A Great Idea By Nana Plum: Rainy Day Bags

I don't know about you, but I am completely addicted to Pinterest. I absolutely love it. I spend hours browsing and pinning ... And actually go back to my pins and "do stuff". You can follow me by clicking the link on my blog ... If you want!

One of the things I wanted to do for Miss Plum was to have a "bag" of some kind. Probably home made - and filled with stuff to do. For example, on my day off with her ... If it was rainy and we were stuck inside, I would fill the bag with some fun stuff to do in the rain. If we were heading into London for some sightseeing, I would make sure that my pack of "50 Things To See In London" cards were in the bag.

But, after a wonderful 13 months maternity leave ... I went back to work. 32 hours a week at first, but went back up to full time in January this year (working a compressed working week, so we still have our girlie day together!)... And needless to say, the bag never got made ... And I have piles of random things hanging around the flat to put in it ... Oh dear!

Anyway, I'll eventually get to the point of my post! Today we came to stay with my parents for the bank holiday and my mum had done something absolutely fabulous! The kind of thing that I would have pinned on Pinterest.

We are going to be here for 3 days. So my mum and dad had put together 3 bags. Today the weather was awful, so the bag had a picture of a rain cloud and was filled with colouring, books, paintbrushes and crayons for rainy day fun. Tomorrow the forecast is mixed, so Miss Plum has a bag with fuzzy felt and stickers. For a sunny day she has stuff to go out and about with! I just love this and know that Miss Plum will get so much enjoyment out of it!

Homemade Christmas Cards

This was another idea I found on Pinterest.

Make your child's footprints into robins!!

Mince Pies

I don't like mince pies very much ... but obviously when it comes to Christmas I will have the odd one or two ... then last year a friend's girlfriend made some lovely pies with a frangipan topping.  Wow! These were amazing and have (almost!) converted me to mince pies!  I was also intrigued by Paul Hollywood's deep mince pies which have chopped apple and satsumas in ... anything to water down the richness of the mince meat is good in my book! So this week I found myself spending an evening in the kitchen making a rather huge batch of pies! 

The frangipan topping is also nice and simple: Cream 200g butter, 200g caster sugar and 200g almonds Add 50g flour, 2 eggs and 2 tbs brandy/rum This made a huge amount of topping so I would suggest for 12 mince pies - half the quantity would be needed. Just dollop a teaspoon on top of your mince pie rather than a pastry lid! Well ... here we are, Christmas Eve! What a lot of festive blogging I have done! Let's hope I can keep it up in the new year! Merry Christmas!!!!

Christmas Cake

I once again used Ruth Clemens' recipe for Boozy Fruit Christmas Cake and left it rather late to marzipan and decorate them! So with the Christmas countdown getting nearer and nearer and with my plan to cut one of my cakes into 8 portions to give as gifts I needed to get a wriggle on!

I'm rather pleased with the results.  I have kept it simple this year.  We have a house full of colds and coughs and I wasn't feeling particularly inspired!

 

Christmas Films - What Are Your Favourites?

We all love Christmas films don't we?

But what are your favourites?  Is there a film, which signifies the start of the festivities? Do films hold special memories of being young?

Here are my favourites ... it's an ever-evolving list with new ones added every year.  Let me see if I can limit it to 10.  In no particular order (that would be far too tricky!)

Meet Me In St Louis.  For me, this is the start of Christmas. I love it.  I LOVE IT! I often wonder how I got into my 30's before seeing it. How did that happen? My favourite scene is the Christmas ball when Esther is dancing with her grandpa and they waltz behind the Christmas tree and she reappears the other side with John.  Wonderful.  

Home Alone I & II.  I saw both of these films when they came out at the cinema with my family. We laughed so hard that I thought we were all going to die! Both films are watched multiple times in the run up to the big day.  Can you believe that Mr Plum had not seen either of these films until he met me?

Santa Claus: The Movie.  I can remember my dad taking me and my brother to see this at the cinema one Christmas Eve.  It's the ultimate in American 80's cheese.

White Christmas.  Of course! What's not to like?

Elf. A recent addition to my Christmas film must sees! 2 year old Miss Plum is also a fan.

Miracle on 34th Street.  I watched this for the first time at the weekend. I know! Where have I been? Living under a rock??? I had recorded the 1990's version off the telly ...and Mr Plum has come home with a DVD with both versions on!!

