love those cupcakes

Christmas shopping

I've only managed to buy one Christmas present so far but plan to remedy the situation later this week. We're off to New York early on Thursday for a little seasonal spending. I've been many times over the years but still get a kick out of being there.  I can almost hear Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue as I post this!

Going (Christmas) crackers

One of the biggest decisions for me in terms of Christmas planning is which Christmas crackers to buy.  I've done the rounds of  M&S, Sainsbury's and Tesco graduating to Harrods and Fortnum and Mason, and then onto handmade ones last year with specially selected gifts.  I deliberated at length about who should get what in their cracker (we're not many around the Christmas table, just 6 of us) and what happened?  Most of the carefully selected gifts (litle clocks in the shape of champagne bottles in buckets, jewellery and toiletries) were left on the table!  I ended up with 3 little clocks!  My children (now 18 and 23) are adamant they prefer jokey gifts inside their crackers so this year I've chosen six of these handmade crackers (the red snowflake design) with a mixture of gifts, including a little bottle of perfume for me.  And now I've ordered them, I know the colour scheme for the Christmas table this year.

Continuing the Christmas planning theme, I'm making the Christmas pud today. I'm just waiting for the Husband to come back from the shop wih an essential  ingredient, a bottle of brown ale, which I'd forgotten to buy.  The recipe I use is one of Rose Elliot's as we're a family of vegetarians and I use her recipes over and over again (as you can probably tell from the state of this particular book).

 

Another recipe book of Rose's I'm welded to at this time of year is this one.  I can't recommend it highly enough, to vegetarians and non vegetarians alike.

Treat of the week

For some months now, Saturday around half five-ish (after the daily visit to my dad who lives in a care home) has meant  a trip to the local Borders to mooch around the latest books, CDs and magazines and always finishing with the highlight of the trip:  coffee and a sweet treat from Starbucks.  The return to the menu of my all time favourite, the Gingerbread Latte (drool, drool), is a sure sign Christmas is on its way. I NEVER resist the cream topping on the basis that I must be saving loads of  calories by choosing the SKINNY lemon poppyseed muffin if there are any left.  (I usually choose a nut-laden biscotti if there aren't which is probably not so skinny).  I love coffee, I really do.  I probably drink far more than is good for me but hey, everyone deserves a treat and this is mine.

                                                            

I can't knit.

This inexplicable, late-in-life, craving to be crafty is getting me down as I come to the conclusion that actually I. Can't. Knit.  This is largely due to my considerable efforts producing disastrous, nay HIDEOUS results.  I'm spending money on materials and precious time I could  usefully  spend doing something else.  Contemplating my navel would be time better spent.  Here's an example. (Not a photograph, I can't quite bring myself to share this just yet).  I finished the Rosy cardigan and it's turned out to be the most shapeless "garment" I've ever seen.  And I mean shapeless in not a good way.  The sleeves are too long, it just kind of hangs off the shoulders and the whole thing looks so, well, so awful! I could have bought a cardigan I could actually wear from M&S for much less money.  Another disastrous project is Jane's Colinette scarf.  This is the scarf featuring on many of the blogs I visit where, I have to say, they look rather gorgeous.  How hard can it be to knit a scarf that actually looks like a scarf?  It's a simple pattern, I'll grant you that, and lovely wool but as for wearing it?  Er, I think not.  It's far too long (and for some strange reason getting longer) and when I wrap it around my neck it looks so bulky.  So, last weekend I decided to branch out into knitting a bear. A teddy bear. Why I thought that would be easier, or be likely to produce something that even  faintly resembled the picture in the pattern book, I don't know.  Anyway,I followed the pattern religiously, knit the torso, head and limbs, and this morning started to sew it all together.  And, surpise surprise (well, not really), it's horrible.  It would give a child the heebie jeebies!  It gives me them.  My son thinks it has a slight look of Piglet,if you glance at it sideways in a poor light, that is.   The Husband thought I'd knitted a meerkat.  I think it has a definite reptilian look about it. Being supportive, the Husband went on to say that it might look better with clothes on but I can't see the point in going any further.  I'd end up with the teddy bear version of me in my Rosy cardigan.  And so now I'm left with most of a huge bag of  bear filling (I couldn't order a smaller quantity),  balls of various coloured and textured yarn (why do I have so many left over?), a bunch of knitting needles (thick ones, thin ones, in between ones) and a huge sense of failure.  Oh, and a bin full of, well, you''ll have to use your imagination.

Maybe I should stick to making cakes. I give you......

....my Christmas cake, baked today.

Cupboard love

I yearn to live a clutter-free life.  Instead of hoarding lots of, well, stuff, I want to pare my belongings down to the minimum, the true necessities.  But it isn't going to happen.  I can't bear to part with anything and I worry that if I do get rid, I'll only regret it sometime later when whatever it is is no longer to hand. And the older I get, the more stuff I acquire.  For instance, my wardrobes are jammed full of my "thin" clothes (in case I get back to being a size 10) and my "you are SO not thin" clothes and then the ones in between.  I did have a number of items from Biba and Mary Quant (quite something at the time of buying for a girl from this neck of the woods) which I'd hung onto for many years until one of several  house moves caused them to end up in some charity bag or other.  And I've mourned their loss ever since. (Probably something to do with seeing my youth going into the charity bag with the clothes).  So you get the picture.  I hang on to my stuff.  Or I did until yesterday.

Behind these doors were once enough cartons, packets, jars and bags to supply most of the residents of Coronation Street.  But not any more.  Take a look at this....

I had to do something as every time someone opened the cupboard doors, stuff fell out.  (And have you tried to get garam masala out of your hair?  Whatever you do, don't add water!).  The decluttering was quite easy (the shelves still look quite full in the photographs but in reality there's lots of space), once I realised I didn't need to hang onto the dozens of nutmegs I'd bought in the West Indies in 2000, nor do I really need 5 bottles of soy sauce at any one time.Or 8 bags of brown sugar. The whole experience was positively cleansing, for both cupboard and soul. And it didn't stop there.  I moved onto another cupboard and decluttered that.  It's amazing what you find lurking at the back and what you decide you can do without.  I'm still not sure what possessed me to buy a cat collar and feeding bowl.   You see, we don't have a cat.

Happy Friday!

I'm so happy, I feel like doing this.......

(© Photographer: Konstantin Grishin | Agency: Dreamstime.com)

I had another interview this week and was offered the job this afternoon! Oooh, I'll need a whole new wardrobe of outfits for my new role as Mrs. University Lecturer.  And, just think, I'll be getting paid to talk, research and read around something I'm passionate about.  The weekend starts here.  Hope you have a good one.

Crafty Saturday

Along with probably most other visitors to Yarnstorm, I'm knitting Jane's simple scarf pattern using the recommended Colinette Point 5 wool. This is SO easy and so quick to knit because it's worked on massive needles. So satisfying to have an output from my labours (well, to be fair, the hardest bit was winding the skeins of wool)  in such a short time. But with this unseasonably warm weather, when do we get to wear these gorgeously cosy scarves?  Damn you, global warming!

Just to add a bit of variety to Crafty Saturday, I've been making some cards,too, with a bit of stamping and watercolouring.

 

Cupcake Friday

Pink cupcakes to celebrate Friday!  Actually, they're for a birthday girl but, hey, it's Friday, the weekend's here and we have cakes, even if we can't eat them.

  These we did eat on Hallowe'en.

So good!