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?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone. Isn't that a pip?

Fruity Infusions At The Berkeley

On Monday I met up with my two oldest and dearest friends for afternoon tea. Baby Plum was still a bit scabby from her bout of chicken pox, so she stayed at home with Daddy Plum.

It was a bit of a novelty having a day out and not having a pram/sling/nappy bag with me! I thought I would make the most of this rare baby free day!

I headed into town and popped to the John Lewis haberdashery department where the clearance sale was still ongoing (finishes on Sunday, I think!) and picked up some wool to knit myself some gloves with!

I then popped to work and met a friend for a quick drink to catch up on the news and gossip.

After that I met my friends for a lovely afternoon tea at The Berkeley. As you know, this is the home to the fashionista's afternoon tea and I have blogged about the wonderful cakes before. Previous seasons can be found here, here and here.  We are all fans of lovely cakes, aren't we? 

This time I was lucky enough to try out the new fruity infusions. Don't you agree that fruity/herbal teas quite often smell better than they taste? Mmmm smells of lovely fruit, but tastes of dishwater? Not these infusions!

These lovely fruit infusions are produced by Spiceway and rather than a dusty ol' tea bag in your cup you put a couple of teaspoons of delicious dried fruit into your cup ...

Add freshly boiled water ....

Allow the fruit to infuse... I had a spicy apple tea which would be absolutely perfect for a chilly winter's afternoon. All apple and cinnamony! Delicious!

Then drink (the picture below is the Funky Fruit tea). At the end you can eat up the fruit from the bottom of the cup which is now like a compote!

A lovely cup of fruit tea!

Another day out in London town!

This weekend my sister-in-law and her boyfriend came to visit. We thought that it would be fun to head into town and visit a couple of museums.

Mr Plum was keen to head to the baby friendly areas. The Science Museum had an area called The Pattern Pod which was aimed at 5-8 year olds, Baby Plum had fun chasing fish on the interactive floor!  There was a whole area called "The Garden" aimed at under 5's so Baby Plum spent some time in there with her auntie and uncle. 

Next we popped next door to the Natural History Museum. Baby Plum was fast asleep in her pram, so auntie and uncle had a look round the museum while we had a cuppa in the cafe and a wander around the shop!

What a lovely day!!

Baby Plum enjoying a pain au chocolat on Sunday morning!

Is someone getting married?

Love them or hate them ... it is hard to escape tomorrow's nuptials!

I'm very excited! If we didn't have Baby Plum in tow, I would be tempted to hop on the train into London and have a look! 

The Plums will be celebrating the Royal Wedding with a champagne breakfast at home and then onto friends for a BBQ in the afternoon.  I promised the hostess that I would bring along something Royal Wedding themed ... do you reckon my Victoria Sponge with Berry topping will go down well?

Hurrah! Congratulations to William and Catherine!

How will you be celebrating the Royal Wedding?

The return of the tea shop!

A couple of weeks ago, Mr Plum drove us to Bluewater for a trip to John Lewis. Very exciting!! I have only recently discovered Bluewater - it is about an hour away on the M25 from our house and far less stressful (for me and Baby Plum, anyway!) than heading into the West End for a trip to the shops!

While having a wander around we spotted a shop which was due to be opened called "The Cadburys Cocoa House" .... oooh, thought I, a shop dedicated to wonderful Cadburys choc! mmmm mmmmm

Last night on the local London news there was a feature about the Cadburys Cocoa House ... it is a TEA SHOP!!!

And even more excitingly, a tea shop in the style of a Lyons Corner House. Obviously, being 33 and a bit years old - I have never been to a Lyons Corner House - but being an avid reader ... they feature so often in novels that I do feel like I have been there many a time! What a refreshing change from all the Starbucks and Costas which line our high street. The owners are planning to roll out more of these Cadburys Cocoa Houses ... hopefully there will be one a bit nearer to me!