Arthur Christmas.  I saw this for the first time at the weekend and we had to buy it. 

The Holiday/Love Actually.  Christmas schmaltz in perfect London/perfect 
England/perfect LA.

 It's A Wonderful Life. Mr Plum STILL hasn't seen this film! We have now got it on DVD and will be watching it on Christmas Eve.

The Snowman & Mickey's Christmas Carol.  I have put these films together as they remind me of the children's Christmas parties that my Dad used to organise at his work (although apparently we only watched Mickey once!).  Every year we would watch the Snowman and I can't wait to introduce Miss Plum to it.

Mary Berry's Yule Log

Hands up all who watched the Great British Bake Off Christmas masterclass on Wednesday night?

Here is my Yule log which was so easy to make! Perfect for eating on the shortest day of the year!!

Mmmmmmmagazines!!

I used to subscribe to Marie Claire when in my early 20's ... but soon lost interest in that kind of glossy magazine in favour of my Mum's old copies of Good Housekeeping or Country Living.  

I occasionally find myself buying a knitting magazine or cookery mag ... but really fancied looking for a mag that I could subscribe too.  A magazine which would drop through the letter box each month without me having to battle the crowds around the magazine stands in the local supermarket!

Recently I have tried out three potential subscriptions:

So far, Homemaker and Mollie Makes are my favourites.  I have taken advantage of a '3 issues for £5' for The Simple Things and a '3 issues for £6' for Homemaker Magazine.  I just need to decide which will be my new year subscription!

Do you have a subscription?

A Bit of Cath This Christmas

Anyone who follows my Christmas board on Pinterest will have seen a few things ...

1.  My, perhaps overly ambitious, list of Christmas craft ideas!

2.  I love the Cath Kidston Christmas Deer!!

Lucky old me ... Mr Plum bought me the iphone case as a little treat.  I hadn't been feeling at all festive and I think it was because I just didn't have enough Christmas deers in my life!! It is so cute!  I also have the Christmas organiser which is slowly getting filled up! 

I have to say that I am a rather latecomer to the wondrous website that is Pinterest. Are you on there? Leave me your Pinterest name in my comments - I'm always looking for new people to follow.  You can find a link to my profile on my blog side bar.

Who's feeling Christmassy???

Me!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Tutu For Miss Plum

I started taking Miss Plum to Baby Ballet last month. She enjoys it and adores the teacher (Miss Zoe). I think she is the oldest ballerina in the class (which ranges 18months-3 years) and as a result I think she get's a little bored that the other ballerinas can't keep up with her ... Antics!!

I saw a tutu tutorial on Pinterest so have made one for Miss Plum and one for her doll, Lily, of course!

I'm really pleased with how it has turned out! Not bad for an evening's work!



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A Family Christmas Gathering & Christmas Mini Muffins

My parents came to visit this weekend and we headed to the Albert Hall for the famous sing-a-long carol concert! It was great fun! After a slight stress with my brother organising and then managing to double book himself (and turning up to the concert slightly squiffy!) we had a lovely time singing all the fabulous Christmas carols and other popular songs! One of the most memorable moments was singing the descant to Hark The Herald ... and my brother singing along in a scary falsetto voice!! Ha ha! Also, doing the mexican wave to Slade's famous Christmas hit was brilliant!

Miss Plum enjoyed herself and lasted until about 30 minutes before the end ... such a good girl!

So, after feeling completely unfestive for most of the month ... a couple of days of baking, card making and writing and Christmas cake decorating - I AM FEELING CHRISTMASSY! (I also had my first snowball of the festive season with my mum last night!)

Last Christmas a friend at work spotted a recipe for Christmas mini-muffins on the BBC website.  I wanted to make them but didn't have a mini muffin tin - but picked one up during the year and made some last week.  I would have taken a photo ... but they have all been scoffed, so you will have to make do with the BBC picture!!  Here's a link to the recipe ... so easy, so tasty! 

 I will be making some more this week!!!

A Scarf For Advent

I have made a start on my Advent Scarf.

I first found out about the Advent Scarf at my work knit and natter.  The pattern is posted daily on Ravelry and you do a bit of knitting each day.  Needless to say, it is the 15th December and I am still knitting the pattern for day 4!! Hey ho! I'm knitting at my own pace and really enjoying it!

Christmas Dodger Biscuits

I saw the recipe for these lovely biscuits in the Tesco toddler magazine and couldn't resist having a go at making a Chrimbo versio of my daughter's favourite tea-time treat!




