No. 3 - A Rainbow Cake.

So, in light of my boss leaving, to have her bambino, we are eating cake this week at work - for my day of cake I decided to make attempt a rainbow cake.

I am just going to say it was hard work.

And it should have been harder. It really should have a red and a yellow layer, but my red food colouring was rubbish (think more brown then red - that’s the last time I don’t use paste) and I couldn’t find a yellow. To be honest, I didn’t search very far for a yellow, but I couldn’t find one.

So I started off with a basic sponge cake recipe, that I added extra vanilla to just because I thought it might be a good idea. And then I separated it into bowls, I did do 5, because I tried to make a red layer. I attempted it. And my housemate did. She poured more and more red into the cake mix and it got grimmer and grimmer and came out a bit of a muddy, reddy colour, a little like this but maybe browner. Which really shocked me after this colour at Halloween.

But just look at the colour of the blue. Don’t you just want all your food to be that colour?

The next failure came in the form of the cake tin. A good workman always blames his tools right. The cake tin was way too big for the amount of mixture I’d made, which means the layers are a little thin….

But after that realisation the baking was easy.

I used a tin with one of those revolutionary removable bottoms. It made getting the cake out a dream.

But since we only had one it took forever. Half way through I got so bored I nearly gave up with only the blue and orange layers done but my housemate talked me back into it. And then the Gaslight Anthem track came on Zane Lowe to cheer me up. Then I watched a few, back to back, episodes on 90210 on 4od. Nothing like a bit of teen drama to pull you through a baking morose!

And other triumphs include;

The oven only made it rise a little oddly, hence the wobbly edges. Which in our freakishly uneven oven is such an achievement.

The colours that worked, worked – and I mean worked. Mmmmmm, e-numbers.

The frosting went on pretty well too. It covers the wobbly layers of the cakes, I mean I know it looks a mess, but it was late by this point. And it tastes good.

But I have learnt from the experience - next time I shall buy some red (and yellow) food colouring paste, and also a non-8” cake tin. Maybe like a 6” one? In fact I will buy 2 of them. Then I can make the cake way faster….. because although these ideas seem great at the time, they do get a bit tiresome after a while.

I will attempt it again, and next time there will be all the colours. And there will be flat, beautiful looking frosting, like Whisk Kids'.

Next up – Rock and Roll Battenburg!

No. 19

I had a work thing in London this Monday, so Sunday was planned to be spent with Lizzie, for some lunch, and a catch up and a trip to some pretty shops.

My stupid train was delayed by over an hr, so we didn't get as much time as I would have liked, but the best thing about good friends is, that no matter how much time it's been since you last saw each other, or how much time you have together, things are just like they used to be.

We have had so much to catch up on – I mean she is with bump now {well, not actually with bump – the bump’s not there yet…..} but I wanted all the gossip - there are somethings you can't say over emails aren't there. And I also had to dispel the myth she has about the boy being some sort of saint as he's always cooking for me......the football chat we had set her straight. hehe.

We met at Oxford Circus, and wandered down Regent Street to Anthropologie *swoon*. How beautiful is the store. I am so glad they don’t have one in Leeds, or I would be even more broke than I am now. How can you not love a shop with a boat in it?

Walking round Liz and I stopped, she started the sentence ‘you know what this is just like…..’ my answer ‘A grown up UO’. Her exact words.

And you should have seen our excitement at UO when she first moved to London.

We then went for pancakes in an American Diner {I have never seen it take anyone so long to order lunch and a wander round the Lomography shop. Beads shops. Trinket shops.

Then, and I am not sure why, but we wandered, in search of dessert all the way to Covent Garden, where we SAT OUTSIDE with hot chocolates. Yes, that’s right. Outside in March.

Lovely, lovely day.

The next trip will be to help decorate their newly acquired flat.

{Sorry about the pics, they're from my phone!}

A helping hand

My wonderful friend Lizzie left me a belated birthday at her mum's house. I finally managed to get over and pick it up, and boy, was it worth waiting for.

Check out all the beautiful treats she got me, and the most darling thing was, that each of the little gifts was wrapped up in the box with a little tag relating to one of my 29 things.

The amazing Duoflex pictured at the bottom here is obviously for the TTV photography part. There's a little fold away bag for the farmers market trips, some transfer tattoo's {it took me 27 years to decide on the last one - a year might be pushing it a little}, key toppers for my 'own place', and a beautiful little travel pass case, which i might just have to put to use on my trip to London this Sunday.

I love my friends. xo

February!

2 months in.

Haircuts and holiday planning and snow!

No 6. Snowboard More - Completed

So we are back from a great week in the mountains.

{The view from our window}

{The boy, on the slopes}

{Mont Blanc}

{Back to France}

Our last minute and incredibly cheap catered chalet turned out to be pretty fantastic – the other chalet guests were all lovely, and very interesting {amongst them being a bomb disposal expert, a doctor and the most outgoing 4 year old you will ever meet} and the food was {maybe too?} delicious and the wine pretty tasty and free flowing. The hosts were wonderful too. It made me wish I could do another season.

And slope side things were pretty good too; the boy picked up snowboarding so quickly it kind of made me sick {honestly, it took me so long to learn to turn and he got it in a day or so} but his easy adoption of the snowboard meant we made it to Italy a couple of times, up what can only be described as a hellish draglift, but the slopes in Italy made up for the journey there – they were wonderfully empty and long and wide, and we rode a lot of red runs on the French side and a token, but accidental, black run. We also rode in cloud so thick we could barely see the lift right behind us. Which, despite being a little scary, was a lot of fun. Our second trip to Italy was with some of the other guests from the chalet and our host - It was great to have to push myself a little!

One day our plans were thwarted by 65mph winds, but I will let nature off, as my knees were pretty messed up {and still are!} but the day was saved by a cosy chalet and the fact we collectively put together a fantastic cheeseboards {including an actual Kilo of cheese}

The question now is, have we left it too late to fit another mountain trip in before the snow disappears?