Unfortunately Mr Plum is off work with a bad back ... but hopefully once he has recovered we will have another trip to Bluewater to have tea!

End of my first week on maternity leave ...

Wow! This week has flown by! I can't believe that I have been on maternity leave for a week now ... only 3 weeks until my due date!!

Yesterday I had a quiet day of blitzing the kitchen ... then meeting up with another friend who is expecting a baby in January for Elderflower Punch at All Bar One before heading home to watch "Twilight" (making the most of Mr Plum being up in Leeds for a meeting!)

Today, I met up with my brother's girlfriend and we went to the Grace Kelly exhibition at the V&A. This was fabulous ... the clothes were wonderful. I think that we will be watching High Society this evening!

After the exhibition we popped into the hotel where my brother works for a lovely lunch (I had a mixed salad followed by treacle tart with cinnamon ice cream and a nice pot of Earl Grey tea ... mmmmmm).

I feel exhausted now that I am home! I have a quieter week planned next week ... and I really must get on with some cleaning!!!

Fabric Addict Swap, My 200th Post Giveaway and other sunny weekend stuff ...

I have just signed up to Crafty Helen's First Swap! It's a Fabric Addict swap ... perfect!

Wasn't it a glorious day yesterday? I had to work in the morning, but that was okay because I could see the beautiful blue sky out of the window and by 1pm I was on my way to Covent Garden to meet Mr Plum at the London Transport Museum for the Suburbia exhibition. Mr Plum was, typically, 30 minutes late and incommunicado for that period ... so I managed to find myself a free curb in the Piazza and sat reading my new book The Resourceful Mum's Handbook (full of thrifty tips for not getting sucked into all the maternity and baby "must haves"), and listening to the nearby buskers!

The exhibition itself was okay. We had already spent a day at the museum itself, so didn't bother looking at the main exhibits again, and am glad that we had a 2 for 1 voucher. We found that we had already seen many of the Suburbia exhibits before, mainly because we have read about them, watched programmes about it, and attended a couple of lectures at the museum earlier this year. I am glad that we went though! If you haven't been to the Transport Museum and find yourself in London - I would definitely recommend it.

Under 16s are FREE and adults should make use of the National Rail 2 for 1 offer!

After that (and a piece of cake and cup of tea) we headed up to my FAVOURITE department store ... JOHN LEWIS!!! I was planning to get some wool so that I could start crocheting a blanket - but was overwhelmed by the choice of colours couldn't remember what I had in my yarn stash at home. So came away empty handed!

We popped to the Nursery Department and had another look at prams. Living in London and not being able to drive has had to influence our choice as I need to be able to get the pram off and on buses etc easily. Some friends had offered us their old pram for free - but unfortunately it was like a mini-tank and was not really practical for our needs. So we have chosen this one:

We had decided on this one even before we found it in purple!! Baby Plum in a Plum pram! It's nice and nippy and perfect for getting out and about!

This is my 200th post!!! And to celebrate I will be having a giveaway - and like last time, the gift will be a a surprise! If you would like to enter you can do any of the following:

Leave a comment on this post

Become a follower of my blog

Add the button to your blog (make sure you let me know!)

The more things you do ... the more entries you get!! The winning entry will be drawn from a cake tin on 1st May. GOOD LUCK!

Victoria and Albert In Love

A couple of Sundays ago I watched a very interesting programme on BBC 1 about a new exhibition opening at the Queen's Gallery ... I don't know whether you saw it too?

Well, today I went to the Victoria and Albert: Art In Love exhibition with Mr Plum and my parents. Unfortunately, HRH was at home, so the State Rooms at Buck House were closed ... but we'll be going back (for my third visit!)

The exhibition was brilliant ... beautiful artwork and jewels given to each other, Victoria's drawings of her children and music specially arranged so that Victoria and Albert could duet together ....

I would definitely recommend this exhibition if you find yourself in London over the next couple of months. You can book tickets here

Another lovely Spring day in London

What a lovely day!

