{ my august }

And so the year continues to fly along at a frightening pace. It may be a little too soon to mention the C word, but go on, admit it, you've had a few thoughts already haven't you? 

August has been a slightly strange month. I've been wrapped up in cardigans and contemplating all sorts of lovely autumnal things, and yet, isn't this supposed to be the height of summer. And then, all of a sudden, we get the most gorgeous Bank Holiday weekend weather, all blue skies and sunshine, and we feel silly in our cardigans, until just as suddenly as it appeared it disappears again, and I don't feel so bad returning to all those autumnal musings again.

{ knitting }

Thankfully this un-summery weather is perfect for sitting knitting cosy big blankets, and snug as a bug bobble hats, so for that I am most grateful. No sign yet of anything for sale, but this month has been far more productive than others, and we are getting closer to popping a few things up on Etsy.

I had some lovely reactions to my knitted wallhangings when they were posted on Instagram, and they've been a lovely way to use up left over yarn, and are a lot quicker to knit than those cosy big blankets.  I have one more waiting to be blocked and hung, and once I have a few more ends of balls left I'll be knitting a few more.

I can't wait to show you those snug as a bug hats I've been working on. Super snuggly and cute, and perfect for those autumn days that are already knocking on the door.

{ eating }

The extremes of this month was perhaps most evident in what I ate.  I finally ventured into the garden and tackled the greenhouse, which had started to resemble Sleeping Beauty's castle.  On the upside to this was a lovely haul of blackberries growing amongst the brambles.  I have a new found respect for anyone who goes foraging each year for blackberries.  The deliciousness of the blackberries made up for the numerous scratches and prickles, though I may stick to buying my fruit from the farm shop.

August is a birthday month in our family, with my Dad's on the 9th, and my Mum's falling on Bank Holiday weekend.  Traditionally a homemade birthday cake is made for all family birthday's, and as my Dad is rather partial to dark chocolate this year's cake was a Chocolate Mud Cake.  Filled with raspberry jam, rather than the ganache, and topped with flowers it was handed over with much love, and eaten with much enjoyment.

And whilst there has been plenty of summer berries, there has also been plenty of soup and stew making.  It seems wrong to be wanting comforting bowls of soup and stew, but I'll take being warm over eating salads just because it's summer.  My go-to favourite soup is a spicy butternut squash and carrot, topped with chilli roasted seeds, though I think perhaps I need to extend my soup repertoire this autumn and winter, so any suggestions and favourites are welcomed.

{ visiting }

It really has been a month of home sweet home for me, the only exception being an outing to Hay on Wye.  It had been year's since I had been, though it's an annual trip for my book loving parents. I'd forgotten quite how many bookshops there are, but also how many vintage and antique shops too.

Khoollect's wanderlust post on Hay provided some useful tips on where to brunch and lunch, in particular the great cafe at the back of Richard Booth's Bookstore and Cinema.  I breakfasted there with the yummiest selection of breads which turned a simple breakfast of toast and blackcurrant jam into something just that little bit more.  The Old Electric Shop was an eclectic mix of loveliness for you and for your home, supporting local artists and makers, also with a rather lovely cafe at the front of the shop. 

If you haven't been, and have even a passing interest in books then pop it on the list of places to visit next year.

September is off to a super busy start with a weekend full of musing over The Trouble with Goats and Sheep at The Little Book Club, and meeting the makers at the Quartermasters Market in the Jewellery Quarter, and at Pop Up + Hustle over at Tur Langton.  After which I'll be staying home as I'll have probably spent all my money at those two lovely events!

{ have a happy day }

{ my february }

One more day of February to go.  A month of wonderful contradictions;  snow showers, spring flowers, gloomy days, rainbow days, happy days, not so happy days.  If January felt a quiet month, then the silence of February has been truly deadening, and at times I've felt, almost, hermit like in my contentment to stay home.  I'm sure this will change once Spring starts to show her face, if only to entice me out into the garden, to tidy away the Winter weeds and to make plans of flowers, fruit and vegetables to grow.  

