#TassimoPerfectHost Festive Coffee Morning

The run up to Christmas is a great time for a catch up with friends and when Tassimo asked me to take part in their #TassimoPerfectHost campaign and try out one of their coffee machines and a couple of recipes by John Torode, I leapt at the chance.

Friends and family are more likely to catch up over drinks and coffee during the winter months than at any other time of year. So I decided to round up the ladies for a festive coffee morning and who better to sample John's whiskey brownie and shortbread biscuits than a few of my fellow Clandestine Cake Club members and a couple of my neighbours.

The Tassimo machine is a rather clever gadget as it doesn't just make coffee, it also does frothy tops for capuccino, tea, hot chocolate and babycinnos. In fact we said the only thing missing from the Tassimo range is a mulled wine pod to pop into the machine - I'd like to take credit for that when they start selling them next Christmas!

As part of their Perfect Host campaign Tassimo have recruited a team of experts to help your festive gathering go smoothly this year. Fashion designer and former Made in Chelsea star Millie Mackintosh recommends thinking about lighting to get the mood right "candles and lamps can be used to soften a room" (I also think fairy lights work wonders at this time of year) whilst coffee expert Hazel Middleton suggests preparing cakes the day before "to avoid panic on the morning."

Not only did we try out John's whiskey infused brownie at our coffee morning, but I also made his shortbread biscuits and served them with Affogatto, otherwise known as vanilla ice-cream drenched in hot coffee. It was a big hit and a lovely indulgent winter treat . In fact the Tassimo machine was such a success, that one of my neighbours invited herself over again this morning to have "another one of those lovely coffees" but I'd actually run out!

If you'd like to try making your own Affogatto, here's John's recipe...

John Torode’s Affogatto with Short Bread Biscuits

You will need:

• 4 bowls
• biscuits
• 8 scoops of vanilla ice cream
• 4 individual espressos

Ingredients (for the shortbread):

 • 200g plain flour
• 90g caster sugar
• 60g ground almonds
• 200g butter chopped into bits
• 1 egg
• The zest of half a lemon
• 2 drops vanilla essence
• pinch of table salt

Instructions:

1. Put the flour, sugar and almonds in a food processor and whizz at full speed for a few seconds. Add the butter and whizz again briefly; the mixture should resemble fine breadcrumbs. Add egg, lemon zest and vanilla essence, then whizz again briefly until the pastry forms into a ball.

2. Scrape contents onto a sheet of cling film, then either shape into a rough ball or roll into a cylinder shape, roughly 5cm in diameter.

3. Wrap and chill the biscuit dough for at least 2 hours. You can also freeze it or make a few days ahead and keep in the fridge.

4. Cut into flat discs or stars. Bake in a preheated oven at 190C on a flat baking sheet for 12-15 minutes

5. Once baked and cooled, serve on the side of your affogatto.

Big thank you to my sister Jane for taking photos of our gathering and to Tassimo for inviting us to join the #TassimoPerfectHost campaign. 

 

Kicking over the leaves...

Another week has flown by with barely a chance to raise my head and catch a breath. Christmas is a busy time anyway, but with two university modules due in January, I find I barely have a chance to do anything but study.

This weekend we did find some time to put the Christmas decorations up and clear the leaves, but they were brief moments squeezed in between other obligations and with the days so short at this time of year, I all too quickly find the sun has gone and the moment to do anything has passed.

This year has been so full and busy for all of us, I think I want next year to be a little less hectic. On Thursday we found out Jim is going to be promoted, which is exciting and comes with the added bonus of at least a month off over the summer between his current job and a training course. I am already daydreaming about what that could mean... Maybe a bit of traveling before Theo starts school? Or a chance to do some work on our garden?

The list of things I want to do in 2015 is very long and more and more I find that studying is slipping closer to the bottom of that list. I think about the summer before last and how I had time to make Theo multiple pairs of shorts (which he loved) and how this summer instead of going with him to pick out fabrics to make new pairs, he had to squeeze into the old ones because there was no time to sew.

There's a lot of thinking to be done in the next few weeks and planning for the kind of 2015 we want to have...

Linking up with Katie at Mummy Daddy, Me and...

Vlog : Hillary's Craft Event in Brighton

On Saturday I went to the Hillary's Craft Event in Brighton. It's been six months since my last blogging get together and during that time I've learned a huge amount about the importance of meeting people face to face. So after missing out on Blogfest last month (should have bought a ticket!) I was thrilled to have the chance to spend the afternoon in Brighton doing crafty stuff and putting real faces to profile images.

It was also a brilliant excuse to play around with some of my video kit and produce some content for my new YouTube channel (more of that in a sec)

The event was overseen by Kirsty of Make Do & Trend who talked us through making no-sew bunting (which looks great by the way) and fabric Christmas baubles with a pattern based around the Cathedral Windows quilt square. Even though I didn't finish my bauble (I was too busy eating cake!) it was great to see how the pattern comes together, as it's something I've always been rather terrified of doing with quilts.

If you want to see what the afternoon was like (and how amazingly lovely Brighton looked on a sunny day in November) check out the video below and please subscribe to my channel. I think 2015 is going to be a very exciting year for vlogging, so I've jumped on the bandwagon.

I'm aiming to produce a couple of vlogs a month, so don't worry, you won't be swamped if you subscribe...

Linking with Em for Point & Shoot...

