Pizza Cake

I'm going to start by telling you I cannot take credit for this. It was all my sister's idea. One of those ideas that seem so obvious yet so great that you immediately feel jealous and want to be a part of it and claim it as your own, which I am sorely tempted to do here. However I would be lying to you if I did that so I'm confessing now. It was all Emma's idea.

But the box was my idea!

It was my brothers birthday. David is very tall, ginger yet tanned and uber cool. I don't know how he does it. He also eats a lot, as in a LOT! There was a phase where I would come home from work to find that despite having eaten an entire pizza already he was joining us for dinner. This happened everyday for months. A pizza for a snack, and he stays in shape too? Errrrr, how? Anyway...

This is where Emma's brilliant idea came into play. She decided to bake him a birthday cake, except this would be no ordinary cake, it would be a cake shaped like a pizza. Genius!

Here is the story of our pizza cake adventure:

Step 1) Bake a vanilla sponge cake. Feel proud of the golden crust colour and exclaim "It looks just like a real pizza!" Leave to cool on wire rack.

 

Step 2) Use the entire baking cupbards resources to make tomato coloured butter icing. Include copious amounts of blue and green food dye when it looks too pink. Convince yourself it looks darker now and stir a few billion times.

Step 3) Slice and dice licorice to create pepperoni, olive, and green pepper toppings. Get frustrated as the 'pepperoni' sticks to the chopping board and casually wash out the white stuff in the black licroice in a bowl of water, despite the water gradually turning black. Tell the green peppers well done for not being a pain.

Step 4) Use the cheese grater to grate the frozen bar of white chocolate to create the cheese. Grate more than you need and sneakily eat a little as it tastes like yummy chocolate but it's far too small to count as actual calories. Sprinkle cheese on top.

Step5)  Fast becoming a catch line exclaim "It looks just like a real pizza!"  Add other toppings and smile at your perfect creation.

Step 6) Decide to stick your perfect pizza under the grill to 'melt the chocolate a little to look like real cheese' and watch carefully to make sure you don't over do it. Cry as you realise that although the frozen chocolate hasn't melted, your butter icing has and it has DESTROYED THE PERFECT CAKE! Feeling devastated, laugh insanely as your sister goes into panic mode and tries not to cry.

Step 7) Scrape, scrape, scrape the cake! Can we save it? Nooooooooo! The sponge is now ruined. Panic.

Repeat steps 1-5 and create the perfect cake, not with quite the same enthusiasm, and vow never to put a perfect cake under the evil, cake-destroying grill again.

Step 8) Place the second perfect pizza cake in an authentic Dominoes pizza box and say "It really does look like a real pizza!" Congratulate yourself on a job well done and plot how to suprise Brother.

Ah well, we got there in the end. Thank you for reading!

What would you use for toppings on a pizza cake?

Halloweeeeeeeeeen

Happy Halloween everyone!

Ok, Halloween isn't a huge thing here in GB unless you're 5 or a student but I love any excuse for a celebration and a get together with friends. So it is Miss Karen who I must thank for arranging a spooky Ghost Bus Tour of London this week!

We all gave a half-hearted attempt to dress up before boarding the bus- what do you think??

Before:

 

 

After:

 

You can't see it but I had a really cool spider necklace on!



The bus tour itself was incredible! I won't say too much because you will just have to go yourself one day to experience it. Let's just say for now that since I was the idiot in the bright orange hat I may have got picked on and therefore scream a lot during the ride!

Mainly thanks to Scream!

 

Don't believe the innocent look!

 

Mr Barry Sprout the conductor.

 

 

Thank you for a spooky evening ladies!

 

 

Next year- bigger and better?

 



Fun with Friends

The great thing about friends is that no matter how long it has been since you last saw them, it feels like only hours ago. That's certainly how it felt this weekend when some university friends came to stay with Morgan and I for the weekend.

Joe and Jon had agreed to come with Morgan, my brother David and I to watch Morgan's favourite American Football team play at Wembley. Since we were in London our other friend Carlos also kindly met up with us for a burger van burger (sorry Ed!) and a pre-game drink.

Finally we made it to the stadium. I would like to take this opportunity to announce that all of us TOOK THE STAIRS to reach out seats up in the gods. That's right, the stairs! Therefore it was agreed that the cheeseburgers and drinks were all completely justified afterwards!

