*Add it to your wish list*

Does anyone else love this tea towel by Emma Bridgewater?
It always makes me giggle to myself when I see it in the catalogue or on the website!
You can buy it now as a gift set with 2 heart tea towels in a box set ~ an ideal gift to add to your Valentine's Day wish list for all you Daniel Craig fans out there! Find it *here*



I am also loving this Polka Dot Comport too, just how fun is this!!! Although it is a bit of an extravagant buy for me with a price tag of £49.95! But isn't that what wish lists are for!?!
Anyhoo, find this delicious cake plate *here*

*Carrot, Ginger & Orange Soup*

My sister sent me this recipe by e-mail, I haven't tried it yet but it definately sounds yummy!
Anyhoo here is the recipe for Carrot, Ginger & Orange Soup.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
600g (1lb 5oz) carrots
40g (1 1/2oz) root ginger
1 onion
1 vegetable stock cube
1 orange
10ml (2tsp) Sunflower oil

Method
Peel and cube carrots and onion.
Place in a large lidded saucepan with half the peeled and grated ginger.
Add 600ml (1pt) water and crumble in stock cube.
Cover. Simmer for about 20 minutes until the carrots have softened. Cool a little then liquidise until smooth.
Grate orange rind. Add half to soup with the squeezed juice. Add more water to give desired consistency if necessary.
Cut remaining peeled ginger into fine strips. Gently fry in the oil until golden. Serve on top of soup with remaining orange rind.


I don't think I would personally fry the ginger in oil though, got to think of those calories & fat you know! But mmmmmm, yummy soup!
Something to warm you up on a cold winters day.

*A Good Day*

It is a wonderfully clear day today, the birds are singing, the sun is shining, and oh my, I can't believe how good is a lunch of rocket, black olives, feta & green pesto washed down with some ginger ale whilst watching The Gilmore Girls is!
Ok, so there are lots more things I could be getting on with apart from watching the wonderful Gilmore Girls, but a touch of procrastination never did anyone any harm did it, and I am soooooo good at it too!

I love it when days like this arrive & make your heart sing!
*Enjoy your day*

*Geting My Mo-Jo back*

Well I think I am starting to get some sort of motivation back to get on with some crafting at last!!!
This last week I have been making some more rosebud hearts (see above photo), and also some rose hip hearts too. I am on making some rustic signs at the mo also.
I even went so far as to clear up my space in our studio room, well I must admit not all of it, but I did to a lot of tidying on my table as it had just turned into one big dumping ground for crafty goodness! (I'm blaming the rush of the festive season for my lack of tidyness!) I put lots of things back onto my little pine shelves, folded up my fabrics and placed them all nice and tidy, sorted out lots of things and popped them into the right willow boxes, took all my 'dried goods' like my rosebuds, rose hips and lavender out of the grip seal bags they were in and popped them all into small plastic boxes, so that they can all stack up neatly and are easy to get to! My shelves are looking all neat & tidy, and I can almost 'see' the table now!!!
So I am getting my crafty mo-jo back, yay!!!!

I will be opening my website again very soon, (after what seems like an endless holiday away), I'm so completely naughty! I think I am finally over my holiday period time off now and need to get on with things, so I will keep you all updated to my goings on over the next few weeks!
x

*Oh So Cute Dresses*

*Dress above is made by Stop Staring Clothing*

If you are anything like me and love the cute styles of the 1940's & 1950's and love to wear clothes which make you feel part of that wonderful time, you are going to love Hollywood Flame!
They have just the most dee-licious range of dresses, I just want to buy them all!!!!
Really just how adorable is this dress above called 'The Belle Dress' the naughty devils even have it in baby pink! *Swoon*

Anyhoo take a peek at their website you can find it *here*

(Eeek and just to make you jealous I have a pair of cute shoes like the model is wearing!!!)

*Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake*

*WARNING*
This is an incredibly delicious recipe!

Ok, so I know I am meant to be losing a few pounds but we had a dinner party on Saturday for a couple of friends and this is the desert I served! I'm good the rest of the week I promise.
(The above picture was taken a while ago though as I forgot to take a photo on Saturday! In this photo I topped the cake with chocolate shavings!)

It is a Green & Blacks recipe and is just sooooooo divine, and will certainly impress everyone who tries it!

Ok, so here is the recipe ...

Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake

Description:
This rich, dense chocolate cake is incredibly easy to make but will always impress.
It can be served with whipped cream, creme fraiche, Green & Black's Organic Vanilla ice cream or simply on its own sliced into small fingers with coffee.
It can also be made with Green & Black's Dark, Milk, White and Maya chocolates either on their own or in a combination.
If it is made the day before and then chilled over night it becomes even more dense, fudgey and wicked. The lack of flour in the recipe also makes it suitable for coeliacs.


Ingredients:

Use: 20cm or 23cm (8in or 9in) cake tin with removable base or similar-sized tart tin
3 x 100g Bars Green & Black's Dark 70% Chocolate
275g Caster Sugar
165g Unsalted Butter
Pinch of Sea Salt
5 Large Free Range Eggs
Icing Sugar
1 Tablespoon Ground Almonds plus extra for dusting the tin

Instruction:

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.
Butter and dust a cake tin with a removable base.
Put the first 4 ingredients in a bowl over barely simmering water and allow to melt.
Whisk the eggs with the ground almonds and then fold into the chocolate mixture with a spatula off the heat.
Pour into the cake tin and bake for between 35 and 40 minutes.
Allow to cool, and dust with icing sugar.

***

So that's it, it is really easy to make, and if you eat it straight away or a short while afterwards all the gooey inside ooozes out when you cut into it, but if you leave it overnight it is just so scrummy it is unbelievable!
I have made with with all dark chocolate but this is just too rich for me so I tend to use a mixture of milk & dark chocolate now! We also serve it with mascapone, a strange combo some may think we have found it to be an ideal partner although very very naughty!
*Enjoy*

*Raspberry Cream Sandwich Cookies*

Naughty naughty *Martha Stewart* is tempting me already!!!!!
The Martha Stewart Living Newsletter dropped in my mailbox and under 'Cookie of the Day' was this gorgeous photo of these scrummy looking Raspberry Cream Sandwich Cookies!
Don't they just look divine?
Ooooohhhh Martha you naughty domestic minx you!

Anyhoo if you would like to try these out for yourselves (and for me too!!!) you can find the recipe *here*!

*Joyful Beginnings*

I hope that the beginning of 2008 has brought you all lots of joy so far, can you believe we are a week and a half into it already!
I'm sorry for the lack of blogging lately, I have been trying to get into the work spirit again and trying to get lots of things organized for my website but you know I seem to have had a bit of a slow start to 2008, I think I am still in holiday mode! I'm finding it hard to get motivated lately, but I have noticed that the days do seem to be getting longer already and a little lighter and brighter, so this should perk me up and get me out of my hibernation mode.

As usual I am trying to shift the excess pounds I gained over the holiday time and this year a few more too as I had already gained a good few over the whole of last year, so no more delicious treats for me for a while! I think my expanding waist-line is a result of seeing all the yummy scrummy recipes on various blogs and wanting to try them!!! *Tee hee*

Anyhoot, hope the new year is treating you well, ta ta for now
x