Welsh Cakes...delicious!

I love to bake, but what with one thing and another I found I had no time to get my culinary skills back in action. However, somehow I’ve managed to get back into the baking habit and I’m loving it. There’s nothing nicer than using basic ingredients to concoct a recipe that has everyone drooling. No preservatives, no E numbers just honest to goodness food.

So what’s cooking in the oven I here you say?

Well today recipe is Welsh Cakes.

Welsh cakes originate from Wales and were originally made by the lady of the household as a treat to serve for afternoon tea, or to put into their children’s lunch boxes. These cakes are a cross between a cookie and a scone and a little bit like a pancake. They also became favored by coal miners as they were a perfect size to slip into their pockets and take with them deep into the mines for them to snack on throughout the very long hours they spent deep in the mines.

Try them; they are delicious eaten hot or cold, plain or with butter and jam on.

Welsh Cakes

Ingredients

• 225g/8oz self-raising flour, sieved
• 110g/4oz (preferably Welsh) salted butter
• 1 egg
• handful of sultanas
• milk, if needed
• 85g/3oz caster sugar
• extra butter, for greasing

Preparation method

1. Rub the fat into the sieved flour to make breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, dried fruit and then the egg. Mix to combine, and then form a ball of dough, using a splash of milk if needed.
2. Roll out the pastry until it is a ¼in thick and cut into rounds with a 3-4in  cutter.
3. You now need a bake stone or a heavy iron griddle. Rub it with butter and wipe the excess away. Put it on to a direct heat and wait until it heats up, place the Welsh cakes on the griddle, turning once. They need about 2-3 minutes each side. Each side needs to be caramel brown before turning .
4. Remove from the pan and dust with caster sugar while still warm. Some people leave out the dried fruit, and split them when cool and sandwich them together with jam. But I love them with fruit in, they are just delicious on a cold afternoon with a nice hot cup of coffee.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
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America 2013 the final few days of my time away!

I never get tired of my yearly trips to America. First and foremost I get to visit and stay with my friend and her family and that in itself would be enough to keep me there. But have I told you about their porch where I sit and write…No?

I love it, it’s hard to imagine doing that in the midst of October when the temperatures have dropped here in the U.K and it is but a recollection. What a lovely memory to carry me through the dreaded winter. I sit there on my chair watching the banana tree sway gently in the breeze and my mind becomes like an idea book where I have so much going on in my head I can barely get it all down on paper quick enough.

It doesn't matter if it’s sun shine or cloudy, rain or shine, windy or calm I can sit out there and listen to the humming bird’s wiz past my ear and enjoy the play between them as they slurp their way through the syrup that I recently filled.  What beautiful creatures they are, so perfectly formed and so tiny that you have to be quick with the eye to watch them.

I wonder how on earth three weeks have gone so quickly, this last time I did so much. My visit to ocracoke Island was spectacular even the ferry crossing and I’m not a good sailor. My trip to Wilmington to stay with my friend’s oldest son who is in university there and visit quaint little shops and the very famous UNCW a great place to walk around. Then there was my week with them at the beach house where I was lucky enough to see dolphins swimming and the most spectacular sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean.

When I sit on the airplane to come home, I miss it before I even take off; miss my friend and our shopping trips, and just sitting on the porch chatting with our cups of coffee in 100 degree’s heat ! Yes I kid you not, we drank it hot! We’re both coffee addict.                                                                                                So my 2013 trip to America is but a memory but all I can say is roll on 2014 for my next trip!               Here are some of my favorite photo's from this trip

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Hair Shine!

So…do you want shiny hair that doesn't break the bank…?

Doesn't everyone!

In today’s climate of ever mounting food and house bills there isn't always a lot of money left to buy luxurious items for hair and skin.

So what if I told you that for a minimal cost you could have beautiful shiny hair? Would you believe me? Only one way to find out…try this recipe and oh boy you will be so surprised!

This is from my grandma’s homemade skin and hair recipes that I used to make with her in the kitchen in the days where we went out into the garden to pick our ingredients and used the honey from our bees to have on our hot crumpets when we came in from school and pick the eggs that we used to bake cakes with.

