Obviously, any of you that actually know me either in person or via this blog will be aware of my potentially unhealthy obsession with all things festive.
Being ill has meant that my unwillingly forced pre-crimbo detox has only heightened this excitement to new levels. I have two advent calendars. One choccie courtesy of the Boyfriend who pitied my father's choice of a picture only calendar (which I secretly LOVE - a remnant of our mother's incredibly strict views on confectionary). The Boyfriend and I have bought a lovely selection of Christmas decorations (thanks to his sister's generous housewarming vouchers) and even looked at Christmas trees this week.
I'm currently putting the finishing touches to the preparations for the annual Christmas dinner with us and our friends (secret santa organisation takes time!) and have just invited some friends round to ours for an evening of festive songs, mince pies, mulled wine and (a newly discovered favourite last year) Winter Pimms (normal Pimms but with wintery clove flavours and a lot of brandy served warm with apple juice - AMAZING).
I shall be making my own mince pies, and found a lovely Delia recipe using filo pastry and making the mince pies into mince crackers! For me this sounds very exciting and shall be debuted next week. I shall let you know the results.
I am also going to attempt my own Yule Log (basically a swiss roll surely?) and although I have missed stir up Sunday, I may even attempt a Christmas cake.....
Oh the possibilities are endless!
Showing posts with label cakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cakes. Show all posts
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Cake Boutique
Sundays should be exactly as mine was this weekend. The Boyfriend and I got up (hangover free! as we had gone straight to bed after dinner - me recovering and him jetlagged) and got all wrapped up in coats and jumpers and hats and scarves, and even dug out some (rather grotty looking) gloves and then we went out.
We wandered down to Battersea Park and went for a big walk round the whole thing. It is a gorgeous park - big, wide, tree-lined avenues, bits of landscaped garden, a boating lake, another lake, a sub-tropical garden, outdoor gym and even a zoo (didn't go in as it was closed). There were also of lovely dogs (one of which we tried to adopt as it did seem to prefer us to its acutal owner).
The park is the perfect size to walk around in the cold - by the time we were starting to get seriously chilled we had done a full circuit and headed back homewards (via a newsagent - the Boyfriend got a paper and also some pic and mix).
We bypassed the flat and carried on up to Lavender Hill and went into the Cake Boutique.
I've walked past numerous times, and even popped in but never actually had anything. It is a lovely little cafe that sells cakes, both homemade and ready to eat, or you can commission them to make personalised baked goods from cupcakes to muffins to gateaus and birthday masterpieces. They also, a little oddly though lovely nonetheless, have a beautiful selection of rather grand mirrors for sale.
The Boyfriend and I spent a good 10minutes surveying the gorgeous range of homebaked cakes. I opted for the carrot cake (moist, sweet and very big slice - cream cheese frosting was a little cheesy and at first it put me off, but acutally was quite nice as the cake was really sweet) although deliberated for ages between that and a lovely looking apple crumble slice. The Boyfriend went for a full english, but swapped the egg and mushrooms for extra bacon and sausage (which they took very well - often places seem a little peeved at all the swapping that inevitably happens when people personalise their great english fry up). He also had a coconut macaroon on the side (his sweet tooth never ceases to amaze me - nor his ability to consume so much and yet never gain weight).
My earl grey came in a teapot with a tea strainer as the tea was real loose leaves - for me a real treat and something so hard to find! The English Breakfast was really good - proper sausages, good quality bacon and some proper farmhouse toast, served with butter NOT marge.
The prices were reasonable for somewhere so nice, and so close to the catastrophically expensive (and rather pretentious) Northcote Road. The service was quick, but not too quick to make you suspect microwaves instead of proper cooking, and the atmosphere was calm but not dull. All in all if you are in the Clapham vicinity check out this South London gem.
We wandered down to Battersea Park and went for a big walk round the whole thing. It is a gorgeous park - big, wide, tree-lined avenues, bits of landscaped garden, a boating lake, another lake, a sub-tropical garden, outdoor gym and even a zoo (didn't go in as it was closed). There were also of lovely dogs (one of which we tried to adopt as it did seem to prefer us to its acutal owner).
The park is the perfect size to walk around in the cold - by the time we were starting to get seriously chilled we had done a full circuit and headed back homewards (via a newsagent - the Boyfriend got a paper and also some pic and mix).
We bypassed the flat and carried on up to Lavender Hill and went into the Cake Boutique.
I've walked past numerous times, and even popped in but never actually had anything. It is a lovely little cafe that sells cakes, both homemade and ready to eat, or you can commission them to make personalised baked goods from cupcakes to muffins to gateaus and birthday masterpieces. They also, a little oddly though lovely nonetheless, have a beautiful selection of rather grand mirrors for sale.
The Boyfriend and I spent a good 10minutes surveying the gorgeous range of homebaked cakes. I opted for the carrot cake (moist, sweet and very big slice - cream cheese frosting was a little cheesy and at first it put me off, but acutally was quite nice as the cake was really sweet) although deliberated for ages between that and a lovely looking apple crumble slice. The Boyfriend went for a full english, but swapped the egg and mushrooms for extra bacon and sausage (which they took very well - often places seem a little peeved at all the swapping that inevitably happens when people personalise their great english fry up). He also had a coconut macaroon on the side (his sweet tooth never ceases to amaze me - nor his ability to consume so much and yet never gain weight).
