tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30689559688519100552024-03-19T11:27:51.749+00:00In Search of Exceedingly Good Baked GoodsCarriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.comBlogger161125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-80445325554371306432013-11-22T21:21:00.000+00:002013-11-22T21:21:00.057+00:00Alice in Wonderland Unbirthday Cake<div style="text-align: justify;">
I recently shared my eldest nieces Halloween themed birthday cake but I've not shared the one we made back in August for my other nieces birthday. When we first started making cakes for my nieces, we'd pick something they liked, like a favourite disney or cartoon character and it was pretty straightforward. I think what has now happened is that my sister leaves my nieces in front of google image search for a bit, and they look for the most difficult cake for us to replicate to see how far they can push us before we break. I never thought we'd be able to pull off the Alice in Wonderland cake for my youngest niece, especially as Ian was unable to help because he had lots of work to do. </div>
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It was also tricky because we were attempting our very first topsy turvy cake. After much studying of you tube videos, I was confident I had an idea of the technique needed (you can get topsy turvy cake pans but we're always a bit last minute with these things!). Some careful carving and moulding of cake later, and we had the cake all covered (including a cheshire cat stripey bottom layer). </div>
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Here's the finished cake in all it's topsy turvy glory. </div>
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<br/><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/10615321505/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="IMG_8397 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_8397" height="500" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3750/10615321505_e189296652.jpg" width="375" /></a></div>
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Again, the detail really made the cake - it's all there - the cheshire cats face (Ian took a break from his work to help with this one)...</div>
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...the tea set (non matching as I'd imagine all mad hatters tea sets are) along with the mad hatters hat itself....</div>
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<br/><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/10615314395/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="IMG_8393 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_8393" height="375" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2885/10615314395_6af2e268aa.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><br/>
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...some playing card people (which we might have used non edible pen on because we only had a black icing pen - I don't think they were eaten but I'm sure it wouldn't have killed anyone if they were)</div>
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I'm really proud of my daffodil - the centre was really tricky to make and attach but I think it's clear what it's meant to be.</div>
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The daisy looks really happy to be part of the cake (and so it should!)<br />
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The eat me label on the entire cake was my favourite part (and one of the only things not on the <a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5148/5653236338_c799e6c5f8.jpg">cake picture</a> we were working from).</div>
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Alice in Wonderland clearly isn't my nieces favourite movie as she was confused by the 'unbirthday' tag (this confirms my suspicion that she was just trying to test our cake skills!).</div>
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Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-29729567565301478332013-11-01T20:06:00.000+00:002013-11-01T20:11:06.184+00:00Halloween Birthday Cake <div style="text-align: justify;">
My niece was born very close to halloween. Consequently every birthday cake we make for her these days is halloween themed. This year we took inspiration from this cake <a href="http://www.wallpes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/halloween-cakes-16.jpg">here </a>but she's now old enough to know what she likes so she made her own tweaks to the cake. Because we were working towards not just a picture, but her description of what she wanted, it was a bit daunting as we had to hope we'd understood the brief correctly.</div>
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She seemed pretty pleased with it - I wasn't there when she cut into it to reveal the colourful insides but I'm happy with how it turned out. </div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/10614394674/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="601090_10152310434298222_231774700_n by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="601090_10152310434298222_231774700_n" height="500" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3694/10614394674_aed19c2b81.jpg" width="375" /></a></div>
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Ian did a great job making all the skulls (he did get a bit bored because he had to make 8 of them all the same and that's not really his thing) - check out this close up of one.</div>
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The pumpkins were slightly more fun because we could give them each a personality of their own. I got to arrange them on the cake so of course my favourite ended up at the front.</div>
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He looks so shocked to be there - it makes me giggle. As does the goofy one.</div>
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But look at this poor one. I don't think he wanted to join the party!</div>
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It's definitely the little details that makes the cakes fun, and I think my nieces enjoy looking for them when the cake arrives. It turns a nice simple cake into something special. (Simple cake as it was, it still required 3 shopping trips and over a day of work!)
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<br />Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-42799947125698935752013-01-20T16:25:00.003+00:002013-01-20T16:25:26.449+00:00Pinterest - not just for pinning!<div style="text-align: justify;">
Happy New Year all! </div>
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I've decided this year that I need to stop pinning things on pinterest and then forgetting about them - I need to actually make some of the things I pin.</div>
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It'll be hard, because all of the things look so yummy and full of butter/sugar/other naughtiness, and I'm currently committed to a healthier lifestyle in a bid to shift some weight. I'm 12.5lbs lighter than at the start of the year, so am still very much motivated to stick to it.</div>
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I decided that I'd make things I don't like but have pinned because I think Ian will like them. First up was <a href="http://www.madewithpink.com/2012/04/coconut-ice-homemade-condensed-milk.html">coconut ice</a>, something he says he's never had, but I find it hard to believe because he loves everything coconuty (and thankfully I don't!). </div>
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I'm not sure I measured everything correctly because the resulting coconut ice was a tad sticky, and I didn't quite split it half and half as my white layer is definitely thicker than the pink.</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/8397950127/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="2013-01-20 15.52.22 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="2013-01-20 15.52.22" height="300" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8372/8397950127_d9ffe01ca3.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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I was quite generous with my squares, mainly because I wanted to get it cut quickly as it seemed to be getting stickier with every second out of the fridge! Apologies for the terrible quality photos, my camera was up the stairs and I'm still lazy!</div>
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I've got plenty of coconut left (as I failed to check the recipe before going shopping) so I might try this again, or one of the many other coconut recipes I've got pinned! </div>
<br />Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-26796759854610924762012-05-17T23:34:00.000+01:002012-05-17T23:34:57.544+01:00There's Nothing More Fun Than A Cake Challenge<div style="text-align: justify;">
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Ian may not agree with the fun part, but we'll ignore that because he's stuck with me forever and he'll just have to deal with it!</div>
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It was our second meeting of our Clandestine Cake Club last night, and the theme was 'Jubilant Jubilee'. I couldn't decide whether to go for something decadent and fit for a queen, or something that looked impressive. I like a good challenge so I decided to go down the impressive looking cake route.</div>
