Baking Soda Bread

I have, like everyone else, been baking more while in lockdown. Mostly cakes and stuff, but I've been seeing everyone else baking bread and wanted to join in. I really want to make some sourdough or focaccia, but we haven't been able to find yeast ANYWHERE since before lockdown. Then I saw a few people making soda bread, which doesn't use yeast, and thought that sounded perfect.

We couldn't find buttermilk but the recipe we used said that if you couldn't find it, you could sour whole milk with lemon juice. That's what we did, and I think it worked fine. The other ingredients are plain flour, salt, and bicarbonate of soda. You simply sieve the flour, salt, and bicarb, and then pour in the milk. Stir until it's a sticky dough. Put it on a flour dusted baking tray and then cut a very deep cross into the dough. This helps the heat penetrate right to the middle of the dough, to cook it through at the same rate that the outside cooks. We dusted some flour on top, too.

We baked it on gas mark 4 for 30 minutes. That seriously seemed to be all it needed - it came out looking well. We left it to cool for a few minutes then sliced off a small slice to taste and share. It's quite salty - I think next time I would put less salt in. The texture is quite cakey and doughy, I think it would be really nice with jam spread on top!

We used this recipe here, it's good.

Pouring the soured milk into the flour and other dry ingredients

The dough all ready on the tray, but before we cut the cross

And this is after baking! Doesn't it look lovely? The cross lets the dough stretch

Trip Out to Dunford Bridge

On the last Saturday in May Lee and I went out for a drive and then a walk, as we had done the previous Bank Holiday Monday. The weather was still beautiful and I was desperate for some sunshine. I was going a bit loopy having to be in the house all the time, as I'm sure we all were. I decided we would go to Dunford Bridge, which is between here and Manchester and where I've been before, a long time ago, way back in 2013. Lee couldn't remember it at all, but once we got there he was like ohhhh yes I've been here before.

There were a lot of people there, but mostly setting off walking or cycling down the trail. There's a few picnic tables and there were people sitting around some of them, but we could sit far enough away to still be social distancing from people (something which I think we'll be doing for quite a few months yet!). We had stopped in Penistone to buy lunch, but there weren't any ready made sandwiches so Lee had bought a container of egg mayo and some bread to make our own sandwiches. The sun was shining and it was so lovely to just sit there for a while. We walked down the trail a bit, then came home. I sat in the garden for a little bit longer catching some sun, before finally admitting that I had things to do and couldn't just sit around in the sun all day. It was a nice little trip out, though!

Here's my photos:

Looking down on one of the reservoirs - look at those beautiful moors

Picnic!

It was the first outing of my Saltwater sandals this summer! I love them so much, still. I think I might buy another pair. I wrote a review of them here last summer.

It was quite windy and this is what my hair looked like when I got back in the car!

Back at home we had an ice cream in the front garden

And here's what I was wearing. The skirt is Scarlett & Jo and is quite thick and warm, actually, but it was fine. The top is from Yours and is greener than it looks in this photo. It's comfortable to wear!

Scentful Wax Review

Back in March I reviewed Wax Crumbles from a company called Wax Addict, in a post here. I've been really enjoying using the crumbles in my wax warmer. Most of the fragrances are new to me and I've liked them. Now that the weather is so warm I do still like to burn a candle or have the wax warmer going, but I find myself wanting fresher scents.

I saw an ad on Instagram for Scentful Wax and liked the aesthetic on the page so went to look. They make hand poured wax melts, in bars that are five by two, and you snap off two bits to melt at a time. They say that two squares will last for around 12 hours, which is a whole lot of burning!

If I signed up to the newsletter I got 10% off my first order, so I did that. They sell selection boxes which are themed and which are £19.99 and which contain eight bars. This seems comparable to the Wax Addicts box I bought previously. Postage is free over £20 so I decided to add two bars, one in Pear Drops and the other in Flower Explosion (which is a dupe for a well known perfume that I love).

I placed my order on Sunday, and received the good on Friday. With a bank holiday on the Monday too, that really meant they got to me quickly! They came in a flat parcel, meaning they went through the letterbox without the postman needing to knock, which is good if you're often out of the house.

I was impressed with the packaging and the cute thank you note. Plus a loyalty card! That's good. The bars themselves are just gorgeous. They are different colours and have different glitter in them. Plus the scents are just beautiful! In my selection box were: Marshmallow Fluff, Snow Queen (a dupe for Lush's Snow Fairy, which I LOVE), Baby Powder, Cotton Fresh, Blueberry & Vanilla, Pink Fizz & Lemonade, Pink Opium, and Peony Blush. The other two in the box are the ones I mentioned above that I chose separately. All of the bars have an amazing scent, I couldn't wait to melt some!

I decided to go for Cotton Fresh to start off with, which is a fresh, laundry powder kind of scent. It seemed ideal for a bright sunny day. As the squares melted they released their glitter, but also had swirls of shimmer in them, like you get in cocktails sometimes. This made the wax burner look really lovely, which I like.

