Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

In honour of this day of romance, I shall spend this evening watching whatever I want on TV as the husband is away on business

Gorgeousness in a Mug

I think I may have stated before that I don't like chocolate cake.

Ladles and gentlespoons, I think I have found the recipe to convert me : Nutella Microwave Mug Cake.

I posted the after pic on Facebook last week and after requests for the recipe thought I would show you all the blow by blow so you can end up with this piece of loveliness :

 First I measured out all the dry ingredients.

Then added the wet ingredients. You don't need to do it in this order, but I like leaving the messy bit until later.

Note to self, after cracking the egg using the same knife you used for the nutella, don't lick your finger, you won't taste nutella, you'll get a tongueful of raw egg - eeurgh!

Mix all of the ingredients together, the mixture should start sticking together and moving away from the sides of the bowl. You can use an electric whisk if you want, but for quickness I used the measuring spoon.

Next, get your mugs out. The recipe says it'll do one large serving, but it does 2 large mugs comfortably.

Divide the mix between the mugs and put one in the microwave for 1 min 30 secs. It'll rise whilst cooking, just keep an eye it doesn't spill over the sides.

After 1 min 30 secs, test the cake with a skewer, if it comes back out clean then it's fine, if not put it back in for 10 sec blasts until it comes out clean.

If you have one of these handy cake testers, you put it in the same way as a skewer and after 5 secs remove it. If it's red then it's the right temperature.

And then you're done, we topped ours with a dollop of ice cream and went in for the nommage.

And now for the ingredients list, as kindly written by Content in a Cottage.

4 tbsp self raising flour
4 tbsp white granulated sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp nutella
3 tbsp oil (olive or vegetable)
1 tbsp chocolate chips (I added these just for a little extra gooeyness)
Ice cream to serve


I hope you all give it a try, it's honestly worth the whole five minutes it takes to make it!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!!!

(Yes I know I'm nearly a month late, but as it's Chinese New Year I thought I might get away with it ... guess not!)

First of all, I am so glad Christmas is over and done with,  the first time I relaxed over this whole holiday was when Paul and I went on our First Anniversary trip.

So yes, I am no longer a newlywed, we have been married for a year now! Eek! Where has the time gone since I got to put on this pretty dress and marry the love of my life ????

I'm now knee deep in mud as it's less than 7 weeks to go until the Chase Walk - aaaaaaaaaaargh!!!!!!!!

It also appears that the random pains I'm getting my foot are an actual medical issue, so also running around (scuse the pun) trying to get that sorted so I can do my training.

Completing things on the list have been sliding I have to admit, but I'm hoping to get the Poi trick done soon.

Hope your Christmases were all good and New Year's were great, and just for a little humiliation, here is my (very last minute) costume for New Year's Evil :

It's not a good sight!

WEVerb11 - 11 - Try

Try. What 12 new things do you want to do/accomplish in 2012?

Given that this blog is already a list, it's difficult trying to think of "new" things to do next year but here goes :

1.       Learn to drive our car on a motorway. I passed my test just this Friday and I will be taking my Pass Plus in the New Year.

2.       Complete the Chase Walk (all 40 miles of it).

3.       Reach peak physical fitness.

4.       Start the process for a little H!

5.       Launch the new blog after finishing this one.

6.       Reduce my chocolate consumption to only the quality stuff.

7.       Work my way through my recipe books and actually try them instead of drooling!

8.       Learn how to take photos properly, even if our camera is only a point and shoot!

9.       Make at least one item from the dress patterns in my sewing drawer

10.   Finish off things from my list – I know it’s not new but some of them won’t get done before March!

11.   Dress better – I’ve let my personal style slip since the massive weight gain and gradual loss, and I need to get it back!

12.   Develop a regular fitness regime I will stick to!

WEVerb11 - 15 - Surprise

First of all apologies these posts are coming in one go, I've not stopped all this week sorting out edible Christmas gifts.

Now, on with the next post :

Surprise. What event of 2011 affected you in an unexpected way?

This will make me sound so bad, but it wasn’t so much an event but the little things that Paul did for me this year. It’s just been subtle little changes which made me think, sh*t, we’re a married couple now, this is my husband.

He’s been more thoughtful than before and has touched me with some of the little things he’s done – like buying me flowers on his way home because I sounded down on the phone.

I can’t wait to make him a father x

WEVerb11 - 16 - Persevere

Persevere. Describe something that disappointed you in 2011 and how you persevered.

Wow, this post is going to open a can of worms.

During the course of our wedding, I was circulating the crowd (as you do) and as I approached one of the tables I realised that one of my best friends was not there. I enquired around my hen party girls as we had all exchanged numbers that weekend and no-one had heard from her. In fact, one of the hens had been in contact with her only a few days before confirming she would be at the wedding.

I put it at the back of mind because as selfish as this sounds, it was our wedding day and I had other things to think about. When we got back to the hotel that night I checked my phone; no text or missed phone call.

The following evening I accessed Facebook and changed my relationship status to Married. Again, no communication from her.

It was only on the Monday night when I put a status update about eating leftover wedding cake that I got a text message. During the following text conversation I was honest with her and said I was very disappointed she hadn’t made it to the wedding, nor bothered to contact either me or the hens earlier. I said I was willing to put it behind us and move on. Subsequently, every time we arranged to meet up she pulled out at the last minute because it wasn’t convenient for her. We then tried to arrange to go and see her, but she told us not to bother making any special effort to go and see her.

This for me was the last straw. I started to realise that it was always me making the effort to meet up and since I moved out of the area; she had never once come over to the new house, despite promising she would. So, I stopped contacting her. She stayed as a Facebook friend and I kept her number in my phone until September, but after no response to the messages about Paul’s dad I cut her off. I have grieved for a lost friend, but in hindsight, had I lost her before the wedding?

It has made me appreciate my girls so much more, I don’t make friends easily and 2012 will be my tenth anniversary with my girlies. And fingers crossed we’ll reach our golden anniversary.

At BT's wedding, excuse the bad picture quality - need to teach husband about camera focus!

WEVerb11 - 9 - Appreciate

Appreciate. In which moment did you find yourself flooded with gratitude? How will you rally around gratitude in 2012?


I know I'm going back to the wedding again, but I am so grateful for the entire day.

I'm grateful that we had relatives travel over from Switzerland, all my godparents came despite not seeing them since my 18th birthday.

I'm grateful to Rainbow and her boyfriend for their efforts on the day, and as a result, we now have a stunning wedding video we hadn't even factored in to our planning process.

I'm grateful to my mum, who in full evening gown at 3pm, dashed to Sainsbury's so I would have a bouquet (that story is to come for my anniversary posts!).

I'm grateful to my dad, who calmed me down right before I made that step into the ceremony room, but I am not entirely grateful for his speech.

I'm grateful to Paul's mum and dad, without them we wouldn't have had outfits for the ringbearer and flower girl.

I'm grateful to BT for her reading, especially as it was given to her on the day of the wedding.

I'm going to stop there, I'm missing people off, but this much love in the morning is making me hanker for the Ferrero Rocher sat next to me on my desk