So, it's been a while...will fudge do as a peace offering?

I know, I do rather suck at keeping up with this thing. Since my return from the US I've been pretty busy. Returning to my UK school was really tough to begin with, as everyone and everything had moved on in my absence and I had missed a lot. It took me several months to find my groove again, and they were hard, hard months. My smile was MIA for quite some time.

Despite me thinking that everything was crappy, I did find my place here again, and life picked up dramatically. Trust me when I say that if you had told me a year ago that I'd be where I am right now, I never would have believed you. Last February, I met my perfect Mr Right. I'm not going to go into detail, as my friends do tell me it makes them sick, but let's just say, all the clichés are proving to be utterly true for us, and we are knee-deep in planning our spring nuptials. 

I haven't stopped my crafting though, and that leads me on to the reason for today's post. I've been making lots of recipes from Pinterest over the last few months, and adding them to my "Been there, pinned that" board, but I often make adjustments or have to adapt US measure to UK and I decided that I'd take some pics and measures and blog about today's attempt. 

Salted caramel chocolate fudge.

Or ...yummmmmm

Whatever you feel like calling it. I decided to give my work colleagues fudge for Christmas this year and this beauty topped my list.

 I used this post as my base recipe, but I omitted the mocha, as I hate coffee

http://www.shugarysweets.com/2014/10/salted-caramel-mocha-fudge#_a5y_p=2991372

I'm not going to lie, my finished product does not look like hers. I left it to cool for about 6 hours, but it was still very sticky and oozy, so I'd definitely recommend leaving it to chill overnight if you have the time...but I didn't. 

Anyway, here goes nothing!

Firstly, I had to purchase my ingredients and as I planned on making four batches, I opted for the value range at my local grocery store. 

I decided to try to be organised for a change and so I measured out 220g of dark, and 220g of milk chocolate into the bowl of my stand mixer, all broken up into wee pieces.

Next, I unwrapped 312g of value toffees into a glass, microwave proof bowl and poured 60ml, or 4 tbsp of double cream over them.

I placed them into my microwave, but didn't turn it on just yet. 

My final act of prep was to measure out 240g of butter, and (shh, try not to think about this next quantity too much, or you will actually hear your arteries crying) 840g of granulated sugar, 237ml of skimmed milk and a tsp of vanilla extract into a heavy based pan. 

 

With all this prepped, I was finally good to go. 

I set the pan on a med/high heat and melted it all together. It took a good 5 minutes at least just to melt the butter and dissolve the sugar. Once melted, I brought it to a rolling boil, stirring frequently.

I let it boil like this for another 2 minutes before dropping my 25 marshmallows into the mix and stirring for another 30 seconds or so. This started the mallows melting, and so speeded up the next step. 

Once they had started to melt, I turned off the burner and poured the mixture into the waiting stand mixer. 

I set it to a medium/low speed and turned to my toffees instead. I nuked them for about 2 minutes total, in 30 second bursts, stirring between each blast, until they were melted and the cream had been totally incorporated. Meanwhile, the mixer had been plodding away

It took quite a while to get it to a smooth, creamy, chocolatey consistency, but once I had I poured it into a lined roasting dish. After 4 batches, I came to the realisation that splitting the mix over 2 smaller pans worker better than one big one. Once, the Chocolate mix was in the pan, I poured the melted toffee mix on top 

I used a big knife to cut the mix through the fudge

Finally I sprinkled the salt over it and shoved it in the fridge.

It does taste delicious! And it looks lovely in my little jars too. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. 

The Big Easy

I've made many wonderful new friends here in the south and this weekend two of those lovely people tied the knot in New Orleans. I was lucky enough to be able to join them and decided to make along weekend of it. There were a lot one teachers from my school attending and by Thursday lunchtime the exodus had started. 3pm saw myself, MJ & Brooke sitting in the bar at the airport. Hey, it was five o'clock somewhere!

We hit the ground running, heading straight out to Pat O'Brien's (home of the hurricane) to meet other wedding guests. From there, we wandered the rest of Bourbon Street, picking up beads along the way. They throw those things hard!

I'll admit, there was a LOT of booze consumed, but the next day I was fine. We kicked things off a with a hearty breakfast, then headed out to grab a streetcar. We rode it all the way to the end of the line at the French Market and meandered our way back home via Cafe Du Monde (and beignets, naturally) and Jackson Square. I even tried the Gator Jambalaya! I'm not a fan ;-) Friday evening brought the rehearsal dinner, this first I've ever attended, as its not a part of UK weddings.

The day of the wedding could not have been more glorious, and the bride was absolutely radiant. I even got a little sunburnt at the outside ceremony ;-) Another new tradition for me was the cake pull. Such a sweet idea and I was thrilled to have my wee charm as a souvenir of such a wonderful day. I had the most amazing time and the evidence is below. Yet, another pic spam ;-) enjoy!

Giving thanks

So it seems I wrote this, but forgot to click publish. Sorry! It's a tad epic, but well, there was a lot to cram in!

