Let's get baking!

It's Sunday, it's cold and wet and I'm home alone. I've spent all morning reorganising our new pantry... talk about playing Tetris with the shelving and food! Anyway, it's all in and packed away. At least I know what food we have in and where things are.

I was hoping to go out for a nice walk today and take some pictures, however the weather forecast has changed overnight and it hasn't stopped raining since this morning! Pah! So I've decided to test out the new oven that is in the house and see what it's like for baking whilst (oddly) listening to Elaine Page on Radio 2, singing along to musical songs (mmm... "A spoonful of sugar"... "Joseph"... "Evita"... ). Crikey, that's worrying!

Anyway, I've whipped up a carrot cake from a recipe that was given to me from a country hotel/restaurant in Devon. I love carrot cake, but this recipe wins hands down! It's sooo easy to make, no creaming, no Kenwood required, just put it in a bowl and mix!

Here you go:

Ingredients:
2 cups of grated carrot
155g of brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp honey
155g melted butter
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoon bicarb
125g wholemeal flour
90g plain flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon

1. Put the carrot, sugar, butter and honey in a large bowl and mix.

2. Add eggs and mix.

3. Add flours, bicarb and cinnamon. Mix.

4. Spoon into a lined/greased loaf tin.

5. Cook at 160C for 40-45 minutes.

DONE!

The recipe came with a topping which I don't always do (well I'm not doing it today as I have no cream cheese!):
125g cream cheese
70g soft butter
1tsp lemon juice
2 cups icing sugar, sifted

1. Mix cream cheese and butter together until combined.
2. Add lemon juice and mix.
3. Add icing sugar. Mix.
4. Spread on cooked cake.

Serve with a nice cuppa! Enjoy!

Nic xoxo

We're in... at last!

Wow! What a whirlwind week! This time last week the Pickfords Removals were hauling our belongings onto a VERY big lorry! I squealed at the size of it! You could have lived in the lorry it was that big.... and our belongings filled a third of it! I didn't realise how much "stuff" we had!

We stayed with our parents over the weekend and travelled up to our new home in Oxfordshire on Monday and spent three long days unpacking! We couldn't have done it without the help of the parents since I'm still in plaster and can't lift... only another 11 days to go until it comes off!

We've only got three boxes which haven't been unpacked yet, but everything else is in it's home! Phew! Can't wait to get back into a routine and start cooking and sewing again.

I've taken a few photos of our new neighbours...
   

Neighbours over the back fence - one donkey, two pigs and about 50 sheep!

And to the front of the house across the road...



A quirky road names!

I popped into Oxford this week and the flea market was on. I was very naughty and brought a few items... now I just need to find room for them! Also, Oxford Covered Market was a delight to find - lots of real butchers with game hanging in the windows, nice fish, fruit and veg and a cheese shop! Ideal! Now just to sniff out the farmers markets and farm shops!

A nice little stairs basket... £4.00...

Woods of England small cup and saucer set in a lovely spearmint green... thinking chocolate pots in the summer - set of 6 ... £8.00....

Delicious!

Hopefully when the sun shines this week, I'll get out and about to do some scenic piccies...also with Blenheim Palace and 2000 acres of land after the back garden, there's lots to explore!

Cheerio!

Nic xoxo

Don't worry, I'm still here! Busy moving and relocating!

Crikey! I don't know where the time has gone. Sorry for not having blogged recently, but as you can imagine (from my previous post) life is a little hectic at the moment!

I'm now in my third cast which is on until the 8th March! A whole 8 weeks in a cast! I will be so glad when it comes off so that I can straighten my arm, have a good scratch and give it a wash!

We also move out of our house this Friday and go to our new home in Oxfordshire on the Monday! It's all going on! Then I'll be living between Cornwall and Oxfordshire to finish my job for March, meaning I'm not at our new home until the end of March... roll on the end of March!!!

So apologies if the site is a bit quiet over the next ten days as I will be in the process of moving! I'm sure there will be lots of exciting posts to follow after the move as Mr P and I explore Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds!

Cheers for now,

Nic xoxo