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Raisie Bay

cooking

This is Halloween 2019

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two little witches
My girls dressed up as witches when they were younger

I’m not a fan of Halloween if I’m honest. I get spooked pretty quickly and I definitely don’t like monsters, and spiders and anything creepy. It’s not always been the way though. When I was 13 yrs old I discovered James Herbert, my neighbour gave me his copy of The Rats to read and I ended up getting a whole pile of books from the library. I did buy copies later on and as a hoarder, I still have a few of his books. Rest in Peace Mr Herbert, please don’t come back and haunt me.

Horror

I still read the occasional horror story now but I don’t like watching films, unless they are zombie films. There is something about zombies that fascinate me. I’d be no use in a zombie apocalypse. I have no survival instincts, I’d just be meat. (Unless they were the zombies from World War Z that avoided sick people.) Maybe Brad Pitt would come and rescue me. (I can dream can’t I…if not Brad Pitt then it has to be Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon from The Walking Dead.)

I like horror games so long as someone else is playing. I like to watch. I remember the infamous P.T. which was meant to be a playable teaser for an up and coming Silent Hill Game. (I loved the Silent Hill Games, although not the film.) The game never materialised but apparently we are to be treated with Death Stranding soon (with Norman Reedus.) (I silently scream with fear and excitement.)

What About the Kids?

Well, the girls have lost interest in Trick or Treating, and the Little Man has always refused to dress up. So each year we try to do something just to mark the day. We have had Halloween food and treats including these rather nice Toe Nail dusted cakes.

We do love to pimp up a pumpkin for Halloween though. Here’s some we made earlier. We do tend to go for Pokemon themes, or cats, cats are nice!

two pumpkin lanterns
two pumpkin lanterns

We used to carve our pumpkins at home but for the last couple of years we have been going to a local farm where they hold Pumpkin carving sessions. We buy our pumpkins and carve them in a huge marque while surrounded by witches and demons and spooky music. We are doing this again on Wednesday but here’s a photo from a couple of years ago.

three children and a purple witch holding pumpkins inf ront of a spooky background.
Pumpkin Parlour at Beckett’s Farm

Way back in 2014 (Was it really so long ago?) We visited local Hatton Adventure World where we picked our own pumpkins from the pumpkin patch and had a fun day out as well. Unfortunately, pumpkin patches are not that wheelchair friendly so we haven’t been for a while.

My kids don’t seem to get scared easily, I mean my Little Man even picks up spiders eek. I’ve decided that this year I’m going to do a bit of a spooky Halloween Scavenger Hunt which I downloaded for free from Justins Juggles. I don’t know if I can get all the little items but I can subsitute some of them for pictures and a little sweet treat. It will make up for not going Trick or Treating. I will try and get the girls involved so they can work together, and I’m turning the lights off and giving them a torch.

More Ideas

If you are still a bit unsure of what to do for Halloween here are a few more ideas.

Kim has made some Halloween Spiders to munch on…oh yummy!

Ashley shares her favourite Halloween Movies to Binge Watch

Amanda shares some spooky stories to read

How about some cute dogs dressed up for Halloween from Jo

Joanna shares a photo of an old fashioned Halloween dressing up costume

How to make a pumpkin spiced creamer from Cheryl

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a spooky Halloween whatever you do.

“3

BLOGTOBER 2019 POSTS

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My Sunday Photo – 17th June 2017

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When the kids met the chefs!
Yesterday we went to the BBC Good Food Show and had a fun but tiring day. We didn’t get to see many chefs out of these we only saw Michel Roux Jnr and that was only on the big screen while we were outside the theatre he was in. But..we did get to see Joe Wicks in action in the theatre.

It was a real good show and we saw Joe cook two very easy and tasty looking meals in just 15 minutes each. There was also some Q&A sessions and some audience participation. The kids loved the show and Boo insisted we go and buy one of Joe’s Books afterwards. It’s actually a pretty good book with over 100 healthy recipes, Boo really wants to try some out.

I’ll be writing more about our day at the show later in the week.

Photalife

Sunday Snap

Banana, Honey and Walnut Tea Loaf Recipe

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Banana, honey and walnut tea loaf with a cup of tea

You know when you get some over ripe bananas left in your fruit bowl and you don’t want them to go to waste? They would be perfect for this recipe, the riper the bananas the better.

I love a nice tea loaf that is packed with flavour, but the added chopped walnuts also add nice crunch to this loaf, giving it that little bit extra.

Enjoy it on a Sunday evening with a nice cup of tea!

