2011

It's almost upon us, 

comes but once a year. 

Time to raise our glasses

and wave goodbye to the year.

Look back on all that's 

been and gone.

Memories good and bad.

Plans to look forward

to what before us lies.

Resolute to all good things

onward, upward, fly.

So farewell to 2011

Strangely i'll be sad to see you go.

No doubt i'll shed a tear or two but no one needs to know. 

Don't wait up!

Griddle Pan Waffles/Epic Hot Chocolate

Well this morning seemed like a good day to try Jamie Oliver's Griddle Pan Waffles. I have been back time and again since watching the recent festive episodes and tried the Epic Hot Chocolate also pictured above as well as the semifreddo. So as you can see i pulled all the ingredients together and let them rest as suggested and once hubby was up got on with cooking it. It seemed to be doing quite nicely until i tried flipping it as suggested. Our pan sat to one side slightly which mean't one side was more than ready but not so much the other but we split it in half and got by. So out came one half in one complete piece whilst hubbies half came out in kinda odds and sods lol. I sliced mine into pieces like Jamie did but refrained from dipping it in the hot chocolate.

My first impression of the waffles is NO to salt. If you're going to eat these with a fried egg or bacon on top then i'm sure that's nice but not when you prefer as i do a sweet topping. I pretty much never used salt and my taste buds were like, what is that all about. So i would make it again without salt if it's for a sweet breakfast. As for the Epic hot chocolate, in all honesty i just don't feel it's that 'epic'. I struggle to get the 70% cocoa solid chocolate to melt thoroughly and am aware of the texture of all the ingredients if that makes sense but i'm pleased I've tried it now, it's all experience. So the countdown continues, New Year is just around the corner. Do you have plans?

That time of year

‘It doesn’t feel like Christmas’.

   Is what I say each year.

‘But what does Christmas feel like?’

   replies mummy dear.

It doesn’t feel like Christmas.

   For all the time we spend.

Preparing for that special time,

   and hoping it won’t end.

Each year I try to recapture,

   those memories so dear.

When a small glass of sherry

   was a treat once a year.

When on the bed each morning

   a stocking would be found.

Brimmed with lots of goodies

   that cost less than a pound.

No tiptoeing at the crack of dawn

   to look under the tree.

A quick squeeze and a shake,

   ‘Oops that’s not for me!’

We’ve put up decorations,

   tinsel and our tree.

The house is covered in fairy lights

   as far as the eye can see.

‘But Christmas is for children’,

   is what I’m being told?

But I still want that excitement

   even though I’m getting old-er.

It’s getting too commercialised.

   The true meaning been forgot

but you don’t have to jump on the wagon

   and get the lot.

So when this Christmas comes around

   we’ll enjoy it all the same.

Because although each Christmas is different.

   The memories remain.

Kerridwen Jeffery

I wrote this some years ago now but each year the same thoughts run through my head, what does Christmas feel like for you? My mum said yesterday we base our thoughts of Christmas on old memories and hope that each year will live up to them, but some of those memories are from childhood when the stress we put on ourselves as a grown up don't exist, the magic still prevails.

I don't know how much longer i shall be adding to my blog, i love to share my thoughts but sharing is what counts where blogs are concerned and it's so nice when someone stops by and leaves a comment. So if you stop by and have a read and have a moment, please say hi.

Happy New Year 2012, i hope you bring with you some good cheer :)

Foot note! These are my thoughts and feelings please do not steal those and claim them as your own but better still find a quiet corner with pen and paper and see what thoughts come to mind and before you know it you may have your own festive poem :)

More Festive Delights

Ok so it's been baking, baking and more baking. Today i made Merry Berry Cheese Bars. I found this recipe over at Silver Boxes and saved it as you do with a view to trying it and today was the day. Fortunately i had all the things i needed although i did think maybe i wouldn't. I swapped cranberries for blackberries and was slightly confused about the jellied variety so used just the juice from the tin which of course gave a lovely marbled effect to the cheesecake layer and gave that layer time to set before trying to crumble the remaining mixture on top to which i added some packet crumble to fill out the gaps. Well i have tried a little but am looking forward to a proper piece with cream later :)

These cupcakes are just a basic vanilla cake with buttercream icing to which i added some Mocha spread (with coffee beans pieces) found at Lidl which made for a lovely tasting buttercream and then added the orange cinnamon stars on top for decoration. Got to play with another of my nozzles too :)

 The Christmas trees here were vanilla buttercream piped on with very little green colour added, was a bit concerned when i saw all the E No's that were in it. Pastel tree's, less predictable lol

 The following two cupcakes were made using rolled out fondant icing. I topped the cupcakes with buttercream and then cut out the shape with a traditional cutter. I pre-made the snowflakes using the same fondant icing adding a touch of blue and left them to harden over night and added the silver balls. 

This was made the same way and the snowmen were bought as they were. These are also pretty tasty if i do say so myself  :)

Can you tell what i spent Saturday doing....details to follow when it's not so late :)

Chocolate Marshmallow Muffins

 Gingerbread Mincemeat Crumbles...

 Gingerbread Snowflakes

All behind!

It's my Blogoversary, thanks to Teena in Toronto for pointing that out. Happy Blogoversary to me :)

So over at Christmas Cards All Year Round you will find the final challenge for this year and my final challenge as part of their DT. Sadly i declined from continuing due to new job obligations of which there are now none as i gave up one job to be more flexible for the other and then lost the other. That's a story for another day...

So the challenge for this month was Anything goes and so i adopted a card technique found in a magazine which i will add when i find it to make funky trees. Here are my three (yes another month where i only manged three, that said i made quite a few others it's just that a friend bought them from me. Anyway here are my three funky trees.

I really like how these turned out and the are pretty simple to do and use up lots of bits of paper so keep them for other trees.

I have been baking as is the norm for me, surprisingly i haven't been put off. Today's baking was some Tangy Lemon Squares. Why is it you never have the right size tin...hey ho improvisation seems to have worked and if there is a next time i will endeavour to try something smaller.

Also this month i have been going gingerbread mad lol

I have made and love gingerbread mince pies, never will i be tempted to just have pastry for my mince pies again lol. Also cheesecake bites borrowed from created by Diane

This is my gingerbread mince pie with crumble topping, i have done bother ordinary tops for them and crumbly ones and the crumbly ones are my favourite :)

These are Diane's cheesecake bites but instead of using a ball of gingerbread i rolled it out again like i did for the mince pie and piped the cream cheese in. The gingerbread rose leaving a bit of a gap from filling but they still got eaten lol

Well that's me for today. Wishing you all seasons greetings :)