Except more gross.
I comforted myself by saying bad things happen in 3s- and then the woman in waterstones was rude to me! (yes, I know, it's Christmas and she probably has had to deal with 10001 people who never go to bookshops usually and need loads of assistance and asking silly questions, and kids running riot and probably my surname being difficult to spell was the last straw, but giving me a new surname won't help).
Gah.
Or maybe I'm now due 2 more bad experiences?
Please say I'm not!
Today has been a good day too- Sarah and Dan came over and bough Alice- who's now learned to walk- she's a bit wobbly but she's so there! she can stand up more than long enough to remove all the items from the book case/magnets off the fridge/ things off the coffee table- Next time the visit we'll have to just put everything in crates and put it back out after she's super quick and agile.The coat I bought her last year now fits (I bought it too big ready for this year!) and she looks sooooo cute in it!
We had tea and fondant fancies.
This afternoon I had set myself some missions-
I went into town to go to the pop up shop.
Loads of really god handcrafted items from local artists and everything was selling super quickly! Today was the first day it was open (It's also small business day! support the little guys!) and already most of the art has sold. There are some beautiful things and there will be some very lucky people getting awesome and individual xmas presents.
Here is the link to the event incase you wanted to visit or find out more:
https://www.facebook.com/events/231264263714857/
I also went to Waterstones to look at the Malaysia book they'd ordered in- it had 3 pages on Penang so it actually wasn't very useful.
Back to the drawing board on that front I suppose.
Randi is coming to stay the week after next so maybe she'll have some suggestions for me for good books to buy and I do have helens book on Asia in the mean time. I'm going to ry and persuade Randi to book for us to do a Malaysian cookery course whilst we're out there.
I also looked for a copy of"death comes to pemberly" by PD James. They had an awesome looking copy of Crime and Punishment- Which is my all time favourite book. My copy is so well read the pages have started to fall out- I can't say I wasn't tempted to treat myself.
They didn't have a copy so I've ordered it through their website (I know, they were rude and didn't deserve my custom but I can't remember my amazon password and I tried ALL the charity shops on my way home for a copy too).
I have never read anything by PD James before- but as you know I adore Jane Austen's work and I'm curious to see what this sequel is like- I know it's quite tongue in cheek.
And, I have to read it before Boxing day as the book has been turned into a TV Drama and will be showing- at the same time as Downton Abbey (which I haven't watched any of so theres no competition there even if you'd like there to be Daily Mail!)
Heaving bosoms, haughty put-downs, a smattering of suspicion and a huge dollop of deceit...
Add dazzling period costumes and a mysterious murder and the battle lines are drawn for the clash of the TV period dramas this Christmas.
Downton Abbey’s two-hour festive special is sure to attract millions of viewers to ITV. But not to be cowed, the BBC has responded by reviving one of literature’s greatest heroines – and one of its biggest audience hits – with an imaginative sequel to Pride And Prejudice.
As the dramas prepare to square up, The Mail on Sunday has been given exclusive access to both to predict which might come out on top. But don’t worry, we won’t ruin the endings.
Jane Austen’s best-known characters, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, are returning to our screens thanks to a three-part adaptation of PD James’s best-selling novel Death Comes To Pemberley, with Matthew Rhys taking the romantic role of Darcy that catapulted the wet-shirted Colin Firth to stardom.
The sequel picks up the story when Darcy and Lizzie have been married for six years.
Now parents to two young sons, they are preparing for the annual ball at their palatial Pemberley home when the unannounced arrival of Lydia Wickham, Elizabeth’s wayward sister, brings an shocking halt to proceedings.
Shrieking loudly, Lydia stumbles out of her carriage yelling that her husband George, the caddish soldier with whom she eloped in Austen’s novel, has been murdered.
Darcy quickly sends out a search party and a bloody corpse is discovered. But is the victim Wickham, or his friend Captain Denny?
Meanwhile at Downton Abbey the Crawleys, too, are preparing for a party. The flighty Lady Rose is ‘coming out’ at her debutante’s ball where she will be presented to King George V, so the family have decamped to London.
