Effing rain!!

I don't want to be a right old moany face about it but I'm hormonal, therefore feel entitled to moan if I like.  Don't get me wrong in many ways I love rain, the verdant greens, the slate greys of paths and 'making the garden grow' etc but I want to be in my bare feet and flip flops.  I want to have all the windows and doors open and if I cannot, I'd like them to be closed without needing to coory under a blanket or worse, switch the heaters on.  I want to have meals in the garden and hang the washing out, have a view of billowing sheets and hear the birds singing.......
All that list of 'I wants' needs is addition of a goose that lays golden eggs.

SIGH

My boys finish up school tomorrow and I am hoping the weather improves.  I am Scottish, I do not expect a lot, just please please please PLEASE, let it be dry for a spell.

Urgh!!!  Moan moan moan!
I'm off to get on my exercise bike and see if my mood improves.  I have cakes to bake later and cannot be this cross whilst baking, cakes need love to rise people!

X

On the list of craft 'wanties'...

I always always always have my eye on yarn of some kind and yet again I am drooling over the [above] Starburst crochet blanket by Jane Brocket from the Gentle art of Knitting book (pattern also in issue 2 of Mollie Makes).  I've had my eye on this for an age but recently spurred on by Kath on her Inverleith blog and Instagram feed, who has been making a granny a day of it and has posted lots of lovely images of the finished blanket.  She chose really lovely colours (in Rowan Pure Wool DK) and made me 'want' to start all over again.  I've even been looking at yarn and at the mo considering Rowan Cotton glace.  I have some balls that I got for the 'icing' on knitted cupcakes and the shine is lovely on this yarn.  I love cotton yarn too, it is my favourite I think. It's a double knit wool and has a lovely feel to it too when knitted up.  I am very tempted but as always such a thing is quite an investment money wise. 
I've been looking longingly at this shade card.

There is fabric on the 'wanties' list too but as of yet I have not decided what I would do with it. I have been thinking of trying to make a zipped pouch.  This kind of sewing really is NOT my area.  I get very easily confused when things have to be rightside/wronside/insideout/outsidein/cut/measured etc etc.  I like my sewing machine but it has not (as of yet) turned into love. This 'walk in the woods' fabric by Moda has me tempted to try as it has foxes liberally sprinkled all over it and I love a fox.

(image from the cottonpatch. Click on image to go see the full range) 

It really is very cute fabric and I can picture it on something small. Oh and did I mention?  Love a fox!  I'd love some of this but what to do?
I am constantly fighting the urge to make more quilts/blankets but as I have a few on the go (see this earlier post) I  really must not start another so it's lucky I do not see this fox fabric in a quilt.

There are craft books calling on me at Amazon, whispering to me with their potential.

 I've had my eye on this book for a while as I love embroidered flowers and this book has some really nice ones including daffodils.

This books looks great but I am a little unsure because as I said earlier this kind of sewing does not come easily to me but I like the look of the things in here so maybe I would be inspired to give some of the projects a go. Maybe some of you have it and could let me know hoe easy/difficult it is to follow.

 (Three book images from Amazon.co.uk)

 I love the look of these socks.  I haven't knitted a a pair in a while but the patterns in this book are really lovely.  I am thinking of making some as gifts as last year I made really simple tube socks for a couple of friends and they were very well received. I like the idea too of knitting (as the title says) from the toe up as you can try them on as you go meaning you can be sure of the fit you like. These socks would also mean I can look at hand dyed yarn which is a really fun thing to do on Etsy, especially with the app.

It's not a huge list but there is always, without fail, a list on the go and who doesn't love a list or indeed a notebook (or ten) to write them in?

What's on your list of craft 'wanties'?

X

P.S you can always find me on Twitter or Instagram as jammypudding.

Can you ever have enough......

.......baking books?
I really do not think so.
I make something, sometimes many things, from each of the books I buy, yet the compulsion to have more is always there.  First there is the 'noticing' of a book, whether it be by recommendation from someone (or by amazon - they get me every time). The imagining begins. I begin to wonder what delights may be inside, could there be the perfect recipe for something I already make and love? Something new I have never tried before and always wanted to? What photos are in there?  Will they make be drool at the very thought of the pressure of a pastry fork?
When a new book arrives I almost want to create a ceremonial moment, take the time to enjoy every detail of the book, the feel of the pages turning, the smell, the potential locked inside. It's all very much an indulgence!

