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Raisie Bay

challenge

Hen Pecked Cake

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The Great British Bake Off is over for another year. I’ll admit I had a tear in my eye during the final episode and I was pleased that Nadiya won even though I really liked Ian and Tamal too. The girl’s watched it with me and got excited when Nadiya proclaimed “I can and I will” which is their school pledge. Everyone needs a little self-confidence in their lives.

So with the bake off over and no more challenges I was feeling a little bereft…then a new challenge popped through my letterbox. Can I make a hen inspired cake? Of course I had to give it a go, with the help of the kids in the kitchen of course.
The Little Man helped me make the cake, which was a basic sponge. I even let him use my new apple mixing bowl which I won from Silver Mushroom for my Mokatines challenge. (I can and I will)
Here’s my recipe for an 8 inch square sponge:
Ingredients:
225g self-raising flour
225g caster sugar
225g butter
4 Happy Eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
for the butter  cream;
100g soft butter
200g seived icing sugar
Method:
  • mix the butter with caster sugar until smooth and creamy
  • add the eggs one at a time beating each one in
  • add the vanilla extract
  • add the flour and fold in gently
  • pour into tin and bake for around 40 mins at 180C 
  • cake will be springy when ready and you should check with a skewer, make sure it comes out clean.
when the cake had cooled I cut it into a smaller square and used the left over pieces to make a roof. This was to make my barn. 
The hens and flowers I made from fondant icing and Boo helped me to make them.

So, now I’m waiting for my next challenge 🙂

My Kitchen Story

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I love my kitchen, it’s not perfect, yet, but I will get there. We moved into this house last September. I had lived in my old house for twenty four years and the most received comment I had about it was ‘how do you cope with this kitchen?’ It was tiny, I mean really tiny. I had 3 overhead cuboards and one under the sink cupboard. I had one small work top. I didn’t even have a drawer. There were five doors in my kitchen so no wall space! I did cope for twenty four years but imagine my joy of now having a kitchen three times the size of my old kitchen, with only one door! I have so many drawers and cupboards I don’t know what to put in them.

My new house is just that, brand new, and because of that we can’t decorate until it has had it’s one year old inspection for cracks and faults. This means every wall in the house is magnolia, even my kitchen walls.

I’m so looking forward to adding some colour, but as of yet, I’ve not decided on the colour of the kitchen. What is a good colour for a kitchen? You can get matching products in all colours these days, I’ve even seen purple microwaves. I’d like something a little more traditional though, maybe go for a foodie type wallpaper on one wall, or a nice fresh colour scheme like spring green? I really can’t wait to start choosing.
Here is a snippet of how it looks now.

I can’t wait to add some colour

So what do I do in my kitchen? When no-one is looking you can find me dancing around to Kasabian singing into my banana microphone…but don’t tell anyone that will you?

My kitchen has many uses. I love to cook and try out new recipes, but even more fun is cooking with my little helpers. I love this so much I even have my own weekly linky Kids in the Kitchen.

The Kids in the Kitchen

Then there is my hobby, I love to bake and decorate cakes. I have two cupboards dedicated to my ‘cake stuff’ and you will often find me sat at the dining table making fondant models.

Some of my cakes

Another favourite pastime is crafting with the kids, we get out the plastic table cover and paint, glue and stick to our hearts content. None of us are really good at this, but we do have lots of fun.

A little bit of Crafty fun

Then to liven up the place we have one wall to display our lovely work.

wall of art and certificates

So we do all sorts in our kitchen, and it really is my favourite place to be.

This post is an entry for the ‘My Kitchen Story’ Linky challenge, sponsored by Fairy Platinum

Fairy Platinum is an excellent way of keeping your dishes looking their best. 

What’s That in Our Garden? Center Parcs Monthly Challenge

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This months Center Parcs Challenge is about going on a nature hunt. Make your list and go spotting birds, flowers and mini beasts. By taking part you could be in with a chance of winning a Center Parcs Break for your family.

We went to Center Parcs Whinfell Forest last month and had a fantastic time, you can read all about it here, and my review here. My highlight of the week was having breakfast with a red squirrel on my patio on the last morning.

Today it was another scorcher and to be honest I didn’t feel like going out anywhere. We went out in the sun last weekend and although we had a lovely time the heat took it’s toll and made us moody, in particular, Star who doesn’t like be too hot.

So we decided to do this challenge in our own back garden. It probably would have been better to do it last week as it looked more like a jungle, but Daddy has been hard at work and chopped everything down. So we had very little foliage to rummage through.

We didn’t make a list, we just went hunting and made our list up as we went along.

Here is our list of what we found:

  • Spiders: 6, many were really quick at running away so we only got photos of 3 of them.
  • Slugs: 1, it was really hot and the slugs were hiding well
  • Snails: loads, hiding under leaves, bricks and even our bin bag.
  • Lice: lots, hiding under stones and bricks
  • Bees: 2, very quick ones that wouldn’t stay still long enough to have their photo taken.
  • Hornet: 1
  • Plume Moth: 1, hiding in our wendy house.
Snails
spider web and spider

Hornet, Plume Moth and Lice

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

Whinfell Forest, our Center Parcs Adventure part two

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In my first blog post I give an outline of the lovely holiday I won for becoming a Center Parcs Family Blogger with Tots100.
In this post I wanted to give a more of a review of our holiday.