And for widowed Lady Mary, the continued attentions of two adoring suitors – Lord Gillingham and Charles Blake – leads to an agonising quandary...
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2516159/Downton-Darcy-Let-battle-begin-Cool-Mary-faces-prim-Lizzie-clash-Christmas-TV-titans.html#ixzz2moeHsflN
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
My cake plan-
On Christmas day My parents and Traff will be here- Which will be awesome! I've got the london game to play in the evening and dinner is at 3:30 at the Carvery so that fits with Traff's work times- so everything was going smoothly- until my mum asked about christmas cake "to go with supper"(Which I also had forgotten about and must remember to buy english muffins and cheese).
1) I hate fruit cake. Theres just something odd about it. Cherries = fine. Everything else = Gross. Maybe it's just dried fruits I don't like in cake. I like them on their own!
2) It's too late to start one now as it has to sit for ages.
3) I did think about making one but I don't have anywhere to sit it and let it "rest".
4) The cookery teacher at work offered to teach the staff how to make their cakes but I forgot to go to the lesson and didn't feel brave enough or inclined (see 1) to bother to make one at home.
So, I require an alternative plan- this was handed to me on a plate (no pun intended) Today when Heather at Sprinkle bakes posted her most recent creation- Black forest cake.
I'm going to steal her alternative to cream- As there is no way we can fir a cake in the fridge! and her instructions for making the cherry filling (Whole cherries sounds difficult to cut) and for her frosting as it sounds interesting. The advantage of not using cream is that I can make the cake the day before, and keep the fillings in the fridge, assemble it xmas morning and then leave it out.
No melty/sour cream disaster.
I will however be using a normal chocolate cake recipe (Sprinkle bakes recipe uses buttermilk and I don't even know what that is!)- and it's doubtful mine will be as perfect as hers! *cake envy*
Boiled whipped vanilla filling
1/4 cup/32g flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups/460g whole milk
2 cups/1 lb unsalted butter, softened
2 cups/400g granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together flour and 1/2 cup of milk until smooth. Set over medium heat and let cook for 3 minutes, or until slightly hot. Whisk in remaining milk and salt. Whisk constantly until the mixture is thick and paste-like (almost like pudding). Remove from heat and pour into a separate bowl. Place in the refrigerator until cool. When cool, mixture will be thick like set custard.
- In a large bowl (or bowl of a stand mixer, if you have one) beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add vanilla and mix well. Beat in cooled flour mixture one tablespoon at a time on medium-high speed. When all the flour mixture is added, beat on high speed until light and fluffy, about 6 minutes. Rub a little frosting between your fingers, if sugar granules remain, beat for 4 more minutes, or until granules cannot be detected with fingers. Set aside (do not refrigerate) and prepare cherries and syrup.
24 oz. jar morello cherries in light syrup
3 tablespoons kirschwasser liqueur
1/4 cup/50g granulated sugar
6 oz. black cherry jam or jelly
- Drain cherries and reserve 3/4 cup of cherry juice. Chop cherries (I used a food processor) and press through a sieve to remove additional juice created during chopping. Stir cherries together with black cherry jam or jelly. Set aside.
- Combine 3/4 cup cherry juice and 1/4 cup sugar in a small saucepan. Set over low heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove and stir in kirsch liqueur.
1/2 cup/46g unsweet cocoa powder
1/2 cup/115g freshly brewed hot coffee
1/4 cup/50g granulated sugar
2 cups/1 lb. unsalted butter, softened
3 1/2 cups/ 1 1/2 lbs. semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
- Combine cocoa and hot coffee in a small bowl; whisk until smooth and set aside to cool. Beat sugar and butter together in a large bowl using an electric mixer (or stand mixer with whip attachment, preferred). Gradually beat in cooled chocolate; scrape down bowl and beat again. With the mixer on medium-low speed, gradually add cocoa/coffee mixture. Beat until smooth. If frosting is too lax to frost cake, place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, or until just firm enough to spread.
If you think you're kitchen capable enough here is the link- but I know my kitchen limitations and even the frosting surpasses them!
http://www.sprinklebakes.com/2013/12/black-forest-dome-cake.html
No comments:
Post a Comment