‘Anonymous’ (who are you?!?!) asked for directions for ‘feeding’ an xmas cake (or any ’special’ fruit cake). To do this, once you have baked the cake, you must leave it to settle for a few days. It should be wrapped in 2-3 layers of greaseproof paper / baking parchment and in a tin kept in a cool place (not a fridge!). After the few days are up, open the package carefully, and with a clean skewer make some holes on the top. Not too many, we’re not thinking ’shower-head’ here, probably around 20-30 depending on cake size. Now for the brandy, with a large spoon or pipette (spoon being much more vintage and fun!) drizzle the brandy into the cake, aiming for the little holes you made. For an ‘average’ sized cake, i’d use probably 2-3 tablespoons. Much more and the cake might become soggy - and we want Lush, not a drunkard! Re-wrap the cake slowly and carefully, put back in tin and leave for a 2 weeks, repeat the procedure, making sure every time that the cake isn’t getting over-wet with brandy! Hope that helps, Anonymous ;-)

I am loving the slow turn in the weather we’re having of late. It is really beautiful. October is my favourite month, one which always evokes happy memories of times past. I long to spend a day at the beach, taking in all the splendour of the changing seasons - which is what i think we’ll do this weekend. We have some wonderful beaches and coastlines around us, many with 20 mins of our house! I am still knitting, my scarf has been put on the back-burner so as to finish the Fiancé’s father’s scarf. Having said that, i’m not overly enamoured with the colours, i was going for a ‘cammo’ look (he is a nature-loving outdoorsy bow-making type), but i’m not overly sure about it all. The two greens look ok (i’m doing simple stripes of changing colours and widths) but i’m not sure about the brown. I was going to do The Fiancé’s mother a scarf as well, but i can’t find any wool that i like, and if i do find one a i like the look of, it’s usually incredibly expensive. C’est la vie!

This weekend will be spent getting the house ready for Amber’s visit next week. Somehow we seem to have collected alot of junk, and for some reason, it’s being kept. I feel a big de-clutter coming on, what else are weekends for, eh? :-) Apart from that, i’m going to get out of the house, with dog and Fiancé in tow, and go somewhere outdoorsy. I’m now off to make veggie lasagne, which i haven’t made for ages but absolutely love! Mmm, Friday evenings are great.

Today, i have been on a mission. That mission, was to make the family xmas cake! It isn’t the first i have made, i did attempt one a few years back, which ended up slightly black! Thankfully, this one has turned out beautifully, i’m really chuffed with it!
I’m not getting xmas crazy, but i make the cake early so that i can drip-feed it with brandy over the coming weeks (who doesn’t like a little bit of a ‘lush’ cake?) and lush, it shall be!

This year, our xmas will be very special indeed. Because this year, we’re celebrating it in our own house, for the first time. I look forward to adding to our small collection of xmas decorations over the coming weeks. I have a bag, one of the ‘bag for life’ bags, and when out shopping it gets added to. Every time i’m out of the house, i’ll see something that can be added. Be it foody (sugared almonds are my mothers favourite) or something to decorate the tree. It is a great way to spread the cost and time-consuming chores of shopping before xmas!

So, my cake is ticked off the ‘To Cook for December’ list. I still have mince pies, the pud and gingerbread. Not to mention the small feast that we shall all partake in come the day!

I am not quite giddy with excitement, but i am starting to get prepared (well, as prepared as one can ever be). The full xmas excitement will not start until 1st December, when we’ll start thinking about trees, decorations, and eggnog. Now i have the task of keeping the gorgeous cake away from the Fiancé who really really likes xmas cake ;-)

[gorgeous xmas cake!]

This weekend has been wonderful. The perfect weather, the leaves on the turn, and cool calm clear days. On Saturday the Fiancé and I went into Newcastle for our ritual browse around town. I dressed up to the nines, in a gorgeous 1940’s skirt, a lovely cosy jumper and thick black tights (my saviour!). I managed to find a beautiful pressed-glass cake-stand in a charity shop, and some wool from the market at only 10p per ball - i’ve been meaning to get into knitting again and this time give it a proper go. The extent of my knitting knowledge is casting-on, knit, purl, knit-2-together etc. I have much to learn, but i’ve got plenty of time - i am only 19 after all!

Whilst eating our lunch (on the street, i hasten to add!) we heard a commotion from a stage that had been erected on the Monument (the main square in Newcastle). We were immediately enchanted with the live music that was happening on stage. We had inadvertently stumbled upon the ‘L’Afrique á Newcastle‘ festival! We stayed and watched some great African drumming, and a rapper called DJ Chef, who was absolutely excellent. There were also huge 12-foot alien ostriches milling about, at times dancing, taking sandwiches and scaring little children! hehe

After all the excitement, we meandered through the festival atmosphere back to the car and back home. The rest of saturday was spent at home, clearing our yard at the back of our house. It has needed doing for a while, but i’ve been procrastinating. Fiancé and i got to work with a broom, sweeping away the cobwebs. It now feels much better! I also started and unravelled scarf mk.1 - there was alot of swearing and trying to work out why i had ended up with 220 stitches. I am obviously very good at increasing!

Sunday, we went grocery shopping (yay) then back home to make rock buns, more tomato chutney and also to attempt scarf mk.2. The Fiancé made the most wonderful meal, because at 7.30 i was so pooped that food was the last thing on my agenda!

[Rock buns on the new-old glass cake-stand]

[12ft. alien ostriches]

[Scarf mk.2]

Everyone, I’d like you to meet a friend of mine! Her online name is Amber, and we were neighbours for years before I moved. Amber is completely new to blogger, so i’m helping her to get started. So if you’d like to go on over to say ‘hi’, and to give encouragement, that’d be great! Her blog ‘Countryside to Countries’ is going to be a great blog. Amber has a great penchant for writing. Over the coming weeks, we’ll manage to change the white background to something more colourful! Anyway, i’ll let you go to her blog for a look around.

There have been so many beautiful happenings, in the garden, in the sky, in the trees and in the air. The very essence of life is starting to show through. How very fragile it all is. How fragile we are. Autumn, in her full and unerring beauty is becoming apparent all around us. Bringing with her deep blood-red skies, rays the finest hue of yellow through the clouds and rainbows all around.

[Tomatoes on the vine]

[Ripening Sweetcorn]

[Our beautiful Sunflower]

[From Rainbows...]

[...to Sunsets]