Yes those were fabulous days that I remember with the fondest of memories.

Hair Shine Conditioner.

Depending on hair length, I have fairly long thick hair so just adjust for your own needs J

Four tablespoons of honey,

Ten tablespoons of conditioner that you normally use.

 And that’s it, but I kid you not you will have beautiful shiny locks.

Mix the ingredients in a bowl and put over dry hair, comb it through so that it completely covers your hair. Cover with shower cap and towel and leave on for about an hour.

Wash hair twice to get rid of it and condition as normal, and just see how it shines.

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Competition!

I think a competition is on the cards as I have just received my lovely book marks for One Night One Mistake that I helped design with the lovely Jo-Anne Miles Tonks So for one of these and a signed copy of One Night One Mistake visit my websitehttp://www.dilysjcarnie.com/index.html and tell me what type of nurse was I?...I will choose a winner on Saturday morning 14/9/2013. This is open to everyone!
Please visit Jo at her gem shop!
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/joannes-jems?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

Please leave your answer by Private message on my Facebook page :)

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Frizzy Hair!

So...I'm always at odds with my hair...What color I'm going to be...Straight or curly...up or down...cut it or keep it long...ahhh it's never ending. If I go out and and I have the best looking clothes on I just don't feel right if my hair is a mess.

Vanity?? Oh yes lol

Everyone who knows me will tell you I have been every color under the sun, had it short, then grown it long. I've had layers and then had it all one length...am I ever happy with it, the truth is no. However on learning that a friend of mine has cancer and is going to loose all their hair from chemo I feel like an utter louse being so utterly vain  about it and I thank God that I still have hair to worry about.

It started me thinking about all the chemicals and rubbish that I put on it. At the moment we have a wasp problem outside our back door, probably a nest but they always seem to chase after me and my daughter said it's because of all the stuff that I put on it and she'd absolutely right...I do. I'm so finicky about using natural products on my skin and then I go and use all sorts of multifarious junk on my hair. Well no more!

I started to go through my old skincare books and found a hair section that I'd written with my grandma and it's from the same preparations we used for many an afternoon making skincare. So here is a recipe that I have used twice in the last week and I have to say I am so impressed with the shine and the way it had tamed down the frizz I get with my naturally curly hair.

Depending on your hair length as to how much you use. I have thick, longish hair so I need quite a bit.

Six tablespoons of full fat mayonnaise( I used jar bought but my grandma used to make her own)
Four tablespoons of olive oil
Four tablespoons coconut oil
Two tablespoons of honey
One egg yolk

Mix all the ingredients together until its smooth. Shampoo your hair and towel dry (make sure your hair is not dripping it has to be just damp)
Spread the mixture all over making sure its from roots to ends and then either wrap your hair in clingfilm or use a shower cap. Take a large towel and put this on top and that will keep the heat in so that the mixture can penetrate the hair shaft.
Leave on for as long as you can, an hour. a few hours or all day.
Wash hair twice to rinse off and condition with your usual hair conditioner.

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Wilmington North Carolina

Wilmington North Carolina is a spectacular place to visit.

We drove from Moyock and it took us five hours to get there, but we went the scenic route and what a fantastic way to see old America. So much history from the tobacco sheds to the old type motels. I loved it.

Meandering downtown along the historic streets and browsing the small unique shops, to walking along the front and the sumptuous golden sands of the beaches.

The individuality of each shop is a breath of fresh air from the usual large rowdy shopping malls.

There's so much to see that you most definitely need at least a week to visit them all.

Alas, we had only a few days as we were staying with my friend's son who goes to UNCW (University of North Carolina Wilmington)

It was great to have a guided tour of the school where he had already done his first year. Famous for the filming of the American teen drama Dawson’s Creek and Iron Man 3.

And off course no visit would be complete without visiting The Britts Donuts shop Located on the boardwalk at the beach in Wilmington Britts Donuts has been making these delicious sugar fantasies since 1939. The shops are basic...just one type of donut but you don't need anything else except off course a cup of coffee to wash it all down with.

Britts is only open during the tourist season so if like my friends you adore them head on out there and enjoy the sugar heaven.

