Touraine Trekkers and Simnel cupcakes…HAPPY EASTER..

Following discussions with friends Elizabeth and Jean it was decided that what the Touraine needed was another walking group! Elizabeth came up with the name, so all that remained was to canvas interest and organise our first trek or randonnée.

Over thirty trekkers expressed an interest, and twenty five intrepid souls and two dogs fastened their laces for our inaugural walk around Le Petit-Pressigny.

We’d planned a couple of walks of 7k and 10k and could offer a choice part way round. We were a bit worried that given the hot afternoon sun that we had chosen the wrong time of day for the walk, but luckily(?) Friday dawned cool and cloudy. However the sun eventually come out, and more importantly, it didn’t rain!

 Checking in.

Susan and Liselle, the back markers.

 Nick, Rieja, Sally and Elizabeth.

Sam, Chris, Sally and John.

 Simon, Colin and Elizabeth.

Pauline and Liz, just after the sun came out!

Jim, stopping for a rest!

It seemed like a great idea to offer refreshments at Le Pré Vert after the walk, and a big thank you to everyone who generously brought a delicious array of quiches, cheese straws, focaccia, cakes, brownies, biscuits, flowers and wine.Tim, i/c photographs, completely failed in his duties to photograph the food! Friends who were unable to make the walk joined us for the refreshments.

 Poppy, performing her party trick for a dog treat! Ann, Maureen and Kay, her appreciative audience.

Sally, Chris and Gail.

Jean, Nick and Edna.

Antoinette, Niall and Susan.

Elizabeth, how lucky are you to still have that lovely pink cardigan?

The idea is that we become an informal group who enjoy exploring our beautiful countryside together, and that on a rota basis someone will volunteer to organise the next walk. Thanks to everyone who took part in this inaugural trek. I think Tim was worried that I would have my whistle at the ready to chide those who fell out of line or failed to keep up. Worse still, to expect people to walk in pairs, holding hands and wearing fluorescent walking bus tabards!! Once a teacher…

If you are reading this, live in the area and would like to join in then drop me an email or a comment and I’ll contact you.

We certainly enjoyed ourselves and it provided an ideal opportunity to persuade some guinea pigs to sample my first attempt at baking Simnel cupcakes. The recipe is loosely based on one in the Hummingbird baking book.

Ingredients:

300g (10 ½ oz) mixed dried fruit

100ml (3 ½ fl oz) Armanac and Cointreau mix

200g (7oz)  softened, unsalted butter,

200g (7oz) soft dark brown sugar

4 large eggs

160g (5 ½ oz) plain flour

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp mixed spice

½ ginger

60g (2oz) ground almonds

For the topping:

60g (2 oz) marzipan

Chocolate mini eggs

Melted white chocolate

Makes 12-15

Method:

·        Place the dried fruit in a bowl, cover with the alcohol and leave to soak for about an hour.

·        Pre-heat the oven to 190°C/ 375°F/ Gas Mark 5, and line a tin with muffin cases.

·        Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Break in the eggs, one at a time with a teaspoon of flour, scraping down the sides of the bowl after adding each egg and mixing.

·        Sift together the flour, baking powder, ginger and mixed spice, then add to the creamed mixture and whisk slowly until all the ingredients are incorporated. Add the ground almonds, followed by soaked fruit, and mix until combined.

·        Divide the mix between the paper cases.

·        Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the cupcakes have risen and spring back when you gently press them. Let them cool in the tray for a short while, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

·        Form the marzipan into small balls and press into a circle. You could roll out the marzipan and use a cutter but this was too fiddly for me!

·        Place on to the top of the cupcakes and using a small amount of melted white chocolate add the chocolate egg.

I had intended to put a small amount of marzipan inside but don’t really think it is necessary.These cupcakes are deliciously boozy! They also lend themselves to lots of variations, and I can see how they could easily become a Christmas cupcake.

Q.E.D…

 

Just when you thought…

… that you’d seen it all, something always crops up to surprise you.

We were shopping at the Brico in Chatillion-sur-Indre on Monday morning, stocking up on essentials like curtain rings, ant powder, three different sizes of clear plastic tubing (don’t ask!) and a new sink plug. We have one of those pop up things which hasn’t worked properly since we bought the house in 2009. Looking along the shelves it seemed the least we could get away with paying was 13 Euros.

