Cooking a Christmas Cake in a Rayburn

Wasn't sure I would make it today! Been up to Worcester to take K back to Uni! I bet you want to know how the cooking of the Christmas cakes in the Rayburn went?

The big cake was done last night but silly me forgot to put the heat reflector shelf in, this protects the tops of cakes from too much heat, hence they don't form a crust! So the big cake was a little bit crusty till I smothered it in Brandy!



The small cake was not cooked by midnight last night so I set my alarm for 03.00 and got up and it still wasn't done, so went back to bed and when I got up at 07.30 it still needed more time. Anyway by about 11.00 I thought we had cracked it so took it out cooled it for 10 mins then took it out of the tin.............. Big mistake it was all soggy on the bottom... disaster.. rescuable (is that a word??) What I should have done was stood it on a shelf or cooling tray to allow the air to circulate around the whole tin. So I popped it back in and on my return from Worcester about 17.00 its cooked both ends!



What has impressed me is how soft and springy this cake is, I may let hubby eat it to see if its OK and if it is, would I cook this way again? Definately! I've learnt alot. I like the idea of using the bottom oven to cook in and the fact that it takes 24 hours does not worry me, I just need to adjust my starting time to be around and not in bed at the finish!!!

Christmas Cakes

I made the Crimbo cakes today! I say cakes as I always have to make two, in fact I very well may have to make two more. Anyway these are our cake and hubbies birthday cake. The next two will be one for K and one to take up to mums for over Christmas!

The recipe is one I was given in the first year at Secondary School, I have kept it and used it ever since.



I then lined the tins and as you can see its all done very neatly, this is a habit I got into when I used to make and ice cakes for friends and I've just stuck with it, plus it makes icing a bit easier.



I weighed all the fruit and poured on a generous amount of brandy to soak whilst I did everything else.



Using my mixer I beat the butter and sugar



Having added the eggs and flour I then added the fruit.



All mixed up now



then in the cake tin



Now I am doing something I have never done before, I am cooking two at once in the Rayburn!



The bottom oven, the warming oven is holding around 140C according to my thermometer so I have the smaller cake in here and it may take longer to cook but I don't mind. If it works it means I can put one in here over night. The top oven on the other hand is hot and I keep having to open the door, which is how you cool Rayburn ovens. So depending on how they turn out, is whether I add to this post later or do a post tomorrow!!

Day After Boxing Day!

Returned home last night having had an enjoyable few days. Eaten far to much, not drank enough and still have too many choccys left!
My sister lives here, well actually just the other side of the station in one of the old station cottages


in fact it is the old Station Masters Cottage here


this is me walking down the steps to the platform which then leads to the cottage


We went out on quite a few walks, to shake the food down abit passing a few quaint places



We had some fantastic food, even better company and I believe a good time was had by all.
I hope you all had a good time too!

Christmas Eve, Eve.

So here we are on the doorstep of another Christmas! It really does not seem to be anytime since last year! As you can see all that is missing from the advent calander is 'Baby Jesus'.

It has been cold and frosty and we have been out for some lovely walks. This morning was particuarly entertaining as our road was better than an Ice Rink! Torville & Dean eat your heart out!
These are some pics K took with her digital camera





Even though the girls are home it has been particuarly quiet, why? Well K is writing an assignment and T is studying! They both decided that if they wanted Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day off they had to work all days before!

Merry Christmas to you all, if you are travelling stay safe, if you are at home enjoy, remember its just a roast dinner with crackers! I shall raise my glass to absent friends at mid-day on Christmas Day.

Friday Before Christmas!

The first donkey!

Although the weather was bitter yesterday, with both fires lit it felt toasty warm, in fact I think Tango found it a bit warm


We all went to collect T from her last day at college of 2007. Did alot of daft singing and as we got home this is the view we had


We are definately feeling a bit more Christmassey today, I think this helps...



As I watch the news this morning I see that the AA (Automobile Association) predicts that today the great get away for Christmas in the UK is expected to occur and they think about 18,000,000 will hit the roads at about 3pm today.... Good Luck!

Return Home!

I have returned from my very successful trip. Mum was naughty and opened her Christmas presents early and was thrilled with all her knitted items.



Madison is now one and is hilarious, what a character





Kathryn is back home for 7 weeks although she does have an exam to go in for, so the car was rather full on the return journey with dirty washing, computers, tv's etc.I am totally bushed but there are enough hands around to help out!

