This is the time of to-do lists

It's less than two month till Christmas. I know I know it seems like all I've done is talk about Christmas. I need to share more of my life, and I promise I will. But the key to a stress free (or as close as it gets) and affordable holiday is in the planning. You don't want to pay for the holiday with only one month's worth of pay. It's not like the regular bills take the month of December off.


Gifts, decorations, food, cards, it amounts to a lot. Here are the last postage dates for mail from the UK, some of the international airmail ones are very early in December! I'm terrible for missing the postage dates, I think most of the cards I sent didn't arrive until after Christmaslast year. Whoops. We've already missed most of the surface mail dates for this year! Air mail it is then...

Not to mention that November is goign to be super busy what with me finishing up the semester, looking for a job for when I graduate while you know still trying to maintain  bit of a social life. No biggie? It's just about making the most of my time. And planning. Let's not forget tea! Tea is wonderful!

Now I have to get to the doing part of my to-do, are you guys as swamped as I am?

Minnie xoxo

Presents vs Gifts

So, the cake has been made so we're officially in the run up to Christmas. Granted we're still at the marathon stage not the sprint. But still the totting up of budgets is happening, the slow panic is building. Last night Bloke was watching Dave Gorman's new show Modern Life Is Goodish. And he made a brilliant point. There's a difference between Gifts and Presents.

Its quite a simple concept "presents" are things that you would actually buy for your self: books, clothing, perfume etc. "Gifts" are those things that are created especially for giving and are not something you'd not buy for yourself: miniature foods, mini sets of *anything*, the dad centric desk gifts and the myriad of joke presents available in the run up to Christmas. Now I can hear your "But bath sets are useful!" Well yes and no, how many selections of bubble bath are actually used? It really comes down to how familiar you are with the persons bath/shower time habits. I fully admit to buying my husband a nice shower set or posh soap every gifting holiday but I do so knowing that it's something he'll actually use. The same cannot be said for anyone who doesn't share a bathroom with me.

Now, this is not to say that presents will be what the person wants. But there is something far more personal about it. And the whole point of presents is the thought you've put into it.

And presents don't have to be about shopping. I cannot emphasise this enough. I only buy things for a very select few, and honestly most of them are children. Every one else gets food at Christmas. Bloke and I spend a few days making a section of edible goodies. we can't guarantee you'll like them, but you can feed them to any of your guests, we don't even mind if you pretend to your Aunt Mabel that you made them yourself.

And if cooking isn't your thing, don't sweat it. Use your talents! If you want to. This is just a plea against wasting your money because you have to buy some one a gift.

 If you can't think of anything, go for the best sort of gift- the charity gift. Oxfam do a wonderful range. How about some Chickens for the animal lover in your life? Or if your budget is a bit bigger you could help a vulnerable child.


So, this isn't a campaign for no gifts ever, just "Let's stop buying pointless crap, yeah?" I promise I'm not a grinch.

Minnie xoxo

Christmas Cake 2013

So this is only a slight improvement on last year's series of posts. There's more rum in the fruit soak, more spice and for the sake of clarity this year the cake making is being condensed into one post for the sake off ease &  of print-ability.

I really love this cake, it was born out of necessity ( I have a nut & dairy allergy) but with a lot of experimentation I settled on a good dense, sweet and spicy cake that smells heavenly without being too filling or dry. Dry fruit cake is the pits. It's great iced or plain. Alas the alcohol content is very high so it is not suitable for every one. However an alcohol free version can be easily made a few days before Christmas- just soak the fruit in cold black tea or fruit juice (orange or cranberry juice would be lovely. )

Christmas cake can seem super daunting, baking something so far in advance spoilage can be a worry but that's the important role the alcahol plays preserving the cake and allowing the flavours to deepen and develop.

