A Trip to the Coast

We popped down to Seasalter near Whitstable yesterday. It felt quite mild when we left home but it was bitterly cold on the Kent coast. We had a picnic on the beach (yes we are mad...) and then spent some time beach combing....drift wood for the fire (I've squirrelled a few pieces aside for future craft projects), seaweed for the allotment (a great fertiliser, compost activator & mulch) and sea urchin fossils. We then popped along to Whitstable to browse the shops and warm up. Finished with fish & chips in the car as the sun went down.

 Seasalter Beach

 Pebbles, Shells and Sand and a rare glint of Sunshine!

 Sea Urchin Fossils and a piece of driftwood which I have claimed.

 Looking out towards the exposed London Clay. I remember trudging through this as a kid with my brother & sister along the coast at Allhallows determined to get to the sea at low tide. 

 I couldn't resist this pretty teapot (£4 from the charity shop)

 and this 5 piece china set (£2). 

The cup is a different design to the plates & saucer but the colours and theme match well.

 I just love the autumnal design especially the apple.

Red Admiral Butterfly

http://www.butterfly-conservation.org

A beautiful sunny day to lift the spirits and at last all the snow seems to have melted. I was out and about early and sighted a beautiful Red Admiral butterfly. I didn't expect to see one so early in the year especially after the cold spell we've just had. Hope it finds enough nectar to feed on!

DIY Light Switch Finger Plates

A lot of my walls are painted white so this is a simple way to protect paintwork from grubby finger prints and at the same time add some colour and interest to my walls

For safety reasons turn off the power to the circuit before removing your light switch and make sure it's done by a competent person to avoid a short circuit.

Purchase a pack of clear plastic light switch finger plates. I bought a pack of two on the internet for £2.25 (free postage) as my local diy stores only had white ones.

Cut a template using wallpaper scraps, wrapping paper, greeting cards or design your own to match your room.

Carefully unscrew the light switch and place the paper and finger plate into position behind before screwing back into place (make sure the wires haven't loosened). 

Be Creative!

Coffee & Walnut Cake

When the snow came last weekend it seemed like a good excuse (not that I needed one) to do some home baking to take my mind off the growing pile of ironing and all the other mundane chores around the house. My poor fruit trees are still sitting in the porch as the soil is too frozen for planting them at the allotment so I just hope they survive. Anyway, here is a lovely cake recipe to break the diet (I wasn't on one so I was ok) which always gets eaten very quickly in our house (always a good sign). All the cake ingredients can be mixed at once so it is fairly quick and easy.

Ingredients

225g (8oz) margarine

225g (8oz) sugar

4 eggs (large)

225g (8oz) self-raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 tablespoons instant coffee, mixed with 1 tablespoon hot water

75g (3oz) walnuts, chopped

Butter Icing

75g (3oz) butter

250g (9oz) icing sugar, sifted

One & a half teaspoons instant coffee, dissolved in one - one & a half tablespoons hot water

10-12 walnut halves for decorating top of cake


1. Mix all cake ingredients together and divide between two greased and lined 8" (20cms) cake tins .

Mix by hand using a wooden spoon and bowl or in an electric mixer

Level mixture with the back of a metal spoon

2. Bake in middle of oven for 30-35 mins at 160oC/Fan 140oC/Gas3. Check cakes are cooked by inserting a metal skewer into the centre which should come out clean.


3. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 10 mins before turning out of tins onto a wire cooling rack (loosen cakes from sides of tins with a sharp knife). Carefully remove lining paper.

Leave to cool for 10 mins before turning out of tins

Leave to cool completely before sandwiching cake halves together

4. Make up butter icing by mixing all ingredients together. Use half of the butter icing to sandwich cakes together (you can add extra chopped walnuts to the butter icing if you want to). Use remaining icing to decorate top of cake. If icing isn't stiff enough add a little extra sifted icing sugar. Decorate top of cake with walnut halves. 

Sift the icing sugar to prevent lumps appearing in the finished butter icing

Coffee flavoured butter icing

Eat & Enjoy! (Go for a run later......)

Charity Shop Finds

Pretty Crocheted Blankets £2.50 & £1.50

 

 I love the fresh pastel shades in this blanket - perfect for Spring

 Straw bag (£3.50) and vintage blue vase (£2.50)

I love glass and just couldn't resist this vase as the blue colour is so beautiful and quite unusual- perfect for Spring flowers and sunny days! 

 Irish Linen Tablecloth £2.00

I love the soft colours of this tablecloth especially the duck egg blue border.

Vintage Fabric £1.00

I was very lucky to find this beautiful piece of vintage cotton fabric (my photo doesn't do it justice) which I hope to incorporate into some patchwork cushions. I washed it and hang it on the line in the sun but it actually froze as stiff as a board because it was so cold!

Vintage Fabric £1 each