Playing at the kitchen table

Yesterday was special because it was my Mother's birthday and although she is no longer with us I think she must have been in spirit because she would have loved yesterday's play time.  Two of the grandies and Aunty Teresa all turned their hand in making flower wreaths, though not all at the same time I'm glad to say. C treatment doesn't allow for too much fuss all at once. Non of it was planned. It just seemed to evolve and before we knew it we were sharing an old family custom of creating wreaths and chatting at the kitchen table. My Trotter forebears would have all been familiar with this custom, albeit, their wreaths were the earthy plant type. Four of the wreaths shown above are now hanging from the door handles on my landing at the top of the stairs. It brightens the place up a bit. Aunty T's wreath is now hanging on her kitchen wall.

What birthday would be complete without handmade cake? 

At the beginning of the week I had made my very first carrot cake. The recipe was given to me by my niece Cheryle from an Asda magazine and it proved to be an enormous success. The recipe was for a double layer cake but I made just a single layer as I didn't want any to get wasted but I wish I had made two layers now, because it was so delicious. Even my husband who claims not to like carrot cake came back for seconds. Being gluten free and also lactose free meant it was suitable for all the family and I will certainly be making it again.

Home baked gluten free cakes and pastries are far better than anything I've eaten that is shop bought. It has taken a while to get the hang of gluten free baking but I'm getting there and well worth the effort. 

I'm looking forward to my next gluten free challenge.

Phew! that's a lot of greetings cards

I've been working hard this last two weeks putting together bundles of cards for fundraising. I'm so glad to be able to do it and if it helps Charlie Bear, the Church Roof and Cancer Connections in their good works then I will be a happy bunny.

I'm using up lots of craft stash that has been in storage for too long and also of course my laptop and printer that I couldn't do without. The cards are mostly prints of my own pressed flower artwork with some embellishments added. To add a bit of interest I've also included faded images on the card inserts.

It was fun making the mini cards. At only 4 x 4 inches they were fiddly and surprisingly time consuming but I think worth it. The tiny floral images are my own and they are layered on top of background paper cut to size  and a bit of glitter, gel pen and peel offs added to finish them off. They also have a decorative insert and a short message.

I owe my life to good surgeons, cancer specialists, my faith and the support I got from many wonderful people. The least I can do is give a little bit back and if I can encourage others to do the same then its all worth while.

Easter cupcake decorating with the grandkids

Easter is coming and I thought we could play at making some birds nests cupcakes with yummy teeny chocolate eggs.

It starts off well! Nanna does an example of one then leaves the grand kids to carry on by themselves.

 Jasmine very carefully adds butter cream to the mini cupcakes. This is the base of the birds nest.

Yumm, this is finger lickin' good! Sprinkling coconut on top comes next.

Wow! Jasmine is doing well and has a head start on Natalie. Three little eggs in each nest sounds right.

 Ah Ha! Who gets caught with their fingers in the bowl of chocolate eggs.  Never mind, Natalie's cup cakes are finished and she can eat the left overs.

 Granddad enters the room and his eyes light up at the sight of all those scrummy cupcakes just waiting to be eaten.

One little mite didn't get to join in because she wasn't feeling well. Poor Lils didn't even eat her snack. Maybe next time Lils.

Summer in Chains

I haven't done much in the way of creativity this last week but I did find a fossil lurking in my witches cauldron. The cauldron has had no attention for years but due to a kitchen re-vamp the cauldron was unearthed and you won't believe what I found inside. Last year's summer covered in cobwebs and tied down in chains. Before it got a clean up I thought I would take a photo 'cos I thought it looked quite arty and then I did a bit of digi manipulation and came up with the above image. I like it!


I've had a busy weekend...well busy for me! Still recovering and still on treatment but it was good to have visitors and I'm so thankful for young Marton our friend from Hungary who assembled some additional new kitchen units for us. John and I have a larder cupboard each now to house our hobby stuff. In my case its largely baking equipment and in John's case its his home brew stuff. I have my art and craft stuff in the spare bedroom and John has all his other stuff in the garage, garden, shed, greenhouses and loft. What a hoarder he is!

I still love playing with my mini cupcake maker and made some minis for breakfast. The butter cream is actually made with olive spread, not butter, so its nice and healthy and tastes nicer too. Each one an individual luscious mouthful and so quick and easy to make...smile!

Think I will make a card with my summer in chains image and show it next week... Bye for now.

Re-cycling Christmas cards

Two blogs in one day. My goodness, things are looking up! It goes to prove how creative I've been over the last week. Something that I have sadly lacked for too long. Its good to have my mojo back.

Christmas might be the last thing on people's minds right now but I couldn't help playing with last year's Christmas cards and re-cycling them. I have some mount board scraps that I squirrelled away several years back just in case they came in handy one day and I guess that day, or week or month has arrived. Time certainly slips away when you're having fun.

An ever breeding collection of cut outs from used Christmas cards, glitter glue, ribbon, peel offs, flowers and embellishments and my trusted glue gun and more took over the dining table like some rampant alien species until I was left with a six inch space to work on, so then I removed myself to the kitchen breakfast bar for more space. Crafter readers will know what I'm talking about at this stage and I'm sure there will be a smile and giggle or two.

