Author: jl.boreham

My Christmas excitement is now reaching fever pitch and we’ve still got over a week to go. I’m so excited I think I might burst before Christmas! I’m expecting my boys home this weekend, possibly two days late due to a train strike, but hopefully I’ll have them back for Sunday! I’m not that sure why I get so excited about Christmas, I think it’s because I like to have everybody together and I love giving presents. It’s certainly not excitement about my presents……….I know all about my one present…….I’ve bought it, wrapped it and even wrote a nice message to myself on the tag. No, in all honesty I have requested no presents as I think students in a cost of living crisis have enough to deal with and I love to give at Christmas, I can never think of what I want anyway.

However, why do children seem to instinctively know when you’ve completed your Christmas shopping and wrapped it. For the best part of a month I’ve been asking what they want. Then today, when I’ve already bought and wrapped things thinking no request was going to be forthcoming, I get the request. Fortunately one of the items I had already bought as a stocking filler…….climbing chalk. The second request I had a little laugh at………you know they’ve seriously run out of cash when they ask you for contact lenses for Christmas. Even though I’ve already bought lots of little bits and bobs to open on Christmas Day I just don’t think I’ve got the heart to leave him visually impaired at Christmas!

Now, a little story about my baubles…….the ones you hang on the tree! I love trimming the house up for Christmas. I am a bit of a collector of what my boys call ‘tacky’ Christmas decorations. However, I beg to differ and I think that most of my decorations are extremely tasteful and of good quality, apart from one that I will come onto in a minute.

Christmas to me starts with the decorating of the tree. It has to be done whilst watching the greatest ever Christmas movie, Polar Express, and eating ‘Celebration’ chocolates. Therefore, Christmas started last Friday with the transporting home of the tree, the movie and the chocolates. I love a real tree as I adore the smell of Nordmann Fir, but I always buy it from the local plant nursery as they grown their own so I know for each one that’s chopped down, another is planted and it’s only travelled as far as I’ve transported it in the car. Now this is an ordeal in itself as I have no spatial awareness. I cannot picture how big something is in relation to something else when the two aren’t side by side. I cannot tell you the number of times I have brought home a tree which I have then had to chop the top off to make it fit below the ceiling. Anyway, I really excelled this year as no decapitating of the tree was required.

Now, my baubles! I have an absolute obsession with tree baubles. I have so many and I can tell you a little story about each and every one and can remember where I got most of them from as I like to collect them on my travels. I’m quite sentimental and each one reminds me of a special person or place. They’ve sort of been added to through the years to the point that I have been banned from entering Christmas shops and buying any more as I do not have anywhere to put them. I would argue though that a girl cannot have too many baubles! I even bring baubles back from my summer holidays. One of my favourites is a tiny lace angel I bought in Dubrovnik. It was July, thirty five degrees and I was buying Christmas baubles. Every time I look at it though it reminds me of beautiful Dubrovnik. I have a lovely sun shell bauble sent over to me by my Great Auntie Betty in America for my eldest’s first Christmas twenty-two years ago and a bauble from Disneyland bought for me by my late mother-in-law. I have an owl which is nothing to do with Christmas but represents the fact that I’m a secret fan of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club (The Owls), even though I no longer go to watch them. I have various Father Christmas baubles as I just love Father Christmas! I have pretty glass baubles, sheep with wings, fluffy stars…………. and many more. Then I have my porcelain angel for the top of the tree. This I got when I bought my first house…….a one-bedroom maisonette when I first left home to work just outside London when I was twenty-two. The flat was tiny but I even managed to fit a tree in there! So, the tree is up, presents wrapped and I am so excited. So the message is…..if ever anyone moans about you buying baubles, ignore them, because baubles are like shoes, you can’t have too many, there is no such thing as too many baubles.

I will however own up to having one tacky Christmas decoration. Yes, he’s out, resplendent and fully erected in the front garden for the world to see. I bought him on purpose. There’s something pleasurable about being an embarrassment to your children as you get a bit older, it’s almost like it’s payback time. When they roll their eyes at you it’s almost like encouragement to be even more embarrassing to them. It’s like when I pick them up from the train station at the weekend all dressed up in my Christmas jumper and Father Christmas hat and they see me waving frantically to catch their attention. That look on their faces as they try and pretend that I’m not their Mum.

I have to get this decoration out before they come home though because I love to sit there silently when I pull the car around the corner onto the drive after collecting them from the train station and see the look on their face when they spot their favourite (not!) Christmas decoration sat in the front garden. My light up reindeer! He even has an unfortunately positioned electric cable coming from his underside which makes it look like he’s having a wee in the garden. But I love him!

So excited…………………..just a few last minute finishing touches to do at the weekend and then I’m ready!!

Well, what a lovely morning this was. I’m starting to feel really Christmassy now. It could be because I work in a school and it’s nativity play week. It could be because I have heard ‘Little Donkey’ so many times I’m singing it in my sleep. Or it could be because I’ve seen Father Christmas. Yes, the big man himself! It’s quite embarrassing really how excited I must look. Out of an entire crowd of people, other than to the children, I was the only adult that got my own personal wave and a shout to ask if I’d been a good girl! I of course told him of my exemplary behaviour all year, my need for a new dressing gown and put everyone else a good word in too. I must try to stop looking so excited because to my grown children I am an absolute embarrassment but you know what I say……….you are never too old to believe! If you don’t believe he does not come!

I love making things and for a few years now I’ve wanted to go on a floristry workshop to learn how to make one of those beautiful natural looking Christmas wreaths but by the time I get around to booking on one they are always fully booked.

So, this year I organised myself and booked early and on Sunday morning I went to the very pretty village of Hooton Pagnell to a workshop that was held in the church. It was the perfect setting for a Christmas wreath making workshop. There was a little bit of snow on the ground and it was cold and crisp.

