A Look Back at 2020

 

This year has been a weird one! It just goes to show you can plan how you want your year to be but you never know what's going to happen. At the start of 2020 I made plans to complete a year of learning something different every month. I'm on track to finish that at the end of December (post to follow in the New Year) but I had to change some ideas I'd had for other more accessible subjects because of the corona virus.

It's been a good year for having extra time to do things I'd always wanted to try. But the downside of that was being made redundant from my job. As I think back about the year I feel that it's been more good than bad overall.

This post is a look at my favourite blog posts from 2020.

Learning Smartphone Photography

The year started with me enthusiastically getting stuck into an online smartphone photography course. I really enjoyed it and this post has been my most popular in 2020.

Starling Independent Café

I continued visiting local food places for my Harrogate Cheap Eats series not realising that soon they would be all closed for weeks on end. It's something I plan on continuing when it's safer. I have a good list of places to eat still to try.

My Lockdown Breakfasts

As lockdown progressed and I found myself at home every day with no work. I made this post about making a routine out of daily exercise and a good breakfast. 

5 Activities for Lockdown

I made a list of 5 things to enjoy while you're on lockdown. It included baking, couch25k, escape room games, making restaurant food at home and trying to break a Guinness World Record.  

Home-made Doner Kebab

Taking my own advice, I tried to recreate my favourite take-away from I Am Doner. It was pretty good but not as delicious as the real thing. 

Making Face Masks

I had a go at making my own face masks from a tutorial I found on YouTube. They worked out quite well and we're still using them now. 

This year has felt surreal at times. Things have been different and to stay sane we've all had to adapt to the new situation. I've done the same with this blog and I'm looking forward to seeing where 2021 takes me.

That's all from me for now but I'll be back in the New Year with more Cheap Eats, some Slow Cooker Favourites and an update on my Year of Learning.

I hope you have a Happy Christmas,

Emma x

Putting Mince Pies to the Test

 

It's early December and around this time my mind turns to mince pies. Thoughts of a warm mince pie and a drizzle of cream occupy my head as I get on with other things. Val also loves a mince pie and we've decided this year we'll make our own. I ordered some mincemeat to come in the shopping but before it arrived I succumbed and bought some mince pies from Aldi. Then to justify this unnecessary purchase I decided to make more unnecessary purchases and turn it into a blog post. So, 3 more boxes of mince pies later, we're ready to test them and see which is the best.

We decided to judge them on 5 qualities. Value, moistness, taste of mincemeat, pastry and appearance.

Aldi's mince pies have a nice snowflake pattern and are the best value at 85p for 6. I found them a little dry but Val loved them.

Sainsbury's also look nice with a tree design and are reasonable value at £1 for 6. These scored solidly with us both.

M&S mince pies look good too with a nice fluted edge and cut-out. Also £1 for 6. These had the best pastry, nice and crumbly and soft. I liked the mincemeat flavour but Val thought it was a bit too citrussy. 

Mr Kipling's pies had very solid pastry but were also good value at £1 for 6. We both thought they were a bit dry too.

Overall they were all pretty good mince pies. I felt a bit ill after eating 4 in a row, so that's Christmas ruined now, haha! I'd thought beforehand that the mince pies would all be very similar but they were quite different with a clear favourite for us.

You can tell this is official because I used a clipboard!

Results:

Aldi - 43/50

M&S - 41/50

Sainsburys - 39/50

Mr Kipling - 30/50

So if you fancy a lovely mince pie this Christmas then we recommend Aldi. The best value and the best taste overall.

Maybe next year when I feel like eating a mince pie again, we'll review some more brands!