Recently I have become obsessed with patisseries, windows full of shiny glazed delights, thoughts of delicate pastries and not so delicate slabs of bread, wanting to refine, to be precise, to hone my baking skills.  I love hearty classics, always, but I want the challenge of having to be more skilled.  Always wanting people to exclaim "you did that?".  You know that slightly insulting/impressed thing we all do? I want to get to grips with liquid fondant and make French Fancies. The book I recently bought by the amazing Peggy Porschen will help with that.  I want to get to grips with pastry so I  ordered this only the other day...

(image from Amazon.  Click here to see the book)

Just look at that cover!!  I cannot wait to delve into this book! I am not scared of pastry at the moment, a little bemused by it, not fully understanding it when I make it, not fully 'there' with it like I am with cakes. I want to become excellent and produce exquisite things. Things made of pastry.

I have that image of a tiered cake stand all prepared for afternoon tea and with that image I hear myself wanting to recreate it with things all made by me. 

You see why I *need* this book??

It may well be the fact that, in the main, it still feels wintry, but I have a notion for nordic baked things too so have my eye on this book...

(image from Amazon. Click here to see book) 

 This book sounds amazing. Those breakfast compotes and jams, those cakes and bread, mmmm cinnamon buns! Big amounts of *sighing*. I am so so so very tempted.

But for now, bring on the pastry making.

Always thinking about baking and loving the abundance of books. 

In my wee world, you can never, ever have enough!

X

P.S I'm always posting photos on Instagram so come and have a looksee, I'm jammypudding on there.

April showers of a baking kind.

For me, April hasn't showered rain so much as flour and icing sugar.  I've been a busy ol' bee with birthdays and things and when I look at my Instagram feed (I'm jammypudding on there by the way) there is an abundance of bakes.
Back at the beginning of April I turned 39 and had a lovely, lovely day which was made all the lovelier for having this...

 Lemon cake decorated with handmade daisies.  It tasted so so so good.  I'd take lemon cake over all others (maybe?...might have to think about that claim) and it was kind of nice making myself a cake for my birthday.  Eldest Biscuit was outraged by the idea!
My father-in-law's birthday quickly followed mine so I made him his favourite coffee and walnut cake but this time I used my cool tin from Lakeland.  It has straight sides for individual cakes so you can make small versions of large cakes.  I was very pleased with how they turned out and will have to make mini Victoria sponges soon.

 The lead up to the end of the Easter hols meant I had to re stock the freezer with some bakes for my boys' lunch boxes.

Banana bread and

marble cake cut up into ickle pieces.  Sponge freezes really well and even though baking ingredients can be expensive by the time they are cut up small and used up, they work out quite cheap and although not exactly health food, better than processed and I do think cake makes people happy.  In my head my Biscuits are able to get through an afternoon of school with the help of their little cakes of happiness made with love by me.
I also made chocolate cheesecake for a friend as part of his Christmas gift of bakes throughout 2012.  I couldn't encourage a heart bypass so he didn't get a whole cheesecake, a few pieces were leftover for us.

 Oh my this cheesecake from Nigella's 'Feast' book is simply heaven in every mouthful and whenever I have it I feel I am in one of those old Flake adverts, having a special moment in a field of wild flowers. So good!

Last week I made madeleines for the menfolk as an after school and work snack (and of course a few for me too).  If you have never made them or let alone eaten one, please do.  Apart from the specialised tin (Lakeland sell one for under a tenner) they are very very easy wee cakes to make and quick too.  You can pretend, if you have a need to, to be refined and delicate whilst nibbling on one. I find it essential to drink tea from a china cup and saucer whenever I have one. Look at them, *sigh*!

 And finally, Eldest biscuit turned eleven yesterday.  All you parents out there will understand when I say I do not know how that happened so soon after him arriving but eleven he is.  I managed to convince him not to have his usual novelty sugarpaste clad birthday cake ( a 3DS this year) in favour of a chocolate cake made with chocolate from Hotel Chocolat. It's surprisingly cheaper weight for weight than Green & Blacks.  The self sacrificing mother that I am had to go into their shop in Edinburgh, forcing myself to take their free samples whilst shopping for his cake.  The things we do.
I didn't want to use my everyday, all-in-one cake (again from 'Feast') so opted for a luxury buttermilk one from 'Tea with Bea'.  This book is really lovely with seriously decadent bakes. It isn't a book for beginners I think but if you are a confident baker it's worth a looksee.  Here's how it turned out...

