Monday Review - Edinburgh and London

We had a lovely week in Edinburgh staying with Sister and family.   We spent the beginning of the week at BestFriends house - our horror film this time was the remake of The Crazies - we chatted through it - which shows you what we thought of it....

The first Krispy Kreme in Scotland opened on the 13 February, causing major traffic chaos in Edinburgh! BestFriend and I thought that on Monday the queues for the Drive Thru wouldn't be too bad. Luckily it was a lovely day and we sat in the queue with the windows down - chatting away. We did get free warm glazed doughnuts while we waited - which Minibakebakegirl, BFDaughter and BFSon inhaled!    It was a huge novelty to use the drive thru but it made me laugh as we can get Krispy Kremes at Tesco down here and there is a KK coffee shop in Milton Keynes! 

We came home on Friday and on Saturday Hubby and I spent the night in London. For Christmas he gave me tickets to see Midnight Tango. Our hotel was gorgeous and we had a lovely pre theatre dinner.  I had the pear and chocolate tart for pudding - which was gorgeous.  

I love Strictly Come Dancing and think Vincent and Flavia are amazing.  I really enjoyed the show, Russell Grant is also in it, as the bar owner. He provided the light comedy and his banter with his bar owner wife was very good.  Vincent and Flavia's dancing is just incredible - they make it look so effortless.  I had a lovely time with Hubby - it was a perfect end to a great week.

Hope to see you next week.

Bakebakegirl,

Todays top three Spotify Songs:

1. When Doves Cry - Prince
2. Break My Stride - Matthew Wilder 
3. They Don't know - Tracey Ullman

Monday Review - Edinburgh

We arrived in Edinburgh on Friday night, we flew up this time which we haven't done for a while. Minibakebakegirl has already told me she wants to get the train next time - I think she likes to be sitting in her seat on the train with her kindle :-) Where as I like to wander round the shops at the airport while we wait for our flight :-) 

On Saturday Sister, Nieces, Minibakebakegirl and I went to North Berwick, we ate at the Westgate Galleries. They have a lovely shop with pretty jewellery and great framed prints. After lunch we went for a walk along the beach. It was a perfect day, I was thinking we were going to have a bracing walk with the wind in our faces, but there was no wind at all - it was very calm and not at all cold. There was a lot of washed up seaweed and shells, I think there have been some stormy days over the winter. We all enjoyed looking for beach treasure. 

Niece2 and Minibakebakegirl found an old tyre to roll along when we walked back to the car :o) 

On Sunday we went for a walk along the canal, an even better day weatherwise as the sun shone all day. We walked along to the canal basin and had coffee and cake at Loudons.

Minibakebakegirl found the perfect chair for her to sit in! 

The cakes were delicious and the coffee was good.

Here are a few more pictures from our trip to the beach, see you next week.

Bakebakegirl

Today's top three radio songs:

1. Ashes to Ashes - David Bowie
2. Find My Love - Fairground Attraction
3. What Is Love - Howard Jones

Monday Bake - After Dinner Mint Chocolate Cake

It was my birthday on Friday, I have had a lovely birthday weekend (yes I like to eeeek it out for as long as possible!)  I was thoroughly spoilt and got lots of lovely cards and presents including Rachel Allen's book Cake.  

There are so many lovely cakes in this book, but the first cake I wanted to make was the After Dinner Mint Cake.  The recipe is on the Good Food Website.

When I made the icing instead of adding mint leaves I just added about 6 after eights to the mixture and blended it all together.   I will definitely make this again - I also think it is another cake that would be good warm as a pudding without the icing.

Here's a picture of my yummy Thorntons birthday cake from Hubby and Minibakebakegirl - as the top picture says - it's all about the cake!

See you next week, as it's half term we will be in Edinburgh.

Bakebakegirl


Todays top three Ipod songs:

1. The Name Game - Shirley Ellis
2. Kites - Simon Dupree and The Big Sound
3. Please Please Me - The Beatles

Monday Bake - Sticky Toffee Squares

My theatre trips are usually via work - we get a great discount so this means I go to things I wouldn't normally see, plus we get taken into London and back again by coach - so it's great value.  Last week I went to see Viva Forever.  I had heard so many mixed reviews but I went with an open mind and enjoyed it.  It's like Mamma Mia in that it is a story around the Spice Girls songs, not about the Spice Girls.  Not sure it will be a really long running show but it was fun - the story is ok - a few of the songs they sang a bit too slow at times - I prefer the faster Spice Girls songs.  But at the end they had everyone standing up, bopping along to a few songs.  It was also a great chance to catch up with FriendD.  We started work together 16 years ago, our company split and we now work at different places so don't see each other as often as we would like.  However, we are going to see the Bodyguard later this month so will see her again for another good catch up :o)  We usually get into town to have a bit of a wander around London - its so pretty at night.

Trafalgar Square

China Town

At the weekend we finally tuned in our Playstation2 to the new tv (I say new - we have had it for over a year!) and we dug out my games. Minibakebakegirl has been playing Crash Bandicoot and Croc.  Hours of fun in this basket.

I know I have had a sticky toffee pudding post before but it is one of my favourites. This recipe makes one big cake in a brownie tin. You can find the recipe here. This is a great recipe as instead of making the Philadelphia icing you can make a toffee sauce and have it as pudding with ice cream.  Either way is good - you could halve the cake and have it both ways over a couple of days!

This is my toffee sauce recipe:

Ingredients:
60g butter
125g soft light brown sugar
150g golden syrup
125ml double cream

Method:
Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and melt over a high heat, stirring until all combined.  Boil for 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Thanks for visiting.

Bakebakegirl

Todays top three Spotify Songs:
1. Losing My Religion - R.E.M. 
2. Under The Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers
3. Dreams - The Cranberries