May blossoms been and gone

It's official, I am becoming a rubbish blogger!

In my defence as I became increasingly back to my old self and the nausea waned, poor GS has been poorly and quite a handful along with it. Since mid-April now he has been suffering with what we thought was a cold, runny nose, sneezing, off his food, coughing, and generally ben ill-tempered and very hard to please. Turned out it was hayfever. Now he is on the antihistamine syrup he is much better, back to his old self again, such a relief. I am slightly gutted he has an allergy, I grew up with Asthma and my Mum has hayfever so was hoping that he would avoid such things, but I guess not, but at least now we know and can manage it better to avoid weeks of misery for him again I hope.

Things in the garden have been fantastic. We've enjoyed a fabulous crop of rocket and mixed salad leaves, it's so satisfying to be able to freshly pick your own salad minutes before serving dinner! The raspberries & tomatoes are flowering, strawberries are ripening, the courgette has survived the rain so far, and we have garlic, beetroot, carrots, & onions growing underneath the surface. Even our olive tree is producing flowers so hopefully our 1st crop of olives this year!

Sadly the may blossom had just started to look amazing and then yesterday the rain came and washed it all away, such a shame, but at least the gardens getting a healthy soaking.

I've also rediscovered my baking mojo now the nausea has lessened, and with help from "Cookie Magic" by Kate Shirazi there are some delicious and simple recipes in there that are low cost and delicious! GS & I baked Anzac biscuits yesterday, might go for a blackberry jam version of the lemon biscuits today!

Thrifting has been non existent really, I must give myself a kick and get back in to it, lord knows I need to save money now more than ever, I did pick up a couple of great xmas presents in the charity shop that have gone away in my goody bag ready for the season to start but I'm afraid apart from that its been convenience all the way recently, bad bad thrifter, I may have to change my blog name to Betty Spendalot! Still, time to turn things around, wish me luck!

Sunday has been about Monkeys...

Firstly this little monkey...

...enjoying his craft session...

...and then this one...

I baked this after being inspired by Farmgirl Fare's recipe "Mexican Monkey Cake" mmmm utterly delicious and seeing as it contains bananas (amongst some other more naughty ingredients) I decreed it one of our 5 a day and therefore had 2 slices, i'm sure that's how it works!!

Totally un-Monkey related has been playing about with my camera as I slowly learn all the settings and get used to what it can do, I am getting quite pleased with my shots, especially the more abstract ones!

I have succumbed to a cold over the weekend so I haven't been up to much worth blogging about other than the above really, but hopefully I am on the mend and will be up to better things next weekend seeing as it's Valentine's weekend and therefore Mr G.T' & I's celebration of 8 years together (our first date was Valentine's day)!

Keeping busy

Baking chocolate muffins

Visiting the garden centre and buying a lemon tree for the conservatory

Attempting passport photo poses... we're still working on that!

I am pleased to report though that we have diverted some of the excess toddler energy in to doing things other than watching Toy Story *most* of the time, hurrah!

I have been tagged by Beki at The ramblings of an everyday Mummy in the "You're Welcome Meme!"

Rules:

1 visit the new blogs i've introduced you too and if you like them then subscribe/follow

2 Recommend three new blogs you've discovered and liked

3 Tag three other bloggers and ask them for three new blog reads

Here are my three fave new blogs that i've recently discovered:

1) Birdcages and Butterflies

2) While They Sleep

3) Dark Purple Moon

I would like to tag:

Lynn at http://wistfulgirl.blogspot.com/

Dubgirl at http://dubgirl-houseofdub.blogspot.com/

Jude at http://cariadincrete.blogspot.com/

And relax...

Biscuits (shortbread) and tarts (coconut) are baked, presents wrapped, cards written, shopping done.... hurrah!

I still have GS's stocking to complete but not much now to do, phew!

