Various things including a brownie

Don't worry, I haven't disappeared under a blanket of yorkshire snow! Not yet, at least. I have been busy translating, and looking for new customers, and having a visit from my Mummy, and making my new sofa feel welcome in our house. 

How about I tell you about it as it happened? A little foodie newsflash to start with: a new Italian deli and/restaurant has opened in Hebden Bridge. We haven't had the chance to try the restaurant yet, but the fresh gnocchi from the deli are definitely something.

My Mummy wanted to go and visit a sculpture near Burnley. It's called the singing ringing tree and it's supposed to make noise when the wind blows through it, but on the day we went it was pretty silent in spite of the (icy!) wind. Strange.

Anyway, we decided to make the most of a beautiful sunny day and to drive there on the way to the coast. We didn't realise this until we were over in Lancashire, but it had been SNOWING. yes, real snow. I thought it was frost at first. The car didn't seem to want to believe it either because it kept skidding about. Snow tyres are pretty high up on our "to-get-done" list at the moment.

Anyway, it made for some very pretty scenery and I managed to snap a few before my fingers fell off.

So this is the famous "tree". You can read all about it here

After a quick round of pics we ran back to the nice warm car and made our way to Southport for fish & chips and a looooong walk along the pier. When we got to the end we realised the tide was out. So much for seing the sea!

We did see the inside of a nice cosy cafe that served hot drinks with whipped cream on top (and a fancy straw for my Mummy, which she clearly wasn't a fan of). Hot chocolate with Baileys, anyone?

And this was Boyfriend's attempt at taking a picture of the full moon over Hebden Bridge. Nice?

A few days later it was time to cosy it up with some lovely neighbours (can I still call your neighbours Claire & Graeme? I have a feeling you'll be back in Hebden soon so I'm keeping the adjective just in case) to celebrate the purchase of our sofa: the legendary vintage green chesterfield! Don't worry, it's getting its very own post soon, this is just a fake spoiler that doesn't even feature a photo of it.

The sofa inspired me to go for a sort of old school chocolate vibe. I even moved an extra lamp into the room. Yipee!

And I'm pleased to report that the Baileys brownie (recipe here) which I originally found on Pinterest, unlike most other Pinterest recipe experiences, was GOOD. Really really good, in fact. Yes, that is a layer of Baileys cheesecake you can see in the middle. And yes, it gave me a perfect excuse to purchase a bottle of Baileys to help me through the winter. Any more questions? Feel free to ask.