William Rainsford – One Life Photos
William Rainsford – One Life Photos.
Check out these amazing photos from my brother-in-law. Don’t forget to vote!
Apple and Blackberry Pie
So my husband loves Jamie Oliver and recently purchased a few of his cooking at home dvds. I decided that I would make an apple and blackberry pie with a shortbread pastry from Jamie’s recipe. I left out a few of Jamie’s ingredients from the filling as they weren’t available and were not necessary.
Crumble 500g of plain flour ( sieved ) and 250g of cold butter. Add a handful of icing sugar ( sieved ) and bring everything together with 2 eggs and a splash of milk. Pat into a dough and wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes take out the pastry and cut in half. Roll out one half for the bottom of the pie and second half for the top.
Fill the pie with 2 sliced cooking apples and a bowl of freshly picked blackberries. ( We have a bush in the back garden which I picked clean last month and put multiple bags full in my freezer ). Mix the fruit with sugar to taste.
Cover the pie with the other half of the pastry and cut a few slits in the top to let the steam from the fruit out. Glaze with some beaten egg and dust with some sugar. Put in the oven for 40 – 50 minutes at 180c.
Yummy, fruity goodness…. I can’t wait to eat it!
Cupcakes
This weekend I visited my friend Carmel who lives in Waterford city. Now that the new motorway is opened I can get from my door to Carmel’s in just under an hour.
Saturday evening a group of seven of us went into the city to a lovely french restaurant and ate fabulous food and wine and chatted for hours. The next morning Carmel and I went to the Waterford Harvest Festival which was full of exciting food, drinks and live music.
We purchased some cupcakes before we headed home for a much needed cup of tea. The were delicious!
Yummy vanilla cake with strawberry butter icing. Delightful!
Thanks for a lovely weekend Carmel!
Day Out in Altamont Gardens, Tullow
The weather in Ireland last week was just fabulous so, on Monday, my friends and I decided to get in the car and make the short journey to Altamont Gardens in Tullow, Co. Carlow.
Many mature trees and lawns slope down to a lake surrounded by rare trees and rhododendrons and lead in turn to a very different garden featuring exotic shrubs and trees.
A fascinating walk through the Arboretum, Bog Garden and Ice Age Glen with its canopy of ancient oaks and huge stone outcrops leads the visitor to the River Slaney.
A great day had by all.
How to avoid working weekends!
This is for all my working friends!
New Camera
I have been talking about buying myself a DSLR for at least six months now and have been hoping and praying that I would be able to afford one soon. Finally I got the opportunity the other day to purchase one and it arrived today.
Unfortunately when it arrived I had to put the battery on charge for three and a half hours ( longest three and a half hours of my life ) I eventually got to turn on the camera and have been taking shots of things around the house since.
One of John's pieces hanging in our sitting room
The plant I'm trying to revive in the kitchen window
One of Emily's pieces hanging in our sitting room
Hopefully my photography will get a lot better over the next few months! Practice makes perfect….
The perfect housewife!
I’m acting like the perfect housewife today, baking scones and cooking dinner. Thank you emily for giving me the do s and don’t s on baking scones! Yummy……
Last of the wedding for another year
So I attended the last of the wedding for this year, last weekend. It was a lovely way to spend the bank holiday weekend. The ceremony was at 1.30pm in the local church and then back to my in-laws house for a lovely marquee wedding.
The bride wore a full length lace wedding dress with a fishtale. Her hair was in loose curls and she held a beautiful bouquet of pink roses. The top story of the day was that the bride had in fact made the dress herself. The groom wore a dark grey morning suit which he looked very handsome in.
The air was filled with laughter and the wonder scent of fresh summer flowers.
The afternoon was spent eating and drinking fabulous food and wine, both sereved by the fantastic staff of jonathanscatering.ie
Once everyone had their fill of food and chat, Garter Lane entertained us for the evening with music for all ages. The dance floor was full from the moment they started until everyone was left standing on the dance floor over two hours later begging for more.
The nest day close family and friends gathered for more food and drinks and reminisced about the day before. A most enjoyable weekend!
Wedding Guest Outfit
As usual I found it exteremly difficult to find an outfit for my sister-in-law’s wedding last weekend. I searched high and low for a dress that would be both pretty and comfortable. I even went as far as to buy a dress on ebay which didn’t suit my shape at all.
Its such a pity as I do love to wear red!
As a result I have found that buying online isn’t always the best option when you need an outfit in a hurry but thankfully I did have the old reliable LBD in my wardrobe to save the day. The end result was my LBD from Monsoon and some purple and green accessories.
I think it worked out ok in the end! Moral of the story don’t leave an important occasion outfit to the last minute!