Here Is The News #24

Blogland Brilliance

Cassy's post about writing your own fashion rules is very good, especially the bit about not saving things for 'best'. I'm far too guilty of this, keeping a wardrobe full of dresses which I never get round to wearing.

Samantha's post about the Christmas Frazzle will leave you laughing out loud.

Sarah's post on enmity and empathy is both expertly written and very timely (given what myself and others witnessed during a blogger chat the other week). It was also her birthday last Friday - belated Happy Birthday Sarah!

Blatant bit of shameless publicity, Izzy unwrapped her Blogger Secret Santa present (I've been very good so far and not opened mine) and you can see what I sent her over on her blog.

Amy explained what 'Test It Tuesday' is and it's something we could all do with remembering, especially over the Christmas season.

Jane started one of her '33 before 33' items and already visited 3 bookshops, one of them being Daunt Books which I want to visit one day.



Festive Inspiration

Gemma made some DIY star tree decorations.

Over at Eight and Sixteen, they're on fire this week with a fabulous easy-to-make wreath made from toilet roll tubes, DIY button gift tags and a DIY button bunting necklace.

Erin made some stitched gift tags.

H and Sammy show you how to make Christmas stockings.

Leanne made a snowflake pom pom window display.

I love Emma's wrapped doors!

And for some more round-up posts, Elizabeth has put together all the best bits of Christmas over on Rosalilium and Sally has done the same over on Queenie and the Dew.



Fabulous Foodie Posts

Leah Beth made a delicious hot chocolate using Terry's Chocolate Orange - got to be a winner there!

Clare made an excellent Chocolate Mint Cake, I've not keen on mint but I'd still make this as I know Andrew would love it.

How about Lisa's Mince Pie Tiffin?

And Sophie's most delicious mince pie recipe?



Blogs I've followed this week...

Laura's Haven

Style Yourself Vintage

Twentea Something

A Branch of Holly

Sea Salt & Stitches

And my Blogger Secret Santa partner (whose blog I couldn't follow earlier as it might've given the game away!) - Vintage Beauty xox



What's new with you?
 

A Photo Every Hour - Sunday 14th December

 

December's photo an hour challenge was set by Jane as Sunday 14th December - part of our weekend in London and a day spent mostly on London buses!

 

 

9am -  We stayed in the same Travelodge two years ago for my 30th birthday and the view we had then was of Clapham Junction station; this time we had a view of the building next door.

 

10am - Andrew picked up this Wolsey waistcoat from a charity shop the day before. I quite like it but he can't decide whether it makes him look hipster (in a kind of ironic sense) or just plain old granddad.

 

 

11am - The little café next door to where we were staying did an excellent line in breakfasts. This is their Breakfast Panini filled with bacon, scrambled egg and cheese.

 

12pm - Off to Battersea Boot Sale on a gloriously sunny morning.

 

 

1pm - Waiting for a bus back to Clapham Junction before heading into the city for the rest of the day.

 

 

2pm - Back in Clapham Junction and on our way to get a bus to London Bridge.

 

 

3pm -  Still on a bus. Making the most of the priority seating though!

 

4pm -  A bus journey that was supposed to take 50 minutes ended up taking 90 so we got to HMS Belfast too late to go in. We did manage to fit it in on Monday though.

 

5pm -  On another bus. Heading towards Five Guys in Islington this time.

 

6pm - After polishing off a very tasty burger, we though we should probably try the hot dogs as well and bought one to share when we got back to the Travelodge as a sort of late night treat.

 

 

7pm - We stopped off at Somerset House on the way back to Clapham Junction. Two years ago I went skating here on the very same evening and absolutely loved it. That was actually the last time I went skating and now, I don't think it's something I'll ever be able to do again. Ah well, at least the last time I went I had a fab time.

 

 

8pm - Bought these purple jegging-thingies from the car boot that morning. They were only £1.75, from M&S and have birds all over them so they had to come home with me really. Still not sure I can get away with them but I'll give it a go in the new year!

 

 

9pm - Planning out the next day's bus routes.

 

 

10pm -  We bought cakes from the boot sale as well, I had this very drizzly lemon drizzle cake and left crumbs all over the bed.

 

 

Now, I've had so much fun doing a photo an hour every month that I'm going to keep doing them in 2015 and myself and the ever-lovely Jane are going to share the hosting and date-setting duties.