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I was inspired by the humble battenberg cake, and was really excited by the idea of having a cake where every slice was a union jack flag. All my friends thought it was a challenge too far (and it nearly was).</div>
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I made two tray bake sponges, using a standard mix (the blue 4 eggs, the red only 2). I tried to find dark blue colouring to try and get a truer match to the flag, but I already had the darkest one my shop offered, so I mixed in a tiny bit of black to try and darken it.<br />
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You'll see that when you bake a blue cake, instead of going golden, it goes green! </div>
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I tried to cut each length of blue cake into two, on the diagonal, which is not an easy task at all, and was one of the trickiest parts of the cake creation.</div>
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Once you cut into the cake, you realise just how blue it is - the green on the outside definitely fools you.</div>
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I measured up a bit of red cake to sandwich between the two bits of blue cake that I'd just cut, and was going to join all the bits with buttercream, but this was a fragile job, as every time I tried to spread the buttercream, it tried to pull the cake into bits.</div>
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The only way to get it to work was to use my hands, which was a bit weird, and involved a lot of hand washing because buttercream is pretty greasy stuff!</div>
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With all four corners of the cake made, it was time for bed, so it all got cling filmed at put in the fridge to harden the buttercream (yes, there's only three bits in this picture but trust me, I did make four!).</div>
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Making the cross to go in the middle of the union jack involved a lot of joining of cakes, and it definitely turned a bit jigsaw puzzley, but I was running out of time before cake club, and was a bit panicked so had to hope it would work.</div>
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Here's the cake all stacked and assembled - all it needed now was a nice fondant icing blanket to hide some of the joins. </div>
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I cut off a small amount from both ends to give it a clean finish.</div>
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The cake was a lot larger than I was expecting it to be, but I achieved my goal of a flag in every slice (even if each slice had to be shared between two people because of the size!). </div>
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I've got ideas for improvement of the process but I'm not sure I'll have much call to make another one!</div>
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<br /></div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-1042191457904137672012-05-14T18:51:00.000+01:002012-05-14T18:51:25.317+01:00Blog Break - BGT is to blame!<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sorry for the unexpected blog break last week - I'm afraid my only excuse is that I was sat watching Britains Got Talent - I know it's fun to have a whole week of semi-finals, but I'd really rather it was only on once a week so I can do something else instead of watch it! (The dog was impressive though!)</div>
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So... seeing as that's all I've been doing, I don't have anything fun to blog about. Except my wonderful husband bought me a present, and I'm finally jumping on the Nigella bandwagon (my blog friend <a href="http://folieoflife.blogspot.co.uk/">Lisa</a> raves about Nigella all the time so I'm hoping she's right about her! Talking of Lisa, she's also gone AWOL from the blogisphere so hopefully this mention here might bring her back because I miss her comments!).</div>
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This is apparently Nigella's third book - Ian selected it because it had several chapters with recipes to make on lazy weekends - which sounds like the perfect use of weekend to me.</div>
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I like order - so if this book works out, I'll probably buy her first and second books so I have the starters of a set, instead of one randomly from the middle - although if any of you think I should shun the order and go for your Nigella favourite, let me know which it is and I'll consider a departure from my world of OCD.<br />
</div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-55106479783357751262012-05-01T23:12:00.000+01:002012-05-01T23:12:12.307+01:00Pinterest is a Dangerous Thing<div style="text-align: justify;">
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I waste a lot of time on pinterest - but it's a great way of bookmarking for me - I can see why I pinned things instantly and I don't have to open lots of bookmarks to find the one I'm looking for. </div>
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I saw <a href="http://suchprettythings.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/01/pretty-organized-cupcake-cases.html">this</a> clever way of storing cupcake cases on pinterest and have been wanting to do the same ever since. I saw some similar glass jars on amazon and was trying to work out which size to buy - I asked Ian for his opinion and he asked where I planned on putting this jar. I figured it'd look pretty just on the side but he didn't seem pleased.</div>
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So, I decided to do it anyway! But on a trial basis for starters. I've not spent any money on a jar (I found this one in a cupboard - although I don't think it's big enough). And I'm going to sneak it into the kitchen (although Ian now reads my blog so he might realise I've done it!).</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6987336538/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="IMG_2522 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_2522" height="640" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8165/6987336538_7be6e0b977.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Do you think it's pretty? Would you allow it to take up some of your kitchen real estate?</div>
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</a>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-25105492373894829592012-04-29T12:05:00.000+01:002012-04-29T12:05:00.657+01:00This time last year....<div style="text-align: justify;">
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I'd been up for hours making food ready for our Royal Wedding tea party. I'd been struggling to make trays of uniform looking sandwiches (the bread wasn't square!). I'd made shortbread myself for the first time, but I'd cheated
and bought the scones. I'd made two types of sausage rolls (one with onion,
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6925428108/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="2011-04-28 22.50.10 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="2011-04-28 22.50.10" height="240" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7081/6925428108_a00bebdf8d.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I'd spent the evening before making last minute bunting as all our local shops were out - it was simple but effective and added a nice splash of colour to the room. </div>
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I'd also made little union flags to adorn the cupcakes to make up for not piping the icing in a pretty manner (time was too short and I'd run out of disposal icing bags).</div>
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I'd not made enough flags so used skittles to decorate the remaining cupcakes. I'd also realised that my cupcake holder was too big, as there was only 6 people coming to the tea party yet we had 23 cupcakes!</div>
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I'd roped Ian in to help chop fruit for the Pimm's.</div>
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We had a nice afternoon in front of the telly watching it all, and
even though my friends aren't really very royalist, we enjoyed
the day because it was an excuse to get together and drink Pimms!</div>
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<br /></div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-15608996585845637292012-04-25T12:49:00.002+01:002012-04-25T12:49:59.817+01:00Golden syrup cake<div style="text-align: justify;">
Considering the amount of golden syrup that went into this <a href="http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1566633/golden-syrup-cake">cake</a>, it couldn't have turned out bad. But it turned out so much better than I was expecting.</div>
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You start out by combining the golden syrup, butter, and sugar over a low heat in a saucepan. It looked like a lot of sugary goodness, and after I'd put it all in the pan it seemed like I'd underestimated the size but there was no going back now because it would take an age to get all the golden syrup back out!</div>
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Because the size of the pan, it was pretty hard to mix all the flour in, and I was a bit skeptical with the 300ml of milk the recipe called for because it was already pretty runny, but I trusted that it was correct and ploughed ahead. It doesn't look very appetizing at this stage, but stick with it.</div>