Boardwalk

Dianne&Wynn Wilmington Beach

Outside Britts Donuts

Outside Britts Donuts

Wilmington-Beach

UNCW

Wilmington

Wilmington

Wilmington

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The Fitzgerald Brothers 2

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Dancing with Temptation

Book 2 of the Fitzgerald Brothers series. You can find out about the sexiest attorney...ever, and how he tries to win over a stubborn Welsh girl who seriously tempts him in every way possible!!

Blurb for Dancing with Temptation

Her trust in men is sorely blighted by past experience.

But when Bronwyn and Jessie meet, the chemistry between them is electrifying. The barriers come up and she refuses to acknowledge any kind of relationship between them.

He can’t understand what’s holding her back.

Jessie is confused by her resistance, yet he knows she is attracted to him. When an old boyfriend turns up determined to hurt her he fights to give their love the chance it deserves.

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Home made skin care...Great fun!

Making your own skin care products is not only fun and full filling it rewarding. No one wants harmful chemicals on their skin. People assume that if you make your own skincare that it isn't going to be as good as shop bought…rubbish! 

Shop bought creams etc often contain phthalates, formaldehyde (which I’m allergic to), parabens and other chemicals that more often than not are harming not just to your skin but to the animals they use in testing them in the labs. Children love to make their own soaps, lip balms and bubble baths and it’s amazing how satisfying it is to put something on your skin that is totally natural or something that you've made.

 I remember my grandma making perfume out of rose petals we picked in the garden, face masks from mayonnaise, hair treatments from nettles, lemon and egg pore tightening treatments we had such fun doing this. So in the next few weeks I’m going to put some of these recipes up…enjoy and have fun!

Peppermint Lip Balm

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon honey

1-1/4 teaspoon grated beeswax

2 teaspoons cocoa butter

Peppermint flavoring (or one of your own choice) My daughter liked the mint because it made her lips tingle!

2 vitamin capsules pierced and squeezed into the recipe.( I added this later on when I made them with my children the vit e acts as a natural preservative)

Take a small saucepan, heat oil, wax, honey and butter over a very low heat until melted.

Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Stir in flavoring and pierced capsules of oil and pour in desired containers. My grandma used tiny metal containers but I bought empty lip salve tubes and used them and my daughter made labels and we stuck them on with glue. We had/have the softest lips ever and had such fun making them.

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Norfolk VA 2013

One of the most poignant moments I spent in America this year was at the Relay for Life in Norfolk Virginia where the largest Navy base in the world, Naval Base Norfolk is located. The movies Navy Seals, Roller-coaster and Mission impossible 111 were all filmed in the Norfolk, VA areas so this is a pretty famous city not just for its media accomplishments but for the famous Navy Seals themselves.

Norfolk VA is a city nestled where the calm blue waters of the Chesapeake Bay meets with the roughness of the Atlantic Ocean. It has been given the award for The All- American City. It has a great support for its veterans and honors those who serve their country both present and passed with its memorial museums and city named places.

Its unique neighborhoods give an insight to an old and new America, the homes lined with wrap around porches and rockers rocking in the breeze. The history so attentive that you could almost see that historic picture of mama’s sitting in those chairs watching their children play on the street, fanning away the heat of the day.

The Relay For Life was an event I attended while I was staying with my friends. Each year, more than four million people in over 20 countries participate and raise much needed funds and awareness to save lives from cancer. I lost my dad and many relatives to this disease; it’s heartbreakingly painful for those with it and those taking care of their loved ones who have it.

My friends husband Wynn Evers(I've named him because I think it’s a fantastic thing that he does every year and I hope he doesn't mind that I have) he is a voice over artist and has an amazingly sincere voice. He calls out the names of all those who have died of cancer and all those that have/are surviving it and what an emotional half an hour that was…

Everyone was quiet the whole time, a guy stood up and spoke about losing his brother and because he belonged to a motor bike club his friends did a lap in honor of him, where they rode their bikes which were all decorated with lights…amazing sight!

