Thursday, April 05, 2012

Childish Gasps and smartie Trees

Helloo,
Smartie Tree
Well Easter is nearly upon us and I don't know about you but to me that means CHOCOLATE!!!. When I was a child, chocolate, sweets of any kind were a real luxury item. My dad was diabetic so no sweets or biscuits were kept in the house ever. At Christmas my stocking contained a slab of toffee and maybe if I was lucky my grandmother Mamie would bring me and my sister some smarties. Easter was wonderful brightly, foil wrapped chocolate eggs filled with jelly tots or smarties. We were always taken to the shop to chose one. I used to save mine and my sister ate hers as fast as possible. When I was 10 we came to Yorkshire to visit Mamie and she bought me a quality street egg. I can't remember how that egg tasted but I remember the cardboard box it came in. It was cream and line drawings of victorian ladies and gents danced around and around. I kept that box for a lot of years it was that special.
My children have a very different relationship with chocolate and sweets. There are always biscuits in the house and usually chocolate too. The chocolate bought in bulk when we go to Belgium or brought in the back of the car by Oma and Opa. The Easter Bunny comes to our house. The children don't even wake us now for the hunt. Elenya turns off the alarm and out into the garden they go to find the loot. It is brought back into the house divided into equal piles and then much of it languishes until I melt it and they dip fruit into it.
Anyway my last week at work one of the ladies mentioned her friend Kelly was making sweet trees. Any sweets you would like I thought it would be a good idea, Smarties of course. It arrived at school on the last day of term and brought it home on the bus.
Smartie Tree
It was worth the effort it brought gasps of excitement from all of the children. They have admired it,carried it around the house finding the best place to display it ( I personally think it looks great on my CK tablecloth) bragged of it to their friends and now they are eating smartie by smartie. I have spoken to Kelly and she assures me that it is ok to put her mobile number on here in case you want a tree of your own. 07413763156 My children are thinking malteaser trees. But I am still thinking jelly tots and smarties.
Smartie Tree
Arianwen xx

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Take a Peek

Hello, can you believe what I woke up to this morning?
006
Take a closer look yep it really is snow! 005We have about four inches, it was fairly trecherous this morning but the roads are now clearing. I am glad I am on holiday and don't have to venture outside. Instead I have made ( and eaten large amounts of) a blueberry cake.Blueberry Cake. I didn't have enough icing sugar to make the spectacular icing suggested - cream, icing sugar and vanilla in a boiler. So I had to botch it but no matter it is delicious. I have finished and blocked Emilie which is good as the sleeves somehow seemed to take forever and cast on a shawl. Yes I do already have quite a few wips on the go but I just couldn't resist. I bought the pattern a while back and then a lot of really nice versions have shown up on Ravelry. The Shawl is called Cloud Illusions and the yarn is dream in colour Starry. I was given the yarn last year as part of the rowan tree exchange and I have been pettin it ever since. Can you see the silver sparkles? StarGazerI am going to team it with silver beads I think it is going to look amazing. Lets hope it lives up to my expectations.
Arianwen xx

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Grey Days

Helloo,
well you can certainly tell it is Easter in my neck of the woods. Cold, grey and raining. The heating has kicked in and we are huddled up inside. The children have had friends to stay both Sunday and Monday night so the house if full of extra childish laughter drifting down the stairs.They are of an age now that they don't need very much intervention from me so I am tucked up on the sofa knitting.Emile Emilie, such a cute little cardigan, she has been my constant companion on the bus for the last few weeks. I bought the yarn Fybrespates Scrumtious, at woolfest last summer, for the specific purpose of making Emilie. The colour is wild! Rich, ginger, gold, the colour of tabby cats. It is not one I would normally wear but I just couldn't resist and I am glad I didn't as it is really lifting my spirits and making me happy.Emile I am onto the sleeves now. They are knit in the round from the sleeve head down so nice and theraputic especially as there isn't going to be any sewing up!
Enjoy your day
Arianwen

Sunday, April 01, 2012

Smells like a bakery in here.

Hello,
how are you all? Ready for the Easter Break? I know I am. I woke up this morning dreaming about marking how sad is that?
Anyway I have decided that this holiday that I am going to try and do as many fun things as possible. High on my list of fun things is cooking not the labourious what is for dinner kind but the special baking kind. I was at BlueADT house a couple of weeks ago and they were busy with all things yeasty. That day they had made a sour dough bread and the remements of a friendship cake were also on offer. Both were delicious!! Anyway this morning I decided I would make a loaf of bread so rummaged around in my baking drawer for the relevant ingredients. The November 11 date on the yeast showed me how long it was since the bread maker had been out. I decided to take a gamble on the bread as I had already made a squash and sweet potato soup. Mmmmmm! The smell of fresh bread is permeating the house. The loaf turned out delicious. Bread But whilst the bread maker was stirring and mixing I was at a bit of a loose end so I took another dive into the baking drawer and pulled out the ingredients for Spiced Apple Cake, a firm family favourite, from the magnolia bakery cookbook. Both cake and bread were happily baking in the oven and I was thinking about the delicious friendship cake that I had eaten at BlueADT's house, now her's wasn't ready for sharing and in fact I probably wouldn't have got around to making it anyway. But holidays mean extra time and google means you can find out anything, so I had a look and came up with this recipe he is now fermenting gently on my windowsill Herman Friendship Cakeand I have ten days to decide what kind of cake he is going to become. If you live close by and would like a little Herman of your own leave me a comment and I will give you some.
Arianwen xx

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