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It was nice and easy to transfer to the tin, and I didn't need to spread it out at all because of the consistency of it. You'll notice that I didn't manage to get all the lumps out because the saucepan was just too full, but this didn't seem to matter.</div>
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After I took it out of the oven, I drizzled more golden syrup over the top. I was a bit stingy with this, because I knew how much golden syrup had already gone into the cake, but the effect of the drizzling is totally worth it, so go a little crazy!</div>
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The cake was really moist, and went down well with everyone at work and I'd definitely make it again. I'd imagine it would be good with custard or ice cream when hot too.</div>
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<br /></div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-35774588947855510872012-04-24T20:17:00.000+01:002012-04-24T20:17:05.593+01:00No TV = Productivity Win!<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/7110411669/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="IMG_2303 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_2303" height="357" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7260/7110411669_5dce735a45.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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So, I found some <a href="http://www.carrie-rousseau.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/time.html">time</a>. I worked out that if I don't put the telly on, then I'm more likely to do something useful. Yesterday evening I tidied the bedroom. Today isn't going so well, but that's because we were late home and then spent too long chatting to the neighbours, so I figured I'd blog and watch telly tonight instead of tidying the next room along. But I already feel happier having achieved something for once after work instead of just flaking in front of the telly.</div>
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I love the telly, but I hate the telly too! I really need to manage my telly time better to ensure I have time for other things in my life, but I'm really enjoying working towards my Day Zero list goal of watching a film a week - I've definitely seen some good things since I started that (and some questionable things too!). So, I need to strike a balance really - I might set aside 30mins a night, and then one night a week on top of that for telly time and see how it goes.</div>
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What do you do? Do you impose telly time routines on yourself? How much telly time do you have a week? </div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-50500110111565139342012-04-23T12:46:00.000+01:002012-04-23T12:46:00.966+01:00The Fox, Fair Oak<div style="text-align: justify;">
We had a few days off around Easter and so we decided to go out for dinner somewhere we'd not been before. I'd heard that The Fox in Fair Oak had a good chef - their <a href="http://www.thefoxfairoak.com/#">website </a>boasts that he is 2 rosette standard.</div>
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The menu seemed quite limited and Ian wasn't sure what to choose, but we finally came to a decision - Ian chose the layered smoked salmon, crayfish, crab & smoked trout terrine and I went for the Goats Cheese & celeriac mousse with red pepper coulis. </div>
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Ian's starter was nicely presented and seemed well packed with all the layers and he didn't leave any of the terrine itself (the blob of white stuff which we believe to be creme fraiche remained on the plate though). I don't like smoked salmon but I had a bit of the middle, although Ian had already drenched it in lemon and I'm not keen on that so not sure what I thought of it!<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6911413674/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="IMG_2430 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_2430" height="375" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5336/6911413674_970a593c66.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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My starter was a bit of an adventurous choice for me as I wasn't sure if I liked celeraic so I figured this was one way to find out. I was expecting it to be mixed in with the goats cheese to make the mousse, but as you can see it was just chunks of it. I did try several pieces because it's not a very strong taste and I couldn't quite work out what I thought of it, but I did end up picking it all out. I'm not sure I'd go as far as saying it's a mousse though, as it was quite solid - I expect mousses to be more bubbly and light really.<br />
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For mains, I was a little worried about going for a cassoulet after the quality of the <a href="http://www.carrie-rousseau.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/white-horse-otterbourne.html">last </a>one I had, but I figured I'd give it another go. Cassoulet of confit duck, black pudding, pearl barley, carrots and thyme seemed an interesting combo, and I like pearl barley so thought I'd give it a go. Unfortunately, I was again disappointed - by the fact that there were no beans in the cassoulet (and I'm pretty sure that is a required ingredient), by the dryness of the duck, and by the woodiness of the thyme stalks in amongst the pearl barley. The black pudding was tasty though, but it all got pretty samey after a couple of mouthfuls, and it was hard work really.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/7057501385/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="IMG_2431 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_2431" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7275/7057501385_db8956ded0.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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Ian went for a safe choice of scampi and chips, and there was plenty of it so he was pleased by that. I'm not sure how you can get scampi and chips wrong so it's hard to be critical of it at all.<br />
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For dessert, I went for the apple crumble, and Ian went for the hazelnut brownie with ice cream. The crumble on my dessert was far too fine, and resembled cous cous - it wasn't unpleasant, but it was really strange for a crumble. There also wasn't enough ice cream for the size of crumble they gave me, I'd have been a lot happier with a second scoop and a smaller crumble.<br />
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Ian's dessert was probably good, it disappeared before I got a chance to try it, and he polished off the other half of mine.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6911429664/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="IMG_2434 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_2434" height="500" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5151/6911429664_5ff3dac86e.jpg" width="375" /></a></div>
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We couldn't fault the service, although we were the only ones in the restaurant for the first two courses, but the food didn't live up to what we'd been expecting.</div>
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<br /></div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-46866715935083208892012-04-21T17:37:00.000+01:002012-04-21T17:37:24.430+01:00Week 11 Photo Challenge<div style="text-align: justify;">
Day 66's photo is me documenting how Ian likes his chips. They're very crispy!<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6842082778/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 66 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 66" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7178/6842082778_866cb771f3.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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Day 67 is a photo of the valentines gift that I got from a guy at work - all a bit strange - but I got free play-doh so I'm not complaining (although I forgot how much that stuff smells!!)<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6988208221/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 67 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 67" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7051/6988208221_41d2566192.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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Day 68 shows what happens when you turn your back on Monkey at work.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6988251517/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 68 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 68" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7179/6988251517_b9269f98a5.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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Do you remember all those receipts I had back in Week X? Well, I decided to overhaul my receipt system, and instead of putting them in boxes and forgetting about them, I'm going to spike them like they do with orders in restaurants and then process them monthly. I looked online to see if I could buy a spike but they were all over £10 and I figured it was an easy system to implement. So now I have a placemat with a cocktail stick attached to it with plasticine. It's not pretty but the receipts hide that, and it's working out much better than my old system.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6988210435/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 69 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 69" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7047/6988210435_a1e7975d36.jpg" width="375" /></a></div>
