Our weekend ...

Finally got the top finished - woohooo!!!!!

Coconut, apricot and date loaves - delicious!

We had our fair shares of knocks and bumps this weekend

Drawing up a birthday list - and then literally drawing all over it!

A trip to the library yielded these lovely books

A little refashioning for Cassia

Hope you had a great weekend too! xx

Australian Damper Bread

Thank you to all of you who left a comment on my last post.  It's been really interesting to read what people are doing in their daily lives.   I'm going to make the products tonight so will keep you posted.

I got this book out from the library on the weekend and it's full of delicious sounding breads - all without yeast so without all the waiting.  Yeah, yeah I know that 'proper' bread making is great (having only recently discovered how to do it I have to admit I do love it) but these are breads you don't have to think about in advance.

The Australian Damper Bread caught my eye yesterday and it was the only recipe for which everything was in the house (not that hard really because it was only flour, salt and butter!!!).

Unfortunately we didn't have any prawns on hand to throw on the barbie!  I made the cheese version and it was delicious!!!

From page to bowl to oven to table in 40 minutes - wonderful.  It tasted great on its own and then with blueberry relish but would be really great with a chunky soup. x

The last couple of days .....

have produced a lot of highs and a few lows!

On Thursday morning Cassia woke me up with this beautiful picture:

"Mummy, it's you and friends when you went to Fairyland when you were younger.  You went over the rainbow.  That's a cricket ant on the rainbow.  He just slides around."  HIGH.

Spending Thursday morning on my own with Maia - going into the city, to the library and out to lunch.  HIGH.

I decided to bake and thought I could improve the standard ANZAC biscuit by adding sultanas and chocolate chips.  You would have thought it would work right?

It didn't!  But that could also be due to the fact that butter goes from "melt slowly" to "boil vigourously" very quickly - whoops!  Oh and did I mention they burnt a little in the oven too?!  LOW!

Being invited out by some girls and sharing a bottle of wine with them.  Feeling like I'm part of the real world again - definitely a HIGH.

Cassia wanting to sleep with me on Thursday night.  It could have been a HIGH but it definitely turned into a LOW when she was unsettled all night and I hardly got any sleep.

Feeling so tired on Friday was a LOW but sitting on the sofa with the girls and doing some crochet was a HIGH.

Receiving this delightful pincushion from Nova HIGH, HIGH, HIGH!

Figuring out an easy crochet flower pattern and being able to turn one:

into a bouquet even in a sleep induced stupor.  HIGH

Husband deciding to do some jobs that needed doing around the house.  HIGH.

Husband causing a huge water leak and not knowing where the stopcock was - so, so LOW!

Getting a knock on the door at 5.30pm and being invited to play hooky with two girlfriends by going for a coffee.  A much needed HIGH. xx

What a wonderful weekend ...

including lots of my favourite things.  

Saturday was filled with:

garage sales

op shoppping

coffee

clear blue sunny skies

washing drying outside in winter - including some of my garage sales finds

outside playing

being able to have the windows and doors open all day

our beautiful rosemary which will be full of the beautiful flowers from now until December

playing about with my ANZAC Bee blocks

sewing

Sunday dawned grey and wet so a day inside was called for, including:

cleaning

friends for morning tea and playing

sorting through my op shop finds

reading the Sunday papers

more coffee

a little bit more sewing on my quilt top

cooking something new for tea.

chicken and mushroom pie followed by ice cream - delicious!

All in all a lovely time had by all.  How was yours? x

A granola recipe

Back here I made some granola and finally I've got the recipe up! As far as it is a recipe - I must have orginally had one to follow but that's been lost in one of the many moves. It's a very 'fluid' recipe - by that I mean you can really use what you like and what you have in the cupboards. I know that's not much help to those who like to follow a recipe but it'll give you an idea.

For this particular batch I used:

1 cup of rolled oats

dessicated coconut - a little shaken over the oats

slivered almonds

chopped apricots - what was left in the packet

sultanas

Mix these all together in a bowl

a knob of butter - about 20g

1 tbsp soft brown sugar

2 tbsp honey

Gently heat these ingredients until combined

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix

Spread on baking sheet and bake for about 12-15 at 160 degrees

The basic ingredients are oats and then build from around there. Alternative dry ingredients are:

sunflower seeds

pumpkin seeds

sesame seeds

walnuts

pecans

macadamia

For the wet ingredients you can use the following:

instead of butter I have used cold pressed veg or nut oil - hazlenut and wlanut oil are particularly nice and grape seed oil works well too - the finished granola has a slightly different texture but if you're worried about saturated animal fat it's a good alternative

sugar - you can use as little or as much as you like, I think you do need some but the choice is up to you

the honey can be replaced by maple syrup which works really well and I guess you could use golden syrup but I've never tried this

When I've tried to write down what I put in and the measurements it always turns out that the batch is OK but not one I'd want to repeat! And when I've tried to make double the measurements, because it really doesn't last that long, it's not been that nice either!

