What To Expect...When You're Expecting

As my regular readers will know, I am currently expecting my first baby. 

Our little man is due to arrive in less than 7 weeks time! Eeeeek! 

32 weeks + 3 days bump 

We are as prepared as I think anyone can be - nursery ready, clothes bought, washed and put away, nappies and other essentials all purchased, antenatal classes attended, many books read (more on that in a later post) and a whole host of internet and app based reading done as well. We are a conscientious couple and want to digest as much information about pregnancy, birth, newborns and parenting so that we are fully informed about all the stages of pregnancy and beyond. 

Those of you who have read my blog for a while will know that my husband and I suffered a miscarriage last year which was an incredibly hard time for the both of us, and this experience has understandably tinged this pregnancy with lots of worry, doubt, and anxiety. It has therefore been vital for us to seek out sound advice, and reliable sources of information in regards to all things pregnancy related.

During the early days of this pregnancy I was (of course!) eager to find out my EDD (Estimated Delivery Date/Due Date) and I found a brilliant calculator on the 'What To Expect' website (calculator found here). 

The calculator allows you to work out your due date based on either the first day of your last period, or the date you think you conceived. I found it very quick and simple to use, and a really handy tool - no counting days on a calendar, or trying to work it out in your head.

This is what the calculator looks like ^ a very easy format, and simple to use

After using the calculator I then couldn't resist browsing their website, which is a hive of information and advice for parents, especially new mums. One of the websites best features is their 'A to Z of Pregnancy Symptoms and Solutions' page, which lists common pregnancy side effects/symptoms. 

This type of information at my fingertips has been a great source of support to me. As an anxious first time mum-to-be I have checked out and looked up every side effect I've experienced so far. It covers everything from leg cramps, to fatigue, heartburn to a blocked nose - each symptom is explained clearly with helpful solutions to try and make your pregnancy as comfortable as possible. 

You can also access a week by week account of your pregnancy and baby's development on the site, or sign up for weekly emails straight to your personal email account - all of which I have found invaluable during my pregnancy. 

I will no doubt visit the site numerous more times before my little Mr arrives, and hope that by sharing my experience of the site it will encourage any fellow new-parents out there to seek the support it offers as well. 

For more information follow @whattoexpectuk on Twitter, or visit their website www.whattoexpect.co.uk

Bye for now

Mrs B

xxx

BedYarn - Yarn Bombing fun in Bedford

Today I took part in an awesome Yarn Bombing art project in Bedford.

For those who haven't heard of yarn bombing here's a definition...

"Yarn bombing, yarnbombing, yarnstorming, guerrilla knitting, urban knitting or graffiti knitting is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colorful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fibre rather than paint or chalk." (Wikipedia)

The project (BedYarn) was the brainchild of my lovely friend Liz from Little Red Welly blog, she was commissioned by Bedford Creative Arts to arrange the yarn bombing event, which involved teaching knitting classes, buying/providing yarn and organising today's event. I jumped straight on board, as, like Liz, I'm an enthusiastic knitter, and lover of anything a little whimsy! 

The plan was to meet at 3pm today outside The Swan Hotel in Bedford on the Embankment, and then choose a part of the Embankment to decorate with our knitted pieces. We had no idea how many people would turn up and join in, or how much knitting/crochet we'd have to play with. 

Before the event - Liz and I take a look at what we'd produced ready for the yarn bomb

Lovely Liz! All ready to go...

THE YARN BOMBING

My red knitted ribbon bow! Love this! 

My green scarf! wrapped around a lamppost :-)

One of my green pompoms on a bench 

my green and yellow pompoms brightening up a parking sign! 

Here are some of the other pieces...these are my personal favourites! 

pink pom poms in the trees

Brave Matt climbing the trees to hang some of the gorgeous yarn art! 

Parents and children joined in - what a beautiful bench! 

love the hat/tea cosy! fab! 

gorgeous crochet hangers

soo fun

multicoloured knitting round the tree

gorgeous knitted roses

what a lamppost! 

hehe cute! 

what fun, hanging yarn rings

hanging plait and ring

knitted bunting - awesome!

love this - the kids ran round and round the tree trunk with a big ball of yarn - so cute! 

What great fun!

We had a great turn out with well over 30 people taking part - there were lots of great encouraging comments from passer-bys, and we hope that most of Bedford will appreciate the fun, whimsy and bright splash we've added temporarily to the Embankment without causing any permanent damage.

If you're a local please pop down and have a peek before it gets removed. 

Have you ever taken part in a large community art project? 

Do you fancy yarn bombing an area where you live? 

Why not pop a tea cosy on a bollard, or wrap a scarf around a tree - its quite liberating, and will get passers-by talking! 

 Mrs B

xxxx

Tipsy Cake Club

This months Clandestine Cake Club meet had the theme "tipsy cakes" & was held at the lovely Pensieri coffee shop, in town. Despite being 7 months pregnant & strictly avoiding alcohol & attempting to be relatively healthy, I figured most of the alcohol would be "cooked out" of the cakes, and it would be okay to indulge my cake passion by bringing a cake along & trying just a few of the club members offerings. 

