May Children

I refuse to accept winter is around the corner, though it would seem it is already upon us with this cold, dark, wet weather we've been having for a few weeks now. Yesterday in particular was an extremely chilly day, it started off with sunshine and a cool breeze and turned into grey clouds and a frosty wind. 
Yesterday was a day of birthday celebrations, it is Doug's birthday this week, as well as his cousins, Clare and Laura's. There was an impromptu dinner planned, and all the family was able to come together to share some special moments. 

Playing in the garden before it started  raining, due to the very dark lighting, you can't tell but I am wearing one of the best skirts I have ever found!

In reality it belongs to my little sister Kat, but she so graciously lets me borrow it on occasion due to the fact that I love it so much. 

Its a Black Corduroy Circle Skirt from American Apparel. I can literally wear it with anything, and it compliments everything. 

Doug and his mum taking in the washing before it starts to rain

Shirt: Vintage
Skirt: American Apparel
Socks: Outdoor Camping shop
Tights: H&M (plum)
Doc Martens: Urban Outfitters
Coat: Vintage

I do love this coat very much, but I actually don't wear it that often. I hadn't really worn it since the last blog post that featured it, but wearing it again reminded me just how soft and fluffy it was.  

Soft enough to sleep in, which I did.

Grapefruit trees in the garden

The flowers around the house seemed to look even more beautiful surrounded by the grey gloom. 

sleeping flower boy

melancholy roses

birds in a vase

Trying on his birthday presents on all at once to create a very bright outfit, cheeky doug!

The birthday boy and his mummy

Being the spur of the moment celebration this was, we had no cake planned or ready for the festivities. So someone (DMcD) came up with the bright idea to make a Birthday PanCAKE, with cream, raspberries, & syrup. 

I am not a pancake lover, and was not to happy with the prospect of having pancakes for dessert, especially if its meant to replace a birthday cake.

Despite all this I made it my job to assemble to the cake and cook up a delicious batch of pancakes.

My pancakes normally turn out somewhat mis-shaped, undercooked and chewy. I did not put this pancake mix together, so I cannot tell you what the secret was, but these pancakes turned out PERFECT.

 I could not point out a flaw, all I did was cook them. And coming from someone who is not especially fond of pancakes I'd say this is a really good compliment. I cannot take the credit for the way they turned out, it was all in the mixture.

You can almost see how soft they were

Needless to say my opinions on pancakes have changed, look how happy I am making them!

(Its not that I don't like pancakes, just haven't ever been to crazy about them)

cold berries

Pan-birthday-Cake

I must have made around 25 pancakes in one go, it was delicious! All the berries, and maple-flavoured syrup, and cream. I'm sure they couldn't have asked for a better birthday cake.

Back for seconds

Happy Birthday to Doug, Clare, and Laura! 

Now the weekend is done, back to another long week of school, 

ho hum. Not too long to go.

Leave me a comment and say hello! It will brighten up the dreary week of school and work I have ahead.

Much love, 

little al xxo

honey cake

Looking back on my childhood, what I always sticks out in my mind is the delicious food my various family members served/made/gave/fed me. So many dishes, but I always think back on to the sweet cakes, breads, and cookies due to my ever present sweet tooth. 

While browsing one of my favourite food blogs, I stumbled upon a picture of a cake that looked quite familiar to me. Once I read (and used)  this recipe I realized it was the same cake my grandma had made me on numerous occasion, the same cake I loved dearly and knew would bring back some fond memories of the past. 

So I set out to duplicate this now sentimental cake.

 



Once collecting all the ingredients I had to make a few necessary changes due to

lack of the certain ingredients. 

2 main changes made:

- didn’t have an OJ so I used apple kiwi juice instead (its all I had!)

- a cup of plain black tea turned into Lady Grey



so much honey





the recipe called for a cup of tea, so I used my favourite Lady Grey





made a small heart loaf for doug

 There are no photos that I would want to share showing the disaster that happened during the

baking process. Due to my overfilling the pans, the batter bubbled over the sides leaving a sticky uncooked mess on the bottom of my oven and the sides of the loaf pans. But after some serious cleaning I was able to restore the loaf to its almost glory.

The cake turned out tasting slightly dryer than my grandmas, but thats just because

I left it in the oven for longer than necessary. But the best discovery I made

was: using the apple juice gave the loaf an autumnal taste, and brought out the 

cinnamon and wonderful spices, almost a spiced apple loaf minus the real apple pieces. 



taste testing papabear

  

finished before the tea