love those cupcakes

Three books and another birthday

A couple of reads from the pile and one from the library, these three books really hit the spot.

 Jo Nesbo's Midnight Sun is a departure from the Harry Hole series (speaking of which,  I'm so looking forward to the release of the big screen version of The Snowman) and a comparatively short read.  Ulf (if that is indeed his name) is on the run from his Oslo based drug lord boss and finds himself holed (sorry, couldn't resist) up in a ramshackle cabin, living alongside a remote community in the far north of Norway. He knows it's only a matter of time before he's found.   Strong on characterisation and description of place, I loved this book.  And who knew Jo Nesbo has a soppy side? 

I'm a big fan of Anne Tyler's work and The Amateur Marriage didn't disappoint.  Michael and Pauline meet in his mother's grocery store as the horrors of World War II are unfolding.  Opposites attract, the couple marry and go on to live unhappily ever after.  This novel is as much about the changes in family and domestic life over the course of the second half of the 20th century as it is about the dissection of a marriage which definitely wasn't made in heaven.  Highly recommended. 

I've been trying to get into the habit of borrowing rather than buying books and I came across Let The Dead Speak on the new acquisitions display (I was the first borrower so, hurrah,  no-one else's crumbs and other unidentified detritus were held between the pages) in the town's central library.  This is a well paced police procedural, the latest in a series which is new to me.  It begins with a tricky murder investigation (tricky because there's a lot of blood and no body), uncovers some seriously dodgy neighbours (who wouldn't recognise the truth if it slapped them across the chops), and twists and turns towards the final denouement.

****** 

August is not only my birthday month but also this blog's.  Yes, love those cupcakes is now an unbelievable 10 years old. Tempus certainly fugits.  

A decade of wittering about life and stuff chez moi surely deserves some kind of celebration so, instead of the usual mixed bag of goodies giveaway, I've decided to offer one book from my list of 2017 reads (check the sidebar) to two recipients.

To win a brand new copy of the title you most fancy, just leave a comment (including your choice of book) on this post by 22nd September and I'll do the names out of the hat thingy.  Good luck!

 

Just now

“I am made for autumn. Summer and I have a fickle relationship,

but everything about autumn is perfect to me."

(Alys Fowler)

The season is definitely making its presence felt, possibly nowhere more so than in the garden.  Berries of various colours on shrubs and trees.  Cobwebs and their spinners on almost every plant.  A robin keeping a watchful eye on all the tidying activity from the safety of a high perch.  A cat relishing a roll on a seemingly endless supply of crispy dead leaves.  An evening visit from the biggest hedgehog you ever did see.  That unmistakable autumnal whiff in the air that stops you in your brush wielding tracks and has you breathing deeply.  Yes, no question about it, I'm with Alys on this one.  

*****

 Giveaway

The winning name drawn out of the hat (in reality a bowl but same difference) was Penny's from The Homemade Heart.  Thank you for all your comments.

 

The good, the bad and the giveaway

The good

The sun was shining and there was nothing in the diary so I decided to give my little car some tlc.  For two hours, I shampooed, rinsed, polished, brushed, cleared (ooh, lovely, a pound coin), dusted and polished a bit more.

The bad 

Him (having just returned from the car wash in his own vehicle):  'You did a terrible job on your car.'

Her:  'What do you mean?  It's gleaming. Inside and out.'

Him:  'You missed a bit.'

Her:  'Where?  Show me.'

Him:  'There.  See it?  Bend down.  Now do you see it?   Not there.  There.  On the wheel trim.'

The good

I managed to not slap someone across the face with a wet shammy (or chamois if you prefer).

The bad

After all these years, someone clearly hasn't learned when to keep their trap firmly shut.  

The good

I baked a batch of extremely chocolatey brownies with just the right amount of squidge.

The bad

I ate most of them.  And I picked off the bits stuck to the baking parchment.  I may even have chewed the baking parchment.

The good

I bought the ingredients for a new knitting project.

The bad

The pattern turned out to be far too complicated with an unfathomable multi size/multi piece chart instead of instructions and on which 'x' meant both knit and purl depending on which row you happened to be on. So I ditched it after three attempts and started something more manageable.  Hopefully.