Banana, Honey and Walnut Tea Loaf

banana, honey and walnut tea loaf

Ingredients:

  • 115g butter, softened
  • 115g soft brown sugar
  • 115g thick set honey
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 225g self-raising flour
  • 2 large bananas
  • squeeze of lemon juice
  • 60g crushed walnuts

Method:

  • Preheat oven to 180C/gas mark 4
  • Grease and line a 900g loaf tin
  • In a large bowl place the butter, sugar and honey and beat together until light and fluffy
  • Gradually beat in the eggs
  • fold in the flour
  • mash the bananas with the lemon juice
  • fold them into the batter along with the crushed walnuts
  • spoon mixture into tin and level the surface
  • Bake the loaf for 1 hour until risen, golden brown and firm to the touch.
  • Serve warm or cold.
Pin for Later!
banana, honey and walnut tea loaf with a cup of tea
My Random Musings

Black Friday Super Deals

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It’s Black Friday and love it or hate it there are always some great deals to be had.

I’ve been asked to share a few really good deals with you today.

Printerpix

PrinterPix Have some fantastic deals on site with up to 75% off, just think of the lovely Christmas gifts you can create! You can also purchase now and add your photos and create your products later, so it’s a great time to take part in this promotion.

Lakeland

Lakeland is one of my favourite shops so I’m thrilled that they have some lovely offers with 50% off! A big shout out to my future hubby or anyone wishing to buy me a wedding present tomorrow hehehe.



My Geek Box

My Geek Box have some fabulous offers for you.

Shop:

·         2 for £35 on Christmas Sweatshirts, or £19.99
·         10% off full price lego (selected lines)
·         3 for £20 construction kits
·         3 for £18 gifts
·         Up to 80% off Tech
·         3 for £22 on Pop Vinyl

Subscriptions:

·         £3 1st Lite Geek Box –  Code: LITE3
·         £10 1st Geek Box –  Code: GEEK10
·         £10 1st Kids Geek Box – Code: KIDS10



Claire’s

Claire’s are offering a fabulous 40% off so lots of lovely gifts to be had there, and don’t forget all those accessories for the Christmas parties.


Create and Craft

Maybe you like to make your own gifts? Create and Craft is a brilliant craft supplies shop and they too have some fabulous Black Friday Offers.


I really hope you enjoy these offers that I have shared with you, it would be great if you let me know of your fab buys in the comments.
The links provided in this post are all affiliate links and will bring me a little bit of profit if you use them. Feel free to check out the site separately if you don’t wish to use affiliate links. If you do, then thank you.

Great British Bake Off Week Three – Give us This Day our Daily Bread

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Week Three already and it’s time for Bread Week, and as promised Candice wore her red for bread lipstick. Did it bring her luck? Or did she suffer the curse of the Star Baker?

The signature challenge was chocolate bread. Andrew did well with his Barmbrack while Selasi cooked his chocolate orange bread a little too much and Val didn’t cook hers enough.

The technical challenge was Damfnudel which is a steamed dough. I’ve not heard of them but they looked to me like dumplings. I’m also a little confused as to whether this is classed as a baking challenge?

Rav’s were more like raw dough while Selasi did a little overcooking again. Val came in first in this challenge.

The showstopper challenge was to make a savoury plaited centre piece. Jane was praised highly for her chorizo and bacon plaits. Val’s Noah’s Ark, did not look like an ark at all, it was difficult to make out what it was. Tom’s hammer came under close scrutiny as it looked rather like male genitals, but it was well received by Mary and Paul.

In fact it was Tom’s (fallic) hammer that won him the Star Baker prize this week.
The loser on the breadline was the youngest contestant Michael.

I always think bread week is difficult for the contestants. Not because making bread is difficult but it is extremely time consuming and I’d hate to have to make it with a time restraint.

I really wanted to join in this week so I chose to combine the showstopper with the signature challenge and I’ve made a Chocolate Chip Plait.


Chocolate Chip Plait

Ingredients:

500g strong white bread flour
1tsp salt
7g fast-action yeast
30ml olive oil
2tbs milk
310ml water
100g chocolate chips
beaten egg for basting

Method:

  • In a large bowl place the flour, salt, yeast and stir to combine
  • Add the olive oil and milk and mix together
  • Add the water a little at a time until the dough comes together in a sticky lump
  • Tip: The dough should be soft and pliable with no dry bits of flour but not so wet it won’t come off your fingers
  • knead the dough for about 7 minutes
  • Tip: I believe you can feel when the dough is ready, it will change before you and when it become really squidgy and soft you know it’s done.
  • Add the chocolate chips and knead in for another 3 mintues.
  • leave the dough in a slightly oiled bowl covered with cling film or a tea towel for about two hours or until it has doubled in size.
  • split the dough into three equal balls
  • roll each ball into a long strip, try to keep them all of equal size
  • plait the strips  pinching the ends together
  • place on a lightly greased baking tray and cover with cling film or tea towel for another hour in a warm place
  • baste the top of the loaf with a beaten egg
  • bake the loaf in a pre-warmed oven at 190F gas mark 5 for 40 mins until it looks cooked and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

It was lovely…but next time I might add a few more chocolate chips (or maybe not eat half the packet, ooops!)

Pop over to Mummy Mishaps to see her gorgeous offering for bread week!

Mummy Mishaps

Lakeland also of a 40% off sale of all their Great British Bake Off Goodies 🙂