Not just yet

Here we are on the last day of the summer holidays. I couldn't
quite believe that the entire six weeks of the holidays have gone
already and tomorrow Markie will be back at school and it wil be the
start of a new school year. On Monday Lulu will start nursery, an
entirely new experience both for her and for me. There are so many changes and so many things to learn and adjust to again. I don't
 feel I'm ready to face them yet. The girls are excited but I'd quite
 happily have a few more weeks of these quiet, easy days at home
 that I've enjoyed so much these past six weeks. And if summer
can stay around for a bit longer, I'd take that as well. I'm no fan of
 busy days and colder months as you can probably tell. But ready
or not, school will start and Autumn will come *sigh* I just need
to get my head round it all and I'm sure that will come soon.
For now, I'll try and enjoy this last day for as long as I can. I had
a lie-in this morning and then after a late breakfast, took the girls
to our favourite tea room and then the playground. This afternoon
we're at home just taking it easy. The girls are watching Despicable
Me. I might read a bit or crochet.

I've been thinking of how good this summer has been. It's
 probably part of the reason why I'm reluctant to let it go just yet.
 Plus, of course, there's Lulu, our baby, going off to nursery.
 I know it's only for two days a week but it will still be quite a change
 for both of us.  She'll love it, I'm sure, and I'll finally have time
 on my own to spend as I please. As a lovely old lady said on the
 bus today 'The world will be your oyster'. And it will be,
 between 9 and 3 on Mondays and Fridays. It's actually all going
to be good. It doesn't feel quite that way at the moment but
I'm sure it will be. And we might still have an Indian Summer,
after all. That's a nice thing to hope for- I'll be keeping my
 fingers crossed.

Teabread and Cookies

Inspired by all that incredible bread making in last week's
Bake Off, I wanted to have a go, too. I had Chelsea buns in mind, but
the rest of the family wanted lemon squares. I couldn't quite decide
what to bake: lemon squares? Chelsea buns? Then I spied some
over ripe bananas in the fruit bowl and decided to make something
completely different. So there's no bread making this week, nor any lemony bake, what we have instead is Mary Berry's Banana and
 Honey teabread.

This turned out to be a good one to bake. The girls really enjoyed
helping out. There were plenty for them to get involved in- mashing
 the bananas,  rubbing the butter in with the flour and afterwards,
brushing the top of the cooked teabread with warmed honey.

I like that the girls had fun making this so no regrets about the

Chelsea buns. The teabread itself wasn't bad either. It's more dense

 than our usual banana loaf and full of interesting flavours with

 ground nutmeg, lemon zest and honey in the mix. 

We didn't have sugar cubes or nibbed sugar for the topping and
used demerara sugar instead. I always like a sugary, crunchy top
 and the demerara was a good substitute I think.

We all loved this teabread. It was gone the next day so we had
to do some more baking. I decided to try a new cookie recipe-
White Chocolate and Pecan Nut from The Hummingbird Bakery
Cookbook . Well, a version of it really. We couldn't find any pecans
 in the shops so ours turned out as White Chocolate and Hazelnut cookies.

I'm sure they'd taste differently with pecans but we're happy
with these. They're soft and chewy and not too sweet. It's one
of those recipes where you have to freeze the dough first before
baking and that was a bit too long to wait for two excited girls. But
we'll make these again and next time with the pecan nuts hopefully.

Did you enjoy this week's Bake Off?   I thought the wind torte (?)
they had to make in the technical challenge looked so dainty
and pretty. I hope some brides-to-be out there were watching
and make it their wedding cake.

Have a great weekend everyone!


PS. I still haven't given up on the Chelsea buns!

Camping: Take Two

These are photos from our camping trip two weekends ago. It was
our second time and we were back in the same campsite in the
 beautiful Derbyshire countryside. We even pitched our tent at the
same spot as last time. But lots of things were a bit different
this time round. For one, we packed better, just taking the things
we knew we'd use. Tent pitching was quicker and even just getting
to the campsite took less time. We had a better night's sleep too,
even though we still didn't have an air mattress. The camp wasn't
as busy so it was a lot quieter and having arrived earlier, we had
 more time for playing and exploring in nearby fields. We've learned
a lot from last time and it had made this an altogether better, even
more relaxing camping experience.