The good

I cleaned the oven.

The bad

Said oven went into shock and stopped working.  

The good

I couldn't cook anything more elaborate than beans on toast for several days until the Oven Man could work his magic.  It was like being on holiday.  A very basic holiday, admittedly, but still.

The bad

Someone should have told me the Oven Man would need to poke about in the cupboard where I chuck all the bags of flour and icing sugar to find the main switch. When he'd finished, his right side looked like it had been caught in a blizzard.

The good

This book.  A tricky subject (domestic abuse).  Two storylines (a journalist writing a book in the late 1960s about an ongoing criminal case and the story of the accused, in her own words with an interweaving of the perspectives of others).  Highly recommended.

The bad

Not bad, exactly.  It's just that I've already read it and have a copy (different cover, in my defence) on the bookshelf.  I do this rather a lot these days.  Though I should have realised with this one as I have a collection of most of Anita Shreve's novels. But Strange Fits of Passion is such a great story, and I couldn't remember a lot of the detail, so a re-read was no bad thing.

The good

An enjoyable evening with writer Joanna Trollope.  We're not friends or anything and there were others at the event in our town's main library.   A reminder, too, of just how lovely this building is.  

The bad

I bought another book.  Couldn't not buy after hearing Joanna (yep, on first name terms now) talk about her research (she spent time in Stoke and at the Emma Bridgewater pottery) and the writing process.  She wrote in it.  And I started reading it that night.

The good

The signs are there.  Nights drawing in (or as my dad used to say, it's getting late early), changing colours, heartier meals, the distinctive tang of summer on the wane.  We are definitely on the cusp of a new season.

The bad 

The er..........erm............nope, nothing bad.  I love autumn, me.

The giveaway

To mark the blogging milestone mentioned in the previous post, and as a big thank you for your visits, support and comments, I've put together a few bits and bobs, a little selection of some of the kinds of things that have appeared here in some form or other over the last eight years which I hope you'll enjoy.

  

 1.  Rifle Paper Co. labels and stickers   2. Melt scented candle   3. To Kill a Mockingbird brooch made from a page from the book

4.  Rifle Paper Co. set of notebooks   5. Copy of the novel 'Astrid and Veronika'   6.  Book of National Trust baking recipes 

7.  Packet of Sarah Raven Pictorial Meadow seeds     8.  Bar of drinking chocolate

 

Just leave a comment on this post by October 3rd and I'll do the name out of the hat thing.

 

Lots of good stuff and a giveaway winner

A batch of crunchy buttery ginger biscuits.  Rustic looking chocolate rum truffles to give to Aunty M. with some left over to sample and savour.  Mother's Day delivery of favourite flowers.  Another gift of a box of macarons which disappeared before the camera was out of its case.  Signs of life in the garden pots.  Pizzas with the Boy on Saturday night.  Buying the ingredients for a new crochet project.  Playing around with blog photo special effects. (All the pictures in this post have been fiddled with, for better or worse.)

The mister kindly did the honours

and the winner of the giveaway is..........

Happy birthday, Moira, and please e-mail your details so that I can pop your parcel in the post.  

More cake and a belated blog birthday giveaway

Homemade cake with a piping hot cup of tea or coffee.  Is there anything better?

Since I first tried them, I haven't been able to stop baking (and eating) these cherry bakewell cupcakes.  

Honestly, they are easy to make, wonderfully moist and so ver ver tasty. Don't let the fact that they are vegan, and therefore butter and egg free, put you off.  Don't think that you need to get out the piping equipment because you can do what I do and just slap the icing on with a round ended knife.   (The only changes I've made to the recipe are cutting a circle from the tops of the cooked cakes, à la butterfly cake method, to make space for the cherry jam and I toast the flaked almonds first.)

Way back in August of last year, this blog reached the ripe old age of five and, as a thank you for all of your visits and comments over the years, I put together a few bits and bobs as a little giveaway.  But then a family wedding, a holiday, Christmas and welcoming the New Year distracted me, the items were packed safely away in a box and I forgot. about. them.

So, in the spirit of better late than never and with a theme of (what else?) tea and cake, here's the prize.

