This is an End of Year Round Up with a difference. Stultified, I prepare to sit re-digesting everything I’ve seen this year. But the prospect of re-blogging stuff I already blogged bores me to tears.
You will not find second-hand material in this post but you may see some things that surface in 2013.
Just like I did last year, here’s my run down of stuff I deemed too crap to blog, didn’t have time to blog or Instagrams worth another look.
End of Year Round Up of Things I Didn’t Blog
I am the brownie police ok? I charge London Transport Museum with selling the driest, dullest and most over priced brownies ever.
Abandoned post: make your own croutons. I may do this again but alongside soup.
It snowed in January and the Walthamstow Igloo, in front of my house, was a local tourist attraction for several days. People were talking about it on Twitter, they were asking directions to it in the street. I ought to have set up a stall selling hot cakes and coffee. I missed a trick really.
Abandoned post: breakfast bars. I might publish this soon actually.
A day trip to Hampstead to celebrate our new National Trust membership.
Ted had a camera for Christmas in 2011 (and again in 2012 but it’s a long story) and he’d like me to blog all the pictures he’s taken of the floor, pigeons, blurred cake and televisions. I thought you’d thank me if I didn’t. Although I warn you, he’s nearly capable of doing this himself now.
Spring generally sees us return to Whitstable and with fond memories of fish and chips on the top floor of this place we returned for lunch. I considered blogging it but didn’t. Remember the line in Fawlty Towers where Basil mutters ‘I could spend the rest of my life having this conversation’. Well that happened here.
Vanilla custard tart pops. Pretty aren’t they? Never saw the light of day. Oh well, maybe soon.
I did my bit supplying cupcakes for the school disco. But you didn’t need to know that. Until now.
Holidays now! I have long dreamt of starting a French holiday themed blog but never quite got it up an running. The site is live, it’s designed, it’s just erm waiting for all these damn photos to be turned into erm content. Maybe in 2013 I will finally manage it.
Ted eating moule in La Rochelle. Dinner avec crayons.
Cooking in caravans. My grand idea for an e-book to launch the French holiday blog. Yep it needs more work, you’re right. But these Heston knives are fab.
Ars-en-Re. As featured in ‘In the Merde’ where the writer cannot get over that this village is called ‘Arse’.
Joking aside, it’s a very nice place.
How many photographs of ice cream did I take? A lot. Any blogged yet? No.
Ah Ile de Re. At least I did blog about that and my trip to Euroccamp in Loix. But I have only scraped the surface… sometimes maybe it’s better that way!
We ate in Skipper again. I photographed every course. Never blogged.
And this cute macaron tower? Did it inspire me to reproduce it at home? Not yet but I live in hope.
Back in Whitstable, this might beast was my dinner and lots of you loved him on Instagram.
In July I started writing for BabyCentre and thought better of this post about a green smoothie. I do have another post about a dark green drink coming up in the next week though…
Somewhere or another I bought a cake pop mould. Don’t bother.
Ted’s 5th birthday cake. Never again would I be decorating my son’s birthday cake during the party I swore and this year it happened yet again. Fortunately he’d specifically asked for a cake covered in smarties so I got away with it.
I was a speaker at Britmums Live and also won Best Tasty Blog in their BiB awards. Big shock!
July and we are half way through this end of year round up. Fondant fancies were all the rage after the final of the Great British Bake Off. I’d already featured a chapter of them in my book and these were some high speed ones done for a school bake sale. They’re definitely a cheat’s version and as yet unblogged.
Also in France I found the most amazing patisserie in Guerande. Lots of pics, no post.
Nougat I tell you is the new marshmallow. Marshmallows have been everywhere lately but they leave me cold. Make nougat instead! It’s much more interesting!
We had a fabulous time at Siblu in St Brevin les Pins. There are several posts iminent about this although I promise they wont’ be about waving spongy things in a pool.
We decided that we ate better in the average National Trust cafe than anywhere on our latest holiday in France. These were faggots at Ightam Mote, Kent.
Ted looking mean at Ightam Mote.
I wanted to blog little blackcurrant pies but they were too messy and I didn’t.
I meant to blog Ted eating blueberry popsicles but the season changed and I held onto it for sunnier times. He does look cute though. Everyone say arrrrrrr!
Nick and I took an anniversary weekend away in the Midlands. We spent the day at Leamington Food Festival which isn’t really on the big list of food festivals but well worth a visit. Abergavenny? Ludlow? Far too predictable. I’d sooner go back to Leamington any day.
Ted meanwhile was stashed away with Grandma. I hoped he’d give me his own Dinner With Crayons review of Yo! Sushi but I’m still waiting.
I might have done a hotel room tour of our trip to Brandon Hall. Let me just summarise that it’s gone down a notch since our wedding reception eight years ago. Having been taken over by Mercure instead of Macdonald Hotels they’ve cut costs by having several staff share the same brain.
We still had a nice time.
Ah. Eight years later. Dressed a little shabbier, looking much more tired but standing in the same spot.
In August some Tenderstem broccoli people sent me a healthy lunch box. Whilst it was very tasty and nutritious, I felt quite guilty to be more impressed by the box it came in.
Root vegetable soup. Another abandoned post for BabyCentre.
Still making use of the National Trust membership we returned to Chartwell.
Someone sent me some cheese. I invented ‘cheesy sweet potato quinoa bake’ which tastes finer than it looks.
In October I came up with this wheeze that if I filled four pastry cases with chocolate ganache and four different toppings that I I could blog it four times. But you’re smarter than that aren’t you? Cheat’s Mini Coffee Tarts
In November I took part in the Whitworth’s Sugar Baking SOS masterclass. Which you may have heard about in my email newsletter but not via the blog until now. I made this recipe with Whitworths: Apple Rhubarb Crumble Slice
And finally I persisted in my belief that I do not drink anything alcoholic unless it is pink or fizzy and preferably both.
This is how we celebrated the end of Blog Camp.
And with that, I will sign off, hopefully until 2013.
Happy New Year!
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