I took a days leave and met three friends to spend the morning at the Country Living Spring Fair ... so many lovely things to buy!! I was very restrained and got a lovely Babar picture, some edible glitter and some fab fairy cake cases!

After we were all shopped out - we headed to The Berkeley for their wonderful Pret A Portea ... they were still serving their Autumn/Winter 2009 collection - I will have to go back when they release the Spring/Summer 2010 collections!

Look at these lovely cakes ... with "congratulations" written in chocolate - what a lovely brother I have!

Don't these cakes look fab? And Sarah Ferguson was sitting a couple of tables away from us with one of her daughters! How exciting!!

Oh, what a shame I have to go back to work tomorrow ...

Shall we go to Metro-land?

Last night I went to a very interesting lecture at the London Transport Museum. The theme of the talk was Betjemen and Suburbia ... the main part of the talk was given by a museum curator - with poetry read by an old chap from the Betjemen Society.

I love the old transport posters - and it was great to have some of them put into the context of the expansion of the Metropolitan railway and the building of suburbia. There are a series of talks and I have got tickets booked for another one in February:

Home Comforts

The style of the new suburban interiors and the changing role of the housewife in the 1920s and 1930s. This talk focuses on the wives and mothers who found themselves in charge of their new homes, in Metroland - far removed from the hustle and bustle of the city centre. Emmanuelle will explore how homes changed dramatically after the First World War, through the boom in technology and labour saving devices, and in their decorative schemes. She will compare the sleek ideal 'moderne' interiors that featured in magazines and promotional material, with the ubiquitous reality of mock Jacobean sideboards and floral wallpapers. Drawing on women's magazines of the time she will also discuss the woman's role in the house, where she shopped and what she bought.

You can purchase tickets here

London is so much more bearable when I remember to do lovely things!

I will be visiting the Suburbia exhibition soon!

Hey Presto!

This morning Mr Plum headed off for his first lesson in magic! He will be heading to a strange, dark shop hidden away in the maze that is Charing Cross underpass (it is like something out of Harry Potter!) for three hours tuition in the art of magic tricks! The course will last for three Saturdays - he was very excited this morning!

I am enjoying a nice lie in with a cup of tea (Yorkshire) and a pile of toast and marmite! I haven't got anything planned for this morning, so will probably do a bit of housework before heading into town to meet up with Mr P and some friends for dinner.

I'm still feeling the "Christmas Bloat" and now that the snow has melted, I no longer have the excuse that it is too cold to go swimming, eat healthily etc! I have managed to bribe Mr P into going for an early morning swim tomorrow with the promise of a Wetherspoons brekkie ... we will also be plugging in the wii fit to burn off some Christmas calories!

What are you up to this weekend?

Christmas Afternoon Tea!

I'm off for my (almost annual!) Christmas afternoon tea tomorrow after I have finished work ... I am VERY excited!

Afternoon Tea!

Oh what a lovely day!! Today was the annual Winter afternoon tea ... where me and my three friends from work (well, only two friends this time) take an afternoon off and head to one of the lovely London West End hotels for tea.

I love having afternoon tea ... and will find an excuse to go whenever I can! Some people are happy spending £50 every weekend down the pub on cheap gin - I'm happier spending my weekends at home with Mr Plum and the Kittens, and then treating myself to a posh afternoon tea (two or three times a year!)

This was the first time I have had tea at The Dorchester ... and it was lovely! My favourite part was the "pre dessert" - blackcurrant coulis with whipped cream - delicious! mmmmmm

After that we popped in to see my brother who works nearby, and had a quick drink with him ... and then headed home, ready to face a Thursday back in the office.

Mr Plum is taking me to my all time favourite afternoon tea venue, Claridge's, before Christmas ... I'm looking forward to that!!

Weight Loss Wednesday and Afternoon Tea!

Another 1lb off this week - things are definitely going The Right Way!

