Just for the fun of it

Today, I decided to make...



...cupcakes! I've never made 'cupcakes' before. I've made buns, but they're not the same, cupcakes are much cuter! And for no reason other than I just felt like it! I just made a basic vanilla sponge recipe, added some white chocolate chips and then I whipped up some cream, food colouring and icing sugar to decorate them with.

Delicious, and so adorable!

Garlic Mushroom Fried Rice

Is it me or does there never seem to be anything in the cupboards at this time of year? It seems that after all the food of the holidays there's nothing left now, and even if there was people are so sick of eating after all the Christmas goodies that they wouldn't eat it anyway!

This was my dilemma the other day when I was trying to find something to have for dinner. My search through the pantry, fridge and freezer seemed fruitless at first, but then I noticed the almost empty, overlooked bag of rice tucked away behind another box of yet to be eaten mince pies. A second look in the fridge reminded me of a half pack of mushrooms and an idea began to form...



Garlic Mushroom Fried Rice

I cooked the rice, and then left it to cool for a while. I heated some oil in a wok, then added three cloves of garlic (crushed) and the mushrooms. I let the mushrooms soften for a couple of minutes, then added the rice and some dark Soy sauce and stir fried it all together. When it was done, I tipped it into a bowl and added some crushed chilli flakes to the top, coz I love everything I eat to be really spicy!

A really simple and quick meal (especially if you had some already cooked, leftover rice), but definitely very tasty!

Just a quick post to wish you all a Happy New Year! I hope you have a fabulous 2009.

Remember, remember...

...the 5th November!

Or Bonfire Night, as we so lovingly refer to it in the UK! If you don't know what it is, you can read Wikipedias definition of it! And I know, I know I'm a day late but we had our celebrations today. It's not my favourite time of the year I have to admit, I'm not overly fond of watching fireworks but I had a good time eating all the traditional bonfire night foods (jacket potatoes, hot dogs with onions, toffee apples and parkin!) and I had a good time taking photos too! I even managed to capture writing my name with a sparkler, look!:



And I also enjoyed eating my home made parkin!:



Not quite as good as my Grandmas parkin, but it's getting there!

Ingredients:

8 oz S.R. flour
8 oz oatmeal
2 teaspoonsful ginger
4 oz margarine
4 tablespoonsful sugar
8 oz treacle
1/2 pint milk.

Method:

Rub margarine into flour and oatmeal.
Add sugar and ginger, mix thoroughly.
Warm treacle and mix to paste, adding milk if necessary.
Put into greased tin, it needs to be fairly deep.
Bake for one hour in an oven about 150°C

Good news!

For those of you who live in the UK, I went to B & Q earlier on today and if you take in one regular light bulb, they'll replace it for you free of charge with two energy saving light bulbs. How good of a deal is that?!

Also, I've just recieved an email from the local council and apparently November is the month where they send out renewal forms for the allotments and there's a good chance I could move up on the waiting list, so keep your fingers crossed for me!