Had a little sort out last night/this morning nothing major just trying to find a permanent home for the slow cooker and it has become apparent that what is actually needed is actually a major clear out. That however will have to wait for a little while.

Had dentist appointment last Thursday and finally gave notice to the dentist that I would be cancelling my Denplan contract. One of the main reasons for cancelling has been that over the years the number of appointments with the dentist/hygienist have reduced.
The last two years I have been visiting the dentist 3 time a year and that has been costing me about £25 a month. When I spoke to the receptionist at the dentist she suggested that if I wanted to have more appointments they could raise the amount I paid monthly, I kindly refused and informed her that in future I would be paying privately for my treatment and arranged my next appointment for the start of September. The money that I would have been paying to Denplan will now be saved in a separate account (should be about £300 a year) and it is this money which I will need to use for any future treatments.

My ultimate plan is to find a dentist that does not charge £30 for a routine check-up, or starts to find work that needs to be done now that I am paying.

I have pretty much decided that I will not be making Christmas cards this year, the decision eventually came down to me just not having the time – I may make a few and am currently working on a cross stitch pattern which will be incorporated into a card. The cross stitch was something I had bought when I went to a craft event in Cardiff at the start of October along with some card craft CD's have to say that the quality of the CD's is poor considering they cost £25 for 3, the cross stitch however only cost a £1 and I got off to a shaky start but seem to have gotten the hang of things now but again I find myself in a race against time and we all know time always wins!!

I have also found myself back in the kitchen and spent most of yesterday baking, I made a Christmas cake and some chocolate mints. The mints were surprisingly easy to make and because I used some butter during the cooking process the chocolate has an almost fudge like taste and texture and have a nice crunch like the expensive "Matchmaker" chocolates. The Christmas cake however took a little longer to cook (three and a half hours) and I have no idea how it tastes but today I have covered it in marzipan and will covering it in icing in a week or two.

My Christmas shopping has not gotten off to the best start as two presents ordered online are unlikely to turn up as the company has gone into administration – rather annoying as it went into administration on Friday but I ordered last Sunday so the books should have been sent out Monday or Tuesday. I have contacted my card company and requested that they claim the money back and have already gone and ordered the same products from another web site, think I will remember to always pay using my credit card to make sure that I have additional protection.

The two photos show the cake once out of the baking tin and then once it was covered with marzipan, ideally I should have have cut off the top of the cake to leave a flat surface but what I actually did was turn the cake over and cover it.

It was pretty easy to see where the cuts needed to be made as I keep everything on a spreadsheet and after all the direct debits the only thing that I had any control over was my food budget and it has been going really well but last night when I was doing my weekly shop with £11 in my pocket I noticed that prices in the supermarket had increased by a stupid amount within a week for no apparent reason.

A few weeks ago I discovered that Tesco were selling Curry sauce at a bargain price so bought a tin and made chicken curry – it tasted good so last week I bought a few more tins of Tesco curry sauce as they only cost £0.04 and with some chicken and a few other things added can make a good and more importantly cheap meal. However last night the price had doubled to £0.08 a tin, now they were not on special offer last week and I should not be complaining as £0.08 is still good value but why the sudden price increase. I then get to the frozen foods section and see that the stir fry chicken which only cost me £2.49 last week would now cost me £2.99. I do wonder how many people would just do the shopping and not realise that the prices had increased – I don't expect them to put a sign up telling people that the prices have increased but I will certainly be paying more attention to the prices I am paying.

Of course I can't complain as this site is open to everyone who has access to the internet but it is the amount of time which is spent "checking" to see if I have made any updates. I would have thought that this person would have more important things to do and would be more concerned about sick or dying relatives that what little old me has to say?

Anyway as I've already mentioned been kept pretty busy the last few weeks, spent a week cooking various things during September, the Turkish delight did not quite turn out as I had hoped!

The last few weeks I have been pro-active in trying to sort out my room and as regular visitors might be aware this is something that I have spoken about on numerous occasions in the past with little or limited success. A new shelf has been put up and I have actually thrown things out – surprisingly not as much as I would have thought given the space I have gained.
Saying all of that I still have a lot more to do and am hoping to look at my clothes next and get rid of those that I no longer wear or no longer fit.

A few weeks ago I posted asking for the people who visit my site on a regular basis to let me know who they were and most people did this but there is one regular visitor to the site who has remained anonymous and I can guess who it is and hope that one day they will get in contact with me.

I did have to take something for my headache last night and really did not want to get up this morning as I felt so tired and my headache has not gone away, I can feel the numbing pain building up even as I type.

But today has not been a complete waste I did manage to bake a few more cakes, this time I made smaller ones and the photo can be found on my flickr site.

Victoria Sponge Cake

Ingredients

175g (6oz) Butter/Margarine (Margarine is lighter)
175g (6oz) Caster sugar
175g (6oz) Self-raising Flour
Three Eggs
Vanilla Essence
Jam (For the filling but you could use whatever you want – I would however suggest seedless jams)
Icing Sugar (For the filling)

Method
Grease two round sandwich tins, no larger than 7-8 inches. (You can use any type of tin really)

Add the butter and caster sugar to a bowl and mix until light and fluffy, then gradually add the eggs (I beat one egg in at a time myself) adding a little of the flour if the eggs begin to curdle. One all the eggs have been added add a few drops of the Vanilla Essence (I must have added about half a teaspoon) and stir into the mixture.

Fold in the flour to the mixture. Once this has been completed you should then divide the mixture between the two sandwich tins, smooth the top and bake in a preheated oven 190C/380F/Gas Mark 5 for about 20 minutes until they are golden. Leave to cool and turn out onto a wire rack.

When cooled you can add the filling, I used butter cream and jam.

Making Butter Cream

I have to admit that I did not measure out any quantities but you will need a little of the Butter/Margarine in a bowl (I would say a heaped tablespoon) and add a generous amount of Icing Sugar. Mix until the cream is formed, you will be able to see how much you have and if you want more just add a little more butter and icing sugar to the mix. The finished substance should not be excessively runny if it is just add some more icing sugar and continue to mix in. I actually add a few drops of Vanilla Essence to this mixture.

I find it easier to spread the Butter Cream mixture over one of the bases and the Jam over the second and then sandwich the cakes together. As a finishing touch sprinkle some Icing Sugar over the cake to decorate.

Victoria Sponge

This was my first attempt to bake a Victoria Sponge and I am pretty happy with the outcome, I have not actually tasted it yet but as it was cooking it smelt pretty good so if there are no entries from me for the next few days then you know that the local hospital does not have internet access :tonguerolleye_ee:

I shall post the recipe that I used in a few days time, when I get it typed up so you can all have a go yourself and see how your attempt turns out. I do have a few other photos which can be found on my photo site – just click the photo above!