Chocolate treats

We all love chocolate over here so I decided to do something about it. Chocolate can be challenging to work with, it went wrong for me so many times! It's something about the way you melt it and the time you have to work with before it goes all wrong.
However, this time it went right! All you need to make these delicious treats is plain chocolate (400g), 200g butter, dried fruit (I used cranberries), now you can add you nuts (I love nuts but Mr T doesn't so I didn't use any this time), plus 150g crushed digestive biscuits (I used ginger ones in these). Careful melting chocolate (+butter), it can go messy, mix your dried ingredients in and then quickly press them down on a baking paper. This part is not easy so if i was to make these again I would go for cupcakes cases. Less effort, same results. Time to leave it to set for a couple of hours, best place: fridge.

Well, good luck now and Happy Christmas!
C x

Muffin for breakfast

If you're a foodie like me then you will know how to appreciate a good continental breakfast and also support small businesses around your community. That was one scrumptious muffin!
C x

I always go for pasta

Pasta? Simple and delicious in the same time. Can't ask for more.
C x

Christmas trifle

I must say, it was delicious !
C x

Home is where your favorite place is

We have been in our own house for nearly two months now and it feels so right. Everyone should have their own house, it makes you appreciate more what you have and who you sharing it with, being here makes us 10 times happier and we are some happy people anyway.
This has to be my favorite corner so far even thought the kitchen is the place I owe. We have furnished our house already but they are still loads of things to do and change to make it more ours, Mr T is not a huge fan of  'nailing' the walls so i find it a bit difficult to expose my work, but we will get there.
So this is it, a corner of our life we share with you.
C x

Sunday brunch

I love waking up at 10am with a cup of coffee and a late breakfast made with love.
C x

Four sleeps till Christmas

Four more sleeps till Christmas! I baked these scrumptious cookies for some loved ones, I am super excited to spend two whole weeks with my lovely partner, visiting some family and enjoying this lovely period. There will be lots of delicious breakfasts and also, loads of baking going on in the household.

I adapted this cookie recipe from 'Simply Wonderwoman' by Joanna Gosling, I started by mixing 350g of soft brown sugar, 400g white plain flour, one egg, 250g butter (soft), pinch of salt and 1 tsp vanilla extract. You will end up with a wet dough, surprisingly easy to manage. Feel free to construct your cookies, I used milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, fudge, smarties. They look cute and taste lovely with a cup of milk. Bake for 20 minutes, 160 fan then leave to cool.

They make lovely little presents for your loved ones, I think I have just destroyed the surprise for a couple of them by posting this. Oops!

Enjoy your Christmas!
C x

6am

Who said it's too early for breakfast?

Short story of a cake

Good morning

Why not have breakfast in a tea room today? Exactly, why not?
C x

Baking with kids

Baking with kids is priceless and the result is tasty and sweet, just like cupcakes. 

c x

Sunday, such a windy day

Today's been windy and super cold, we wanted to do something with ourselves so we decided for Dobbies Gardens, i love their Christmas decoration, their salad bar and or course, those creamy cakes.
We ended up getting a couple of house decoration i am really excited about, eating well and finishing off with these amazing cakes.
No dinner for us, thank you!
C x

Sunday morning

Good old breakfast in bed

It might be Friday and you work again till 5, you know that after work you'll hit the bad traffic, workers like you eager to get home to their loved ones.
You're tired because that's what the week before Christmas does to you, more work aligned to go on with as if the Christmas is the deadline and everything must be finish. Maybe the Christmas is the dead line. Must be.
When all you want is a warm chest with a loved heart to listen to in it, you get nothing like it.
Anyway, even though this and that happens, that doesn't mean you can't have your breakfast in bed today, have the windows wide open and enjoy the light.
C x

Late mornings when some things are not okay

Late mornings, sunshine and a cuppa. Just about enough to make it right... even when some things are far from right.

C x

Apple and Peach tart

Lets talk about this tart. All you need is an apple, four peaches, a couple of spoons of sugar, sprinkle of cinnamon and some puff pastry (frozen or fresh). It's the most delicious and inexpensive pudding you could make. Looks and tastes like heaven.
Enjoy!
C x

Night Cravings

Would it be incredible wrong to have one of this at 10pm? I mean, surely my 10pm is someone else's 8am, right?
C x

May I have chocolate for breakfast?

you may.
C x

Naughty snaking

I had these unusual but delicious doughnut-like crunchy, sugary and cinnamon-y sticks while going around the German Market in Solihull, UK. What a joy!
C x  

Lazy Saturdays, late delicious lunches

C x

Some mornings you can only keep it simple ...

C x

Can one have too many pancakes?