We’d been e-mailed a couple of days before to tell us to layer our clothing as churches at this time of year are very cold, even with the heating on and it hasn’t got above zero degrees now for almost a week. It was freezing and I kept my down jacket and scarf on all the way through but that did not matter as it somehow made it feel more Christmassy. The church was all lit with candles and Christmas carols were playing in the background.

The workshop was run by the lovely Hannah who owns her own floristry business called The Garden of Evie. Hannah is an eco-florist focusing on sustainable floristry. She only uses British grown flowers that are in season and all natural materials wherever possible, so no plastic, no florist’s oasis foam etc. A lot of the flowers she grows herself in her own cutting patch and the rest of the materials are foraged from the local area where possible. Some of the items she uses in her designs are just so effective and I would never have thought of using………..dead flower heads, pheasant feathers, seed pods, twigs………..some really unusual stuff. There are some pictures of her work on her website here and if you like natural flowers and floristry it’s well worth a look:

https://www.thegardenofevie.co.uk/

So off we set to make our wreaths. We had two hours to make a wreath of our own design using any of the materials she had brought……..and there were lots to choose from. First of all, we covered our wreath ring with sphagnum moss and then we set to work on making individual bundles of foliage and decorations to securely attach all the way around the ring. It’s not that difficult a thing to make once you know how and follow all the tips from the expert. The most difficult part was choosing which colour velvet ribbon I wanted to attach to it. I’m hopeless when I’m given too much choice and Hannah had just so much lovely velvet ribbon to choose from in a multitude of colours and widths.

Then, as if the morning could not get any better there were refreshments………and I like refreshments……..especially when the refreshments include cakes!! There was tiffin, mince pies, cinnamon biscuits, flapjack and all sorts of other home baked Christmas treats along with mulled wine, coffee and tea to drink.

There were around eight of us doing the workshop and it was lovely to meet and chat to such a lovely group of ladies and get into the Christmas spirit. So here it is the finished wreath! I was actually quite proud of it for my first attempt at wreath making. It’s not perfectly symmetrical but that sort of adds to its natural look (or that’s what I’m telling myself!). All eight of them looked fantastic and they were all completely different as they all reflected our own personal tastes.

The only slight problem I had was how I was going to attach it to the door when I got home. I’ve got one of those new composite front doors which you would not want to start knocking nails and hooks into and the wreath is really heavy. You can’t use one of those over the door hangers either as the door won’t close. But I had an ingenious idea. If I made another wreath of the same weight on my own at home, I could have one on the inside of the door too and just hang them over the door like a pendulum and the ribbon would be thin enough for the door to close. So, a little garden centre visit on the way home for another wreath ring and a trip down the woods to get some foliage and I was soon on with wreath number two. I did worry slightly as to how this one would turn out without Hannah’s expert guidance but I actually think I’ve got the hang of this wreath making and it’s just as good as wreath number one. Just look at the mess I made though! It took me the best part of an hour to tidy up after myself, but so much fun.

So, if you like doing, making, Christmas and mince pies like I do I’d definitely recommend a wreath making workshop. A lovely relaxing morning learning how to do something new away from the hecticness of Christmas.

What a lovely Saturday for a minus 4 degrees day in Yorkshire. It’s so cold! We had our first sprinkling of snow this week and every morning I have had to scrape the ice from my car. I’m not a morning person at the best of times but when I have to de-ice my car, I’m even less of a morning person. Added to that the fact that on Thursday morning I ran out of coffee beans, this week has not been the week of good morning starts for me and Thursday morning I was definitely better off being avoided.

Today though has been a lovely day. I have been treating a very special lady……..my Mum!! It’s a little bit of an annual ritual now is ladies treat day. For 30 years she cooked Christmas dinner and for the last 20 years I have cooked Christmas dinner, and Mum and Dad come to me. Anyone who is responsible for Christmas dinner will know it’s a bit of a stress. Lots of food to cook and lots of mouths to feed. So, I make a point, on a weekend a couple of weeks before Christmas, of taking Mum and myself out for our very special Christmas meal where we get pampered and waited on and don’t have to do any cooking or wash the dishes. Just us two!

When I was on my Camino, I had a lot of time to think. You realise how fast time flies and how you don’t really take time, or have the time, to appreciate a lot of the people and events in your life. I think it can be a little bit like that with parents. You sort of take it for granted that they will always be there and they never seem to get any older, then all of a sudden you realise that they do seem so much older and times are precious and limited. One of the things I promised myself I would do would be to spend more time ‘in the moment’ and appreciate the simple things in life that I sometimes take for granted, and that won’t be there for ever, and Mums and Dads are one of those things.

You can get a little bit fed up of turkey though by the time it gets to Christmas. There are friends to meet up with for Christmas dinner, work nights out for Christmas dinner, so this year we decided not to do traditional Christmas dinner.

So where have we been? We’ve been to lovely York……one of the best preserved medieval cities in Britain and the historic capital of Yorkshire.

Mum loves York and it’s a bit too difficult for her to get there on her own now. She loves the shops, the medieval buildings, the beautiful York Minster…………………and we both love Betty’s!

Betty’s, for anyone who is not familiar with it, is a great Yorkshire institution. It is a tearoom that was first opened in 1919 by Frederick Belmont. There are various branches of Betty’s now in Yorkshire but the largest are in York and Harrogate. Frederick Belmont and his wife, in 1936, went on the maiden voyage of the Queen Mary ocean liner and he liked the art deco interior of the ship so much that he hired the interior designers to fit out his tea rooms. So today we have been to the Belmont Room in Betty’s of York for the quintessential British afternoon tea, but at Betty’s it’s a ‘Yorkshire Afternoon Tea’. It’s a small fortune to go as far as afternoon tea prices are concerned but for a special treat it’s worth it and this special lady is certainly worth it……..my Mum not me I mean! It’s so eloquent, bone china tea service, silver cutlery, pianist playing the grand piano, attentive waiters and waitresses and the most delicious selection of finger sandwiches and cakes. It has a tea menu so long with loose leaf tea from all over the world, and being a Yorkshire girl, I love a good cuppa. At home it has to be Taylors of Harrogate ‘Yorkshire Tea’ but at Betty’s it has to be Golden Valley Darjeeling, no milk, just Darjeeling……perfect.