My earl grey came in a teapot with a tea strainer as the tea was real loose leaves - for me a real treat and something so hard to find! The English Breakfast was really good - proper sausages, good quality bacon and some proper farmhouse toast, served with butter NOT marge.
The prices were reasonable for somewhere so nice, and so close to the catastrophically expensive (and rather pretentious) Northcote Road. The service was quick, but not too quick to make you suspect microwaves instead of proper cooking, and the atmosphere was calm but not dull. All in all if you are in the Clapham vicinity check out this South London gem.
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Moving 1.....
Packing up my stuff and leaving the girls was sad. And also rather impressive. I seemed to have accumulated so much extra stuff in the few years since uni that I not only filled every single box/suitcase/bag for life in the house, but when piled up, my belongings took over my room, the kitchen, and the living room (including under and on the table - also mine, and on all the sofas).
I made little fairy cakes, spelling out "I'll miss you" in tiny smarties. Sadly the Boyfriend ate three not realising they actually spelt anything, so it then read 'll iss yu. Not quite the same.
I finished packing at approximately 11.20pm. I then had to be up for work at 3.20am. And realised I had packed my bedding, pillows and pyjamas. So slept in my clothes with a towel for a pillow and a throw that could definitely have done with a wash.
Oh the excitement for tomorrow!
I made little fairy cakes, spelling out "I'll miss you" in tiny smarties. Sadly the Boyfriend ate three not realising they actually spelt anything, so it then read 'll iss yu. Not quite the same.
I finished packing at approximately 11.20pm. I then had to be up for work at 3.20am. And realised I had packed my bedding, pillows and pyjamas. So slept in my clothes with a towel for a pillow and a throw that could definitely have done with a wash.
Oh the excitement for tomorrow!
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
The Big Bad Budget part 2
So Boy George delivered his Big Bad Budget on Tuesday. It was anxiously anticipated, with many fearing a return of the Nasty Party Tories crushing the little man and saving the rich.
As a 20-something single (well single in the eyes of the law) with no dependents and working in the private sector it will not affect me that much. Fuel, fags and booze remain the same and cider duty has gone back down (the Boyfriend let out a cheer).
VAT will obviously make a difference, although it will be as little as the difference it made when they lowered it by 2.5% (depressingly many of the London public seemed incapable of grasping the new VAT rate - I had loads of people claiming that buying something that was previously £100 for £120 was outrageous. I did try to explain that it would now cost only £102.50, but in many cases it seemed to be to no avail...)
It is people that get pregnant, claim benefits or work within the public sector that will feel the effects the worse. Or the wealthier among us paying capital gains tax (I for one hold little sympathy for such characters).
Child benefit and public sector pay are to be frozen (some people claiming this is actually a pay cut as due to inflataion their money won't go as far). Housing allowance is to be capped (although not to a measly, unrealistic amount - £250 per week for a 1 bed flat seems fairly decent to me. Especially in Stockwell; moving down to Tooting and that will get you a palace, and going up to Wigan you could get an entire 4 bedroom family house with garden and no I kid you not).
Start-up costs for those that get pregnant will be cut, and anyone claiming disability allowance will need to reassessed.
Hopefully it will make a positive difference. We are all getting a little tired of this recession. And for all those worried about VAT going up listen closely. Chocolate covered biscuits (eg choc covered shortbread) - luxury item therefore pay VAT. Bakery items (such as cakes, flapjacks, etc) and choclate biccies with choc chips - not classed as luxury item, therefore no VAT.
So lesson learned - buy a Maryland not a penguin.
As a 20-something single (well single in the eyes of the law) with no dependents and working in the private sector it will not affect me that much. Fuel, fags and booze remain the same and cider duty has gone back down (the Boyfriend let out a cheer).
VAT will obviously make a difference, although it will be as little as the difference it made when they lowered it by 2.5% (depressingly many of the London public seemed incapable of grasping the new VAT rate - I had loads of people claiming that buying something that was previously £100 for £120 was outrageous. I did try to explain that it would now cost only £102.50, but in many cases it seemed to be to no avail...)
It is people that get pregnant, claim benefits or work within the public sector that will feel the effects the worse. Or the wealthier among us paying capital gains tax (I for one hold little sympathy for such characters).
Child benefit and public sector pay are to be frozen (some people claiming this is actually a pay cut as due to inflataion their money won't go as far). Housing allowance is to be capped (although not to a measly, unrealistic amount - £250 per week for a 1 bed flat seems fairly decent to me. Especially in Stockwell; moving down to Tooting and that will get you a palace, and going up to Wigan you could get an entire 4 bedroom family house with garden and no I kid you not).
Start-up costs for those that get pregnant will be cut, and anyone claiming disability allowance will need to reassessed.
Hopefully it will make a positive difference. We are all getting a little tired of this recession. And for all those worried about VAT going up listen closely. Chocolate covered biscuits (eg choc covered shortbread) - luxury item therefore pay VAT. Bakery items (such as cakes, flapjacks, etc) and choclate biccies with choc chips - not classed as luxury item, therefore no VAT.
So lesson learned - buy a Maryland not a penguin.
Oh, and just to settle the age-old debate, the Jaffa Cake is classed as a cake, thus proven because we do not pay VAT on said bakery item.
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