Ok so last night was The Food, and as promised tonight it The Clothes, but sit back and relax coz i have to tell you about The Flood and The Muffins too.
Enjoy……….
Lets start with food: last night after i left you, i still had a tonne of calories to use up after my day of mega exercise, so i whipped up some chocolate avocado dessert, with bluebs and strawbs, hmmmmmm!
We’re back in business with the fruit, and compote again….LOVE, mango, peach and strawbs with apple and blueberry compote (baby food – now i dont eat just any baby food, i’m a bit particular about what i eat haha, i just use the fruity ones as a compote, as i cant get anything like that here, and these have excellent ingredients and taste amazing when ice cold)
Along with a pumpkin and chocolate chip muffin – so good! i love this combo for breakfast, such great satiety and feels naughty to eat muffins for breakfast! but its all good i promise!
Some sweet little grapes mid morning
And the innocent mushroom risotto veg pot with 2 mini pittas for lunch, i liked this, i reckon i can recreate a version at home.……watch this space!
Dinner was left over chicken and veg from last night, garden peas and a few crispy potatoes from the top of Buddy’s hot pot.
After lunch today i shot off from work, as you might know from previous pictures of my parents epic garden, a fairly big river runs along the bottom of it, we had rainforest rain today the banks of the river burst into their garden, totally flooding the garden up to knee high, and it came up their front door into their hall a little, the power blew and my mum was in a bit of a panic, my dad who runs his own maintenance business and is the leading retained firefighter here was busy with both hats on pumping out flooded local shops next to the harbour, so i shot off from work to help my mum on a salvage mission of the house in case the water came in any further and to don my wellies and attempt a salvage mission around the outside of the house and garden. Their road was completely flooded, you couldn't walk through in wellies they just filled up! my dad had to drive me through in his pick up! we started a mission on the house to start but then the water started receding so we moved to the garden and the grounds surrounding the house, we thought the veg and the green house and tunnel would be ruined but alot of it was salvageable! they were soooo lucky! you’ve seen the monser veg patches they have and the monster veg they produce, i’d have cried and cried if they’d been ruined! as the water receded a bit more we could really get in about it and start clean up, check the pics out!
The water is running right over the bridge here, its usually about 3 feet below the bridge, earlier today the water was right up over the seat!
Around the picnic bench is usually bark chips, earlier it was up over the seats.
either side of this decking bridge is usually lush grass! so upsetting! and they have a huge fish pool, the river totally flushed it through and they lost all 10 mega sized goldfish!!
After this we dried off and warmed up and i just chilled with my mum for a bit, then i hit the spare room for some Pure Cardio Insanity!
Ok here’s the recipe for Pumpkin and Choc Chip muffins, i got the recipe from the lovely Pearls and Such, this is a really pretty blog, check it out if you have time for some more daytime reading, she’s a construction manager and her blog is her outlet for her girly side! she just got married recently and has some awesome wedding posts in her archive.
Pumpkin and Choc Chip Muffins: Makes 24 large and 12 mini
1 15oz tin of pumpkin (i used Libby’s)
280g brown sugar
225g unsalted butter (melted)
120ml cider
2t baking soda
2t baking powder
1/2t salt
4.5t cinnamon
4.5t ginger
1t nutmeg
150g dark chocolate
Preheat oven to 175degrees.
Put the pumpkin, brown sugar and melted butter in a mixing bowl and mix really well.
Add the eggs and mix again, add the cider and mix again.
Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and spices and salt, mix on slow until well combined.
Add the choc chips and mix again on slow.
Fill the muffins cases 2/3 of the way full, and top with a couple of extra choc chips, this mix made 24 regular size muffins and 12 mini muffins, beware it is a big recipe! but i just threw most of em in the freezer, i’ll be eating these forever but thats OK by me!
Bake for 25 minutes, or until tops spring back when pressed.
Remove from the tins and leave to cool!
These are heavenly! everything a muffin should be, their light and fluffy but claggy and stick to the roof of your mouth all at the same time, the flavour is so rich and creamy and……….hmmmm perfect! soo good straight out the oven!
I plan on trying to make these a bit healthier, I'll sub some butter for some apple sauce, and try reducing the sugar a bit too, although that wont be for a while i’ll be eating this batch for weeks! i’ll be sure to report back when i make amendments! i like to bake something according to the recipe first time round so i have something to compare the trials to when i try to make it healthier, the only changes i made this time to the original recipe was i used dark instead of milk choc and i omitted the cloves from the recipe, it was meant to have 1/2t added at the same time as the rest of the spices.
Here’s just some of them.
OK dokes, I wont keep you much longer, let me just share the clothes haul for the honeymoon then we’ll call it a night.
An over sized beanie – Primark (ummmm justification – i can wear it when i get off the plane on the way home – i’ll be cold right? Its November, and i’ll have just spent 2 weeks in Mexico?!)
A little khaki vest - Primark
2 pairs of yoga pants – Primark
I’m not sure about these, i wanted them for soooo long for the flight to Mexico, but now I have them i’m not sure if i dont just look like I’m wearing a nappy! hmmmm jury’s still out on these! what are your thoughts???
