Holiday Cottage

 Guess by now many of you know that hubby & I went away for our 7th wedding anniversary to a cottage in North Wales.  This blog post is simply about the cottage, the gorgeous cottage :)  It sleeps 6 people so I'm sure you can imagine how much 2 people enjoyed all that space.  It was beautifully decorated & so peaceful, the only 2 noises you could hear all day long was birds singing and a few sheep in the farm at the back. There were many games, DVDs and CDs available to use & to my delight there was a Christmas CD & "It's a Wonderful Life".  We had a lovely time using the hot tub, watching films, playing board games and visiting the local area.  We had never been to North Wales & had never really hired a cottage before. It's always hotels or B&Bs. I loved how you could smell the fire in the living room as you came into the room everytime & kept imagining Christmas lights all over it. The cottage was an up side down cottage so you could reall take in the breathtaking views.

I had to share some the photos with you guys, hope you like them :)

Lily

Front of the cottage

Back of the cottage

Fab hot tub

Back garden

Back garden, bbq area

Wood burner for cold nights

The farm at the back of the cottage

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Real victorial fire place in the master bedroom that was brought in from a mining cottage near by!

Conservatory 

2nd bedroom

Hallway

Mini conservatory 

Games room

Beautiful writing desk 

Gorgeous lounge, real wood burning fire

3 bedroom with 2 beds

Breakfast room followed by formal dining room

Our cake on the kitchen counter & our Canadian Iced Wine that our friend had sent from  Canada, we had saved it for a special occasion.

Elf the movie: Santa Announcement

Today I watched ELF for the first time!  Why hadn't I seen it before?!?!  I looooooove this film, now I know why it is a holiday favorite for many.  I love that the film is set in New York city, which I really hope to visit someday.  The thing is I'm not a huge fan of Will Ferrell specially after watching "Step Brothers".  I bought the film this week on Amazon for about £2.00 & it happens to be a 2 disc special edition.  Have any of you seen the special features, the "Deck the Halls" feature?  It shows many people who are absolutely in love and obsessed with decorating their homes for Christmas.  Some of the footage is breath taking and has made me want to start planning and making decorations for this year.  I am going to use a new book that I have bought, "Crafting Christmas Gifts" by David and Charles Media Inc.  There are many ideas on how to make angels, snowmen etc.

Only 161 days to go, have you started planning yet?     

By the way many thanks for those of you who wished me & hubby a Happy Wedding Anniversary.  Our holiday was really special and lovely & I will upload some photos soon.  If you missed the post on my "Surprise Wedding Anniversary Cake" please click HERE.  

Hope you are having a lovely weekend & please let me know if you have started planning for Christmas 2011. 

Lily

Both Images: Thanks to Google Images.

Surprise Cake for my Wedding Anniversary

I am married to the most amazing and caring man in the world :)

July 10th is our 7th wedding anniversary and my husband has surprised me with a beautiful cake for the occasion & I love, love, looooovvvveee it.  At the actual wedding I couldn't decide whether we should have a little bride & groom on top of the wedding or flowers.  We decided on flowers in the end but I always wanted little people on top too, lol.  So hubby had asked one his colleagues who also bakes and decorates cakes (as well as her current job) to do this.  I have also uploaded some photos of our wedding and a couple of our cake too so you can see them and also because I am so very proud of my handsome husband. 

We are going away for a week to celebrate & we're taking the cake too.  We can save the top layer and the figures too which I really want to but hubby says he wants to eat his own figurine! lol, will have to see. I'll keep you posted.

Hope you like the photos & wish you are all having a nice week,

Lily

Christmas Plum dessert

Yesterday I made these lovely plum dessert jars for Christmas.  I got the recipe from "Cooking for Christmas" by Martha Day. This book is full of lovely ideas.