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Day 70 I finally made Ian a cherry pie. It didn't go so well - I'll explain more in it's own post later!</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6988221005/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 70 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 70" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7210/6988221005_0ecc3f88e7.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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On day 71 I had to break the news to my team at work that I'd accepted a new job in a different department, and figured the best way to do that was with cake. I always have some bananas on standby, so got up early to make a banana loaf. There is a guy in my team who doesn't like banana loaf though so I cracked out some of the emergency freezer cookies to ensure that he didn't have to face the news of my departure without baked goods to cheer him up!<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6842120330/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 71 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 71" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7037/6842120330_48499935b9.jpg" width="375" /></a></div>
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Whilst making my lunch on day 72, I decided that this would make an interesting photo - not sure why! You'll notice there isn't a green pepper - that's because those things suck!<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6988245741/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 72 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 72" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7204/6988245741_44e8b8f1aa.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-91027318426223148152012-04-17T21:22:00.001+01:002012-04-17T21:33:55.970+01:00Time?<div style="text-align: justify;">
Where can I find more time? I want to blog but I'm too busy catching up on all the blogs I'm reading! I never seem to have enough time to write a whole post and organise all the pictures for it and link them together - there's a lot of overhead in every post - it's not easy! Plus, if I spend all the time blogging, I don't do anything that I can blog about!</div>
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Any ideas how to solve this? Anyone got a time machine?!</div>
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P.S. The eagle eyed among you will notice that I made myself a banner and removed the cake from the background. Just to be clear, I did that at the weekend when I was not meant to be anywhere near a computer. Sometimes you accidentally find time, and then regret it! </div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-47036572009506812242012-04-11T12:08:00.000+01:002012-04-11T12:08:01.334+01:00Week 10 Photo Challenge<div style="text-align: justify;">
Day 59 is joke time. We've been enjoying penguins as snacks at work recently, and the jokes are just as bad as I remember them. See if you can guess the punchline to this one.</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6842057264/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 59 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 59" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7057/6842057264_8ef6296e42.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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Day 60 shows my attempt at a new lunch regime. My lunch is on the right - you'll see it's much taller a stack than Ian's - I've got a sandwich, some crudites and some houmous, strawberries, a yoghurt and a banana. I was really chuffed with the houmous - I love the caramelised onion one, but they never have a low fat version of that, so I finally worked out that I could buy the reduced fat one and add my own caramelised onions in - so simple but effective!</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6842059494/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 60 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 60" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7050/6842059494_169c9f2d0f.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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Day 61 was the first day of March. I'd managed a whole month without takeaway (even the extra leap year day!), and so we celebrated with Dominos. You'll see the big smile on Ian's face - it was a good day!</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6842061434/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 61 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 61" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7199/6842061434_d7841a3d3d.jpg" width="375" /></a></div>
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Everytime we go to ikea, I pick up this set of 3 scissors for 99p. Scissors always go walkies in our house, so it's good to have plenty - even if Ian thinks I'm crazy for always buying them!</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6988188249/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 62 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 62" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7193/6988188249_d984274c96.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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A week after our trip to ikea, and the billy bookcases we bought remain on the floor in our dining room, along with the parcel shelf and head rests for the car!</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6988190795/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 63 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 63" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7045/6988190795_d58027db62.jpg" width="375" /></a></div>
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After a bit of nagging, the car parts are back in the car, but the billy bookcases remain unmade. One step at a time I guess!</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6842069176/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 64 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 64" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7048/6842069176_8886eee036.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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Day 65 brings exciting post to our door (or to the depot where I went to collect it, but that doesn't sound as good). I ordered a personalised address stamp from etsy and it finally arrived all the way from Malaysia. It's got two little owls in the centre of it, and it makes me really happy to send post now!</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6988195007/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 65 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 65" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7183/6988195007_e0a1e1353d.jpg" width="375" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-619254601878472802012-04-09T12:01:00.000+01:002012-04-09T12:01:00.861+01:00Week 9 Photo Challenge<div style="text-align: justify;">
I'm a bit behind on posting my photos, so behind that it's a little bit of a struggle to remember why I took some of the photos which was totally not the idea of the challenge and I'm feeling very silly for not being better.</div>
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Week 9 started with a photo of pancake party aftermath. I'm very good at remembering to take photos after everyone has gone!</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6921161291/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 52 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 52" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7046/6921161291_c46b8dd9f9.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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Day 53 I came downstairs to find Ian had sneakily changed the board after the pancake party. It used to look like <a href="http://www.carrie-rousseau.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/pancake-day.html">this</a>, but I loved the altered version (and it stayed up for a few weeks too!).</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6775047882/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 53 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 53" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7061/6775047882_f0a8702dae.jpg" width="375" /></a></div>
