Countdown to Christmas: Day 21

Our holiday is sadly coming to an end, so we left Lizard this morning to head back north again.

A Trip to Truro

Before we left Cornwall completely, we stopped off in Truro for a bit of Christmas shopping. I also popped into Truro Cathedral to see the Christmas tree, and we had lunch and a mince pie at Coffee Traders.

Chocolate Orange Hot Chocolate

I still can't resist a festive menu, so when we went for a coffee before starting the drive back to Manchester, I had a Chocolate Orange Hot Chocolate instead.

Christmas Donut

Stopped for a break on the long drive back and I thought I'd have a festive donut. It's not quite as pretty as I thought it was when I bought it.

Advent Tea

Behind Door No. 21 in my Bird and Blend tea calendar... Welsh Cake Cwtch!

Advent Jewellery

And behind Door No. 21 in my Avon jewellery calendar... a snowflake pendant!

Countdown to Christmas: Day 20

It's the final day of our stay in Lizard. Tomorrow, we'll be heading back to Manchester.

Lizard

Last day of our stay in our little cottage by the cliff edge. We're not sad though - mostly because next year's stay is already booked!

Raspberry Millionaires Flapjack

Raspberry Millionaires Flapjack from Flapjackery in St Ives.

Christmas Biscuits

Every year when we come to Cornwall, my mother-in-law gives me a festive baking kit to make. This year, it was Christmas shortbread biscuits. We didn't have anything to pipe the icing on, but I don't think I did such a bad job with a teaspoon.

Mulled Apple Juice with Rum

Yet another batch of mulled apple juice! Once again, I used our spice blend from Spicy Chameleon, but this time I added an extra ingredient as well.

Advent Tea

Behind Door No. 20 in my Bird and Blend tea calendar... Let's Be Having Brew!

Advent Jewellery

And behind Door No. 20 in my Avon jewellery calendar... silver moon earrings!

Countdown to Christmas: Day 19

Still on holiday in our little cottage at The Lizard!

Twilight Walk

This evening, we went for a twilight walk to the cliff edge near the cottage. There's some really dramatic rocks there that looked amazing in the evening light (though it got very dark very quickly so we had to be careful).

Rudolph Millionaires Flapjack

Rudolph Millionaires Flapjack from Flapjackery in St Ives!

Christmas Pudding (Stage 2)

So we steamed the Christmas pudding for 8 hours today and had a bit of a surprise when it was done. Turns out, although I have a number of skills, judging how much baking powder to add to plain flour when we don't have any self-raising is not one of them. We have a very puffy pudding.

Tullibardine Whisky

More nice whisky tonight. We had a Tullibardine tasting set, which was another present from my little brother's recent trip to Scotland.

Escape from the Museum

And another escape room game tonight. This time, we escaped from a museum.

The Christmas Appeal

After another successful escape, I settled down to read The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett, accompanied by Candy Cane tea from Bird and Blend.

Advent Tea

Behind Door No. 19 in my Bird and Blend tea calendar... Champagne Supernova (their Manchester blend)!

Advent Jewellery

And behind Door No. 19 in my Avon jewellery calendar... silver loveheart earrings!

Countdown to Christmas: Day 18

Another day on our Cornish holiday!

Coastal Walk

We went for a lovely walk along the coastal path today, into Lizard village and back again, saying hi to the cows near our cottage.

Ann’s Pasties

And at the end of the path... Ann's Pasties!

Serpentine Necklace

Also at the end of the path... Rob surprised me with a gorgeous serpentine necklace from J.A.R. Hill Serpentine Works in Lizard. It's made with serpentine stone quarried locally from the Lizard peninsula, and I love it.

Christmas Earrings

Another new pair of Christmas earrings! Today I was wearing candy canes from Keeks and T.

Christmas Pudding (Stage 1)

Time to start one of our favourite traditions... making the Christmas pudding. Today we mixed the ingredients and made a wish as we stirred. Tomorrow we'll steam it.

Advent Tea

Behind Door No. 18 in my Bird and Blend tea calendar... Gingerbread Chai!

Advent Jewellery

And behind Door No. 18 in my Avon jewellery calendar... a little crystal pendant!

Countdown to Christmas: Day 17

Still on our pre-Christmas holiday!

Lizard

Another day in our little cottage at The Lizard.

Mulled Apple Juice

I was mulling again today! This time, it was apple juice made with the mulling spice blend we got from Spicy Chameleon last month.

Abominable Books

I'm always so behind with opening my Abominable Book Club boxes, aren't I? Today, I opened my November box. I got Schrader's Chord by Scott Leeds, You'd Look Better as a Ghost by Joanna Wallace, some chocolates, bookmarks and a magnet, plus a mystery second-hand book (which was right up my street... I know this cos I already borrowed it from the library and read it last month... haha!)

Playa del Mar Cocktails

I made Playa del Mar cocktails tonight. I mean, we are right next to a beach and the sea (admittedly, the sea is pretty wild and the beach is at the bottom of a cliff).

Tiramisu

I made another of my holiday go-to desserts (and yes, it's another no-bake one)... tiramisu. It's Rob's favourite!

Wolfburn Whisky

We enjoyed a Wolfburn whisky tasting set this evening, a present from my little brother from last time he visited the distillery.

Advent Tea

Behind Door No. 17 in my Bird and Blend tea calendar... Candy Cane!

Advent Jewellery

And behind Door No. 17 in my Avon jewellery calendar... a silver triangle pendant!

Countdown to Christmas: Day 16

And we're still on holiday! Woohoo!

Lizard

Another day in our remote little cottage at The Lizard. I don't think I mentioned this before, but there are cows right outside the cottage.

Hannah’s Bookshelf 3 Minute Santas Special

By the magic of technology (and forward planning, of course), I was on air on North Manchester FM today. It was the annual Hannah's Bookshelf Pre-Christmas Christmas Special this afternoon, with festive flash fiction from this year's 3 Minute Santas writers.

West Country Scandals

I bought this little book, West Country Scandals by James Whinray, at a gift shop last year, but I didn't get chance to read it then. Of course, the real West Country scandal is that I drank Devon Cream Tea (from Bird and Blend) when I was reading it in Cornwall. Shocker!

Zombie Cocktails

I know tiki cocktails might not sound very Christmassy, but look how festive these Zombies look!

Escape from the Movie Studio

We brought a couple of little escape room games to play while we're away. Kicked off tonight with Escape from the Movie Studio and totally nailed it. We are no longer trapped in a movie studio.

The Last Snow

The next book I read on holiday was The Last Snow by Stina Jackson. I teamed it with Ceylon Bop from Tugboat. (The bookmark was a little present I bought for myself when I was Christmas shopping at St Ives Bookseller the other day.)

Advent Tea

Behind Door No. 16 in my Bird and Blend tea calendar... Devon Cream Tea!

Advent Jewellery

And behind Door No. 16 in my Avon jewellery calendar... a gold joy pendant!