Homemade coffee syrups

I think I'm already all Pumpkin Spice Latte'd out but we are nearing the end of October and I'm already looking forward to christmas & dreaming up ideas to dress up my house, which by the way is nearly ready to make an appearance on the ol' blog!

We don't have a Starbucks close by, we have to go into town, (although there is one at the nearby university but we went & I felt like I really shouldn't pretend to be a student!) so I decided the best thing to do for now would be to try out some homemade coffee syrups.

These are really easy & you can make practically any flavour you like. I might try some fruity syrups at some point for adding to cocktails.

I've made Vanilla, Lavender & Caramel syrups. I've done these recipes using 'cups'. I invested in some last week because so many recipes I want to try have instructions using 'cups' so get yourselves some or maybe use a ramekin - as long as the 'cup' is the same measurement I guess it doesn't really matter.

CARAMEL:

2 cups of water, 2 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup of caramel (shop bought like below or make your own by boiling a tin of condensed milk in a pan for a few hours).

Put the water & sugar in a saucepan and heat until the sugar has completely dissolved on a low/medium setting. You'll know it has because the sugar water will become clear. Once dissolved add the caramel & mix until well combined. Dispense into your bottle.

VANILLA:
2 cups of water, 2 cups of sugar, teaspoon of vanilla essence.

Same method as above. Heat up sugar & water until dissolved then add the vanilla essence. 

LAVENDER:
Sounds like a strange flavour to make but tastes delicious in a latte!
2 cups of water, 2 cups of BROWN sugar, lavender extract.

Heat the water & sugar until dissolved. Add lavender extract and stir until combined. You can use fresh lavender buds too for this by adding a tablespoon of buds to the syrup while the sugar is dissolving. Only leave the buds in for 20-25 mins then strain using a fine sieve.

You'll want to use a funnel to put the syrups in the bottled to avoid spills. Then make some pretty labels!

Egg rolling & Sledging

Last Sunday a group of us from our church community went egg rolling & sledging in the park by our house. Egg rolling you ask?! We all decorated hard boiled eggs and found the biggest hill to roll them down. There were prizes for the best decorated, worst cheater (someone bought a rubber egg!), the egg that survived the roll, etc etc. You get the picture...I think!? I guess there were quite a few people who wondered what we were doing!

We finished the egg rolling off with a whole lot of sledging! It was a good day with good people. 

Although we had a wonderful day in the snow I am thankful that it's nearly melted. I need sun already!! We've booked two weeks off work at the end of June/beginning of July but I don't know where to go yet! Leave some suggestions for me. I need sun, sand & good food.

Let it snow, let it snow...

...let it SNOW! I am LOVING it and enjoying every minute of it! I'm one of those people that dislike gritters & neighbours that shovel the snow out the way! I've been pretty lucky in that as soon as the snow started to fall I knew I'd be off work until Monday. Monday might be a challenge since our car battery died on Thursday evening, it's the third episode within a few weeks, and we need to get it replace as soon as. All going well I'll be driving into work next week otherwise I'm walking for an hour in the snow! I'll find joy in it though if that's the case. Best thing you can do right!?

We live surrounded by parks and the roads are never too busy so the snow fall has stuck good & proper. Sam & I made the most of it and went for a lovely walk at the back of our house. We don't have much of a garden so the park behind makes up for it big time.
We took photos, I made a snow angel and we had a BIG snow ball fight...just the two of us...and it was one of those "I know exactly why I married him..." moments. He's so much fun! (& I love him!)
I have to add though...I got him in the face THREE times!
Hope this weather lasts a bit longer!

Earlswood Lakes Adventure

Greetings on this cold & frosty morning!
January has been such a cold month already. We've had lots of frost and a lot of snow but none of the snow has stuck for very long! We've been promised more this week though so here's hoping!
Sam might disagree, but I think I'm pretty adaptable to the changes in weather. I'm always ready for the cold that comes or the warmth when it arrives, obviously there are dreary days when it's grey & rainy - that's not so fun - but I especially love the frost when the sun is shining bright!

I drove myself to work for the first time on Tuesday - it felt so freeing! I have a love/hate relationship with driving. I dislike driving but I love the fact I can get to places & stay warm! I've been taking public transport or walking for years, then I met Sam who passed his test soon after we started dating (winner!) & he lifted me everywhere but it's nice to feel independent again now. Looking forward to the day I can pick him up or drop him off somewhere! It's long overdue I think! Boy, do I appreciate him a whole lot more! 

Anyway, yesterday we both had the day off work together. We decided we needed to get out the house & do something fun. We went to Earlswood Lakes just a 20 minute drive from where we live where they have a beautiful lakeside walk & tea room!
I think we lasted about an hour & a half before we walked back to the car - it was soooooo cold! We took some photographs but the cold was so intense we didn't take many of ourselves. Boo. Still, we enjoyed every minute of our little adventure & the place was deserted so we may have pretended we were being chased by orcs!

 

 Hope you're wrapped up warm wherever you are! x