Christmas Buns

Everyone knows that when your children go to school if you want to be socially acceptable it is *obligatory* to bake cakes for the PTA or some other school related cake stall.

So here's my Christmas coffee morning offering.  Not the best ever look

but definitely tasted good.

Boozy Fruit

Rudolph's nose so bright.

It's that time of year where one goes from merely eating too much food to indulging in so much rich food that one spends the first half of the following year attempting to lose it again.

Having made a few batches of mince pies, last night I finally got around to soaking the fruit in my home made sloe brandy.  I then took a few shots of the deliciously boozy fruit before baking the Christmas cakes.

Fruit travelling at warp speed.

Petal Power

Yesterday I received a very large box, and inside it these beautiful flowers.  I took some photos last night but the lighting was so poor that this first photo was the result!

I had a play with the colouring and am rather fond of the grainy seventies look.

However this morning I put them on the windowsill and ended up with these lovely vibrant images.

I think it's the texture of flowers, particularly the petals and leaves that really make them so appealing.  Fabulous desk top material!

The Boy's eye view.

Bright Buns

As you may have noticed I enjoy cooking, baking and eating.  This month I treated myself to some decent gel food colouring.  I've only ever used the cheap stuff before and it was getting frustrating as the result's aren't terribly good.  As soon as the gels arrived I baked some cup cakes, and this was the result!

It's all ever so exciting.  My eldest daughter and I are already planning out the months baking projects just so we can play with the colours!

Hot cross buns.

My first ever attempt at baking hot cross buns was reasonably successful.   They look okay, decent shape and consistency, but for some reason only a few of them have recognisable crosses.  That's all unimportant because they smell and taste great!  

I used Paul Hollywood's recipe which was easy to follow and because I'd watched him do it on TV I had an idea of what to expect.  I've not baked bread for years and had forgotten how much fun and confusion is involved.

I love food.

Happy Easter to all those who celebrate it.

Ouch!

We seem to be the house of illness and injury at the moment.  Over the past month or two we've had chest infections, tonsillitis, flu, the nasty noro virus, sprained ankle and now I've cut my finger!










It was my own silly fault really.  I was sewing late last night, wasn't concentrating and tried to use my material scissors for something they're not really designed for in a rather careless manner.

Pancakes!

Pancakes are a fairly regular occurrence in our house, but that doesn't stop us from making the most of Shrove Tuesday!

Savoury pancakes to start.  Thin flat pancakes filled with salami, cheese and a little onion are my favourite.

Then American style blueberry pancakes smothered with maple syrup and topped with strawberries and ice cream.  Delicious!

Park findings

The other day I popped the baby in the sling and decided to go for a quick walk around the local park before collecting the children from the school.  Obviously I took the camera with me in the hope to at least get it out and take the odd snap if not actually spend some decent time on it.

I was a little short for time, but in just that half hour I realised how many points of interest there are just in a small park. 

 I was also reminded that macro photography is my favourite means of capturing nature, so I will be digging out that macro lens again very soon.

Whilst walking I had a bit of a brain wave.  I realised that I could combine photography with exercise by going on at least one 'photo walk' a week.  I shall pick a day and destination in Manchester and just walk there and back and hopefully find some interesting things to photograph.  That's the plan anyway! 

Sore Throat

As I said earlier last week, I've been quite unwell with flu or something similar, and a hideously sore throat.

Other than the odd picture of the baby I haven't felt up to taking any photos so I decided to give you a *lovely* shot of the back of my throat as that's about the only thing I've been thinking about all week!  

Believe it or not I'd just brushed and rinsed!!

Poi swinging

So I've had flu for a few days and haven't had much desire to stand up let alone take photos, but here's a couple of snaps taken on saturday.  Had I not had a baby on my lap they'd have been better! 


I do enjoy moving light and long exposure so will make the effort to take something similar when I'm feeling better.

My Week....

We've had a busy and creative week.  

Nathan and Squish spent time decorating her new Doll's house.

I've done an awful lot of knitting....

I've baked a rather scrummy chocolate hedgehog

And of course, I have been looking after The Griff who is particularly adorable 

when he's asleep.

I shall endeavour to get more creative with my photography next week too!

Super baby!

Just a fun photo to get me back into the blogging.  Had a really busy week with children and other fun things.  I'll add a few more shots from the past week later on but this one of The Griff flying through the woods is my favourite...

Lemon Soda

Oh dear, it's only been a week and I'm already getting behind with my blog posts.  The aim of this shot was to bring out more than one part of the drink, so I wanted to draw attention to the lemon slice, bubbles and the ice.  It didn't quite work, you can't really see the bubbles in the first shot, but it worked a little better in the second.  







My lighting set up wasn't brilliant, I think I needed more back light or to bounce the flash to really make the most of the detail in the ice and soda.

I didn't have any gin or tonic, but I did have sparkling water and a lemon so I made do with that.  I admit, I'd have much preferred the former.

Butties.

I discovered that it's much harder to take a photo of a sandwich than I initially thought.  I left this until a little too late yesterday and was feeling hungry and wanted something quick, so both the sandwich and the photo were done quicker than is ideally needed for a decent butty and a decent shot!

I was trying to focus on the smaller detail such as the bread crumbs and tomato seed but I think to really achieve what I wanted  I'll need to dig out my macro lens.

My lighting set up is better than it used to be but still very amateur.  I have two bright desk lamps that I can alter the direction of, and white sheets of paper and material that I can use as a back ground and to bounce light off.  Over the next few weeks I hope to get something a little more workable set up!

Mug of Tea

A habit of mine is to make a mug of tea and take it where ever I go, quite often into the garden or on the school run.  Yesterday I made the most of the icy cold and sunshine to get this shot of my steaming hot cuppa.

Hot Chocolate makes me smile!

Well over a year ago I was given a "food photography" book and although I read through it ad took the odd picture I've not made as much of it as I hoped.  So this week at least I intend to concentrate on food and beverages.

For the past few weeks I've been enjoying hot chocolate with marshmallows in the evening, so this seemed the perfect way to start!

*Camping*

"Can we sleep downstairs mum?"  

Having properly cleared up the living room for the first time in a fortnight, the children seized the opportunity to have a 'slumber party' downstairs.  Bizarrely they were better behaved and more keen to stay in their *beds* than normal, well the older two were, as you can see, Squish was a little more active!

Amusingly, by about 9pm, The Boy had given up and asked if he could go back to his own bed because "they're keeping me awake,' and not much later Squish also asked if she could go in her own room.  Probably because she wanted to play with her teddies, rather than a desire to sleep I imagine....