 I layered it with vanilla buttercream (which to be fair didn't compliment the sponge I feel, you live and learn) and covered it with chocolate buttercream.  I sprinkled over fudge pieces, Minstrels, smarties and gemstone drops from Hotel Chocolat.  I also made the bunting to decorate and little flags for these...

...mini vanilla cupcakes.  Eldest Biscuit likes to share his cake with family and friends so these were for those not so keen on a rich chocolate cake.  Too cute!
And of course there were the obligatory and traditional number biscuits.

For Christmas 2000, whilst pregnant with EB, I got Nigella's Domestic Goddess book from Mr Biscuit (he wrote inside "who's to say you're not already" sweet or what?) and knew when I saw these biscuits that I wanted to make them [for our cooking baby + any more] every year for birthdays and so far I have.  We joke that as grown men, my boys will still expect them. I followed the 'Biscuiteers' way for the icing and am getting to grips with icing bags and plastic bottles.
Here's a photo of my boy making a wish.

Oh my what a calorific month!  Just as well it wasn't all for me.  Yet I am dreaming of more.  I got a new book yesterday to sigh over and consider "What to bake?".

Indeed "What to bake?" .

X

Sing with me "I'm a Biscuiteer"......no really, I'm singing it.

Hello my friends!
I hope you are all fine and dandy. I am feeling good today after a week of the most awful cold.  It's still there, lingering but compared to earlier in the week I feel great!
I wanted to share with you my Mother's Day baking.  Usually I do a nice dinner for our Mums (remember last years next morning hangover on my birthday?) but this year I felt like a wee change. so I grabbed these and some other ingredients and ventured forth in to the land of the Biscuiteers.
(there should be trumpets at this bit so just pretend okay)

I ordered some flower sugarpaste (which btw dries unbelievably fast even compared to regular sugarpaste!) and a daffodil cutter and added to my wee collection of colour paste (I had to bin a whole load that I'd had for years but I'm slowly rebuilding it). The end result were these little fellows.

With no foam pad to sit them in/on (mental note to obtain one) I resorted to making them comfy in upturned icing nozzles balanced in the holes of my wee metal pot trivet. Did the job though.  I'm glad I went with making the trumpet a slightly darker, more orange yellow (although difficult to see in the above photo). They turned out lovely I think.
Now onto the biscuits.
I've had the Biscuiteer book for a couple of months now.  I have always used a Nigella recipe for biscuits which is great, but, the icing always made the biscuits soften and it is impossible to sit the biscuits atop of one another without a right old mess.  Not to mention disastrous consequences for the icing design, so I was interested in trying the Biscuiteer way of doing it because of the icing being harder and therefore easier to transport etc.  I did that thing I sometimes do though, with the recipe.  I read that the plain biscuits called for granulated sugar and I went ahead adding it in the full knowledge that unrefined golden sugar of any kind does not act in the same way as refined.  You can see in the next photo I was right.  The sugar is still apparent even after baking.  It didn't effect the taste but next time I should trust my baking or sugar knowledge and change to caster (cannae use bleached).

The biscuits were/are very tasty.  Adding golden syrup really made them taste delicious.
Now to the icing.
Again I followed the recipe knowing full well I was making too much but you know I am not a Master Baker so I bow to the idea that other people may know something I don't and therefore I go with them, even, on occasion, when I have and instinct something is not right.  But you know, with baking, you have to be precise.  The fundamentals are not to be tweaked, flavours etc sure, and you never want to end up in that awful situation of 'not enough' so you go with it. Anyhoo, I had way too much icing but let me tell you, Royal icing whisked up in a Kitchenaid for five minutes is a glorious sight. Beautiful and glossy like meringue.
Now this is where I get a bit irritated and I know I shouldn't.  I hate hate hate that I am not better with an icing bag.  It drives me nuts. I get that it takes practice.  I know that but I want to be perfect instantly and no matter how much older and hopefully wiser I get, I still do not learn this lesson. I was not happy with the end result but I will persevere.

