Time to gloat over prezzies and dip into Christmas stocking treats...
our cherry little christmas
/We stayed in London for Christmas, which I usually find a tiny bit sad because it doesn't feel like a "holiday", and I never go and do all the festive things I pretend I will, like carols at the cathedral or lovely late night shopping down Columbia Road with a hot cider... But this year despite the general greyness of London I had a bloody lovely Christmas. Santa was very kind and attended to many genuine wishes. After a suitably waffly brunch we packed into our "new" (slightly scary) 20 year old Saab and rolled 'round to my brother's for a perfect Christmas afternoon - food, games, wine, MORE presents, more food, and an insanely yummy pudding whipped up by the host himself. And then more wine. I am still dreaming of it.
Indy's big red dress courtesy of grandma!
So many beautiful home made touches by my super-creative sister-in-law, including the most beautiful cushion for Indiana! Feel very spoilt.
it was a very red day... I mean a very rad day... I mean both!
indygrows
/39 weeks
teething (tooth count: almost two!) which means not a lot of sleep and not a lot of laughs...
Christmas bake
/The couple of weeks leading up to Christmas were INTENSE, mostly due to baking commitments (ok, and whims...) Here's a few things we got up to:
L-R from top...
- cutting heart shaped doughnuts
- double choc 70th birthday cake
- making christmas biscuits with Elton John
- incredible rolls by Konch
- red velvet christmas cake
- finished doughnut heart
- cassis mince pies (with cinnamon-chic ice cream)
- our gingerbread cabin
- proud biscuit baker
- all iced and packed up for the school party
- cinnamon-choc ice cream getting going
- satisfying gingerbread poke by Pablo
elf
/Pablo had the starring role of elf-at-the-front-chewing-on-a-bell-off-his-shoe-instead-of-singing in his school Christmas concert 'Ralph the Reindeer' (me neither...) Costume making was a bit more fun than last year's "Biblical villager"... Thank god for old pillowcases, H&M and Dylon! The ears are his own...
After an exhausting performance, and an even more exhausting photo shoot by me, he was allowed home to open his first Christmas present - 'Farts Around the World' - from his best friend & fellow elf Edie...
indygrows
/38 weeks
gearing up for Christmas by having major separation anxiety and no longer being ok with sleeping in her own bed. all night breastfeeding for the first time!
catty cake
/Quite pleased with the four layer chocolate fudge and salted caramel buttercream cake I made for my best girlfriend catty's birthday. Topped with an unintentionally (but, in hindsight, perfect) comedy profiterole cat! Recipe from the sensational Sweetapolita...
indygrows
/37 weeks
my little doppelgänger
kiss me cake
/Just had a major weekend of parties, I think I may now have more prosecco running through my veins than anything else. Despite the hours of sleep I can never recover, and the sense of impending doom that accompanies most of my 30-something hangovers, it's always worth it for the chance of a long, rambling catch up with beloved old friends. Had to make little cakes for them too of course, and as I've been dying to make some meringues I thought I'd make this my excuse.
Both cakes were 6" versions of this recipe (1 x that recipe made both these 6" 3-layer cakes), though I made Chris's yellow cake funfetti inside and Liz's pink one was three layers of different pink. The meringues were strawberry and black pepper from this recipe by the amazing Meringue Girls:
Strawberry & Black Pepper Meringue Kisses
150g egg whites
300g caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
50g frozen strawberries
1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
This recipe makes about 50 (I still have a whole tub of them and have eaten LOADS, but also hoping they'll double for toadstools around the gingerbread house I may never get round to making...) so you can definitely attempt less. Also I played around with different sizes, which is fine if you are keeping an eye on them whilst cooking.
Make the strawberry coulis by heating the strawberries with a pinch of sugar until they break down, then whizz them into a paste and cool.
Heat oven to 200C. Line a deep baking tray with greaseproof paper and heat the 300g caster sugar until the edges start to melt. This is apparently to help the sugar to dissolve into the egg whites. I am pretty sure I overheated my sugar because the edges were melted solid and I had to chuck them away. Still, it was only about 50g sugar and I just replaced it straight from the packet and all was FINE! Turn the oven down to 100C.
Wipe your mixing bowl & whisk attachment dry with lemon juice & paper towel to remove any possible grease, then add egg whites. Whisk slowly at first, allowing bubbles to form, then turn up the speed and whisk until you have medium peaks of fluffy meringue. At this point start adding the sugar spoon by spoon and continue whisking until you have a stiff, glossy meringue - about 5 minutes. Stir through the coulis and add black pepper to taste. I hardly added any black pepper and the taste was pretty strong, just as a heads up...
ready to pipe!
Turn a disposable icing bag inside out and paint some lines in red, pink - or, in my case, electric pink - up the side. Turn back the right way out (awkward!) and fill with yummy meringue. Cut a hole approx 1/2in in diameter and pipe meringue kisses onto a lined baking sheet. Mine came out great, but in hindsight I could have put a bit more into my stripes as some were very feint, so don't be shy with the gel colours.
Bake 30-40 minutes at 100C. To ensure they stay a bit mallowy in the middle, be sure to take them out as soon as they lift cleanly from the baking sheet.
I thought these were so easy to make, lots of fun and make fantastic cake toppers. Definitely going to experiment with more colours and flavours... in the imaginary universe where I have infinite spare time.
(yes, they do look like nipples)
christmastime: pablo's wishlist part 1
/Technically Pablo's wish list can be bought exclusively from the Marvel wall at the Disney store. So this is really the things I want for him (all of these are secretly my wish lists! Sorry I'm not sorry...)
1. Feiyue sneakers - these are so cool! Can't really justify the winter spend as it's going to be too soggy/muddy to wear them till Springtime, but still want them...
2. Erzi Sardines in a tin - need to up the play-food collection and these are extremely cute. Perfect to go with the toy cash register and shopping basket we got him.
3. Radio Flyer - a girl can dream. I mean a boy can. It's for him, but it would make us BOTH so happy! Have wanted one of these forever...