We had another gorgeous walk up Stanton Moor, and another
moment to marvel at the beautiful landscape. I don't think I'll
ever tire of that wonderful purple view up the moor. I'm ever so
glad we chose to camp nearby, or we wouldn't have known about
this amazing place at all.

I'm very glad too that we've had another go at camping. We're
loving it even more and who knows, we might manage to squeeze
in a third time before summer finally comes to a close. There's
still a week and a bit to go before school starts so if the weather
plays nice this weekend we'll definitely be out there again. And
hopefully next time with an air mattress, rather than without!

Hope you're all having a good start to the week.
See you soon!

Bake Off Challenge: Goosebery and Honey Cake

Now that the The Great British Bake Off is back, I've decided to have
a little Bake Off challenge of my own. The idea for this came from
the lovely Marianne of Ladybird Diaries. Every week throughout the
new series I'm going to bake something new. I'm currently feeling inspired to try out some new recipes, to be a little bit more
adventurous with my baking and I think that the next ten or eleven
 weeks while The Bake Off is on will be the best time to do this.
I'll get inspiration and encouragement from the programme and
I just think it will be great fun too.

So to kick start my Bake Off Challenge I chose Gooseberry and Honey
Cake from the June issue of The Simple Things magazine. 

If you'd asked me a few years ago if I know what gooseberries are

I'd honestly tell you that I have no idea. I only got to taste and like 

these soft fruits about two or three years ago when my father-in-law

started growing them in his allotment. They can be a little tart but when

 they're fully ripe they're lovely and sweet and perfect for summer 

crumbles. I didn't know they can be added in cakes too so I was really eager to try this recipe.

Baking this was straightforward and easy. What was interesting for 

me were the ingredients: instead of the usual sugar, it has honey

and two tablespoons of elderberry cordial to make it sweet and

there's no flour, just ground almonds.  

I think it turned out well. The texture is nice and moist although

it's a little bit greasy. The honey and elderberry cordial were effective

sugar substitutes. I was tempted to sprinkle icing sugar on the top to 

make it less plain looking but decided not to. Maybe next time I will. 

You've also probably noticed that my version is slightly thinner 

compared with the magazine's. It's because I didn't have the required 

baking tin and used one that was a little bit bigger. As for the gooseberries, I think they add a nice, sweet flavour and texture

 to the cake although I think it can do with maybe 50grams more.

So a baking success? Not quite, I think. Because even though the
girls and I like, it my husband's not particularly taken by it. Maybe
he'll enjoy it more with a dollop of creme fraiche as it's suggested
in the magazine. But it has fulfilled my criteria of baking something
 new so I'm still very pleased. I'm now looking forward to my next challenge. Bread, maybe? We'll see!

Hope you're all having a good week. Enjoy tonight's
Bake Off! 

Two in a Row

We've just had two lovely weekends in a row. The weather has been

 nice and summery and we've spent a lot of time outdoors making 

the most of these sunny days. On the first Saturday of the month 

we went strawberry picking. That was great fun. The following day
we went to  Abbeydale Miniature Railway for a friend's daughter's 

birthday picnic. 

Now, do you like little trains? Well, we do, especially small steam or
diesel ones that can whiz you round a track. There are several of these
there and we had the most fantastic time.

The miniature railway is run entirely by the Sheffield and District Society
for Model and Experimental Engineers and is open to the public two
Sundays a month at this time of year.

It is a real hidden gem set in ancient woodland not far from the city centre. It has two stations, two level crossings, two footbridges plus
 a scaled down signal box and of course, the miniature locomotives. There's also a small museum, cafe, fairground organ and a large green area that's perfect for picnics and watching all the little trains go by.