Am off to The Dorchester with two of my friends this afternoon for tea ... will report back later with details of all the lovely scones and cakes!

Have lovely Wednesdays everyone!

What were you doing last night?

Were you listening to the radio?

Did you watch a bit of telly?

Or were you at the Camden Roundhouse like me? Yes, I went to see Robbie Williams last night!!!!!!!

It was a fantastic night and I am so glad that I was lucky enough to get tickets...this was mainly due to my friend (who has yet to appear on this blog, so will call her Ms Morrissey) who has an amazing knack of getting tickets for gigs that sell out in a matter of minutes!

I don't watch the X-Factor - but have heard that Robbie wasn't at his best ... well, he was brilliant last night and I am glad that I have got to see such a showman in a small venue like the Roundhouse!

I'll be back soon to tell you all about my lovely weekend at my parents!

Borough Market, Today's Harvest and a bit of Cliff!

I'm feeling a bit sad today as I have to go back to work tomorrow ..... I have had a lovely weekend with Mr Plum though (although, for I did feel like an extra in Dawson's Creek for a bit of it ...but that's another story!)

Yesterday we got up very early and headed to Borough Market. I love this market ... I know that it is quite overpriced ... but it is nice to walk around, taste a few things and pick up a bit of cheese ... some olives ... salami and bread!

We met our friends at Maria's Market Cafe - I would recommend this cafe as a good starting point on a cold Autumn morning. So full of two mugs of strong tea, a bubble and egg roll for myself and a bacon and sausage roll for Mr Plum - we wandered around a picked up some goodies for lunch!

We had planned to head to Spitalfields Market after lunch ... but full of cheese and cava, we just sat in my friends lovely Barbican flat and talked the afternoon away!

Another early morning today! We headed to the car boot sale at Crystal Palace ... no goodies to be found there today ... which was a little disappointing! Anyway, after a quick dash around Tesco we are home reading the Sundays. I have just picked the last of my peppers and a few tomatoes, fed the kittens and am now watching Summer Holiday!

ps: how does anyone manage to knit with two kittens running around attacking the wool? Any tips welcome!! (have tried shutting them out of the room - but they cry!)

Out and About....

Today I decided to drag myself away from the kittens and head into town to do something "cultural" ...

I headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum - I haven't been there for a while and wanted to see the 80 years of Faber exhibition and have a look at the frocks - always my favourite bit! I love the V&A shop ... I treated myself to a pair of button ear rings! They also had earrings made from zips!

After the V&A, I headed East to the Geffrye Museum over in Shoreditch (I don't venture to East London very often!). This museum specialises in "Living Rooms" and had rooms from various periods of history. At Christmas they have a Victorian themed living room decked out in all the lovely Victorian decorations! I must head back for that!

I picked up the latest issue of Time Out so that I can plan some other trips out for the rest of my week off ... I'm looking forward to reading about the markets as I am meeting some friends for a wander around Borough and Spitelfields markets at the weekend!

I will be sending off this little package to Greedy Nan tomorrow .... I hope that she likes it!! :)

Out and about in London on a random Tuesday afternoon!

I had a half days holiday today ... me and a friend had decided to take one of our "random half days for doing something splendid". What a lovely afternoon we had!

Today we headed to The Women's Library to see the "Between The Covers" exhibition about women's magazines and their readers. It was very good (and most importantly - free!). I have done some research on 18th century women's magazines at University ... so it was good to revisit this topic. I would definitely recommend it if you find yourself in London with a spare hour to kill.

After the exhibition we headed towards Carnaby Street so that I could introduce my friend to "All The Fun Of The Fair" which was full of lovely little bits and pieces ... but I didn't get anything. It was thirsty work though, so treated ourselves with a cup of tea and a lovely cupcake in C'est Ici in Kingly Court ... very tasty.

We wondered around the lovely vintage shops and felt a little depressed that everything was so expensive ... and decided to start walking towards Victoria Station...via Piccadilly - a wander around Fortnum and Masons and a couple of delicious macaroons at Laduree!

