The Beesley Buzz: October 2015

The Minions are coming!

It's true. We are Minion mad in this household. Those adorable yellow fellows from Despicable Me, who now have their own movie. So when we were invited to BT Tower to meet the Minions and watch their movie (surprisingly, called Minions) we jumped at the chance! Once through security...

Book review: Death Comes First, by Hilary Bonner

Review by Richard Beesley. When Joyce Mildmay's husband is killed in a tragic boating accident, her world is torn apart. With their three children desperately missing their father and she missing her soul mate, she tries to bring some sense of normality to all their lives. Living...

Cook it, Vlog it, Win it - John Torode's My Kind of Food

Here's my Vlog making Chocolate and Coconut Pie from John Torode's new cookery book, My Kind of Food. Hope you enjoyed my Vlog. Here's my verdict: Despite having guests round last night, I didn't risk making this as I had never made Italian meringue before and didn't want it to go wrong. So the guests got shop bought dessert and we got to eat this ourselves the...

My brilliant 3 - small steps amazing achievements

A long overdue link up with #smallstepsamazingachievements. All 3 of my children have made me incredibly proud recently. Let's start with the eldest. J aged 11. A few years ago no-one could have predicted what the future would hold for him. Educationally things were looking bleak...

Morning, noon and night, will my milk drinkers get it right? The Cravendale Taste Test!

Cravendale is known as the milk drinkers milk and who better than my three milk drinkers to put it to the test! Their daily routine usually includes a glass of milk with their breakfast and a glass of milk before bedtime. During the day they can choose to drink either milk or water...

Top tips for Hotel stays with kids (and our number 1 Golden rule!)

We've been fortunate enough to have had lots of experience of staying in hotels with our children whether it was for our holidays a couple of years ago, to our road trip around the UK last year or the stays we've had earlier this year. So whilst we can't promise everything will...

Feta, walnut and fig & apple chutney quick bread

This year I missed baking along with bread week on GBBO. It coincided with our Vancouver holiday so I had to catch up with watching it once we got back but I still didn't find them time to bake for that week's theme. Until now that is. I found an out of date jar of Baxters apple,...

Surprise in the middle muffins - Apple & salted caramel and Banana & rich chocolate

Then there was one last remaining apple on the tree. The others had ended up as crumbles, purees and I even attempted a tarte tatin. So what to do with the last apple? I had received a lovely box of goodies from Dr Oetker a few weeks ago from their #evenbetterbaking twitter...

My miniature three-tiered Wedding cake inspired by my favourite brand - GBBO Week 10

What an incredible 10 weeks it has been. We've loved watching the highs and lows of the bake off tent this year culminating in last nights final. I blubbed my way through the programme not really understanding why I felt SO emotional about it. I think it was the point where they...

'Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows. It's what the sunflowers do.'*

Autumn. I love this time of year. For me nature in the autumn months is more full of life than any other time of year. Springtime demands lots of gentle nurturing to get little seedlings to successfully grow. The brightness of everything else in summer overshadows the brightness...

Exciting Pink Lining news! #LittleLondonAwards2015

Pink Lining founders Rufus and Charlotte Pearl collecting the Little London 'Brand of the Year' category (image courtesy of Pink Lining) As Pink Lining Ambassadors we were extremely pleased to hear of a well deserved award for Pink Lining. They are the winners of the ‘Brand...

'I'd had enough of Chocolate' - Now there's a sentence I never expected to hear myself say

So this week was chocolate week on Bake Off and before the show I made a rather silly decision. I decided that I was going to try the trickiest bake out of the 3 challenges. Chocolate tarts I've made before - albeit not ones that look as amazing or flavoursome as the ones the...

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