The most deeply heartened moment for me was when my friend spoke my dad’s name on the list of those who had died from this awful disease, I felt as though at that moment my dad was there and took my hand saying sorry for all the sadness…

I tried to take pictures but it was dark but I hope you can get the feeling of what I’m talking about because it was a truly special moment.

The lanterns all lit with that special persons name

Wynn Evers saying the names

The Scottish bag pipes

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Ocracoke Island 2013

I went to America earlier than normal  and it seems like forever since those few weeks of sun, sea and friends. I've come to the conclusion that I should go twice a year. Once in the summer around May, and the second time in the fall because I love North Carolina at that time of year. But alas at the moment I will have to make do with the one visit!

I visited a lovely island called Ocracoke which is part of the Outer Banks of North Carolina and also is the location of the pirate Blackbeard’s death. The village of Ocracoke is located around a small harbor called Silver Lake. The stunning views only added to the beauty of the whole place from the unique little cottages to the many different types of birds.

The shops were quaint and full of treasures. Most shops close down in winter as the population decreases and the tourists go home. There are no franchises or chains and all the shops, restaurants and hotels are all privately owned.

The size of the island is around 9.6 square miles and the actual island only lies five feet above sea level. The lighthouse has been there since 1823 and is still working. There are only two ways to get on the island, by ferry or airplane where they have their own landing area.

It was a beautiful sunny day, and another wonderful sight for me to see. Every time I visit North Carolina I never need to go to the same place twice because it’s so ginormous and there’s so much to see and so much history to learn.

Silver Lake

Silver Lake

Doesn't it all look very pirate inspired?

Harbor

Harbor...Great looking hotel!

This is where we ate...fabulous food!

Ocracoke lighthouse...still in working order 

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America 2013

America 2013

For the last four years I have been going to America…Moyock North Carolina to be precise. I stay with my long-time friend and her family. Dianne and I have been friends since we went to school together in Scotland forty plus years ago. After not seeing each other for forty years it was a great surprise when my friend contacted me through friends reunite and since then have become even closer.

It’s like my second home and second family where her husband and two sons make me feel so at home I always feel very sad when I leave. Sometimes I stay for six weeks but this time I could only stay for three and a half weeks and one of those weeks was going to be spent at their beach house at Nags Head.

I was so excited to do this, just imagine waking up to the sounds of the Atlantic Ocean on your doorstep and that’s what it was. About a dozen steps took me to the decking area where we stepped onto the beach.

That first morning we got up at 5am to see the sunrise and it was spectacular. There I sat with my coffee, the warmth of the North Carolina sunshine and the melodic sounds of the water lapping at the golden sand and I thought I was in heaven. I breathed in the warm air and closed my eyes and just let all my cares and worries drift away.

There were two great sights I had while I was there, the dolphins playing close to the shore which was mesmeric and an eight foot Butterfly female Stingray which had washed up on the shore. It was enormous, and I made sure I stayed away from its ferocious looking tail until I knew it was dead.

Sunrise

Butterfly Stingray                                                                    

                                                                                 

Nags Head Beach                        

Holiday (Vacation) Time!

So on Wednesday I fly out to stay with my friends in North Carolina. It’s a trip I've made for the last four years. I’m staying for a little under four weeks and I’m very much looking forward to it. We will be spending a week at the beach house which will be fabulous and I’m looking forward to doing this so much.

The early morning sunrise, the golden sands and the soft warm breeze from the Atlantic Ocean…heaven! I've been told that there just might be a sighting of the dolphins first thing in the morning; I’m hoping I’ll be lucky enough to see them.

Dianne, my friend of some forty something years will be at Dulles airport to pick me up with her husband Wynn. It’s a long drive for them from where they live in Moyock but every year they make the trip to meet me of the airplane.

The first few days will be me sleeping, the trip of eighteen hours exhausts me, but they have a fantastic patio where I just laze around in the warm sunshine without a thing to do except…sleep! Then it’s to the beach for a whole week.

My legs are whiter than snow, and the glare will surely have people running for cover, but hopefully they will color quickly. After a winter of boots and thick coats I’m ready for some warmth.

I will be keeping a diary of my time in America with lots of pictures, so keep looking back to see what I've been up to, and perhaps I might be lucky enough to get pictures of those dolphins.