C x

Advice

Keep it in mind, just in case you're one of THOSE!

 C x

Home made biscuits

I dare you try these, you'll never go back buying them from a shop. You'll have them done in less than an hour without requiring any superpowers, you will have all you need in your fridge and cupboard. Amazing with tea, coffee and even ice cream on a side they will be the star of the afternoon.
 All you need to make the biscuits is:
250g butter softened
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (you could use essence too)
230g plain flour
35g cocoa powder
85g icing sugar
30g cornflower
Also, for the cream filling you will need:
50g butter, softened
125g icing sugar
50g full fat cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
orange zest

Sift all the dry elements before mixing in soft butter and vanilla, you will end up with a slightly soft dough but once in the fridge for 10 min it will go hard enough so you can manage it afterwards. Shape it in similar balls (mine weren't all the same but I found pairs, no pros! you need to enjoy baking not to stress yourself about it or feed your compulsions), and place them on a ready-to-go-in-the-oven tray (by that I only mean you have to line it with some baking parchment, easy pesy), also heat oven to 140 fan/160 gas btw. Balls on the tray (not to close together, they tend to expand), now you want to press them down and give them that biscuit-y finish, I used a fork, if you don't fancy my look you could try pressing it down with the bottom of a glass (?).
Now they're ready to go in the oven for 30 minutes while you can work on your filling.
Start mixing the butter with icing sugar (I like using a wooden spoon), it's hard at the beginning but soon you'll fell the new creamy consistency emerge. Add vanilla paste, orange zest (could be lemon) and cream cheese and finish off your cream. If you fancy a different color you could add food coloring, kids will love! The biscuits MUST be completely cold (if not sure, stick them in the fridge) when start piping the cream, be gentle, they need good care, they're super fragile. Pip away and enjoy!
recipe adapted from GoodFood Magazine

C x

ROOM by Emma Donoghue

I like books, I like reading them, collecting them, even sharing them with others. They're my favorite kind of present, you can never go wrong with a book.

I try to read as much as I can, even when I seem to be too busy to fit anything else into my schedule I find that there's always space for a good book.

I've read Room by Emma Donoghue over the weekend after initially read 30 pages and decided it might not be what I needed at that point. You see, I love kids, I work with kids, I am a 'kid' person so I know how their minds work. This book is from a 5 year old kid's perspective so if you can't stand the nonsense they sometimes come up with, this book is not for you! The book's style remained me of Extremely loud and incredible close by Jonathan Safran Foer, I loved that book but it took me ages to finish it. I don't know if it was because of the story line or writing itself but I couldn't read more that 5 pages at a time so it took me months to get it to the end. I was afraid I'll do the same thing with this book but fortunately that hasn't been the case.

The book's main character, 5 year old Jack, lives with his Ma in the Room, that's where he was born, that's the only place he knows. He knows there's a Bed and Wardrobe, Rug and Wall, Ceiling and Table, TV and Sink, Jack, Ma and Old Nick. He's been captive in that Room all his life but he doesn't know it, for Jack there's nothing else out there, Room is a planet gravitating in the Universe. Ma created a special place for Jack, she knows is not enough but she lives for the moment they'll both get out the Room. It's been 7 years since she's been kidnapped and locked away in the Room, years of waiting, years of trying to come up with a plan that will get her and her son out and away from'Old Nick'.
 If you succeed to get past the first 60 pages or so you won't regret, this book is splendid, you'll find yourself living it,  believing it, you won't be able to put it down.

Do read!

C x

foto: bookdeprived.com

Lunch Box

Can a lunch box look good? It most certainly can!
C x

Night cravings

C x

Cookies for breakfast

I had cookies for breakfast. Beat that!
C x

Morning coffee

I like mornings, sleepy clumsy mornings...
I always feel a bit insecure to begin with, sometimes I wish I could sleep for longer, I toss and turn and try to go back to sleep but that never works; that's when I realize I can do better, I convince myself there's no point, unless there is a point in losing time while doing nothing in bed.
It's cold out there, it's winter and I always seem to feel its cold more than others.
He's sleeping peacefully, He's never cold. I watch him dreaming but only for a minute, His mornings are for sleeping, he won't be up until 10. I like wearing his dressing gown, it's silky and soft and covers me all up, smells like Him. It's like wearing your favorite person as if he was a jumper.
I try to make my way downstairs without tripping over, I sometimes succeed.
Our sitting room is my favorite place to be, lounging on our soft sofa surrounded by books. What else do I need?
Coffee or tea? Make it coffee today, I feel adventurous.

AH, I nearly forgot: there's nothing like fruit for breakfast, I must say... Unless you'd rather have leftover cake, because that's fine as well.

C x

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Let the countdown begin!
C x