Snowy Treats

Amazingly enough we have been living in our new home for nearly a month now, it's crazy how time flies when you're having fun. We have been doing a lot of exploring in our new area and have found a lot of great things along the way. The weather has certainly taken a turn for the worst over the last couple of weeks and there is still quite a bit of snow on the ground, but we braved the cold this week to go for a walk to the nearby town. It really is a lovely walk, winding along the river bank and crossing over the wash lands.

 The bridge across the river is something special in its own right, well over a hundred years old and adorned with beautiful metal work, I can't help but smile every time I catch a glimpse of it.

 

It stretches all across the river and the surrounding wash lands, and even has a little shelter if you need to take a rest.

Once we arrived in town with our rosy cheeks and numb fingers, we headed straight for the town market to get something warm to drink to warm us up. We lingered a nice long while in the warm building, admiring all the goods for sale on the stalls, sipping our steaming cups of tea before heading on to the rest of the shops.

I found a little gem of a yarn shop and treated myself to a bag of happiness. Finally, I have a local shop that stocks that Holy Grail of acrylic yarns, Stylecraft!! If you are an Attic24 fan, you'll understand my excitement, and even if you don't, just look at those bright and happy colours...

After a very happy day walking around, doing a bit of shopping, we headed home to go and defrost our frozen noses and toes. We did stop at the supermarket on the way though as I had to pick up a very important ingredient.

I don't buy this caramel very often as I can very easily eat the whole tin by myself in an afternoon, and that can not be a good thing. But, seeing as it was P's birthday, I thought that was a very good excuse to treat us all with some serious sugar. I obviously turned to the queen of easy yet fabulous cakes for the rest of my inspiration and baked Nigella's Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake to slather in that caramelly goodness.

It goes without saying that I had a few spoonfulls of the caramel while I was decorating the cake, and a good thing that was too. It made me realise very quickly just how sweet and rich this caramel is and that you really don't need any icing on top of the cake.

It may still be freezing out there, but when I have a slice of cake to eat, a warm mug of tea to drink, a happy toddler playing at my feet, a box full of colourful yarn to admire, and a lovely place to call home, I am as warm and happy as can be :)

In with the New

I know I’m late to the party again, but Happy New Year!!!! I hope that 2013 is being good to you all so far and that you are all getting back into the swing off things after the holidays.

We have now left London and started the New Year in our new home in a new town and so far we are very happy here. It is quite an adjustment from the hustle and bustle of the busy city to the slower, quieter pace of the little town, but one I can certainly get used to. It is absolutely wonderful to wake up in the mornings and look out over our lovely new view of the river, to go for relaxing walks in the countryside and to explore all of the little markets and quirky shops in the nearby towns. It is what we have been dreaming of for some time now.

I have also been getting to know my new kitchen better and have been cooking and baking up a storm in there. With this freezing weather we’re having at the moment, it is certainly a good idea to have the oven on I think. My crochet hooks have also been busy with a few small projects to brighten up our new living room. 

A burst of colour is always welcome when the world is grey and frosty outside.