Morgan and Jon are both big fans of NFL whereas Joe, David and I were pretty clueless, yet that didn't stop us from enjoying watching the Patriots completely floor the Rams! The atmosphere in Wembley was incredible despite the Arctic weather conditions- I had to walk a lap of the stadium just to get some feeling back into my legs!

And on my third request for a nice warm hot chocolate the boys finally delivered! Thank you boys also for the ice cold lemonade (Orangina?) and the pizza slice that you offered the first two times.

After a nail biting (for Morgan) 3 hours the Patriots won 44-7! Hurrah!

Today the weekend was rounded off nicely with a trip to see the latest James Bond film - AMAZING!- and a nice meal at the White House. I can't think of a better start to the October half term. Thank you again boys for a wonderful weekend! x

Staying Safe

This made me laugh a lot today!

All this week we've been teaching the children about staying safe. Despite this it seems there is a lot of ground work to be covered! I left a bottle of tablets (mints guys, I'm not that irresponsible!) in the classroom for the children to find. One of the boys brought it straight to me- great start. We talked about how it was medicine because of the bottle and label and then I asked who would like some.

Uh oh! The WHOLE CLASS put their hands up! "I will! I'll try it!" they said.

Thankfully two boys declined. Hurrah! I thought. They must realise it isn't safe, especially since that is our focus this week and there is a Dr coming into school to talk to the children today. At least two children aware of the danger is better than none.

Or so I thought.

"This is interesting" I said, indicating the boys who were refusing to take medicine that wasn't theirs. "Why don't you want to try these?"



"Oh, I've had it before. I don't need to try it, I already know what it tastes like."




Ha ha! Love my kids and their logic. Let's try again tomorrow!

Today is a day for...

* Lazy Sunday morning in bed

* Putting on a face mask

* Googling ideas for my new house

* Listening to the gentle pitter patter of the rain

* Remembering to water my house plants

* Catching up with washing

* Telling Morgan I love him

* Having a September clean up

* Cooking chicken and leek pie

* Sending off my first draft of my dissertation to my tutor

* Chit chatting with my mum

* Listening to my dad shout at the football on TV

* Hearing all about a friends first date

* Watching Downton Abbey...

* ...Enjoying a glass of baileys

* Feeling really happy!

Back to School

First week back at school.. done!

A new class, a new year group and a new classroom. That is the great thing about working in a school, you get a fresh start each September. I'm really pleased with my new classroom, its big and bright and spacious and most importantly, it's not used as a school lunch room!

Look at all the windows!

 

My cosy book corner

 

 

Badgers Class investigation table.

 

I also used this brilliant website called Pinterest to find other ideas for my classroom. You can use the website to create mood boards for all sorts of things. Here are a couple of the ideas I found and made for my classroom...

 

 

Key vocabulary for addition and subtraction

 

A game of boggle ready to play any time under my whiteboard.

 

 

Feel free to add a comment if you have any other lovely ideas you have adopted in your classrooms!

 

 

The end of Summer

The summer is nearly over. In fact, the weather has turned from glorious sunshine to grey and rainy as if to remind me my time of freedom is coming to an end. Naturally, this means I have been trying to fit all the things I planned to do into a few days but it was worth it!

At the weekend Morgan and I travelled back to Wales once more. His mum had very kindly bought us and his sister Genevieve tickets to see the Globe Theatre's touring production of Hamlet. We all thoroughly enjoyed the performance which was surprisingly witty and of course the beautiful setting of St Donat's Castle. I foolishly forgot my camera but here are some photos I found on google, which, by the way, do not do this place justice!

 

I will definitely be looking out for their tour again next year!

 

 

The following day I was finally able to make a visit to my beloved city of Bristol. I spent a lovely morning with University friend Jo and finally got to meet her gorgeous 10 month old son, Elijah. I hadn't seen Jo since she was heavily pregnant last summer but despite her claiming months of sleepless nights she was looking fantastic as always. It was nice to catch up on how our lives had changed in the past year; Jo's delightful addition to her family and my second year of teaching and Morgan's move to Surrey. Coincidentally we are also both house hunting at the moment too, although the house prices slightly vary between Surrey and Yatton, don't tell Morgan!

 

Me and the angelic Elijah!



After lots of cuddles I met up with my host for the night, Miss Kirsty Cooke! Again we spent a long lunch catching up until other customers started arriving for dinner! Kirsty and I used to spend hours talking about everything and nothing when we lived together whilst at University and I think it is a testament to our friendship that despite the distance our relationship hasn't changed at all.