But, that will not be for a little while yet, so back to the sweetly short month of February.

{ buying }

I can't resist the small bunches of tulips and daffodils on my local flower stall.  Not too expensive, they've become an affordable, weekly treat.  Buying the tightly budded daffodils and watching them bloom overnight, they never fail to make me smile as they greet me in my office each morning.  Their season may be short but sweet and I'll be making the most of it whilst it lasts.

{ baking }

Whilst there might be signs of Spring in those beautiful blooms, in reality the wind, rain, storms Doris & Ewan, are a reminder that it is still Winter.  And that has been reflected in this month's baking and cooking.  Soups are still my go-to lunch, particularly when there's a homemade loaf of bread in the pantry.  My favourite this month has been a Roasted Tomato Soup, Colm's Soup, from What Katie Ate.  Tomato's are roasted with slivers of garlic and a slight sheen of olive oil, for a couple of hours, filling the house with a wonderful aroma, and you will be tempted to skip the soup and just pile those tomato's on slices of toasted sourdough for a wonderfully simple bruschetta.  So, roast a few extra and enjoy that bruschetta whilst your soup slowly simmers for another hour or so, then enjoy your soup, topped, as Katie suggests, with { a few more } slices of sourdough, topped with slices of goat's cheese.  Comfort food, that also counts as a few of your five { or is it ten now ? } a day.

Speaking of comfort food, a surfeit of bread, left over from some meditative bread making, led me to make some mini bread & butter puddings for this month's Bumpkin Betty Baking Club.  Topped with a slice of blush orange, that caramelised wonderfully in the oven, they were then drowned in home made custard.  A proper pudding to make you feel all warm & fuzzy inside.  In balance to this mini indulgence, I'm still enjoying an equally comforting, and slightly healthier, bowl of porridge most mornings.  I think I will forever be grateful to whoever decided that porridge deserved to be pimped with a myriad of toppings.  Amongst my favourites this month, a seasonal baked pear, on top of cinnamon spiced oats, with a good dollop of greek yogurt and a scattering of chopped pistachios.

{ reading }

Continuing my reading of Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries, whose marmalade making partly inspired the addition of oranges to my mini bread puddings, and whose virtuous stew of mushrooms and spelt made me feel I could justify the said mini bread pudding.  I've several more February recipes bookmarked to try as soon as I can, particularly his recipe for Butter Beans with Mustard & Tomato, eager to see if this can better my current go-to baked bean recipe.

I finished "Tony and Susan", though after a good start, I felt it floundered in the middle, and for the first time I preferred the film over the book.  Happily, I'm now reading "The Green Road" by Anne Enright, one of those books that you carry everywhere, hoping to find a quiet few minutes to read a little more.  The story of an Irish family, a fractured family, their individual  and collective stories, as they are scattered around the world, then brought back together by the selling of their family home. 

{ visiting }

Despite my hermit tendencies this month, there have been a couple of notable outings, both involving cake.  I think I have proven my love of cake, with the battling through Storm Doris, to make a return visit to H&F Vintage Tearooms in Chesterfield.  Luckily this gem of a tearoom is a convenient half way point between a friend and I, and has now become our regular meeting spot.  The fact that it has the most amazing cake selection is a wonderful added bonus.  You can read my review of the tearoom over on The Clandestine Cake Club, along with a few more tempting pictures of cake, afternoon tea, and all other sorts of loveliness.

And speaking of The Clandestine Cake Club, this was my other outing of the month.  My first as host of the Birmingham group, and held at the Creative Coffee Hub.  As with every other cake club event I've been to, it was a lovely couple of hours of cake, coffee, and lots of chit chat, and a general sense of putting the world to rights.  A medley of sweet inspired cakes saw a table heaving with Lemon Sherbet, Rhubarb and Custard, Cadbury Caramel, Crunchie, Jelly Baby and Liquorice cakes.  A lovely afternoon, but I'm thinking perhaps my March outings should be to something a little healthier, or at least something that feeds my soul, rather than my tummy.

