It's not quite right....

How many times have you read a recipe through, gathered the ingredients, read through again and something doesn't sit quite right?
Yesterday K was very keen to bake. It had to be chocolate cake and it had to be just the right one, the cake of her dreams.
She decided upon this one. Brooklyn Blackout cake from the hummingbird Bakery.
The cake went well, very well and I would certainly make it again. BUT I'm not so sure about the chocolate custard filling. The recipe says to add 200g of cornflour to the cocoa, sugar, syrup and water mix and then to cook until very thick. We got to very, very thick almost immediately and I hadn't added all of the cornflour. It tastes just a little bit bland as if it needs a little something.....

We only used about 1/2 of the custard mix but the cake still went down really well both at home and at work where a lot of my 'testing" takes place. It looks good but, I think needs some more work. Watch this space....

It seems like quite a while since I last posted. Work seems to have got in the way. I still haven't decided about a colour scheme but no doubt it will all come together in the end.
I have been off work today. Well in the sense that I didn't leave the house at 8am. K has to provide cake for a sale at school this evening to help raise money for a connecting schools project. I'm sure most of you will understand that this means I have been baking......
Requests were made, but this is also an opportunity to try out something new......

I've attempted Martha Stewart's Hummingbird cupcakes with pineapple flowers and......

My own version of Nutella cakes with candied hazlenuts.....

Chocolate cake is always popular.....

And a grown up lemon sponge... just hope it all goes well and doesn't come back home!

Decisions, decisions.

As of last month, we have lived here for 13 years. When we first moved in we were a bit overwhelmed by the sheer size of the place and, with two very small children we rattled around a bit. Quite quickly we got used to the space but not the very 1970's decor. For a long time we had to live with it, swirly carpets and all.
Then slowly, slowly we started to change things. We have done our best to keep the original features of what was a Victorian rectory. This wasn't easy as the family that were here before us had strived to remove all evidence of the Victorians and indeed those that followed. To be fair, the fashion at the time was to modernise whatever the cost. All of the bedroom fireplaces had been removed and it was only good luck and the determination of one builder that stopped the beautiful staircase frome being boxed in.
We reach 2011 with only two rooms left to tackle as things had been put on a back-burner a bit when I was having treatment. Feeling well now, I really want to get going again and perhaps get all the work finished over the next year or so.
The window people are booked to restore the sashes and we can finally take the last bits of secondary glazing to the tip. We'll even be able to open the windows in the lounge or perhaps I should say Drawing Room.
Our bedroom is the only other remaining room and I won't be sorry to see the pink blown vinyl wallpaper being stripped off and replaced. Interestingly this was the only room not painted in a shade of magnolia but it isn't good, not good at all.
So what about THE room? Let me show you what we have now. All suggestions are really welcome because I am well and truly stuck with this one... The room is big, about 17 x 17 feet with south and west facing windows. The shutters will be sorted so that they can actually be used and stripped to a warm pine colour.

I have just started stripping the fireplace which is yellow sandstone under the paint. (what possessed them to paint all the fireplaces I really don't know but  this is the last one to show its true colours). We will also take away the 70's style slate and open up the fireplace a bit. Either a stove or Spanish basket arrangement will be put in depending on what we find when excavations are started.....

The little scrap of paper was just peeking ot when I took a piece of paper off today...

The table has been moved to what will become the dining room but the piano will have to stay, it's just too big to move and although bought originally to take up a bit of space is now well used by no. one son.
Looking forward to your suggestions.

The Power of Water

Another favourite walk tok K and I to Gelt Wood today. It has been very wet here recently and as you can imagine the river is running high. Over the years visiting here I have been amazed by the way the water has carved out a course for itself through the valley.

Man too has spent some time here carving away at the sandstone in the old quarry...

We stopped at what has become a favourite spot for a rest, a picnic and in the summer at least a bit of a paddle. Can you spot the stolen / borrowed wellies?

We spotted this beautiful bracket fungus along the way...

Before heading home for a piece of almond pear tart.....

In Search of Spring.

Some of you have written about the signs of Spring and posted beautiful photos. Up here however things are a bit slower, more considered or perhaps still feeling the chill. I set out to see if i could find any evidence.... yes there are snowdrops in the garden and I should probably have photographed them but I wanted to be a bit more adventurous and so set off to Talkin Tarn . The walk around the Tarn is just over a mile and we used to go quite a bit when the children were small. A promise of icecream or hot chocolate usually made sure of a winge free excursion. Today though, I was on my own, no cafe stop needed. 

It was absolutely freezing and I was glad of my down jacket and hat as I met up with this fellow... his rather shy new wife refused to have her photo taken or perhaps it was the other way around...

There were signs though....

and this....

the council have taken over the upkeep of the Tarn and apart from starting to charge for parking, not much else seems to have been done. Perhaps it's too early to see what they have been up to but at least they've left the special seat that looks out over the choppy water...

And the old tree that fell down in the winter storms....

Time to head home and inject my own little bit of spring with some orange sponge...

Which, turned out like this....Spring blossoms.......

Out and About

Last weekend Y, K and I went off to watch a cycling race at Croft circuit where one of our friends was racing. The weather had turned out quite wll here so off we set with snacks for k and flapjacks for friend....
The nearer we got to the circuit the greyer it became and it was cold, ok freezing. The cyclists were warming up.... how hard that must be in grey February weather, all that is except for friend who had, probably quite sensibly decided that it was much too cold and grey to be riding around a wind swept airfield....

So after watching for a while we set off to look around Richmond......A very pretty market town in Yorkshire, mind you it was still very cold and grey as you can see here...

After poking around in all the vintage srores (read junk shops for some).. we headed home to make this for my dad. His very own sheep dog trial.....

It looks much more spectacular with the flaming fountain.....

Then yesterday I was given a fantabulous present.........

An enamel sign for my kitchen.