It's a really fantastic place both for kids and grown-ups. You don't
have to be a vintage transport enthusiast to have a great time here
and we feel very lucky to have something like this here in Sheffield.

Last Saturday was lovely and sunny again and we thought it was just
perfect for a picnic in Derbyshire. It's been awhile since we've been to
our favourite picnic spot in Castleton and that's where we decided to go.

Doesn't this look amazing? This is the northern end of Cavedale,
a dry limestone valley that stretches from here to open pasture land
outside of Castleton. The valley sides at this end is so steep they're almost perpendicular. Peveril Castle stands at the top while the
Peak Caverns runs underneath.

We love it here because it's quiet and a bit secluded even though
we're not many steps away from the middle of the village. And of
course there's also that spectacular view.

After lunch we had a little wander along the stream up to the cavern
 entrance. We stopped at the Carlton Emporium but unfortunately,
 or fortunately, I didn't find anything interesting though I did buy a
paperback novel for 50p from a roadside book stall.

On Sunday we were back again in Derbyshire for the annual pilgrimage
 to Padley. We attended an open air mass with my in-laws and it was
another lovely day.

So- two great weekends in a row. This doesn't happen very often and
we've really appreciated and enjoyed these wonderful days. Hopefully
the coming weekends will be just as sunny and full of summer fun
with maybe some adventures too.


Wishing you a good week. See you soon!

Five on Friday

Today I'm joining in with Amy for Five on Friday. It's been awhile
since I've taken part here and I'm so pleased to be able join in today.

My five things are flowers that are currently in bloom in our small
garden. We only have a tiny green space so we just try to work with
what we've got. We have herbs, a small bay tree and a few other plants
plus these two that bloom summer after summer.

I'm not very good with plants and plant names and I'm not sure what
they are both called but I like them. They never fail to bloom every
year, there are always a lot of them and they're also very hardy.

Another 'regular' are the trusty Hostas. They come back and flower
around this time every year too.

Last spring I decided to try my hand at growing annuals. My gardening
skills are, let's just say, limited so I wanted plants that were easy to
look after. I chose geraniums and petunias. So far, they've not only
survived, they've thrived and are now full of flowers!

 I'm really pleased and even a bit surprised with how well they're all doing. I'm planning to have them again next year and try other colour varieties too.

So those are my five-- happy blooms bringing joy and colour to our
small garden. I hope you're all having a lovely Friday. Please visit
Amy's blog to find out more about other bloggers taking part today.

Have a great weekend!

pick your own

We went strawberry picking yesterday at Eastfield Farm in Doncaster.
This is the first time we've ever been to a PYO fruit farm and we were
very excited.

As soon as we got there we got some baskets and headed out to the fields where rows and rows of ripe and sweet strawberries were waiting

to be picked. 

It didn't take us very long to start filling our baskets. Strawberry

picking is so easy and there was so much fruit in every plant. They're

not very obvious at first. I only got glimpses of red here and there as

we walked between the plants.

Then you push aside the leaves and underneath all that green
are the red berries and they are just perfection-- juicy, soft and so
sweet. Freshly picked strawberries taste SO much better than store
bought ones. Definitely.

The girls had a great time. Markie enjoyed picking with us while Lulu

was less serious about it. She picked some but mostly she walked up

and down amongst the plants carrying her almost empty basket and

chattered to us.

We filled up two baskets and we were very pleased with our haul.

Before heading back we stopped at the farm cafe for ice cream

and cream tea. All that work got us hungry, thirsty and a little hot 

and these were just perfect.

Of course as soon as we got home we realized that two baskets of

strawberries is a lot! We certainly got a bit greedy there. But no worries

because we've already turned one basketful into sorbet and granita

and there are plans for a crumble and other desserts. We're also giving

some to friends. We've got a strawberry-tastic week ahead of us!

How about you? Do you like picking your own fruit too? It's certainly
 a great outdoor thing to do in the summer. You just have to be clever
and know what to do with all the fruit you've picked!


Hope you're all having a lovely Sunday evening. Wishing you a
very good week ahead!