I would like you all to meet George our little Kitten. He is full of fun & keeps everyone on their toes. ~ Little George is just eight weeks old. ~ His name came from a vintage book that the girls have called Naughty George. I do hope we don't have to use the naughty word though! The twins love the Blackberry Farm series from the 40's & 50's. ~ It was our eldest daughter Amy's 21st birthday this week. She came & spent a beautiful day with us & we had a birthday tea. Here are a few of the things I made for tea. Strawberry & Vanilla cake, butterfly cakes, fairy cakes & cheese straws. ~ The cheese straws are one of the twins favourite tea time treats. Cheese Straws. 4 ozs self raising flour pinch of salt Cayenne pepper or Mustard powder The twins only like mild foods so I use the mustard powder. 2 ozs margarine 3 ozs grated strong cheddar cheese 1 egg beaten Rub the fat in to all the dry ingredients, then add the grated cheese & combine with a beaten egg. Use your hands to combine like making pastry. Roll out on a floured board & cut in to preferred shape, at Christmas we use little cutters. Bake 400f for about 10 minutes. ~ We had a trip to Anglesey Abbey on the Sunday after we went to Wimpole Hall. This is another Estate owned now by the National Trust. It has beautiful park land, a working water mill & house. ~ A beautiful old gate in the estate. ~ Lode Mill. This is a lovely working water mill in the grounds. We bought some flour that had just been ground. ~ The miller bagging up our flour. I bought a little recipe book from the mill, I can't wait to use our lovely fresh flour. ~ Walls inside the mill. Simple bunches of wheat. ~ Walking though parkland towards the Abbey. ~ Walking up the drive to Anglesey Abbey. ~ The parlour. This room had wonderful rich panelling all the way round it. ~ The flower room. They get all the flowers ready here for arranging. The estate grows so many flowers, it was lovely seeing how they use them in the displays throughout the house. The parkland was beautiful, the children learn so much from these days out with out even knowing they are learning. ~ This is a fruit cake recipe I use but this time instead of fruit I added chocolate chips in the round cake & dried cut dates in the loaf cake. ~ Corgi Cottage Soup from Tasha Tudor's cookbook. This was the first time I have made this soup & everyone liked it. Perfect with fresh bread. ~ George had spotted a butterfly that had flown in, he does remind me of Tom Kitten. Perhaps we will have to stuff newspaper in the old range in the hall, we have a hole that goes right to the chimney pot! ~ Little George has been sleeping on my lap while I have been writing this post, he loves to be loved & is such a funny little thing. Enjoy your day. Fondly Michelle ~