We stayed in a New Style Lodge, we were right at the edge of the park but it only took five minutes to walk to the village centre and even less on our bikes. The lodge was lovely and clean when we arrived and we also had a grocery pack delivered which contained all the basics you would need, tea, sugar, coffee, milk, bread, sausages, bacon, sauce, washing up liquid and a lot more. There were also some samples of tea, coffee, sugar and milk for those that do not order a grocery pack.

We were all provided with a bath towel and a hand towel and their was a hairdryer in every bedroom. That sure saved a lot of space in our suitcases. The kitchen was well stocked with utensils, there were even BBQ utensils provided and we had brick BBQ outside on which you could use a portable BBQ pack from the Parc Market. We also had a dishwasher which was a novelty for me, and a microwave. The oven was full size and the fridge a good size too.

The beds were cosy. I found the double to be ok but my 6ft daughter found the single to be a little small. The bedding was really nice and soft. I had no trouble sleeping.

Here is a little video tour of our lodge

The views all around were absolutely stunning. I loved looking out of the window and seeing just trees with the sunlight shining through. The walk to the village centre was lovely, all around you could see evidence of the wild life and the birds would sing you on your way. We saw rabbits, pheasants a grouse and even a few red squirrels. Of a night time we became addicted to watching the badger cam provided on our tv to catch a badger or two.

The village center was like a tropical paradise with a stream flowing through, sometimes you forgot you were indoors. There were many places to eat to suit all tastes from burgers to Chinese, Italian to Indian and of course Cafe Rouge and a Starbucks. There was also a takeaway food place and Pancake House. The Parc Market was the well stocked supermarket. They were good value and had everything you would expect to see in a supermarket. We did notice that the more pricier items where nearer the entrance. They also made fresh sandwiches and pastries.
There was also the usual gift shops, toy shop, sweet shop and clothing shops. Something for everyone for all tastes.

The lake was beautiful, we spent a lot of time sitting around watching the ducks and the fish. The boardwalk was the perfect place for this with tables and chairs under cover and coffee and food shops nearby.

The subtropical pool was a welcoming place with something suitable for all ages. There were baby pools, toddler pools, sharing pool, jacuzzi’s, rapids, waves, slides and an outdoor pool. It was lovely and warm in the pool areas which was nice. The changing rooms were a little like a maze but I didn’t get lost so they couldn’t have been that bad. There are also hairdryers and swimsuit dryers for your use. You can hire towels if you don’t want to take your own.

The Aqua Sana Spa was a wonderful experience. I was really worried that I wouldn’t enjoy it having never been in a sauna before, and being a little self concious about my body. However, once inside I felt myself relax and enjoy many of the different sensations offered. Each sauna has a notice telling you exactly what to expect, so if you don’t like it too hot, or too humid then you know which one to avoid. After your time in the sauna you are refreshed with a shower and then encouraged to drink water or fruit juice and relax on one of the many chairs or beds for twenty minutes before trying the next one.

I was also treated to a facial which involved so much more. I was also given a back and shoulder massage and a scalp massage. The actual facial contained many elements and I have to admit sometimes it was like being at the dentist, not knowing what was going on and feeling a little uncomfortable, but then being treated to something nice afterwards. I did feel really good by the time she had finished and my eyes in particular benefited greatly from the experience.

There are many activities available at the parcs and it’s a good idea to plan before you go. We played mini golf and went ten pin bowling. The children enjoyed a few hours at the play scheme. The girls went to fairy school and the Little Man went to the créche. It is hard to fit everything in if you like to relax a little on holiday, that’s why it’s a good idea to plan. We had also booked a session of pottery painting, but just before our time we walked past the place while the smoke alarm was going off and everyone was being evacuated. It wasn’t anything too serious, but it put Star off going, she couldn’t face going in. That was a shame as I’ve tried the pottery painting before and I’m sure the girls would have loved it.

We all had a wonderful time at Center Parcs Whinfell Forest and I wouldn’t hesitate in going back there again sometime.

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

Center Parcs Monthly Challenge – Hideaway

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Having just come home from our Center Parcs holiday (blog posts being written) I didn’t think I’d have time to organise this months challenge.

Then I find the Little Man had built himself a little den all by himself!

What a clever fella, don’t you think.

This reminds me of myself when I was little. My mum would let me use the furniture and some sheets to make my own little indoor den. My dad would take me to the bluebell woods and we would build a den from branches wedged between trees. I liked hiding away.

The challenge arrives from the fantastic Treehouse accommodation that can be found at Center Parcs Sherwood Forest and Longleat Forest. You can read all about the challenge and what you need to do on the Tots100 site If you are lucky you could win a break at a Center Parcs village of your choice.

I became a Center Parcs Family Blogger last year and have just been to Whinfell Forest in Cumbria. It was one of the best holidays I’ve ever had and I’ll soon be telling you all about it.