Mrs Birks Blogs

Like many, I jumped at the chance of indulging in some Great British Bake Off before the return of the new series and watched the Easter Masterclass (you can no longer see this on iPlayer but there are re-runs of series 2 - hoorah!). Of all the deliciousness on offer, I opted to make The Berry's Lemon Pavlova complete with mini nests and garnished with mini eggs. I've only ever made pavlova once before, it didn't turn out too badly, a little bit soggy in the middle but an ok first attempt. What I'd forgotten about my first attempt was how long it took to make. The recipe I followed can be found here . The pavlova is made with 6 egg whites, caster sugar and a few teaspoons of cornflour and white wine vinegar. I was a bit impatient with the meringue and really thought I had gone wrong until eventually it thickened up and I was brave enough to do the "meringue over the head" test. I probably should have whisked a bit more, as when I added the cornflour mixture

Sooooo, I have seriously neglected my blog for the last month - did anyone notice? I'm not sure!  But whilst I've been away I have in fact been doing proper work - my actual real life job.  Yes, my maternity leave came to an end in February and since then I've been focusing all my energy on preparing students for exams and getting them through coursework.  I did have time to enjoy a trip to New York just before half term but apart from that, it's been work, work, work (and in fact, NYC was work too as I was accompanied by 38 students) Before returning to work, I did have time to do a few bits. Firstly, I tried out a little project from a book called Sew a Metre, which contains loads of ideas of things to make with just a metre of fabric. I needed to make something to tidy up my knitting needles (and newly purchased crochet hooks - more on these later) so opted for a simple needle roll. From my scraps of fabric, I cobbled together a metres worth, in two complimentary