Turkey Wellington

This Christmas we made a delicious turkey wellington...

Turkey roasted with cranberry and thyme, coated in duxelle and
topped with crispy bacon and rosemary

All wrapped up in a pastry blanket

Yum!

HK stuff being all cute.

I think one of the best things about HK was how cute everyday things were. You'd see business men carrying packets of angry birds tissues and writing notes with propelling hello kitty pencils. 

Cute vending machine with drinks for so many moments!

Piggy wig wigs.

These were in all the corner shops.

Packet of biscuits but cuter.

Kind of beauty and the beast style. 

Angry bird. 

Being wholesome.

This weekend has been a particularly wholesome one. We have baked brownies, made roast dinner with yorkshire puds, gone for a lovely walk in Holyrood park, been to the library and played the hat game and some pool. We also made our first ever loaf of bread. We opted for black olive bread with rosemary and it turned out pretty well...

Hello

Well hello there.

It's been rather a long time since I've written this thing. Here's what I've been up to...

I've been to the bright lights of Hong Kong...

...travelled down Vietnam...

...through Cambodia...

...and into Thailand!

I visited Northern Ireland with Chris.

Did some fun stuff around Edinburgh.

Served coffee in the Fringe festival.

Baked plenty of cakes.

And got to meet the latest addition to the Family.

I thought I was gonna give up on this thing, but it's quite fun to read back, so I'll give it another go.

One month.

Back in a month. See you later alligator x

Sunday roast.

This afternoon Chris and I made the most delicious Sunday roast. We had slowly roasted pork belly with apple mash and crackling, followed by raspberry and white chocolate profiteroles. Om nom nom nom. Here are a few pics...

Sunshine and Showers

This has been one of THE best weeks ever. Ever. Ever.

Okay, so first things first- my exams are over, hallelujah! I passed and I have a degree-woohoo!

Reproductive themed cake marked the end of exams

But more importantly, since they've been done I have been having SO much fun.

Exams ended as a scorcher of a heatwave arrived in Edinburgh. Perfect timing or what?! After weeks of revising in rain/sleet/howling wind I was delighted to catch some rays and revel in freedom! Most of these sunny days were spent frolicking outdoors on the meadows, at the beach, at the Botanics and by the Water or Leith.

I've also been enjoying having time to cook and enjoy plenty of delicious things! Chris and I have been cooking so many scrumptious meals and also sampled the famous Spanish hot chocolate and churros of The Chocolate Tree the other evening. Om nom nom.

Cookie, oreo, brownie triple layer.

And yesterday we went to the zoo. Did you know, baby pandas are born like a tiny slab of butter, whoc the mummy panda then cuddles for weeks. Cute.

Happiness is...

...a great mugfull of summer berry, banana and oat smoothie on a Monday morning!

110 down, 10 to go!

Ploughing on, with revision and procrastination but not too much longer to go. 

In the meantime, I thought I'd show you some of the delicious treats we had at our flat party on Saturday.

Chocolate cake pops,
 each with an individual party challenge. 

Oh scooshy cream, how I love thee!

Not much exciting to report I'm afraid With Sparkles. Dissertation is pretty near done, but I'll not celebrate just yet, not til it's printed and bound! 

Jump the Beach

Back in 2009, I 'Jumped the Beach' during my east coast Australia trip. This involved falling 11,000ft out of an aeroplane over the Barrier Reef and landing on Mission Beach.

Last Friday, I did a different type of beach jumping in St Andrews, it was lots of fun...

Hula hula

Last week I helped to break a hooping world record.

Teacups

Last Sunday I went to a vintage fair in Spoon Cafe.

I picked up these lovely little lemon-yellow and gold tea cups.

I think I'll have to have a tea party soon. How exciting.

Yumlarr

Croissants, butter, sultanas, white chocolate, double cream, milk, vanilla, eggs, more egg yolk, vanilla sugar, apricot jam and icing sugar. Oh yes, and too top it of a splodge of cookies and cream ice cream.

Well that should just about cover all the main food groups...

Indoor Picnics

Hmmmmphhhh...yet again it is exam time and I find myself in the library.

This afternoon it was lovely and sunny, so we took a walk round the side of Arthur's Seat. It was so spring-like with bunnies galore and birdsong a-plenty!

When we got home we had a picnic on my bedroom floor. I've now eaten a lot of profiteroles.

Sorry I haven't got any pretty pictures for you. Truth is I haven't been taking any.

Oh, one other lovely thing. Last night I went to a music recital. The musicians were incredibly clever beings.

Over and out.

Pugs not drugs