fun |

Well it has been another busy weekend!

The Six Nations started this weekend which is a bit like the Superbowl but for Europeans that lasts nearly two month, without the crazy advertising and the best tournament of the year. I made my way to my other home of Cardiff to have a catch up with the uni bunch and I was so glad I did. Since leaving University everyone is really busy so it is great to meet up on one of our special weekends. After having a few cocktails and drinks in the pub, me and Luke headed home and was grateful from Claire for giving us a lift home instead of fighting the crowds at the train station.

10981287_10206172461093507_2826542279497562550_o — First Selfie Stick Selfie with Dad

Also, I surprised Luke and bought a selfie stick which Dad took a bit of a liking to so we used it before heading off to the rugby.

This weekend was a quieter weekend compared to most so I decided to bake, bake and bake some more! Perfect. Saturday morning I went to get supplies including the cutest decorations from Tiger and I was trying some new recipes. I love Tiger, bit like Ikea for normal everyday items.

First off was red velvet cupcakes… yummy! I was finally using some of my cook, baking books from Christmas and my own notes. Recipes will follow just having to fine tune them at the moment.

IMG_20150207_181848 — Piping the Red Velvet Cakes

Then I went on to make Guinness Cake which looks scrumptious. Although I am not a big fan of Stout it is a lovely, sticky, sweet cake. Although I could not finish it on the Saturday night because I was meeting some of the girls at the local pub for a little catch up.

IMG_20150207_184230 — Just baked Guinness Cake

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Up the pub early for a couple (well 1 alcoholic drink) and cwtched up on the sofa making some plans for the week. Mainly Yoga next Friday. Exciting!

Came home early at about 9pm to have Luke leave me some of his Chinese Chicken Satay which was super yummy indeed. Very lucky :). Haven’t had a Chinese in ages so a nice little treat.

Now it is Sunday and it feels like the weekened has gone unbelievably fast again. The weekend flies by so quickly, I really need to work on getting the optimum amount out of each weekend. Perhaps I should try getting up super early on weekends but I love my bed. I decided to finish off my baking from yesterday so made a scrummy white chocolate frosting for the Guinness cake and decorated with some adorable cake decorations from Tiger.

Now, Luke is from Gloucester and loves a ‘Lardy Cake’ and whenever we go to Gloucester he pops to the bakery and has one. Personally I am not a fan but then I have a massive love for Battenberg cake which not everyone loves either. Luckily at Christmas I was given a book by the Chef Tom Kerridge. I love this guy! His cooking is proper lush and he is a Gloucester boy too. One of my dream trips would be to visit his hotel and restaurant, The Hand and Flowers. The hotel looks beautifully designed and rustic set right in Buckinghamshire and his food looks wholesome, hearty and absolutely stunning.

Anyways, in this book was a recipe for this Lardy Cake, result! This was my first attempt and hopefully all is good. Then I made an orange caramel sauce to drizzle over the top. The Lardy Cake was similar to bread making, lots of waiting which is handy when I could do other things like bake more. Plus this was my first time proving and I was watching in wonder. It just kept growing and ‘breathing’. Incredible!