Summer

As I sit here in an autumnal jumper and listening to the rain falling outside I have realised that autumn has kind of snuck up on us. Don't get me wrong I was aware that it was coming, but the past couple of days the temperature had noticeably dropped. Autumn is in full swing and I have been reflecting on the summer that has just waved good bye to us.

Summer always brings with it longer days and shorter nights. Warmer temperatures even when its raining. A bright and wonderful colour show brings us something different each day with nature taking centre stage. Going into the garden and picking fruit/vegetables that you have been waiting for a couple of months to be just right. Having a day in the park and a picnic with your cousins. Sometimes summer can trick us into  thinking that it has gone for good but the sneaks back on us in September and squeezing every last bit of what it has. The anticipation and excitement of the arrival of a new family member whilst still enjoying the older ones. Summer, its been great and now it is over to the ever changing autumn. 

Pick Your Own

For the past five or so years in the summer we have had the pleasure of picking fruit from my aunty's garden. The fruits in question are plums, greengages, berries and apples, and about a month ago it was that time of the year again. My aunty has many plum and apple trees so there was plenty to go around our big extended family and its always nice to get the kids (my cousins) involved as well. The day we went the apples weren't ripe yet but we got bags full of plums and greengages, also some blackberries. I would encourage you to finding a 'Pick Your Own' farm or establishment because you know that the fruit is going to be just right and it's not all going to be uniform and generic like you find in the supermarkets. As you will see in the vlog I found what I like to call a 'bum plum' ha ha, and here is the vlog :)

Instagram Update

As stated previously at the beginning of this post, I have been pretty rubbish a blogging and showing you what has been going on with my life.  So I thought the best way to update you gust would be through my instagram pictures. If you are on instagram do come and follow me because it is where I upload the most and just to see what is going on with me (@capturing_my_world).

So I came back from Dubai to the rainy north of England 

The leaves started changing colour 

The picture of the cake I made for Eid Ul Adha made it into this Sorted Food video :)

It was still raining 

Autumn was in full swing 

My friend got married and it was beautiful wedding 

We went to Morocco

It was my birthday and this was a handmade car from my sister (you can see her blog post about it here)

The festive lights is Manchester Arndale were looking very nice 

The days were getting shorter and I realised that I was awake (most of the time) before the sun was 

And before I knew it, it was new years eve, and because it is my grandma's birthday in new years day we always spent the day with family and I baked a cake 

I was experimented with colours 

And had my first rainbow cupcake order

We finally started putting our VHS tape onto DVDs

One of the advantages of having shorter days is the I would see this whenever I left work 

No comment ;)

I was working all day on pancake day so the next day I made savoury sweetcorn pancakes with mushrooms and a freshly laid fried egg  

I bought a new baking book which I love 

I'm really getting into gardening 

I love watching the plants starting to pop out of the soil 

Also trying to be more healthy 

And Spring has officially sprung 

So now you are up to date with what has been going on. I think I might make this Instagram update a regular feature I quite like it. Remember for all my goings on check out my instagram (@capturing_my_world) and until next time, bye :) x 

Something Light and Fresh

As stated in the previous post there was a lot of eating done on Eid-ul Fitr and the majority of the food contained some form of lamb or chicken. So after a weekend of eating a lot of carnivorous food, we wanted to cleanse our bodies and have some vegetable goodness. What was even better was that some of these vegetables came directly from our garden. This Spring Summer Minestrone recipe is perfect for having a lot of vegetables in one dish and its really easy to change the vegetables that you use and make it your own. The recipe I used was from the Jamie Oliver series Jamie Does....Venice (you can watch the full episode here). The soup was delicious and fresh and was exactly what was needed after a heavy food weekend.

Home-grown peas (and mums hands) 

Home-grown green beans 

A pot full of vegetables

Soup bubbling away 

The recipe

The book

The finished product

The Instagram picture 

First Birthday Party

Now we all know that children never remember their first birthday party, so bearing that in mind my sister really wasn't intending to do anything for my niece's first birthday. Also it did come a day before my cousin's wedding and everyone was busy with that. However my mother, brother in-law and sister's father in-law started talking about do something for the occasion. On the actual day we just had an impromptu lighting of candles on a bakery bought cake with just the people who were already over at our house. Then a week later we ended up doing a proper thing at my sister's in-laws. This was an excuse to make up a dessert table, which to be honest me, my sister and her sister in-law were more excited about putting that together than anything else. Here are some pictures from the occasion.

I wasn't going to put any pictures of the impromptu thing but I like this
 picture of my brother in-law light the candle

On the party day, barbecue on the menu

It was lovely eating in the garden 

For the dessert table: Brownies with hearts on made by me 

Biscuits made buy my sister's cousin in-law 

Vanilla cupcakes with strawberries and Thorntons smiles on top of buttercream
made but my sister's sister in-law

The whole dessert table 

Buttons, paper straws and mini spinning wheels  

Chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate buttercream and gold glitter covered cherries, also made by my sister's sister in-law

Even though my niece was actually asleep when we did the actual cake cutting a lot of fun was had. I can't believe my niece is actually 1 years old mashallah, it just seems like yesterday my sister told us she was expecting. Here's wishing her a long, happy and prosperous life inshallah.

The Untimely End

As you can tell from the title of the post there had been some bad news. It is with a heavy heart that I tell you that one of our new chicks has passed. It was the youngest of the brood and we think it was attacked by a bigger bird (maybe a magpie). My granddad found it under one of the trees with injuries and wounds. I can just imagine the horrific struggle that it went through to try and get away, but it just wasn't enough. Even more bad news is that four of the eggs that the other hen was sitting on have been broken. We think this must have happened when the other three hens have wanted to lay their own eggs. So all in all it hasn't been a good week for the Big Chicken House. Here is the last video I made of all six of the chicks together when they ventured outside on to the grass and just enjoying life.

The Wedding

A couple of the days after the mehndi is the wedding which took place a Tatton Park in Cheshire. There was a beautiful garden and mansion and the weather stayed well so the whole day was a delight. There was a sweet station, a dessert table and of course wedding cake. Also a message board where people could write their well wishes for the happy couple which was sweet. I was running around taking loads of pictures and video footage so here is a selection.

Wedding favours from the grooms side 

Car ribbon

Wedding favour form the brides side 

Drinks

Stage

Sweet station (Thank you to my sister for letting me use her hand )

Wedding cake 

The happy couple 

Message board

Dessert table

Me 

The dress that I was wearing was from Debenhams but it was sleeveless so I had sleeves put on to make more hijab friendly. The scarf was also from Debenhams, the necklace that I on top of my scarf was from Accessorize and I am also wearing a hand chain from River Island.

Here is the video: