Thursday, 1 November 2012
Sunday, 28 October 2012
Great news to celebrate!
Friday was the best day as we got the all clear for Dad's eye! BRILLIANT news.
Saturday we had our play off match against the Meteors 3 in Finsbury park, this was a match to see if we were going to be relegated down a division. The day started off sunny but extremely breezy. My whole team showed up which was good (even though Phil was late) so we had a strong team. We started off slow and made a few errors and they played well so we were trailing at the 4th inning. Then Phil finally made it and gave us a boost with a few big hits and we were back in the game! At the end of the game (7 innings) we were tied at 10 all, so we had to go into extra innings. Again we were tied at the 8th inning, so another inning was required. And finally in the 9th inning we came back and managed to win the game 15 - 11. So wonderful news we are staying in the division 1, such a relief.
Now it was time to go celebrate. Saturday was also Natasha's birthday so we hit the Covent Garden Cocktail Club and it was hilarious. A bunch of people showed up throughout the night and the club was playing some awesome old school classics and the cocktails were super tasty and going down well. We stayed there till it closed and then it was time to head home...............what a nightmare. Trying to find a taxi was ridiculous but we managed to get one in the end. Hit the bed at about 2amish, quite tired.
Woke up this morning and thanks to daylight saving got an extra hour in bed! Result. Making chelsea buns at the moment, it's my next challenge that Ruth has set me. Fingers crossed they come out better than the bread.
Saturday we had our play off match against the Meteors 3 in Finsbury park, this was a match to see if we were going to be relegated down a division. The day started off sunny but extremely breezy. My whole team showed up which was good (even though Phil was late) so we had a strong team. We started off slow and made a few errors and they played well so we were trailing at the 4th inning. Then Phil finally made it and gave us a boost with a few big hits and we were back in the game! At the end of the game (7 innings) we were tied at 10 all, so we had to go into extra innings. Again we were tied at the 8th inning, so another inning was required. And finally in the 9th inning we came back and managed to win the game 15 - 11. So wonderful news we are staying in the division 1, such a relief.
Now it was time to go celebrate. Saturday was also Natasha's birthday so we hit the Covent Garden Cocktail Club and it was hilarious. A bunch of people showed up throughout the night and the club was playing some awesome old school classics and the cocktails were super tasty and going down well. We stayed there till it closed and then it was time to head home...............what a nightmare. Trying to find a taxi was ridiculous but we managed to get one in the end. Hit the bed at about 2amish, quite tired.
Thursday, 25 October 2012
Girls dinner
Finally got a date in the diary with the girls, so we met for dinner at The Abbey in Aldwich. The place was really nice, cool decor, lively atmosphere and tasty food. Service was great too, it's amazing how all these little things really make a difference. It was lovely to hear some happy news, Lisa and Dave got engaged! and ofcourse the obvious reason why we were there, Jade's pregnant. 5 months on and she is doing well and is happy. No news on the sex of the baby, it will be a surprise.
Pauline, Pip, Me, Lisa, Sue, Jade & Clare
Tuesday, 23 October 2012
Getting in some baking training
Here in the UK we have a show called The Great British Bake off. It's where 12 home bakers are put to the test each week with challenges and one gets booted off each week until it comes to the bake off between 3. This series has just ended and with the encouragement of my friend Ruth I've now applied for series 4 next year! So keep your fingers crossed, you never know what might happen. There is no closing date so unsure as to when i will find out if I'm in or not.
But in preparation for my 15 mins of fame, Ruth is putting me through my paces each weekend to learn a new skill. I'm a cake baker so pies, pastry, strudel etc is a bit of a mystery so think I need the help. On the weekend my first challenge was a simple white loaf of bread.....simple, I don't think so.
It was extremely hard as I've never baked bread before, so even with the online tutorial it still wasn't looking like that of the professional bakers on screen. I kept going, proving the dough twice, kneading it, then trying to shape it and finally the easy bit - baking it for 30 mins. I brought it into work yesterday for a taste test with my baking club (me, Alistair & Ruth) and I have to admit it was a bit of a door stop. Quite heavy and thick, obviously i didn't get enough air in it or something went wrong. It was ok for dipping so if there was some balsamic around it would have been perfect. You can also see from the pics it wasn't perfectly round (whoops). Oh well not too bad for the first attempt. I wonder what this weeks challenge will be.
I also made some mini victoria sponges with my new baking tray. I have to say it was quite hard getting them out, even with the loose bottom. I end butter the sides but might have to use oil next time. And I made them dairy free for one of my friends so the wild strawberry soya butter cream didn't hold it's form so slid a bit down. The cake was a bit dense for me, kind of scone like but all in all it was pretty tasty.
Last night I was looking in the fridge thinking I would have to toss the rest of the strawberries as they were getting squidgy but instead I made a dozen strawberry muffins with a little extra sparkle on top! Had one for morning tea with a cuppa - delightful!
