Sunday, Sunday

O Sunday, Sunday, how I love you Sunday!

How did you spend your day?

a day in the life

My amaryllis is blooming and I have been gazing at it longingly, wishing I could "honey I shrunk the kids" myself and sit inside its giant trumpet. I did some shopping, love this red shopping bag that my sister gave me for christmas.

I baked some bread and I think I have really turn a corner on my bread making skills. My lovely husband gave me a bread book for christmas and it has some great tips. Today I made a half wholewheat/half white flour basic bread recipe but I think the real difference was made by putting a roasting tin half full of boiling water in the oven while the bread was baking and brushing the top of the bread with salt water(disolve a pinch on salt into 2 tbsp of water) before baking. It made for the most gorgeous bread, nice crusty crust and a lovely soft middle. I'm seriously thinking of baking my own bread once a week now. Plus it fills the house the best aroma!

Bread punching, the best stress reliever!

The finished product, with my new book.
I also baked some lemon and pistachio biscotti.

I also did some cleaning, check out my lovely dusting cloths and I love the smell of lemon pledge.

Lemon table arrangement

I treated myself to some pretty spray roses, these are called pink flash.

I love their tiger strip petals!

The merriment has arrived

Coffee and croissants to keep me going! I'm feeling much merrier this week, things are getting done and I'm pretty sure they will all be ready for Christmas. A few more late nights and I will be done. Just trying to decided if I'm going to bake a gingerbread house on Sunday.

Will see if I have the time!
Lovely reindeer candles that I got in the sale last year.

The tree is up! A bit charlie brownish but glorious all the same.



Cute Japanese Santa head.

Just got this the other day, love the vintage feel to this Santa head, even thought it's new.

The wreath, natural look with large jingle bells.

I got some Christmas baking done, this is Christmas biscotti( dried cranberry and walnut).

A extremely chocolaty cake baked for dinner with friends.

Butter tarts, they were so delicious they have all been eaten!

Will have to bake some more!

And finally star cookies with elderflower icing.

The elderflower icing really jazzes up plain vanilla cookies!

And so simple to do! just add elderflower cordial to icing sugar and hey presto!

Bread and Yarn

Bread was on the agenda today. I love baking bread, it is the perfect thing to do on a blustery October day, and dough hook on the mixer makes it effortless. I'm in love with my kitchen aid mixer, not only do I love using it, I love the way it looks on my counter and it certainly has made my baking life easier. I made a loaf of bread and some tray buns with just a simple white bread recipe. Now the house smells great. Nothing beats the smell of freshly baked bread, it is the perfect essences of home. And they taste pretty good too!

Yarn that I have recently inherited from my mom.
I think all of these colours look great together in the October light. Just looking a these fills me excitement of things to come. I can't wait to start some projects with these little bundles of joy! I'm looking forward to a winter evenings of needles in my hands, yarn on my lap and dogs sleeping in front on the fire. I'm looking forward to the snow already! Shocking I know!

Can't wait to do some carving either, another great autumn feature!