WEE TREATS

When things get hectic and I do interesting craft fairs there is an irresistible temptation to buy a few wee sneaky treats.  In the face of one off goodies I am powerless to resist - the willpower deserts me - it's terrible!

The Collieston Pier Craft Fair was one such haven of goodies ... I came away with this amazing bedside table - had to clear out mega junk and cobwebs but boy is it stunning - thanks to Karen the wonderful creator!

Shirley's Mum made this cute tea cosy ...

Nienke made this beautiful angel ....

And Collieston's knitters made these amazing socks and gloves ... I consider myself to be a bit of a knitter but these two items have always defeated me ... Aren't they just what you need to keep cosy?

My neighbour Rachel had jewellery but I never got a pic ... I reckon this wee village has many talents!  Plus the final tally was £4000 plus raised for the mega bucks repairs against the powerful damage wrought by the North Sea!  

Now winter has arrived ... Check out the scene ...

BUSY BEE

We got this wee stamp made up from a lovely company in Belfast.  As I was busy baking, a measuring jug made an imprint in the flour and I thought it'd make a cool photo with our logo - do you agree?

What a magic week this is turning out to be.  Kicked off with a sumptuous dinner at the Marcliffe Hotel - that's Aberdeen's only 5 star hotel I do believe.  It was such a treat to be invited.  I thought I'd make the most of the invite from the Grampian Food Forum and Scotland Food & Drink, so I went early and enjoyed a fine cuppa and even fitted in a spot a crochet!

The dinner was wonderful and the banter round our table was sterling!  Thank you very much to the amazing Elizabeth Mathie for inviting me!

This weekend we're doing a fair in Ellon to help raise much needed funds for our village pier.  It takes an incredible battering from the mighty North Sea & it needs mega cash for repairs which our magic wee village rallies round to support.  Here's the village link to showcase a great chance to buy stunning photos of it ...

http://colliestononline.com/collieston-pier/pier-fundraising/

So if you live near Ellon, come along tomorrow ... It's a great chance to buy some presents & there is a raffle prize for the Marcliffe Hotel I do believe ...

COOKING UP A STORM

This wee glass of vino is my reward for cooking up a storm this weekend.  It's been full on with my son's birthday, family visits and general busyness!  It's actually quite good to get visitors as it forces your hand on the home front to attack the pigsty (we have no curly tailed creatures but we do have the fuzz bearing Dolly Doodle to contend with .... Here she is taking a bath ...)

I am very blessed to live next to the Forvie National Nature Reserve which is an amazing haunt for wild life - birds (of the feathered variety!), seals and surrounded by sand dunes - you could be on the Moon!!  It's featured on BBC Radio 4's Secret Places & Autumnwatch on BBC the other day ...

http://colliestononline.com

http://www.nnr-scotland.org.uk/forvie/

Anyway, it really is a special place to live ...  I digress ...

So this weekend has seen a mega hoover up and major cooking session ... Meatballs & salad for tea last night; followed by the Collieston Bonfire - I just wanted to rescue this lovely table from the fire ...

Wouldn't that look fab somewhere?  My son and I had a scout round Ellon Market and got him a nifty desk chair for £8 and this lovely wooden bowl for £1 - Is that not a steal?

Today I started off a Christmas Cake for my buddy Louise ... I hope she is a Cointreau lass (too bad if she's not ... The fruit is now soaking in it!)

Right better crack on ... If only this lady could put her feet up?!! (One day maybe?). Got to light the fire first!!!

Job done!  Getting toasty!

WONDER WOMAN?

There is a 'position vacant' at Loaf Face ... Do you know anyone who would fit the job title of 'Wonder Woman'?  It seems to be the case that I am the only applicant for this most wonderful of jobs!!

Running a small business is the most amazing job I've ever done ... You absolutely must love hats!  It's just as well I have a rather extensive collection to choose from ...

Last week was indeed a wonderful week of hat swapping ... I could have won an award for multi-million-tasking like most working women in the land!  As a Mum of 3 kids, owner of hairy big dog & wife to a jet set (often absent) Professor, with a wee academic job to boot, it's pretty full on!

Amongst the zillion tasks, for Loaf Face, I went shopping for ingredients, delivered them to the bakery, helped make and bake 100 plus loafies, developed and launched the lukkah dukkah to popular acclaim, drummed up some retail sales, humpfed many kilos of loafies out and about the rain soaked streets of Aberdeen ...  It's tiring to type, never mind do it!!

Still in amongst it all ... I received some totally fantastic news - that we were awarded a business development grant from Aberdeenshire Council!

So a huge Thank You to the Economic Development Team for giving us a big thumbs up!  One great man on the team is Douglas Rennie - thank you - I have a wee pressie for you ... Give me a bell sometime to sort out the collection and goodie bag!

DUKKAH LUCKAH

Introducing the new Loaf Face team ... A very important job they do on manning the oven!  This week they were the troops to help develop a new product - dukkah.  It's a spicy, seedy, nutty dip of North African origin which goes wonderfully with bread.

These lovely ingredients marked the start of a wee experiment ...

You can roast or stir fry your mix, then you need to get rid of the husks on the nuts (rather tedious that job), then you do a whole lot of blitzing to get the right consistency & voila!

Then it's a jar job ...  The cutest Kilner spice jars you ever did see ...

Then the best bit - the feast ...

Then finally the market test where they went down a storm!  Thank you to the wonderful customers at the Ministry of Crafts - what a magic monthly market!