DIY King and Queen

Well, good evening and happy weekend!  I barely know where to start to describe the mind numbing amount of work we have been able to get done this weekend. And now, 2 major things down on our list of things to do before the baby arrives. Yipeee

So, the major thing to get done this weekend was our poor flat roof extension repair.  When we first bought the house we were told it needed to be repaired in the survey of the property but alas it wasn't an 'essential' (comes well below house insurance that's for sure.)  We were given a quote of near £500 to have it re-felted and it has obviously since then (a year has passed) deteriorated some more.  So let's just say by yesterday it was looking like this:

And here's what we uncovered once we returned from Wickes with the new wood for the edges.

The photo just above was actually taken this morning around 9am but it shows the thoroughly rotten floorboard that we found in the middle. EEEK! But Neil was fully prepared to head off to Wickes last night at 7.30pm to pick up a final plank so we could do a proper repair.

Here he is working late last night whilst I pottered around with the lawn mower.  

I have to admit it has been somewhat interesting listening to him banging around up there with me banished to the ground due to pregnancy related risks associated with climbing big ladders.  Although I should point out that as I was leaning on our garden table taking measurements yesterday I managed to completely break the table and fell on bum! (I swear I am not a pregnant wale!!!) So really even a metre off the ground is dangerous enough for me.

Now whilst Neil was sizing up our roof repair I got to finally take a wire brush to our back garden wall.  We are in the strange position of being completely surrounded by walls but yet also living in an open area surround by acres of grassland. But I think it's clear to say that peeling paint across the whole of the back of the garden is a good look for no-one!

So after a quick wire brush of all the peeling paint I took to my tools!

We first saw this purple paint about a month ago and both really loved it and finally took the plunge yesterday.  I have to admit as painted the first bit I was somewhat alarmed by the colour as it's the first thing that hits you as soon as you open the back door.  But as I continued it really changed the garden from looking a bit neglected to looking like we were trying to make it look nice.

There's obviously still plenty to do in terms of the actual planting of the garden but here we have a nice shot of colour.

And the finished rooftop taken from the nursery window, look at those neat and dry corners.  And with that all finished by lunch time we headed to the tip with the broken garden table and old roof felt before heading to our local pub for roast dinner. 

(Hard working toes, yuck)

Lovely grub! (And now back to Downton Abbey)

Delicious Toffee Apple Muffins (Perfect for breakfast)

I have invented one of my first ever baking recipes, I normally don't trust myself to alter the wet and dry ingredients for fear of failure.  However I am pleased to report it's not as scary as first thought and these muffins are DELICIOUS!

For the cake mix:

• 110g butter
• 110g soft brown sugar
• 110g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 handful of chopped walnuts
• 1 handful of oats
• 2 x eggs, beaten
• light sprinkling of cinnamon

For the apple:

• 30g butter
• 30g soft brown sugar
• 0.5 x lemon, juice only
• 2 x eating apples 1 x bramley apple, peeled, cored and sliced

• Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

I always make the apple first, I'm not really sure why!

• Heat the butter in a medium non-stick, oven-proof frying pan, over a medium heat
• When the butter begins to melt, add the sugar, and allow to begin to caramelise, then add the lemon juice
• Add the quartered apple wedges to the pan, tossing well, to thoroughly coat them in the caramel, and continue heating through for 4-5 minutes then take off the heat and leave for later.

Putting together the cake mix -

• Cream together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl
• Add the flour and baking powder, mixing well, as you do
• Gradually add the beaten eggs and then stir in the walnuts and oats
• Gently fold in the apple mixture
• Half fill 12 muffin cases with mixture
• Top with a sprinkling of brown sugar, cinnamon, oats and chopped walnuts
• Bake in the oven for around 13minutes.

It's a boy!

Boiler trouble and bathroom ideas.

The house clear out continues, although life has been made somewhat more difficult by the final death knell of the boiler.  It broke last Saturday morning, we were hoping that it was just something minor but the repair man we called said it amounted to £350 worth ish of damage.  After we got the quote we knew we'd need to get some other quotes and to think about where on earth we would get the money from to pay for it.  Since then we haven't had a chance to organise anything so we've been without hot water for over a week now! It has been surprisingly easy to cope.  The most annoying this has been the lack of a dishwasher and having to boil the kettle and do it all in the sink!  And whilst I do the washing up Neil has been on bath duty, filling all the pots in the pans with water, boiling it on the stove and then taking it upstairs.  We'll be interested to see if this has any effect on our gas bill over the next few weeks.  We will have to get it fixed soon as winter will be here before we know it but the silver lining is that this didn't happen when we had a new born baby to deal with.

Of course our new bathroom will be with us by Christmas, and when I say with us, I mean installed, as it's already here just currently scattered all over the house!  Neil's parents have asked us to have a proper think about what needs to be done so we can get everything prepared in advance.

I think we'll have to use the cash we had saved for the finishing touches in the bathroom on the boiler situation so the only thing that really *needs* to be bought is the flooring.  I want to check the measurements again but I think we will need just under 10m2 for the whole floor.  We were thinking either very simple tiles in black and white or vinyl of the same theme.  I've seen some bits and pieces on Ebay now that we could cover with the final vouchers we received as wedding presents.  I think the vinyl in total will work out cheapest as it needs less extras like grout, spacers and of course as far as I'm aware vinyl doesn't take hours to set!

In other news we did purchase our luxury toilet seat!

Our house to do list!

Baby Bargain!

Hooray, I can now tick off one of our 'to buy' items from the baby list and something we knew we'd have to buy rather than pick up off friends!

And naturally it was an ebay bargain @ £16.  And completely by chance it is being posted from the Village in Norfolk I used to live in! I paid for it today and cannot wait for it to arrive. YAY

Quiche numero uno

Today I decided to give quiche a go. I was inspired predominantly by Episode 2 of The Great British Bake Off where I drooled over a number of unusual quiche concoctions.

So, in a fit of enthusiasm I headed to the kitchen to prepare quiche for our lunch. Here's the concoction I came across in the fridge which made it's way in to the mix.

So first for the crust: (Taken from here)

Ingredients

• 125g/4oz plain flour 
• pinch of salt 
• 55g salted butter, cubed 
• 2-3 tbsp cold water 

1. Put the flour and salt in a large bowl and add the cubed butter. 
2. Rub the butter into the flour until you have a mixture that resembles breadcrumbs with no large lumps of butter remaining. 
3. Using a knife, stir in the cold water until the mixtures comes together as dough. 
4. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for 10-15 minutes before using. (I didn't bother but you know if you have the time!) 
5. Once ready roll out thinly into your chosen quiche dish and blind bake for 10minutes in a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius.

And now for the filling:

• 4-5 mushrooms, sliced
• 1 large or 2 small red onions thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove finely diced
• 1 tbs of olive oil
• 3 broccoli florets sliced
• 3 pork sausages skinned
• 2 large eggs
• 100ml of milk
• A large handful of cheddar cheese grated
• salt and pepper to season
• 1 tbs of plain flour

1. Sauté the onion, garlic and mushroom in the olive oil until soft and remove from the pan

2. Add the skinned sausages to the empty pan and break up into small pieces as it cooks until browned

3. Whisk the milk and eggs together and add salt and pepper to season

4. Next add the grated cheddar, flour and cooked ingredients to the milk and egg mixture.

5. Once mixed add to the blind baked pastry case and bake at 160 degrees Celsius for 35minutes or until golder brown.