Birthday baking and sourdough mojo is back

Another family birthday so another birthday cake. Since I'm finding the little oven (in the little kitchen in the little flat) a bit temperaturemental (I slightly over-browned (burned) my Dad's birthday cake last week), I decided to try something a bit different for daughter R's birthday. I had a mad pancake making session one evening last week as I just mixed far too much pancake batter (using freshly ground buckwheat flour), so froze the surplus pancakes. I then made some homemade Nutella from the Deliciously Ella cook book, defrosted the pancakes and made a layered pancake cake with pancake spread with nutella, then whipped double cream and then repeated with about 6 pancakes. I melted some dark chocolate and drizzled this on the top in an appealing swirly way. Then I added single cream to the remaining melted chocolate with some maple syrup to make a thick and sweet chocolate sauce. Mmmmmmm. It looked good (or interesting  as described by R) AND tasted really good. 

The baking session was not over as I made a sourdough loaf and some sourdough cheese scones. I was really pleased with the loaf as for some reason my more recent loaves have been a bit undercooked and doughy. Definitely disappointing. I've no idea why, but changed the recipe a bit to put in slightly less water and then baked at 220c for 1 hour in the cloche instead of the usual 45 at 200c and 15 at 200c. I managed to get the rising timing right as well, including overnight in the fridge, which is a bit challenging in the recent warm weather. 

I'll add some photo's when I get organised!

Last #C25K run and onwards

I've done the last run in the C25K programme. Hoorah. It was a bit delayed because it's been too flippin' hot, but I managed it on Friday morning when it was a bit cooler, running 3.5 laps around the field, which incidentally is now a very bare field. The farmer cut and bagged it last week and it's looking very empty and open.

Now for the nitty gritty. How far have I been running in 30 minutes? Well, somewhat predictably, it has not been 5k (3 miles). The trusty GPS measures my laps at 0.6 miles so I've only made it to 2.1 miles. I need to run 5 laps to make 3 miles. So, armed with a new target, I ran 5 laps on Sunday *applause and cheering*. I listened to an audio book instead of the motivational music supplied by the podcast, and found it really quite do'able. Of course, it wasn't fast - 43 minutes altogether, but never the less, I did it! *rousing fanfare*. Bit tired today now *sigh*.

Wood pile @30DaysWild day 29

A haven for wildlife! Day 29 of @30DaysWild.

Wall garden - @30DaysWild day 27

This pretty wall garden is part of our barn conversion (before conversion!). From a domestic dwelling point of view it is a bit of a disaster, but certainly fits the 'wild' theme. As does the rampant ivy below.

I saw a mouse....... @30DaysWild Day 26

This little chap was found at our (soon to be) converted barns. Fortunately, he was on the outside, although I've no doubt that there are plenty inside!

Crochet Pirate Hat

Just a sneak peak because the whole ensemble isn't finished yet. Everyone should have a pirate outfit (obviously). I will reveal more at a later date.

Poppy fields and sparrowhawk - @30DaysWild day 23

I've been making the effort to notice the world on my daily commute, so yesterday instead of engaging the mental autopilot and GET HOME mentalilty, I saw this heavenly site and instead of whizzing by, I pulled over and got out with my camera. I spent a while just marvelling in the beauty of a meadow full of poppies.

Not my best photo ever, but later on we went out on a wildness adventure along a local footpath. The most wild thing about it initially was the fact that the nettles were bigger than us, and possibly a danger to life and limb. However, when we could go no further and turned back we could hear an incredible ruckus in the trees. The birds were going mental about something, and then we saw it. I'm pretty sure it was a sparrowhawk, but my camera reaction time was so slow that I only just caught it.

Random Acts of Wildness - Day 21

We had a father's day visit to the seaside and were entertained by acrobatic sand martins this time. At least I think they were sand martins. They were definitely not swallows and not house martins, because I know what they look like now. These were brown. However, they might have been swifts.......No, I'm pretty sure they were sand martins, because they were quite small. They were moving far too fast to capture on camera, so I can't check now that I'm at home again. I have an alternative bird picture. Some ducklings and mummy duck tucking into some bread that had been left for them. I know most of us have grown up feeding bread to the ducks, but it is now considered to be bad for them and the ponds, rivers and canals. See the link here