My idea was to decorate mount board making them into plaques supported on plastic stands...the type that small plates are displayed on. My first effort took me absolutely ages but as I progressed each one got easier to make. The only trouble is I have run out of plastic stands and I can't remember where I bought them many moons ago. So now, my dining table is clear again, at least until I find more stands.





Maybe I will be able to raise a bit of money for worthy causes, next Christmas.

This one is my favourite.

Withered apples and all that stuff

What to do with withered apples? I have to say they stored well in my wooden fruit bowl and although now wrinkled and drying out they were still edible. Apparently, last week was Bramley apple week but I never got round to buy any, let alone make anything with them which is a pity because Bramleys are the best cooking apples. My withered apples were the Gala variety and as I loath wasting food I just had to do something with them.

withered gala apples

I found a recipe for a cake tray bake and using a bit of adding, subtracting, dividing and multiplying and a few additions I was able to create a recipe that was gluten free and happy with different kinds of fruit. My maths teacher would have been proud! I cored and chopped the apples but left the skin on and tossed them on top of the cake batter. The result was a scrummy cake, especially with squirty cream...yum! 

apple cake with cream

blueberry cake with cream

Blueberries work well too and my family love the cake so it was a bit of a scramble to get my fair share. 


Honestly! You would think they would consider who baked the cake in the first place...never mind she says, smiling.

blueberry cake tray bake

I'm really enjoying the discovery of baking all over again and experimenting with gluten free recipes makes it an exciting challenge. I bought a blank recipe book from Home Bargains the other day for only £1.99 or something near. Ridiculously cheap anyway. I have called it Nana's recipe book and aim to fill it with tried and tested family recipes, some of which I will enjoy making with my grandchildren.

making a mess

My first entry was a recipe for cheese scones which I made with the help of granddaughters Natalie and Jasmine...did I say help? Mum wasn't about so we had great fun making a mess on the breakfast bar. There were some squabbles as to who did what and I had to play referee at times but it was all worth it. 

more hands on mess

Amazingly, these scones had no egg in the mix and in the mayhem I forgot to add baking powder but I was amazed at how they turned out. They were the best cheese scones I've ever made. So maybe I shouldn't have been adding egg all these years. 

cheese scones

Natalie showed her appreciation by spreading hers with jam! Cheese and jam scones??? There's no accounting for taste! I suppose the added bonus was that the girls washed up and dried afterwards. What more could a Nana ask for? The scones were meant to be for Dad but I'm not sure he managed to get any.





Next playtime, the girls and I will make a scrapbook page about our baking fun afternoon. That should be fun...smile.

Retreat to Ampleforth

Ampleforth Abbey in North Yorkshire is set in breathtaking scenery. My recent visit with a party from my parish church coincided with the worst snow of the winter so far but it didn't deter us and we had an amazing weekend staying at the Grange in the Abbey grounds. 

The buildings are as impressive as the landscape and I enjoyed exploring parts of the grounds and taking photographs, some of which are shown below.

The driveway from the main road into Ampleforth Abbey grounds. The Grange is centre background. It was very warm and clean comprising bedrooms, refectory, a chapel and a room for socialising and talks and a lounge and library on the top floor. We were very comfortable there.

This group of trees stood together in majestic dialogue in the snowy grounds.

The Abbey of the monastic community of St Benedict. The community also has a resident college for boys and girls and an apple orchard in site producing such drinks as apple brandy and liqueur. Monks from here serve eleven parishes in England and have also established a monastery in Zimbabwe.

The rear of the Abbey buildings shown here look out at stunning views across North Yorkshire.

The Abbey is as beautiful and impressive inside as it is out. This is the corridor to the Abbey church entrances.

Inside the Abbey is far bigger than this photo shows. It is actually huge and the ambiance amazing. On Sunday we joined the students for morning mass and the abbey was filled to capacity. They were all so well behaved and attentive to mass they were a credit to their teachers.

The monks and staff were very welcoming and looked after us well. Food was plentiful and they were kind enough to make some gluten free dishes. Even snacks of gluten free shortcake and scones served separately on doily decorated plates. It felt like they were made especially for me!

                                                                                   

Chicken curry with a choice of rice or potatoes and broccoli

Gluten free plum and almond cake with custard. 

         

Doreen and me in the lower guest refectory having lunch.

A lot of the oak furniture in the Abbey was created by Robert (Mouseman) Thompson who lived in Kilburn in North Yorkshire. I found this mouse under our dining table.

We socialised on Saturday night in the Grange. The bar was open and we sang Geordie and Irish songs.

The following day we said our farewells to Ampleforth. It had been for me a spiritual journey and experience I'm not likely to forget. I think many others felt the same way. 

From Matins at 6 am with hooded monks in the dimly lit Abbey to coming together in prayer with one of the monks, Father Matthew, in the Grange and a full itinerary of devotions in between, felt at times a little exhausting and almost like a boot camp. But one well worth taking part in! Father Matthew finished off by giving us a prayerful talk on Sunday before we left for home. He had been very good and attentive to us during our stay. 

Despite the snow the roads were clear and we made good time getting home by coach...taking our lovely memories home with us.

I'm already thinking about going to Medjugore in September!