I've been living my southern dream for four months now, and they have been the best four months I could have asked for. The climate suits my soul here and I love the pace of life. Speaking of lives...I finally have one! I fully embraced the adventurous nature of this exchange and am saying "yes!" to as much as I can. There have been grape-stompings and wine tastings, vintage cars and long loud scares, backyard juke joints and the craziness of college football.

However, my first Thanksgiving was an experience I wouldn't trade for the world. It truly was a picture perfect week, just like you see in the movies. It kicked off early, a full week before T-Day itself, with the arrival of another Exchange teacher. Lynsey is based in California, but flew east to share the holidays with me. I drove over to Atlanta to collect her and the drive home was filled with gossip, laughter and country music.

The following night we hit the town, and not only painted it red, but I'm sure every other color of the rainbow too! This meant that Saturday was a very quiet day, filled with naps, good food and movies on the sofa.

Unlike most of the country, we did not have the whole week off, so Monday and Tuesday brought a load of reluctant teachers together for some professional development. It was clear that our hearts and minds had already left for a much needed vacation, but we tried our hardest to be good students. Tuesday evening, Lynsey and I returned to the airport in Atlanta to collect Morna, who joined us from Kansas. We spent the trip back to Dixie swapping stories about our respective placements, and the culture shock moments we had experienced.

I honestly cannot tell you how good it felt to sleep in the next morning! To just doze and snuggle til my body was ready to wake, rather than be jolted to life by the wail of the alarm, was a simple pleasure, but a much enjoyed one! We kicked off the day with pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs, before hitting the stores. I had an early Christmas gift when I fitted into a skirt in Banana Republic that was three sizes smaller than the one I wore when I arrived ;-)

We were lucky enough to be invited to a family gathering that evening and we were looking forward to experiencing a real "family" Thanksgiving. The drive out to the lake was beautiful and although we did knock on the wrong door originally,we eventually found our destination. Aunt Lucie & Uncle Jonathon treated all three British incomers as though we were their own family. The welcome was truly staggering, as was the food. There were children playing, laughing, fighting, and adults chatting, refereeing and chatting up with those they hadn't seen in a while. It was exactly how I imagined Thanksgiving to be, and I know that all three of us were beyond grateful to be included in the family's time together. It made our first Thanksgiving even more special.

That night, when we made it home, we set to work preparing the vegetables for the next day. I had collected recipes from friends, colleagues and parents and we were fixing to make a true southern feast. All night I got up and down to baste the beast and by the time we surfaced the following day, he was cooked to a turn.

With the parade on the tv (you have no idea how childishly excited we were about seeing Santa!) and our best clothes at the ready, we made our final preparations for our meal. We were joined by a friend from work and the four of us ate our body weight in great food, enjoyed the company and then ate some more. We even followed tradition by curling up on the sofa to watch the ball game after lunch.

Being vaguely health conscious, we eventually dragged our stuffed to the brim asses out and took a walk around Vulcan Park. My pal MJ was kind enough to give us a fabulous driving tour of the city, showing us the sights and the lights of the Magic City. We rounded out the evening with the new Bond movie, and experiencing the Midnight Madness at a local mall.

Friday brought yet another new experience for me... choosing a real Christmas tree! Living in a third floor apartment, I had little choice but to settle on a fake tree, so you can imagine how excited I was about this wee trip. The day started with a delicious brunch with my exchange partners parents. They have a beautiful wee farm not far from Birmingham itself and we had a lot of fun playing in the woods, feeding the duckies and collecting pine cones etc, before sitting down to our food.

After the meal, we piled back into the cars to head to the tree farm. Now I'm not known for my decisive qualities, but I choose my baby real quick. We wandered up and down a few rows, but I'd seen my perfect tree early on and it didn't take me long to decide that there was no better option. I grabbed the saw Steve offered and set to work bring it down.

With the tree safely stowed in Steve's truck, we decided to explore the rest of the farm and we wandered through a cornfield and picked cotton before finally heading back into the city to decorate my tree.

Saturday saw M returning to Kansas, and L and I kept things quiet Sunday. Granted, I didn't want to go back to work Monday morning, but with the memories of our perfect holiday week behind me, it wasn't nearly as bad as the usual return after a break.

It really has been the highlight of my trip so far, but I know that there are so many more things ahead of me. Right now, I've got my sights on my trip home. It really is the only place to spend the holiday season, and though I know I'll be missing out on things here, I need to be with my family for a spell. In true movie fashion, I arrive home Christmas Eve and I am beyond excited.

Happy holidays! & enjoy the pic spam

Cookie swap!

So tomorrow I'm taking part in my first ever cookie swap and in my usual fashion, I may have taken on more than I can chew. As I am making my own dress (and knitting the wrap to match) for a wedding next weekend, it's been a craft sweatshop in my house. I just didn't have time to type out, or print out and copy all the recipes for the cookies I made. I decided to save the planet a little and just post my recipes here instead. So here goes!

I began with an old favorite from home which are relatively healthy as cookies go.

