Gardens and Other Happy Memories

I am sure that you have heard by now that the UK experienced a heatwave over the past couple of weeks and I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it's been. Long, hot, sunny days galore, that is what I have been waiting for :) After years of living in small London flats up in the air, it has been a dream come true to be able to just open the living room door and have our own little garden to sit in when the weather beckons. Little T and I have been spending every possible second outside, building up our Vitamin D stores, eating lots of ice cream and splashing in the paddling pool. It has been a truly wonderful time.

Our garden really is nothing more than a three meter square of grass, one medium sized tree and a strip of paving, but it suits us perfectly. I have never been one for gardening and was certainly not blessed with green fingers, but I felt that I should at least try to get something growing over the summer. I got some veggie plants from a very good friend, and I am chuffed to bits that not only have I managed to keep them alive, but that they are actually flowering and looking very likely to respectively produce some courgettes and tomatoes later on.

I have had similar success with some sweat-pea plants I got on sale from a local supermarket and I can't help but smile every time I see this pot of colourful flowers.

Sweet-peas always remind me of my grandmother and hold a very special place in my heart. Their delicately sweet and lovely fragrance is one of my favourite smells in this world and I can be found regularly getting up close and personal with a flower to indulge in taking a deep sniff :)

Not being satisfied with just having flowers in the garden I have yet again turned to hooks and yarn to capture the beauty of nature and to create my very own flower bed blanket for my house.

As luck would have it, one of my favourite brands of yarn is having a huge summer sale and I quickly snapped up a bargain at this lovely on-line store. Twenty fat little balls of pure colour joy arrived on my doorstep early last week, each one a 100% finest Egyptian cotton and an absolute pleasure to work with. There was never any question in my mind as to which flower pattern I would be using for this project, there was only ever one choice, the African Flower. I fell in love with this design the first time I saw it, and it only rooted itself deeper into my heart when I found out that it came from a much loved magazine from my home country and that it was originally written in my mother tongue, Afrikaans! This was something I had to do :)

I have been making flowers in any spare moment I can steal and am already in love with the results.

The pile has grown quite a bit since I took this picture, but I will keep them under wraps for now and show it to you again once they are all done and put together into one gloriously colourful blanket.

For now, it looks like I'll have to move indoors for a few days as they skies have clouded over and a light rain is falling outside. It's not too bad though as the plants are sure to be rejoicing in some cooler, wetter weather and it gave me some time to quickly whip up a batch up fat and fluffy griddle cakes for breakfast this morning.

Why not give them a go for yourself if you are missing the sun already :)

South African Griddle Cakes (a.k.a "plaatkoekies")

• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup self-raising flour, sifted
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt

Whisk together the egg, sugar and half of the milk and then stir in the butter. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and give a quick stir to mix, slowly add the rest of the milk, mixing into a smooth batter.
Heat a flat griddle pan and drop large spoonfuls of the mixture onto the pan to bake, flipping them over once  to brown both sides. They only need about a minute on each side, so be careful not to burn them.
Serve warm with syrup or jam.

Enjoy!

Celebrate!!

A man in famous glasses once said, "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans". Just when I thought that we have finally settled into some sort of normal and that things will run smoothly for a while, out of the blue, life threw us another curve ball. Our lives have yet again been turned upside-down over the past couple of weeks and my days have become even more of a juggling act. Luckily, it is mostly for the better and with all of the craziness came the hottest, sunniest, Summery days of the year yet. So all in all it hasn't been too bad. Although I was more than just a bit frazzled and stressed out during this topsy-turvy time, I have been able to stay positive and see cause for celebration in it all. Of course I baked a couple of gorgeous cakes to make us all smile.

 

A luxurious Chocolate Fudge cake came first, sweet and glossy and oh, so chocolatey. This is every chocoholic's dream! 

When we had our fill of chocolate, I baked our favourite Rich Almond cake and generously covered it in thick Chantilly cream. The perfect cake to eat while watching some historic Wimbledon matches.

It would have been sinful not to get out and about in this wonderful weather and we made sure to make some time to go and explore one of our neighbouring towns. I was most pleased to find this winding little road, decorated with bunting and lined with quirky little shops. It was a most relaxing day, just what the (head)doctor ordered.