And the scent! It had such a lovely clean and fresh scent, and it threw a long way which I'm a fan of. I had it melting for about four hours to start off with, and the scent lingered most of the day afterwards.

I was not paid for this review and did not receive anything in compensation for it. I just wanted to share my thoughts on a company that is new to me!

Cute cards at the top of the parcel

All the wax bars. They're all soy wax, I think. They come packaged in cellulose wrappers, instead of plastic, which is biodegradable I believe. Look at these gorgeous colours!

Here are the scents

Just starting to melt - this is a pale green wax to begin with

And as it melts, it releases a ton of shimmer and the glitter you can see. It's so pretty!

I'm definitely going to buy from Scentful Wax again, and I'll definitely share some of these gorgeous bars with my mum who also loves candles and wax.

Underbank Reservoir

On Bank Holiday Monday Lee and I had a nice trip out. The weather was really sunny and Lee wasn't working, obviously, so we decided to go to the supermarket first of all and then go somewhere for some fresh air and sunshine. We went to the Tesco in Penistone, it's a medium sized supermarket which is ideal for us. The queue wasn't too long, but it was still only one person per household so I sat in the car while Lee went in. He was around 40 minutes, and I had my book with me so I just sat reading.

We then headed to Midhopestones which is a village we pass through if we're on the way to Hathersage lido. (Oh how I so wish we'd been heading there - my body misses swimming!) I knew there was a reservoir just off the main road, so we drove there and parked in a layby. There was a gate on to the land, and then just a small walk through the trees to the side of the reservoir. There were a few other people there but everyone was making sure to keep a safe distance apart. We had a bag of lunch and our camping chairs to sit down.

It was absolutely marvellous. The sun was sparkling off the water and it was so calm and beautiful. It feels like a really long time since I've been near water in that fashion and I really needed it. It was just perfect. We sat and ate our lunch in the sunshine. Lee doesn't deal well with sun so after that he was too hot, so he moved backwards into the shade. I took my shoes off and felt the earth beneath them.

We considered walking along by the very edge of the reservoir on the little beach bit, but I desperately wanted to paddle but it's really rocky and I didn't have my water shoes with me. Plus we had cold stuff in the car and didn't want to be too much longer. So we just drove home, but it had been a lovely lunch trip out, and much needed.

When we got home we had an ice cream each.

Beautiful panorama I took just as we arrived

The view across the reservoir - there were people on the other side picnicking too

These trees were so tall and so shady and beautiful. They were like the kind you get on campsites in France!

Look at the beautiful sky. I tipped my head back and tried to just be in the sunshine for a bit

Looking left

Looking right

And here's me and Lee

And finally, I ate my ice cream sitting on the bottom step looking out of the back door

Luna Lapin

I recently completed this handmade rabbit and wanted to show her off a bit. She is called Luna Lapin and there's a whole community around making her! I first saw her last year when someone at my craft club brought her to make at craft club, and then someone else did too. My grandma gave me some money for my birthday back in January and I thought, oh I'm going to buy myself a Luna kit. My grandma likes it when you spend the money on "something" and can tell her about it. So I was determined to buy it.

The shop that makes Luna is called Cool Crafting and it's located in Kendal in Cumbria. Lynne, one of the people who made Luna at craft club, had been to the shop early in the year to buy her kit. I looked online, but didn't fully understand what I needed to buy to make Luna and also have the book where her friends are involved too. Then I thought maybe I'd like to go to the shop, so Lee and I made plans to do that at the end of March. Ha, that worked out well, didn't it? Lockdown happened, meaning we weren't going anywhere!

I rang the shop to ask. The maker of Luna, Sarah Peel, owns the shop. It was around the 24th of March aned she was quite busy but really helpful. She explained to me that I should buy the Luna & Friends book as it's got the patterns for Luna and all her friends, (no surprise there, and I liked the look of her cat friend Clementine), and then the "remake" kit for Luna which includes everything you need for her, down to needles, thread, and wool for her pom pom tail. I placed the order and everything arrived only a few days later, lovingly packaged by Sarah. She had signed the book for me too, which was nice.

I looked at the patterns, the kit, the instructions, and just thought, oh nope, I don't understand that. I got Lee to help me. We traced the pattern on to tissue paper, then used those to cut out the felt. It was fine actually, just a bit daunting! I used an air soluble pen to make marks on the cut out bits.

I started with the ears. They're partly felt and partly a ditsy print. You have to sew them then turn them inside out which I found quite easy to do. Then you're supposed to press them. Now Lee and I don't actually own an ironing board. We have an iron but rarely use it. But I bought a tabletop ironing board for about £12 and it arrived quickly. It's really good! I pressed the ears and then sewed them into the head. That was the most complicated part. I had to talk it through with my mum to make sure I understood it right. They can be sewn with a machine, which I of course own now!

