Dreaming of the Caribbean sunshine ...

Oh my word ... it's FREEZING here! We've had our first snowfall of winter, nothing major, just a light dusting of about an inch or so, but it was snow none-the-less and compared to the weather I've been enjoying for the past few weeks, the chill was still a bit of a shock!

So, do you want to see some photos of where I've been for the past 2 weeks? Sure you do ;-)

First off, the airline we flew with [to Barbados] was Virgin Atlantic and it was a fab flight. We were in a Boeing 747 (aka Jumbo Jet) and even though we were sat in regular economy class seats, it was still so much better than some of the other flights we're taken over the years. Here's a picture of our Jersey Girl ...


We stayed at the Sugar Cane Club Hotel & Spa in Speightstown on the north west coast of the island. This was looking out from the terrace of our room and where we ate breakfast every morning ...


The hotel pool was gorgeous! So cooling and refreshing and welcome relief from the hot Caribbean sun ...


The hotel gardens were immaculately kept ...


Our room was a garden view room on the ground floor ...


As they drive on the correct side of the road (i.e. the left), we hired a car for a couple of days so we could tour the island ...


Now the last time we visited Barbados was back in 1993 and at that time, the only town we visited was Bridgetown (the capital). This time as we had the car, we took full advantage and visited just about every "town" on the island. We also visited a new designer shopping mall called the Limegrove in Holetown and oh boy, talk about BIG designer names!!! Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Ralph Lauren to name but a few ...


A few people said we wouldn't need a map to get around, and in some respects they were right. The island is only 14 miles wide by 20 miles tall and so we were almost always by the coast and it was just a case of knowing which side of the car the beach was on to then figure out if we were on the east or west side of the island!

At one point we took a wrong turn and ended up at this gorgeous old mansion called St Nicholas Abbey. It's the oldest known Jacobean building on the island and also the location of one of the many original (and still working) sugar mills and rum distilleries ...



When we left the abbey, we were advised to turn left, drive to the top of Cherry Tree Hill and park in the lay-by for spectacular views of the islands Scotland District (so called because the original British settlers thought it had a striking similarity to the views of the Scottish highlands) and we weren't disappointed ...


This next one was taken from the opposite side of the bay, looking over the town of Bathsheba ...


The Barbadians really like their colours and everywhere you go, you see Chattel style houses and shops all painted in bright, cheery colour that just make you smile ...



Whilst on holiday, Iain celebrated his 40th birthday and we decided to splash out and booked a table at one of the best restaurants in Barbados called The Bajan Blue at Sandy Lane. Wow! This place is AMAZING, pricey but amazing and you only turn 40 once, right?


The food was delicious, the service was first class and at the end of the meal, all the waiting staff sang Happy Birthday and presented Iain with this adorable [and very tasty] little chocolate cake ...


Unfortunately, all too soon the sun was setting on our little Caribbean adventure ...


We both thoroughly enjoy our break away and hopefully we'll return again some day, who knows, maybe in another 18.5yrs ;-)


So now we're back home and getting used to the huge temperature difference. The average daytime temperature in the shade in Barbados was 32oC, whilst the temperature here in chilly Oxfordshire has been a frosty -1oC over the past few days ... brrrrrrr! Still, all I need to do is browse through my photos and I can feel the sun's rays warming my skin all over again. ~sigh~

It's all gone quiet ...

This is just a quick fly-by post to let you know there won't be any blog updates for the next couple of weeks because I'm going on holiday ... to Barbados! DH and I actually honeymooned in Barbados back in '93 and this will be the first time we've returned since then. I'm sooooooo excited, I can't wait!

Week #2 of NEWrecipes52 ...

As last week was dessert, I decided to make my new recipe for this week a main course ... braised lamb shanks in a red wine sauce to be precise. I've never had lamb shanks before, but whenever I've seen them on the menu in a restaurant, I've always been tempted.

I searched the Internet and eventually picked this recipe from Anthony Worrall Thompson. Relatively simple and it didn't require lots of new ingredients that wouldn't then get used again or any special equipment. I had all the bits 'n' pieces needed. The key to making this recipe a success, would be time ... and plenty of it!

Here's a shot of most of the ingredients, gathered together before the marathon chopping session began ...


Lamb, leek, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, chicken stock (condensed pot), red wine, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves ... all good, right?

I had a bit of a challenge trying to fit 3 lamb shanks (1 for me, 1 for DH and 1 for my brother) into my casserole dish, so I had to improvise and put one of them into a little roasting tin (which then meant I then had to rotate the meat every 30 minutes or so, so that it braised rather than roasted).

One hour went by.

Two hours went by.

Three hours went by.

And then finally, I plated up ... lamb shanks with a red wine sauce, served on a bed of creamy mashed potatoes [and peas, for colour. LOL!] ...