That was until we came across these little lovelies…

  

We resisted the flower patterned ones as we thought they might clash with our 1970’s flowery tiles we inherited.

And, lest you think we are snobs, the finished article. All for less that 6 Euros.

Now the bidet and bath look a bit mismatched…

Feeling good to be back…

We’re busy sorting everything out after a long winter. As I type Tim is power washing the terrace and balcony areas. When this vital posting work is finished I shall go outside to assume the equally important role of directing operations, and, of course, to point out any small areas he might have missed!! As you can imagine, as retirement for both of us becomes a reality, he is really looking forward to having me on hand to assume this role permanently!!  ;o)

A welcome sight…

The clematis is blooming.

 Plenty of blossom on the quince tree.

 The palm tree, which we thought we’d lost, in the cold winter a couple of years ago.

Less welcome…

  

The moles have certainly taken advantage of our absence to take up residence.

Any ideas?

Counting my blessings...

 Apologies if this post looks like it hasn't been edited... I have tried :o((

Here in the UK it's Mothering Sunday. As always in the midst of their busy lives my children have remembered me. 

I was shopping with Rhiannon yesterday. She bought me a beautiful Sophie Conran candle with the most wonderful scent. Whilst paying she had a conversation with the assistant who mentioned that when the candle is finished the bowl can be used for cooking. They mused that it would be particularly suitable for a soufflé. If it is indeed used for a soufflé it will be a first for this mother!! Rhi and Stuart will have invited us for a meal this evening, which I know will be delicious.

Tom sent me some lovely tulips and card courtesy of Moonpig. They were delivered yesterday and the arrangement large enough for me to take some down to my Mothers grave which is about 200m away, in our village churchyard.

The weather is warm and sunny, I'm baking a chocolate cake and Tim is busy watching the Malaysian Grand Prix. 

Happiness, contentment and certainly counting my blessings...

UPDATE 1: Perhaps everything in my Mothering Sunday garden isn't so rosy; instead of baking a cake it  would be more accurately described as BURNING a chocolate cake. Still a covering of frosting can hide a multitude of sins! Sorry, Jean! You can find Jean at -bakinginfranglais.blogspot.co.uk

2: I love my iPad, but the blogger app is very clumsy to edit or insert links and resize pics? It won't even let me publish and then go to blogger to edit later. I think I'll revert to using windows live writer which allows me do everything I want to do, easily! There doesn't seem to be an app for live writer. Why not? There's app for almost everything else!

59 today…

At the top of a mountain…

 

Renovating Rhiannon’s bathroom…

Snapping away at a Venus Moon…

Happy Birthday, Tim xx

LiveJournal Tags: birthday,Tim

Where did you get that hat?

Life is busy! Maybe that statement doesn't quite hit the spot. Perhaps my abilities to deal with life efficiently are ebbing away with age. Blogging time is slipping down the list, and although I read most posts, my comments are almost always short, superficial, and rarely do justice to the subject matter.

Did I tell you that life is busy? Not work life, but social life and preparations for that life after work that I constantly seem to be banging on about! We've also been taking advantage of the better weather and lighter nights and trying to walk for an hour or so every evening.

Spring is in the air, together with something else that I can't really say any more about at the moment, except to say that it will be momentous! When I can share the news, I will. The intention isn't to be secretive, but to give a flavour of the mounting excitement developing at The Old School.

In the meantime a couple of family snaps, unfortunately separated by a few thousand miles.

The Ministry of Silly Hats, at Bridgemere. For some reason I wasn't allowed to don the tank commanders helmet! Rhiannon was entertaining the oldies during a much needed break from her post-grad studies. Apologies for the quality, but it's another mobile selfie. Is it still a selfie if the pic shows more than one person?

Tom, at the end of his Japanese biathlon, coming 41st out of 120 in the pro race. He improved his PB by seven minutes. Bravo!

 Celebrating with the Tom Bot!

Tongue in cheek…

Our friend and fellow blogger Colin posted some fantastic photographs taken with his super new lens. Take a look at the post and the blog he writes with Elizabeth.

If my comments were a bit ‘tongue in cheek’ it’s because I knew where I was going to be today!

Here…

Watch this space… :o)