Make the most of the last days of February.  I will be curled up on the sofa finishing my book and plotting those, slightly more healthy and soulful, March outings.

{ have a happy day }

{ love, cake, candy & cocktails . twelve sweet treats to make this Valentine's Day }

As Valentine's Day is tomorrow, I'm assuming { hoping & praying } that if you have a special someone you've bought the card, ordered the flowers, wrapped the gift.  But maybe now you're looking for that extra something, something to bring an added sweet something.  Or maybe you haven't bought the card ordered the flowers, wrapped a gift, and are looking for that last minute something to rescue the day from complete disaster?  Here are few sweet somethings that you still have time to bake and make.  Failing that, just scroll right to the bottom and head for the drinks shelf to mix up a love potion or two!

{ persian love cake / mini vanilla cakes / buttercream roses }

{ amaretto truffles / rose turkish delight / strawberry fudge }

{ chocolate & rose tart / strawberry cheesecakes / blackberry & raspberry kisses }

{ Valentine's Cocktail / Love Potion / Valentine's Chocolate }

{ have a sweet day }

. my festive five . a medley of mincePies .

i have a bit of a love / hate relationship with mince pies . i love them when they're homemade . i love them when they're fresh out of the oven . so hot you burn your mouth on the mincemeat . i love them when they're not too sweet . when they are drowning in a bowl of vanilla custard . 

and equally . i hate { most } shop bought pies . i hate them when they're cold . when they are filled with a measly amount of fruit . i hate them when they are sweet enough to set your teeth on edge . and . i hate them outside of the month of december . in a world where we can seemingly lay our hands on anything, at any time of year, anywhere in the world, my unspoken rule is that mince pies should only be enjoyed in the month of december .

so now it is december . lets enjoy them in as many ways as we can . 

lets start with a lovely homemade mincemeat . for so many years i bought the " luxury " mincemeat - by the way, don't you love that most recipes for mince pies use shop bought mincemeat, but ask that it be " luxury " mincemeat, as if, in some way, that mitigates the use of a shop bought mincemeat ? anyway, i digress - but over the past few years i've become a bit wary of what ingredients are included, how much sugar is added, the suet, things that perhaps aren't that necessary ?  a little bit of googling & pinteresting later and i found a fruit mince recipe on TheHealthyChef . apples, cranberries, raisins, spices and apple juice simmer away for an hour to produce The Most Heavenly { and totally deserving of those capital letters } mince meat . you will be eating it from the jar . you will be adding it to your morning porridge . and . you will be questioning your logic of only making half a batch ?

as it doesn't have lots of added sugars and things it won't keep for as long as other mincemeats, but i don't think this will be a great problem . the longest a jar has lasted me so far is three days .

onto pastry . for years i used a simple shortcrust pastry . that is until i stumbled across Paul Hollywood's recipe for mince pies . oodles of butter, a little sugar to sweeten it, enriched with an egg, it's an indulgent pastry, but then it is christmas . 

and there you go . my favourites to make up a classic mince pie . 

but . in the spirit of my festive five . lets mix things up a bit & add a few variations . 

{ two . mince pies topped with a cinnamon streusel crumble }

{ three . mince pies topped with a homemade marzipan star }

classic christmas flavours of cinnamon & marzipan inspired variations two and three . the crumble topping is spicier and lighter than the usual pastry lid, the marzipan star brings another sweet dimension, and is reminiscent of a frangipane topped tart - which would also be quite lovely .

last year i spotted so many mince pies topped with viennese whirls, though didn't give them a go . with this year's viennese whirl making fresh in my mind these became mince pie number four . and for the last of my medley of mince pies, a recipe i found last year . in that after christmas lull, when you may just have reached your fill of the classic pie, and you are looking for ways to use up the last of the leftover mince meat and the words Sticky . Toffee . Apple . jump out at you . imagine a mince pie married with a slice of gingerbread . the best of christmas in one little bite !