The baking was very therapeutic, although I did try to make some fruit pastilles that went very wrong (the mixture just never set *sniff* but nevermind making a jam sponge pudding with it instead lol)

I do hope my homemade gifts are enjoyed, I have heard from a friend this week whose beautifully crafted frosted cupcakes were not received well by her friend for her birthday, it's left me baffled really why anyone would not appreciate the effort and skill involved in what she made, i just don't get it. Maybe she is on a diet or something, still, I can't help but feel that her true colours have been revealed upon turning her nose up at my friends efforts, it seems to some it's only about how much you have spent or how fashionable the item is, not what thought and care has gone in to it, very sad really.

It has been beautifully snowy on the hill, everywhere looks very Christmassy and bright, much better than the usual rain/wind combination we usually have for Christmas week, it's so nice to have the white stuff come earlier than normal (lately it's been more February before snow falls). GS has been captivated by watching the giant flakes fall and then being able to dash around outside and go sledging! My garden birds seem to be struggling though, I have never seen so many in the garden fighting over the feeders and scraps i put out, i gave in and chopped them some cheese up yesterday, i just felt so sorry for them out there.

Spiced Apple Chutney Recipe

This recipe makes a most delicious apple chutney recipe, ideal for accompanying pork pie, crackers and cheese mmm made from a friend's windfall apples!

Ingredients;

8oz Onions, chopped (this was about 2 medium onions)

2lbs cooking apples (cored and chopped)

4oz raisins/sultanas

3 tsp ground coriander

3 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp paprika

2 tsp salt

2 tsp ginger

11 oz sugar

1 1/4 pints of malt vinegar

Put all the ingredients in a large saucepan or preserving pan if you have one and stir to mix.

Bring to the boil slowly.

Simmer for around 2 hours, or until consistency is nice and thick and you can drag your spoon down the middle of the chutney and it leaves a channel for a while.

Divide in to sterilised jars, I got 4 jars but they are all quite large so obviously smaller jars would yield more.

Seal and cool, then store in a cupboard/dark pantry for 2 or 3 months before eating so the flavour can mature.

I made this!

After a slow and steady start I am really enjoying handmaking gifts now, and more importantly seeking out new projects i can sew/stitch/bake/create!

It was only when i uploaded my photos for the week today that I realised what a home-made week I have had;

tomato soup for dinner on Thursday

completed some hand-stitched drinks coasters for my friend's wedding present (plus a bottle of rose fizz- i didn't make that i may add)

A little hand bag for my 2 year old niece (am hoping to make some more items for her in the same fabric)

I also made thank you cards for my GS birthday presents, and a salad solely using items out of the garden.

The sewing projects have been the most rewarding for me seeing as it's the one i needed the most development on, having rarely been able to sew even a button on in the past. I have sewn the items totally by hand, and although not as neat & precise as a sewing machine, I find I am resisting the use of a sewing machine (despite my MIL offering me hers) as it feels more authentic, more hard work if I do it myself and I find comfort and pride in that. Sewing by hand is almost like the labour of giving birth to my final creation, whereas i am not sure i'd have the same satsifaction from using a sewing machine. Maybe once I have reeled off a few more project then common sense will prevail and i'll use a machine, but for now I am happy by hand.

It's rainy on the hill today, there is a real feel of Autumn in the air, although the weather forecasts to be finer for this week, the temperatures have certainly dropped and I felt frozen today when visiting the car boot sale in Tansley, in the harsh open Derbyshire countryside.

Poor Daisy has been in the wars also; our warrior princess seems to have been in a scuffle with some other creature (unsure what, maybe a dog, another cat or even a fox) and has a nice deep puncture wound on her right behind that she growled and hissed at us every time we got near, poor little thing was not happy at all, so off to the emergency vet we went, and thankfully we had caught it in time as it was forming an absess, so a hefty bill later she seems much better full of painkiller & antibiotic injections and sardines (GN spoils her!)

Look at her being brave!

Baking Tea Loaf

Low fat and delicious, my gorgeous son loved helping with the mixing, although actually i think it was more the juicy soaked raisins he was shuffling in to his mouth that swung it!

Recipe taken from BBC Good Food- Fruity Teacake except I used dried mixed fruit, peach juice instead of orange juice.