One of the joys of making a half of Granny’s fudge recipe is that it leaves half a can of condensed milk so, at the weekend I was also able to make two mini Lime and Ginger Cheesecakes, one to freeze and one to share tonight. Click the red link for the recipe for the fudge.
Hibernation
“And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.
~Kitty O’Meara
I had a fancy for some Cheese Scones and so, here they are, delicious slightly warm with salty Cornish butter.
Cheese and Black Olive Scones
Our lovely neighbour called in today (well, not in – at a distance in the garden!) to thank us for a couple of things and brought with her a very pretty little bouquet from her garden.
I’ve made a Spiced Carrot Cake today, scrumptious! Sent some next door, of course.
Biden is to be America’s next President. Breathe again, world, things will get better now. We opened the Prosecco! And I love Kamala Harris!
Thank you all, Dear Readers for your kind words yesterday. I will reply to all the comments …….
I started my blog 9 years ago yesterday so today enter my 10th year of Beautfulthings! That’s 3,411 posts, 2,566 followers and visitors from 100 countries! Thank you all for reading, liking and taking the time to comment – all much appreciated.
A November lockdown in the UK isn’t going to be easy for anyone and much harder for some. Action for Happiness have made their calendar for November to help give some focus and to help keep our spirits up. Feel free to share it far and wide. Here is the link for you to have a bigger version. I love their motto – Keep Calm, Stay Wise and Be Kind. Stay safe, dear Readers.
It’s very windy still and our resident pigeons have been trying to keep warm by fluffing up their feathers. We tried to get a photo of the pair but there was always one out of focus.
It was a baking afternoon, Pear and Chocolate Cake to eat warm with ice-cream – scrumptious, of course!
I made a cake today, Blueberry Crumble Cake. I’ll post the recipe soon. It’s scrumptious!
I’ve had an interesting day. In between making another set of masks for the Barcelona branch of the family, I’ve been trying to replicate the delicious vegan chocolate orange cake we had the other day. The vegan sponge seemed to work well, I made a vegan orange jelly to go in the middle and a vegan chocolate ganache and it did look lovely! Sadly, it’s not a patch on my usual cakes and I will have to try again – halve the amount of cake, double the chocolate and sharpen up the orange jelly!
I’ve given a big chunk to our lovely taster next door. I guess her view will match with ours!
This is a very good time of year for a slug-a-bed like me to see beautiful dawns!
I was so excited yesterday about getting the allotment that I missed the plantings I had done in the morning – lots more bulbs – tulips in the two big tubs that had Sweet peas in over the summer and Winter flowering pansies on top for colour, hopefully, until the Tulips show. The chilli flakes around the plants are supposed to keep rodents away from the bulbs……
I’ve made an apple pie this afternoon, the recipe for which I was given by my sister who lives in America, Hawaii now but New York when we visited many years ago and she made this delicious pie. It is no ordinary apple pie! It contains its own special creamy custard which is added after it comes out of the oven and it is absolutely scrumptious. Thanks again, Deborah.
It seemed to me like the back view of a huge green cat and turned out to be a lovely Passion Flower growing up a post just outside town this morning. Look carefully, there is just one flower.
Up the road on our way home was this beautiful Himalayan Honeysuckle, Leycesteria formosa. I need to grow this!
We stopped off this morning at Home Ground, our favourite coffee shop in town. We had our coffees and our Portuguese Custard tarts and bought our lunch to take home – a Pepperoni Flatbread to share with a salad and a new cake, like an enormous Jaffa in a sponge with a tart orange filling and a wonderful chocolate ganache on top – and it was vegan. I’m sorry I forgot to take a photo before we ate it all, to the very last crumb! My plate is on the right. I have asked for the recipe but they buy it in so I am going to have to invent something myself. When it works, I will share it with you as it was Amazing!
I couldn’t resist these little cup-cake collars when I saw them in the kitchen department of the Garden centre. I’d never heard of such a thing but bought them because they reminded me of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
This afternoon I have baked chocolate cup cakes that I am calling RBG Cupcakes in honour of that remarkable woman. I hope she would be amused. 
Tonight we are going to another drive in. The rain has stopped, the wind has dropped and there will be an almost full moon if the skies are clear – should be fun!
The red berries along our walk this morning were startlingly bright.
There are still lots of Blackberries and they are very sweet and delicious.
We decided we need some cake! The Plum, Almond and Chocolate Cake that I made once before in plum season was the one we decided on. In 2012 when I first made this one, I called it Happy Cake as it contains lots of tryptophan! You can find the recipe by clicking on the red link. 
Commentator Award