{ four . mince pies topped with a viennese whirl }

{ five . mince pies topped with a sticky toffee sponge and slices of apple }

so there they are . my medley of mince pies .

oh . i forgot to mention in the recipes . 

to finish . dust liberally with icing sugar . it looks pretty . hides a multitude of baking sins . and . well. just because it's christmas .

after a couple of months absence, i'm pleased to be able to bake again as part of Bumpkin Betty's Baking Club . with this month's All Things Festive theme . i'm sure i won't be the only baker to choose mince pies  . but so far there have been a wonderful array of festive bakes;

. Jennie's . Malteaser Mini Reindeer Chocolate Cheesecake .

. Angela's . Christmas Character Cakes .

. Betty's . Festive Iced Cookies .

. Bethan's . Christmas Pudding Balls .

and . lots more on the club page to drool over . there's still time to join in the festive baking, so head over to the facebook page or her beautiful blog .

. have a hAppy dAy .

. hAppy weekEnd .

. 1 . spent a fAbulous day at Fabulous Spaces Summer Market .

{ if you're in the area you can pOp along tomorrow too } .

. 2 . dreaming of sUmmer dresses . via . Smallable .

. 3 . and a little more . via . Bonpoint .

. 4 . and looking ahead to Spring&Summer'17 at ILovePlaytimeParis .

{ including this beautiful new collection from Christina Rohde } .

. 5 . a very pretty pink tipple from Wallflower Kitchen .

. 6 . a very pretty post on making plans from Makelight .

. 7 . a very pretty window spotted by PaperFashion .

. 8 . thought for today .

. 9 . F is for {Absolutely} Fabulous . from . Gary Birks . on . RockettStGeorge .

. & . finally . strawberries & cream marshmallows . from BakedByJoanna .

{ the perfect treat whilst watching Wimbledon } .

. have a hAppy dAy .

. rAspberry & rOse friAnds . with . lemOn drizzle .

despite already being a member of { several } groups of the Clandestine Cake Club . & . having plenty of reasons to bake cake . i became a member of Bumpkin Betty's Baking Club a little while back . because . well . there really isn't such a thing as too much cake . is there ? but . then life got in the way . & . i never quite got around to joining in with the last couple of months .

so . this month i knew i had to squeeze in a little time to bake . & . squeeze it in i did . hence the not so great photo's . & . the rather hurried . { ok . non-existent } . styling !

the theme for this month was ' free-from ' . & . i knew the perfect book to go to for some inspiration . Clean Cakes by Henrietta Inman has become one of my favourite baking books . i've already tried out several recipes from her book;  coconut ice . coconut cacao quinoa bars . fig & ginger tea bread . & . an extra fruity fruit loaf . all with great success . & . very quickly scoffed !

but for this i wanted something a little more summery . something with berries . & . so i spotted her recipe for Lemon, Strawberry & Earl Grey Friands . & . decided they would be perfect to put a twist on . swapping raspberries for the strawberries . & . rose water for the earl grey .

making these with either a dairy free butter . or . as i did . with coconut oil makes them dairy-free . they are sweetened with honey . making them refinedsugar-free . & . the flours are brown rice & sorghum . making them nicely gluten-free .

i did have a ponder over switching the egg whites for aquafaba . { the liquid you get in a tin of chickpeas for those who've never heard of it before } . but thought that might be a step too far . 

my lemon drizzle topping is a little different to the original recipe . which uses agave sugar . but i found that the greek yogurt gave the same look as the glaze on Henrietta's friands & added a lovely fresh tang that complemented the lemon .

oh . & . i also don't have a friand tin . { note to self:  buy a friand tin ! } . so mine were baked in a baking tin for small fairy cakes . & . worked just as well . even if they don't look quite so ' friand ' like . . . 

small but perfectly formed friands . . .

and with the glaze . . .

and . what did Bumpkin Betty's other Bakers bake i hear you ask . . ?

