake

9oz (250g) Plain Flour
2tsp (15ml) Baking powder

½tsp (2.5ml) Salt

1½tsp (7.5ml) mixed spice
4oz (110g) Granulated sugar
1 egg
5 floz (140ml) Milk
3floz (90ml) Corn oil
6oz (170g) Apple, chopped
1oz (25g) Sultanas
1oz (25g) Walnuts, chopped (optional)
2-3tbs (30-45ml) Soft brown sugar
Icing:
Juice of one lemon
Icing sugar


Oven temperature 190C / Gas Mark 5

Ok let's cook!

1. Into a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, mixed spice and sugar together.

2. In a separate bowl/jug mix your egg, milk and oil.

3. Mix together until just combined.  Do not beat and don't worry if there's a small lump or two.  Just make sure that all the flour mix is combined.

4. Stir in the chopped apple & sultanas.

5. Don't worry that this mixture seems a little dry as the apples will release some liquid as they're cooked.

6. Pour your mixture into a greased traybake tin (or disposable foil traybake tray).  Alternatively, divide between 12 large muffin cases/wraps.

7. Sprinkle the top with the walnuts (if using) and then the sugar.

8. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and cooked.

9. Allow to cool and then mix the lemon juice with enough icing sugar to make quite a thick icing.  Drizzle randomly over the top of the cooled cakes.

These can be served still warm from the oven or left to cool.  They're also lovely warm topped with custard or ice cream.

Will Guthrie Photography

My hubby of 23+ years has always been into photography since the day we met and has learned so much through the years.  It's been his passion and his time-waster for as long as I can remember.

He's recently (with my persuasion) created himself a Flickr account and I want to share with you some of his pictures from there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62766460@N03/


From the self portrait....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62766460@N03/6218695374/in/photostream

To our amazingly beautiful daughter...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62766460@N03/6218524192/in/photostream

The arty farty....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62766460@N03/5737190144/in/photostream

The architecture...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62766460@N03/5716176318/in/photostream

Urban art...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62766460@N03/5716415429/in/photostream

Nature...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62766460@N03/5776254428/in/photostream

Please pay the links a visit and see his amazing creations.  It'd be great if you too could leave him a word or two of encouragement in his hobby.

Thanks.

Rosie
x

Sunshine walk

We're enjoying unseasonally HOT weather at the mo and it's gorgeous!  Hope it's lovely with you too.

So, tonight after dinner, we decided to go for a little walk; only round the lakes where we live, not far but we took our cameras and I snapped these...

You'll note the teenager was absent... electronic gadgets at home were obviously much more appealing!

We've been the victim of theft ;-(

It's a long story why we had to stay so local to home for our caravan holiday this year, so I'm not going to bore you with it, but we went to Ferry Meadows Caravan Club Site in Peterborough at the beginning of August (lovely site, been loads of times; great walks and cycle rides round Nene Park!).  We took with us my daughter's friend who had never had a caravan holiday and as we were one child down (Jacob, not Will) it was lovely for her to have company her own age.

Anyhoooooo, since Will's operation in May,  he's only ridden his bike 4 times; the 4th being on Monday 8th August when he rode round Nene Park with the girls while I walked the dog.  The bikes were locked up securely (2 different locks) and we had a good night's sleep.  Tuesday morning the sun shone and the birds sang.  We got up and Will went to walk the dog; the girls opened the blind at the back of the caravan and asked why Will had walked the dog on his bike.... Can you guess what's coming next?

Yep! Against the fence at the back of the caravan were two girl's bikes, now placed neatly one behind the other.  Then a BIG GAP, then the blue plastic tarpaulin that had covered the 3 bikes and then our bike rack for the car.  The gap was where Will's bike was the night before; some thieving B***ARD (well, two it turned out to be according to the CCTV footage), had visited the campsite, removed the cycle carrier and tarpaulin, cut through the locks, moved the girl's bikes and ridden out on his bike.

He USED to own this....

It's a German import; a Focus Black Forest Pro 2009 and only imported by one company in the UK; so pretty damned rare really.  It WAS worth £1350 but now.... who knows?  How much did they sell it for after stealing it?  Bugger all probably.  It has swish white mudguards, pump, bottle carriers, bottles, lights and a computer on it too.

Not only did the bike go but they also took the following:

My Coolbox containing half a box of Groslch lager.  About half a dozen cans of Diet Coke, a bottle of wine, a 2ltr bottle of lemonade, some little cartons of orange juice and my strawberries that were meant to be part of my breakfast!  They also took the other half a box of Grolsch so Will couldn't even console himself with a beer!  Oh and his bike toolbox containing about £350 worth of bike tools that he'd accumulated over the last 15-20 years.  Like a mini bike repair shop, it was.