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Day 54 would have been a better photo, but I'd already removed my contact lenses so couldn't see anything to photograph. Instead you've got a picture of my lense, on my finger where I like to put them because it makes my finger all shiny!</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6988166661/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 54 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 54" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7061/6988166661_cfdfa5a315.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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Day 55's photo is of this annoying wardrobe that I want to get rid of - I'd love a corner wardrobe instead but am struggling to find one that I like (and with a non-ridiculous price tag!).</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6988168687/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 55 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 55" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7200/6988168687_0f533286f9.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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Day 56 I went off to try and capture the moon again - this time along with Venus. When I was unloading the car at my friends house after our ikea trip (not to get a wardrobe), it was much brighter and clearer, but it had moved and so I didn't quite do it justice (venus is the light in the bottom left - not the street lamp though).</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6842046238/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 56 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 56" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/6842046238_f01bf326eb.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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The next picture comes with a cute warning. It's sooo cute. Unbelievable cute. I'm not lying, you'll make a funny aaaw sound when you see it. Ian wasn't feeling well so I bought him this cute monkey. I've just asked him if he's given the monkey a name. He said no. Then he decided now was the time to name him. He's called him 'penguin'. My husband is special. But anyway, here comes the cute!!</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6988174963/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 57 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 57" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7042/6988174963_c95d6134f7.jpg" width="375" /></a></div>
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The next picture isn't as cute, but is still special. This was part of my present for our six monthiversary. Points for anyone who can guess what animal it's meant to be!</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6842054076/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 58 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 58" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7038/6842054076_5f5614c6a2.jpg" width="375" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-50658726892098949332012-03-31T00:06:00.000+01:002012-04-01T20:48:03.919+01:00Mini Baked Cheesecakes<div style="text-align: justify;">
My friend likes cupcakes. My friend likes cheesecake. For her birthday, I thought I'd combine the two. I found this <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/raspberry_cheesecake_04819">recipe</a> and set about making them. </div>
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I lined the cupcake tray with my good sturdy cupcake cases (seriously, these cupcake cases hold their own, they're not flimsy like the ones you get from the supermarket - I love them!) and then whizzed up the white chocolate cookies into crumbs and squished them into the cases. </div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6796138562/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="P6280002 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="P6280002" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7061/6796138562_aa40ca27d5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I wanted to make sure that I put the same amount of raspberries in each, so I added one to every cupcake.</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6942258327/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="P6280003 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="P6280003" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7068/6942258327_87cf36ec83.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Then I added a second one. They look like they have eyes!</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6796150438/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="P6280004 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="P6280004" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7176/6796150438_3649776553.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And a third</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6796155002/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="P6280005 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="P6280005" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7194/6796155002_69586d8f6a.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And finally a fourth. </div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6796160012/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="P6280006 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="P6280006" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7055/6796160012_f3b3819fee.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Then I poured on the cheesecake mix and popped them in the oven to bake. </div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6942278577/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="P6280007 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="P6280007" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7064/6942278577_a685f01f88.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Ta da! Mini baked cheesecakes!</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6796127912/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="P6290009 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="P6290009" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7177/6796127912_c2170b50d3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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They were pretty good, they don't look quite as good as in the picture and the bases stuck to the liners a bit. Also, because there was so much grease leakage, the colour started to run off the cake cases (I still love them, but I'd probably use plain white ones if making these again to avoid this). </div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-24374700725548155602012-03-28T23:37:00.000+01:002012-03-29T12:10:38.119+01:00Chocolate Orange SoufflesRemember the <a href="http://carrie-rousseau.blogspot.com/2011/01/mint-chocolate-souffles-at-last.html">mint chocolate souffles</a>? They were good.<br />
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But the chocolate orange ones... they were totally better! If you look at the pictures, you'd probably think the previous ones were better, because they're puffed up better, and I'd agree, aesthetically, they rock way more. The chocolate orange ones were really tasty though. I used this <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chocolateandorangeso_88280">recipe </a>here, and what I liked about it is that it only requires cocoa powder, which I have in the cupboard, so I could probably knock up some souffles without planning (not the orange type obviously because we very rarely buy oranges).</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6942213807/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="IMG_1387 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_1387" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7190/6942213807_6ac2a885bc.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The recipe says it serves two, but as you can see, I made more than two with the mixture, so maybe I have tiny ramekins or something.
This was made as part of the wedding vow baking - and I did it in October. I am seriously behind in the baking - thankfully I'm still considered by Ian to be a good wife, but I don't want to push my luck. </div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-10318049614839096332012-03-25T23:14:00.000+01:002012-03-25T23:14:00.463+01:00What do I love more than pancakes?<div style="text-align: justify;">
Nachos! </div>
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Last year, we celebrated <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachos#International_Day_of_the_Nacho">International Nacho day</a>. I was very excited - so excited that the board was in party mode before we even left for work that day! </div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6942206887/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="IMG_1392 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_1392" height="400" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7176/6942206887_8269a6ed5a.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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We went for a similar set up to the last <a href="http://carrie-rousseau.blogspot.com/2011/03/owl-old-are-you.html">nacho party</a>, but this time I took some pictures of the nachos... before cooking only though. </div>
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Here are the nachos with cheese on top... </div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6942209111/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="IMG_1390 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_1390" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7183/6942209111_1ca1440566.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And what do you put on top of the cheese? We put chilli mainly, and guacamole. But, we have a fab nacho topping idea that we possibly like more than chilli. </div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6942211669/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="IMG_1391 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_1391" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7198/6942211669_7be8666ebd.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Sweet chilli sauce! It's amazing, you'll love it! Seriously, give it a go.
