Thick, fluffy, American style pancakes. Draped in Bananas and Biscoff spread.I’ve never been able to make these thicker, fluffy pancakes before so I was so happy with this delicious stack!!Savoury Ham & Cheese filled pancake toastie.This was so delicious and I was pleasantly suprised with this one.Traditional, thin crepe style pancakes. I always have these ones every year.Lemon, sugar & golden syrup.
So, this is my last post with the word Christmas in, honest!
Here is my book haul. I was very lucky to receive quite a few lovely books for Christmas this year, my ideal gift, so I thought I would share them with you.
It’s quite a mixed bag so let’s take a look…
Ant and Dec Once Upon a Tyne
I LOVE Ant & Dec, they are my absolute faves so I was super excited to receive this. This one I requested, so I hoped it was on it’s way. It’s really funny so far.
Finding Love at the Christmas Market by Jo Thomas
I had seen this one advertised and heard alot of great things (plus I love a cute, warm, festive story) so I was pleasantly suprised when my sister got me this. I’ve finished it and it was as lovely and heart warming as I’d have hoped. Perfect for Christmas & Blue January!
‘Still Friends’ 25 Years of the TV show that defined an era. By Saul Austerlitz
I can’t wait to start reading this. F.R.I.E.N.D.S is my ultimate fave TV show and my lovely friend bought me this for Christmas, knowing I love both books & friends. Definatly onto a winner with this one.
Collectors editions of: Peter Pan By J M Barrie, A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens & The Railway Children by E Nesbit
I discovered these in my local indie bookshop. They are absolutely beautiful. The covers are amazing 😍 I have wanted to add some classics to my collection for a while so I picked these out and my Mum and Dad gave them to me for Christmas.
I also got two illustrated Harry Potter books; ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ illustrated edition & ‘Quidditch through the ages’ illustrated edition
If you’ve followed me for a while you’ll know that I’m a MASSIVE!!! Harry Potter fan, so I was super excited to add these to my collection. I had asked for the illustrated ‘Goblet of Fire’ but I wasn’t expecting the ‘Quidditch through the ages’ illustrated version… IT LOOKS AMAZING.
Did you get some books for Christmas?? How are they??
I have done a few hauls over here on my blog before and I usually do one at this time of year because of the Jan sales… and this year was no exception, which is surprising as its such a strange time.
What Lush did this year was that they sent out a list of what products were on sale and their sale price (50% off 🙌🏻) and you rang through your order, paid online and collected in store, socially distanced.
It worked really well and it meant we could still get some bargin goodies.
Me and my twin sister sarah always grab some Lush bargains in the January sales so we were delighted that we still could (and even more so now that we are again in another lockdown! What else is there to do but have a bath when you are bored!?!)
Let’s see what I picked up in the sale…
Shoot for the stars Golden WonderSnow Fairy Bath Bomb & Snow Fairy BubblebarSnow fairy bath bomb ButtervearJurassic Spark gift box A robot and a dinosaur bath bomb!
I was super happy with my purchases! A few of these I have tried before, but I hadn’t tried anything from the Jurassic Spark Box so that’s exciting.
So, here it is! The final instalment of my 2020 reading challenge, and the final quarter…
October, November, December
Let’s have a look at what I have read during this quarter…
Books I’ve read:
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.
Where the Crawdads sing by Delia Owen
The Kindness Club at Mapleberry Lane: A Summer Suprise by Helen Rolfe
The Kindness Club at Mapleberry Lane: An Autumn Promise by Helen Rolfe
Coming home to Glendale Hall by Victoria Walters
New beginnings at Glendale Hall by Victoria Walters
Hopeful hearts at Glendale Hall by Victoria Walters
The Christmas Killer by Alex Pine
The Midnight Library is one of my favourite books that I have read this year. Its fantastic and I have recommended it to so many people already.
It’s so thought provoking and interesting, but gripping too.
I can’t recommend it enough
Alot of these were a similar type of book this quarter, easy readers. These are some of my favourite types of books, cosy, romantic, lovely and easy to pick up and get through, so I was super pleased to discover the Glendale series in particular.
I didn’t get through as many of my festive reads as I would have liked but I have one more on the cards for January, I recieved it as a gift for Christmas, from my sister.
It’s called ‘Finding Love at the Christmas Market’ by Jo thomas.
I haven’t quite decided how my reading challenge will take shape this year yet… maybe I will continue with the quarterly updates or I may go back to a monthly update, either way, keep your eyes peeled for that!
For the final day of Blogmas I thought I would share some of the Christmas fun we’ve been up to on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!
Christmas Eve
Me and my sister continued our tradition of meeting up for a burger with our friend.
Obviously being 2020 we had to get it takeaway and outside 😷
So we incorporated a walk around the park and it was really nice (except the rain shower!!)
I had the Caffe Nero Mint Hot Choc finally, and it was so delicious and festive too
We also have a tradition of going around our local town to look at the christmad lights.
We keep an eye out in the weeks leading up to Christmas eve and there are a few that are always good too.
There were some brilliant lights on display this year.
Keepin’ it COVID secure by going in our separate cars and we just chatted over a voice call, worked pretty well 🤣
Left my Stocking out for Santa, obv!
Christmas Day
Me and Tim started the day with a delicious and festive nutella pastry Christmas tree & a cuppa!
Followed by present opening 🎁
My father in law provided a lovely Christmas lunch for us, we had my brother in law on Zoom, at the dinner table with us… very 2020!
We enjoyed a bit of a relax and a TV break before another family Zoom with a game of birds names.
We had the standard Christmas day buffet in the eve with the other half of our bubble, my twin sister, brother in law and nephews.
We had fun opening presents, had a bit of a dance and enjoyed some yummy food.
It’s been a strange one in the sense that we are all (hopefully) being more cautious than usual this year, but it has been fun to be able to keep some traditions alive and to get together, where possible, to celebrate
I really hope that you’ve all enjoyed your day 🎅🏻
Tier Four tomorrow! But we still have Boxing day Skype fun planned with a Christmas themed family quiz.
Stay safe and thankyou so much for joining me again for another fun, festive and unforgettable Blogmas.
As I said a few days ago, I have one more recipe for you! And it’s perfect for a special Christmas day occasion.
It’s a delicious, and relatively easy and quick, Salted caramel (do I need to say any more?) and chocolate tart.
It doesn’t require a lot of ingredients which is great! And apart from time for it to set it doesn’t take too long either. It only took me an hour or so one evening so its great as a fancy, last minute showstopper.
Don’t let the making caramel stage scare you… it’s not as horrendous as you’d think and, if you have a food thermometer this will really come in handy.
I will link both of the recipes that I used below.
I used pre made shortcrust. Remember to bake it blind for 15 mins before removing the baking parchment and beans (or whatever you have, I used dried pasta) pop it back in until it starts to turn golden.
I had some nice flakey salt that I added during the caramel recipe process (as stated but I doubled it) and I sprinkled more salt on, generously, once I had poured the caramel into my cooled tart.
Leave the caramel to set and then add your silky smooth ganache on top. Good quality Dark chocolate is the best.
As someone who likes baking, I enjoyed this recipe because it uses lots of different techniques that perhaps I wouldn’t bother to try usually.
And it looks impressive too!
This is going to be our Christmas day dessert, served with some thick double cream, YUM!
Roseanne Byford 