I decided to make a limoncello cake (based on what little alcohol I could find in our rather ostentatious & extremely camp globe drinks cabinet!) ... I found a recipe online which tickled my fancy because it involved a new method of cake baking replacing the normal butter in the sponge mix with natural yoghurt & rapeseed oil. 

Ingredients

Sponge cake:

250g natural yoghurt

• 2 eggs
• 75ml rapeseed oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons lemon zest
• 200g sugar
• 60ml limoncello liqueur
• 250g plain flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 pinch salt

Icing Glaze: 

• 100g icing sugar
• 3 tablespoons limoncello liqueur

Buttercream topping to decorate:

115g soft butter

500g icing sugar

Juice of half a lemon

2 tablespoons limoncello liqueur 

Yellow gel colouring 

Method

Prep:15min  ›  Cook:35min  ›  Ready in:50min 

1. Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas 4. Grease an 8-inch cake tin or line with baking parchment.
2. Whisk together the yoghurt, eggs, rapeseed oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar and 60ml limoncello in a large bowl. In a separate large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt. Gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet. Do not over mix or the cake will be tough. Pour cake mixture into prepared tin.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until top is golden and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.
4. Stir the icing sugar and 3 tablespoons of limoncello together in a small bowl until smooth. Poke small holes all over the top of the still-warm cake with a fork or skewer. Spoon the glaze over the cake and spread with the back of a spoon. The glaze will seep into the cake and add moisture.
5. Using electric mixer whisk butter and icing sugar together to form a light fluffy buttercream, add lemon juice, limoncello and colouring to taste. 
6. Spoon buttercream mixture into a piping bag with a large star nozzle and decorate your baked and glazed cake with buttercream rosettes. 

I used a bundt tin as I think it really made the cake stand out and look attractive. Any fun cake tin shapes would work, as would a standard loaf or round tin, if that's all you have to hand. 

So... here's my finished tipsy cake...

Limoncello Cake by Lucy

And here are the other marvellous cakes from fellow cake club bakers...

Pina Colada Cake

Lemon & Amaretto cake

Lemon Meringue cake with Limoncello

Rum & Raisin Chocolate Cake

Baileys Choc Mousse Cake

Coffee sponge with Tia Maria & Mascarpone icing

Stout and Chocolate Cake

Dark Chocolate & Amaretto Cake

Very Boozy Fruit Cake (port, rum & brandy!)

The very impressive cake table - what a selection!

I managed to try small tastes of 5 of the cakes - the pina colada cake, the rum & raisin cake, the lemon meringue cake, my limoncello cake and the boozy fruit cake - a pretty impressive effort on my part I think ;-)

I definitely go a bit Mary Berry/Paul Hollywood-esque when working my way down the tasting table. I feel like I need to write notes on the consistency of each 

bad, whether it has a good crumb, and ample sponge to icing ratio - hehe! 

My favourite cake this month was a toss up between two cakes: the boozy fruit cake, which was full of flavour, moist but crumbly and just delicious, and the dense truffle-like rum and raisin cake, which tasted insane but was so rich! My husbands favourite was my cake (apparently!) although I'm not sure if he's just saying that to remain firmly in my good books?! He also really enjoyed the stout and chocolate cake, which I unfortunately didn't have room left to try. 

I was really pleased with the outcome of the new recipe I tried. The cake had a lovely dense, moist texture (from the oil/yoghurt combo I'm sure!),  was really sharp with the limoncello but had a real hit of sweetness from the glaze and buttercream. All in all a good bake me thinks, and one I'd happily repeat again. 

If you had to choose one of the cakes to try, which one would you have tasted?

What is your favourite tipple when it comes to baking?

Mrs B 

xxx

Lino Printing Fun...

Time for a crafty post!

Anyone who knows me well will know I'm pretty arty & love to learn a new craft. I tend to flit between lots of different disciplines - knitting, drawing, sewing, card making, cake decorating, inking, painting, jewellery making, photography...you name it, I've probably tried it. One thing I've been meaning to try for a really long time is lino printing - so I jumped at the chance when I saw my local (and favourite!) cake shop Fancy was holding an intro into lino printing workshop last night.

Run by local artist Scarlett Rebecca Tierney, the workshop was a chance to learn the basics of lino printing, and come away with a lino tile adorned with a design of your own, and some printed wooden brooches. It cost £25 for the course which ran from 7pm-10pm, and I had an absolute blast. It was really exciting to challenge myself to a completely new craft - and I found the whole printing process really addictive.

The process of course began with tea and cake (I defy anyone who can enter Fancy and be able to resist a giant slice of their amazing cake range!) And last night I opted for a slice of neapolitan cake...