I couldn’t see Mum for half the time as I swear she is shrinking and the plate of cakes and sandwiches was so big I could just see her head poking over the top. It was delicious and was a nice change from roast turkey dinner.

They even box up what you can’t eat in a pretty little box to take home. This is Mum’s by the way. It will be no surprise to anyone that I managed to eat all mine!

Then we had a lovely wander around York and up to the Minster. It was so pretty with all the lights in the trees and Mum wanted to see the new stone statue to the side of the main door of the late Queen Elizabeth II which was unveiled by King Charles (I still can’t get used to saying that) in his visit to York last week. It was quite impressive but needs a little time to weather, it was so obviously new alongside the other stonework.

All in all it was a lovely Mum and daughter day and a nice relaxing start to what tends to be the busiest week of the year……….. the last week at school before Christmas, the week I really get into it at home and go a bit over the top with the tree and Christmas decorations and get more excited than a child on Christmas morning. I love Christmas!!! The tree has been purchased yesterday, that once a year trip that I try and squeeze a full size Nordmann Fir into the back of a Mini (I managed it yet again!). My light up reindeer has been extracted from the loft. The first lot of mince pies will be baked tonight. I still have presents to wrap, house to decorate, Christmas cake to decorate, tree to put up, boys to pick up from the train station next weekend and then I’m ready. Oh, and tomorrow I’m attending a very special craft class……..you know how I like a ‘learning to do something new’ class, so all will be revealed in due course. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This Sunday I felt the need for a little adventure! So where better to go than the mighty Kinder Scout. For anyone not familiar with the area Kinder Scout is a moorland plateau around half an hour from home. At 636 metres above sea level it is the highest summit in the area. On a clear day you can see all the way to Mount Snowden in Wales…….but unfortunately not on Sunday. It’s also the scene of a very unfortunate accident on my part! This time I decided to walk, but last time I did a route in this area, in September 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, I ran it, on my own. I managed to fall quite spectacularly (nothing new there then) and gashed open the underside of my arm on a rock as I slid along the floor. I then had to drive myself to hospital one hour away, have a number of stitches and an x-ray, and later that week have the car cleaned of all the blood I had shared with the upholstery on the drive to hospital. On Sunday I thought I’d have another go, walking to see if I could remain upright.

Kinder Scout is described as offering ‘rewarding but challenging’ walks. You have to go up there prepared for bad weather, cloud and have the means to navigate as there are only a couple of ways down and you need to be able to find them. At this time of year ‘Kinder’ as we affectionately call it in the area keeps Edale Mountain Rescue Team very busy.

It’s also important to fuel for it and take food and drink with you. Now that can only mean one thing, an excuse for coffee and cake before attempting it. That however led to my sad discovery that Mike and Karen from Oggie’s Citreon Van cafe (in one of my earlier posts) are retiring! Oh no! What am I to do? Well, I’ve found a suitable alternative…………..the newly opened Castleton Coffee Co. in the beautiful village of Castleton, next to Kinder. Not only did it have wonderful coffee but my first mince pie of the year too. It does do breakfast too but I am quite capable of eating mince pies for breakfast…..I love them and I get really excited about Christmas when the mince pies start to appear.

So full of mince pie and caffeine I set off, past the houses and the river. I love some of the plants at this time of the year, lots of berries and some very pretty pink flowers on one shrub. This part of the world has some wonderful fields and hedges and I was really pleased to see a newly laid hedge in the traditional style as I left the village. These traditions and skills are so important to keep for wildlife and the preservation of the countryside and I think they look fantastic when they are done properly. That’s another one for my bucket list of courses…………I’d like to go on a hedge laying course, there are lots in the area on a weekend.

Then it was off up the Pennine Way and past Upper Booth Campsite and Farm. Now this campsite has very fond memories for me and I always take a picture of the sign when I walk past it and send it to the youngest of my two sons. The campsite is the scene of one his unfortunate events, he’s had many! We had just bought our first tent and were going on our first camping adventure, like you do when you have little boys. I took them here as it wasn’t too far from home but feels a million miles away as it’s quite remote. The campsite was quite basic and it felt like a bit of an adventure…….until he managed to lock himself in the toilets in the barn and could not unlock the door. I always used to say……”Don’t lock the door, I’m outside and I’ll ensure no-one comes in”. This is my inquisitive one though that likes to do the opposite of what you tell him to do. So what followed was an hour of me feeding him chocolate buttons through the gap in the door to keep him calm while everyone else tried to get the door open from the outside. We still laugh about it now and he’s nineteen.

Over the bridge and up over the stile (I’ve never been able to do this bit elegantly) and then you are onto the lower slopes of ‘Kinder’. I found a cow so all was well with the world! A bit of history about ‘Kinder’ now as it is responsible for a lot of what us walkers enjoy today in the UK. On 24th April 1932 it was the scene of ‘The Mass Trespass’. This was led by the ‘Young Communist League’ and was literally a mass trespass over privately owned land to highlight the fact that walkers were being denied access to areas of open countryside. There are varying reports as to how many people were involved in the trespass, from 100 to 3000. However, it led to violent scuffles with gamekeepers and the imprisonment of the organisers, but today in the UK it is remembered as one of the most successful acts of civil disobedience in history. It led to the National Parks Legislation in 1949 and the ‘right to roam’ on open access land. It also allowed the establishment of the Pennine Way, a 268 mile path from Edale to Kirk Yetholm near the Scottish border. So it is thanks to that act of disobedience that we get to enjoy these beautiful National Parks in the UK today.