You add 2 & 1/2 cups of brandy, 1 & 2/3 cups of sugar and a cinnamon stick together in a pan and warm on low heat until the sugar gets dissolved.  Then you add plums (or peaches or pears if you prefer) plus zest of a lemon and poach the fruit until soft.  Then remove the fruit and rapid boil the drink until syrup like and thick. Then pour in sealed jars & store in a cool, dry place for 6 months.  Then you have a Christmas dessert ready :)

It was so easy to make & i had a little taste of it as it is and it's very yummy.  I added a ribbon and a bauble to the jar cause I think I can make some more as gifts.  I think it will be a really nice dessert (with whipped cream) after a ham joint on Christmas Eve. We have our turkey dinner on Christmas Day.

Hope you like it,

Lily

Cream cheese pies

First of all, I want to welcome all my new followers, it is very nice to "meet" you. 

This afternoon I made these Cream Cheese pies (mostly for my hubby as he treated me to a lovely meal out last night) :)

It is a total bliss to be using my kitchen properly again now that uni is done, after many months of ready-ish food.  We don't ordinarily have dessert but i found this recipe on "Betty's Kitchen" channel on youtube. I have altered it a little bit I must say but can't take full credit :)  I love Betty's recipes, so simple to follow.

For this I bought 12 Brandy Snap Baskets (Betty recommends using one large pie crust)

Then you beat 8oz of mascarpone cream cheese and 1/4 cup of sugar plus a tea spoon of vanilla extract.  In a separate dish beat 16oz of double cream, then fold the cream into the cream cheese mixture and rest in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Then choose, wash & slice the fruit. I used strawberries, blueberries and raspberries as I wanted a summer fruit flavor and had some strawberries in the garden to use.  You can use sliced nectarine, peach or apricot for more of a tropical taste. 

Then separately add a tea spoon of orange extract to a half a cup of strawberry jam and mix well.  Once the cream cheese mixture has cooled down, serve it in your individual cases or large pie crust, add the fruit and then top it with the jam & orange extract mixture. Rest in the fridge for another couple of hours before serving.  It is possible to make it as long as 8 hours before if you are making them for guests, that way you can get it done first thing in the morning and forget about it :)

It is so quick to make & delicious.

Hope you all are having a great week, I am looking forward to the weekend.  Have received all of my university results and am happy with them.  Just have to wait for the graduation ceremony in January.  This will be the first weekend in a long time to not be thinking about any studies or results :) So I'll be spending it planning for Christmas (never too early, TeeHee)

Thanks for stopping by,

Lily

Ingredients: Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Sugar, Vanilla extract, Orange extract, Strawberry jam, Mascarpone cream cheese, Double cream & brandy snap baskets. 

The finished double cream plus cream cheese mixture

Holiday Challenge on Ellen

Have you ever seen this? To be honest I have watched this many times as it makes laugh so much but this time I was watching it cause the set design is inspiring.  I am starting to plan new ideas for this Christmas, never too early, TeeHee. I thought I'll share the video with you & hope that it makes you laugh too.

Are there any particular holiday related clips that inspire you to decorate?

Hope you all are having a lovely weekend,

Lily

weekend in London :)

We spent this weekend in London :)

It is so lovely to visit your favourite city in the world (at least so far, I may change my mind with various holidays in the future, TeeHee).  We were visiting friends who have just purchased an apartment so we didn't get to do many tourist things but for the first time just before we were about to cross the river Thames through the Tower Bridge, they opened it up for a ship to cross!  I was so excited as I hadn't seem it in action before so I took a few photo but they didn't come out that great.  We also took a walk at sunset along the river on the south bank looking at the skyline & it was breath taking :)

I have found a video on youtube that shows the London Tower Bridge opening, so if you wish to check it out please click HERE.

The photo follow the Tower Bridge as we drove through it, hope you enjoy them 7 hope that you have had a lovely weekend. 

Lily

You can just about see it in the distance opening up.

Tower of London & the famous modern glass building is the Swiss Re Building ( referred to as the gherkin) 

The highest sky scraper in Europe being built, the Shard.

River Thames at sunset, on the left you can see the Shard & to the right of it you can see the Gherkin!

Underground!