Love those cupcakes

Logging off

It's time to re-charge the batteries so I'm off to the casa in Spain until Easter. I'll leave you with some of the latest cupcakes.

 

    

"Trust me, I'm a doctor"

I was Googling NHS related information for work and came across this list of things you'd probably rather not hear whilst having surgery.  As well as making me smile, it brought to mind the game that used to be played quite a lot in our house, which seems to have had a lasting effect as the Gorgeous Girlie's favourite pyjamas these days are a set of scrubs!

      Ten things you don't want to hear during surgery

      1.   Oops!

      2.   Come back with that!  Bad dog!

      3.   Damn.  Page 47 of the manual is missing.

      4.   Pass me that ........er.......thingy.

      5.   Hang on a minute, if that's his spleen, what's this?
     
      6.   What do you mean, you want a divorce?

      7.   It'll be alright, the floor looks clean.

      8.   If I can just remember how they did this on ER last week.

      9.   That was some party last night.  I'm still drunk.

     10.   FIRE!  FIRE!  Everybody out!
                                 

                               

It's a cat thing

What is it with cats and cardboard boxes?

A little unseasonal knitting

As if I didn't have enough knitting on the go (I'm running out of needles), I started this scarf at the weekend.  The pattern is really easy (even for me) and the yarn I'm using is a pewter coloured cashmere from here.  It's lovely to work with (don't I sound the pro?) and I might even finish this little project. 

Of course, the minute I start knitting a scarf, the weather changes and everyone's peeling off winter clothes and basking in the sunshine. Now, this is the time of year I start to feel decidedly uncomfortable and the thought of having to ditch polo necks (I so love them) and opaqe black tights leaves me feeling slightly very queasy.  I'm definitely an autumn/winter person, no doubt about it.  And it's not just about bundling up in woollies and big coats. I actually prefer the colder weather and dark nights, and I love winter food.

Maybe I need to re-locate.

To Narnia.

Reading again

 

I re-read books less frequently these days (probably because it takes me so long to finish a book first time round) but Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olsson is an exception. This is a beautifully written tale, set in a village in the Swedish countryside.  Essentially, it’s about the developing friendship between two women, one much older than the other.  It’s also about secrets and stories to be shared.  I love this book and when I first started reading it I couldn't put it down.  It's the same now I'm re-reading it.   If, by some chance, you haven’t read it yet, do so.  You won’t regret it.

It's not Terry's, it's mine

I do enjoy a chocolate orange (Terry's, of course).  I love the whole business of opening the little box, unwrapping the orange foil, bashing the orange on the edge of the table to separate the chocolate segments.  (It has to be milk chocolate).    But I only ever indulge at Christmas.  (We each get one in our stockings.  The year I got the one with the crunchy bits was particularly memorable). 

For some reason, at the weekend I needed an out of season chocolate orange fix.  So I decided to make a cake.  I didn't have a recipe so used a fairly basic sponge mixture with chunks of Green and Black's chocolate (I just roughly chopped a whole bar).  The other addition was simply the zest and some juice from a rather splendid looking orange.  Once the cake had cooled, I topped it off with orange flavoured buttercream (a much softer, more spreadable  texture than I would use for cupcakes). 

 

The result was fine but it didn't quite deliver the chocolate orange kick I was craving.  So I'm going to have another go and I'm thinking some tangy marmalade in the mixture might do the trick. Unless you can suggest something better.

The film of the book

This quote on my bookmark seems quite appropriate for World Book Day:

                                         "Never judge a book by its movie".  (J.W.Eagan)

The photograph is of a random selection from my shelves, all books turned into films of one sort or another. Funnily enough, although I pulled them out quickly and with little thought, there are a couple of favourites in there.

Afterthought:  I watched some of the filming of Atonement, posted here.