Have you ever tried a proper Victoria Sponge cake? It’s the plainest of cakes, which is right up my street, because I am the ultimate plain Jane, enjoying rich tea biscuits, vanilla ice cream and anything else that gives minimum flavour. Actually, you can’t really put a Victoria sponge into that category, because when made well, they can be scoffed quite easily whilst emitting moans of exquisite pleasure, and a scoop of mashed potato will not do that, unless you throw in half a block of butter. Queen Victoria had this cake named for her. A Duchess of some town, introduced the concept of having sponge cake for afternoon tea,…
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Bradgate Park
My son and I came for a walk to Bradgate Park last Friday for 3 miles of good exercise. It was a really lovely sunny day and the park always makes me feel refreshed and happy when I go. I am fortunate enough to live just 4 miles away, and I consider to be one of the most beautiful parks in the country. Bradgate Park, situated in the town of Newtown Linford, Leicestershire, has a very long history. It covers 850 acres and has the River Lin running through it which flows into the Cropston reservoir. The park was first mentioned in 1241, and was used as a hunting ground, but…
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Painting Disaster
During Art Class 2 weeks ago, we were attempting to paint Botanicals, you know the sort of thing, leaves, flowers and succulents. I love how those cute little bushes are called succulents. Anyhoo, it was downright difficult, and after many attempts I concentrated on the drawing instead and brought it home figuring out that over the next few weeks I would apply the paint slowly and be moderately happy with the result. I was pleased with my drawing, so about a week ago, I proceeded to use the techniques my art teacher had taught us. Using masking fluid, (irritating latex smelly rubber liquid that dries on the paper, thus masking…
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WordPress Themes and Widgets
I’m writing this post in response to a few comments I’ve received recently about the theme design for my blog. There is someone behind the really technical stuff of Pipstips, but I do fiddle around quite a bit with themes and widgets and alter stuff now and again as the need necessitates in my frenzied head. I’m the sort of person that likes change and variety, so after a while I start getting a bit bored with how it looks and fancy a new look. In answer to a readers question on my theme choices, this is what I am currently using with WordPress; Savona Classic. Savona themes are quite…
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10 Questions to Ask Yourself Every Day
So life can be pretty crap at the best of times. We may be going through money worries, health problems, work problems and love, or the lack of it. A feeling like we could be doing more with our lives or doing less, because we are experiencing some sort of work-related burnout. Or maybe, beating ourselves up every day because we may worry that we have spoken out of turn to someone or done something wrong and upset a family member, friend or a partner. To have negative feelings and be self-deprecating is not good for our well-being. However, to be positive and to look at the good stuff we…
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Pasta Bake with Mozzarella Cheese
If you are following the Slimming World diet then this recipe is Syn free apart from the cheese, which isn’t many, probably about 1 or 2 per serving. I eat this with salad and it tastes lovely. This amount makes enough for a dinner for me and my 2 boys, and it keeps in the fridge for a day or two. Ingredients: 400g beef mince, 400g tinned tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of tomato puree, 2 cloves garlic, 500g pasta (penne or similar), 1 ball of mozzarella cheese, salt and pepper. Method: Preheat the oven to 200c. Put the pasta on to boil. Dry fry the beef mince with the crushed garlic…