What you'll need:

• 200g glacé cherries, chopped (I like French style best, if dayglo red and green are you're thing I won't judge you too much)
• 200g candied peel (often referred to as mixed peel) 
• 1kg sultans, raisins or currants (a mix or just the fruit you like best, i usually just use raisins because I like them best and we tend to have them in the pantry anyway.)
• 1 litre bottle of dark rum (this will serve you from start to finish and leave you some to spare, supermarket own brand is fine)
• 30ml/1 table spoon of vanilla extract (never essence if you can help it)
• 250g very dark brown sugar
• 250g butter (I use a dairy free margarine, as long as its okay for baking it'll work in the cake)
• 6 medium eggs
• 400g plain flour
• 1/4 of a teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 100g ground rice or ground almonds
• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 3 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons of mixed spice
• 1 teaspoon of ginger 

The Sudomasque.

Oh dudes, sorry its been such a long time between posts. Uni has been busy! I'm actually ignoring a massive pile of work to write this just now. Safe to say I super stressed. Stress takes itself out on my face. I always felt bitter about that. When your a teenager they say that spots and angry skin goes away, and you'll be a clear skinned dewy faced adult who doesn't have a curfew and can drink as much coffee as you like. Ha!

Well the jokes on me because the work, coffee to stay awake, can't sleep because of the coffee, need more coffee vicious circle probably doesn't help my special snowflake skin.  So what do you do when you're strapped for cash with sensitive broken out skin? Grab the sudocrem (I'm actually even cheaper and use the Tesco own brand version which is even cheaper at £1.40 for 150ml.)Yeap, the stuff for nappy rash.

Its designed to be used on unhappy sensitive and broken skin. It deals with infection and irritation, cools and moisturises. And unlike most treatments for broken skin it doesn't dry it out at all. A little goes a long way, and it lasts what feels like forever. Be warned though, its a bitch to get out of fabrics. 

So how do you use it? Get your hair out of your face, smear some on your face making sure to keep clear of your eye area. Give your hands a good wash (if it gets on the sofa you'll have a hell of a time getting it out.) Let it sit for an hour or more. Because its so thick and sticky you don't need to worry about dripping white goo everywhere or leaving a trail of dry clay dust in your wake. When you are ready for bed or to face the world with your lovely visage and don't feel like starting a sideline in being a really rubbish mime just fill a basin with warm water and grab a face cloth and remove the cream. Pat dry and continue with your usual face regime (if you have one.)

I do this once a week when its needed. Bloke has run out of mime jokes. My skin feels amazing. I share the oddest stuff with you people.

love,
Minnie xoxo

Christmas cake progress.

So I still can't find my camera cable. I am going to have to admit defeat soon and properly unpack all our boxes instead of leaving them in the spare room and pretending they don't count. Anyway...

Back to the bake along!

I've been feeding it a little rum once a week, that is just brushing it over lightly with some rum. The rest of the time I've been keeping it in an air tight package of baking paper and cling film, (I don't have a cake box that's big enough.) The fruit is starting to get really plump and the smell is just amazing. Its so utterly christmassy. Spicy and rich. 

Now is the time to start thinking about how, if, you want to ice it. Do you like marzipan and rolled royal icing? Or perhaps a dusting of powdered sugar is more your style? I usually go for a layer of lemon whipped icing with a rolled royal icing on top. The cake won't be decorated until just before its served (on the day or the day before) so there's plenty of time to decided what you want to do. 

Only 34 days to go till the big day! How are all your cakes going? 

Minnie xoxo

Christmas Cake!

So yesterday was the big day! I had class in the morning and cake home and spent the afternoon baking. The cake does take a wee while to do from start to finish so set the best part of the day aside for it, but don't worry a good chunk of it is spent waiting for the cake to bake so I recommend getting a few Christmas films in to get you in the mood. Edit. This is a process of two days, the day before cake day you want to soak the fruit, here's the post on it.

So, Lets get started! First off the ingredients and supplies list:


200g of glacé cherries

200g of candied peel (some times referred to as mixed peel)

1kg of currants and sultans mixed

(if peel and cherries are not your thing just sub with more dried fruit)

175ml of dark rum (just buy a bottle of the super market own brand, as we'll need more to feed the cake weekly)

25ml of vanilla extract or essence

250g v. dark brown sugar

250g butter (I actually use a butter substitute)

6 medium eggs

400g plain flour (all purpose)

1/4 of a teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

100g ground rice or ground almonds.