Hubby has finished work until 15th Jan. Tori breaks up on Thursday. So we are all set! All Christams Cards posted, all presents wrapped. Just a little bit of food shopping to do and thats it, all done. I can't recommend highly enough being ready early, I will definately try and be this organised again next year.

Lovely Day!

OOOOOOOOooooooooo I had such a lovely day with my sister and husband yesterday! It was so lovely and relaxing! We sat, chatted, ate breakfast and chatted, drank coffee and chatted, went wool shopping and chatted, knitted and chatted, drank tea and ate biccies and chatted, ate dinner and chatted, then all too soon they had to go home and the chatting finished :o( But it was soooooooo lovely!

I helped her master the art of the 'Loopa' we both bought one awhile back and she had been trying to solve a problem she was having and I hadn't even picked mine up! So before they arrived I started, would you like to join me?

First gather all your ingredients............



The Loopa frame, pattern, 3 balls of wool for the scarf, 1 ball for the chain and sewing up!



First make a slip knot with the chain and sewing up wool,



through the loop put the ends of the scarf making wool, my selection had 3 strands do not tighten yet.



Then wind the yarns around the loopa in a figure of eight (just the once). with the sewing up wool form a chain at the cross over point to hold the loops in place



Repeat!

Showing how to make the chain




Once you reach the top of the Loopa you have to backstitch up the centre chain to secure the wool in place



Sorry about the pic! I'm using a different coloured wool so you can see where I've stitched!
Once you have backstitche up the chain which is held on the Loopa, you can slide it off



quite scary the first time you do this, but this is what it should look like so far,



Now you start again, so hold securely with your thumb



repeat all the steps again



and again and again until you finish!



This is soooooo simple to do, the Loopa cost under £2, the wool from Wilkinsons was about £2.50 and look at the cracking present you can make. Using different wools gives different effects! I will post pics of further Loopa scarves as I finish them!

I also finished the bedjacket for my mum which I am far, far happier with!



This time next week I shall just be home from my op! Whilst chatting with my sis, it dawned on me that I had only been feeling back to my old self in the last week or two! Which means we are looking at about 2 months for 'full' recovery! I think its the anesthetic that is 'fuddling' my brain cells! Now this panicked me abit as I still have alot of 'Crimbo' presents to do/make! So this week I shall make a list of all the things I need to make, for whom and sizes! I shall also make a list of everything I have already made, so I don't worry that I have forgotten anyone! What I know I can do is knit, whilst in recovery! But I also have some sewing to do to! So I think I will try and get that done this week!
I have also found the sewing pattern I shall be using for my 'select' few Crimbo cards I hand make! Last year I used beads, see here so this year I shall be using?????????????????????? ha ha its a surprise!!!
Right off to make some lists and attempt to get some amount of organisation to my Christmas Preparation!

K's Room. Chickens & Christmas!!!!!

Kathryn didn't want to post any pics of her room till she had gone, so it looked all nice and tidy. So here is the finished room......







I prefer her chair in the corner, I like the impact of her Zebra collection together



so we compromise, when she is not here its in the corner, when she is its under the window!! Anyway I think you'll agree that its a big change from Orange and Lime Green and hasn't she done a great job!!!!

I had to unwrap one of the bananas last weekend as the straw had become very soggy and with the cold snap of weather that we were expecting I didn't want to lose it. So Hubby unwrapped it and popped all the straw into an empty compost bin! Then I read Scarecrows Chook mulch and I thought what a great idea so the chickens had a treat today, after I had cleaned them out I popped all the straw in the run.....



aren't they having fun! It seems to be ages since I have heard them 'chortling' around the run! I must admit I have been really worried about them this last month, but we seemed to have turned a corner!!


Now I know we have only just got over Christmas 2006. I enjoyed all the crafting I did for presents, but I would like to get more organised! Try out new things, so imagine my joy when I visited Vallen and she had a link to Christmas in Progress. So folks if you want to get inspiration, get organised for Christmas 2007 then take a look and sign up!!!

I may have a go at an ATC card this afternoon! Then again I may not!!!!

£339 gone, just like that!!!!