You then start to climb the upper slopes. The view, with the sun trying to poke through the clouds, is beautiful. It didn’t quite make its way out on Sunday but it was trying. It was four season boots weather as it is always very muddy up there and they are needed for the terrain coming back down. There are also quite a few steams to cross on the way up and down so waterproof footwear is essential too. Half way up and my coat was off, even though it was quite cold, as it gets really steep. As usual I managed to go slightly off the path and ended up in a little peat bog, head poking up above the grass – if there is more than one way I can always be relied upon for choosing the wrong way! It’s common knowledge not to follow me on a walk. I’m either off in dizzy daydream land or that busy taking photographs I can very quickly have no idea where I am.

Eventually after around an hour you get to the glorious top. The views up there are fantastic normally, but not on Sunday as it was a little bit misty. I managed to find the ‘dragon rock’ and got the must have shot of having my arm chewed off, same picture just a different day but you just have to do it every time. Coat back on now, and bobble hat, as it’s always very blustery up there. Then a wander across the top of the plateau and across the peat bogs that it is so well known for. Fortunately now, to stop erosion, the National Trust and Peak District National Park have laid a path across the bogs, better for the bogs and the walkers! A few years ago, on a day like Sunday, you would have been up to your waist in peat.

Then the exciting bit……..coming down Grindsbrook to get off ‘Kinder’ and back into the Edale valley below. It’s not a walk it’s a scramble, there’s no walking involved for the first half mile, it’s just clambering and climbing down, using all four limbs and lots of splashing in the water. This is why they call it challenging and why it’s nice and quiet, because most walkers would not consider it a walk and would not attempt it. I love it though.

The approach into Edale is just lovely, through the woods, lots of sheep and as always on one of my walks……..the route ends at a pub! In this case the lovely ‘Old Nags Head’.

Only time for a quick visit to the pub though as my very special tea which I’d started this morning was on the timer in the oven at home and it was perfect for warming me up when I got in. Since I’ve come home from my trip walking in the summer I’ve really missed the Camino and that area. I love cooking too so when I got back from the Camino I bought some cookery books to recreate some of the lovely food until I return. My favourite is a book called Recipes from San Sebastian and Beyond by Jose Pizarro. Some of the ingredients are quite difficult to get hold of but this week my ‘El Avion’ Pimenton Dulce arrived from the food importers…….so time to try a new recipe perfect for today. Now I like a stew and this one is called ‘Sukalki’………… a Basque beef stew with potatoes, onions, peas, carrots and cognac (yes you get to flambe it……the best bit, and I managed to avoid the kitchen cupboards with the flames). It was delicious and I actually think my photo looks as good as the one in the book………..definitely a recipe to do again after a cold walk, it was delicious – Yum.

So all in all a lovely Sunday of adventure and good food. So if you are ever near the glorious ‘Kinder’ the route is up Crowden Brook, along the plateau, down Grindsbrook, and along the valley bottom, followed by half a beer and beef stew of course!

I think I might have told you before that I love cake! I like eating cakes, I like baking cakes and more than anything else I like to force everyone else to eat cake! There is always a homebake in my kitchen and everyone who steps foot into my house gets offered cake, and you are not allowed to leave until you have had some. If it’s your birthday you get a cake! I’m also very popular with the two houses of students as whenever I visit I take a car boot full of cakes. I know what everyone’s favourite is and they all eagerly await my arrival with the cake tins.

Now why do I like baking and to whom do I owe my baking talents? Well it’s this lovely lady, my beautiful late Grandma Kathleen:

Here she was reading her newspaper in her deckchair on the beach. Always immaculately turned out in her lovely dress and handbag even though she’s on the beach. Every Saturday without fail from being tiny until being in my teens I spent the entire day with my Grandma Kathleen. My Dad used to drive me over to Grandma and Grandad’s straight after breakfast and then pick me up after dinner in the evening. Looking back now I can see that it was so Mum and Dad could have a day a week on their own. Now I’ve had my own children I can see the appeal of shipping them off to the Grandparents every Saturday. However, looking back I am so glad they did as these were precious times that hold such happy memories. When I’m a Grandma if I can be just half the Grandma that she was to me I’ll be happy. She had an infinite amount of love to give and patience to bestow. She taught me how to knit, to sew, to cook, to bake, to press flowers and all sorts of other things. We had our own little routine every Saturday that we liked to do together and it went like this: A game of tennis in the park if the weather allowed, she was an excellent tennis player; a walk to visit Frosty the farm horse in his paddock to feed him the left over vegetable peels she had collected for him so that I could feed him on a Saturday; a stop off at the newsagents where she would collect me my Bunty comic and give me twenty pence to spend on pick and mix sweets (you could get a lot for twenty pence in those days); and finally an afternoon of baking! I adored baking with Grandma. We always made pastry as Grandad liked a meat and potato pie for dinner but then we always made some buns, cakes and biscuits. When I look back it must have taken her all day on Sunday to clean the kitchen as there was flour everywhere! She never complained, or took over from me, she just used to let me make as much mess as I wanted while she supervised and encouraged me. It was always such good fun and whenever I bake I think of her, especially this week as 26th November was her birthday and had she still been with us I would have baked her the biggest birthday cake just to say thank you for the unconditional love and encouragement and for teaching me all the things she did.

Over the last few weeks I’ve had lots of baking to do so it really has been the ‘Great British Bake Off’! We’ve had fundraising for Children in Need, a visit to the students with a car full of cake, visits from friends and all sorts of events that required cake so I thought I’d share with you some of my favourite bakes that I made over the last two weeks and my favourite baking book.

Now this one is not for the students or Children in Need…………this one is for ME!!!!! It’s my favourite! Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I’ve also managed to convince myself that as it contains carrots it’s healthy!

Next up, the Lunettes. That’s what they call them in the book anyway……..to me they are Jammy Dodgers! These are the favourites of my big student. Made with icing sugar instead of sugar so that when you bite a piece off they just melt in your mouth. The jam can be any flavour but I like home made strawberry or raspberry best of all.

Another student favourite and so quick to make, Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies. These are my emergency bake if I get a visit announcement at short notice. I always have the ingredients for these in the cupboard. All the ingredients whizzed together in the Magimix, dough in the fridge for 30 minutes and then 12 minutes to bake…….perfect! The essential accompaniment to a cup of ‘Yorkshire Tea’.