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

2 teaspoons of mixed spice (pumpkin pie spice)

A large (23cm or so) spring form pan (or two if you prefer a shorter cake)

A roll of grease proof baking paper

Some kitchen string

A flat baking tray that's wider than the cake tin

A large bowl to soak the fruit and mix the cake in.

A pastry brush

A kebab skewer

A wooden spoon

A large cake tin or cling film (this will make more sense at the end of this post. i promise.)

And an oven obviously and a cooling rack is also handy!

Its best to prepare the tin first, so grab your self your spring-form pan, the string, the tray and the baking paper and a pair of scissors. You'll need a good amount of space to so this. You need to basically put your cake in a jacket. Trace the base of the tin, cut out with about an inch extra all around. Snip into this extra inch at intervals of about half an inch all round. Pop the circular piece of paper into the completed cake pan.

Next measure the circumference of the pan and cut a sheet of baking paper to this length and then fold it in half length wise, now this is the trickiest bit of what you have to do we want to slip the paper over the sides of the tin, like a brown crinkly hard to wrangle jacket. I use a shorter piece of paper to stabilise the whole job.

It should end up looking something like this:

The paper acts as insulation and adds stability. The cookie sheet and the baking paper on it act as insulation against the base of the cake burning.
Don't worry too much about the fiddlyness, the paper needs greasing with butter or oil so folds and kinks get worked out easily. Just use a pastry brush or a scrap of scrunched up baking paper to aid with the greasing.

Check the shelves in the oven, you'll probably have to move their position to fit the tin in it's jacket.

Now, go and turn the oven on, medium heat.


The actual process of making the cake is a very simple one, sift the dry ingredients together and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar, slowly add the eggs in till well combined. Add the dry ingredients in a little at a time, will well combined. Slowly fold in the fruit with a big spoon, don't agitate it too much to keep the fruit whole.

Spoon into the cake tin, level mix off gently with your spoon.

Pop it in the oven. It should take about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to bake. One a skewer comes out clean and it's a nice golden colour its ready to come out!

Let it cool slightly before attempting to take the tin apart and the paper off.

Once its cool, prick all over with a clean skewer, brush all over with a little rum. Wrap it in baking paper and pop into an air tight container. (If you don't have a tub large enough just wrap in baking paper and enough cling film to make the package air tight.) Store in a cool dark place. Take it out once a week and brush over with rum!

Pat yourself on the back, you've made a Christmas cake!

I'll cover decorating it much closer to the time. If any of that didn't make any sense feel free to drop me an email or a comment and I'll try and help!

Minnie xoxo

P.S. sorry for all the instagram pictures but I'm afraid I can't find my camera cable :(

Fruit!

So do you all remember this post about Christmas cake?

Well, brace yourselves, there are 90 days till christmas. Yeah you read that right. 90 days. So its time to get this cake rolling and out of the way!

First things first, we need to prepare and soak the fruit at least a day in advance. We really want the fruit to soak up the alcohol to help the cake keep well for the next 90 days or so. So for this we need:

200g of glacé cherries (I used French style because they are cheaper here and I prefer the way they taste)

200g of candied peel (some times referred to as mixed peel)

1kg of currants and sultans mixed

(if peel and cherries are not your thing just sub with more dried fruit)

175ml of dark rum

25ml of vanilla extract or essence

So messy job first. Take your cherries and snip them in half. Its a messy sticky job but it serves two purposes, the cherries go further and you can be quite sure that there are no stones that have been missed during processing left in the fruit.

I just snip them right into a large mixing bowl before adding the dried fruit and peel. Give it a wee mix then add the rum and vanilla. Mix again, cover the bowl with cling film and pop in the fridge over night.

It doesn't look like much, but believe me it smells amazing.

And don't worry if this is all too early for you , I'll be posting the recipe as a whole too!

