Yummy mini sausage rolls

So, this weekend my Other Half asked me to make my homemade sausage rolls - one of his favourite snacks.

And I gladly spent a beautiful Sunday morning making my own pastry before making the sausage rolls - so tasty, even if I do say so myself.

Believe it nor not, I'm still using the pastry recipe from when I was 12 years old in cookery class in secondary school - and I honestly can't see myself ever using another recipe, or buying shop-bought, well unless I'm completely desperate for time!

This pastry recipe is quick, easy and doesn't require many ingredients - 200g of plain flour (plus extra for when you're rolling the pastry), 75g of lard, 75g of margarine, one egg and some cold water - straight from the tap.

Start off by placing the flour in a bowl. Mix the lard and margarine together and cut into four equal portions. Add the first portion to the flour and mix in with the tips of your fingers.

Now, add 8 tablespoons of cold water and use a knife to bring the mixture together - it should be sticky but easy enough to get of the bowl.

Place on a floured surface and roll out. Using the second portion of the lard/margarine mix, cut into small pieces and place over 2/3rd of the dough, fold the top 3rd into the middle, and he bottom third on top of that - this sounds so complicated, but it's actually very easy. There's no exact science to this - you just need layers!

Place the dough in the fridge for half an hour. Bring it out, roll again and do the same with the 3rd and 4th portions. And after using up all the lard/margarine, place the dough in the freezer for an hour - it won't freeze, it'll just become very cold.

At this point I normally make around 14 sausage rolls with half the dough, and leave the other half in the fridge or freezer for when I fancy making some eccles cakes - another of the Other Half's favourites.

Now, roll out the cold dough on a floured surface so that it's the thickness of a 50p piece, or thereabouts. Using a knife, score the dough so that you have around 14 (or 28 if using all the dough) strips. 

Brush some egg one one end of every strip and place a small ball of sausage meat on the other - you can add salt, pepper and thyme (or whatever you fancy!) at this point.

Then, fold one end of the strip over the other and, using your fingers, squish the dough together so that the meat is sealed inside.

After doing this to each strip, place in the fridge for another half an hour.

After half an hour, score the tops of each sausage roll with a knife and brush some egg over each one before placing in the oven for 30 minutes - or until they look oh so good and brown.

And finally, dig in - yum!

And these are the sausage rolls and eccles cakes from Christmas

Summery top

And so I was in Asda last Friday night buying my World Cup Survival Kit - a huge cheese pizza and a bottle of wine. And I came across this cute top for £8 - how could I resist?

I have to admit it might look a bit 'mumsy' in this photo, but I love it - a loose but flattering top - and I love the lace collar - gorgeous! 

I've already worn it a couple of times this week, it's ideal for this warm weather we're having - please continue over the weekend!

My latest purchase

I thought I'd share with you my latest purchase - a great little find in a great little shop, if you can call it that.

Imagine walking into your Nan's living room, except that your Nan also likes retro video games and punk records - this is Cardiff Fashion Quarter.

Possibly, not the most appealing photograph, but you get the idea.

They sell everything from furniture to decorations, CDs to VHS, clothes to stuffed animals and everything in between - you need patience to trawl through everything, but that's all part of the fun.

And over the weekend, my trawling paid off as I came across some Russian Dolls - I was delighted! I've been looking for some for a few months now, and even though they're readily available online, 1) they're too expensive and 2) they look 'too new'. And so, when I found this delightful set (which is surprisingly similar to a set I had, and lost, as a child) - I was a very happy girl.

 So, have you found any treasure recently?

London Baby!



So, on a typically dreary British day, the Other Half and I headed off to London for the day. I’d bought a couple of cheap tickets for the Megabus, packed my book and a sandwich (you know how expensive breakfast could be on the motorway!), and we were off – it felt like a school trip!

 

As apprehensive as I was about the Megabus experience, I actually had nothing to worry about. We left Cardiff at 07:45 and arrived at around 11:30. Left London at 20:15 (15 minutes late) and were home well before midnight.

 

 

The buses are comfortable and the tickets are cheap – I’m really not looking for anything more from a bus ride.

