Stir It Up Sunday And Practice Christmas.

Good morning.

Yesterday was Stir It Up Sunday when traditionally puddings etc are made. Well I have already made my cake but I did make my mincemeat. I made it with a base of three packets of suet and for a change I added some dried figs - my new fav fresh fruit so thought why not.

I've made extra to use up some of my suet surplus so this is how it worked out.

I have never cooked my mincemeat but did do this time and i have to admit that as the suet melted and coated the dried fruit it made it plump up and the cooking definitely added to the flavour of the mix. 

Not sure how much I made but it was a lot - some jars are big! I was one jar short so there is some in the plastic container in the fridge which might get use in the next couple of days.

It looks a bit funny where the the suet is showing white but I am assured that is ok.

In the last week or so you know I have been getting round to some Christmas papercrafting. Well, I have begun two little projects which is some mini bunting/Christmas garlands. 

These are about an inch and a little more square in size and are taken from the cover of the 12" x 12" papers I bought - waste not want not! 

The second lot are toppers from cards we have received, stickers put onto card and anything else I had in stock that was the right size. I'll string them together but I haven't decided where to put them yet.

I am starting to feel ridiculously Christmassy and I blame Tracy to be honest - but for that I am grateful! Also this weekend we had a kind of pre-Christmas Christmas when Jon's cousin and her fella came to stay. We were presented with gifts to play and eat in this wonderful case/box - I LOVE it! 

We opened it on Friday night/Christmas Eve playing Quizoo, where you have to guess tunes each of you are playing in a kazoo. On Saturday evening we had turkey dinner, well chicken Thai curry, and crackers then played Pictionary. Sunday was out for coffee and a mince pie on Sunday/Boxing day. Just a fabulously, lovely relaxed time and our ideal kind of Christmas.

We've ordered a three-pack of Christmas DVDs and can't wait to start watching those on Sunday afternoon. Friday,1st December, is D Day, Decoration Day, but I think I'll be sneaking a few out tomorrow as the weekend present box came complete with some lovely silver and blue tinsel and lights.

This week I'm starting niggly little cleaning jobs before the main decorations go up. This includes paintwork behind sofas and tables plus bookshelves needing a proper dusting and tidied out in readiness for greenery to be brought in and placed on top of the cupboards etc.

Since I began writing this a few other things have happened. My eldest has come down with a cracking cough so we are off the doctor shortly, therefore the other is suffering with a bit of lacking in attention issue but have that sorted now I think. Also, my mum has managed to fall over and banged her head and broke a bone in her thigh; she will be flat on her back in hospital for some time I think and her dementia will be a challenge for the nurses... We are also visiting Jon's dad who is due to have a heart valve replacement op today so Jon is off to Nantwich on Saturday morning and I will be staying home as we have an Airbnb booking that night! It never rains, however that is exactly what it has been doing A LOT lately, thought not just now!

**********UPDATE, MUM HASN'T BROKEN ANYTHING SO THAT'S A POSITIVE**********

Hate ending a post on doom n gloom but I'm determined not to let it put a downer on things.

Hope you all had a good weekend and look forward to seeing what you have been getting up to.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

It's Beginning.......

I know not everybody is getting ready for the festive season just yet but I am beginning to feel it, I have to be honest, hence the red text so I am pretty much going for it from now!

The odd thing has been collected/bought/made recently to give me a little Christmas spring in my step. In Aber on Sunday I saw this in one of the charity shops and thought it could be used as part of a display or to contain a present, though probably the former as we don't do that many presents.

I had to buy a new Christmas flower, Poinsettia, as last year's did not last like I normally get to do. This was £1.99 from Lidl and is a nice size which fitted in this green pot cover - just needs a bit of ribbon to brighten it up. 

I'm going to leave this with you for now and come back to it at a later date...

I had three Ikea milk bottles on one of the kitchen shelves that looked like this....

and here they are with a few crafting embellishments; I'm really happy with them.

The cakes have been fed again, although I might give it a miss next week as they are very moist so won't matter if they sit for a bit longer. This week I'll be buying the ingredients for my mincemeat which I'll be making after the weekend; this is a task which really makes be feel properly Christmassy! 

I'll also be checking I have all the things I need for this...



I have a pot of this on the side of the Rayburn practically all the way through the festive period. I don't necessarily smell it all the time I am in the kitchen, but when I go out of the room or somebody comes into the kitchen for the first time you can really enjoy the yummy fragrance. It really gets me in the mood when I have my Christmas music on whilst making my mince pies and just getting things ready. Eeeek!

Right, better get on.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Cellar Store Room - One Year On.

Afternoon.

Just a super quick post showing how I'm using my Doomsday Prep cellar store room.

Just a year ago I was so excited that it was finished and couldn't wait to actually use it. Bovey Belle said that in a year I would be running out of space for things so that is why I decided to do a little before and after post.