</div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-67302813218749304402012-03-24T21:50:00.000+00:002012-03-24T21:50:00.178+00:00Craft? Or Crazy?<div style="text-align: justify;">
I'm not sure if this counts as craft. It definitely counts as crazy. For my niece's birthday back in october, I decided to have a bit of fun with the wrapping paper. I carefully cut out the head of one of the birds, and joined it onto one of the other birds to make a two headed bird.</div>
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Can you find it?</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6942200087/" title="IMG_1395 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_1395" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7067/6942200087_33aeefe12a.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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I thought it would be fun to turn the present itself into a game. I told her she wasn't allowed to open the present until she could find the two headed bird. She's 9. She looked at me like I was a crazy person. Then she found the bird in two seconds. Then she looked at me again as if I was crazy.</div>
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I don't care - I thought it was fun!</div>
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Here's the two headed bird just in case you couldn't find it. </div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6796088308/" title="IMG_1396 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_1396" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7190/6796088308_81f308744e.jpg" width="500" /></a>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-21234988477500599412012-03-21T21:08:00.000+00:002012-03-21T21:08:00.530+00:00My First Ever Trifle<div style="text-align: justify;">
We put a trifle bowl on our wedding list, so I thought our Christmas Pizza get together was the perfect opportunity to finally use it. There was a lot of discussion about whether a trifle should have jelly in it. It divided our friends. I decided that as jelly took a while to set, I wasn't going to bother!</div>
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We lined the trifle bowl with raspberry swiss roll. </div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6796025436/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="IMG_1600 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_1600" height="400" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7064/6796025436_b52e17c7f4.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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We tried to make it look as pretty as possible. We were very precise to ensure the way the rolls swirled round was consistent. We made sure it went right up the sides of the bowl.</div>
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We started on both the custard and the fruit at the same time as we needed to get the trifle made in time for the evening. We used frozen berries and added a little sugar and water and jam, to make the fruit layer. </div>
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We poured this over the swiss roll, trying not to get it all over the sides of the bowl.</div>
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After much stirring, the custard was ready, and we checked that it was tasty, which it was! We poured it over the top of the fruit and realised we had a problem. </div>
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As you can see, you can barely see the custard! This was not how the trifle should be. Our trifle bowl is far too wide! We had a pot of cream that we were going to use to make the whipped cream top of the trifle, but as the main shops were now shut, and we were lacking in custard, we made the decision to turn it into custard. </div>
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Much better now! Check out the pretty swiss roll sides! Look at the steamed up bowl! Also, look at the vanilla fleckle in that custard! Proper good stuff.</div>
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Luckily our local convenience store had some of that elmea stuff (fake cream), that we could then whip up for the top layer. I used two spatulas to blob it on, trying not to disturb the custard which wasn't quite as set as we'd have liked.</div>
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This added an interesting texture on top, which I quite liked.</div>
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It's beginning to look good there with all it's layers. </div>
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Next I added some fresh raspberries in the gaps of the cream as a finishing touch. </div>
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Doesn't it look yummy?</div>
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I think that's probably the most photos I've ever used in one post before! The trifle was pretty darn good, but the custard wasn't set enough. We had some for breakfast the next day and the custard was much more solid, so I'd recommend making trifle a day ahead of when you want to eat it. </div>
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<br /></div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-37618387098186422032012-03-17T19:28:00.000+00:002012-03-17T19:28:00.565+00:00Yak Yeti Yak, Bath<div style="text-align: justify;">
As a birthday gift, I took my friend to Bath for the christmas markets (I didn't really take her, we both got on a train, and she went of her own free will). Her birthday was in June, so she'd been waiting a while. We had a fun day out, lots of shopping, a couple of bus tours, and eventually we were hungry enough to start looking for food. We asked the nice bus tour guy, and he recommended a couple of places, and we decided to go for the Nepalese restaurant, <a href="http://www.yakyetiyak.co.uk/">Yak Yeti Yak</a>. </div>
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We hadn't booked a table, and we ended up in an interesting part of the restaurant where you sit on cushions on the floor. When trying to sit down, I may have missed the cushions and ended up with my legs in the air which was probably the comedy highlight for my friend. Unfortunately for you (fortunately for me), she was too slow with the camera and didn't manage to catch this. </div>
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For starters we shared the Malekhu Macha - crispy deep fried salmon, and the Polayko Masu, marinated lamb strips. I think we both enjoyed the lamb strips the most, although mine did have a few too many chewy bits, but the flavour was good. </div>
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For mains, my friend went for Chicken Jhol and I went for the Yak Yeti Yak beef. The chicken jhol was good but the beef was really really tasty and there was a vast amount of it. I also ordered a Musurko Dal, but the consistency of this put me off a little, as it was quite like baby food.</div>
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My friend had dessert, the 'freak street apples', which was essentially an apple tart, while I chose to get a second mango lassi in place of dessert as I love those things!</div>
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It was definitely a fun experience, although I did have to keep shifting position to avoid getting pins and needles!</div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-70671268930070266262012-03-14T18:52:00.000+00:002012-03-14T18:52:00.492+00:00Prezzo, Redhill<div style="text-align: justify;">
Just before Christmas, my mum had an operation on her knee. It was under general anaethestic so she needed someone to watch her afterwards to ensure she didn't blow up or something like that. She was due to go out for dinner with her friends for a catch up, and as she doesn't see them that often, I thought it'd be a good idea for her to go, but obviously I couldn't let her go on her own as she might spontaneously combust, or something like that. This meant I got to have a nice meal out too!</div>
