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Saturday 29 December 2012

Mulled wine/cider recipe

A few people asked how I made the mulled cider and wine that we had at my party last weekend. 
Unfortunately I forgot to take photos :(   
I adapted the recipe from Jamie Oliver, see Jamie's mulled wine

Take 2 large saucepans and use ladles to serve.
I used approx 200g sugar, 2 star anise, about 9 whole cloves, a cinnamon stick, peel, juice and segments from about 4 clementines, peel from 1 lemon, then added the wine/cider enough to cover sugar and juice mix.  
Then I added a sprinkle of ground cinnamon and some grated nutmeg.
Then add the rest of the wine/ cider. 
(I used 1.5 litres of wine and 2 litres of cider to start then made more up later because it was in demand!!)
   
I sliced some apple and orange for decoration and added a sprinkle of ground ginger to the cider only.   I'm not usually a cider fan cos of the fizz, but I really liked the mulled cider, spicy and sweet, yummmm :)

I just used Thatchers cider as I knew some of my friends drink Thatchers and it's cheap for 2 litre bottles!
 Got lots of compliments and there was hardly any left, so I think it went down well!! 
Hope you find this recipe useful :)

Peebreeks xx

Friday 28 December 2012

Deck the halls..

I'm a bit late in posting this but I made my flat all Christmassy this week as I invited people round for a festive housewarming!


Any excuse for fairy lights :)
Lovely cards by the stairs
I love decorating the tree, it makes me super happy!  
This year I went for red and white and silver, with lots of handmade decorations and yummy peppermint candy canes  :)



Over the years I've gotten a lot of inspiration for Christmas time from my mum,  she always makes the house look really cosy and festive. 

Here are some photos from my parents' house to show you what I'm talking about...



Mum's Christmas cake. Unfortunately not my cup of tea, but looks very pretty!




Dusky orange roses were the centre pieces on our table for Christmas Day



I gave my mum some red 'berry' lights a couple of years ago and she uses them on the stairs weaved in and out of banisters and Christmas tree off-cuttings.

Mum always decorates the mantlepiece above the fire. this year she went for a gold and red theme.


Mum used gold spray to decorate the pine cones and nativity figures, Christmas tree off-cuttings, red glass baubles and red and
gold ribbon to match!
Love the log fire, ahhhh :)




Hope you all had a very happy Christmas!

Peebreeks xxx

















Tuesday 18 December 2012

Feeling festive...

Finally went back to work this week and despite still feeling unwell, I have been getting in the mood for Christmas!! Here are some of my favourite moments from the last couple of  weeks. Photos were taken with my phone so sorry if quality isn't brilliant :(


Went out to choose my Christmas tree - luckily there were still some beauties left!!



My class made some beautiful Tudor pomanders.  Really easy to do :)


  1. Put two pieces of tape on an orange in a cross pattern to mark where the ribbon will be.
  2.  Draw dotted design of where the cloves will be in felt-tip. 
  3. Use a cocktail stick to go over the dotted design to make holes for the cloves, watch out for orange juice! 
  4. Gently push the cloves into the oranges. 
  5. Finish by tying 1 or 2 pieces of ribbon so that pomanders can be hung up. 
(You can also sprinkle sandalwood/ frankincense oil on if you like, but we skipped this part!)


Father Christmas passed through the town, he was in such a hurry, I hardly had time to get a photo :)
 Peebreeks xx

Monday 3 December 2012

Scarf time!

As we move into colder weather, I have been trying to knit more.  Last winter I made 3 chunky scarves (lilac, maroon and grey) for some friends, no photos, sorry :( Have been working on this scarf for a while now, but as I've been ill, have managed to do a bit more!




I'm using old Jaeger no.1 wooden needles which are equivalent to 19mm. I cast on 12 stitches in garter stitch. I use 'Seriously Chunky' acrylic made by Cygnet.  I buy this from Dorothy House charity shops as they regularly sell it and obviously the money goes to a good cause!  I have used 1206 Bright Red, not true colour in photos for some reason... It is a pillarbox red, really bright. Tried to show colour in comparison to my nail!
Will try and post more photos when it is finished with tassels. 

Peebreeks xx

Chest infections suck..

So have been off work since last Monday with a chest infection which isn't nice :( 
Am bored out of my skull... Not a lot of energy and pretty drowsy most of the time.  So I decided I would paint my nails, inspired by Caggie (Made in Chelsea.)  I went for some paintbox bright colours to lift my mood!! 
Will try and write on what they all are later, in case anyone wants to know :)
 


Caggie's nails (cuppateaandtoast-Tumblr)

My nails- a bit bodged but still fun!
My nails



Caggie looking sad :( but fun nails


Peebreeks xx