 

Several people joined in this month:
 

Jane joined in on Instagram, Twitter and on her blog

Sharon joined in on Instagram, Twitter and on her blog
Rachael joined in on Instagram and on her blog
Kim joined in on Instagram and on Twitter
Bev joined in on her blog

Debs joined in on her blog
Ruth joined in on Instagram
Josie joined in on Instagram
Rebecca joined in on Twitter and on her blog

And of course, myself here on this post, plus on Instagram and on Twitter :-)

 

I make that 10 people; I hope I've managed to include everyone but give me a shout if you took part and I haven't included you!

 

 

For the first photo an hour challenge in 2015, I'm going to choose Saturday 17th January and I'll tweet everyone the day before as a reminder.

 

Hopefully see you then!
 

 

Also, check out what I was up to in...

December 2013

This Weekend at the Duckpond

We have mostly been...

 

 

Celebrating - my 32nd birthday in style with a weekend away in London.

Travelling - to and from Clapham Junction to stay in our favourite cheap London Travelodge and spend the weekend there seeing shows and visiting attractions.



Marvelling - at the beauty of the Royal Albert Hall. I've never been before and I was very impressed, it's a magnificent building and I really want to go on one of their building tours now.

Enjoying - two shows, 'Matilda' at the Cambridge Theatre and 'Danny Elfman's Music from the Films of Tim Burton'. Both shows were awesome, I've seen Matilda before and it was just as good as last time and the Danny Elfman show was absolutely fantastic, we even got Danny himself singing songs from 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'!

Sampling - the burgers at Five Guys, thanks to a blogger tip-off that the Islington branch usually had no queue whereas the one in Leicester Square would have a waiting time. Completely correct as well as we just strolled in and order what we wanted (Bacon Cheeseburgers). I know some people think they're just average but me and Andrew are definitely in 'camp delicious', we thought the burgers were darn tasty!

Riding - on many many many buses around London. Having crutches with me meant that I did always manage to get a seat though!


Visiting - HMS Belfast and Churchill's War Rooms (both with our Tesco Clubcard vouchers) and BBC Broadcasting House for their tour of the building (thanks to a tip-off from Jane). I will do proper reviews of them in the New Year.

  

 

What did you get up to at the weekend?
 

A Winter Warmer Cheesy Fishy Pie

Brace yourself people, this is probably going to be the one of the worst recipe posts you'll ever see. I promised you a cheesy fishy pie of loveliness but the amount of blogging rules I've broken is pretty bad. The dish itself is delicious but I'd definitely get big fat crosses in red pen for the artificial lighting, blurriness, unappetising shots, shadows and taking pictures at night.

 

Ack well, I'm blaming the pie. You can't have winter warmer comfort food and make it in summer now, can you?

 

 

 

Creamy Smoked Haddock Puff Pastry Pie

(originally from The Vicar's Wife Cook Book by Elisa Benyon)

 

 

 

 

To serve 4 people you'll need:

3 eggs

500kg smoked haddock (or you could use other white fish. We use one packet of Tesco's frozen haddock, it's 400g but it doesn't seem to matter)

100ml white wine

150ml water

90g (ish) spinach (we used the frozen stuff, usually about two balls is enough)

30g butter

½ red onion (or 1 whole small one, whatever you've got really), diced

25g plain flour

150ml double cream

15g chives (we just chuck in a couple of shakes of dried ones)

1 ½ handfuls of cheddar cheese (make sure they're big handfuls!), grated

A roll of puff pastry (I buy one of those Jus Rol packs of two and use one of them)

 

 

1. Boil the eggs either in a pan of water or an egg boiling machine. They need to be hard-boiled so you can just leave them at the back of the cooker while you get on with everything else.

 

2. We use frozen haddock so we defrost it in the microwave first for a minute or two then break it into chunks straightaway. The proper recipe says not to do this til later on but hey ho.

 

3. Put the white wine and the water into a pan, bring it to the boil, turn the heat down and add the chunks of fish so they poach for a few minutes.

 

 

 

4. Take out the fish with a holey spoon or (more properly) a fish slice and pour the liquid into a jug for later.

 

5. Get another pan organised with the spinach and a bit of water and let it cook til it's wilted (or until you realise the all the water's boiled away and then suddenly remember, 'ahh, the spinach!')

 

6. Put the butter into the pan you cooked the fish in and pop in all the onion bits and fry them up a bit.

 

 

 

7. Once the onion is soft, chuck in the flour and let it cook for a couple of minutes then stir in all the fishy liquid from earlier. In theory you're supposed to add it gradually but I'm impatient and pour it all in, stirring all the time and letting it simmer a bit to thicken.

 

 

 

8. Pour in the double cream and chives and stir it all together til it looks shiny and glossy then take the pan off the heat and add all the cheese.