But in preparation for my 15 mins of fame, Ruth is putting me through my paces each weekend to learn a new skill. I'm a cake baker so pies, pastry, strudel etc is a bit of a mystery so think I need the help. On the weekend my first challenge was a simple white loaf of bread.....simple, I don't think so.
It was extremely hard as I've never baked bread before, so even with the online tutorial it still wasn't looking like that of the professional bakers on screen. I kept going, proving the dough twice, kneading it, then trying to shape it and finally the easy bit - baking it for 30 mins. I brought it into work yesterday for a taste test with my baking club (me, Alistair & Ruth) and I have to admit it was a bit of a door stop. Quite heavy and thick, obviously i didn't get enough air in it or something went wrong. It was ok for dipping so if there was some balsamic around it would have been perfect. You can also see from the pics it wasn't perfectly round (whoops). Oh well not too bad for the first attempt. I wonder what this weeks challenge will be.
1st Proving - didn't seem to get much bigger in the second pic
2nd proving
shaped and ready to go / final product
I also made some mini victoria sponges with my new baking tray. I have to say it was quite hard getting them out, even with the loose bottom. I end butter the sides but might have to use oil next time. And I made them dairy free for one of my friends so the wild strawberry soya butter cream didn't hold it's form so slid a bit down. The cake was a bit dense for me, kind of scone like but all in all it was pretty tasty.
Last night I was looking in the fridge thinking I would have to toss the rest of the strawberries as they were getting squidgy but instead I made a dozen strawberry muffins with a little extra sparkle on top! Had one for morning tea with a cuppa - delightful!Who's the cutest of them all....
Amber came into work last week and brought with her little 3 month old Sienna! She was so good, no crying and was happy to be held by anyone. She was so cute and soft and snuggly! It was lovely to see Amber again as we hadn't caught up since the dreaded walk. Going for drinks end of the week (without baby) so that will be fun.
Karen, Clare, Amber, Sienna, Me & Pip
Thursday, 18 October 2012
Bake-tastic!
I received a lot of wonderful gifts over the month for my birthday and feel extremely loved and grateful! Everyone has been extremely generous. The Thoms have also given me some amazing additions to my kitchen cupboard:
tin for mini victoria sponges
tin for square cake bakes
carry case that can hold 12 cupcakes, 24 mini cupcakes or 1 long cake
turn table so I can ice my cakes
a circle cutter to cut icing
2 circle cake tins
a book on cake pops
cake pop sticks
originally I received a cake pop maker but as per a previous blog entry i had already bought one! Luckily I was able to exchange it in store for a tin & cake tin below.
THANK YOU THOMS (Andrew, Fiona, Lucy, Henry & Felicity) I love love love my presents.
tin for mini victoria sponges
tin for square cake bakes
carry case that can hold 12 cupcakes, 24 mini cupcakes or 1 long cake
turn table so I can ice my cakes
a circle cutter to cut icing
2 circle cake tins
a book on cake pops
cake pop sticks
originally I received a cake pop maker but as per a previous blog entry i had already bought one! Luckily I was able to exchange it in store for a tin & cake tin below.
THANK YOU THOMS (Andrew, Fiona, Lucy, Henry & Felicity) I love love love my presents.
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Cambridge, Hilton, Dinner x 2, Drinks, Lunch.....Very busy
So last week was a super busy week. After Hayley's birthday celebrations I was up to Cambridge with Helen to visit with Mila & Annabel. It had been a few months since we had caught up so it was lovely to see everyone. I got a lovely surprise when I arrived, belated birthday presents! My birthday felt like it went on for a month.
Helen gave me some lovely rose smelling Ritual bath/shower items. Rose and lavendar are my two favourite scents so I was so happy to get them. Mila & Annabel gave me a flight gift voucher, what a surprise! I had been chatting about going to Denmark to see Inger and now I had the means to do so. It was so lovely and unexpected, great friends! Mila also provided traditional scones with jam, delicious.
We all then headed into town for a nice dinner at our fav sushi place Teryaki. After a lot of food, we then decided to head home to camp out in front of the telly to watch Back to the Future. An oldy but a goody. Sunday morning Helen & I caught the early train back to London so spent the rest of the day pottering around the house.
Monday - I had a taste testing at the Hilton Park Lane for our upcoming Charity Ball. 3 starters, 3 mains, 2 vegetarian mains, 3 desserts, wine, champagne & tea/coffee. I was stuffed to the brim at the end but we did manage to decide what the menu would be so that was good. In the end we all pretty much agreed on the choices so there was no food fights! I got home that night and had to go straight to bed.
Tuesday - dinner at Busaba with Mila, Helen & Angela. It was good to see them again and it was lovely to have a mini celebration for Angela who got engaged and getting married in December. Sometimes you forget how long it's been since you've seen someone and how much you miss hanging out with them. These three girls are so much fun and always have something interesting to talk about.
