Recipe of the Week - Cinnamon & Orange Cake

If you cast your minds back to last November (2010), you might remember I posted a recipe for Cinamon and Clementine Cake, which you can find here.

The recipe below is a re-hashing of that one, and I make no apologies for putting such a similar cake up, as it's so delicious that a variation of it is no bad thing!

The re-hashing was borne out of necessity as when I went to make this last week (a) I had no clementines in and (b) I had no icing sugar in (I hadn't been near a food shop since I had done my massive pre-Christmas shop two weeks earlier, I have now though!)

This version also has the bonus of being quicker to make since it has no icing, and therefore ready to eat quicker too :0)

You will need:

6oz dairy free margarine
6oz Doves Farm Wheat Free Self Raising Flour
6oz sugar
3 eggs
1 orange
1tsp cinnamon

extra sugar and cinnamon for the topping


You won't need to ajust any quantities if making this with non-allergy free ingredients.

~Put the margarine, flour, sugar, eggs, zest of the orange, juice of half of the orange and the cinnamon into a bowl and then beat well together until smooth and creamy.

~Spread out into a greased and lined square brownie tin and bake at 180C for around 20-30 minutes until golden.

~When you take it out of the oven, pour the juice of the second half of the orange over the cake while it is still warm in the tin.

~When the cake is cool enough to handle, transfer to a cooling rack.

~Mix together 1-2tbsp sugar with 1-2tsp cinnamon (depending how cinnamony you want it) and sprinkle over the whole of the top of the cake.

~It is most delicious while slightly warm and with a nice cup of tea.

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Band of Brothers

I've often thought about how special it must be to be one of a few brothers.

The bond between brothers is a special one (as is that of sisters) and I love to see it in action between my boys.

Recently I have also been thinking about how much fun little Alasdair's life is when compared to that of our oldest son at the same age. 

Those days were special in their own way, as he had my undivided attention all day long, but having siblings is a whole different kind of fun.

I have this video below to prove my point.

A few weeks back I had sent the boys all upstairs to brush their teeth before bed. As I came up the stairs I heard this hilarious giggling. After watching from outside the room I grabbed my phone to record what was happening.

The footage is really dark, and you can hardly even see Alasdair, but it's the sound that matters in this one. His oldest brother, James, is entertaining him with one of his teddies.

It's one to cherish.

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Make it Monday

I've decided to re-vamp my Work In Progress Wednesday for the new year and turn it into Make it Monday instead.

To get Make it Monday up and running, here are just a few of the crafty things I was working on before Christmas  I couldn't share these projects here before as they were presents for people who read the blog!

This glittery silver scarf was for my mum's birthday which is the week before Christmas. She loves a bit of bling and it was a big hit. 

I was on a bit of a tea/coffee cosy roll and quite pleased with how these three turned out (all for different people!)

It's only right that I point out that this fabric is a patchwork effect and that I didn't sew all those patches together. 

However, learning to patchwork is on my to-do list for 2012!

I get so much of my crafty inspiration from other blogs out there, and what I would love with Make it Monday is if others could also share what crafts they are working on. 

It doesn't matter what - sewing, crochet, knitting, papercraft etc - or of it is a half-way through project.

So, if you have nothing to share this week, take this as advanced warning for the next few Mondays! 

I'd love to know what you are working on. Leave me a link in the comments section and even grab the button below to link back in your own post if you have a blog.

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The Calm after the Storm

No, I'm not referring to the calm that is around after the madcap fun of Christmas and New Year, but the sound of calm outside today after a couple of days battering by another storm.

Last winter was the winter of record breaking snow and plunging temperatures here. By the start of December we were already under two feet of snow and it kept on falling for another two months.

This winter seems to be the winter of record breaking storms instead. I bet all those who were complaining about the snow would have gladly had a peaceful snowfall rather than the 100mph winds that woke us up early on Tuesday morning!

Now I'm a Highland girl, living in the Central belt of Scotland. It's always windy back where I come from. Even on a summers day there is always a little (or big) breeze coming off the sea. The winters there are famous for the wind but here in the central belt we are used to it being a wee bit more sheltered.

Yes, it gets stormy but up until this winter I had never experienced winds (hmmm, perhaps I should rephrase that, *blush*), ok, I have never known it to be windier here than I have ever seen it in the Outer Hebrides.

Not now.

Before Christmas we had a storm that was forecast well in advance, and that pretty much shut down the whole Central Belt. It lasted about 24 hours and the wind speeds hit around 90mph here. Which was pretty bad.

Tuesday morning, at about 6am I woke up to what felt like someone was actually trying to push the house over. The gusts were unbelievable. I actually thought to myself, should I get up and get dressed in case the roof blows off!

Back in Lewis, I actually quite like a stormy night, all snug in bed listening to the wind howling down the chimney. 

Here in my own little house it was different. The house where my parents live has stood for over 100 years, and has withstood many a Hebridean storm and gale.

Our little house has only been around for about 20 years, and like I said, it's just not used to such conditions!

Thankfully, though, it withstood it fine and the wind died down later on in the day, only to rise again yesterday! But it's gone again, phew.

There has been plenty other damage though. Our local shopping centre was evacuated on Tuesday morning when part of the roof blew off and there have been scores and scores of trees and chimneys down.

