Monday Review - London and Dr Who

On Sunday Minibakebakegirl, Hubby and Nephew1 headed to the Doctor Who Convention.  Here's Minibakebakegirl to tell you about it:

So as you may know the Doctor Who 50^th anniversary was on Saturday, and I was lucky enough to go the Sunday convention with my Dad and cousin. I’m a MASSIVE fan of Doctor Who and the 50^th anniversary episode was absolutely fantastic (Christopher Eccleston reference). My favourite doctor is Tom Baker as he is the coolest human being alive and has the best smile in the world.

I had to get up at 6:00am which was a big struggle. We had to get four trains to get to the ExCel arena.  There were 8,000 people at the convention and we had to be split into two groups. The groups were Ice Warriors and Weeping Angels. We were Ice Warriors.  

There were three shows going on throughout the day, The SFX Show, Regenerations and The Eleventh Hour. The shows were amazing. The shop was very busy but it had so much awesome stuff. We got a brochure, stamped penny and a T-shirt.  

So while they were there I headed into London a little later for a bit of a wander with a plan to meet them for dinner later.

I headed to Selfridges first - I love their Christmas windows and this year they were fab.  Here are my two favourites.

 

 

 

I then headed to Liberty.  Their Christmas shop on the top floor is amazing.  I had a quick look in the haberdashery floor where 4 men had found seats to sit in while their wives had a look around!

 

 

 

 

Walking past the London Palladium I saw Olly Murs meeting his fans.  I then headed to Islington to visit the knitting shop Loop.   So many yummy (and expensive) wools to look at - didn't dare do any squishing....  the shop was smaller than I imagined but the staff seemed very friendly and helpful.

My last stop of the day was to Paul for a coffee and a well earned sit down before heading off to meet the others.

See you next week for the first of my Christmas recipe blog posts.
Bakebakegirl

Today's top three Spotify songs:

1. Doctor! Doctor! - Thompson Twins 
2. Living In A Box - Living In A Box
3. Who Do You Think You Are? - The Spice Girls



 

Thursday Makes - Snuggly Cowl

 

I bought this wool months ago - a real bargain at £2.50 each. I have seen it for about £8.00 a ball for other colours. 

Using size 9 needles I cast on 17 stitches then knitted up two balls in moss stitch.  For each row K1, P1 to the end of the row.    I then matched up the ends and stitched them together.  So quick and easy.  I will be wearing them a lot this winter - super cosy!

It's nearly the weekend!

Bakebakegirl

Monday Inspiration - Caramel Cake Pops and Pudsey Cup Cakes

I have wanted to make cake pops for ages, I bought the sticks months ago and then my friend gave me some leftover madeira cake from a shaped cake she had made.  In the Autumn Good Ideas magazine there was a recipe for caramel cake pops.

Minibakebakegirl made the balls of cake, which was the cake mixed with a runny caramel, which we left to set overnight in the fridge.

The next day I made the caramel.  The recipe stated to work quickly - dipping the pops in the caramel......

However, I didn't work quickly enough, as you can see from the front 3!!! The one on the right didnt get any coating as the caramel had turned to a sandy texture at the bottom of the pan.

Minibakebakegirl and Hubby gave them the thumbs up though.

 

On Friday my work had a cake trolley to raise money for Children In Need so I made some Pudsey Cupcakes.

 

 

 

See you next week,

 

Bakebakegirl

Todays top three Spotify songs:

1. Counting Stars - One Republic

2. Loving You - Matt Cardle & Melanie C

3. Let Her Go - Passenger

Monday Bake - Lemon Drizzle Traybake

I have tried to teach myself to crochet using Youtube - there are some great tutorials on there, but each time I tried I quickly gave up and went back to knitting.   Hubby spotted that the pub in town were holding a crochet workshop. I quickly signed up as I decided I needed a person to show me! 

On the night there were twelve of us, plus the crochet teacher, two mums from Minibakebakegirl's primary school, CrochetFriendS and CrochetFriendR were there which was nice.   I was taught the basics: foundation chain and double crochet.   I wont show you my first attempt (!), but when I got home I did this.

I have picked up my hook a few times but I am still to find a comfortable way to hold the wool and hook so I haven't quite been converted yet!

CrochetFriendS invited us round to hers for coffee and crochet today.  I made Mary Berry's Lemon Drizzle Traybake to take with me.  This is a really easy recipe as you just put everything in the mixer - mix for a few minutes and pour into the prepared tin - bake for 40 minutes, then pour over the syrup and leave to cool.  A lovely light cake. 

 

I had a lovely afternoon - I did more chatting than crocheting but CrochetFriendS showed me how to do treble crochet and also suggested a pattern on the Attic24 blog to practice this - I will hopefully have crocheted something by Christmas!

Hope to see you next week,

Bakebakegirl

Todays top three Spotify songs:

1. Calling Your Name - Marilyn
2. The Honeythief - Hipsway
3. Golden Green - The Wonder Stuff

Monday Review - Edinburgh Part 2

We are back home after a busy week in Edinburgh which included a lot of eating and drinking (no complaints there!)

On Tuesday I had a #twitknit mini meet with @Mhairigirl at Loudens.  I went for coffee here last February. It was lovely to see @Mhairigirl  especially as she is having a #twitknit baby! (due in April); as @faithyb33 said we are going to be Twitter Aunties!   So exciting - I've not knitted anything baby-sized before! *quickly logs onto Ravelery and is not seen for hours*

I'm back!  On Wednesday Minibakebakegirl, Sister and I went to Dirleton Castle.  The castle is great with lots of stairs to climb and rooms to explore.   

We headed back to the car to go to North Berwick for lunch, however, Sister's car had a flat tyre which wouldn't pump up.  So while we waited for the recovery truck to arrive we had lunch at the Castle Inn.  Sister and I both had the chowder, which was delicious and choc full of fish.  Minibakebakegirl had the salmon which didn't last long, so must have been good.  The recovery truck took us to Haddington where the tyre was fixed and we were able to drive home.

On Wednesday night I met up with BestFriend, FriendV and FriendK for dinner.   We went to Chaophraya.  We had the Asian platter to start which was really good, the meat was so tender, then I had the crispy pork belly with Thai basil - amazing!   We sat in the main restaurant so next time we go it would be good to sit on the roof terrace - with a view of the castle. 

As part of my birthday last February Hubby had bought me a spa day to use with my Sister.  So we went on Thursday - afterwards feeling totally recharged and refreshed we went to Iris for dinner.  I had the duck with raspberries and Drambuie - which was absolutely delicious.  I had the chocolate beetroot cake for pudding - yum!

I really liked the wall decoration in the toilet!

On Friday we were going to go to the Palace of Holyroodhouse as Niece2 had won a family ticket in a competition, however, the Duke of York was in residence and it was closed, so we went to Edinburgh Castle instead.  Being Historic Scotland/English Heritage members means we get free entry, so we just did the Scottish National War Memorial, the Scottish Crown Jewels and then went for coffee at The Tea Rooms. 

Not the best picture but Sister and I shared a plum slice and a piece of millionaire shortbread.   It was good to get out of the wind and warm up as the weather turned much colder on Friday.  It was lovely and sunny and there was such a beautiful sunset that evening.

Now for a bit of a detox as I can't believe it will soon be the party season!!!

See you next week,
Bakebakegirl

Todays top three Spotify songs:

1. Bulletproof - La Roux
2. Don't Upset The Rhythm - Noisettes
3. Royals - Lorde