Baking...... primarily The Great British Bake Off

OK, so since I've left Uni (Graduated with a 2:1), the curse of being 'Unemployed from Greenland' has remained.  Financially it's like many others.... crap!  So my solace is in the form of the Great British Bake Off..... as I didn't get on to the new series (2013) I have decided to bake my way through a various recipe books (mainly French) to improve my skills and widen my horizons in order to compete for next year.

Today I've been experimenting with macaroons (French version - not the coconut things!) and am delighted with the Lemon and Basil ones.  These will go in the freezer for the Monks Eleigh Fete in June when they will be filled with a gloriously gooey creamy lemon/basil cream.  The peanut ones also turned out good and they will be filled with salted caramel.  YUMM!

This weekend it's red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for the Creative Writers Group in Crawley that I belong to.  Writing and cake seems to go so well together. x x x

Christmas time again..... last years cards are gathered down from the loft, the decorations come out to greet you like long forgotten friends with memories of Christmas past and hope for Christmas present and future.  'A Christmas Carol' is dusted down from the book shelf and opened to bring Victorian warmth and comfort.  'Take Joy' greets the piano and takes up it's place as part of the Christmas festivities.

May your Christmas be filled with magical offerings, wonder, excitement and most of all love and peace.

Aggie :-) x x x

GULP!

Fear - well, there's a lot of it about at the moment...... but I'm not talking fear about the global financial disaster that we all seem to be in, fear about where your next penny is coming from.... I'm talking about fear of what is required - how you step up to the mark, how you make your inner self real, how you achieve one of your deepest desires.  That's inner fear and what you get when you reach the final year of your degree.... GULP!

Chaos is essential for the creative process - well, that's my theory!  Out of the chaos that is too many note whizzing around on paper, in my head, in my mouth, in my ears, on the radio, on the TV, on an iPod etc comes some sort of coherence that needs to be at least 20 minutes long and fairly substantial in terms of WOW factor! ...... GULP!

Still, Christmas is coming and we have the Christmas Tree up - although I fear it does need trimming in order to fix the star to the top!  Maisy Muffin III and Parker have both inspected it and, for the time being, it is safe and secure..... but we have yet to decorate it!  What fun we will have.

Dissertations & Film Scores

This week my head is full of what I need to do for my 2 dissertations, Film Score composition, Orchestration and Big Band composition......

In 9 months I will be done with Uni (until the next time!) and will be scouring web sites etc for work.  Who knows I may even try my hand at the Great British Bake Off...

Autumn is really here now, the leaves are falling and the last roses cling on to their petals despite the wind.  Apples need harvesting (those really hard to reach ones at the top), but the grape is finally in the ground (which took a mamouth effort from my hubby) and gives us hope of a warm summer next year.

Life is mellow and cosy, before the winter sets in. :-)

An Opera loving cat and anxiety....

Another trip to the Vets with our lovely cat Parker - we've been going each morning now for a week, it appears he has some kidney problems at the moment (which we hope will be resolved shortly).  Interestingly he was quiet in the car on the way there when The Marriage of Figaro was playing, but loud and vocal with anything else!  Is there a thesis in there somewhere?  Hmmmm......

Tomorrow I am back at Uni for my final year.  In 9 months it will all be over (save for the award ceremony) and I can't believe how fast the time has gone.  It has been a great experience and I am really lucky to have a) got in and b) survived through to the final year.  I still can't believe that I achieved a 1st for composition..... WOW!  And to all those teachers who said I'd never achieve anything, well I think the 1st speaks for itself.

I am looking forward to life getting back on track again and today will spent cleaning windows, dusting and hoovering the house, playing piano and sorting out the stuff that I need for tomorrow.

I've walked a long walk, but have many more miles to travel......

Below - my pal Nikki who is to blame for all the fun and amazing stuff that I've done over the past 3 years...... I can't thank her enough for freeing me from a near nervous breakdown x

From 'The Old Vicarage, Granchester' Rupert Brooke

Ah God!  to see the branches stir
Across the moon at Granchester!
To smell the thrilling-sweet and rotten
Unforgettable, unforgotten
River-smell and hear the breeze
Sobbing in the little trees.
Say, do the elm-clumps greatly stand
Still guardians of that holy land?
The chestnut shade, in reverend dream,
The yet unacademic stream?
Is drawn a secret shy and cold
Anadyomene, silver-gold?
And sunset still a golden sea
From Haslingfield to Madingley?
And after, ere the night is born,
Do hares come out about the corn?
Oh, is the water sweet and cool,
Gentle and brown, above the pool?
And laughs the immortal river still
Under the mill, under the mill?
Say, is there Beauty yet to find?
And Certainty? and Quiet kind?
Deep meadows yet, for to forget
The lies, and truths, and pain? . . . Oh! yet
Stands the Church clock at ten to three?
And is there honey still for tea?

Home made of course........scrummy!