Yes, who doesn’t like a piece of cake? Well after the Chester Clandestine Cake Club a couple of weeks ago I couldn’t face cake for at least a couple of days. I stupidly hadn’t eaten anything on the day of the event, apart from bits of buttercream etc while I was making my cake. Then I had several slices of different cakes, copious amounts of tea and the inevitable happened. Yes, massive sugar rush & headache. Oh, and I keeled over… I was standing talking to a friend, the next min I went all dizzy and toppled over. Oooops. Cue massive sugar hangover the next day. I must learn to eat more sensibly. Ah well.

I made a Crunchie Cake for the meeting. It was basically 3 layers of chocolate cake with chocolate ganache & crumbled crunchie bar between 1 layer, buttercream with a crumbled crunchie bar on the next layer and more chocolate ganache, crunchie rocks and sparkly gold stars and glitter on the top. It was a monstrosity of a cake, and wasn’t really a good choice to bring to a cake club as people had a hard time trying to cut themselves a slice.

Kim, by contrast, had a lovely neat looking Oreo cake (which was very yummy!):

Sorry for the blurry photos, I think I need my eyes tested, or a new camera, or a new brain…

Here is Kim enjoying her plate full of different cakes!

My next Clandestine Club outing is to the St.Helens event on 30th March. I plan to make a salted caramel chocolate cake.

Oh, and here are some farmyard cupcakes that I decorated on my course. I really wanted to learn how to make a dog, but as you can see I think I need a bit more practice! x

Let’s just pretend that it is the start of Feb and not the 21st… OK?! Good. So here are my January reads:

Keeper of The Bride by Tess Gerritsen

Source – library. This is one of Tess’ stand alone books, more of a romantic thriller. It certainly wasn’t as deep and gritty as her usual books but I did enjoy it and it had a good few twists.  3/5

Whistleblower  by Tess Gerritsen

Source – left in hotel on holiday by someone. Again, more of the same as above. Not her most recent work, but an OK read. 3/5

(Forgot to take my own pic – oops)

Headhunters by Jo Nesbo

Source – lent by Sarah. This was the first book I had read of Jo Nesbo’s. I had never heard of him to be honest until Sarah started talking about him. So, always keen to try new authors I borrowed this – and LOVED it. It is a stand-alone book, not part of his series of books. It was engaging right from the start, graphic, and very very clever! 4.5/5

(Forgot my own pic again, double oops!)

In The Woods by Tana French

Source – lent by Sarah. Again, I had never heard of this author. The story is set in Ireland and it is always nice to read some Irish dialect. It was a good read although the ending didn’t tie up some loose ends that I had been expecting. Can’t wait to read more of her books! 3.5/5

You’re The One That I Don’t Want by Alexandra Potter

Source – library. I went to the library wanting a Marian Keyes book to take on holiday. I don’t really like “chick-lit” type books but I make an exception for Marian Keyes. She is like my guilty pleasure. However, the library didn’t have any of her books in stock so I randomly looked for another “easy read” book. I had never heard of this author before but decided to risk it. I started the book on holiday then stopped after a couple of chapters as it was way too sugary and I wasn’t in the mood to read it at all. I wanted something deeper & darker! However, I started reading it again on the plane home & got rather engrossed in it. It is an easy read, with some of the usual chick-lit cliches but I also found it to be quite refreshing in that I didn’t guess the ending, and these books are usually quite predictable. Oh, and it made me want to live in New York (just for a while!). I don’t think I’ll be in a hurry to read any more of her books though… 3/5

The Hare With Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal

Source – library. Again, I took this on holiday but it sounded pretty boring and I couldn’t face reading it. I ended up reading it when I got home and boy I LOVED it! The story takes place in Paris, Vienna and Japan during the 1st and 2nd world wars (periods of history that I am interested in anyway), and it was great to learn more about the different countries. There is a lot of art references in this book and although I’ve never really been interested in art I found myself “Googling” all the paintings etc. that it mentioned and wanting to learn more about the artists! 4.5/5

 Book of the month and therefore book of 2012 so far: The Hare With Amber Eyes

As always, I want your suggestions of what to read next!! x

PS – HAPPY PANCAKE DAY – WHOOP

PPS – SORRY FOR BEING AWAY FOR SO LONG…

Anyone who knows me will know that I am always cold! Even in summer I sit under a blanket on the sofa in the evenings, so you can imagine what I’m like in this cold weather (-2 deg as I type this brrr!).

I was very excited when Find Me A Gift offered to send me one of their Love Rugs to see what I think. Fluffy warm snuggle blanket = yes please. Fab red & white heart design = even better! I had never used one of those snuggle blankets that you can buy in the shops. The first time I tried my Love Rug on I tried to put it on like a dressing gown & wondered why it didn’t quite work lol.. But that wouldn’t work as there is a handy pocket at the front to slip in your mobile phone, glasses, or some sweeties when you’re watching a film!

I love it! It is massive and Gary & I can sit together on the sofa with one arm each through the arm holes and stay nice and cosy.

The animals like it too – Meg especially!

The Love Rug would be a fab Valentine’s gift idea! Hope you all have a fab Valentine’s Day x

I can’t believe I have been back from Lanzarote for nearly 2 weeks! It was a last minute holiday organised by my Dad for my Mum & I. I had never been to Lanzarote before so I was excited. We had a fab, relaxing time. The weather was OK, quite cloudy & windy but we got a good amount of lovely sunshine too and it was miles better than the UK (20 deg plus instead of under 10 deg!). I would happily go there every January for a week of sunshine! I did miss the pups and the cats tho…

Here are some piccies:

Lanzarote map – we stayed in Peurto del Carmen

View of the pool from the roof terrace at our apartments

Another view from the terrace

Along the main beach

“Don’t feed the cats” sign

So who did I adopt but this lovely kitten! (She was crying as she was hungry)

Oooops!

The sea was pretty cold! Didn’t go for a proper swim!

In the distance to the left hand side you can see Fuerteventura!

Teguise the old capital

Teguise market (there were about 400 stalls there!)

Spot the dog?

Mmmmm churros!

And sparkly cocktails

Before an afternoon of rain

Me at night

My mum & I

Overall, a fab holiday! Have any of you been to Lanzarote before? Next time I go (next Jan haha) I would like to visit a bit more of the island and see some of the sights! x