Home Made Gifts......................................

It's been so long since my last post and things have been very hectic one way and another. However, when it's coming up to Christmas I like to try to make something that I can give as gifts, so being a lover of all things Italian I decided this year to try Limoncello.

 I like to bring back bottles of pure alcohol from my summer holiday to make Liquirizia a liquorice flavour liqueur, a particular favourite of my hubby, but decided to try making Limoncello for a change, this also is a favourite of his, I decided to adapt my recipe for Liquirizia.

I substituted the liquorice for the zest of 6 lemons plus the juice of two, this I put into a a demijohn and covered with a litre of alcohol, the top was sealed tightly and the jar put in a dark cupboard for two weeks, I did periodically take it out and agitate.  After a couple of weeks put 3kg of water into a pan and add 2 kg of sugar, heat on low until all the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is slightly syrupy, allow to cool, while waiting drain the alcohol from the lemon zest into a jug, mix this into the sugar syrup and stir, the Limoncello can now be poured onto bottles, I like to use muslin in my funnel so that no little bits get into the bottles.

There is no need to store, the Limoncello can be consumed immediately. All the recipients seem very pleased with their gifts.
Until next time .........................

Strawberry Jam......................

This week Kelly has had the lovely Michela staying with her and today we had a trip to the Jam Factory at Tiptree.

Obviously where shopping is concerned you need to make sure that you have enough energy for the actual shopping so our first stop was the tea room, a lovely cup of tea and slice of cake...............which was absolutely delicious.

We purchased quite a bit of Jam and some chutney to give to friends for Christmas.  After arriving home it was time for Sophie to get ready for her friends fancy dress birthday party, in keeping with the Jam theme, Sophie went as a Strawberry.......................how cute does she look ?

Good enough for Nanny and Auntie to eat, that's for sure.

Until next time ......................

Important Day for Sophie...............

Sunday saw a very important day for my Great Niece Sophie, her baptism.  What a wonderful day we had,  we are extremely lucky to have a good friend Trevor who is also a Reverend, yes we do call him Trev the Rev,  he performed the ceremony which made it very personal,  Trevor addressed Sophie quite a lot, who I have to say seemed very much to be paying attention, not bad for a nine month old.
Trevor is a great person and makes any service he does enjoyable.

The ceremony was held at The Abbey, Waltham Abbey a very special place. Sophie behaved impeccably, she didn't make a sound. Below is a picture of Sohpie being welcomed into the church.

I love the following picture as Sophie looks like a little Armish girl, needless to say the bonnet didn't stay on for long.

Marcus was very proud to be Sophie's Godfather, looks very smart in his suit, doesn't he ?

Kelly and James had a bit of a do after at a local Golf Club, very enjoyable.

Until next time............

A Day of Baking......................

Having watched Jo Wheatley win the Great British Bake Off I decided that I needed to start baking again, something I really enjoy but don't do nearly enough of, so after a trip to the supermarket to buy some supplies I set out to make some Cupcakes and a Bakewell Tart.

One of my favourite flavours along with Rose is Violet.............I know not to everyones taste but a flavour I adore, so I made vanilla cupcakes with a Violet buttercream, topped off with some edible glitter, I would have liked to put a little flower on the top but couldn't get any but as they were only for a bit of fun I wasn't too worried, also I need to practice using a piping bag.

Once these came out of the oven and were cooling I made a Bakewell Tart,  I did cheat a bit as I used a
prepared pie crust but I did make the Frangipane,  much easier than I expected so next time I have friends round for dinner I will be making this again from scratch, it tasted so much better than a bought tart.

 

 Next week I think I'll do a Lemon Drizzle Cake as this is one of Marcus's favourites along with some Coconut Macaroons.

Until then.................

Wimbledon.....................

Master M is a member of our local tennis club, he plays there at least 3 times a week.  The club are allocated a certain number of tickets, to give everyone a chance they put all members names into a draw and Master M was one of the lucky winners of a pair of tickets. 

We had a choice of days but so as not to have to take Master M out of school I chose Saturday the 2nd July which turned out to be Ladies Singles Finals day and what a great match that was. Master M and the husband had a fantastic day, they saw Nadal doing a bit of training too !

Master M and the husband before the match started.

Such a wonderful experience for Master M, you never know the next time you see him there he may be playing ................................wouldn't that be exciting.

Until next time................

Oooh I Say..............................

Well quite a lot has happened since my last post, the main thing being that I have very recently had an operation on my wrist, I am having to rest for a couple of weeks what a shame I can't go to work !!  

Doing ok but typing with one hand is slow to say the least.  I have to say that Master M and the Husband have been very good, helping me with the normal day to day things I'm not able to do, but the thing I miss most is not being able to drive, I am not used to being a passenger, don't think I make a very good one either, still it won't be long.  Stitches are coming out on Monday but apparently it's going to be a few weeks before it all settles down and stops hurting completely but I'm sure that will pass quickly.

Only a month now until my next trip to the caravan, can't wait to get back out to Italy I managed to get a couple of days holiday a couple of weeks ago and 'popped' over for a long weekend, very good it was too.

Hope you are all keeping well and looking forward to some better weather than we have had today.

Take care

Hugs

It's Been Ages........................

Where has the time gone ?  It's been ages since I last posted anything, so what's been happening....... Well nothing major really, Master M and I have been trying to spend as much time as we can with Sophie, she is such a great baby, so good it's incredible. She is so much better now, poor little thing has been suffering from silent reflux since birth, she has had Cranial Osteopathy and is also on Gaviscon at the moment, but is much improved, she cries very little and sleeps well.  She is a happy and contented baby and brings much joy to us all.  Kelly and James are incredibly lucky.

The husband and Master M spent half term in Italy visiting my father in law and the rest of hubby's family, Master M loves being there, on the beach, visiting his cousins, aunts and uncles. 

The last couple of weekends we have managed to spend some time having some good friends over for dinner, first it was our friend Trevor and his family, he also happens to be the Vicar that baptised Marcus and who is going to baptise Sophie, does make for a very personal service, we consider ourselves extremely lucky to have this privilege.  Last weekend we entertained some friends we haven't seen for ages who actually live only a 10 minute drive from us! Good food, good wine and good friends, we are blessed.

How awful are the things that have happened in Japan! We can't even begin to imagine what these poor people must be going through, so much suffering and it's still not over, I'm sure our prayers are with them.

I wish you all peace and joy and a great weekend.

Until next time......................