Another pair of flippy floppys to add to my already mega collection! - Primark
A shades of khaki leopard print bikini – Marks and Spencers
A hot pink bikini – Marks and Spencers
A really cute sun dress/beach cover up – LOVE think i’ll be living in this! - Primark
Eeeeee I’m soooooo excited about this purchase guys! this is what i’m going to wear to breakfast in the hotel on the morning after the wedding, with a nice pair of 3/4 denims and the gold flip flops!
I wont show Buddy till the morning after the wedding when i put it on, i love it! all our friends and family, all the wedding guests will be there at breakfast as their all staying in the hotel – so i needed something fab to wear, i had thought about a dress – But then i saw this and thought it was perfect!
It says “ It Started with a Kiss” !!!!!!!! LOVE - Primark
Ok I saved the best till last……….CHECK.THIS.OUT!!
did i do well or did i do well??
In fact I think i outdid myself on this one! ADORE!! its from monsoon – I saw it and HAD.TO.HAVE.IT! its for the Saturday night of my Hen weekend! Perfect I think, we’re going to a Brazilian Restaurant and then to a really posh cocktail bar.
Most Beautiful dress I ever owned (apart from the wedding dress obv!)
And PERFECT shoes that will go with both the Friday and the Saturday Dresses!! – Nine West
I’m a bit pale and yeugh, I’m going for a leg wax on Wednesday so havent had any tan on for a week, so after the wax and tan i’ll slip this little baby on and show you pics of it on.
Normally I wouldn’t mind just showing you it on pale or not (because I like you guys to know the real me and the real me isn’t always preened and tanned) but this dress deserves preening and tanning!
So thats all folks, thanks for tuning in! I hope you stuck with me! much love to you all!
xx
Oh no, Im so sorry about your parents garden :-(
ReplyDeleteHope everything's fine and the fruits/veg are not ruined.
Where did you get that top from? I love it!
Your dress looks gorgeous...cant wait to see the pics.
About the pants, I have to be honest and say I dont really like them...but well if you look good in them, it's fine ;)
Aw thanks, yeah they didnt loose too much! its a miracle! the fish are the biggest casualty i think!
ReplyDeletei take it you mean the It Started with a Kiss top? i just edited the post - its from Primark! cute huh! and perfect for the morning after the wedding!! x
So sorry about the floods and the fish, that's really sad.
ReplyDeleteI love that stripey sundress, and all the other clothes but especially that!
Love all your purchases! I say go with the yoga pants, I think they look really cool and comfortable. As soon as my budget challenge is over I think I'll ve hitting up Primark again. So sorry about that awful flood. I hope your parents house is ok x
ReplyDeleteGosh that is so much water- your poor parents.
ReplyDeleteI love that stripey sundress- so pretty.
Also could you sub the cider for something else do you think? Does it need the bubbles to make it light or is it the sugar?
:)
Loving the clothes, very nice! The muffins look fab too.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the flood, I think my eyes welled up a little when I thought about the Goldfish. Glad to hear that the crops have made it through ok.
As for the yoga pants, its a tough one. I tried on a pair very similar to those with the idea of wearing them on the plane to Dubai, I chickened out as I thought they made my ass look saggy, however on reflection, I bet I'd have been soooo comfortable (something I think which is rather important on a long flight!).
Thanks for your lovely comments, i feel really sad for the fish, they must have went rushing in the river down to the harbour! they poor things!
ReplyDeleteI think i'll wear the yoga pants around the house a few times see how i feel in them. it is a very long flight and i do want to be a comfortable as poss, its the first time i've done such a long one.
Runningcupcake - I'm not entirely sure what the point of the cider was, it sure felt like a waste to buy a whole can and only use so little and its a big recipe so i'm not sure what a small amount of cider brings to the table! i'll try it without that next time see what happens! maybe its for the liquid of it, in which case i guess water could be used instead to lower the cal content. some more experimenting is required i think.
What a shame about the garden! The rain was a little scary yesterday right enough, though I think we stayed flood free down here. You finally gt your yoga pants! To be honest I'm not a fan but thats probably because of the hugeness of my hips, they'd make me look like a belly dancer or something . . .
ReplyDeleteI love the stripey beach dress!
Oh no... poor fishy's. Sorry about the flood :-(
ReplyDeleteI think the yoga pants are a good plan for the flight and dossing round the house. Not so keen on them for regular wearing during the day. I tend to wear leggings flipflops and a tshirt dress on flights. (With bed socks in my bag) xx
One muffin for me if you please! x x
ReplyDeleteYou did well indeed! I've never been to Primark but it looks like they have some good stuff. I love the Monsoon dress. They do such pretty stuff.
ReplyDeleteI wish we had M&S in the states! It seems like it has amazing food (from what I can tell from the blogs) and now I find out they have adorable clothes? Is it so lame that I'm dying to visit one when I go to England next year? Probably.
ReplyDeleteI seen your comments on Evan's posts and had to check it out - love the name! Scotland?! OMG - a dream :)
ReplyDeleteLOVE these muffins! I made Pumpkin ones myself recently -will definitely try this recipe.
Grea site!
Leashieloo - you have to check out M&S when your over, their food is beeeutiful!!
ReplyDeleteEatmovelove, thanks very much, its kinda cold here but it sure is pretty, cant complain.
thanks both of you for stopping by, hope you see you here again!
xx