Homemade Scones

Today Alessio and I decided to make scones while he was home during lunch, he likes to bake. The recipe came from the book in the photos, The Beach Cafe by Lucy Diamond. I really enjoyed this book, it is about Evie who inherits a beach cafe in Cornwall after her aunt died. At first she is not sure if she wants or if she is able to run a cafe, especially when her life is in Oxford.

350g self-raising flour

a quarter of salt

1 tsp baking powder

85g butter

3 tbsp caster sugar

175ml milk

1 beaten egg  (to glaze)

220 degrees for oven

Mix the flour, salt and baking powder. Cut the butter into cubes then rub into the mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and make a well into the mixture.

Warm the milk and pour it into the dry mix and stir to combine to a dough.

Knead the dough for a bit and then with a roller, roll out to about 4cm deep. The recipe says it makes 8 scones but we made more around 12.

Once you have cut out the shapes, put them onto a baking tray and brush the tops with the egg. Put into the oven for 10mins.

I had to have whipped cream with them and of course jam!

Enjoy!

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I thought I would try a new section so with each post I will mention a few articles that I have found interesting on the web!

In other news around the world a teenage blogger claims it is cheaper to go via Berlin on a trip from Sheffield and Essex. 

A new movie coming out called Whiskey tango foxtrot looks funny, it has the great Tina Fey.

Alessio and I will be visiting Cologne in April, so here are some tips for us!

Little Robin Redbreast

Last week in the garden we put up a bird feeder, and I had honestly forgotten all about it until I was looking out the window and saw a robin. Then on another day I saw another one, and he was hopping around on the grass. I was quite happy to see one as I am not sure if I have ever seen one before!

Nymphenburg Palace Munich

Three years ago I went to Munich for a long weekend for a wedding, my friend Janet got married that weekend. During that weekend my camera got stolen and for these photos I borrowed the camera from Claire, she sent me the photos but for some reason I have only now found them!

On the Saturday afternoon with Claire and Aimee we visited the Nymphenburg Palace, yes it was bloody freezing! This amazing Baroque palace was the main summer residence of the Bavarian Monarchs. Sadly we were too late to visit inside so we wondered around outside for as long as humanly possible! The geese were not so bothered by the freezing temperatures anyway!

I would visit it again so I can visit inside and hopefully in warmer weather too! As you can imagine it is one of the top tourist attractions that Munich has to offer! Afterwards if I remember correctly we stopped somewhere for hot chocolate!

Photo of the Week - Isle of May

Photo of the week is from Cellardyke, Scotland on 31st December 2015 we had a short walk on the beach and rocks. It turned into an adventure, trying not to slip or fall and we all had a great a laugh. In the end Alessio and my mother fell down.

This is the Isle of May, a National Nature Reserve, the ferry takes 45mins from Anstruther, where you can visit for the day. I have never been, maybe one day we will do this trip!

The Kelpies

While we were back visiting Scotland over Christmas, we visited The Kelpies, (here you can read an article from the Telegraph) these are two 30m high equine sculptures near to Falkirk on the Forth and Clyde canal.

The Glasgow artist Andy Scott, is the man behind these amazing sculptures. The tradition was that horses pulled the barges on the canals back in the day and he wanted to commemorate this. It was nice to see some boats on the canal, maybe one day were will be boat trips on them.

It was a nice afternoon, the sun was shining and lots of people were out and about.

Colourful Madrid

Some bright and colourful photos of my trip to Madrid in May last year with my sister Elena, I do really like to see colourful buidlings. I have basically told you all about the trip in the other posts, so I won`t bore you guys again with more information.

This my sister and I are not having a trip away this year, but in 2017 we will have another one. Already ideas are floating around Morocco, Latvia and Lithuania. Anybody got some other ideas?

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

Photo of the Week - Plane View!

This amazing view was on our way to Scotland on the first flight to Frankfurt on Tuesday 23rd December. As soon as I saw this I whipped out my camera, and later on I saw another brilliant sky but on the other side so I was not able to get any photos!

The Weekend!

So already two weekends gone in January, this weekend we visited the new FIFA Football Museum, it is actually not opened yet. The temporary exhibition was about the Ballon d`or ceremony and it`s history which took place this evening. They showed all the awards that the people would win this evening at the Kongresshaus in Zurich.

Of course Alessio is mad about Lionel Messi, and supports Barcelona FC, as we all do in our family. So when I told him that Messi would be coming to Zurch for the award ceremony he wanted to go and see if he could see him.

Sunday we went to Schaffhausen to visit my brother and sister in law for lunch, it was nice to see them and my nephews too. As it was raining the whole day we did not go outside, but Alessio and his uncle Luca made this and had fun watching the ball go down the slides.

An up-date about the Ballon d`or ceremony, we went this eveneing and managed to see Messi, Ronaldo, Iniesta, Dani Alves and a few others!

A Weekend in Yverdon Les Bains/Grandson

The first weekend in December Alessio and I visited my friend Aimee and her family. They live just outside Yverdon les Bains in the French part of Switzerland. Alessio was really excited to have a sleeover and play with Noah with threats of staying up as late as possible.

The Saturday we arrived we visited Grandson Castle quite near to where they live. This is a medieval castle dating back between the 11th and 14th century and is the second largest castle in Switzerland. It is situated on the shore of Lake Neuchatel and it has a great view of the lake. Sadly when we visited it was not the best weather, it was interesting to walk around, it has a great collection of weapons and armour, plus a vintage car museum in the cellars. Just outside the castle was a Christmas Market which we looked around, and saw a lovely St.Bernard dog!

The next day we went briefly to the lake and saw the castle from the other side, then we went into Yverdon itself and wondered around the Christmas Market in the main square. It was a lovely day and the market was just opening and slowing getting busy. I think in general Christmas markets are not really for kids, they just get bored, want to eat and drink and run around. I only saw a bit of this town so look forward to see more of it the next time we visit!

Afterwards we hopped on the train back to Zurich, it was a lovely weekend and as usual it was great to see Aimee and the kids.