Yuletime lunch

Farley Mount on 25th December 2005 after a circular walk to Sparsholt and back. Caramelised Swede soup and ciabatta. Then home to put the goose on.

Cake of the day

Is Wartime Chocolate Cake. Wartime? Yep Second World War - this was a recipe for chocolate cake in the days of rationing as it has no egg in it. Although I wonder how easy the chocolate for the optional fudge icing would have been to get hold of.

Why the sudden interest in baking.....its a Christmas secret.... 

Christmas Preparations

After a weekend feeling bleurgh, I have whipped up these little numbers. Whilst they might look good on the tree that I will eventually get round to buying, they are intended to adorn the many parcels that I will be wrapping for my nephew and nieces. First they can be used as gift tags and then they can hang them on the tree when they are a little older (should they desire)

These little stockings are for the older kiddies and I will be filling them with assorted bits and bobs which they should like. I was very tempted by the toy harmonicas in the Early Learning Centre but reasoned that their parents are perfectly capable of a suitable revenge....

Walking

After a day of eating - a day of walking. As my parents live nearly on top of the North Downs Way, Mr.H and I planned on taking a walk. For me, this was one of the first since our South Downs Way trek in September. We found a suitable one on this site, which, combined with walking out from my parents and back would give us a easily manageable 8 miles.

It started sunny, got rainy around midday but by the time we reached the pub it was sunny again. At one point we were literally ankle deep in mud, but it was good to get out, stretch the legs and breath in lots of fresh air. Took this snap as sunlight through leafy trees makes me feel happy and I was happy on this walk.

Took this next snap as the mixture of the copper leaves with the glossy green ivy trailing over it reminded me of a lush fabric. Nature really does things best....

Birthday

It was my birthday on the 2nd and it started auspiciously with no hot water. Arranged for the "gasman" to come round early next week, had a quick cold shower and then decided I needed spoiling with blueberry pancakes and maple syrup with a spoon of mascarpone on top. Yum.
Mr. Happy had the day off too so we left the house early to catch an exhibition I wanted to see before going for lunch at my sisters. This was 21:21 at the University of the Creative Arts at 'a load of colleges scattered about Kent and Surrey' displaying the textiles of Keiko Sudo and the Nuno Coporation. The gallery space was filled with tall columns of textiles (a forest)with samples to touch (and fondle!) at the side. We were not permitted to touch the columns (of course) but it was so tempting to dive underneath the bottom of some them and stand inside and be surrounded by the fabric. My favorite textile, which I found most inspriational (considering the ever-looming C&G wallhanging) was entitled "tanabata" it had been constructed by using origami techniques and slashing with a hot knife - oooh tempting to try at home! Normally, Mr. Happy would not be dragged to this kind of thing by wild horses but as it was my birthday he was prepared to be amenable.
We then drove on to my sister's nearby where she gave us lunch (butternut squash risotto - yummy) and some lovely presents (including a book on 3 Dimensional embroidery - beautiful and v.handy). Afterwards we tootled over to my parents in Kent who took us out for a slap up Curry at the local Tandori House. (lots more yum).
So apart from the early hot waterless experience a very good day indeed!