Take care, Minnie xoxo

On weddings and thrift.

Watching last night's Superscripmers wedding episode I was struck with the urge to laugh.

Now don't get me wrong we're a thrifty household, and we will be diying a lot of the wedding. But here's the thing like the lovely ladies at A Practical Wedding like to stress its not always cheaper and some times it better to get some one else to do it. Your own time is something you must take into account.

Its so easy to get caught up in Wedding! and completely forget the whole Marriage bit. "But I'm not participating in the Wedding Industrial Complex, I'm not a Bridezilla, I don't pour over millions of wedding magazines1" Yes, but just how much time do we pour into this? How much does that cost us?

And I am saying this as a woman who is making her own dress and bouquet and will probably be catering her own wedding with bloke and a few willing friends. But this is the kind of wedding we'd have regardless. Emphasis on the we.

If you want a lovely polished wedding, with lovely photos and everything looking shiny and flawless, diying and scrimping on costs just won't give you what you want. If you want a book full of really lovely photos, higher a proper wedding photographer. If you only want a handful of cute candid shots then that's less of an issue and you probably could get away with a flickr pool for every one to load their photos into.

Now on the other hand if you quite frankly don't care and just want to be married and think some cake and dancing is a lovely way to commemorate the occasion and don't care, then yeah. You'll be fine!

Er what I'm trying to say is that its just as easy to get caught up in not being part of the big expensive game of getting married as not. And its not always cheaper to diy and diy greatly depends on your combined talents as a couple.

So just have fun with it? Uh I dunno. I got a bit ranty last night and it think that it's a simple case of in weddings everyone is so ready to judge. Being judgemental is bad guys.

At of the end of the day we all end up married, or something pretty close to married.

Er its early, I may revisit this later when I'm feel less ranty.

Love Minnie xoxo

Christmas cake!

So in the spirit of poverty, and giving people some time to find out what kind of cake every one likes I am going to post the ingredients and supplies list today. (Don't worry this will all be posted together at the recipe stage again.)

You probably have at least some of the things you need in the pantry. Don't worry, if you have to purchase some of the more expensive items, they are all staples in standard holiday baking, so any left overs can be used later in the year quite easily. We aren't going to be working with anything horribly complicated or unusual.

So, ingredients wise you will need

200g of glacé cherries (French style are best but to be honest it won't make much difference in this cake)

200g of candied peel (some times referred to as mixed peel)

1kg of currants and sultans mixed

(if peel and cherries are not your thing just sub with more dried fruit)

175ml of dark rum (just buy a bottle of the super market own brand, as we'll need more to feed the cake weekly)

25ml of vanilla extract or essence (NOT flavour. Flavour isn't real vanilla and lets just not go into what it is)

250g v. dark brown sugar

250g butter (I actually use a butter substitute as I've got a dairy allergy)

6 medium eggs

400g plain flour (all purpose)

1/4 of a teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

100g ground rice or ground almonds.

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

2 teaspoons of mixed spice (pumpkin pie spice)

See! Nothing scary there at all!

So any special hardware?

A large (23cm or so) Spring form pans (or two if you prefer a shorter cake)

A roll of grease proof baking paper

Some kitchen string

A flat baking tray that's wider than the cake tin

A large bowl to soak the fruit and mix the cake in.

A pastry brush

A kebab skewer

A wooden spoon

So far so good? Any questions yet?

Now given that my recipe is the way I like my christmas cake, so I'm going to link to the classic christmas cake.

Delia smith's christmas cake is a really traditional cake, it's smaller than mine and made with brandy, treacle and chopped almonds. Still quite simple.

But a quick search will bring up any number of versions of the classic! Not all are made as far in advance, this is because my cake is quite a dry cake and the rum keeps the cake and adds much needed moisture.

We won't be starting for a few weeks yet so we've all got plenty of time to buy the ingredients and supplies with out breaking the bank. So don't feel panicked into buying everything at once!

I hope that wasn't too over whelming minnie xoxo