Wednesday - Dinner with Bianca. This was to celebrate both our birthdays as I had been away for them. Again it was lovely to see her and we seem to be managing to stick to the once a month catch up! We went to Wagamama's in Canary Wharf, an old favourite.
Thursday - I was getting pretty tired by this stage of going out but Patrick had organised this drinks do for about 2 months so I couldn't not go and it was at Camino's Kings Cross which is literally 10 mins by bus from my work. Turned out to be a really nice evening as lots of old faces showed up. I ended up staying for about 2 hours but then was so tired and talked out that I slipped off and headed home.
Friday - After such a busy week I totally forgot I was supposed to go to a charity breakfast this morning! We support the Magical Taxi Tour through the Guvnors club, this is where terminally ill children are taken to Disneyland Paris for the weekend and the breakfast is the big send off. I felt sooooo bad when I got into work and saw it pop up on my outlook. Luckily one of the other girls went so we did have someone there to support the cause.
I also attended the Bovis Retirement Lunch at the Kensington Garden Hotel. This is an event that the company sponsors inconjunction with Bovis Homes for all our retired members. Such a nice thing to do. I was at the head table (not sure how that happened) and had a lovely lunch chatting with the people on my table.
After that finished I headed home and finally got home about 5pmish and flopped on the couch! What a week.
Saturday was spent doing nothing but sleeping and resting. I ended up going to the end of season party for my softball league. Krista & Aneil turned up from our team so it was fun hanging out for a bit chatting and drinking. They had crazy glow sticks everywhere and you can see we made the most of it. I managed to get the last tube home which was good.
Sunday - nothing but cleaning house and relaxing.
Monday - nothing
Last night - dinner with Claire & Natasha at Bond's of Mayfair. A great evening with two favourites! I have a taste card so get 50% off at certain restaurants, loving this card.
TONIGHT - NOTHING
Helen gave me some lovely rose smelling Ritual bath/shower items. Rose and lavendar are my two favourite scents so I was so happy to get them. Mila & Annabel gave me a flight gift voucher, what a surprise! I had been chatting about going to Denmark to see Inger and now I had the means to do so. It was so lovely and unexpected, great friends! Mila also provided traditional scones with jam, delicious.
We all then headed into town for a nice dinner at our fav sushi place Teryaki. After a lot of food, we then decided to head home to camp out in front of the telly to watch Back to the Future. An oldy but a goody. Sunday morning Helen & I caught the early train back to London so spent the rest of the day pottering around the house.
Monday - I had a taste testing at the Hilton Park Lane for our upcoming Charity Ball. 3 starters, 3 mains, 2 vegetarian mains, 3 desserts, wine, champagne & tea/coffee. I was stuffed to the brim at the end but we did manage to decide what the menu would be so that was good. In the end we all pretty much agreed on the choices so there was no food fights! I got home that night and had to go straight to bed.
Tuesday - dinner at Busaba with Mila, Helen & Angela. It was good to see them again and it was lovely to have a mini celebration for Angela who got engaged and getting married in December. Sometimes you forget how long it's been since you've seen someone and how much you miss hanging out with them. These three girls are so much fun and always have something interesting to talk about.
Wednesday - Dinner with Bianca. This was to celebrate both our birthdays as I had been away for them. Again it was lovely to see her and we seem to be managing to stick to the once a month catch up! We went to Wagamama's in Canary Wharf, an old favourite.
Thursday - I was getting pretty tired by this stage of going out but Patrick had organised this drinks do for about 2 months so I couldn't not go and it was at Camino's Kings Cross which is literally 10 mins by bus from my work. Turned out to be a really nice evening as lots of old faces showed up. I ended up staying for about 2 hours but then was so tired and talked out that I slipped off and headed home.
Friday - After such a busy week I totally forgot I was supposed to go to a charity breakfast this morning! We support the Magical Taxi Tour through the Guvnors club, this is where terminally ill children are taken to Disneyland Paris for the weekend and the breakfast is the big send off. I felt sooooo bad when I got into work and saw it pop up on my outlook. Luckily one of the other girls went so we did have someone there to support the cause.
I also attended the Bovis Retirement Lunch at the Kensington Garden Hotel. This is an event that the company sponsors inconjunction with Bovis Homes for all our retired members. Such a nice thing to do. I was at the head table (not sure how that happened) and had a lovely lunch chatting with the people on my table.
After that finished I headed home and finally got home about 5pmish and flopped on the couch! What a week.
Saturday was spent doing nothing but sleeping and resting. I ended up going to the end of season party for my softball league. Krista & Aneil turned up from our team so it was fun hanging out for a bit chatting and drinking. They had crazy glow sticks everywhere and you can see we made the most of it. I managed to get the last tube home which was good.
Sunday - nothing but cleaning house and relaxing.
Monday - nothing
Last night - dinner with Claire & Natasha at Bond's of Mayfair. A great evening with two favourites! I have a taste card so get 50% off at certain restaurants, loving this card.
TONIGHT - NOTHING
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