Living Arrows 48/52

ISO 320, 50mm, f/6.3, 1/125

On a rare afternoon when it wasn't raining last week I took Theo to our local playground and saw for the first time the little social life that is opening up before him.

There were two little girls of his age there, one whom he greeted with great enthusiasm by name and another who we hadn't met before but it turns out will be in his class at Primary School next September. Within minutes he was bouncing around the playground with them, throwing himself with huge enthusiasm into every game they wanted to play and loving the attentions of his little girl pals.

It's not just these new friends that have appeared from nowhere. Over the last few weeks we've also had other glimpses into a world we don't see. First he started singing the Meghan Trainor song with wonderful misheard lyrics of "Double Bubble, no trouble." then it was Let It Go from Frozen, a film that none of us had actually seen yet.
 
He may be barely three, but he's so ready for school next September. I think he's going to love it!

Sneak peek at my parents bathroom remodel

The remodel work may be finished at our house, but there's always some sort of home improvement going on in our family!

This month it's the turn of my parents who have ripped out their two en-suites and our restyling them to bring them a little more up-to-date. Work is still in progress, but I thought I'd show you a sneak peek.

Both my parents have their own en suite (something my mum says is the key to a happy marriage!) and they are quite compact at just 2 metres square. Among the changes both bathrooms are having their corner shower cubicles replaced with contemporary shower enclosures that you are walk-in rather than having a door.

They've also opted for dual head showers so you can choose between a rainfall shower (hair washing day) or conventional shower head (non hair-washing day!) My mum has scrapped the bathroom cabinet and chosen a vanity unit with a large drawer for storage. There's also a tiled recess in the shower for storing bottles, something I wish we had done in our en-suite.

Tile choices can be a little restrictive when you don't want to pay megabucks, but I really love the strip of glimmering mosaics which make a feature out of the shower wall. Work will be beginning on my dad's bathroom next, he has chosen more masculine colours with a touch of sparkle (!) I'll show you some more pictures of both when they are complete.

Linking up with #pocolo

This post contains a collaborative link, but content is my own.

In our neighbourhood : Beautiful Bosham

I'm sure I'm not the only one who despaired at the weather forecast this weekend. We normally try and get out somewhere on at least one of the days, but this week the relentless rain defeated us. There was light at the end of the tunnel though (literally!) with sunshine forecast for today, so Theo and I decided to make the most of it by heading out to a little village near us, I also needed to get some photos for a university project I am working on at the moment which is centered around this spot.

Bosham was my home for 5 years and it's somewhere I love to go back to. It's full of history and character. It's famous (among other things) for being the place where King Canute tried to hold back the tide and these days it's daytrippers that get caught when the road around the creek floods twice a day.




One quirky little spot in the village are these two tiny cottages. There's a great story about a nervous young man on a train from London in the 1950s confiding in a passenger that he was going to meet his future in-laws and he didn't know what to wear for dinner "because they live in Bosham Castle" - I wish I'd seen his face when he arrived!

There are all sorts of lovely house names as you walk round including this one which is the house next door to the famous Anchor Bleu pub.



And the proportions of this front door always baffles people. It's a normal size opening, but with a raised step in front to protect the house from high tides. As you step in the door you step down to the house floor which is lower.

As I walked round taking photos, Theo had a great time burning off all the energy he bottled up over the weekend. There's a raised footpath round the creek called the Trippet which is particularly fun to scoot along at speed. His balance bike really has been the best thing we have ever bought him. He'll go for miles on it without moaning.

This wooden building which stands on stilts in the creek is the old oyster shed. Bosham used to be a big centre for oyster farming until (legend has it) the Bishop of Chichester got food-poisoning from one and the already dwindling industry was killed off by bad publicity! These days the sailing club use it to store kit and run races.

Bosham is also famous for its swans. The birds here defy most logic. Swans don't live in salt water and they are fiercely territorial. In Bosham however there are at least 50 swans living in a tidal creek. Apparently the sea has enough fresh water mixed in it at this point to keep them happy and they also cease to be territorial when there are too many rival birds to fight off!

After the weekend cooped up in the house it was great to get out in the fresh air for a couple of hours, although I do find the sun starts dipping in the sky all too soon at this time of year... Only another month till the shortest day!



Linking up with Country Kids and...

A week of autumn colour (the #capturingcolour project)

The #capturingcolour project over on Instagram has really been gathering pace over the last few weeks, largely due to the energetic support of the lovely Lucy at Capture By Lucy who has been roping people in from far and wide! For the last week our theme has been "leaves" and despite the lousy weather we've had some great photos tagged and Theo and I have found colour everywhere on our morning walks.

What's great about the #capturingcolour project is the community that has sprung up around it. I love finding new people to follow and having a small window into people's lives as well as the inspiration the images provide to see and photograph things in entirely new ways.

Here are some of my favourites from the last 6 days...

(1) mrsdarlingx (2) podcastdove (3) scrpbk1 (4) kelstars_7 (5) boysbehaviour (6) sunnymatilda (7) caroline_south (8) ilses_world (9) thiswaytothecircus

We've got some really great themes planned out for the next few weeks and Lucy, Kirsty and I will be announcing them at the start of each week. Of course you still have the rest of today and tomorrow to take part in leaves week and to give you a bit of a head start I thought I'd reveal what's happening next week too.... See you over on Instagram, don't forget to follow me too!

 Linking up with #PoCoLo...