Merry Christmas

A very belated Merry Christmas to you all, I do hope it was a one filled with love, laughter and good food. Ours was a quiet one but all the same wonderful. The week before was an exhausting one for me to say the least, the yearly stock take meant I had to work 12 hour night shifts for the week. At one point I had no idea what day it was or indeed what time of day it was!!

Mr.B helped me plan out the week before it started so that everything was organised to the last dot so that I didn't have to worry about anything other than working and sleeping. Which is pretty much all I did :( It passed over quite quickly and it only took me a couple of days to get back into my normal sleeping pattern.

I could then focus on Christmas and relaxing....

We had my Dad stay for Christmas this year and while I couldn't remember a Christmas spent with him he said that he thought I was about 5. So now I'm 36, 11 months and 13 days old, it was a special Christmas to have him here. He made soup for our starter and helped with the lunch, we opened our presents and drank lots of good wine. 

For many reasons I'm hoping that 2017 is different, better, yes but different would be a start. I've come to realise over these last few months that only I can change the direction of my life and now its time I took control. Maybe at the time time I thought sitting back and letting things progress naturally was the right thing to do, but looking back now there are some things I would have done a little differently. I'm not one for looking back or regrets so I'm just gonna get right in there and start the winds of change.

Wish me luck :)

p.s. next post will be a recipe.......parsnip soup!

Hey...

Let me just start with saying 'hello', its been so long since I visited this space to see you all that I almost feel like I need to re-introduce myself! As crazy as that sounds, I feel like a different Emma since I last caught up with you all. 

To say that I have been off 'finding' myself would pretty much explain where I have been. There has been minimal sewing but lots of time spent on me (obviously as well as lots of day job working, but thats a boring subject so lets just skip past that). I've been eating healthier, exercising more and generally trying to put less pressure on myself. At the beginning of the year things changed for me, it made me take a really good look at what was really important, it also made me realise that I was always running around trying to make all the people around me happy and in turn it was exhausting. Flick forward 8 months and we've (me and Mr.B) have been on holiday (very much needed), spent a lot of time getting our beautiful home just how we want it (still on going) and planning things in for the year ahead.

I'm just about starting to feel a little 'Christmassy' I'm easing myself back into sewing by making my felt decorations. There's something comforting and familiar about these little guys. I enjoy making them, I dont really have to think about it too much, I just let it happen and I can pick it up pretty much just when I feel like it. 

If you have noticed, which I hope you have, I've made a little change to the look of my blog. This is my way of saying "I'm back" and I promise this is the start of me being a little more present in blog land. 

It feels good to be back :)

RECIPE: Homemade Zesty Lemon Curd

This one is for you Rachel xxx

Another recipe I found on my search for eating healthier and knowing what is in my food was this one for Zesty lemon curd (note to self: must start writing down where I found these recipes). I love, love, love lemon curd but after finding out that most shop bought lemon curd is made from Palm oil (*angry face*) it was added to my "Do not buy ever again" list.

I've tried and tested the original recipe I found and then tweaked it a little as I found it a little too sour. So far I've had great reports of the tweaked recipe.

So here goes, the "what you will need" and the "how to make it" :)

You will need:

2 large lemons

125g caster sugar

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

50g unsalted butter

Finely grate the zest of the lemons into a glass bowl.

Add the juice of the lemons and the sugar and mix together.

Add the eggs and the egg yolk and whisk until thoroughly combined.

Add the butter (cut into small cubes).

Heat a large sauce pan of water to simmering level and place the bowl over the water to heat the mixture (the water should not touch the base of the bowl).

Stir frequently until the curd thickens, you want it to be the consistency of a good thick custard.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Transfer into a jar and keep in the fridge.

This recipe makes approx 250 ml, just over a medium jar size, perfect size for consumption before it goes off. It lasts 2-3 weeks in the fridge (if it lasts that long!! Its just too tasty!!).

Or you could make some cakes and add a tsp to your cases in between your mixture for a lemony gooey centre :D YUM!!!!