Carol Home & Craft

 Wet and windy weather again today. So after a wet and blustery walk to Booths I thought I would make some more bread and try a cinnamon bun recipe I saw on 'Nadia Bakes'. Really pleased with how they have turned out. Also baked scones whilst the oven was on.

Have been staying with Mum for a few days which was lovely. My first day at home was soooo wet that I thought I would spend my day cooking meals for the freezer. Started with bread. Made two doughs, one for flatbread and one for loaves, might have got them mixed up during proving, however the results were good.     Made a veggie mince and veggie bolognaise sauce. Both have a base of red kidney beans, black eyed beans and cannelli beans. Along with home grown red onions and carrots, celery and mushrooms. We will have lasagne for tea using half of the bolognese and the rest will go in the freezer. Also made a cauliflower pithivier, well actually there was enough ingredients to make two. I did forget to take a photo so here us the image from the recipe.

 This is the next project. I bought the cable reel from the local charity shop for £10 and Mike painted the sides using paint left over from the back sitting room.        I've cut some foam I had to fit the top and next job is to fix it on and then cover with the new material. Finished this today 1st November 2020

 Raining again today so probably will not go to the allotment. Curtains to finish,  just the hems as I went back to the sewing machine last night, rethreaded it and finished off the curtain header tapes.  So.... starting upstairs. Bathroom - tiles need regrouting and silicon seal needs replacing, also shower door has a new fitting to be attached. Probably should give the room another coat of paint. Front bedroom - Fireplace wall, another coat green paint. Curtains to be washed and new lining fitted to one. Back bedroom - paint on wardrobes needs touching up. Kitchen  - coat of paint. Garage - reorganise and paint. Mend hole in ceiling. Outside - flags at the front and repair to roof of garage.

 Promised my son that I would make him curtains for his lounge window. We went together, before Tier 3 lockdown rules came in, and chose the material.  When I went to start on them, I realised that I had not allowed for the pattern repeat.. aaarrgghh. However, with a bit of jiggery pokery, I have managed to get the pattern match and the curtains are almost finished at just 2cm shorter (I was told they could be up to 5cm shorter, phew). Had to stop as the needle in the sewing machine broke, I changed it but now the thread keeps snapping, better to start again tomorrow.  Finished, yeah!

Baked a couple of weeks ago using a Delia Smith recipe that I have been using for quite a few years now with great results.  They now need regular feeding with brandy and I am going to start that today. This looks ominous, but is the best way I've found of getting brandy into the cakes. Can't understand why one of the cakes has a much darker bake than the other. Same recipe, same ingredients, same length of time in oven. Hey ho!!

 I don't know why I have been nervous about cycling the Guild Wheel on my own. I do lots of cycling with my husband, we have cycled to Blackpool, done the Bay Way and from home near Preston cycled to Liverpool via Southport, to Chester and then to North Wales. So it's not the distance or the terrain, I think it's just me being a scaredy cat about being on my own.  So, this morning I set off at 10:15am. Lovely day but still feeling nervous but bizarrely, once I had cycled the route I am familiar with I became much more relaxed and began to thoroughly enjoy the ride. At Brockholes I decided to carry on instead of turning around (an option I was considering at the start). What a great day, a bit breezy but sunny and warm and very picturesque with autumn leaves on the ground .  The north part of the wheel is definitely more difficult and - note to self - put on cycling shorts next time.  Can't believe the amount of house building that is happening around Broughton and to...

 I've  been growing flowers on the allotment throughout the year. In spring, there were tulips, daffodils and hyacinths. These bulbs were dug up when the leaves had died back and then dried and sorted. The best bulbs have been stored and will be planted back in the allotment for cut flowers next spring, the rest gave been added to the garden for spring colour. The gladioli have all finished and the bulbs will again be stored for next year. The 'dwarf' sunflowers that grew 8ft high are now finished, and probably the last of the dahlias and chrysanthemums gave been cut and brought home.

 Started on Friday with the wall frames, these were easy to assemble and gave a false hope of the rest of the construction going the same way. We returned on Saturday to put up the roof struts, but found one to be bent out of shape and we didn't have the right tools to ge able to put this right.  So came home had a restful afternoon and went back on Sunday to finish the job.