1/2016 - Fresh Air, Fresh Start

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous time over the holiday period and are looking forward to a wonderful new year! According to the 'on this day' feature on Facebook, every year for the last four years I've posted an early morning photo from the beach on the 2nd of January and this year was no different. There's just something about the sea air and sunshine that screams 'healthy fresh start' to me you know? And that is certainly something I need!

I decided to take a bit of a break from the blogging at the end of 2015, I was off work as well and just decided that I needed a break from pretty much everything. Except eating apparently - that I did like a champ for about 4 weeks straight! The only thing I seemed to take photos of was this little bundle of cuteness anyways...

I'm looking forward to visiting all of your blogs to see what you've been up to while I was away!!

175 - Oh So Much Baking

If I was to pick out a smell that says 'Christmas' to me, it would be the smell of fruit, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves bubbling away on the stove. I am ever grateful to the lovely workmate who gave me the recipe for this boiled fruit cake - I don't even like fruit cake but this one... oh my... at somewhere between a cake and a pudding it's just so moist and delicious! So I thought, rather than just tease with photos this time, I'll share the recipe!

Letty's Boiled Fruit Cake

Ingredients:

125g Butter

1 Cup White Sugar

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Cup Milk

750g Mixed Fruit

3 Teaspoons Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Nutmeg

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

1/2 Teaspoon Cloves

2 Eggs

1 Cup Self Raising Flour

1 Cup Dry Sherry

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

Method:

Place butter, sugar, milk, fruit and spices in a saucepan over a high heat. Stir until boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. 

Let fruit cool. Add sherry and baking soda. Beat eggs and add to the fruit mixture. 

Sift flour into mixture and stir until combined. 

Pour mixture into a deep round cake tin and bake in a moderate oven (180 degrees Celsius, 350 degrees Fahrenheit) for 1 hour 10 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. 

As a finishing touch I usually poke some holes in the cake with a skewer while its still warm and drizzle a little more sherry over the top.

Enjoy!!

174 - Tradition

 

My Nanna's shortbread is one of those things that I remember from a very early age as a special indicator that Christmas was nearly here. When she was younger, she would spend a few weeks every festive season busting out a huge number of cakes for gifts that were eagerly anticipated by the ones lucky enough to receive them. As time went on, my Aunty and I were let in on the secret recipe and we would spend one big day each year baking with Nanna to get them all made. I adored my Nan, and treasured our annual bake-off. She may no longer be with us (although I feel her with me every single day), but we've managed to keep the tradition alive - and it's still one that I very much look forward to every year. This year we had the added pleasure of bringing in the kids of the family to make their own special shortbread cookies. Many little hands scrunching batter - what a joyous way to spend the day!

 

 

172 - Christmas Elves

 

Friday evening... after everyone else had gone home... the Christmas Elves came out to play in our office! Unfortunately photos just don't seem to do this style of decorating justice. But as you walk around the corner now its definitely a BAM! CHRISTMAS! situation. Looking forward to the reactions on Monday morning!!

Today I'm linking in with Weekend Reflections. Check the link to see more fun stuff reflected in things!

171 - it's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

A stroll around Hillarys Marina at night is always a pretty affair with all of the lights and reflections, but with the addition of the Christmas tree things get extra magical! I'm a big ol' sucker for Christmas and am looking forward to a Friday night this week spent filling my house with fairy lights and tinsel and shiny baubles and a Saturday of baking many cakes of shortbread. How do you guys get into the Christmas spirit?

 

 

167 - Twilight Twinkling Lights

A balmy summer evening, cute markets and twinkling Christmas lights. Good times! The Joondalup Twilight Markets are an annual event running every Friday night for the next 5 weeks. Compared to some of the ones coming up, they are quite small, but it's great to see so many people out and about in Joondalup, and it's nice to have one of these events so close to home. I actually managed to pick up some cute Christmas presents here (and some amazing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle hair bows for me!!!) so it was a big win all round!