Random things to do on a Wednesday lunchtime when you find yourself near Waterloo station and my first blogiversary giveaway!

On a muggy Wednesday lunchtime, I happened to find myself near Lower Marsh Street, near Waterloo ... what a find this little street is! Of course, there is the wonderful shop calledfull to the brim with beautiful yarns and this lovely book which I stood drooling over for a good few minutes ... what a lovely Christmas pressie this would make (Mr Plum?)

It is called "A Stitch In Time" and is full of beautiful knitting patterns from 1920-1949.

There were also lovely vegetarian cafes, pretty gift shops and a wonderful looking deli ... I hope that I find myself around Lower Marsh street again! Apparently there is a very good market, but it looked like it was packing away for the day. What a gem!

Otherwise this week has been rather quiet! I had a red spider mite scare on Monday ... and spent an hour spraying my lovely aubergines with soapy water to get rid of the blighters. I did try to take some pictures, but it wouldn't work ... but have a look at this wonderful blog which helped me solve the problem. I think the aubergines will survive. I have moved them out of the greenhouse and they are now living on the garden table .. in the pouring rain ... hmmm

Tomorrow me and Mr Plum are off to the Great British Beer Festival! We went last year and had a great time! I will blog about that later ... but to celebrate my first bloggiversary which was yesterday I am inviting all my readers to enter into a giveaway! Not sure what I will be giving away, but please leave a comment telling me what your favourite tipple is! I will pull a name out of a cake tin next Friday!

Hampton Court Flower Show and the Further Summer Adventures of Victoria Plum - Part One

I went to my first RHS Flower Show last Friday!!! It was great ... I was a bit overwhelmed by the crowds, but it was worth it to see all the lovely gardens and we did manage to escape the hoards by heading to the champagne bar! I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a Country Living tent! With a Joules stall (yes, this is truly an obsession!).

I spent my pennies on seeds from Rebekah's Vegetable Seeds (peas - Feltham First, turnip - Manchester Market, tomato - Roma, squash - Waltham Butternut, onion - White Lisbon, Chinese Chives) and Growing Old who specialise in Heritage and Heirloom seeds (tomato - Yellow Grape, pepper - Long Red Marconi, basil - petra red for my Dad as he loves purple basil, sweet pea - Everlasting and Grandiflora Mixed Collection and some mixed lettuce). I also got a lovely flower for the garden ... but I can't remember what it is called!

What a lovely day ... and the rain held off! What a lovely start to my slightly longer than usual weekend!

On Saturday we popped to Wimbledon village to have a look at the Joules sale (!) I got a lovely dress and skirt - both were half price!

I also ended up in the Cath Kidston sale .... and got a new mac ... so ended up spending a bit more than planned, but I have sold some old stuff on ebay this week - so that has made me feel slightly better (such a once for impulse purchases when egged on by Mr Plum! No more shopping for Victoria Plum this summer :)

After a lovely breakfast in the local Giraffe we headed off to B&Q to pick up a few house bits and of course ended up in Ikea ....

Saturday night was spent watching Prisoner of Azkhaban and Goblet of Fire whilst knitting something for the Sleepover Swap I am doing. I can't wait to see Half Blood Prince!!!!!

Sunday was much lazier ... housework and gardening before heading into town to join my brother for drinks to celebrate the 10th anniversary of him moving down to London to start his job at Claridges! He doesn't work there anymore, but had some drinks there - which was very luxurious and completely excessive - but a rather nice treat for a Sunday evening!

All in all, a lovely weekend! The good news is that I have booked this Friday and the following Monday off work - woohoo! We were going to go camping, but have decided that as the weather is a tad unpredictable, we will stay at home and do a few bits at home. I hope that you are all having lovely weeks!

I'm nearing my first blogging birthday - time for another giveaway methinks! Keep reading!