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Although <a href="http://www.prezzorestaurants.co.uk/">Prezzo</a> is a chain, I have been to several and the quality does seem to differ between them, so I've made it clear which one we visited in the title. While we waited for the rest of the group to arrive, we ordered some breads and olives to share as a group - I insisted on getting the Pane con cipolla (garlic pizza bread with caramelised balsamic onions and melted mozzarella cheese) because I've had it before and it's really good. It's also large enough to share although people seemed more concerned with chatting so I got to eat most of it!</div>
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For starters, I decided to go for something I'd not tried before - Arancini. These are described as crispy risotto balls with mushrooms, grana padano and mozzarella cheese with a tomato chilli dip. I think it would have benefited with some leaves or something to make it look more interesting, but the taste was good, and it was definitely something different and I'd consider it again.</div>
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Mum went for the bruschetta and I stole a bit of that. I liked the way it looked, with the yellow cherry tomatoes making it a complete traffic light of colours. The description on the menu definitely mentions red onion though, and I can't see any in the photo.</div>
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Prezzo does a lighter option for the mains, which I decided to go for as I'd already had a lot of food considering the amount of pre-starter I'd eaten. I went for the Goat's Cheese flatbread with side salad, and although it was the lighter option, it did look a little bit sparse on the toppings. It was still tasty though and I felt extra virtuous for going for the healthy option.</div>
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Mum was struggling to find something to eat as she's not a fan of spice, and wont eat creamy things. She settled on the Chicken and Roasted Pepper Fusilli and salad, and again, this was a bit sparse, with only two or three bits of chicken in it.</div>
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Noone opted for the strange special of the evening which had me giggling.</div>
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Having been so virtuous with the main course, I decided that meant I could eat cheesecake for dessert! I did regret this though, because cheesecake makes me sick but my brain goes crazy when eating out.</div>
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<br /></div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-53020733975035932002012-03-10T18:04:00.000+00:002012-03-29T12:13:00.377+01:00Christmas Revisited Part Two<div style="text-align: justify;">
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When I was young we'd always have a light breakfast on Christmas day so as to be ready for the large Christmas lunch at midday. Ian grew up with a slightly different timetable on Christmas day and is used to a large breakfast and a later dinner. I like a full english so Ian's way seems pretty good to me!</div>
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This years fry up was even better because we were at Ian's parents so didn't have to make it!</div>
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Christmas dinner was also pretty epic, it took me ages to find some of it because it was piled so high! Look at all those lovely sprouts - I only have them at Christmas but I really love them so I might try and see if we can have them more often (by we I mean me, because Ian is not a fan). </div>
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We enjoyed a few dinners out whilst up in Birmingham as Ian's parents were still trying to sort all the lose ends left over from their extension and so it was easier to wander along to the nearby restaurants. One restaurant was a steak house, that did amazing onion bread which I forgot to photograph but was so much better than the normal onion rings that normally accompany steak (although it was probably more filling so I struggled to get through the steak - I did eat Ian's bread too though so that might have been the problem!). We also visited <a href="http://www.theoakathockleyheath.co.uk/">The Oak</a>, and I remembered to take pictures of only the starters this time, but I guess that's an improvement. These were chorizo fritters which were very tasty and nicely presented.</div>
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Ian preferred his starter which was goats cheese with a hazelnut crust and caramelised walnuts with apple puree. I can't remember what the red stuff was but the whole thing was good - I'm pleased we share starters!</div>
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When we got back home after our visit to Ian's parents, my mum and aunt came to visit for a second Christmas and some silly games, and Ian cooked another massive dinner. I've realised why I like my plates so much - because you don't often get blue food, so they stand out nicely from the food, but also adds a good amount of colour to the photos I take! </div>
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A Christmas food round up wouldn't be complete without <a href="http://www.carrie-rousseau.blogspot.com/2011/01/christmas-pizza.html">Christmas Pizza</a>. Last Christmas we first experienced Christmas Pizza, and it was so
amazing that we had to do it again. Next year will be our turn to host
it, so I need to document what the pizzas looked like so I can remember
how to make it! We created an assembly line and managed to get through
almost 8 pizzas between 8 people (which for reference doesn't need more
than 2 tubs of mascarpone - my friend bought about four and ended up
freezing the leftovers to make cheesecake with later - a slightly
unsuccessful venture as it turned out.)</div>
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I made a nice trifle for dessert, but I'm going to allow that to get it's own <a href="http://carrie-rousseau.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-first-ever-trifle.html">post</a>, as I took so many pictures during the process. </div>
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<br /></div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-42288680143503538082012-03-03T16:22:00.000+00:002012-03-03T16:22:28.129+00:00Christmas Revisited<div style="text-align: justify;">
Now that the blogs are joined, I'm going to try and do a few more posts about crafty things from the gap on my other blog (the too guilty to post phase).</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6795996982/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="IMG_1683 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_1683" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7068/6795996982_1201cd0c01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
This is technically Ian's crafting that I'm about to show you. Every year (apart from Christmas 2010 for some reason) he makes me a christmas card. This year he stole his idea from an owl christmas tree ornament that a friend bought me. It's small enough that it can find a home, unlike some of the previous ones, which have been massive and are now collecting dust whilst waiting to be homed. It actually found a home on our christmas tree and so will be a nice reminder every year when I reuse it.</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6942115639/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="IMG_1687 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_1687" height="400" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7176/6942115639_762742dc46.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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As well as the card, I also got the gift of extra stash goodies, as he ordered the cardboard from the internet and therefore couldn't tell how much he was ordering and we now have tonnes!</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6942107555/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="IMG_1598 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="IMG_1598" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7039/6942107555_048fee5bd9.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
At Christmas, I decided to make my own wrapping paper. I went for simple brown paper stamped with some russian doll santas but it took quite a lot of time and we had quite a few presents to wrap.