Now who does not like a chocolate brownie. If you like dark chocolate you’ll love these. I love dark chocolate but the boys prefer milk so these aren’t their favourite……so that just means more for me. These were just perfect…….the top was firm and crusty and the centre was so soft and gooey. I do find brownies a bit hit and miss though. The timing has to be just perfect. There’s nothing worse that a really soggy brownie, or a really dry brownie and just a couple of minutes the wrong way in the oven and they are ruined.

Coconut Macaroons………..another favourite of the big student, and also my Dad who loves coconut. Not my favourite and quite a bit of effort for not very many buns but I’m told they are worth it. Like a soft, chewy meringue texture with a dollop of jam in the middle. Another melt in your mouth one to go with a cup of tea.

Another one of my favourites ( I have lots of favourites when it come to cake)………Flapjack. Again, if you ignore the butter, sugar and golden syrup and just focus on the porridge oats they are quite healthy! These are good fuel for a run or long walk, that quick fix of carbs and sugar, so one often gets popped in the backpack for that midway snack.

Now you are never too old for a Butterfly Bun! Just a simple vanilla cupcake with the top cut off and split to make two wings. Filled with a dollop of jam, topped with buttercream, the wings carefully placed back on top and sprinkled with icing sugar…..delicious!

One of my favourite desserts, Pecan Pie. Nice crisp, sweet pastry filled with a gooey centre and lots of pecan nuts. In my opinion best served warm with vanilla ice cream.

Last but not least, the favourite of the little student and the staple offering if you come to visit me is the Chocolate Tearoom Victoria Sponge with a chocolate ganache top. The short term answer to any problem…….half an hour at my kitchen table with a slice or this, a cup of tea and my ear to listen. This one gets baked often and a slice of this makes any day better.

So my favourite baking book – Annie Bell’s Baking Bible – my go to book for all my baking. I so love this book, all of the above recipes are in it and although I have so many baking and cookery books, for my sweet treats this is my number one book. It’s never let me down yet and everything turns out just as it looks on the lovely pictures.

So that’s about it on the baking front over the last two weeks. Looking back I don’t know how I’ve had time to go to work and fit everything else in! But baking is not a chore to me, it’s a passion and when I’m in my kitchen baking I’m in one of my happy places thanks to the greatest grandma ever! Happy Birthday Grandma!

This is a very belated post on Malaga, which I visited in October after Granada. I was dreaming of sunshine this week and thought I must write post on Malaga and sort my photos as it was such a lovely place that is very under-rated. When I’m away on holiday I don’t like to come back a day before the end of the school holiday. I just had two days to squeeze another city in. This strategy did backfire on me in May this year when I went to Palma, Mallorca. I booked an 11pm flight back home and I was due at work the next morning. The flight was delayed, I arrived back in Manchester at 5am and was at my office desk at 7am……not the greatest plan and the last time I will get such a late flight back…….probably my most unproductive work day ever!

This October half term I was flying back from Malaga, so it seemed the perfect choice to finish off the half term break.

I’ll be honest with you I wasn’t expecting much. I don’t like package holiday destinations and I don’t like being surrounded by lots of tourists and British stuff when I’m away as that’s what I’ve gone to get away from, people and home. Malaga’s proximity to the Costa del Sol hotspots, which would contain both of these, made me a little apprehensive. Its port also hosts lots of cruise ships and there’s nothing worse than trying to look around a city when the cruise ship has just disembarked its passengers.

However, Malaga was such a surprise. I absolutely loved it. I only had to time to explore the Centro/Old Town area and the port but I really did like what I saw. I stayed in a lovely apartment in a quiet red and white paved street in the old town. All the apartments were set around a pretty tiled courtyard with a little water feature in the middle. It was really pretty.

I travelled there by bus from Granada and arrived just before dinner time so the first stop was a wander around the old town, drinks and dinner. I went for Italian tonight for a change and had quite possibly the best Campari soda I’ve had outside of Italy. It was delicious. The cathedral and the streets were really pretty at night and I was really surprised by how busy and lively it was. It’s much livelier than Granada at night.

A big lie in bed was needed the next morning as all the walking around Granada and the travelling had worn me out. After breakfast my first visit was to the cathedral. This one was beautiful and was almost as nice as those I have seen in northern Spain. There was lots of carved marble sculptures, vaulted ceilings, lots of gold leaf and the most beautifully ornate organ. Definitely a must see if you are in Malaga.

Then it was on to the Picasso Museum. This I really wanted to see as I do like Picasso and Malaga is his birthplace, so it’s one not to miss. I’ve been to the Picasso museum in Barcelona which is arguably one of the best in the world but the Malaga museum, although a lot smaller, had some real highlights in it and I really enjoyed it. It was organised in chronological order and was really easy to follow. I particularly liked his portrait of his sister Lola which he did when he was only 13 years old. His talent at such a young age is clearly evident. His portrait of his Russian wife Olga which he painted in 1923 was so simple yet so lifelike. When you examine it closely it is just a faint wash of beige, rose and brown on the background and then in a sepia colour with simple lines he has just picked out her main features. There are very few brushstrokes on the paper and very little colour but it is beautiful. Then the exhibition went on to explore his work with cubism and some of his more colourful paintings. Completely different to his portraits of Lola and Olga but show his journey as an artist. I really enjoyed my visit.

Next port of call was quite literally the port, very nice and containing some beautiful boats. Then I just had time for a quick visit to the Roman amphitheatre.

A quick shower and change and then out for what was probably the best dinner of my stay in both Granada and Malaga. Tapas at the very delightful El Meson de Cervantes. It was outstanding. Baby squid and spinach with sea salt, swordfish and stir fry vegetables in hoisin sauce, mushroom and pumpkin risotto, mushroom with leeks and asparagus, lamb stew and mint with couscous …………… and I even had room for home made fig flan afterwards! I would go back here again and again.