 

 

 

9. Squeeze all the water from the spinach and chop into whatever pieces you like.

 

10. Shell the eggs and chop them into quarters.

 

 

 

11. Now it's time to assemble the pie. Grab a dish, put the fish at the bottom, arrange the eggs on top, lay the spinach all over and then pour over the cheesy fishy sauce. Then just unroll the puff pastry and pop it on the top, brushing it with, well the recipe says beaten egg but I don't like wasting a whole egg just for that so I use a bit of milk instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

12. Bung it in the oven at 190°C (Gas Mark 5) for about 30-40 minutes (although my oven seems to take about 45 minutes, basically just cook it til it looks done).

 

 

 

13. Dish up, serve with whatever and enjoy!

(it tastes even better the next day with a side order of chips from the fish & chip shop, never let it be said that I'm not classy...)

 

 

 

 

Let me know if you give it a go!

 

A Knitted Advent Calendar

 

This year, using my fantabulous new-found knitting skills, I decided I'd knit 24 little stockings. I had this vague idea that I could hang them up in a row somewhere and then I could pop a chocolate in each one for Andrew and he could pop something in each one for me.

 

I searched around on t'internet and tried to find a fairly easy looking pattern but then I stumbled across one in Homemaker Magazine (issue 25), originally designed for making little cutlery holders. The design was no different; the only change I'd be making is filling them with chocolate and not irons! 

 

 

 

I got started making them in November but I've still got about 4 left to make; they will all be done by the 24th, just at the moment we've got spaces at the end of our bunting.

 

I used fairly cheap DK wool in green, red and cream from our local Shaws the Draper shop and knitted them on 4mm needles. I don't think I can reproduce the pattern here (I'm guessing that would probably infringe some copyright law) but you could use any pattern for a sock or stocking. If you really want the pattern I used, drop me an email and I'll see what I can do.

 

Once I'd knitted them, we bought some red cord from a craft shop, some cheap pegs from Wilkinsons, a pack of 10 felt sheets from Poundland and I found some Christmas washi tape in my stack of stuff from last year.

 

 

 

I decorated the pegs with strips of washi tape and then wondered how to make the numbers for each peg. Andrew came up with the brilliant idea of using a laser cutter to cut out each number - sometimes it's quite handy having a mechanical engineer with access to a workshop for a husband!

 

 

 

All I did then was use some glue dots to stick the numbers onto white card and then stuck the card onto the tops of the pegs, hanging up the stockings in numerical order.

 

 

 

I don't think it looks too bad, it was certainly good practice at doing stitches such as kfb and pfb and the biggest bonus is that we can reuse it every year!

 

 

 

Have you knitted (or made) anything for Christmas this year?

 

Here Is The News #23

Blogland Brilliance

Kathleen received a fantastic proposal in the Big Apple.

Leona's gorgeous woof, Rex celebrated his fourth birthday.

I'm glad I'm not the only person who keeps lists of everything they've ever given everyone - Liz does it too!

Kerri posted some extracts from the spam comments she's received, some are hilarious and some are just bizarre!



Exciting Events

Jane's Photo an Hour Challenge takes places this weekend on Sunday. I'll be joining in posting my photos on Instagram using the hashtag #photoanhour - feel free to join in as well, the more, the merrier!

It's also Save the Children's annual Christmas Jumper Day on Friday. Last year at work I managed to raise over £200 selling festive cakes; this year I'm not in work but I'll still be wearing my reindeer dress and donating some money on the day. If you're still looking for some last minute crafty jumper ideas, pop over to Jen's blog for some top tips.

(and can I just sneak in, it's my birthday on Saturday! Although I'm not sure 32 deserves an exclamation mark...)



Festive Inspiration

I love Sally's postage stamp frames - a thoroughly excellent idea!

Jen made some very chocolately rocky road.

Need some quick DIY ideas? Freya May has compiled 10 easy presents you could make before the big day.

Erin made some fab little fabric tree decorations and a festive bunting necklace. I'm no good at jewellery making but if you're someone who is, the necklace would make a lovely gift.

Juliet used candy canes to make a Christmas garland and Ruth used them to make a star-shaped decoration.

Over at Eight and Sixteen, they used twine to make a rustic bauble.

Alice made Christmas biscuits and came up with the excellent idea of turning a gingerbread cutter upside down to make a reindeer head - so simple, yet so brilliant!

And lastly, Fern the horse as a reindeer - just because!



Blogs I've followed this week...

Through Tasha's Camera

Cassy Fry



What's new with you?
 

 

(ps. did I mention it's my birthday this weekend?)