I'll leave you with a link to some photos that have been sent in of damage across the central belt on the BBC Scotland News Website. You can find them here.

Come back snow, all is forgiven!

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Holiday Snaps

Like I said last week, Christmas was a time of great fun for us, and as promised here are a selection of photos of said fun.

You might want to grab yourself a cup or tea or something first, as although these are the much shortened version of our holiday fun, there are still a fair few to get through :0)

So, before we could celebrate Christmas day itself, we helped celebrate my nephew's 4th birthday (which, for those who may have missed my one and only post last week, is on Christmas day but was celebrated the day before so that he got a special day all to himself).

And have I mentioned before that I have only nephews, no nieces? I'm sure I have.

Two cousins

Another two cousins

And another two cousins

And my sweet little man saying 'Cheese'!

The birthday cake.

Now it's on to Christmas day, and here is little man helping get the table ready.

Last year I went for a classy theme with the table decorations. This year I decided to embrace the fun of children at Christmas!

And when I say fun, you aint seen nothing yet!

You see, I found these masks when I was buying the crackers (which were also a bit different from the usual kind) and just had to buy them.

Ready to see them?

OK.

Here are three visitors to our table.

A posh man, Sherlock Holmes and Her Majesty the Queen (in her country garb!)

There was also the kitchen maid,

Prince Charles (I have no idea why he is holding up a dagger)

Little Alasdair got a bit concerned when he saw me wearing a mask so I made do with just the funny glasses.

But perhaps the funniest was Grandad's 20s girl mask and Granny the High Court Judge!

Here is the main event, turkey and all the trimmings.

My plate. 

Turkey, gravy, sausagemeat stuffing balls, root vegetable mash, spiced red cabbage, roasted parsnips, roast tatties and bread sauce.

 Don't you just love bread sauce? Every Christmas I say that I must make it again before next Christmas and then forget all about it until next Christmas!

The grand finale, a flaming Christmas pudding.

As well as a chocolate log for those who couldn't have the Christmas pud. 

(And if your asking, we had Spicy Parsnip soup for starter. Well, I would be asking anyway as I always like to know what people have for important dinners!)

Then it was on to the after dinner entertainment, courtesy of our Talent Show crackers.

Each cracker contained a talent to perform, and included what you needed. There was balloon modelling, a kazoo band, an impressionist, a magic trick and a couple of others. The funniest had to be David (6) conducting us all singing 'The 12 Days of Christmas', where we had to sing a line each and join in with the right line. I have it on film and may just share it with you tomorrow on Twelfth Night!

Alasdair sang his own two year old version of Gaelic Jingle Bells (complete with his little gold bell).

Even Auntie Anna's dog, Cuilean, got into the festive spirit!

Isn't this a great photo? It was taken by David.

For Hogmanay we went through to my inlaws' to see in the New Year. Auntie Anna and Cuilean were there too.

The oldest three boys stayed up for the Bells. Here they are watching their favourite band Manran playing on the BBC Alba (Gaelic TV channell) Hogmanay Show.

Finally, this was after the Bells, toasting the New Year with some fizzy juice!

All that remains is for me to wish everyone a blessed and happy new year!

Bliadhna Mhath Ùr Dhuibh Ùile (Blee-an-e Va Oor Gu-eev Oo-le) - Happy New Year to You All

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Merry Christmas from us all

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays as much as we are.

We had such a fun couple of days.

Firstly celebrating my youngest nephew's 4th birthday on Christmas Eve (his birthday is actually on Christmas Day, but so that he gets to have a special day all to himself it is usually celebrated on a different day.)

And then on Christmas Day we had my parent's in law and sister in law around for the day, which always results in great hilarity!

I'll post some photos in another post when I have a chance to edit them (see all the red eyes above!)

Christmas love to everyone :0)

xx

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Final preparations

The parties have been........

School finished yesterday lunchtime with a special assembly.......

Which included the lovely singing of the choir (above) which includes sons no1 and 2, some excellent trombone playing by son no1, and a recap of one of the nativity songs by the infants, which included son no 3.

Mince pie after mince pie has been baked (and devoured!).......

Vats of fudge and Peppermint Bark have been made.......

And the stack of goodies under the tree is growing.......

The boys have a special song for you all tomorrow too!

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Things I'm loving...

This week it was the school nativity play.

The Primary 2s always do the acting and the Primary 1s sit in front of the stage and help with the songs.

Since our David is a big Primary 2 boy, he was one of the shepherds and had a whole line to say.

The most handsome shepherd I have ever seen.

And I can say that truthfully, as when his older two brothers were in the nativity play they were a villager and a wise man (the most handsome villager, and wise man ever, of course!)

My cake decorators have been busy again this week, following on from their success with the Captain America cakes last week.

James and Calum made these snowmen to put on the cupcakes I made for the Sunday School Christmas party. 

Then they offered to decorate our Christmas cake. 

They did all the decorating, including rolling out the marzipan and icing.

Can you tell who it's meant to be?

I'll let you know next week!

 But the biggest thing we have been loving this week has been, being on TV!!

The piece that we recorded back in September, of us test driving a car for a Gaelic TV programme was shown this week. It wasn't too embarrassing, thankfully.

You can watch it by clicking on the link below. We are on at around 6 minutes. And there are subtitles too!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b018599q/Air_An_Rathad_Series_4_Episode_7/


Autographs available on request :0)

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