We also had time to pop into a charity organised car show, where I happened across my dream vehicle. I might just be willing to sell a kidney for one of these camper vans :)

Heading home at the end of the day, we strolled through a perfectly pretty English garden, complete with pink poppies to make it an even happier day and to remind me that Life really is what you make it...

Chasing Rainbows

It has once again been way too long since I gave any attention to my dearest little blog. I won't bore you with excuses, and rather just jump straight into some of the lovely things that we have been doing over the past couple of months.

The British weather is doing what it is best known for and being ever so unpredictable. We have had a few gloriously sunny and warm days, but we have had far more days of dark, stormy skies and torrential downpours. The one good thing that can be said for the latter is that is has brought many stunning rainbows into our days too :)

Despite the crazy weather, we have been enjoying as much time out doors as possible, not wanting to miss a single moment of Summer. One of our favourite pass times is to walk through our surrounding forest and fill our lungs with warm country air.

I just love discovering new places to go and wander about and we have found a few hidden gems along the way.

The forestry centre down the road from us is the perfect place to go when the sun comes out and Little T wants to have a bit of a run around. It offers both big open spaces and lots of little winding paths through gorgeous woodlands, it really is a wonderful place to spend a day.

I have of course been hard at work with my yarns and hooks, finishing my latest blanket. It has been a long time in the making as it was still very cold when I started this project, but there never really was any rush to finish it. I would pick it up and work a few colourful rows as and when the fancy took me and that had always been the plan, to just enjoy the process of making it.

It is a big, bold and beautiful blanket, destined to cover our bed when the weather turns cold again and made entirely from my new favourite "cheapy" yarn, Stylecraft Special DK.

At the moment it is doing a brilliant job of being a picnic blanket and Little T has given it his approval too :)

It took me a very long time to choose the right border for this blanket as I wanted it to be perfect. Something plain and simple, yet pretty and decorative. I spent many (happy) hours looking at patterns on the internet and finding inspiration from all corners of the globe, and in the end I am very happy with what I came up with.

Finally, I have a my very own rainbow in my home!

The rainy days have also provided me with lots of time to potter about in my kitchen and many a sweet and lovely treat have been made and devoured over these past weeks. But the one thing that I am most pleased with making is my very first batch of Elderflower Cordial.

I simply adore elderflower and was extremely happy when I spotted the first few flowers making their appearance last week.

Within days the trees all around us burst into bloom and there seemed to be an absolute abundance of delicate white flowers everywhere I looked.

I braved the rain one late afternoon last week and gathered as many of the sweetly fragrant flower heads as I could fit into my bag. I used the ever knowledgeable Pam from River Cottage's recipe and even though I left mine to steep for 24 hours (work got in the way), it still came out wonderfully. This really is the quintessential summery drink. Nothing beats it on a warm summers day.

I will leave you now with a few of my favourite photos from some enjoyable moments of the past few weeks, while I go and enjoy the last few rays of this Mid Summer's Eve :)

P's wax flower in full bloom!

A full scale LEGO ambush from Little T :)

Finding beauty in texture.

Nature and man collides.

Sunshine and Bananas

My favourite month of the year has well and truly arrived and in spectacular fashion too. May is a very special month for me, as it is the month in which we celebrate the birth of Little T, but also because it signals the start of Summer and long sunny days.

To kick off the month of May, we were blessed with a few gloriously hot, blue-skyed days, perfect for jumping into the car bright and early and heading down some green lanes to discover more of this glorious countryside around us.

To stop in pretty little villages along the way for a relaxing walk through streets lined with quirky shops and crossing antique bridges to find that perfect picnic spot.

To come across some rather wonderfully arty installations with a backdrop of a forest coming to life again after the long Winter.

To simply marvel at the beauty that is nature.

Naturally once we got home, feeling marvellously relaxed and sun drenched, I headed straight to the kitchen to potter about for a while and bake something sweet and homely for our afternoon treat. Bright yellow bananas were sitting in my fruit bowl, ripe and ready for making banana bread.

This soft and delicately sweet  "cakey" bread has been a favourite of mine for as long as I can remember. The smell of it transports me right back to my mum's kitchen, eagerly waiting for that first slice to come my way. This really is a sunny day baked in a tin.