Yum- the best artistic fuel known to man! :-)

Scarlett had asked us to come prepared with some sketches/ideas and so our first (and perhaps the hardest) job was to decide on a final design to print. Luckily, being on half term from work meant that I'd had a few hours in the day to sit down and sketch some ideas - my creative juices were flowing & I made my decision quite quickly. 

My final design was a sketch of an apron - apt due to my love of baking and my giant collection of pretty aprons...

my final design

I then traced the design on tracing paper, and transferred it to the lino rectangle by the tried and tested method of turning the tracing paper lead side down, and rubbing all over the back with the pencil :-)

This transferred my design on to the lino tile...

transferred to the lino tile and ready to cut! 

I then used a lino cutting tool to dig out my design - I had a practice on some old lino scraps to get a feel for it, but in essence you cut away whatever part you don't want to catch ink - for me that was the outline of my design. 

Once I was relatively happy with my design I rolled water-based ink over my lino, flipped it onto some paper, and used a heavy spoon to rub the print to ensure an even coating of ink on the paper. 

My first couple of prints to paper. 

I then used these prints to work out where my tile needed improving - more cutting away/a better shape etc. This enabled me to get a stronger final image to print onto my wooden brooch. 

a much neater final image print :-)

Lastly, I inked up my lino and this time printed directly onto a wooden disc - once dry I attached a brooch clip using super glue to the back and Ta dah...my brooch was born. 

I then repeated the process this time using the Twitter bird logo as my inspiration - and made a second brooch and sets of prints. Not bad for under three hours work. All credit goes to good teaching from Scarlett and a lovely atmosphere at Fancy!

Have you tried a new craft recently?

Mrs B 

xxx

For more information on Scarlett's workshops please visit her website or follow her on Twitter @scarlettrebecca 

UPDATE POST: 27 Things To Do in The Year I Turn 27.

Hi all! 

I just thought I'd write a little update post on my '27 Things To Do In The Year I Turn 27' goals...I'm getting there, and have completed over half in 5 months, so not too bad. 

1. Make Scotch eggs from scratch - made, and devoured! 

2. Go to an authentic American Brunch - All done, and it was scrummy! 

3. Have an afternoon shopping session at St Pancras Int - all done, and no doubt I'll find the time to shop there some more this year. Sorry bank balance!

4. See Wicked the musical again  - all done, and its still fun and fab. 

5. Visit Cornwall  - we had a lovely weeks holiday in Looe, Cornwall back in the Easter Holidays...

the view from our appartment

the lovely fishing village, Polperro

 Wonderful Looe

The Eden Project 

Gorgeous Cornishware miniature cup and saucer for Baby Bishop, bought from Daisy's Cafe, Looe, Cornwall. 

6. Hold a Superbowl Gathering/Party - all done, was great fun! 

7. Learn to Crotchet - done! :-)

8. Finish off knitting and sewing projects  - I have managed to finish a pair of cushions, a tote bag, and a knitted baby blanket and I have sewn my reversible changing mat. 

9. Join the Clandestine Cake Club & go to various events  - I am now a regular attendee of CCC meets, and loving it! 

10. Visit drinkshopdo  - all done and I LOVED it! 

11.  Join in with Bedford’s ‘Cash Mob’  - all done. 

12. Go to Claridges for afternoon tea - I'm still hoping to do this for my birthday in October. 

13. Visit St Helena’s in Elstow for our First Wedding Anniversary 

14. Visit Harry Potter Experience in Watford 

15. Go to Cadbury’s World 

16. Make a hand raised pork pie. 

17. Read ‘Les Miserables’ by Victor Hugo - Still haven't had the chance to read this yet, I'm so busy reading baby/pregnancy books. 

18. Arrange a Picnic in the Park event with Liz - this may well have to wait until next summer as time is flying by and I know I'm going to be busy and ever-expanding this summer. 

19. Go to Calzone & Co in Bedford - all done. 

20. Visit and support local independent shops more frequently - I am trying to do this as much as possible and plan to continue for the rest of the year and beyond. 

21. Redecorate the small spare room in preparation for our new arrival.  - All finished, and I LOVE it! 

22. Partake in some Random Acts of Kindness.

23. Hand make/ hand bake gifts - I have been doing loads of this for friends and families birthdays, and plan to carry on throughout the year.

24. Lose my post baby weight - obviously can't do this until after the baby has arrived. 

25. Make gym & swimming part of my weekly routine. 

26. Develop some art work and branding for my blog - all done. 

27. Eat an original Bedfordshire Clanger  - a Clanger is a historical pasty style pastry that originates from Bedford – it combines sweet and savoury by having a meat filling in one end, and a fruit one in the other. Gunns Bakery in the town centre is one of the last places in Bedfordshire that still make and sell these little beauties. 

So, theres the update! A few more left to complete. Seven months left to get cracking. 

Have you set yourself goals for this year? 

How are you getting on with ticking things off of your list?

Bye for now

Mrs B

xxxx