Everything else is hand sewn. I quite like hand sewing, I found it quite calming and meditative. Most of it is oversewn so that the seams sew on the outside. I did the legs and sewed them into the body, and posted a photo on Instagram. It turned out I'd done them wrong! I got one comment that was quite nice, just telling me, but then two comments that were really rude and sarcastic. Why?! I undid the legs and did them again, yay I got them the right way round this time!

Everything came together quite quickly after that. I finished her off one afternoon while video chatting to my friend Sarah. You attach her arms by sewing the buttons through from one side to the other, sewing both on at once. It was quite fun! I had already sewn her eyes on, but done them wrong, so I did them again.

And then she's done! She isn't perfect - some of my stitches are really wonky, and her head isn't as stuffed as I would really like it to be. She's quite thin faced! But she's lovely! I really like her. I'm now looking forward to making some clothes for her. I think I'll start with some knickers to make her decent! I've also bought black and white felt to make Clementine!

Cutting out the pieces

Ironing her ears

Look at the cute little ironing board!

Her ears all done

And the other side. My mum is a seamstress so she was really interested in my progress and now says she's very proud! 

Once I got the ears sewn into the head

The other side. Here's where I should have put more stuffing in, but I didn't know that

One little foot, done!

The whole leg

This is where she was wrong - her legs should be at the front of her body with her feet facing forwards, not at the back like they are here. But it was easily undone

Here she is with her legs on the proper side of her body!

Now she has a head!

One little arm sewn, with thumb

And here she is all put together with her arms and her eyes! Isn't she so cute? I really like her! I'm excited to make her some clothes!

Morning Out in May

Lee and I needed to run some errands one morning in May so we headed into town. We parked the car and walked down the precinct with the view to going to M&S. However, the queue was ridiculously long and all the benches in the town centre were cordoned off so I couldn't have sat and waited. I understand why, but it does mean the town centre is now less accessible for disabled people, which is pretty crap. And someone pointed out that it's within the rules now to rest on a bench if you're exercising, which wouldn't be possible on these benches. It's kind of annoying!

Anyway, there's a newish coffee shop on one corner of the new leisureplex they're building in Barnsley (although I feel like it'll never be finished, the virus crisis won't have helped matters!) and Lee and I had been a few months ago when we were in town. It was nice. It happened to be open today! There was no queue and there was like a barrier to show you where to go. Inside there were two members of staff. Lee and I have really missed our takeaway coffee - I'm guessing we would on average get it maybe once a fortnight on our way to or from something else. We have a joint account, but each have some money in our own accounts that we're allowed to spend on whatever, and we often treat each other to a coffee from our own accounts. It's something so small but feels nice to treat each other! So we've missed it. So we took the opportunity and got some coffee. I went for a decaf iced latte with caramel syrup, which was really nice because it was a hot day.

The town centre, which is usually bustling, was just so quiet. Lockdown is easing but most people are still staying at home if they can, which is sensible. I do wonder what it'll look like in a couple of weeks when shops start to open again. I do think queues will just be ridiculous to start off with, so I'll still be avoiding them! I don't need to buy anything that badly I don't think!

We drove to the big park in Barnsley. We had put our camping chairs in the car so we walked a bit and then found a shady tree to sit under while we drank our drinks. There were quite a few people n the park, but everyone was a sensible amount of space away from each other. We sat there for quite a while - I'd taken my book. It was SO lovely to sit in some green space and enjoy the fresh air and the feel of the dirt under my feet. I've really missed it. We are lucky to have a garden but it's not huge. I was really grateful for a wide open space!

ALL of the benches were like this

And I have rarely seen the town centre so quiet (the coffee shop was just on the left there)

This is looking the other way. Barnsley town centre has seen a lot of economic downturn and I think this crisis will exacerbate that

I love this old building and clock, and look at the sewing machine on the sign! Barnsley cinema is just along from here

Coffee! Honestly it was so good

I took my shoes off to feel the erath beneath my feet

Panorama of the park - there were plenty of people walking down the path and beyond

What I Wore 9th May

We had some errands to run on the morning of the 9th of May. It ended up really annoying because the bank wasn't open (I had work banking to bank, and couldn't) and the first post office we went to wasn't open either. Well, we managed to get stuff posted and then get some groceries in a small co op. It's ages since I've been in a shop - Lee's been doing all the food shopping - and I wanted to buy some alcohol but the choice wasn't great. Oh well, I got two bottles of wine anyway!

Anyway, here's what I wore. I've been wearing this yellow skirt quite a bit because it's so bright and cheerful and I reckon that's what I need currently. It's from Scarlett & Jo and I've had it forever.

This top started its life as a white crew neck one from Simply Be. I tie dyed it last year while we were camping, but the ties weren't that tight and it didn't work out that well. But I still liked the colour and the slight pattern, so I kept it. I have worn it a couple of times, but the neck was just too tight on me and it put me off.

So I took a pair of scissors to it. I cut carefully around the ribbing on the neck, and then I used my sewing machine on a zigzag stitch to sew the raw edge into the new neckline. It's MUCH better now. It feels a lot more casual and a lot nicer to wear. I can see me wearing this a lot over the summer!