Banana Bread

90g Unsalted Butter (softened and cubed)
115g Caster sugar
2 Large eggs
1 tsp Vanilla extract
250g Plain flour
2 tsp Baking powder
2 Large, very ripe bananas (cut into chunks)

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C and grease a 8 x 16 cm loaf tin.
Put all of the ingredients into a food processor and process until you have a smooth batter.
Spoon into your prepared tin and place in the centre of your oven to bake for 50 - 60 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

I love to eat this sliced thickly, still slightly warm and spread generously with butter. Of course it still tastes great the next morning, covered in Nutella too :)

Jobs and other useful things

I know, I know, it has been very quiet for a very long time again here on this little blog and I can only apologise for my extended leave of absence. It has been a bit of a roller-coaster month here in our house and priorities have been reshuffled to make things work. So, to catch you up on the last 6 weeks, here are the highlights.

Firstly, as everyone in the UK will only be too happy to tell you, the weather has finally gotten warmer and Spring is finally here!! Trees have burst into blossom and bright green new leaves are popping out of seemingly dead branches everywhere. Happiness!!

Secondly and most significantly, I have started working again. After a long and painful job hunt, I was offered a very unexpected job that fitted our current situation perfectly and within days I went from being a stay-at-home mum to a full-time employee. It took some getting used to for all of us to adjust to this new arrangement and it was a big shock to my system to have to fit my normal life around a working life, but things are slowly starting to fall into it's own natural rhythm again. Luckily the job still offers me lots of day-time hours at home with Little T and P and we have been able to enjoy lots of sunny days in the garden and going for walks and bike rides in the National Forest and I have even had time for some of my beloved hobbies too.

In the few spare hours I could find over the weeks, I was able to finish off my "Sunset" shawl. Just in time for those chilly evenings when you need to wrap something around your shoulders when you sit in your garden to watch the sun go down.

Grabbing my crochet hooks and a bit of yarn still is one of my favourite ways to relax after a chaotic day of trying to keep customers, managers and toddlers happy. 

Of course, cooking and baking still ranks very high on my list of "great ways to spend an hour" and even though a lot of our meals and sweet treats are quick and easy these days, I made some time this weekend to bake something special. I wanted something chocolatey, P wanted something creamy and Little T wanted cake, and so the "Chocolate Eclaire Cake" was born. A lighter than air, whisked sponge base, filled with a sweet Chantilly cream and topped with sticky, glossy ganache, what more could you want!

This cake does take a bit of time to make and prepare, but it is more than worth the extra effort and just in case you find yourself with an afternoon to fill and want to try a taste of this amazing cake, here is the recipe :)

Chocolate Eclaire Cake 

For the cake:
3 large eggs (room temperature)
85g caster sugar
22ml luke-warm water
85g plain flour, sifted
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C and butter and line a 20cm round cake tin.
Place the eggs, sugar and water into a large bowl that fits snugly over and not in a saucepan of gently steaming water, (just like melting chocolate in a double boiler). Using an electric hand mixer, whisk the mixture until it has doubled in volume and is pale in colour and very fluffy. Carefully remove the bowl from the saucepan and keep on whisking until the mixture has cooled down slightly and thickened. 
Sift the flour and salt onto the egg mixture and gently but thoroughly fold it in using a large metal spoon, being careful to not knock out too much air but also not to leave any pockets of dry flour.
Gently pour the mixture into your cake tin, letting it find it's own level and place it in the middle of the preheated oven. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the cake starts to pull away from the edges of the tin and sounds creaky when lightly pressed with a finger.
Leave the cake to stand for 10 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

 
 For the cream filling:
150ml double cream 
2 tablesp icing sugar 
1 teasp vanilla extract

Place all of the ingredients into a large bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form. 
Using a serrated knife, split your cake into two through the middle to form a bottom and a top. Place the bottom half onto your cake plate and spread all of the cream filling evenly over the surface and place the top half back on.

For the ganache:
100g dark chocolate (70% minimum)     
100ml double cream
25g butter (room temperature)
50g icing sugar

Break the chocolate into small pieces and place it with the double cream into a heavy based saucepan. Over a gentle heat, stir the melting chocolate into the cream until its smooth and evenly mixed. Remove from the heat and add the butter, stirring to melt and mix the butter into the ganache. Pour this mixture into a large mixing bowl, add the icing sugar and whisk until the it thickens (about 5 minutes). 
Slowly pour the ganache over your cake and decorate as you please.