Here's the recipe:
125g butter, chilled and cubed
75g icing sugar
Pinch salt
175g plain flour
Egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
10-12 tsp jam

1. Sift the flour, icing sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl. Lightly rub the butter into the mixture, until it resembles breadcrumbs.

2. Whisk the egg yolk and vanilla in a small bowl. Combine with the flour mixture to form a soft dough. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 mins.

3. Preheat oven to gas 3

4. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions. Place each portion between 2 pieces of baking parchment and roll out until 4mm thick.

5. Using a 6cm fluted cutter, cut each sheet of dough into an equal number of disks. Then cut shapes out of the centre of half the disks using a Christmas themed cutter.

6. Transfer the disks to baking sheets lined with parent and bake for 15-20 minutes until just firm and barely coloured.

7. Remove from the oven and gently spread a teaspoon of j in the centre of the full discs and then put their cut out partners on to.

8. Return to the oven and cool for a further 5-6 minutes until light golden and well stuck together with jam. Cool completely before eating.



Keep them well out of reach of any geeky 2 year old with incredibly long arms!!!

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Let The Festivities Commence!

Oh hello!

It's been a while, I know! 2012 has whizzed by in a blur ... but recently I have started to want to blog about Plum Cottage again and the stuff that we get up to.  It's just finding a time when I am not at work, rushing around taking Miss Plum to ballet or various play dates, not stressing about the state of our flat (I would love to have a cleaner!) or asleep (usually in front of the TV at 9pm)! yes, my life is still as rock 'n' roll as ever!

So suddenly, December is upon us.  I had thought of a festive re-launch of my blog, but as it is now mid-December that is unlikely! ha ha! December is here ... and I don't feel very festive.

This is unusual for me.  Christmas cakes are usually baked in October and decorated at the beginning of December.  This year's are still sitting on my work top waiting for their marzipan.  I must get on with that.  I have normally started the Christmas weight gain by now having started truffle making and cupcake baking ... but (thankfully, for once!) this has been delayed!

I had lots of plans to get on with various crafts - a felt Christmas tree for Miss Plum, an Advent Scarf that I had seen on ravelry, a tutu for Miss Plum to wear to ballet, a sleeping bag for her favourite doll.  Most of these are still on my to do list! I must sit down and get on with them!!!

So here I find myself on a rainy Friday morning, recovering from the bug that has been doing it's rounds at nursery, sitting with a sleeping babe beside me on the sofa (I have exhausted her out with Christmas card decorating and biscuit dough preparation), watching Meet Me In St Louis (this, if anything will make me feel Christmassy I hope!).

We have decided, for the first time in a long time, to spend Christmas in London, rather than go to our parents (we alternate).  Miss Plum is 2.5 years old (can you believe it?) and we wanted her to have Christmas morning at home.  We are looking forward to it - and will be heading to my parents on Boxing Day and then up to Yorkshire to spend New Year with my inlaws.  But I think that I have been in denial about the whole thing as .... I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM GOING TO HAVE FOR MY CHRISTMAS DINNER!  So I am having a flick through my favourite cook books to decide on a nice veggie dinner ... anyway, here I come to the reason for my post.

My inlaws are rather partial to port and Stilton ... not separately, which would be nice (!) but Stilton with port in it (this is far too strong for my palate!) They discovered it while cruising and are often prepared to pay up to £30 for a tiny jar of it in Fortnum & Masons.  Crazy!  One year I made them some.  I think they liked it, although they may have been humouring me!  On a recent visit to Fortnum's, my mother-in-law glanced towards the Stilton ... but came to her senses and didn't buy any as she thought that she would be able to get it in Waitrose. (Waitrose did it for about a tenner last year, I think).  It turns out that Waitrose aren't doing it this year ...

I have found a recipe for potted cheese in my Betty's "A Year Of Family Recipes" cookbook

Ingredients:

250g hard cheese (such as Wenslydale, Stilton, Cheshire, Swaledale, Single Gloucester) - finely grated.

85g butter at room temperature

2-3 tablespoons of port

pinch of cayenne pepper

1.  Place the grated cheese in a large mixing bowl.  Add the butter and mix together to form a paste.

2.  When well amalgamated, work in the port and cayenne pepper.

3.  Transfer to one large pot or individual ramekins and place in the fridge to set. 

Cherry Bakewell Cake

As it is my birthday on Sunday I thought I would get baking! I came across a recipe for this Cherry Bakewell cake on www.iamintothis.com/2012/05/friday-food-lust-easy-peasy-cherry.html and knew I had to make it! I hope that it tastes as good as it looks!




