Week 52 of The Gallery: Hair.

Well it just so happens that on the day I read what this weeks theme on The Gallery is and had just been for a haircut,coincidence or what?.

Don't you just love how kid say things,when my 7 year old son seen me coming out a shop whilst waiting in the car with his dad, he said "mum I didn't think it was you coming out the shop I thought it was a boy"....

Short hair....

Me with long hair about a year ago....

New Training:Week 1:Fit To Fitter...

Well it's been a horrible 3 weeks starting out with tooth ache leading to a tooth infection,swollen face,2 lots of antibiotics,tooth out and not much training.

So now very excited about getting my fitness back as my first race of the year is in 2 weeks ,Wednesday 13th April......this weeks planned training...

Monday...   6 mile slow paced run...
                      quick spinning class...
                    1 mile swim...
                    1 hour gym work...

Tuesday...  1 mile swim...
                few sit ups/plank ect
                 7 mile reps at running club...

Wednesday... Pilate's class
                        6 miles run...

Thursday... 6 miles run...
                   
Friday ...   day off from running...
                   1 hour gym...
                   1 mile swim...

Saturday...  7 miles run...

Sunday... 10 miles run...

Lets hope its going to be a good week :)

Silent Sunday.

Tomorrows Athletes?

Lemon Cake...

Makes 12

What you need

2 eggs.

175g / 6oz caster sugar.

150g/ 5 & half oz soft margarine.

plus extra for greasing.

Finely grated rind of 1 lemon.

175g/6oz self raising flour.

125 ml/4 fl oz milk
.
Icing sugar for dusting.

Syrup

140g/5 oz icing sugar.

50ml/2 fl oz lemon juice.

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4.

Grease an 18-cm/7-inch square tin and line with non-stick baking paper.

Place the eggs,caster sugar,and margarine in a mixing bowl and beat hard until smooth and fluffy.

Stir in lemon rind,then fold in flour.

Stir in milk,mix evenly,then spoon into the prepared cake tin,smooth so nice and level.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 45-50 minutes,or until golden brown and firm to touch.

Remove from the oven and stand the tin on a wire rack.

To make the syrup

Place the icing sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan and heat gently,stirring until all the sugar dissolves,do not boil.

Prick the warm cake all over with a skewer,and spoon the hot syrup evenly over the top,allowing it to be absorbed.

Leave to cool completely in the tin,then turn out the cake,cut into 12 pieces and dust with a little icing sugar before serving.

 This is not my recipe all credits go to

Big Book Of Baking    

                                                                                           

The Gallery: Week 51:Education.

First thing I thought was oh no it's been a long time since I went to school....So for me it's the learning something new.

I hold my hands up when I say I've never been interested in taking photos because I've never been any good  at taking them!!

.Birthdays,holidays,Christmas I've always let my husband take them because he can take a good picture.I don't even know why or what made me start but about  4 weeks ago I decided to have a go as we were going to London for the day.I thought this will be my test nobody was allowed to use the camera unless they were taking a photo of me....

when I got home I was so pleased with the pictures have not stopped taking photos since.

I love taking photos and now I'm learning  to editing them to. I'm so surprised at how good they look(to me).I  have a lot to learn but that's all the fun in taking them.Now I'm thinking and planning lots of intresting places to go to take some great pictures....

 

Now all my children are at school full time I have more time to learn new thing so at the minute I'm learning photos,blogging,cake making,healthy recipes,everything I can to do with running,fashion and vintage and when my nail grow hopeful some nail art.....so for me I'm learning something new everyday .....:)

Have Picked My Six?

Right I've changed my mind a few times and now I think that my six items for the Six items or less challenge are going to be as followed.....

Starting on the 28th March who is in ?

Let's hope it's a good month....

Red Noses....

Red Nose Day Bun's 2011....

Makes 16

Ingredients

115g/4oz unsalted butter

115g/4oz caster sugar

2 eggs,beaten

115g/4oz self raising flour

For the icing sugar

200g/7oz icing sugar

2-4 tbsp warm water

16 cherries cut into half for the nose, other half cut into half for the mouth,last half cut into half for the eye's

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 190c/375f/gas mark 5.

Place 16 paper bun cases into a shallow bun tin.

Place the butter and caster sugar in a large bowl and cream together until pale and fluffy.

Gradually add the eggs,beating well after each addition.

Fold in the flour lightly and evenly using a metal spoon.

Divided the mixture evenly between the bun cases and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Cool on a wire tray.

For the icing.

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and stir just enough water to mix into a smooth paste that is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Spread the icing sugar over the fairy cakes and decorate the faces......

My first atempt at icing fairy cakes so not perfect but taste great...... 

Lemon Icing Cake...

Serves 8-10

what you need

250g/9oz unsalted butter
plus extra for greasing

250g/9oz golden caster sugar

4 eggs,beaten

250g/9oz self raising flour

Finely grated rind of 1 lemon

3 tbsp milk

butter icing

140g/5oz unsalted butter

200g/7oz icing sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

3 tbsp lemon curd

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 c/350 f/gas mark 4.

Grease two 20-cm/8-inch sandwich tins and line the base with baking paper.

Cream together the butter and caster sugar until fluffy in texture.

One at a time gradually add the eggs,beating well after each one is added.

Sift in the flour and fold in with a metal spoon.

Fold in lemon rind and milk lightly and evenly.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tins and bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and springy to the  touch.

Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for 2-3mins,then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

For the butter icing

Beat together the butter,icing sugar and lemon juice until smooth.

Mix about 3 tablespoons of the butter cream with the lemon curd.

Use the lemon curd mix spread all over one and sandwich the two cakes together.

Spread the remaining butter icing over the top of the cake.

 This is not my recipe all credits go to -

Big Book Of Baking    

Ice-Cream ...

London Taxi's...

Why is it I never see cool taxi's like this where we live????

My Family...

The Gallery:week 50:Trees

Well it's my first week and just hope I do this right :)....

My photo is of the Table Top Tree on the A60 Mansfield to Nottingham road...

This tree reminds me of the Mansfield Half Marathon which I did on the 27th June 2010.Everything thing was going great until I turned this corner at around 7 miles mark.This being my 2nd half marathon and thought I knew everything that I needed to know about running.Having said that I had not trained in hot weather and this being the hottest day of the year so far I dehydrated,got a migraine and had tunnel vision starting at this point the next 6ish miles were a night mere in which I did complete.....but hey it's not the trees fault anyway such a lovely tree :)....

Six Items or Less......

Just registered for the 3rd cycle of the six items or less challenge Six items or less

Here's the experiment: participants, aka Sixers, choose six, and only six items of clothing to wear for 30 days and blog about their experience together as a community. Don't fret, there are exceptions to your six: shoes, underwear, pajamas, work out clothes, work uniforms and accessories don't count towards your six items.I did cycle 2 but didn't pick my six wisely I pick jeans,2 sweatshirts,black jumper,jump suit and a polka dot dress.

My polka dot dress ripped soon after I started,guess it wasn't designed for housework and my jumpsuit  never got worn.....What I did enjoy was not having to worry about what I was going to wear....

So with all this in mind I've just got to pick my six better this time......Any ideas?...........

The next cycle will run from 12:01 am March 28th through 11:59 pm April 26th