Snapshots of this Summer

So although I know that it's not technically autumn yet, I kind of feel like the last official day of summer was Saturday. And it was a really nice, sunny, pub lunch and hang out in the park kind of day. It made me just a little bit sad that summer is nearly over, but we had some amazing summer adventures and lots of outside time - just take a look!

Found tons and tons of flowers on Howth Hill during a stroll in Ireland...

Including this Disney-esque scene of fallen pink petals and twisty tree limbs, which were perfect for climbing.

A dream-come-true tiger kiss (and the most amazing day photographing big cats)!

Home for Fathers Day and freshly baked doughnuts for breakfast to celebrate. I definitely have some autumn themed doughnut recipes in the works!

A family trip to this beautiful and low-key beach with plenty of walks...

And also many loggerhead turtle nests spotted on those walks - I so wanted to see baby turtles!

We also made good use of the bikes at the beach. It was nice to take breaks with leisurely shaded bike rides in the afternoon - and on the beach in the evenings once the tide went out!

A nostalgic eatery visiting tour of Athens, Georgia with my sister. (Mama's Boy, Big City Bread, and Last Resort, I'm looking at you!)

And VERY colorful legs (actually, head to toe colorful!) after the Color Run, which was my first official 5k! Please note: only one of those legs is mine!

Spent a weekend in Wales and hiked up Snowdon.

Also spent a sunny Saturday walking around central London like great big tourists. Because sometimes you forget that monuments and sightseeing type things are everywhere when you live nearby.

I enjoyed times about 100 all of the beautiful, sunny, and seasonally appropriate weather in and around London and elsewhere this summer. So I suppose it's only fair that autumn's starting to sneak in now, right? At least I can unabashedly consumer unreasonable quantities of pumpkin soon, right?

Did you soak up as much sunshine as you could this summer? What are you looking forward to as it starts to cool off?

Weekend in Wales

I spent the weekend before last in Wales, which was surprisingly beautiful and, yes, kind of full of sheep. Some of you may have seen some of my sheep themed Instagram pictures while I was there...

We stayed at a converted mill, which had a ship door knocker and a wooden mill by the stream behind the building.

Saturday was spent hiking/walking up Snowdon, which is the highest mountain in Wales. I felt very outdoorsy, even though we took the fairly reasonable Llanberis Path. (The round-trip still took up the majority of the day though! Whew!) We took the Granola Cluster Cookies I made along for sustenance. Below are some pictures from the day.

Near the start of the trail

Beautiful views

No, that is not a view of our trail.

More stunning views of the countryside.

Found this little guy behind the mill when we returned.

 Sunday we explored Caernarfon and the nearby area.

This was the view from the top of Caernarfon Castle, which is, according to our tour guide, technically a Palace.

As non-Welsh speakers, everyone enjoyed this seemingly onomatopoeic sign.

Found TONS of these lining a narrow street. So pretty!

Have you been to Wales? What did you most enjoy exploring?

Granola Cluster Cookies

I made these reasonably healthy Granola Cluster Cookies for a hike up Snowdon this weekend - more on that later. They're fluffy and filling and full of good stuff. How's that for alliteration? The big secret - wait for it - is that I use all natural applesauce instead of butter! You could eat these for breakfast and feel pretty good about it.

All ready for Welsh mountains

What you'll need (makes 3-4 dozen cookies):

• 240g natural applesauce
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 320g self-raising flour (I used Dove's Farm GF blend, you can use any variety you'd like!)
• 320g granola

What to do:

Preheat your oven to 170C/340F.

Combine the natural applesauce, eggs, vanilla extract and sugars (caster and light brown) in a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer to blend thoroughly.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Then gradually add this to the wet mixture.

Next comes the fun part - add in 400g of the granola of your choice. I'm sort of obsessed with this pumpkin granola. Like the sort of obsessed that means I really should eliminate the temptation and ban it for life. But I digress. I actually used a granola without raisins this time though, as some of my group are dried fruit averse.

Fold the granola into the cookie batter using a handheld mixer on low or a heavy duty spoon and some arm strength.

Once you've added the granola, the mixture should look chunky, but still have enough non-granola batter to it to hold things together. The consistency will be sticky, and somewhere between traditional cookie dough that you can roll into balls and cake batter. (You will not be able to shape these cookies, nor should you be able to pour the dough out of the mixing bowl.)

You can also add raisins or chocolate chips (Or both! Go crazy!) to taste if you'd like. I made about half of this batch with raisins and half without.

Drop heaping spoonfuls of the cookie dough onto a baking sheet (as above), leaving space in between each cookie mound because these do tend to spread out just a bit.

Golden brown on top and waiting to be scooped into a travel bag!

Bake for 10 minutes, then allow to cool on the cookie sheet for a minute or two before removing. Eat these at home, or pack them up and go exploring!


(Thanks A Cup of Joe for alerting me to the concept of banned for life - hilariously applicable to my own kitchen!)

I Tried It: Cauliflower Base Pizza

Looks like a nice, normal pizza waiting for cheese and the oven, doesn't it? Just call it the master of disguise.

Admittedly my expectations were probably a bit too high. I was probably just a little bit seduced by the promise of a healthy pizza. Mmmm ... pizza. With that caveat, Cauliflower Crust Pizza may look like a pizza; it may even smell almost like a pizza; but it does not taste like a pizza.

But it looks so much like a real pizza! 

And if you, like me, actually like most vegetables, but just can't seem to make cauliflower palatable, cauliflower base pizza will not remedy this. In fact, you may become more suspicious of cauliflower than you were in the first place, once it has permeated otherwise perfectly good pizza toppings.

You have been warned.

Of course, if you actually like cauliflower, you may still want to try this. More power to you! Or maybe I am missing something? Do you think cauliflower is secretly amazing? Please let me know!

On (and off) the Flying Trapeze

A few weeks ago I was visiting my sister and got the chance to take a swing (hehe...bad pun totally intended) at the flying trapeze.

It is seriously up high - 30 feet up to get to the "board", which is the platform you swing from. I get pretty anxious about heights, or falling from them, so I was pretty shaky as I slowly made my way up the ladder. There was a funny moment at the top when I realized how heavy the bar was. I kept repeating safety checks to myself to calm down, because that's apparently how I roll.

I am so glad I went for it; it was such a great rush! I have taken some static trapeze classes in the past - think Cirque du Soleil aerial dancing - and had never been super keen on the idea of flying trapeze. But I got to do a knee hang and a back flip and the adrenaline fueled fun was crazy and now I'm looking for classes in my area!

Knee hang! Photo by Blondie sister.

Thank you, blonde sister. You have created a circus wannabe monster. Congratulations and well done.

Below are some shots I took of said Blondie practicing her skills. She's super strong and flexible.  

Straddle swing

Practicing her dismount

Letting go for the catch

Do you have anywhere near you that you could try a flying trapeze lesson? I highly (whoops, sorry - last pun, I swear) recommend it!