Crafty Crafts 2!!! Change purse!

Next in my crafty crafts range - a change purse! As my holiday purse got stolen in Amsterdam I thought I'd make a new one and found a pattern in a magazine mum gave me. It was a little tricky sewing in the zip but I got there and here it is - voila!!

Crafty crafts!! Homemade travel journal!

When I go on what i call 'big' holidays (sounds a little Miranda-esque!!) which are long holidays far away, not your couple of days in Spain sunbathing I like to take a travel journal. Just think it will be a good thing to look back to when I'm older. This year I decided to make my own rather than buy it from Paperchase like normal. OK I've not made the paper but the case is all my handy work! Padded and themed to this year's holiday - very proud of my handy work!!

Rhubarb Pastries

After a visit to the Food School where they had made some rhubarb pastries, it was requested that I tried to recreate the pastries at home. I watched the Easter Bake Off Masterclass where Paul Hollywood made some custard tarts and wanted to give them a try - so to keep him at home happy I made the rhubarb pastries first after finding a recipe for them on another blog. So I've merged the two recipes - the custard from the Bake Off and the rest of the pastry recipe from the blog! This makes 6 pastries.

You need for the custard:

• 60g caster sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 tbsp cornflour
• small pinch of salt
• 180ml of whole milk
• vanilla pod
  
• 1 small cinnamon stick

1. Whisk the sugar, egg yolks, cornflour and salt together and set aside. Put the milk in a large pan with the vanilla pod (split in half, with the seeds scraped into the milk) and the cinnamon stick.
   
2. Bring to the boil and then remove from the heat. Pass the hot milk through a sieve to remove the cinnamon stick and vanilla pod, then pour the hot milk over the egg mixture and whisk together.
   
3. Return this mixture to the pan. Put back on a gentle heat and cook, stirring continuously, until the mixture becomes thick. Remove from the heat immediately and beat for a minute to get rid of any lumps. Leave to cool.
   

 For the pastries:

• 250g puff pastry
• I used a tin of rhubarb as it was out of season though you could use 2 stems fresh
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• Icing sugar

1. Pre-heat oven to 220oC.
2. Roll the pastry to about 4-5mm thin and cut into 6 rectangles.Score a border about 1cm in from the edge of your pastry rectangle and prick the inside of this area well with a fork.
3. Place your pastries on a baking tray and cook for approximately 10-15 mins. 
4. Remove from oven and press the inside of the borders down with a fork carefully until they are flat but take care to keep the frame intact.
5. Turn the oven down to 180oC.
6. Drain the rhubarb and stew it with the caster sugar in a large saucepan, until it is soft and jammy.
7. Layer the stewed rhubarb into the pastry cases and then top with the home made custard!
8. Layer the fillings in all the cases and bake in the oven for about 10-15 mins until the custard is set.  Wobble the tray a little bit and if it feels firm then you should be good.
9. Leave to cool on the rack and then dust with icing sugar.

 They turned out a treat!!!

Easter travels

Everyone knows I love a holiday be it in the van or jollies abroad however this Easter we went on our hollybobs around the UK. We literally travelled from very far north to very far south in two weeks. We've all heard of Lands End to John O Groats now you have heard of ... Edinburgh to Croydon!! Oh yes everyone will be doing it soon!!!

So Croydon, well the only reason we went there was because it was Jessica's 16th birthday party. I remember when she was born, I was at an under age rave at Blackheath Concert Halls! 16 years later I'm old and she is 16!!! Times really does fly!

As we progress north we spent Easter bank holiday weekend in Harrogate. It was very cold but we had a great time. We went to Van Zeller on the company as Daniel got given a meal out as a bonus, so obviously we wanted to get every penny out of it and went to an award winning fine dining restaurant! We also tried to go to Betty's but the line was so long we were too hungry and cold to wait! The guest house owner was a little eccentric though it was a lovely touch to hide a cadbury's cream egg for everyone under their coffee cups at breakfast.

Then we went up to Edinburgh, now to be fair this wasn't a holiday for Daniel as he was working, I on the other hand went along to keep him company. We visited Jamie's Italian for dinner which was yummy and I spent the day as a classic tourist sight seeing. On my list of places visited were: Edinburgh Castle, Royal Mile, Hollyrood Palace and Scottish Parliament and finally Prices Street. We even came home with some original Scottish shortbread!

Even though I love holidays and rarely get homesick needless to say I was pleased to spend some quality time in our humble abode by the end of the Easter break!

 

Fuddle - food with a cuddle

Whenever we have a fuddle at school one member of our department always brings homemade smoked mackerel pate. We love it! So much so we've taken the recipe home to make it ourselves. I've just given it a go and it's so easy I highly recommend trying it.

You need:
a pack of smoked mackerel - 3/4 fillets
a pack of cream cheese
3/4 ramps
black pepper
smoked paprika

Grill the mackerel to warm through and remove the skins. Slice and fry off the ramps then blend the mackerel, ramps and cream cheese together. Add black pepper for seasoning and a pinch of smoked paprika then ensure you chill before serving. Simple as that really but tastes delicious.

Oh if anyone is wondering what a fuddle is - food with a cuddle! Buffet style lunch where everyone brings something different to share. Yummy.

Baby Bunny Gift

On hearing the great news that our friends are having a baby instead of getting them a congratulations card I thought I'd make them a congratulations bunny. Having got a magazine subscription for Christmas with lots of things in it to make from food to crafts this bunny seemed a perfect congratulations on your news baby gift!

 How cute is it!

Summer Holiday booked!!

Stateside here we come!!

Summer holiday is booked - in advance I know but due to last years highly busy wedding season we are getting our holiday booked in now! So the plan, fly to San Francisco, see the sights, then live it LA style, then onto to San Diego via train. Finally the stop off on the way back is two nights in Chicago. I love the windy city and as Daniel has never been and we've both be to NYC a few times we thought Chicago would be a great shout.

Now to figure out what to see, eat, do...