This lovely book has lots of beautifully presented afternoon tea recipes, both savoury and sweet, to tempt the tastebuds.

Also included:  paper doilies, spotty cake cases, food flags, house, teapot and teacup biscuit cutters and 'taste of an English summer' tea.

Just leave a comment below if you'd like to enter.  The giveaway will end on 11th March and the winner will be picked randomly on 12th March.   I am happy to post worldwide.

Thanks again, lovely people x.

 

Giveaway winner

             

Thanks to everyone who participated. 

The Boy very kindly did the honours and Jennyff is the winner of the cupcake book.

Jenny, please let me have your details and I'll get it in the post. 

 

Snippets

• Buying a bunch of autumn coloured flowers for Aunty M in the supermarket, only to be given a free identical bunch on the way out.

• Leaving work and all of that researching and document writing a few months ago and being busier than ever......researching and writing documents.

• Making a lemon drizzle cake and realising partway through baking that I'd left out the eggs.

• Making a wonderfully crusty spelt loaf and not being able to get it out of the tin.

• Realising the very noisy cat fight outside the house one night involved one of our kitties who returned home in a very sorry state.  Whilst wounds have since healed, pride has taken a bit of a knock.
  

• Hearing from the mister that one of his friends has had a fabulous extension built at the back of his house and his wife has run off with the builder.

• Popping out for a bite to eat (hummus and roasted veg pitta) yesterday and somehow buying a new car on the way home.

• Remembering there's still time for you to enter the cupcake book giveaway.

 

Better late than never giveaway

Out and about with the Gorgeous Girlie for a bit of shopping (cushions and books) in Helmsley yesterday, I spotted this.

There are plenty of recipes inside to tempt, like this one,

and this one,

with a  larger scale baking project if you're feeling particularly ambitious.  Or patriotic.

So I bought it.  Not for me, as I was lucky enough to be given two cupcake books earlier in the week.  For you.  Well, one of you.  As a belated thank you (I'd intended to have a giveaway in August when this blog had its birthday) for your visits and comments over the last four years.

If you'd like the book (I know cupcakes aren't everyone's cup of tea though it does include other recipes), just leave a comment on this post and I'll do the name out of the hat thingy on Sunday 9th October.

 

And the winner is.......

Thanks for your summer reading recommendations which I'll be adding to my "books to be read" list.

I asked someone here to do the honours in choosing the giveaway winner and so The Otherwise Girl and other goodies go to number 6, Rattling On.  Enjoy!

Summer reading giveaway

I've mentioned in a couple of earlier posts the change in my reading habits, how I struggle these days to read more than a couple of pages at the end of the day and struggle even more to remember what the book was about when I eventually finish it. 

Reading in the summer months presents, I think, additional difficulties, particularly in relation to choice of books.  When days are warm and sunny and at their languorous best, I prefer novels with a similar setting.  I also want a relatively easy read, something that isn't going to be too taxing on the brain cells but then nothing too frivolous.  I avoid anything that looks as if it might make me cry (I don't need books to do that, I can turn on the waterworks at the drop of a hat these days) and, whilst thrillers are often a genre of choice, I don't tend to seek these out until the days turn cooler and the nights start drawing in.

My current bedtime book is so far ticking the summer read boxes.

It's set in Italy, the holiday destination of one extended family and various friends making for an interesting mix of Americans and Brits, adults and children, and providing a new take on A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

I'd also recommend these, a combination of newer reads and some old (and very old) friends:

 

Love and Summer by William Trevor

A Summer Birdcage by Margaret Drabble

The Last Guests of the Season by Sue Gee

The Golden Year by Elizabeth Falconer

Summertime by Rafaella Barker

 

Finally, The Otherwise Girl by Keith Claire, which I wrote about here.  I first read this one on a New Year's Eve but it's since become a favourite for summer.  Unfortunately, it's been out of print for years but I have an extra copy on the bookshelf.  So, if you'd like to have it, just leave a comment about your own favourite warm weather books.  I'll pull a name out of the hat on Sunday 1st August.

(P.S.  I'll add a few more goodies to the giveaway).