Water Lillies

After the wonderful weather we have had this weekend, it has encouraged the water Lillies on our pond to start to blossom, here is a picture of one that has come out today and on further investigation there are a lot more to follow. I am off now to do some baking, I need to stock up my freezer with goodies so that when I am ready to do any icing/cake decorating the cakes are all ready and I just have to defrost them beforehand. I have also found my recipes that I used last year for chutney and I have also found the one I kept for the mince pie filling. I am hoping I can sell one or two and boost up my craft fund as I want to own the new Cricut Cake that is already out in America, it will certainly help me with my quest to have a small business amongst friends.

See you all soon. x

Our Garden

Our garden is finally getting some colour, although it is still very wild and jungle looking, but we enjoy being out in it and it mostly looks after itself. Here are a few of the potted ones we have done. I also have a few bushes that blossom such as a white jasmine and an orange blossom bush which is nestling in amongst the other plants. They both give off the most beautiful scent in the early to late evening. It's lovely sitting out on a warm night. There is also a view of the bottom of our garden where we have a pond and small waterfall, the water lilies on this are just starting to bud so I hope to have some photos of that soon. The other side of the garden has a broad leaf bamboo and acer bush.

Finally a couple of pictures of our Australis, we thought we had lost this with the bad winter but look what's growing at the bottom of one of the trunks.

Teatime

Well another week has gone by, and last week I ran out of time after doing my last posts, i went of to do some more cooking, we were meant to be having a barbecue but it decided to rain on Sunday evening, so as I had already marinated the meat over night, I decided to cook it in the oven, they were ribs and chicken thighs which I fried off quickly first then slow roasted in the over. Kevin's tea was served with some garlic and rosemary roasted baby potatoes, these were done in foil first then opened up to crisp off and serviced with a small side salad and a opt of mayonnaise. Phillips tea was macaroni cheese from a recipe I found in one of my collection of cooking magazines, this had broccoli and sweetcorn added to it with a home made cheese sauce and I must admit it tasted rather good. Hope it makes you feel hungry

Crochet Shrug

Among all the other things I have been doing I have been making this shrug, its a pattern out of the new crochet magazine that's just come out. It was intended to be for myself but it isn't quite big enough for me. I didn't use the stipulated yarn as I had fallen in love with this lovely coloured double knitting one I bought recently from a place called Black Sheep Wools which has a small warehouse close to where I live (in fact is it just 10 minutes away from work), I also use different sized hook,. I loved making this the pattern is easy to do and it grew very quickly. I think I will be giving it as a gift or perhaps selling it not sure yet. No off to see what else I can get started on.

More Cakes

Hello everyone, when I left you last time, I was contemplating making some more cakes, here are a couple of pictures. I made two good old reliable Victoria sponge cake, which these I think I have got off to a "T". They come out perfect every time, the other one is a first and this is a carrot cake, I think the texture was how it should have been moist and light not too rich, the topping was creamed cheese mixed with icing sugar, the texture of this was a little bit too soft, but it had the right flavour, I will have to work on that topping, perhaps if I put it in the fridge first it might work better. Both cakes were taken into work for my work colleagues to sample none came back so I think they were enjoyed. I will be trying out some more new cakes as I would like to make them to order and sell them, there are a lot of us who love cakes and desserts but don't have the time or inclination to make them or, even can't cook, so this is where I come in (I hope). Well I am off for now I have another project to finish off so may see you a little later on. Take care, Sue

Colour in the Garden

Have just been out in the garden as the weather is so glorious, thought I would take a couple of pictures of some of the flowering plants we have. Our garden is predominantly evergreen so does not always have a lot of colour. I am slowly persuading Kevin to introduce some colour so we have compromised and got some evergreen plants that flower as well, here are a couple, we also have some jasmine but they haven't come out yet.

Kitchen Update

We are still working hard on our kitchen,we still need to do a little decorating but over the last few weeks we have ventured out to look and buy some accessories for the kitchen. One of the things we wanted was an egg holder, we couldn't agree on one however Kevin has been working on one of the sites the company we work for is building on in Garstang so has got to know the area a little bit and we took a trip up there and found a lovely shop and came home with a couple of things. I saw what was labelled as a bird bath in the shop but have looked at it thought it so cute that I thought it would make a great egg holder. We were both in agreement when I suggested it and here it is on my worktop. We also found a memo board but have hung it as a picture because we like the look of it and think it goes well on the white tiles. The Gecko above the wall we have had for some time but think it looks great above the door. We also bought something else which we have put above the door in the hall the hall is our next project but we thought we would put this up anyway. The lady in the shop said is was used for putting notes or photos on but I like it just the way it is on the white background. The kitchen is working fully now so will be getting back to my baking although after finishing the baby shawl I am going to try and get round to making a few things for myself. I also have a salt lap which was given to me by one of my brothers and it looks lovely lit up at night with just that on it makes the kitchen look really warm and snug. Well that's my update for now I need to go and do some housework.