Chocolate Fork Cookies

100g margarine
50g caster sugar
120g Self raising flour
15g (tbsp) cocoa powder

Preheat your oven to 355f

Beat all the ingredients together to form a paste.
Roll into walnut sized balls and place on a cookie tray.
Bake for 10-15 mins

My 2nd effort was a recipe that was given to me years ago and I've been unable to try as the UK doesn't sell peanut butter chips.

Banana Peanut Butter Cookies

2/3 cup ripe bananas
1 1/2 cups melted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1cup (tightly packed) brown sugar
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups plain flour
2 cups peanut butter chips

Melt the butter
Stir in the sugars, salt and bicarb
Blend in the bananas
Mix in the flour gradually
Add the PB chips and stir til everything is incorporated

Chill the dough for 1-4 hours
Roll into walnut sized balls
Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown

The final cookie of the three is a simple sugar cookie recipe that was found on Pinterest and you can see the recipe here. http://pinterest.com/pin/221943087857897259/

Fingers and toes crossed I don't poison anyone!

Driving along in my automobile

So last weekend I felt brave enough and took my first extended drive. I headed northeast, up into Tennessee to see my friend Gmama. Thursday evening I filled the tank with gas and the trunk with goodies do that I would be ready to head the second I could leave school.

I've been pretty stubborn about my driving do far, tending to stick to actual maps, rather than relying on the Sat Nav, but with a nearly five hour drive ahead of me I plugged that baby in and was happy to let it lead the way.

Friday seemed endless, but of course it wasn't and finally, tuning the radio to a country station and settling my cup of water in its slot, it was time to head out. At first, it was fine. I was sailing along roads I knew, as I'd been driving them for weeks, but suddenly the car started bumping along ominously. Immediately, I looked for a spot to pull over and got out to check the tires. I couldn't see anything wrong so I got back, cranked the volume again and set off.

Ten minutes later the car started bouncing around like a moon buggy again, so for the second time I found a spot, pulled over and got out to check the tires. Once again there was no sign of anything wrong so it was back behind the wheel and on the road again.

It was only after I'd repeated this wee routine three times that I realised what the problem was. The roads themselves were dreadful! Potholes, cracks and lumps galore all combined to make a dreadful driving experience. Thankfully after and hour or two, the began to improve and the rest of the drive was smooth as silk. I didn't even get lost ;-)

It was a lovely weekend, where we visited downtown Knoxville but mostly just relaxed and ate the wonderful food that Mr Gmama kindly made for us all. After whirlwind weeks of excitement and stress, it was great to be able to just relax with friends.

The drive home was much the same, though with the added delight of seeing some real bonafide rednecks on the way home. Literally. They were painted red to the waist, and driving in convoy of five trucks. One of their pickup trucks had a pair of silver bollocks hanging from the trailer hitch and I laughed so hard I almost cried.if only I'd had someone there to take a photo :-(

Thunder rolls

Is there anything quite so thrilling as watching the lightning strike and waiting for the thunder to roll? One thing I really missed from last time I was here in the states was the epic storms. When you're all tucked up inside and watching nature kick off, it just grabs you.

In a land where witches wear pink

What a whirlwind the last month has been! The final preparations for the big move kept me busy enough, but life since then has moved even faster!

On the 25th of July, I locked the front door of my wee flat for the final time, at least for a year. I flew to New York City, to spend a few short days with my pal, Effbit, and we crammed a fair amount into those days. However, my favorite moment had to be on the very first night. We took a walk in the evening, and wandered down to the east river ferry dock. We made there just in time, so that my first glimpse of Manhatten was filtered through a stunning sunset, that no camera could do justice to. At that moment, it finally dawned on me that I was really here, and really doing this. No tears for me, just sheer, unadulterated excitement.



Over the next days I took in Fifth Avenue, the Museum of Natural History, FAO Schwarz... And of course, Tiffany's. I loved spending time with my friend but all too soon it was over and I had to move on. Work was beckoning, so I hopped a train to Washington,DC for the next leg of my adventure.

After months of epic emails, and hours of skyping, I was finally going to meet my exchange partner! I arrived at the hotel first, and was very impressed with the huge room I was given, but I was too excited about meeting Rebecca to explore much at first. Luckily, I didn't have too long to wait before I heard the knock on my door.

I'm hoping that Reba will agree when I say we got on like a house on fire. We took every possible opportunity to escape the hotel and take in as many of the beautiful sights as we could and spend as much time together as we could.

Monday's destination was The Museum of American history, and amongst the other treasures, I was absolutely thrilled to see Dorothy's ruby slippers. Especially as Frank.L.Baums story became a recurring theme throughout our lectures.


It was a really interesting week meeting all the other Fulbrighters. We heard lots of interesting lecturers, and learnt a lot about the many different cultures represented. However, I was champing at the bit to get to my new home, and see my new school.

I'd heard a lot about southern hospitality, but nothing could have prepared me for the reality. The welcome I received was totally overwhelming and the sheer generosity of Rebecca's family and friends was heartwarming. I could not have been made to feel more at home, and I'm more convinced than ever that this year is going to be amazing.

I'm not naive, I know that culture shock will hit, and I know that there will be bad days, but I'm pretty sure that the people around me will support me through it.

I'm ready for school. Are you?