After dinner I was lucky enough to catch one of those huge religious processions they have where they parade the Virgin Mary through the streets with all the music, band and fanfare. Every generation of every family seems to line the street. No-one does these quite like they do in Spain and Italy and we have nothing that remotely resembles this in the UK.

The following final half day was spent visiting the Alcazaba of Malaga, the Muslim fortress on a hilltop which looks over the old town and the port. It is nowhere near as vast, grand or beautiful as the Alhambra in Granada but definitely worth an hour or two of your time if you are in Malaga. Lovely gardens, plants and views over the port.

Just one last stop before it was time to go for the flight home. If I am ever misplaced or lost on holiday, or if I ever just disappear, don’t worry about me, there’s only one place I will be and it’s here, I’m easily found. The Heladaria…………..or ice cream shop! I’ll have an ice cream in my hand as big as my head and I’ll be wearing a big smile. Two flavours on this one………..Turron and then Caramelised Walnuts and Honey! They went lovely together.

Sadly then it was time for the flight back to the cold and wet UK to start planning my escapes for next year. Lots more adventures to be had at home though before then! So thumbs up for Malaga, a very enjoyable two days which surpassed my expectations. If you get the chance, go!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas……………………and I love Christmas! However, I do not like shopping. I don’t like shopping for Christmas, shopping for clothes, shopping for anything really……… I’m not your stereotypical girl. I’d rather be adventuring and playing out in the countryside and consider shopping a bit of a waste of time. I’m always thinking what else I could have been doing while I’m trudging around the shops.

However, sometimes you have to go shopping and last Sunday was one of those days. I so desperately needed a lie in as I had been out on Saturday with my lovely friend Julia, to the theatre, to see ‘The Commitments’ musical. It was fantastic but after all the singing and dancing in my seat and a late evening I was tired. Anyway, I managed to get up early, plied myself with caffeine, and decided to go to Leeds. Leeds is the nearest big shopping city to me, only 30 minutes down the motorway, and it is actually a lovely city to have a wander around so I thought if I went there it wouldn’t be all about shopping, I could have a look at other things too.

It was a lovely sunny Sunday, blue sky and sunshine, but crisp and cold. I love the old Victorian buildings in Leeds and I parked up on the North side of the City so I could have a good walk into the City and wander down past the Civic Hall and City Hall. The City Hall was completed in 1858, designed by architect Cuthbert Brodrick and built of local Rawden Hill millstone grit. It’s such a wonderful building from the outside. Around 10 years ago I sang Verdi’s Requiem in there and although I did not get the chance to go inside today, if you ever get the chance to listen to a concert in there I recommend it, it’s beautiful and the acoustics are fantastic, it has lots of happy singing memories for me. The Civic Hall is equally as beautiful. Although newer, being built in the 20th century, you can’t fail to notice its gold owls and clock and its imposing white façade.

Anyway, less of the architecture, this post is an example of why I shouldn’t be allowed out shopping on my own, I’m dangerous, and is the perfect example of those times when I just can’t focus on what I’m doing and go shooting of in a completely different direction.

The Christmas market was just setting up. The Victorian Merry Go Round Carousel was in place and everything was starting to look really Christmassy.

What had I gone for. Really quite boring stuff really……………. a new table cloth, some towels, a battery for a watch, some Christmas crackers and other mundane domesticated things.

All the beautiful decorations were up in the Victoria Arcade and the Victoria Centre and the Christmas window was looking all sparkly and inviting in Harvey Nichols.

By this time I’m starting to feel really Christmassy and have lost sight of what I actually came for. Did I have a lovely day? Yes I did, and I felt all warm, fuzzy and Christmassy at the end of it. Did I get what I wanted? No!!!!! Not a table cloth or towel in sight but one pair of boots, two jumpers and a coat later I returned home duly pleased with my purchases.

This is not the first time this has happened, I just can’t help myself, I’m a nightmare when it comes to shopping, that’s why I don’t go often. I’m sure I’m not the only one this happens to. I even go with a written list to try and keep me focused on what I’ve gone for but still manage to end up in Zara, John Lewis and anywhere else that catches my eye and come back with items I’ve not gone for. I can’t describe what exactly happens but I just can’t focus on shopping, I hate it. I get distracted, I see something I like better than tables cloths and towels and go off on a tangent. Anyway, I’ve got my excuse all prepared, I’ve read somewhere that when you get over 50 hormonal changes mean it’s common to experience lapses in memory and concentration. I don’t think for one moment that the absence of towels and table cloths has anything to do with an hormonal imbalance but I’m using that as my excuse!

I’m a little behind with my posts with Christmas in a primary school beginning to kick into full swing……….so much happening and so busy in the run up to the arrival of Father Christmas…….so exciting! Thought I’d do a little update on my adventures at half term a few weeks ago though, two Spanish cities – Granada and Malaga.

I like an October half term break. We only get one week off at October half term so it’s not really long enough to pack a huge suitcase and jet off for a relaxing holiday because no sooner have you got there and you are coming back. I do like a bit of sunshine though as it’s just starting to get cold at home. I was also really missing Spain after my summer there so figured if I could go far south enough I could have a bit of sunshine and a little bit more of Spain. In past Octobers, before the pandemic, I’d been to Rome, Barcelona, Seville, Krakow and Sicily. I’ll basically go anywhere where there’s something to learn and look at, a bit of sunshine, a reasonably priced flight and some nice food and drink. So flight to Malaga it was! First stop Granada.

I’ve wanted to go to Granada for a long time. I was close to it around four years ago when I went to Seville and Cordoba. I loved it there so I was excited to see what Granada had to offer.

It was an early flight from Newcastle to Malaga, then the bus from the airport to Granada, so by the time I arrived it was late afternoon. I’d just booked a studio apartment on the internet as I like to come and go as I please and don’t normally spend much time in the accommodation. It had a sitting room, bedroom and kitchenette, all in one open plan room with a small separate bathroom off the sitting room. It was perfect!