This cake doesn't keep for much more than a couple of days, but that's not really a problem as we ate half of it after lunch and the other half after dinner. 

I do hope to be able to make more time to share my makings and baking on here with you again as I have missed my blog, as I always do when I have to neglect it for a little while. I shall be back as soon as I can, but for now I have to go feed a couple of hungry tummies and tend to my newest hobby... growing herbs :)

 

Budget Cuts

Like millions of other people all over the world, we too find ourselves counting the pennies at the moment. Living costs are going through the roof, food is getting more and more expensive by the day and finding work is no easy feat. As a result the grocery list no longer regularly allows for extra sugar, butter, cream and chocolate to be transformed into delicious treats every day and dinners have to fit the budget rather than the cravings these days. This could be a sad and depressing state of affairs if you allow it to be, or you could look at the bright side and get creative!

I love a bargain and am always keeping my eyes open for a good deal. The supermarket discount shelf is a bargain hunter's dream and if you add a bit of imagination you can still eat cake! A pot of marked down whipping cream, a broken bar of chocolate and a couple of large tubs of "buy of get one free" cream cheese were all sitting on the shelf when I went shopping last week. All of these items went into my shopping trolley and were on their way to becoming a gorgeous dessert. I simply added a dash of vanilla and a sprinkle of icing sugar to the soft cheese, folded it into the lightly whipped cream and poured in the melted bar of chocolate. This was spread over a digestive biscuit crumb base and popped into the fridge until after dinner. As you can see, not much was left over for me to photograph!

 When the bargains are hard to find, a cupful of rolled oats and a bagful of choc-chips can instantly transform a bit of butter, sugar and egg into a batch of huge cookies to satisfy those cakey desires.

Of course, there is one thing that I can't go without and that is fresh fruit. This will always be on the shopping list, no matter what and I am more than happy to eat a bowl of fruit for dessert. Luckily for me Little T agrees with me here.

My frugality has not just been in the kitchen though and have spread to other parts of the house too. I am still in the process of transforming this house into a home and have been wanting to make one of Lucy's wreaths for some time now. For the past couple of weeks, I have been slowly using up all the little scraps of yarn that I have left over from various previous projects to make lots of pretty little flowers.

I stumbled upon a bag of cotton yarn in a charity shop at a fraction of the retail price and it was the perfect colour to become the cover for the Styrofoam wreath that was bought on sale at a hobby store.

And just like that, for hardly any money at all I had made something pretty and special for our home and had a lot of pleasure in doing so along the way.

It just goes to show, those old adages are still true, money doesn't make you happy and the best things in life are free :)

Wishful Thinking

I feel like I have been anticipating the beginning of Spring for weeks now, but it would appear that I am suffering from wishful thinking. There have been signs that Winter is coming to an end, but it was nothing more than empty promises.The last few days have been grey and wet and freezing and very wintery indeed, proving that I have been very hasty in thinking that Spring is here.

Today has once again been a wishful thinking kind of a day. It started off with brilliant sunshine streaming through my bedroom window, shimmering on the bright blue river, making everything feel happy and bright again.

The tiny Tete-a-Tete daffodils that I got for Mothers day looked so much better lifting their little heads to welcome the sunshine into our home.

 

Little T too seemed to be a happier boy this morning, playing in the bright room and trying to catch the sun rays bouncing off the petals of the flowers.

I should have know that it's too good to be true though, and sure enough before the morning was even halfway over the sky began to darken once more. That gloriously brilliant view from this morning now looked like this!

No, your eyes are not deceiving you, that really is snow falling from the sky and settling all around us. Winter is truly hanging in there this year...

I am however set on not letting this ruin a day that started off so wonderfully and have a plan of action to keep my spirits up. 

Step one, a comforting pot of Red Bush tea to warm me from the inside out and remind me of home.

Step two, settling into my favourite spot with my crochet hooks and a big box of colourful scraps of yarn.

 Step three, creating my own little flower garden to make up for the lack of real ones outside.

I am happy to report that the plan has worked and that I am still having a "sunny" day and that I intend to do so until the real sunshine makes it's appearance once again :)