St Johns Wort & more Snow

Still snowing... no new snow over the weekend but a bit of a blizzard today with slushy snow and freezing weather tonight (not a good combination).

I had a trip to Parliament Buildings, Stormont a few days ago (where our NI government meet); a florist was bringing in the Christmas flower arrangements and I spotted Hypericum St Johns Wort berries in the arrangements so I thought I'd take a few photos.

The Hypericum berries look fab in festive arrangements. The florist mixed a range of  flowers and greenery such as pine and rosemary - it smelled fab! Don't you just love the big red exotic flower (anthurium?).

I've been told St Johns Wort is like a weed as it self seeds easily in the garden. The photo (left) was taken on 6 Nov 2010 and, right on 11 Aug 2010. This plant appeared in my garden this year and has grown quite rapidly.

This is what it looks like outside right now...

Frozen climbing hydrangea plant.

Brrrrr, it's cold!

And more Snow...

A little more snow last night & today. I don't remember having a Nov/Dec snow in Ireland lasting more than a few days (until this year). Scotland seems to be getting the worst of it.

Headlines in 2 Dec paper... government departments arguing over who's responsibility it is to grit/salt sidewalks (foot paths). They're afraid if they grit and someone falls they'll get sued; so some aren't bothering. Sometimes the world doesn't make sense!

Above & Below: Harry Lauder's Walking Stick has lost most of its leaves. It'll form fuzzy catkins in about Feb time.

Snow covered (spent) Sedum Autumn Joy provides some interest in the garden. Glad I hadn't got around to tidying up and cutting it yet.

Cinnamon Rolls for cold days

The big freeze - it's cold outside. Northern Ireland's coldest November in a very long time. It was -9.5C (14.9F) this week. Scotland is getting it worse, as low as -20C (-4F). This is't normal for us this time of year.

What to do in bad weather... bake, eat, and store fat for the Winter! I made cinnamon rolls over the weekend from a recipe in the Irish Times. I'd never made them from scratch before and I was suprised how easy it is. Mostly flour, sugar and butter!

This is the dough after it was left to rise for 45 minutes. There are plenty of recipes for cinnamon rolls on the internet. This one called for 14g of yeast. It's so much fun seeing bread rise. This big ball of dough was divided in two and rolled out into two rectangles, spread with a buttery sugar mix & raisons, rolled, sliced and then put in round pans to bake for approx 35 minutes. (no chocolate this time)

This is the result. I think they taste as good as the Cinnabon chain!

On a cold, Wintry day, these are a great way to cuddle up to a coffee and a good book.