The parcels did look pretty when all tied up together with silver string, but I'm not sure it was worth the effort. </div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6942174277/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="2011-12-15 09.26.56 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="2011-12-15 09.26.56" height="240" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7053/6942174277_c7e992c0d4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I also had some fun wrapping escapades at Ian's parents. They were up to their eyeballs in tiling, carpeting and plumbing so the wrapping of the presents had fallen by the wayside. I'm no good at any of those things, so I took on the wrapping. Ian's mum didn't make it easy for me though, with a snow shovel for Ian's sister. I'm pretty proud of it though and it was a good challenge!<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6796060400/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="2011-12-24 13.10.26 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="2011-12-24 13.10.26" height="240" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7187/6796060400_ae63de48a5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Whilst writing this post I've realised there was a lot of Christmas food related things that I've yet to post about too, so look out for Christmas Revisited part two!</div>
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<br /></div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-17545052986688278082012-02-29T23:12:00.003+00:002012-03-03T18:05:20.314+00:00People Pictures?<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs-MehJP63TbSc7fwykvzOzxAy4eYPrcGhtB3oYf0be2MJVHX5yh8p9DgMn4F1zuWhG1W_2oRWFFUGsM_YN5PpTZsp9eok-vRqiXg-dn6CUFCt2QP6kklhkF2UT_fw6p-XKkOYY4lJDHCV/s1600/102_1243+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs-MehJP63TbSc7fwykvzOzxAy4eYPrcGhtB3oYf0be2MJVHX5yh8p9DgMn4F1zuWhG1W_2oRWFFUGsM_YN5PpTZsp9eok-vRqiXg-dn6CUFCt2QP6kklhkF2UT_fw6p-XKkOYY4lJDHCV/s640/102_1243+-+Copy.JPG" width="476" /></a></div>
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Since starting this blog, I've struggled with whether or not to include pictures of myself or friends on it. The friends part was the easier decision because I didn't want to annoy anyone by putting pictures of them on the web without them knowing. But deciding whether to link my own face with my blog was quite difficult. I'm not ashamed of my blog. It's not that at all. But it was never about showing myself off, it was more about sharing my baking experiences with people (and my future forgetful self).The only place you'll find me featured is in the Cupcake Bouquet post, but I'm not looking at the camera. </div>
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Until recently, it's wasn't a hard thing to do. I took pictures of food, and I posted them. But as I've started to blog more, I've more varied things I want to post about, and some of these topics come with photos that I'm in. I've also realised that I've got an online presence and if you click through to my flickr account, you will find pictures of me anyway. You know my name so you could even google me if you wanted. So, is there any need to be hidden? Would it be nicer to know who you were talking to?</div>
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Bit of a rhetorical question really because I've already decided to come out and play a bit more often. Ian's even said he doesn't mind popping up in a post either. I've not checked with my friends yet, so they wont feature anytime soon (and that's not because I don't have any, honest!).</div>
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So here I am, coming out from hiding! Hope to see you again soon! (Also, just to point out in case you couldn't tell from the pictures - I'm a little crazy!). </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphenDlXJ7GbrbuDRxuhQ-nLKhgcj8MnqQOfyyUO1iK8yKFN47C4grLmwHqlqDR35vsseo3H31-70jXy4haYsvvnl7bYh7KFpoNhyRB01JrCJhPjtjsPCYAx-prnxdc_jFGgvyx6wQ86Ospx/s1600/102_1244+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphenDlXJ7GbrbuDRxuhQ-nLKhgcj8MnqQOfyyUO1iK8yKFN47C4grLmwHqlqDR35vsseo3H31-70jXy4haYsvvnl7bYh7KFpoNhyRB01JrCJhPjtjsPCYAx-prnxdc_jFGgvyx6wQ86Ospx/s640/102_1244+-+Copy.JPG" width="478" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3068955968851910055.post-1838603578107209602012-02-27T22:18:00.001+00:002012-02-27T22:18:15.805+00:00Week 8 Photo Challenge<div style="text-align: justify;">
We start week 8 with a romantic gesture by Ian on valentines day. We don't really celebrate valentines, but he surprised me by turning up at breakfast at work with a hash brown and ketchup on his plate. He likes neither of these and so I was a bit confused why he'd bought them, and then he said that it was a valentines hash brown for me! I was so excited and it was the tastiest hash brown ever!</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6877623557/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 45 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 45" height="400" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7180/6877623557_3913decc65.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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I subscribe to several food magazines, and as part of reading them, I add post-its for recipes that I'd like to try and then photocopy them ready to add them to the favoured recipes folder if they cut it on the first trial. This months copy seemed to have lots of recipes I wanted to try, it makes the magazine look a bit funny afterwards!</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6905436779/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 46 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 46" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7193/6905436779_e02bec600a.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Day 47 saw me and my friend baking cheesecake in an attempt to use up some marscapone leftover from Christmas pizza back in december that she'd frozen. Unfortunately the cheese didn't make it, but she rushed out to get replacement cheese while I tried not to be too nosey in her house. The cheesecake was very yummy and is a recipe I've made <a href="http://www.carrie-rousseau.blogspot.com/2010/07/world-cup-cooking.html">before.</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6905446301/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 47 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 47" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7204/6905446301_b504943190.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Do you remember the picture of my tidy sofa a few weeks ago? Well, it didn't last - check out the mess! One day I'll master keeping things tidy - it only got messy because I was trying to sort through some boxes I found in the study and I got bored halfway through! (if you look carefully you'll see the undeveloped films on the left - we got those back, and they were all from Ian's first cruise back in 2002. We discovered that he didn't go to Dubrovnik for the first time on our honeymoon, he just forgot that he'd been before!)</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6905453749/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 48 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 48" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7200/6905453749_a68ca700ab.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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My aunt came down to visit on day 49 for another games evening and we broke out a game we got as a wedding gift, our first ever cooperative board game, <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/30549/pandemic">Pandemic</a>. It's a different experience because you all have to work together or noone wins, and there's no ganging up on one person. </div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6905463523/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 49 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 49" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7197/6905463523_f8a37b3f16.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We finished off week 8's weekend by finally sorting out the curtain situation and we now have matching curtains, which I'm really in love with. We also moved the television and the bay looks nice and large and I can't resist dancing about in all the new space we've got. </div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6775040800/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 50 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 50" height="300" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7047/6775040800_b9bbfcc3ae.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Day 51 was online shopping day and the arrival of pancake day ingredients. You'll know how much I love pancakes from my previous posts about them <a href="http://www.carrie-rousseau.blogspot.com/2012/02/pancake-day.html">here</a>, <a href="http://carrie-rousseau.blogspot.com/2010/08/pancakes.html">here</a> and <a href="http://carrie-rousseau.blogspot.com/2009/02/my-favourite-day-of-year.html">here</a>.</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrieboden/6921159207/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Day 51 by CarrieBoden, on Flickr"><img alt="Day 51" height="400" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7048/6921159207_9ce3cb8f5b.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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I'm running about a week behind in my photo challenge posts as last week when I tried to post, flickr was broken so I couldn't add pictures and everyone knows posts without pictures are just pants. I'll catch up after the end of February because I only have two days left to read my book for this month and I'm only half way through it - oops!</div>
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<br /></div>Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01023099378957822605noreply@blogger.com4