Here is how the main part of the space looked on completion...

and here is how it looks now. Eeek!

I'm not exactly running out of space but it is definitely VERY useful. The shelves are now home to my spare preserving things along with the goodies I've managed to make this past year. Also I keep coffee/tea etc. supplies for the Airbnb room there as well as spare non-perishable items; I have a few things in stock for Christmas housed on the shelves and I still get a buzz out of going in there!

I've just sorted out a couple of cardboard boxes that were underneath the gingham curtains. They were a little damp, after all it is still a cellar, so as long as non-plastic things are kept off the floor then all is well. I'll soon be bringing up the Christmas decorations as they quite happily live down there now keeping dry in proper boxes.

Such a useful room as I also keep my recycling bags down there in between collections. After Christmas I will give it a good sweep and wash the curtains; I might even take them up a little as they drag on the floor a touch.

Ok, going on about this JUST a bit too much.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Cake and Christmas. Eeek!

Good morning!

We awoke to a temperature of -4 - ooh nippy chippy as we say in our house. The boys went off to school after having warmed their gloves, hat and scarf on the top of the Rayburn. However I myself was kept warm by listening to the beginning of the BBC Radio 2 auctions with Chris Evans for Children In Need and the kindness of those giving money. There was a Christmas feel to the items being bid for along with some early festive music but I more than forgave them. This morning already £809K has been raised for Pudsey's piggy bank! Wow! Last year the total was £5.7 million

In other news I've been baking and creating. It was Jon's birthday at the weekend so I baked for him, and for the first time for me, a coffee and walnut cake.

I've been getting down to some crafting recently by making use of the fab value Christmas papers I bought recently. I love making tags which are big enough to give as a little gift or to use as a decorations around the house; the ones I currently have I think I made about five years ago so I now have a couple of those in stock and also started on a couple of cards. Jon and I don't send each other cards and I don't give them in general; I do like to give them to neighbours who have been helpful and kind over the year.

I also fed the Christmas cakes yesterday for the first time; here they were very well packed up after the mishap last year.

They are now packed away again until next week.

Right, I think that is it for me just now. Regular chores to do today but loving catching up with blogs to see how people are preparing for Christmas. Had a thought the other day to use the sugar syrup left over from preserving the apples to use for making apple vodka. Has anybody ever made apple vodka? I lots of people make flavoured drinks, especially 
Dawn and Tracey.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Winding Down for Winter

I am definitely in wind down mode regarding the garden as it is very much going to sleep just now - oh you lucky people with poly tunnels or greenhouses that survived the recent spate of storms. I am fairly happily resigned to having completed any overwintering jobs, namely my ever present Pak Choi plus the garlic and onions, and that any other outside jobs will be completed soon with Jon's help.

So to the indoors. I absolutely love this time of the year; being cozy inside, only going outside when absolutely necessary and hunkering down with the curtains shut. I have my seasonal planner at the ready and am adding to it daily to ensure we simply have a wonderful Christmas time. 


There'll only be a few mentions of the C word just now but come December 1st I will, as usual, make no apologies for enthusiasm and festive frolics.🎄🎅

Some time ago Jon went to Bookers, the wholesalers, and on the same trip I asked him to bring me some Atora suet (not sure if other suet brands are available?!) He came home with a catering size box of the stuff! Well, this was last Christmas (oops) so some was used for mincemeat last year and dumplings plus more will be used at the end of the month but in the meantime I've made a batch of dumplings for the freezer ready for winter stews. For the size we like a 200g box of suet made 30 of the little delights so that is a good job done.

Love having things put by in the freezer.

I made my Christmas cakes at the beginning of the month but managed to stupidly delete my photos of them; I am due to start feeding them with a bit of alcofrol, hic, next week so will show and tell then. 

Whist ironing this morning I had the TV on in the bedroom just so I could hear something from where I was. I LOVE the Food Channel, especially at certain times of the year, and there were some Christmas,sorry!, adverts on so started thinking of a few ideas for foody delights; I plan on making a luxurious granola come muesli mix containing tasty nuts and fruit etc. I had listed some things I wanted to include and then I found this recipe - 

Christmas Spice Granola.

I have also been trying to use up the ends of bread loaves but wanted something different to savoury croutons. I decided on cinnamon and sugared ones to freeze for use on the top of puddings.

I cut the bread to the right size, melted some butter then sprinkled the bread with some cinnamon sugar I had made previously plus a little extra. I then popped them in the oven, keeping a close eye, until they were a lovely rich colour. 

Yum, and straight in the freezer before I ate the lot!

Talking of croutons I just remembered I made a lovely dish for the boys. I had some leftover chorizo, combined this with the croutons, some frozen peas then melted cheese on the top.

Ok, better crack on.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx