War Zone

Theoretically, the house should be at its worst point, since the utilities have been done (phase one) and therefore all the holes have been punched into the walls and it's just an absolute wreck. Here's hoping that it can only get better from here!

I'm greeted in the morning with sights like these:

Entry hall

Looking towards front door

Inside front hall, looking towards stairs

Up the stairs!

Dining room. I'm peeved about the thermostat
hole that they blasted in the wrong location

Dining room, looking towards the corridor/stairs

Living room

Living room and powder room

Such a lovely dining room!

You're looking at where the sideboard will be, and the kitchen

Kitchen

Guest room! Not quite ready for guests...

Looking out the non-existent window

Guest bath

Base of stairs leading to second floor

Stairs leading to second floor

Top of stairs at second floor

Master bedroom

Master bedroom, looking across hallway and into master bathroom

Master bedroom, looking outside

Master bath

Master bath. We found an arch over the window!

Second-floor hallway, looking towards library

Girls' Bedroom, from the library

In the library, looking towards boys' room

In the library, looking back towards the stairs

Inside second bath, second floor

Looking out from inside the second bathroom

Boys' Room

Boys' room

 But after all this ruination, I look out the windows and see these sights:

Love,

Alexandra

Late update

Since was in Aberdeen for the whole Carnevale thing, I missed out on all the yummy bigne fritti. Mummy kept taunting me (unintentionally, I'm sure), and I decided I was not going to miss the most amazing Carnevale treats. So, aided and abetted by one of my university friends, I decided to make some bigne fritti.

On Shrove Tuesday, after our first lecture, we went to my flat and started baking. I found a video recipe online and it was rather easy to follow.

First, we put butter, water, sugar and lemon zest into a pot and boiled it. Then we added flour. Then we let that cool. While it was cooling, we made the filling: milk, sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla, and lemon.  Once the dough was cool, we added eggs and mixed it into the weirdest slimy paste you have ever seen. After that, we deep fried the paste into what were supposed to be small bigne. They ended up a bit bigger than I expected, but it was fine.

After frying, I stuffed the bigne, and covered rolled them in sugar. All in all, I'm pretty proud of how they turned out for a first attempt.

Just fried!

All finished! 

Ciao,

Florence