Tag Archives: caramel

Caramel’s Third Anniversary!

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Well….I logged in a couple of hours ago to see a little note from WordPress to say it is three years since I started this blogging malarkey!!! April 29th 2018!

Three years!!!!!!!!!! Where does the time go? But what a time we have had hey!!! We are talking THREE NOVELS and ONE POETRY BOOK in that time! We are talking TWO GREAT BLOGGERS’ BAKE-OFFS! We are talking about more than ONE HUNDRED SONG LYRIC SUNDAY POSTS. We are talking about a lot of SHARE YOUR WORLD POSTS (sorry I had to take a break when working for the NHS started to heat up!), FANDANDO’S FICTION CHALLENGE or FANDANGO’S PROVACATIVE QUESTION posts, and when I used to have more time boy did I love taking part in the amazing blogging challenges from RORY – AKA A GUY CALLED BLOKE!!! Amazing fun!!!

What else has happened in three years? Well….when I started this blog, Goldfinch was romancing me and I was so head over heels in love. What a joy it was to write about my gorgeous Goldfinch. How happy I am to have those posts to bring back all the memories. But of course Goldfinch went back home to Australia. Who could forget that I went to Australia to visit him back in the summer of 2019? But then amazingly….miraculously….I crossed paths with Jack at the end of August 2019 and not long afterwards he called me. The pain I had felt for the previous four and half years was a topic I had previously written about. I know it confused some of you….but Jack and I started spending more time together and it was not long before he told me how he felt.

Then there was 2020….and I know it was not such a great year. But one of the highlights has to be – Jack asking me to marry him! What an amazing three years it has been!!!

Thank you so much for all the fun, all the encouragement, and all that you do to contribute to a super lovely blogging community and….all you do to making this world kinder. Because at the end of the day – this platform WordPress is a great place to share kindness!!!

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CRUSHED CARAMEL No More?

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amazed1Starting a new year in a way I never imagined possible! What a turn out! What a miracle!

I am still nervous about some of the challenges that will come (when the news hits Instagram and Twitter). But I am determined to keep my eyes focused on him and not let the pressure from anyone else get to me.

Do you know what is great? Caramel is no longer CRUSHED CARAMEL!!!  She is absolutely choked up, stoked up, crying with glee and amazement. Should I change the name of the blog to CHUFFED CARAMEL or CARAMEL ON CLOUD NINE? Or maybe from now on…I will drop the CRUSHED…and just be plain CARAMEL!

Happiness has invaded every part of my body!!!

Celebrations Coming Up On Crushed Caramel

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emailsWell…I have been a busy bee throughout December, as I imagine many of you have also been. Last year, I scheduled posts in advance of my week away for the holidays, and this year I am doing the same.

I have some posts already scheduled. Look out for foodie posts, family posts, loved up on Jack posts, some terrific SONG-LYRIC-SUNDAY posts and a whole lot more! Yayyyy!!! I also thought I would also re-schedule some of the posts from my Annabelle Riley story. Specifically the posts right in the middle of the book, which describe a disappointing attempt to share a happy day with her own family.

I chose these because I know there will be more than a few people out there who will find this time of year a trial. Like Annabelle, there will be others who feel lonely, or who find spending time with their family results in arguments and rejection.

countryI have struggled to keep up with writing prompts from other bloggers for a long time, because I have given so much attention to developing the Annabelle Riley story (and a handsome hottie you know as Jack has also been stealing my free time), but Annabelle Riley’s story is finally complete. She shall very soon be available in Kindle and in paperback form – which is bizarre to me. I never ever expected this when I started out writing about the young woman who lived in the fictional town of Blackwood who won the heart of Chris Ward.

I am sure you will see more mention of Annabelle’s completed story during the coming weeks. But right now, I need to pack my suitcase! So much to do, so little time!!!

Whatever you get up to…remember there’s a party on WordPress that never stops! So if you find yourself curled up on sofa over the week to come, remember to check out the party with your blogging pals!

 

The Crushed Caramel Cake

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I thought I would challenge myself to try to create a CRUSHED CARAMEL cake…and although every other part of my cake has turned out well, you can probably see from my photo that I had issues with my caramel!

I am hoping it will receive a NOD FROM GARY for the effort I put into trying to make caramel, which just kept on going wrong!

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The sugar kept on crystallising. I ruined three attempts completely, had a fourth attempt that tasted like melted sweet butter. But this was my final attempt (I had no sugar and no butter left, so it was going to have to work) and although rather anaemic, it does taste like caramel.

Date cake with salted honey caramelThis is what is was supposed to look like:

Bit of a miss! However it is delicious. As I read through the recipe – I thought it sounded rather like the story of my life! It is full of dates, sweetness, sticky situations, crushed nuts, vanilla essence, smooth caramel flavoured buttercream, lots of honey, it is very deep or tall (I only had seven inch tins, the recipe said to use eight inch tins, so it is a very tall cake).

When I was a little girl, my mum used to bake regularly with me. She loved making date and walnut cake. I remember finding it rather hard to eat – as a little one, I found it kind of heavy on my tummy I must admit. But still I loved baking sessions with mum.

This cake has three layers of date and walnut sponge. The buttercream that is sandwiched between each layer and also has a “naked” skim around the side (that’s the effect where you deliberately leave some of the cake underneath showing) is flavoured with honey and salted caramel. Then there is supposed to be a layer of caramel over the top and dripping over the side with some crushed walnut praline on the top. This was the recipe I followed:

https://www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/d/date-cake-with-saltedhoneycaramel.html

Some more photos to give you an idea of what I hoped would be a baking success but it turned out that Caramel cannot make her own caramel!!!

I had the slice that said “Mel” and my friends devoured the rest!

I will be dreaming of caramel after the hours I spent on trying to get it right!

 

Introducing Caramel

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I would like to introduce you to Caramel…

…who was crushed by a very challenging situation…and then was the victim of a crime…

…but Caramel is all better now!  She is loving life, she is singing and living, she is recalling wonderful lessons she has been taught by her family and friends over the years.

There are several ways to navigate this site.  Below is a long list of posts in the order they were published.  Or if you click the widget box in the top right corner or the screen (those three dots) they should open up the widget menus:

  • POEMS
  • LESSONS FROM OTHER BLOGGERS
  • LESSONS AS A CHILD
  • LESSONS AT WORK
  • LESSONS IN LIFE
  • LESSONS IN LOVE
  • LOVING LIFE
  • SINGING AND LIVING
  • THE STORM IN A TEA-CUP SERIES

If you click on the icon of me in the top left corner it will take you to the home page which is almost identical to this one.

I truly hope you enjoy this light hearted and joyful site.  There are a few weepies along the way, but on the whole, this site is about how wonderful it is to be alive!

Bee

 

Life… I don’t really think this is what mum and dad had in mind for me…

 

Crushed Caramel

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Caramel…She has had many lessons to learn in life.  Now more than ever she is grateful for all of those lessons along with the love and support of her family and friends. 

Caramel was crushed by an event that has overturned her life.  Caramel is now rebuilding her life.  She is not just surviving, but is thriving and making life wonderful again.

In her own time, Caramel might be able to communicate a little about the catastrophe that hit her almost three years ago.  For now though, the focus of this site is on Caramel loving life and using the lessons she has learnt.

Two Bees

 

 

 

Life…I don’t really think this is what mum and dad had in mind for me…