The demise of google reader

If you're a regular blog reader like me then you'll probably have heard that google reader will cease to exist as of 1st of July this year. I'm not especially sad to see the reader bit go as I use Bloglovin' instead anyway, but I will be sad to see my Google Friend Connect followers go.  I know I've only got 24, but I really appreciate each and every one! So if you would like to continue following me after 1st of July or you aren't a follower already then read on to get my take on the various options for blog following sans google reader.

Bloglovin

This is my favourite and the main feed reader I've used pretty much since I started blogging. It's come on leaps and bounds since I first joined and they really seem to listen to what people want from a feed reader. It has great functionality as you can organise blogs into folders really easily keep track of what you have and haven't read, but what really sold it for me is that you view posts in their original (pretty) contexts with the bloglovin' banner at the top to navigate. There's also a great little phone app so you stay up to date on the move. You can find my profile here -

Hello Cotton

This one seems fairly popular with a lot of craft bloggers, but I have to admit I still don't really 'get' it. It seems a great site for discovering new blogs and content, but I feel it's more aimed at discovery and the social element of blog reading as opposed to the organisational side which I feel I need, although I know a lot of people love it. You can find me here -

Feedly

I've heard a lot about this recently as the main opponent to Bloglovin' so I though I'd check it out.  It seems more customisable than Bloglovin' and is a great organisational tool, but I wasn't particularly keen on posts being displayed within the reader as opposed to in their original location so you don't get to see any of the surrounding blog design, but I can see why a lot of people like it.

Email, Facebook and Twitter

As always you can still follow me via email if you sign up on my sidebar or you can like my facebook page or follow me on twitter to get regular updates.

Thanks for reading and apologies for the long post. I hope to see you again soon!

#PostCircle

If you haven't heard about it already I'd like to tell you about a little something that's going on in the blogosphere at the moment - the lovely Anna of Miss Beatrix is running a post circle!

hand delivered to me no less!

What's a post circle I hear you ask? Well, everyone likes receiving nice things through the post right? So Anna has arranged people wishing to take part into groups of 6 to send letters to each other. Whenever you receive a letter you then send your own letter to someone else in the group and so it continues - It's as simple as that! I've joined in as I love receiving post and it gives me a nice opportunity to practice writing by hand. You can find out more about it in Anna's original post here.

I received my first piece of post a couple of weekends ago from Kelly of A Place of My Own who sent me this lovely note card and booklet about quilting. She'd been having a look through my blog, saw my 22 before 22 list and thought that it might come in handy for helping me achieve one of my goals. Thank you so much Kelly, I'll be sure to let you know when I make something using one of the patterns!

I've since sent out my own letter to Joanne of Not So Granny with a postcard to Kelly to say thank you and I'm working on my next couple of letters, but I won't ruin the surprise for the recipients so I'm keeping quiet for now.

I hope everyone is having an enjoyable (and warm!) weekend, 

Recipe Review: Brazil & Banana Bread

We've had a couple of bananas which were past their best kicking round the kitchen for the last few days so I decided to put them out of their misery by making some kind of banana bread. There are loads of recipes on the BBC Good Food website but I went with the brazil & banana bread purely because it only required 2 bananas and that's all I had!

Pros

• Good for making with children - there's crumbling, mashing and easy mixing
• Easy to make, but make sure to read through the method carefully first or simplify it as per my suggestion
• The recipe says it can be frozen (everyone should have emergency cake!)
• The crumble topping is really yummy and a nice finishing touch
• Can easily be made dairy free as the recipe only calls for small quantities of butter and milk which could be easily substituted

Cons

• The method could have been written a bit clearer - I ended up making a mistake
• There was a little unnecessary faff in beating the egg white and sugar together first and then folding in. I slipped up here and just stirred the wet and dry ingredients together in separate bowls which turned out fine, so you can easily leave out this step
• A little too heavy on the brazil nuts for me making it quite crunchy
• Mine took a bit longer to bake than the recipe suggests - more like 50 than 40 mins in my fan oven, and a little longer wouldn't have hurt

Tips

• Keep and eye on the crumble topping as it browns easily and cover with foil towards the end to stop it getting too crispy - it will be much easier to cut
• You don't need to worry with the whisking of the egg white and sugar if you don't want to - I didn't! Plus not doing so means less washing up (oh, to own a dishwasher!)

What I thought...

Slight misunderstanding with the method aside, I really liked this cake - it's yummy and the fact that it's banana means you can pretend it's healthy. The banana and oil also keeps it's nice and moist. However, next time I think I'll use fewer brazil nuts and perhaps slightly more cinnamon as it didn't really come through. I loved the crumble topping though, especially the hint of coconut, so I think I may be recycling that idea in other loaf cakes I make!

Overall a good solid recipe and a nice starting point to play around with and tailor to your own tastes. I will definitely be baking this again, albeit with a few alterations.