A wonderful weekend in Bristol

Last weekend we managed to fit a lot in. We visited one of our favourite people, caught up with a lot of Jamie's family and got to celebrate with Vicky and Graham on their wedding day.

Unfortunately my camera is playing up and my phone ran out of battery half way through the wedding so I haven't got many photos but I can work with what I've got.

We drove down Thursday night after putting Fred to 'bed' in his car seat. Our plan was fool proof, Fred would sleep all the way and then seamlessly transfer in to a ready travel cot when we arrived. Unfortunately he woke up when we got there. That night he woke up a few times and couldn't cope at 5am when it was unexpectedly light. (he has a black out blind in his bedroom) from 5am he spent the next 3 hours in our bed. 

I got pushed out, but I didn't mind. 

He is cute enough to make up for it.

On Friday Fran took us on a whistle stop tour of Bristol. 

I wanted a selfie on the Clifton suspension bridge, it took a few takes.

We enjoyed lunch outside in the sunshine. I particularly enjoyed listening to the conversation of the impossibly posh couple on the next table. Bristol is VERY good for people watching.

Saturday was the day of the wedding.

Vicky (Jamie's sister) wore a beautiful pe-loved gown and her Grandmothers pearls. She looked stunning, and Graham knew it. Neither of them stopped grinning all day.

The wedding was at Goldney Orangery, the gardens surrounding are beautiful.

 Fred enjoyed exploring and playing with his Dad and Grandpa on the grass most of the afternoon.

 

I was kindly lent my dress by one of Fran's housemates. 

It was lovely to feel so glamorous for the day. The only draw back of the dress was that I had to take it off to feed Fred. It was a nightmare!

Fran lives in a massive 5 storey house with over 20 others including two families. They eat together most evenings and are committed to living in unity as a Christian community. It was wonderful to stay with people who are purposfully putting others before themselves and trying to serve each other everyday. I think it would be great to live there as a single person but I really don't know how the couples and families manage, they must be blessed with a lot of patience!

Vegetable fritta recipe, the ultimate comfort food...

Last week when I was feeling ill and we didn't have a huge amount of food in, I wanted to make myself a warm comforting lunch.

I decided on vegetable frittas.

They were easy and yummy!

To make approximately 12 small frittas you need:

2 Carrots

1 Courgette

2 eggs

2 tbsp Flour

some cheese 

salt and pepper

 Oilve oil

After grating the veg I squeezed out the excess juice, then mixed all the ingredients together.

 I rolled the mixture in to little balls and squashed them in to the hot frying pan, frying them for a few minutes each side.

I was going to save half of the frittas to re-heat for lunch the next day, but they were so moreish I ate them all!

What to do when your crazy husband buys you a whole watermelon...

First take a photo of its magnificance, then become friends, compare bumps and take a "selfie" 

Next ferociously chop it with your biggest knife

Fill the fridge with your wonderfully chopped segments 

Put some in the freezer to see how that turns out- not so good, I was imagining a watermelon ice lolly but it is a bit solid.

Then share the watermelon love and celebration with Fred the tortoise...

As you can see he loved it, but after feeding him this segment I thought I should check whether or not domesticated tortoises are safe to eat watermelon. 

The general online consensus is not :( 

Don't worry I have kept a close eye on him and he seems none the worse for wear. Its a shame really because he loved it! Oh well more for me.

#ThankfulThursday An Autumn Harvest

Early Autumn is great for free fruit.

For this I am very thankful.

This year I managed to get Jamie on board with the foraging.

We managed to pick many juicy little yellow Plums, Black Berries and 2kg of Elderberries.

 

 With this haul I made: Apple and Blackberry pie

Plum and Chili Chutney

 

Apple and Blackberry upside-down cake, obviously inspired by the Great British bake Off. 

Unfortunately I didn't cook it for long enough, I had to  re-cook it before we ate it - it still tasted good, but did not look as pretty.

With the elderberries we are making wine.

 I will let you know how that goes in about a year. 

I have discovered that wine making is not a quick process!

I have also discovered food photography is really not my thing.

A Right Royal Knees Up...

Last Tuesday to celebrate our extra bank holiday and to mark the Queens Jubilee. 

We threw a Jubilicious BBQ.

I made some alternative British Isle bunting out of our old road map...

We had a lovely afternoon with good friends, good food and good times! 

We also sang a rousing version of the national anthem and toasted the Queen.

Jamie took on the role of BBQ extraordinaire.

 We also had Jelly and ice cream amongst other treats for pudding. 

A very British affair.

Practising Cupcakes

My friends James and Hannah are getting married on the 23rd June and they have asked me to make 100 cupcakes. It will be the first time I will have to make a large number of cupcakes under pressure. 

I really like baking and I think I am sometimes quite good at it, I am nowhere near as good as my friend Abbie, check out her amazing blog http://danngoodcake.blogspot.co.uk/ you may thing her cakes look good, trust me they taste even better!

So because my baking isn't completely up to scratch I decided I should practice.

They are just vanilla sponge cupcakes with vanilla icing, the icing will (if James and Hannah approve) be blue to go with their colour theme. They are a tiny bit over cooked but I am generally pleased with them.

Things I learnt from this practice, 1. Don't get distracted when the cakes are in the oven/ set a timer. 2. put the silver balls on as soon as i have iced. I did it too late this time and they ended up bouncing all over my kitchen.

Chirk with the ladies

This weekend Myself, Luci, Rachel, Jen and Abbie had a weekend away in Chirk.

We stayed in Newhall a beautiful house owned by a lovely guy called Mark who we know through Church.

I took this photo of Newhall at about 6am Sunday morning. It was beautiful.

The weekend was about relaxing, laughing, baking, encouraging and drawing close to God.

 Rachel (or Shanners as we call her) made some awesome pancakes for breakfast on saturday. This was our digesting phase of the morning.

We walked to Chirk Castle and after having a look around the house we wandered around the garden and stopped for a photo shoot.

 I mentioned that we encourage each other, well we also like presents...

We bought presents for each other and wrapped up a huge pass the parcel. 

Abbie organised for each layer to contain a promise from God.

Needless to say it was really fun.

 

This is Jen, she is beautiful.

We also had a bake off, watched a film, chatted lots, ate really good food and saw lots of really cute new born lambs. 

Somehow I didn't take many photos, but you have to believe me the cakes were awesome!

I absolutely love spending time with these ladies they are all so special and have enriched my life greatly since I joined the house group nearly 4 years ago.

Rode Hall farmers market

Last Saturday because of my job as the Community Fundraiser for 

The Neuromuscular Centre (find out more here) I had to go and hold a collection at Rode Hall farmers market. 

Often collections days are less then glamorous and generally centre around supermarkets so this was a treat!  

I took along Jamie and Alison my two willing volunteers to help man the stall.

We didn't need all three of us to be there but it did mean we got to enjoy the farmers market. It has to be the best I have seen, a large number and selection of stalls and a huge amount of people.

 By the end of the day over half of all of the stalls had completely sold out!

Towards the end of the day I managed to take a few photos...

It took an hour to drive to from Chester as it is nearer Stoke

 but it is well worth a visit.

Especially as there is a stall dedicated to mushrooms... It was magic. (oh so cheesy)

 Needless to say Alison and I bought a punnet and ate them for dinner - Delicious.

If you would like more information about Rode Hall Farmers market check out their website here