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Simple Fairy Cakes

It's been ages and ages since I have had one of those days where I find myself drafting a blog post in my head. It's been so long since I last did a post that I was beginning to think that I had completely lost the bug for it!

Then one day this week I saw a tweet - I think it may have been from the fabulous Thrifty Mrs - or she may have re-tweeted someone else ... But the essence of the tweet was

"what had happened to simple fairy cakes with a dollop of icing and a cherry on top?"

It made me think about everything - how I feel that life had become so complicated and at times, as I face Miss Plum (now 18 months) pushing her boundaries further and further, I just don't know what happened to my nice simple life! Each evening this week I have struggled to get Miss P home from nursery as she refuses to get into her pram. I end up carrying all 24lbs of her to the bus stop and pushing the buggy one handed. I live in London, remember, don't expect much help!

I then spend the evening trying to get her to eat a little snack which generally gets thrown over me!

All quite funny really - but what really topped it off was listening to radio 2 last night and the "Sounds of the 20th Century" focussing on 1994. 18 years ago, and it feels like yesterday ... Oh my god! I am getting OLD!

Anyway, having come to terms with life being more complicated than when I was 17 ... I decided that today me and Miss Plum would bake!

She helped me stir the cake mix and was in charge of chocolate button and star placement! I think she ate more buttons than actually went on the cake!




But here we are ... Simple fairy cakes with water icing and chocolate buttons!

And a few stars ... Are the stars too fancy?


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Baby Knitting!

Two friends of mine are about to have babies ... so I have been busy knitting little bits for very little people! I have a huge amount of this lovely Rowan wool and find it is perfect for keeping precious little newborns warm.

This cardigan, hat and booties is for the baby who is due ... any time now!! The patterns are from the lovely "Vintage Knits for Modern Babies" by Hadley Fierlinger.

So now I need to get knitting for the December baby! And start various Christmas knitting projects! I'm finding that there really are not enough hours in the day to get anything done anymore!

Winter Knitting Part Two!

 Here they are!! I showed you one glove back in August and I have finally finished the second one!

Now that Little Miss Plum (at 13months, can't really call her a baby anymore!) is in bed at a reasonable hour (6.30pm!) I have time to get some knitting done in the evening, I have also started up a knitting group where I work and joined the new local knitting group which meets every other Friday! Knit-tastic!

I have just started to cast on a beret for Little Miss Plum using the same wool as my gloves. I think that it will look very pretty!

My best ever jam!

I must tell you about my jam!

This isn't like my blackberry jam which was rock solid ... or my rhubarb and ginger jam which turned to toffee in the pan.

This is lovely, 'firm' (can you use 'firm' to describe jam?) strawberry jam!

Remember our allotment plot? (More of that another time ...) well, this summer we picked 11lbs of strawberries from our patch! 11lbs!! Most of these were scoffed, still warm from the May sunshine ... but a good proportion were picked by Mr Plum while I was staying with my parents and bunged in the freezer.

So I defrosted ...

After my runny strawberry jam incident, I made sure I got sugar suitable for strawberry jam!

I popped to John Lewis and got a sugar thermometer 

Sterilised my jars 

Mmmmmm 8 jars of delicious jam! I will have to make scones this weekend!

Happy Birthday Baby Plum!

Can you believe that my beautiful girl is one year old?

Here is the card Mr Plum slaved over to send in to Cbeebies. Hopefully they will show it!

Happy Birthday Baby Plum!

We are having a party this afternoon - so will let you know how it goes!!

Baby Plum is Almost 1 Year Old!

Baby Plum is One year old on Saturday!

Can you believe it? Where has this year gone?

We are going to have a little tea party to celebrate and I have been busy baking today, while Baby Plum settles into her nursery.

I have baked some lovely cupcakes - which, unfortunately I am unable to share with you as Blogger won't let me upload the photo ... and of course, a "Number One" birthday cake for the birthday girl.  When I dropped her off at nursery this morning one of the staff said that they were going to have a little tea party for Baby Plum tomorrow afternoon and I could provide a cake if I wanted...so I knocked up a victoria sponge! How exciting!

I'll post more cakey pics on Saturday.