Not quite Blackpool!

We were a bit delayed in putting up our yearly tacky fest with our next door neighbours, what with the snow and Arctic temperatures.  But today we had the weather and time to put up the lights.  Then this evening we switched them on with the usual fanfare and mulled wine.

Christmas cake

I decided to bake my Christmas Cake early this year, as I usually end up making it the Christmas Eve and icing it Boxing Day!  Hope it turns out OK as I thought I try a different recipe this year so I used Delia.

Ilkley Moor - Cow & Calf

Baltic!

Our thermometer at about 7am this morning -10 degrees!  

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

The snow's been pretty bad here over the past few days and its not forecast to stop at least for the next few days.  Luckily I can still work from home, which is great as apparently the roads were jammed up and the buses and trains stopped running.  Stu was back shovelling and gritting again at the school as it looked like it would be OK to be open, but come mid morning the snow was so bad that the school was closed.  At the moment it's stopped snowing, but there must be at least 6 inches lying, so we will have to see what it's like tomorrow.  If it's still here at the weekend we might have to build a snowman!

Frozen!

Woke up to no water this morning. The water pipe supplying the house had frozen through. Luckily it hadn't burst and we were able to defrost it with the help of a hairdryer.  Needless to say we had a quick trip to B&Q to get something to provide a bit more insulation against the minus temperatures that are forecast for this week.

Snug!!

New windows. 
After about 10 years of single glazed windows we decided that double glazing was the future.  After much deliberation we decided on a local company, David Brunskills from Keighley.  From start to finish they've been excellent.  From the sales person to the surveyor and the fitter they have all delivered.  And now we have a toasty warm house, less drafts and judging by the last few days lower heating bills, even though it was -7 degrees last night.  We've also fitted extra stuff to the front door to get rid of the drafts that we have started to notice coming through the front door.

Old drafty and full of condensation windows.

Will take some pics of the new windows when it's not dark.

Snow!

Woke up to snow this morning (as forecasted.)  Looks like more is on it's way next week.

Trip to Scotland

Thai Pumpkin Soup!

Made the best pumpkin soup ever. I've always tried to use up the pumpkin from making the lanterns by making soup, but it always tastes either really awful of really bland.  This pumpkin soup is great.

1 tbsp olive oil,
5 shallots (sliced) ,
1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
1 red chilli (deseeded & finely chopped)
15g fresh ginger (grated)
1.25Kg pumpkin (deseeded & chopped) (though mine was just what a scraped out to make the lantern)
400ml coconut milk
500ml chicken stock (i used a stock cube)
15g coriander & some extra for garnish
salt to taste

Heat oil in large pan, add shallots, garlic, chilli &ginger, sweat for a few mins.  Add pumpkin, coconut & stock stir & bring to boil. Reduce heat &simmer for about 20 mins or until pumpkin is tender.  Take off heat add coriander.  Blend until smooth. Season to taste ad garnish. 

It's supposed to freeze well, hopefully it does as I've made about 12 servings!!  This recipe makes 4 servings but I doubled it and got 12!!

Happy Halloween!!

We made two lanterns and Joseph also made two. 

So I thought I'd take a picture of our pumpkin lantern family

Guess who's the scary skeleton below?

Oooh Holiday - yep another one.

Alice went on holiday with Will & Karen, whilst Stu stayed at home.

Look what beermat we got at a bar in Los Alcazaraz in Spain! 

The Saltaire Brewery is only about 4 miles down the road from here!

 Spent a few days on the lovely beaches of the Costa Calida

Visited the city of Orihuela, with some beautiful buildings, it was just a bit too hot to take the very steep steps to the monastery at the top of the hill.

Tower near one of our favourite beaches.

History

Picture of our house in 1933, 3 years after it was built.

Holiday - Oooh Holiday

Just got back from 10 days in Spain.  Stayed on a golf course near Sucina in the Murcia area of Spain.  Met up with our friends parents Fred and Cynthia.

Found some wicked erm "Errosion Sculpture type things"

Work's 'Nellbanian Bear' who goes on lots of holidays enjoyed himself greatly.

Bingley Music Live

Bingley Music Live descended on in Bingley this weekend. Three days, over 20 acts and a record 42,000 attendees.

www.bingleymusiclive.com

Happy Labor Day - Canada

A big hello and Happy Labor Day (for yesterday) to those who visit this blog from Canada.

I'm guessing that you're related in some way to friends of ours Rachel, Andy & Joe Wood.

Hope you like the pics that we put up and that you had a relaxing day yesterday.

Thanks for visiting

Alice & Stu

Toms from the Greenhouse

The latest haul of tomatoes from the garden and the greenhouse, just a few pound.

Happy Birthday Stuart

We all gathered at Stu's mum & dad's for the annual spit on the cake.  It was Stu, Fiona and David's birthdays, there had to be a ballerina on the cake and also something for Stu & David's birthday.

Joseph's trip to Filey

Sunsets

We've had some pretty shocking weather over the past few weeks. Torrential rain, high winds and just a bit chilly interspersed with the occasional sunny day.  But it's meant that we've had some great sunsets.

BBQing with the neighbours

Maisie

Milo

Stu & Karen

Garden - Patio looking good

Filey - Sunny At Last!

Spent the day at Filey today with Rachel, Andy & Joseph. Made sandcastles on the beach and had ice-creams! Yum.

Welcome to Yorkshire Ingrid!

Went to a party at Ken & Alice's to welcome her friend Ingrid from Canada to Yorkshire.

Not quite sure what these two are up to! Maybe pretending to be Canadian moose!!?