I love doing the polka dots with the flood icing though, it's a lot of fun and the daffies look really good, if I do say so myself.

See, look at that line icing....grrrr!

They looked great all packaged up in recycled tubs from the supermarket ( I cannae throw anything away that can be used to package up baking). They tasted really good too, once we got used to the idea of crunchier icing.  I liked that they got put back in the oven on a really low temperature to dry out as this meant I could pile them up in their boxes. 
I have plans to make them for EVERYBODY'S birthdays this year if anything to justify adding to my cookie cutter collection.

I am just a wee bit pleased I can now call myself a 'Biscuiteer' but I cannot help asking.  Where's my sword and I demand Gene Kelly has a well choreographed sword fight in front of me in those 'tight' tights.

*

Here's the book, click on the image to go to Amazon.  What can I say, it's where I  get my craft/baking book fix from.

(image from Amazon)

X

Spring forward and back to Easter.

The latest Mollie Makes magazine dropped through my letterbox this morning and the cover filled me with thoughts of Easter past and present.
Easter means, for me, Spring and also birthdays (mine and Eldest Biscuit's to name two of half a dozen), renewal and the colour yellow.  Chocolate of course and weekends with my lovely wee family, holidays from school and work. I do like spring, even if it's usually always still baltic here in my wee bit of Scotland.  Yet the sun shines and that is always lovely don't you think?

So down I sat with my mag and my cappuccino.

Mollie Makes has egg cosies on it's cover that took me back a couple of years.  You may remember I knitted these for Teacher gifts way back in 2010.

Seems like such a long time ago now.

The pattern for these is there for all now in issue twelve and they are well worth the time to knit them up.  Although now I am looking at the photos I did change the pattern after I knitted up the blue one. I confess I hate hate hate garter stitch with a passion.  I think it shows up uneven tension and is quite ugly.  I'm also surprised when designers choose it over other stitches that look so much better.  Anyways I changed the cuff to 'rib' which I thinks looks loads better. I might have to make one for me as I frogged the blue one to make the phone cover you see in the first photo. They are cute and I remember the Teachers I made them for loved them too.

I do love Mollie Makes, such a lovely, inspiring magazine.

Take care, my lovelies.

X

(there is a correction for the crochet flower brooch pattern here if you need it)

A feast for the eyes!

CaKe.  

 What else?

I made these pretties a wee while ago and I'm so glad I took some photos to share their lovely colours with you.  Sorry I have no actual lamingtons to give you (especially you, Victoria), you know I would share any of my bakes with you all and invite you round for a cuppa any day of the week.

You'll just have indulge in looking and then run off and bake something moreish!


Recipe from this...

(image from Amazon)

Click on image to take you to amazon where you can have a look inside if you like.

I love this (and the previous one) so much so I'm urging you to beg borrow or steal it,if you haven't already got it.

Aren't you glad I shared the glory of:

Take care, my lovelies.

X

Spring is in the air...

...even though we woke up to a thick layer of frost this morning.
However Spring is poking it's head up with the daffodils and crocuses.  I have especially been 'feeling it' in my sewing.
The last few weeks I have been embroidering the Daisychain Sampler pattern from Alicia Paulson's Rosy Little Things shop.  I an sewing it in floss rather than crewel and I have been loving it, finding it remarkably soothing and one of the most enjoyable things I have ever made.  I realise as time goes on my true crafting love is hand sewing.  Something I began to learn/feel as I was sewing hex after hex together.  I haven't really tackled embroidery much before, a wee bitty here and there and a dip of the toes in some cross stitch, although I discovered I'm not keen on that. This is my first real foray into such a varying amount of stitches.
Take a looksee...

My cool wee Loftus on the Hipstamatic and north facing window are not doing the colours justice so 'here's one I took earlier'...

 I made this wee house for my Kindle too, copying some of the flower designs from the above pattern and adding a bumblebee and sunny buttons.

I put wadding it it for protection and am glad I made one myself  but I never enjoy using a sewing machine as much as I continually think I am going to.
No doubt I'll make an Autumn/Winter house for it too.  Love my Kindle.  Much easier to stroke cats whilst reading...

I cannot leave without a photo of cake, too pretty to leave out.

Take care, my lovelies.

X