 

That evening we watched one of my favourite ITV dramas... Downton Abbey! Due to social conditioning from watching this programme every Sunday evening with my mum I now must have a glass a baileys in my hand as the credits roll, they go so well together. Roll on series 3 this Autumn!

 

The following day it was back on the train, destination London. After many weeks of leisure it was time I got back to my studies and so to the library I headed. However, my productivity was rewarded that evening when my darling sister took me to dinner before another trip to the theatre, this time to see the musical Mamma Mia! Luckily for us we discovered M&M World first! Here we are with our new friends:

Emma and Sir Yellow

 

 

 

 

Me and Red

 

Finally we made it to see Mamma Mia, which was amazing!!! I think our favourite part had to be the flipper dance, quite the sight to see. And of course the classic Emma moment:

 

Emma went to buy a programme to see who would be performing in the show. She came back and we made our way to our seats. I started to flick through the programme and find lots of pictures and information about ABBA but no cast list. Emma is as puzzled as me but we let it go. Then I spot someone in the row in front with a smaller sized programme. "What's the difference between ours and the smaller one over there?" I asked her. "Oh, that's the programme and this is the souvenir." Yes, Emma was conned into buying a booklet containing pictures of previous casts rather than the programme she specifically asked for and was offered! I'm sure I haven't told you the story right but trust me, it was hilarious at the time!

 

Ok this post is getting on a bit so I will go for now, but thank you friends and family for a really lovely few days!

A Surpise in Surrey...

When driving through the rural landscape that is Wales, Morgan turned to me and said "You don't have sheep in Surrey do you?" Despite my protests that there are sheep in Surrey (although admittedly a lot less than in South Wales) Morgan was adamant that sheep did not exist in Surrey since he hadn't seen any since he moved there a year ago. "And there aren't any cows either!"

Fast forward no less than 48 hours later to today. I had a little spare time before Morgan would be finishing work so I decided to take an impromptu stroll along the River Wey. As children we used to go for lots of walks here with friends and family and I'm not sure why I hadn't been for so long since the scenery is just beautiful!

I even found the little bridge Emma, David and I used to get ridiculously excited over since it was child size only!

But best of all, on my walk I found...

Sheep!

I hope my discovery will help Morgan feel a little less homesick now that he knows the sight of sheep is just a short, picturesque walk away.

P.S. Did you know there are more sheep than people in Wales? According to these statistics there are 3 sheep to every person living in Wales. Of course you did!  However, did you know sheep can dance?

Incredible Dancing Sheep!

A Weekend in Wales

One of the best things about Morgan is that he is Welsh! Which means that whenever we head West to visit his family it feels like going on a little holiday. Morgan's family lives in a really beautiful part of Wales along the coast and we've been on some very picturesque walks there before. This weekend, however, was about catching up with friends and family. We went for a meal with friends Jon and Rob on the Friday evening at Las Iguanas (lovely food, worth visiting!) and followed by a trip to the cinema to see the film Ted. If you haven't been to see it already then what are you waiting for! It was hilarious and definitely one of the best films of the year.

Saturday we spent with Morgan's grandparents, mum and sister. Gramps has been digging out photographs of Morgan and Gen from when they were little which I loved looking at. I will try and post a couple of pictures next time. After a swim with Kirstie and Gen in the morning, Morgan's Dad and Beth took us out for a meal at a local pub/restaurant where the food was gorgeous! I was especially pleased as it meant I could have Welsh Roast Lamb for lunch.

We're back home now but luckily we'll be back again next week to go see Hamlet!

Summer Holidays

I'm feeling a little bit like a child again. We're halfway through the summer holidays and although past experience has taught me the next couple of weeks will fly by, I feel like I still have forever left before it's back to school. In many ways this feeling is amazing. I have the time to catch up with friends, visit places, go to the gym (only once) and restore my energy levels.  At the same time I also feel this pressure to have something to show for my time off work to prove I didn't waste the days away roaming the Internet or watching repeats of The Big Bang Theory (I have).

This pressure is entirely a creation of my own mind. It is the part of me that signs myself up for everything and everything before thinking rationally about the commitments I'm making. Hopefully starting this blog will keep me a little occupied over the next few weeks and help document the moments in my life worth remembering.