Trick or Treat!

Yummy cakes and cookies baked by my daughter....

...on a funky new cake stand...

 ...lots of treats for our visitors...

 

...Im sure they will magically disappear....

... all of this can mean only one thing....

October 31st is here again!!

Have a great time, keep safe and warm!

Helenxx

Home comforts

Good evening everyone, hope you are keeping well and that my blogger friends in the US are keeping safe and away from harm during the hurricane.

I was really lucky last week to be treated to the new Nigella cookery book, "Nigellisima".  I am a big fan of Ms Lawson, I find her presenting style to be hilarious and really like most of her recipes.

So, the buyers of the book (my kids clubbed together to get it for me, little darlings!!) insisted that I bake something for Sunday tea.

After a lot of browsing through the book, I plumped for a yummy recipe

Cinnamon and Almond cake, two of my most favourite flavours

It worked out beautifully!  Im sure even Nigella herself would have approved!!

My healthy eating habits took a bit of a hammering over the weekend as it was a celebration weekend for my family so we went out to this little eatery in Manchester (all of the following photos are taken from Google images as my husband's relatives were with us and they so dont get this "lets take a photo of every possible thing we can think of" vibe that I have!!

 

Jaffa is a delightful little Middle Eastern eatery which sells the most authentic Middle Eastern food I have tasted anywhere other than in the Middle East itself.  Its not a fancy place, but the food is superb.

And if that isnt enough, we drove past the McVities factory in Stockport on a baking day - again, doesnt look much from the outside but the smell of baking hobnobs on an industrial scale...nom nom nom

Had better get back on track with some healthy eating soon I suppose....

Helenxx

Autumns Views Challenge week 5

Hi everyone, hope you are having a good week.  I'm now on holiday for the rest of the week which is fab!

Here is the latest pic for the autumn challenge

That horizontal branch in the foreground has only a few leaves left, and those still clinging on have gone really brown.

The weather was really misty yesterday when I took the picture, it has barely got light all day since Monday, and much the same this morning.  But I quite like it, suits the season!

A couple more compare and contrast pictures:

I took a picture of this lovely grand tree last week

This is how it looked yesterday:

What a difference a week has made!  The heavy, misty weather we have had this week has seen the leaves fall straight from the trees - the weight of the moisture has just brought them tumbling down in heaps.  Usually it would be high winds that take the leaves, and they would be scattered around more, rather than landing straight underneath the trees. 

Well, must away - I have a few errands to run so had better get on!

Have a great day,

Helenxx

Foto Fungi Forage*

You might have been able to go on a Fungi Photo Forage like I did!!

 Lots of very interesting shapes

Crawling around on the forest floor to get these!!

Beautiful polka dot patterns on this Fly Agaric.  All found and photographed in our local outwoods:

 

 The outwoods are really looking beautiful - so atmospheric at this time of the year, I really loved our walk today.  Hope you are keeping lovely and cosy this evening.

 

Helenxx

 

* apologies for the spelling, especially as Im an English teacher by day....but I just could not resist it!!

Cosy Autumn Makes

Hi everyone, hope you are keeping well, and managing to avoid the various bugs and lurgy that seem to be doing the rounds at the moment.

I thought I would just quickly pop by to show what I made for the Cosy Autumn Swap where I was blessed to be teamed up with Tracy from Madaboutbags - I shared my haul of wonderous autumn goodies from Tracy in my blog post a couple of days ago.

As my regular readers know I love making felt hearts, so decided to make one for Tracy in autumnal shades and with a leaf theme

I cut the leaves from cotton fabric and embellished them with a bit of embroidery

I also made a crochet pumpkin

I love making these little pumpkins, they are really fun to do!

And here is the rest of the things I sent:

...some variegated yarn, soap, threads, ribbons, buttons, a little bag and chocs!

Thanks again Tracy for being such a super swap partner, I loved making and collecting things for this swap!