Anyhoooooo (again) forensics came out but got no fingerprints :-(

Buuut.... several days later we went for a walk out of the park, and lo and behold there, discarded in the bushes about 12 paces from the Campsite entrance, was an empty Grolsch box.  So we called the Police and then with them we went for a little trek through the bushes and found....

An empty Groslch lager box; one of our elasticated bungee straps (used to secure the bike to the carrier on the car); discarded socks (to hide fingerprints obviously and stolen, no doubt, from someone's washing line), 2 empty later bottles, an empty can of my Diet Coke and an empty carton of orange juice. We also found other bungees and straps that secured other people's bikes.

I had a phone call today from the Police and, through the DNA from the Diet Coke can, have traced and arrested ONE of the thieves, who quickly grassed his accomplice up.  He has admitted that they carried out all 11 (yes eleven) separate thefts from the campsite, including on one night 6 bikes! Sat Navs, cars, keys, Nintendo DSs, money etc.  Oh and can the Police please take into consideration 10 other thefts that he's done!

During our stay the thefts had gone quiet and it was thought this was because they had seen the increased Police presence on foot and by PCSOs on bikes.  No, it was because the accomplice aka scrote-bag no.2 had been caught breaking into a car and had stolen a sat nav elsewhere and was currently in prison!

And, if like me you're presuming that the thieves were teenagers who are 'bored' because the Government doesn't provide them with anything to do, then think again!  This was a grown man with a daughter. In his house the Police found a little girl's bike that he had stolen as a present to her!  What a scumbag parent he is.  Great example to give her eh?  I genuinely feel sorry for the girl; to be given a bike as a present by her father then the 'nasty' Police come and take it away from her.  I don't know how old she is but she's better off without a parent like that, in my eyes.

He was so intelligent that he had stored stolen items that will link him to the other thefts INSIDE my coolbox that they found, which he had kept INSIDE his house which the Police found during their search.  Not the sharpest pencil in the box then, I'd say!

So far he hasn't given the name or details of who the 13 bikes were passed onto that he stole from Ferry Meadows, but has been charged with 3 counts of theft based on statements given and positive identification of items from ours and 2 other of  the thefts.

My plea is now to the Crown Prosecution Office - do not let this SCUMBAG get off scott-free with these thefts, or his scrote-bag of a mate!  We and everyone else they have stolen from, have worked hard to buy our possessions.  Nothing was handed to us on a plate by the Government on benefits or handouts.  Yes, some of you will think it's a lot of money for a push bike.  But bear in mind my hubby has cycled thousands (yes, thousands!) of miles on his bikes over the years. He doesn't smoke and doesn't drink much.  Cycling is his hobby and his passion.  He's therefore pretty pissed off (sorry mum and dad if you're reading this bit) to have had it stolen by some thieving low life pieces of scum that think it's ok to take what they want, when they want, from whoever they want.  And to the shitbag of a dealer who bought the bikes etc. knowing they were stolen; your time will hopefully come really soon too.  I just pray that this pair squeal like pigs on a stick and give your name and address.  Until then... may your bollocks square off and fester in the corners while being bitten by the fleas of a thousand camels!

To the officers of Cambridgeshire Police... a HUGE thank you!  For your time, efforts, investigative work and patience which have paid off to a certain degree.  Now get the cattle prods out, plug them in and get these buggers squealing some names!  (In an ideal world if only you could!)

Oh, and how long does an insurance claim take to fill out when you're trying to work out what was in the toolbox?  Bloody ages is the answer!

Rant over!

Rosie
x

Letraset Demo Day - Pink Tulip Creations

Thank you to everyone who joined me today at Pink Tulip Creations in Studley, Warwickshire.  Along with Shiela, Pauline and staff, you all made me so very welcome and were an absolute pleasure to work with.

I really can't believe how quickly the 6 hours of demonstrations went; you were all so attentive and asked me some fantastic questions which it was a pleasure to answer for you (hopefully I gave you all the RIGHT answer too heehee!)

I hope that I've given you all a little bit of something to take away with you and that those who were a little worried to actually get those

Promarkers

Aquamarkers

Safmat

Letratac

Bleedproof Paper

out will now have renewed confidence and vigour!  Please leave me a message and a link to a blog if you have one to show me all your wonderful creations!

Thanks again everyone


Rosie
xx