A bit late posting today!!!!
Both Tori and I had eye appointments today! Need I say more. I need another pair of glasses, they can't change the lens in the ones I've got because I need these for working on the computer, the new pair are for all the close (craft) work I now do!! I wouldn't mind but I don't ever use them in the summer!!!!! I always make sure I have very good light to work in as well, I suppose thats old age, at least I know how it gets into the body, eyes first!!!
Tori has had a bit of a scare though, she to needs new lens's,also, but he found a 'bobble' at the back of the retina and has refered her to a specialist!!! Not really the year for eye problems what with GCSE's coming up!!! But I will keep you posted.

Yesterday was my pre-admission appointment for my operation a week today. Well my blood pressure was off the scale (understandably) Oh!(for those that don't know I had the same operation on October 13th, discharged 14th, emergency re-admission for a 'significant bleed' on the 16th and operated on again then kept in for 4 days!)but it didn't solve the problem so I have to do it all over again and have been told the pain will be even worse this time!!!!!!!!! They couldn't find any veins to get blood out of, so I'm like a pin cushion!!! and apparently I am just a day case this time!!! All this has been done privately (hubby has private medical insurance)so I am not feeling very confident!!

I am saving my knitting for when I'm not well, but I really need to find something to do in the meantime!!




I bought this little fairy about 16 years ago, she used to smell wonderful, her body is one of those wooden balls that smell lovely, for the life of me I can't think of there name! The red material is wrapped round and glued at the top, then the gold ribbon is put round and glued, some gathered lace as the ruffle. The head is a smaller ball with eyes, mouth and nose drawn on, the gold ribbon is used for the hair. The head is then attached to the body, a large sequin is used for her halo and 2 gold leaves for her wings and a ribbon is glued to the halo so she can hang from the tree.
When I first got her I used to keep her wrapped up in a plastic bag, slowly the scent wore off. Wouldn't it be nice to make a couple of new ones!!!!

Is anyone else having problems with blogger??? I can post photos in the main post but nothing in the side bar! Any clues as to what I'm doing wrong!!

Please join me!

I will be probably posting again, but I thought it would be great if...........

at 12.00 (GMT) (mid-day) Christmas Day we all joined in a toast to absent friends? This has been a family tradition for all my family as we had many seafarers who where often away at this time of year. So wherever they where in the world all of us family , friends, relatives raised our glasses and joined in the toast.

I will be thinking of you all

Merry Christmas

What next???

So now we are all organised for Christmas what are we going to do next??????? I didn't post yesterday because I had nothing much to write about!!!! I know I still have the cake to ice and the mince pies to make and the fresh shopping to do but nearly everything else is, as I said earlier, done!!!

So here are some pics.............

Sassy is happy now Kathryn is home



Frosty Days....







The fog and frost are due to stay with us for the next few days, so I will take my camera with me when I go out!!!!

As you might have gathered I'm abit short of things to do...........

so I 'Googled' Christmas News and the year of my birth and look what I found

The Illustrated London News 1959
Events of this year in the Illustrated London News


January 1st - The then President, General Fulgencio Batista, fled Cuba as Dr. Fidel Castro took power
February 3rd - Buddy Holly, 22, was killed in an air crash at Iowa, USA
April 19th - The Dalai Lama found sanctuary in India from Chinese aggressors
July - Billie Holiday, 44, considered one of the greatest Jazz singers died
June 17th - Eamon de Valera was elected President of Eire
August 25th - BMC (British Motor Corporation) introduced the Austin Seven Mini and the Morris Minor Mini (same car except for their grill and badge) it will do 50 to 60 Miles Per Gallon and can be parked in a space of only 11 ft 6 inches. It was designed by Alec Issigonis and it was priced around £500.
October 8th - A Conservative government was elected for the third time in Britain with Harold macmillan as Prime Minister still with the message "You've never had it so good"!
November - The London to Birmingham Motorway was opened and the first fatal accident was four days later
December 14th - Archbishop Makarios was elected president of the new Republic of Cyprus
There was a lot of talk about station and line closures on British Rail and massive investment into Britains roads
Cliff Richard and Room at the Top were part of the social scene along with Espresso coffee and Wimpey bars. Stereo music players were being intorduced to the home and Penicillin was about to become the wonder drug
The USSR Lunik reaches the moon
Pope John XXIII summons the Vatican Council
Louis Leakey discovers the skull of 600,000 year old Nutcracker man

how cool hey!!!!!

Now you have a go and let me know what happened in your year!!!!!!