A Cupcake...

I have to admit, I do better with paper than I do with the edible versions!! LOL

This is for son and heir, indirectly, that is.  He is off to a friends wedding tomorrow and he decided that as the couple have been together since University days and have already bought their home that it was going to be difficult to get them a gift that don't already have and opted for a gift card.  I thought I would make a faux cupcake to hold the said gift card to make it look a little more like an actual gift!!

There is enough bling on this thing to sink the proverbial battleship... pearls, glitter, stick pins, and little diamonds laden the 'icing'... just hope it doesn't clash with her wedding colours because, of course, dear son had no clue as to what they might be!!

Now I need to make a card to go with it... that should prove interesting!! ;)

WOYWW 26th December 2012

This is my work desk this morning... and it really hasn't changed much for quite a while!  On the desk are a couple of Christmas presents that require tweaking... yep, I know it was yesterday but I ran of steam!!

On the floor next to my desk is this... and it drives me insane but I can't find a spot to put any of it so it sits there... making me feel bad!!

and I had to add this one... I have my 25 year old son home... which is lovely as we haven't had a Christmas together since 2007!! This is his zone... remotes, chocolates, biscuits... yep, he is happy!!

Chris and I spent our first Christmas apart this year, he is in Brisbane enjoying 28 degree C and I am here at home in Scotland.  As soon as I have tidied Christmas away for this year I will begin packing for Australia.  Just the thought of it gives me heeby jeebies... but pack I will!!

It was such a lovely morning yesterday that Christopher and I went out for a drive with camera in hand, we took the little back roads at the back of the village we live in and reaquainted ourselves with the beautiful countryside.

I love the fields with the tractor tracks...

The bare trees along the edge of the roads..

Little ponds with lush grass...

and the little ruined barns...

and the white horse on Mormond Hill, the only carved white horse in Scotland.  It always makes me smile as I am originally from the south of England and there are white chalk carvings all over the southern counties and I move up here and on my doorstep is.... yep, a white horse.  This one is not chalk but local white quartz and has been here since the mid 1800s.

Don't forget to go over to Julia's for the complete list of desk displayers!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and wishing you all a fabulous New Year!

Christmas is nearly here...

I think I am ready... I actually like it when it gets this close because anything I haven't done, isn't going to get done!!  The pressure is off and I can sit back a little and just enjoy it!!

Yesterday I baked gingerbread cookies!!  I have a teensy confession, I have never baked Christmas cookies before.  I know, it is a shock, I am obviously such a domestic goddess that it is incomprehensible to think that I haven't done so before but at the ripe old age of fifty mumble mumble 6 I decided it was time to do so!
I must have missed the memo that this was a bonding exercise with your kids, mixing and weighing and baking and decorating... but it's not too late and I have Christopher here for Christmas for the first time in 5 years, so bake I did!

So when I saw this cookie cutter online I had to have it... I mean, this cookie cutter was made with me in mind!! This is the photo supplied with the cutter....

and this is my version.... ok, ok, it doesn't look exactly like it should but Christopher ate it and said it was 'cool'!!

So I got carried away with my success and proceeded to bake a tray of discombobulated gingerbread men... they are cute cookie cutters with bites taken out of them...

Well, why would I want to make little Christmas trees and stars when I could have fun like this!!

So the stockings are hung and the table is laid...

the tree is up and the presents are wrapped...

and Tom-Tom wore his reindeer ears for at least 30 seconds whilst wrapped in my pink blanket...

and Pandy was having none of it so I had to improvise...

So all is left to do is to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2013

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday 180

I'm back!!  I would have been back last week but half an hour before I was to sit and write the WOYWW post my hard drive died.  I really thought that the universe was scheming to keep me away... and I didn't have my back-up external drive plugged in so lost everything from the point of leaving Canada. Poop. :(  Luckily Chris got me a new one ordered and has spent days putting my pc back to some usable state.

So this is my desk this morning.... see?  Nothing!!  I guess people who might visit would expect to see something but you have no idea how hard I worked get the desk to this point. LOL

I'll even give you a stepped back shot... and if you think that is a mess, really you should have seen it when it had the contents of five boxes spread all over it!!

Then we pan right and you can see my 'pooter and piles of 'stuff'... yeah, I'm still working on an acceptable solution to the fitting a litre into a pint pot!!

and this is a pan left through the archway into the sun lounge and the remaining boxes to be unpacked and sorted... yep, could take a while but I am getting there!!

So now you have seen my space, pop over to our leader of the desk nosey, Julia, and have a look though some of the lovely spaces of other mad peeps!!

"The Egg and Bacon Thing"

You know how we all one meal from childhood that takes you back in time?  This is Chris'... he has mentioned it many times over the years and always describes it as the 'egg and bacon thing'.  Well, when we went South at the end of September we dropped in on Chris' sister and she gave me the recipe for the 'egg and bacon thing'!!  (a recipe without quantities and no visual aid as to what it should end up looking like)!!

But... we had the recipe and we had Chris' memories so giving it a go seemed to be the next sensible step.

The Egg and Bacon Thing

Casserole dish

Butter dish well

a layer of breadcrumbs

a layer of minced bacon

a layer of eggs (raw, just drop them in)

a layer of tomatoes

another layer of breadcrumbs

top with a couple of knobs of butter

cook in oven at 180c - until egg yokes are hard and bacon is cooked.

OK... now I did have a mincer to do the bacon but after checking the contents of my cupboards and not finding it... I sort of figured out that the last time I saw it was in South Africa prior to 2006.  I have no idea where it went and it could possibly be in some of the boxes yet unpacked from that particular trip and not feeling inclined to compound my unpacking and packing situation we opted to buy a new one!! ;)  Chris ordered a nice smart electric version and it arrived yesterday morning.  

When I inquired into the timing of the recipe he mentioned that his Mum always cooked it in a Pyrex see thru casserole dish so you could tell when it was cooked... and yes, I am sure I had a set of those too... but they aren't in this kitchen so we went and bought one!!  (this recipe just cost me £40 and I have no idea if I am even going to like it and I am now thinking that £40 would get me a nice restaurant meal)!!

So I started grating a couple of slices of bread to make the breadcrumbs... and very soon realised that life is too short to grate bread and used my hands instead..

Chris played with the shiny new electric toy of a mincer and made a packet of bacon vanish in seconds and we were ready to go...

layer of breadcrumbs (3 slices of bread)

layer of bacon (1 800 gram pack)

dropped raw eggs (5 eggs)

sliced tomatoes (2 tomatoes)

and the rest of breadcrumbs on top.

Bake in centre of oven for 35 -40 minutes or until your egg yolks are firm

and Chris says it tastes just like his Mum made!! :)

Oh, and I liked it too!  I would have it with a side salad but Chris said it needed potatoes... potatoes in the form of chips!! LOL