The original plan was to concentrate on the Tate Gallery and the Natural History Museum, with a bit of walking and eating inbetween. However, as the Megabus drives along the Museum on the way to Victoria Station, this plan quickly changed. The queues were huge and full of screaming kids. Nope, not the day for us to try and see the dinosaurs.

So, we headed off to the Tate all the same, assuming that the screaming kids wouldn’t be interested – and we were right. Busy enough, but at least you could get close enough to see the paintings.

 

 

 

 

The Other Half was very patient and I was allowed a couple of hours to meander around the displays and managed to see my all time favourite, Monet.

 

 

As well as a couple of Dali pieces and Picasso paintings. I loved it.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Off we went then for a little tour of the City. The Other Half loves his architecture, so this was the compromise for my hours at the gallery. We managed to see the Gherkin, the Cheese Grater and the Walky-talky –we Brits do love our nicknames. Anyone know their real names?

 

 

We stopped then for lunch and I had the biggest and tastiest burrito ever – thank you greedy (in more ways than one) bankers for needing so much food! :)

 

 

 

 

 

Fed and watered, we headed off to see St. Paul’s Cathedral and then headed for Covent Gardens. We finished off our touristy day with a pint of the local Camden Pale Ale. I loved the huge tanker and looked like such a lady supping my pint.

All in all, a very enjoyable day. I’ve never really seen London, except for going to see a show or two, and so enjoyed the whole touristy thing, especially as the Other Half was a bit more familiar with the place – my very own tour guide!

So, do you guys ever do the touristy thing? I’d highly recommend giving it a go!

 

 

 

All the photos are my own, except for the Megabus photo from ForeignStudents

Which personality are you?

I'm ISTJ apparently. And I'd actually say it's pretty accurate.

I was reading one of my favourite blogs recently - A Cup of Jo - and she referred to the Myers-Briggs personality test. I'd never tried it, and thought it might be like one of those quizzes you got in teenage magazines years ago - "if you answered mostly B then..." - but nope, it actually got my personality pretty spot on!

According to the test I'm:

Introvert (78%)

Sensing (25%)

Thinking (25%)

Judging (33%)

So, who are you?



Photos from 
Rob Dale
Static 4
Law Gospel Action
Slapix
Change Agent
Jimmy Choos on the Treadmill

An update on the birthday outfit

So ladies, I've been going back and forth and round and round trying to find the perfect birthday outfit. And after buying a few other things I needed (ahem!), I've found the dress. This pretty little number from Oasis.

It's slightly darker than I'd planned but it fits perfectly with a lovely kick to the actual skirt and my favourite cap sleeves.

And if you all remember, I'd originally thought of buying nude heels to go with my new dress. However, due to some unexpected costs while trying to buy our new house, I think it'll have to be just the dress for now...and maybe a few accessories.

As I now plan on wearing my trustworthy black heels, I thought some chunky black jewellery might work well. This bracelet could work.

I'm still on the lookout for some earrings and possibly a bag...don't tell the Other Half!

Home-grown strawberries

Over the weekend I found a small strawberry plant in our garden. Bearing in mind that we live in a rented property - this was a lovely surprise!

They might not be the prettiest, and Tesco certainly wouldn't buy them, but they were a nice treat with breakfast this morning.

Lost

Oh how I've wasted many hours on my week off. Hours watching the Lost boxsets. And how I don't regret a single cliffhanging episode.

It's taken me a while to get round to actually watching it, and so when I saw the first season in the local DVD shop for 99p - well, it'd be silly not to give it a go, wouldn't it?

And now I'm well and truly hooked and spend many an evening in Kate, Jack, John, Hurley, Claire, Charlie, Jin, Sun, Sayid and everyone else's company. (The cast is pretty huge, but it's suprising how quickly you remember their names!)

If you've never watched it. Do it. Now.

It's basically about a group (a big group!) of people who crash onto an island and do their best to survive. But that's not all. Things become very strange indeed.

I won't go on about the plot as I think you can easily ruin it. It's definitely not what I had in mind, but I think that's probably a good thing.

I'm nearing the end of Season 2 already, and have managed to find Season 3 and 4 for under £10, so I'll definitely be watching a few episodes every evening for the next few weeks.

Anyone else as hooked as I am? Or was addicted when it came out the first time?