I’d chosen to stay outside the main city in the Albayzin area which is the old Muslim quarter. I’d chosen to stay here for two reasons. Firstly, when I visit somewhere I like to blend in and immerse myself in the culture of a place. I’d rather be somewhere a little bit more authentic than surrounded by tourists. Sadly, as soon as I open my mouth and the Yorkshire comes out and they spot my almost translucent skin colour, it gives me away completely as being British! Secondly, the apartment promised a wonderful view of the Alhambra Palace, my main reason for wanting to visit. The choice of accommodation could not have been better. It had absolutely everything I needed, a lovely rooftop terrace to sit out in a morning and evening and the most fantastic view of the Alhambra Palace.

It was almost dark by the time I’d unpacked my bags so just time for a quick wander around the Albayzin and up to the Mirador San Nicolas viewpoint for an even better view of the Alhambra. It was buzzing up at the view point, there were people drinking, singing, dancing flamenco and playing guitar. It was such a lovely atmosphere. Quick trip to the supermarket for supplies, a drink in a bar and then off to bed as I was exhausted.

Day two was all about the Alhambra Palace. The palace is a fortress on top of the hill, on the opposite side of the river from the city. It is Islamic in architectural style and is one of the world’s best preserved monuments of moorish architecture. I’ve visited the Mesquita in Cordoba, another fantastic example of moorish architecture, but the Alhambra is just on a completely different scale. You cannot appreciate how vast it is until you are actually there walking around it. It is beautiful but there are so many parts to it, I was in there for six hours and it took up my entire day, I just could not get enough of it.

First stop the Nasrid Palaces section of the complex, the centrepiece ………… stunning! There were tiled mosaics, courtyards with reflective pools, the most fantastic views of the city, vaulted ceilings, arches and the most ornately detailed carved stucco everywhere you looked. It was spectacular. I spent hours just in there alone, so long that I needed reviving slightly, I had to have a Gin Fizz inside the Parador, which sits inside the complex (any excuse for a lunchtime cocktail somewhere nice)!

Then it was on to the Generalife gardens which were magical. Various ponds and flower beds full of the most gorgeous perennial planting. Bearing in mind this was October, I would have loved to see them in full bloom a couple of months earlier. Such beautiful plants and planting combinations, just an explosion of colour. After all this I needed ice cream. There is a theme running through any trip I take……see something ……. drink something…..see something…….eat something……etc. it’s a continuous cycle!

By the end of the Alhambra visit I was so hungry. A quick change of clothes and off for tapas at La Riviera in the Albayzin area. This was lovely, I love tapas and I do have a bit of a squid and chorizo addiction so tapas is just perfect for me washed down with some wine.

Day three was an equally busy day. I had spent so long in the Alhambra I was a little bit behind on my list of must sees. First stop the Plaza Nueva because you have to see the main square in every city you visit.

Next stop the Cathedral and the Capilla Real (Royal Chapel). The Capilla Real is the resting place of Spain’s catholic monarchs Isabel I of Castilla and Fernando II of Aragon. It was beautiful in here, no expense spared. There were some gorgeous pieces of art, a beautiful chapel, tombs, a crypt and it was a lovely place to look around. The cathedral next to it I would not visit again. It’s quite bland. Lots of white marble and feels quite vast, cold and austere. It’s nowhere near as nice as the cathedrals in the cities of Northern Spain like Burgos or Leon.

Then it was a stroll through the city and past the statue of the ‘Aquador and Donkey’. Now that was a learning for me, I’d never heard of an Aquador. Apparently they were folk from the countryside who came into the city to sell their fresh clean water to the city dwellers who could not get clean water.

Time for a coffee now and I’m a bit choosy when it comes to coffee ……… but 10 out of 10 goes to La Finca coffee house. Perfectly poured fair trade speciality beans direct from the growers and the most delicious carrot cake.

Suitably revived I pressed on and walked to the Sacromonte area which is Granada’s historical Roma area well known for its flamenco and cave houses. It’s a bit bohemian here, lots of musicians, dancers, arty types and a mix of cultures. A really interesting place to walk around, see a bit of flamenco and just get a general feel for this simple yet vibrant way of life, it really comes alive at night.

By this time my little legs were tired and I needed a little pamper. I’d seen all I wanted to see and thought it was time for some relaxation so guess what……..Granada is home to a really fantastic hammam (Turkish bath), the Hammam al Andalus! Now when it comes to spas I’m not really a girly girl, I don’t go often as I can get a bit bored just doing nothing. However I do like a hammam and a massage. A hammam is basically a public steam bath associated with the Islamic world. The closest one to home is in Harrogate, Yorkshire and it’s lovely, I have been known to go AWOL here for the afternoon if the urge to escape becomes too much. It’s all about the skin, exfoliation and getting rid of toxins. You come out feeling so good, relaxed and clean. They normally have a number of rooms and pools which you travel round in a particular order: first you get warm in the tepidarium (warm pool/room), then into the caldarium (hot steam room) then straight into the a frigidarium (cold pool/room). This cycle is then repeated. The hammam in Granada was lovely, one cold pool, two medium, one quite hot and then a steam room. Lovely selection of oils and salt to rub on your skin and a little relaxing area with an assortment of Turkish tea. I managed to squeeze a massage in too which was really good. I’m not really into beauty treatments either but I love a massage. Sitting at a computer all day I get knots in my shoulders and back muscles so I do like a massage and I mean a proper one, I like it to hurt and I like to feel all those knots being undone. This one was perfect. Not many people know this but one of my other evening classes and certificates is in Swedish body massage! But you can’t really massage your own back, neck and shoulders. I need to do separate post on my lifelong learning at some point as some of the courses even make me smile looking back on them, not remotely related to each other, I’ll have a go at anything!

By the time I came out of the hammam I was so relaxed I just wanted to sleep, so dinner was a picnic on the roof terrace to watch the day turn to night. I was so sleepy and when you have a view like this who needs to go anywhere? I managed to keep my eyes open until dark, which was a lovely sight with the Alhambra all lit up, and then it was off to bed, ready for city number two the day after……Malaga.