. BumpkinBetty herself baked a gluten-free chocolate berry tart .

. { another } Betty . from . TheBettyStamp baked some gluten-free date & banana energy bites .

. Emma . from . Emma'sPicturePostcards made her mum's { naturally } gluten-free pavlova .

. Angela . who writes . OnlyCrumbsRemain . baked an egg-free lemon mousse cake .

and

. Sophie . who writes . ALadyBakes made flourless chocolate brownies .

if you love baking & would like to join in then you can join the club here . & . you can read Jaclyn's { aka.BumpkinBetty} lovely write up of last months ' Spring has Sprung ' theme over on her blog .

. have a sweet & hAppy dAy .

. hAppy weekEnd .

. 1 . yAy . finally found a little time to share some lovely things with you all !

{ starting with this cUte dIy vase from Kailo Chic } .

. 2 . who knew that hanging out at the laundrOmat could look this lOvely ?

{ by Paulette did . not one . not two . not three . but four lOvely Lavomatic shoots ! } .

. 3 . wOnderfully surreal papier mache masks !

{ created by the artist Elsa Dray Farges }

. 4 . prEtty pOm pOms . 

. 5 . cAmping just got a whole lot more appealing thanks to Orla Kiely .

. 6 . in days before sAtnAvs we had super pretty maps instead . 
{ is it wrong that i kind of miss those days ? }
. 7 . from the literal & the precise . to . the abstract & the imaginary .
. 8 . my thought for today .
. 9 . spOtted on pinterest . flowers to brighten up your day .
. & . finally . soup for a { british } spring saturday . 
{ and . lOve the idea of sweet potato wedges to dUnk ! } .

. have a hAppy dAy .

. hAppy fridAy .

. 1 . a belAted hAppy 90th birthdAy to our queen .

. 2 . this is the prettiest upside down rhubarb cake i've ever seen .

. 3 . a rose printed blouse for StGeorge'sDay tomorrow .

. 4 . a vintage Liberty print makes for a very Ladylike dress .

. 5 . spOtted on Instagram @chichihooo . lOng live the Queen .

. 6 . feel like a queen by wearing this beautiful crown .

. 7 . a little more pretty food with this white chocolate panna cotta .

. 8 . today this seems a very apt quote .

. 9 . as does this image spOtted on Instagram titled WeekendVibes .

. & . finally . rhubarb in the fridge ready to be turned into a myriad of lovely things . a little cake . a little jam . & . a little tart .

. have a very hAppy dAy .

. hAppy fridAy .

. 1 . this cUte sOck mOnkey brought a smile to my face this week .

. 2 . as did this sUper cute sneaky peek at the new baby range from LaDeDahKids .

. 3 . wOndering if they'd make me a pair of these in my size ?

{ oh . and . hAppy 10th birthdAy to Not On the High Street } .

. 4 . wOndering if they'd make me a cute cloud blouse in my size ?

{ spOtted on Instagram at pepper.pics } .

. 5 . lOving the beautiful tiles on the beautiful Sugarhouse Studios .

{ spOtted on Instagram at thewelshhouse } .

. 6 . sadly missed out on seeing the Monet exhibition at the RA . 

       so . looking forward to making time to see Dutch Flowers at the National Gallery . 

. 7 . this lovely image makes me want to put Little Women onto my 2016 Reading List .

. 8 . thought for today .

{ it had to be a coffee quote for Uk Coffee Week }

. 9 . speaking of coffee . 

       i'd quite like to be drinking my morning coffee from this lovely espresso cup .

. & . finally . what better to accompany that cup of coffee that a lovely slice of cake .

. have a hAppy dAy .