Right, must away, nearly time to eat!

enjoy the weekend, Helenxx

Cosy Autumn Swap

Hi everyone, hope you have had a great day.

Mine picked up considerably when the postie bought me a fab swap parcel - I was partnered with Tracy for the Cosy Autum Swap.  Oh my goodness, what a wonderful swap partner to have!  Are you ready for some cosy autumn loveliness?  OK, I shall begin!!

First up were these yummy smartie pumpkins - how cute are they??!!

Then some hot chocolate - delish!

Next up a lovely fabric pumpkin - I just love pumpkins and collect anything I can get my hands on that has a pumpkin theme!! 
Tracy had really done her research as she went for a pumpkin theme for the swap which is just so perfect

 

 

The time and care that went into this stunning crochet wreath had me gob-smacked!!

 

This scented wax tart is in the kind of perfume that I love, fruity and spicy at the same time!

I have never had such a posh box of tissues in my life!!  Makes my sniffles seem much more bearable....

 

I cant wait to wear this corsage with my new autumnal coloured dress, it will look so good!

 



This cheery fat quarter and autumnal ribbon will be put to very good use!

Finally, a pic of the whole haul of autumnal goodies:

Can you spot the pumpkin themed card?

 Im one very lucky girl - thanks so much Tracy for being such a fab and generous swap partner and for restoring my faith in swaps.  I say this because the last swap I was involved in during the summer  I sent off my parcel but then never heard anything back from my partner which was a shame, especially as it was one I was involved in organising!

If you ever join in a swap and get partnered with Tracy you sure are in for a treat!!

Have a cosy evening everyone - I have to say I quite like the darker evenings (yes, I know!!) as its nice to cosy up with the lamps on and candles lit.

Helenxx

PS will blog soon about what I sent to Tracy as I know she has received her parcel!

Nice and Cosy Treats

Hi everyone hope you are enjoying the weekend!

As the weather gets more and more autumnal my thoughts always turn to one dish - Pumpkin Pie!  It is quite difficult to get hold of canned pumpkin here in the UK (and lets face it, who wants to be struggling with carving a pumpkin up for cooking??) so I stock up with it when I see it.  I managed to snap up a few cans (together with Marshmallow Fluff) at one of those American style sweet shops that seem to be springing up in many city centres these days.

So, yesterday, we had visitors so I made the first pumpkin pie of the season:

I always add a bit of extra cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg than the recipe on the can suggests as we really love our spices in this house! 

My daughter set to and baked a delicious victoria sponge as well (these particular visitors are always very very hungry) and she filled it with raspberry jam and whipped cream

 

 It was so light and fluffy.  The visitors declared both pie and cake very delicious and not a scrap is left of either!!

But before the visitors arrived my daughter had an opticians appointment.  So after that we had a nice browse around the shops and then decided to go to a lovely little chocolate shop and cafe for a little treat.

I had a lovely hot chocolate and she enjoyed a milk shake made with belgian chocolate

And then as a final treat we had some hand made chocolates

the one in the foreground is pistachio cup and the other is chocolate brownie (we each got a little bar of complimentary chocolate with each drink).  The other two chocolates which had already been devoured were eaton mess and sea salt caramel.  All made on the premises by the shop owners.  So, in total we had

• hot chocolate
• belgian chocolate milk shake
• 2 mini bars of dark chocolate
• 4 hand made chocolates

and the price for all this lusciousness?  £4.93!!!!!!  I have paid almost that for just a coffee at one of those faceless world-wide chain coffee shops.  I know where I will go next time when I need a little pick-me-up when out in town!!

Well, must away, I need to do a bit more research for an assignment Im writing - Im getting towards the end of my MSc course so the end is gradually beginning to come into sight, but Im feeling slightly snuffly and under the weather so we will just have to see how much my brain can take in today!  At least dinner is sorted - Ive made a huge veggie stew and popped it into the slow cooker - it is making the house smell lovely and cosy!

Have a great day!

Helenxx