I’d definitely recommend a trip to Granada, it met all of my expectations and more.

When you work in Primary School you have to be in touch with your inner child…..and I don’t think anyone would argue when I say I am! I especially like to dress up……….I can’t wait to be a Grandma because I’ve got the biggest dressing up box in the loft roof space that I’m waiting to get back out again. It’s skewed a bit towards superheroes…..we’ve got Superman, Spiderman, Mr Incredible, Batman, Darth Vader, Bob the Builder and many more. I do believe there’s even a full size crocodile suit up there.

Well today was another opportunity to get dressed up for work……yaaaaay. Today is BBC Children in Need Day, that one day a year when the nation comes together to raise money for exactly that, children in need. The Children in Need mascot is a huge yellow bear called Pudsey and to raise money we all make a donation at school, adults and children, and go to work in our pyjamas. It’s not always the most productive day as there’s something psychological about going to work in your pyjamas and dressing gown, I yawn a lot and feel really tired like my mind thinks I should be in bed.

Well today it was a win win situation. You might have read in an earlier post that I don’t like this time if year and I’d prefer to be a bear and hibernate. Well………I managed to find an all in one set of bright yellow Pudsey Bear pyjamas. So not only was I able to get dressed up….I was a bear for the day too, fantastic!

The only slight issue was the need for petrol on the way to work. The Pudsey driving the Mini did get a few smiles down at the local garage when I bounced across the forecourt to pay, but hey ho, it’s all for a good cause and wasn’t anywhere near as embarrassing as my trip to Asda supermarket dressed as Red Ranger from Power Rangers last year. If you can put a smile on someone’s face it’s got to be worth embarrassing yourself!

Today is one of those gloomy Sundays. It’s cold, it’s wet, it’s misty and it’s not really gotten daylight all day. So it’s one of those days that I really don’t like. I read something on Facebook that a friend sent me the other day and it went like this:

‘You know you are a runner ………..when your immediate response to any conflict or problem life throws at you is: “I need to go for a run!”‘

Well that’s me all over and it is exactly why I was sent it. Needless to say, when you are having a midlife crisis you run a lot! I’m probably the fittest I’ve ever been. So this Sunday morning started with a very early run through the gloom and mist because basically if I feel miserable, which I did, I go for a run and I feel so much better after.

Today is also a bit of a sad day in the UK because it’s Remembrance Sunday. I’m not a particularly religious person but I always do make an effort to gather at the village war memorial with everyone else at 11:00am on Remembrance Sunday to do just that, to remember. So this morning’s run was not too long as I had to be back for that.

It’s important to remember. Not just to pay respects to those young men who gave up their lives so we might have the lives and freedom that we have today, but to remind ourselves what happened and to ensure that it never ever happens again, amongst ourselves in Europe at least. I understand absolutely the need to defend ourselves but it still makes me so so sad that still after all these years somewhere in this world people continue to fight, because in a war there are no winners. It’s so important that we make sure our children understand this, from as early an age as possible too, as we are reliant on them to make sure it doesn’t re-occur.

I’m quite interested in history as I do believe that you can look to history to give you the answers as to what not to do in the future. I’ve been to Auschwitz, not just because I have some some strange morbid fascination but just because I wanted to see it for myself and just to try and understand why. It is truly as horrific as you expect it to be and it is impossible to describe the impact it will have on you, you really do have to see it first hand . When my two were 13 and 15 I took them on a trip to Belgium which coincided with them both learning about the two European World Wars. We did the visit to Ypres and the Menin gate, we visited some preserved battlefields and went in some of the bunkers and trenches. I also took them to Tyne Cot Cemetery. For anyone not familiar with Tyne Cot it is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world, for any war. There are 11,961 white headstones for the 11,961 soldiers buried there. What makes it even sadder is that 8,373 have no name, they were unidentifiable. It’s one of those places that once visited you never ever forget, a very beautiful, calm and peaceful place but at the time very eerie and utterly heart-breaking. Just the vastness of it, the little white headstones stretching out as far as the eye can see. Both boys were silent, I think everything that they had been learning about came together and they understood why it should never happen again.

In my reading, and visiting places to try and understand better, a couple of years ago I came across the speech delivered by Winston Churchill at the University of Zurich on 19th September 1946 after World War II in which he said: “We must build a kind of United States of Europe. In this way only will hundreds of millions of toilers be able to regain the simple joys and hopes which make life worth living. The process is simple. All that is needed is the resolve of hundreds of millions of men and women to do right instead of wrong and to gain as their reward blessing instead of cursing.“

Quite a poignant quote for today really. I wonder what he would think to the battles we continue to fight today. I discovered the above speech just before Brexit ironically and I wondered at the time what he would have thought to that as the UK led that disassembly of a United States of Europe that so many thousands fought and lost their lives for.

Anyway, enough of my rambling on ……… onto today. The weather sort of fitted the mood. The church, which sits opposite the memorial was shrouded in mist and you could see your breath in front of you. There was a huge turn out of people as usual. We processed through the village slowly, led by the wonderful Old Silkstone Brass Band. The brownies and scouts were all out in force to lead the lowering and raising of the flags and did a wonderful job as always. It always makes me emotional to see them as it takes me back to when my two were little and used to participate, marching along in their scout uniforms, complete with starched necker for the parade, shoes polished to within an inch of their life.

I think there will be very few people in the UK who don’t have a family member that served in the war. Today, in addition to remembering everyone, I say a special little thank you to my relatives who served in World War II, Great Uncle Vincent Sharpe, Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and Robert F Poston Junior, T Sergeant in the United States Army who was stationed over here in the war and met and married by beautiful Great Auntie Betty shortly after the war and gave me my lovely American family.

So today and every day, those famous words from one verse of Laurence Binyon’s poem ‘For the Fallen’, which is worth a read in its entirety if you’ve not read it before:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: 

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

Tomorrow will be a better day.