I've read many posts recently about how people are tired of seeing 'my perfect life' type blogs. If you're one of these people you're going to love this post.

This is a run down of how Sunday was for me.

At 1.30am I was woken up by a scratching noise, thinking that it was one of my cats trying to get out, I got up. We'd locked the cat flap to keep them inside as it was really windy again, but as I went down stairs I could see a dog scratching at the front door trying to get in.

I opened the door and in he shot, ignoring this muddy paws on my new hall carpet, I gave him a cuddle and tried to calm him down. He seemed happy enough and really friendly. We got him into the kitchen (wipe clean floor) and he promptly helped himself to the remaining cat food and proceeded to explore the living room (old carpet so I didn't care). With the cats safely upstairs for the night, we wondered what we should do with our new furry friend.

In the end we decided that we'd have to keep him over night and try to locate his owner in the morning. He was wearing a collar but he had no name tag or contact number so we didn't think there was anything else we could do. Truth be told, he was a lovely little thing and we both rather liked the thought of having a dog in the house, albeit for a short while.

I got him to settle after much sniffing, restlessness and whining by switching on the TV to mask the sound of the wind outside. He was soon asleep next to me. With not much room I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the TV. Then the little chap started snoring, closely followed by my other half on the opposite sofa. Still, it was late and I was tired so sleep came relatively easily. At 2.30am I was woken up by a wriggly dog that turned to face me and insisted on breathing out everytime I breathed in. Nice.

At 3.15 am I was woken up when he sneezed in my face. Three times. Nice.

At 3.40 I woke up with a dead arm, pinned to the back of the sofa - pup was laying on his back legs spread to the four corners of the earth. He wasn't a big dog but, boy, did take up some room! I couldn't help but smile though, he looked ridiculous.

4.30am I was woken up when he jumped off the sofa and started sniffing around the dining room. Then I heard it, the unmistakable noise of a stream of liquid hitting the carpet. Yup, a 4.30am piddle party for me to clean up. Nice. I told my other half that if anything brown came out of the dog's body it would be up to him to deal with it.

At 5.30 we were awake again when he decided to go and see my other half and sat on his head (I'm guessing he was fed up of his snoring too). I chuckled and snuggled down, just as I was about to drop off he was back on my sofa, having issues with the slippery material of my sleeping bag. I found this highly amusing, try as he might, he just couldn't get a foot hold.

At 6.30 my other half got up to make tea and took him out for a poo walk. As soon as they were outside he spotted someone walking along the edge of the field, when he got close enough his first words were 'Please let that be my dog'. It was. His name is Rupert and he's now at home, safe and sound, sneezing in his owner's face.

I'm a little sad I didn't get to say goodbye.

By this time, I was properly awake, if somewhat tired. I was in a good mood after our night time adventure, so I decided to go about my day as planned (after some careful cleaning of the hall carpet and disinfecting the dining room). And here comes the food bit... I've been meaning to make these Giant Iced Gems ever since I saw them on Cakes and Catwalks. Today's #BEDN prompt seemed to be the perfect excuse to bake them. This batch was a trial run as I'd like to make them for a bake sale so I used half measures of everything but not all went to plan. I can only attribute this to my unsociably early start and lackadaisical attitude.

I was a bit slapdash with my measuring, my lightly salted butter wasn't soft enough (it was at 'room temperature' it's just the room wasn't very warm). I didn't use a food mixer, instead thinking that it would be quieter to do it by hand (fool). My dough ended up being crumbly and I contemplated saving it for later and making an apple crumble instead. But, no, I decided to carry on regardless.

I got it to stick together with some water (I'm not sure if this was the right thing to do but it seemed the most logical) so it was never going to be perfect. Then, despite being convinced I had a small cookie cutter, I couldn't find one small enough so I had to improvise!


OK, so they didn't look like much but I was not to be deterred! I popped them in the oven and waited. They didn't look much but the first taste test confirmed that they were edible.


So onto the icing, it took me ages to get even the merest hint of colour to the icing, in my weariness I settled for several shades lighter than I really wanted - I wanted violet, I got a pale pinky/purple. Then I knocked the tip out of my icing do-dah and had to scoop out the icing to set it right.


A few practice goes and I set about adding the 'gems'. I should have practiced a bit more. This is how they are meant to look.


I'll give the execution 4/10, but the taste 10/10 - they are scrummy, if a little scruffy. I made 24 and only 19 made it into the pantry for the icing to set (it was then I found my small cookie cutter, on the shelf - right in front of my eyes). Four more were eaten lost in the process of the icing setting and then I spent some time contemplating eating the rest and washing up to remove any evidence that I'd been baking. I decided that I couldn't be that mean and went for a much needed nap.


So, there you have it, my sleep deprived, not-so-perfect adventure in baking. Be sure too check out Emma Jane's blog, she is a baking goddess!



Part of #BEDN hosted by Elizabeth.