As you may have read with Lewis’ blog, I have had a few issues with my health and face my operation early tomorrow morning.
To say I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to bake today was an understatement. Plus the fact that we have a glut of Christmas cake, mince pies,nuts and chocolates !
So I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for reading my blog and to look for updates in a few weeks when I should be up and running again. I wish you all a peaceful New Year.
So where do we start about the last 12 months?
It’s certainly been an interesting time. Lewis had every intention of posting far more blogs about photography, but since completing his photography qualification he hasn’t actually taken that many photographs. This MUST change for 2013!!!
Kim sat and watched The Great British Bake Off, oh god what a mistake that was!!! After watching a few episodes, Kim thought it would be an excellent idea to buy Mary Berry’s baking bible and then choose one recipie a week. Well what’s the point in setting yourself a challenge if nobody knows about it? This is where Lewis came up with the idea that Kim should blog about her baking experiences and share it with those who were interested and wished to read or follow the blog. Hence Kim’s account on WordPress was created…….
Has it been a success? Well we certainly think so and we would both like to thank our new followers, not forgetting our existing ones, this year and hope that this blog has bought some interesting reading as well as enjoyment.
So what about Lewis? Well in January he required surgery on his right shoulder and even now it’s still not fully resolved. It was such a re-assurance when the Consultant said to him “oh it can take up to 18 months for a shoulder to fully heal….” Oh cheers, thanks for telling me after the surgery!!!! :0)
Due to having a lack of function in his arm, Lewis hasn’t really done much, but hopes to be far more active in 2013. Lewis hopes without a doubt that not only will he be able to take plenty of beauitful images, but that people may even wish to purchase the images created by Lullingstone Photography, better known as Lewis & Kim….
So what else has happened? Oh yes, we nearly forgot. Lewis’ parents decided to downsize from what had been his childhood home and so where do they move to? Well of course it has to be next door to us!!!!
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “You can’t choose your parents….”, well guess what, you can’t choose where they live either !!!! LOL :0)
Joking apart after a 16 week re-development project, we both hope they have many happy years in their new home, although we’re still waiting for them to actually move in……
Then of course we have the Olympics and Paralympics!!! WOW is basically all one can say about that. Whether you like sport or not, no one can deny that we have had the most incredible year of sport. The achievements of our various sports men and women in their respective disciplines has been absolutely incredible. The Olympics seemed to be over in a heartbeat which is something we can’t say about the build up to it. How many years did we have the media bombarding us with Olympic gems? Far too long would have been the answer.
BUT….. then the Paralympics Opening ceremony began and slowly people were amazed at how a legless man could run, or how someone with one leg could actually ride a bicycle and STILL whip the butts of your average able bodied person!!! Sure there were plenty of jokes going around; Some were tasteless and some were just down right hilarious… On that note, we really have to praise the Australian Adam Hills who presented the programme “The Last Leg” which was incredibly funny. One can only applaud Channel 4 for allowing such a programme that really did break down barriers between disabled and abled body. We would urge anyone who missed it to try and download it. It must be on the Internet somewhere :0)
So the whole of the UK were in awe of the competitors and for very good reason. They were ALL truly inspirational, whether they were winners or losers… In our eyes, they were ALL WINNERS !!!!
Generally speaking it has actually been a rather quiet year, until we got to December. Kim had been having some pain and so goes to see the GP. After some investigations, she finds herself with a rapid referral to the hospital and told that surgery is needed…..
So we’re waiting for a date for surgery on the NHS…. Well that’s likely to be a few months then right? WRONG !!!!
A letter came through from the hospital a few days ago and the date is……. Yep, it’s New Year’s Eve!!!! We certainly won’t forget this year in a hurry.
This obviously means that Kim’s baking blog is going to suffer a hiatus for a few weeks whilst she fully recovers. We both hope that 2013 brings a better year for the both of us in many different ways……
There are two things that keep us relaxed and relieve any stress and those of course are our two hairy hooligans Bailey and Michka. It’s wonderful to say that they have both managed to stay in good health. Without a doubt they will provide Kim with plenty of comfort and love when she comes out of hospital in the New Year…. :0)
We wish you all a very joyous and Happy Christmas and hope that you have a prosperous New Year. We hope that 2013 is good to you all and is even better than 2012.
Lewis, Kim, Bailey & Michka :0)
What could I find to fulfil the challenge but to also fit in to the hectic schedule of Christmas?
Gingerbread of course. It’s very Christmasy!
I added some icing hats and scarves to complete them and make them look more seasonal.
The only thing I would do differently next time is to add more ginger as they have a very subtle flavour.
What ever you are doing this Christmas, I hope your celebrations go well.
Happy Christmas. x
Week seventeen and this week is devoted to the endless task of decorating the Christmas cakes made last week.
These are going to be gifts for friends and family and it’s so close to Christmas that if they read this and see the photos it won’t matter too much.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank family and friends for the endless support in the last two weeks when I have been to hell and back with a health scare. The news is better than I feared and now I am looking forward to spending the Chriatmas period in the company of those I love and cherish- after all , that is the underlying spirit of christmas.
To all who read this, I wish you a Happy Christmas where ever you are and a peaceful New Year.
As promised, this week is Mary Berry‘s Christmas Cake and I make a few christmas cakes as gifts and usually look for a different recipe each year so this fitted in well. I don’t usually leave making my cakes until the middle of December but I just don’t know where the time has gone!
Anyhow, I wrote a shopping list of all the ingredients that Mary’s recipe calls for and I 
had a good work out carrying all the bags needed for the sizes of cakes I needed to make. I used the chart on the other page of Mary’s Bible to see what size tin I was using and the quantity needed. I had purchased an amazing tin from Lakeland last year ( yes, I just love Lakeland!) which is a massive tin on its own but has dividers so it can make varying size cakes. I used my tin divided into four to make four smaller cakes.
My next workout was weighing out all the ingredients and then mixing them by hand- I found muscles I didn’t know I had! I also had the fun of lining each of the tin sections individually. ( I had left the fruit to soak in the brandy as Mary recommended by the time I did this.)
Finally, after a huge amount of mixing , the cake mix was divided and the cakes went into the oven………for FOUR hours! They have come out a very rich dark brown, and now need to be wrapped in foil and “fed” for the next few days before decorating. As they will be gifts, and some of the people they are intended for read this, I will take photos and post after they are in receipt of their present!
Week fifteen and I have eventually managed to blog about it. It hasn’t been the best of weeks for various reasons ………
Ok, Mary Berry’s Key Lime Pie. Mary makes it in a similar way to her Lemon Meringue Pie and that went well so I made the biscuit base with confidence and put it in the fridge to set. The topping required the juice of four limes mixed with condensed milk and double cream. Well as much as I have been loving Mary’s recipes, they are very much on the rich side and as I have been watching my cholesterol intake and wanted to try some of this, I added the lime juice to “light” condensed milk and half fat creme fraiche and it seemed to work well. This also went into the fridge to set and then I had to remove it from the tin to add the final topping.
Mary asks you to whip the remaining double cream and add it to the pie and sprinkle the rind of a lime over the top. Well, I added the remaining creme fraiche which you can’t whip and mixed the grated lime rind to it. It may not look so spectacular but it’s better for the waistline.
The weekend is approaching fast and the christmas cake recipe is calling, so watch this space…….
Lewis & Kim 