Remember a while ago I read a lovely book by Carole Matthews called The Cake Shop in the Garden, I wrote about it here:
another-great-book.html Well this is the follow up book called Christmas Cakes and Mistletoe Nights.

I was so glad to hear that she had written another one as I loved the first book and I really needed to know how the characters would go on. I was so hooked I couldn't put either of these books down. Fay and Danny continue their love story and are away on The Dreamcatcher which is the name of the narrow boat that they decided to sail off into the sunset and start their life on. The cafe was left in the capable hands of Fay's friend and all was good. Fay started to miss her life and the baking and when she receives a call to return back to her old home she doesn't waste a moment. 

She returns in a rush to one of her long standing friends sickbed and ends up staying for a while. Danny joins her later and she convinces him to stay for the foreseeable future. The cafe needs everyone's help to keep going through. a bit of a crisis and after some tough times there is a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. A happy ending?? Well you'll just have to read it and find out what happens.

You won't be disappointed, it really is again, a lovely easy pleasant read. and I just fell in love with all the characters. There is a fabulous new character working in the cafe and she just made me smile throughout this book. I'll leave you a link (affiliated) to Amazon. This book is still in hardback until later this year.

Thanks for reading today.......join me again tomorrow for my Verse for Thursday. Take care for now.

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These are just great, love em' and wish I'd bought them before. They look like hair ties or some bizarre charity bracelet don't they but they are in fact egg rings.

What you do is pop them in your frying pan and fry your eggs in them and they stay in a nice roundy sort of shape instead of spreading all over the pan. Call me fussy or a bit particular but I like my pan a bit tidy and have always found egg whites just too messy. 

They also make your eggs a bit chunky as it builds the whites up and gives you professional hotel breakfast kind of eggs. I've always like the eggs served in a cafe or a hotel, they seem to just taste lovely and look perfect, well now I too can cook eggs like they have come out of the kitchen at The Ritz, ok then.....the local Premier Inn.

Great eh? I'm so easily pleased. I actually got the idea for these when recently visiting a local cafe, I thought, they're good I'm having a bit of that. The new eggs have had the seal of approval from my son too so must be good. Go on have some nice round eggs. Order them now from Amazon (affiliated link)

​Thank you for reading today, please pop back for my Verse for Thursday tomorrow......take care!

There are a lot of online courses and many companies now offering different opportunities. It can be a minefield trying to find which ones are worth investing in and if you are going to be awarded with a genuine accredited qualification.

I have been studying with the Centre of Excellence and find it affordable and easy to access. The courses I have completed have mainly been just out of interest so I'm not looking for massive qualifications at the moment, just enough to keep my brain active really. I recently gained a Distinction in a SEND (Special Educational Needs & Disability) Diploma Course which I was chuffed about. I could use it to show I've taken time to study and understand this area if needed, most courses here are accredited by different   organisations so check the course before your study if this is an important aspect of your learning.

The courses are easy to follow, all the modules are available to read online and then an assessment of each module is there to complete. You can then send these off online and receive a mark back within a few days. You receive full online tutor support and a certificate at the end of your course. So many different courses available, such as:
Animal Care, Business, Counselling, Completmentary Therapies, Psychology, Sports and Fitness, Hobbies and Trades and Writing......and many more.

There is a Facebook page where you can look for some discount codes for a lot of the courses bringing the cost down considerably so always enquire. When you do enrol onto a course there is also a separate Facebook study group allowing you to interact with other people studying with C of E and those who maybe studying the same course as you so I can't fault how much support you get.

So if you would like some more information the website is:
www.centreofexcellence.com and if you would like to find them on Facebook they are here www.facebook.com/centreofexcellenceonline/

Do message them if you have any questions or queries as they are very helpful. If you do have an interest in SEND including various areas regarding Autism I can recommend these courses to gain further knowledge. 

What you waiting for? Go and sign up now.......this is ideal if you want to widen your range of knowledge, get back into leaning and maybe prepare yourself for a career change. If this hasn't convinced you yet you can apply for a NUS Card (National Union of Students). For £12 a year while studying with C of E you can use your card to take advantage of many student discounts in shops, restaurants and online. 

As I have said before there are many other organisations offering online courses but I seem to have got on with this one. Give it a go and let me know how you do. Get in touch if you have been studying with them and what courses did you study? Did you enjoy it? I'd be interested to know.

Thank you for joining me today, if you fancy coming back again pop by for my Verse for Thursday tomorrow.

For now though, take care of yourselves.
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Now I took the decision to replace my old Breadmaker into retirement. It was old and had worked very hard throughout it's fifteen years that I must of had it so we said our goodbyes and farewells and I replaced it.....yes as quick as that.

This lovely new Breadmaker is great, it has a lot of functions that my other one had which is what I wanted really. It makes bread, cakes, jam, marmalade (Paddington would be pleased), it makes dough and I can even make my gluten free goodies too. 

There is nothing like the smell of fresh bread baking and I find it so easy to just throw all the ingredients in and away it goes, it gets on with kneading, rising, proving, knocking back and baking without moaning once. I can set a delay on the timer so we could have a fresh loaf for the morning. This was my attempt at the classic white loaf.....

Not bad eh? I also baked a simple gluten free sponge cake which I wrote a post for Free From Friday last week, you can view that here:
gluten-free-cake-made-in-a-breadmaker.html 

I'm really chuffed with it, being snowed in for two days last week was brilliant, I just baked all the time, so eat your heart out Mr Warburton. I think there is still more experimenting to do.....this is a girl that would welcome some more snow. I can even prepare pasta dough in this machine so that is so convenient for me to continue using my pasta maker too. Yum Yum.

This bread machine is a Morphy Richards Fast Bake Breadmaker - Model 48281 and I will include a link to Amazon (affiliated) at the end of this post as that is where I purchased it from. I think for the price it is a good quality product, it is a bit noisy when mixing the dough but that's ok, it's not put me off it at all. The instructions are clear and it is easy to clean. Can't fault it so far, the rest of the family seem happy so overall a good buy.

If you would like to treat yourself you can find all the details about this Breadmaker here at Amazon........
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​Thank you for reading today, please pop back again tomorrow too take a look at my Verse for Thursday, take care for now.