The meat was wonderfully tenders and literally fell off the bone! I "ummmed" & "ahhhed" about whether or not to include the cooking vegetables in the final dish. I opted to remove them, but I strained all their goodness through a sieve and into the sauce, which really intensified the richness and flavour. Delicious!

I'll be honest and say it's not a recipe I'll be cooking regularly (mainly because of the time factor!), but I enjoyed it non-the-less and it's another recipe I can tick off my list!

Week #1 of NEWrecipes52 ...

Here we are with the first of what I hope will be a weekly post about my chosen NEW recipe for the week. For this first week, I decided to keep things relatively simple and oh so very sweet!

If you're a regular reader of my blog, then you'll know I'm a HUGE fan of baking and in particular of baking cakes, biscuits and all sorts of yummy sweet treats. So I decided to try my hand at baking Melting Moments (also known as Viennese Whirls).

I was given The Great British Bake Off - How To Bake recipe book for Christmas and it was their recipe I followed (minus the red food colouring which I didn't think was necessary!)


These treats are definitely NOT for those who are watching their weight. They contain a LOT of butter (375g in total) and a fair amount of sugar too (125g caster sugar + 60g icing sugar). There are no eggs and virtually no liquid added, so the dough is very dry and it was pretty tough getting it piped into the distinctive whirl shapes. I think I may have made them a little too big because the recipe said I should be able to make 32 individual biscuits (16 paired treats) but I only managed to get 22 biscuits (11 pairs) out of the mixture.

After the biscuits were piped, I chilled them for 15-20minutes to allow the mixture to firm up.

Then they were popped into a pre-heated oven at 160 degree C for approximately 12 minutes, until they were lightly golden. Once cooked, I allowed them to cool slightly on the baking sheet, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, I applied the creamy filling to one half and seedless raspberry jam to the other.


Then it was just a case of sandwiching the two halves together and dusting with a little more icing sugar. Here's my finished treats ...


They are gorgeously crumbly and melt-in-the-mouth delicious! So my first NEWrecipes52 was a resounding success and I have a feeling I'm going to be making these Melting Moments again very soon!

I have the nicest friends ...

Well I would say that, wouldn't I? But I really do! Let me explain why ...

I think I've mentioned before, that I was asked to create the wedding invitations for friends that got married in Italy last summer?!?!? Well, following their wedding, I was approached by another friend at work, Melissa and asked if I would create the invitations for her wedding in September this year. Of course I said "yes" and we started brainstorming ideas, styles and colour swatches. Melissa settled on a fabulous pocket fold design, which has tabbed inserts detailing the location, accommodation, menu and RSVP details etc. The main card was in a slightly off-white colour and she chose a deep hot pink accent colour card and organza ribbon ... absolutely gorgeous!!! (I wish I'd taken some photos of the finished invites, but I foolishly forgot ... d'oh!)

Anyhoo, fast forward to yesterday ... I gave the completed invites to Melissa and she was over the moon!!! Now in terms of payment, all I asked was that my costs for the materials were covered but that I wasn't worried about charging for my time as I enjoy the whole creative process anyway.

Fast forward again to this morning ... I arrived at work and Melissa handed me a thank you card with some £££ inside and as well as the materials costs being covered, she'd given me a very handsome creativity bonus!!! Plus, not only that but later in the day this beautiful bouquet of flowers was delivered to my office too ...


Aren't they stunning? There's a mixture of lilies, roses, gerberas and sweet peas. The colours are all pretty pinks and purples and the aroma from them is just divine!!!

So as you can see, I really do have the nicest friends ... thank you Melissa ♥

Thank you cards ...

When I was a young girl, every new year I would write letters to my relatives to thank them for the Christmas gifts they'd given to me. I mention this fond memory because even today, I still like to do this, though now-a-days I tend send a card rather than a letter.

There's an abundance of journaling card / note card kits in the digiscrapping world at the moment and one of my personal favourites is Classic [Greetings Cards] kit by Ange Designs ...


I love the clean, simple, non fussy design and it's the kit I chose to create my Christmas 2011, "thank you" cards ...


Cute, aren't they? The front of each card was printed with the same design and wording, then on the inside I hand wrote a personal note of thanks to the individual person. Such a simple idea and so easy to do!

A yummy way to start 2012 ...

I baked a batch of vanilla cupcakes yesterday ...


I've baked them before, so they don't count as one of my NEW52Recipes ... but I wanted to show them to you anyway because I was chuffed with the way they turned out! My piping skills have really improved now that I'm using this piping bag set from Lakeland. I don't know about you, but they kind of remind me of Mr Whippy ice-creams you get from the ice-cream van, swirls & swirls of creamy goodness ... yum!

P.S. - sorry about the image quality [again!] It was taken using my mobile phone rather than my proper camera!