Thursday 13 September 2012

Wedding Gifts & Baking Therapy!

This week has been a real mixed bag... 

I returned to work on Monday, which hasn't been easy (physically or emotionally) but the week is almost out, and once the weekend is here I'm planning to totally chill! 

Excitingly, on Saturday we had our wedding gift delivery from John Lewis, which was like all our Christmases and birthdays rolled into one!! 

We were so touched and delighted by everyones generosity & are so pleased with all the fab gifts we picked! We spent all weekend unwrapping, and finding places for everything. 

I thought I'd share a few of my most favourite gifts with you ... 



Our new baby! Kitchen Aid mixer from my lovely Mummy! :-) 




Gorgeous English Rose Cath Kidston bedspread from my lovely sister! 


Two totally awesome house bedside lamps from Philippa, Penny & Liam's work friends



Sweet Mr & Mrs frame from Gemma & Anthony 


Rob Ryan couples mug (only make sense together) from my Mother & Father-in-Law


Amaze-balls ice cream scoop with sprinkle storing handle! from Danni & Charlie :-)

That really is just a few highlights, we got so many amazing gifts and are truly blessed to have such awesome family & friends! 

BAKING THERAPY

In order to help get through the past month of tough-ness I've been busy baking my heart out. 

Baking really is therapy to me. I get to zone-out in my favourite room of the house (kitchen), be creative & ultimately get lots of pleasure from feeding others (especially husband) said creations! 

Added bonus is I now get to use our awesome Kitchen Aid mixer...! 

I baked a giant cupcake for WI on Thursday last week, it was our groups one year birthday & we had a bake-off competition at our AGM. I decided to make a cupcake as I thought it was very 'WI' and decorated it with handmade sugar roses, as our group name is The Scone Roses! 
I was pleased how it turned out as it was a first attempt. Really fun to do and best of all I won the competition! :-) But I must admit there were only 7 entries, and all were scrummy! 


My winning Scone Roses WI Birthday Giant Cupcake! 

I couldn't stay out of the kitchen after that, and so here are my other bakes of the week.....


Carrot cake made from Felicity Cloake's 'Perfect' recipe in The Guardian 


Jam Tarts (Strawberry & Lemon)


Profiteroles and Choux buns! (first attempt at choux pastry too, it was YUMMA!)

That's a hell of a lot of 'treats' in a week - luckily being back at work has meant back to walking 4 miles a day, and back to having a staff-room full of friends willing to 'try' my kitchen efforts. (Although, I must admit it was only the carrot cake this week that made it in to work!)

OTHER RANDOMNESS....

I treated myself to a gorgeous new book last week - it's a beautiful hard back edition of the new 'The Further Tale of Peter Rabbit', based on Beatrix Potter's most enchanting character the mischievous bunny in the blue coat! It has been written by the wonderful Emma Thompson (Actress: Nanny McPhee, Sense & Sensibility etc) and it is the sweetest thing! Lovely to see one of my favourite childhood characters being bought back to life! 


(Also note my awesome Cath Kidston soldier PJ bottoms featuring in this picture!)

And finally, my little kitty Pickle otherwise known as Fluff-Face sitting in the laundry bin, as cats do! Cute picture & thought I'd share. 



Hope the over-all loveliness of these pictures have bought a smile to your week!

Love

Lucy 

xxxxx