If anyone has any other ideas for ingredients or methods then I've love to hear them because I love making this - it's a sweet tasty treat that's easy to make and not 'bad' for you - what more can you ask?!

Kiddies Activities

Lots of photos in this post!

We seem to have been busy, busy, busy lately so over the last few days I've made a point of doing kiddy things with the girls - and we've had a lot of fun.

Using these to draw on the patio (and the planters and the bench seats and the decking!):




Maia's pavement art. Don't you love how she signs her work?



She actually does this right at the start!



Then onto some painting:




When we were out that morning Cassia said that she'd like to do painting and hey presto in the Sallies was a canvas already painted black!!! Having seen Janelle's children painting on similar over at Heart Felt I bought it and Cassia produced this:


Next a bit of gluing and sticking (we cut out all the butterflies and insects when we were back in UK and bought them back with us!)

When Maia got back from Kindy she saw the paint and of course wanted a go! She made these two lovely cards for two little girls:

and today she wrote in them:

I'm off to my first Parent's Centre meeting tomorrow and we have to bring a plate so I thought we'd do some baking this afternoon. Delicious Ginger Crunch:

You can see there are some squares missing but as Maia says "We can't do the baking and then not have some, that's not really fair!" - luckily I agreed with her!

What a day!!!

We had rain and strong winds all day long. Perfect weather for homemade soup and bread. Carrot and cumin soup (recipe here) in new-to-us soup bowls (50c each from Sallies!) - also spot the teatowel which was bought here! I know I've posted about this soup before but it really is great. It tastes awesome and you can have it hot or cold, which with the very changeable weather we've been having recently is a God send!

The bread is Tomato Scofa Bread from The Optimum Nutrition Cookbook:




It's so easy that I thought I'd post the recipe too:

Tomata Scofa Bread

225g plain flour

pinch salt

3 level teaspoons baking powder

black pepper

4 sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped (I would use more next time)

2 tablespoons freshly chopped chives (I didn't have any but would add to the flavour)

150ml milk

2 tablespoons sun dried tomato oil

1. Sieve flour, salt and baking powder
2. Grind in black pepper to taste
3. Stir in sun dried tomatoes
4. Mix milk and oil together
5. Add to dry ingredients and gently combine
6. Roll out dough to 1" thick and form into round about 6" diameter
7. Score into 6 triangles
8. Bake in oven at 220 degrees for 12-15 minutes
9. Break and enjoy immediately

They say "the proof of the pudding's in the eating"!

Maia has been having some very disturbed nights recently. Last night she had a dream about the witch who was coming to get her. I mentioned that we could make a dreamcatcher so we did. Now I don't profess to know anything about dreamcatchers or what they should be like but ours, of course, had to feature the things we have recently acquired.

Number one being this:

a $2 bargain from the local Sallies. We also ventured out to the Toy Library this morning and one of the toys was a box with lots of art things in. One of them was a star paper punch so naturally this occurred:

I have to confess I have never used a paper punch before and rather enjoyed it, in fact we now have about 50 stars in a dish on my desk! The 'finished article' hanging up:

I don't know whether it will make one iota of difference to her dreams but we had fun making it, and if she does still have bad dreams then I really don't mind a warm little body snuggling into me!

Then just because it was cold, grey and pretty miserable outside we decided to light our fire. The first fire of the year in our new woodburner. Craig managed to scrablle together a few pieces from the woodshed and produced some lovelt atmospheric fire! (Note to self: get the firewood ordered next week before it really does get cold!)

So that's where I'm headed now - to sit in front of a roaring fire and crochet - bliss!! x

Baking recipe

I didn't have time to post the recipe for the rock cakes I made on Saturday so here goes:

8oz plain flour

1/2 level tsp salt

2 level tsp baking powder

2 1/2oz butter

2 1/2oz sugar

4oz dried fruit (I just used sultanas)

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (you could use more if you like it)

1 egg

2 tbsp milk

• Sieve flour, salt and baking powder together
• Rub butter into flour until mixture resembles breadcrumbs (I put mine in a processor and it works just fine)
• Stir in sugar, fruit and nutmeg
• Beat egg and milk and add to flour mixture
• Mix well with a fork, the mixture should be stiff but not too sticky
• Divide mixture into 12 and place on greased baking tray
• Bake at 200 degrees for 15-20 minutes

These were mine - have to admit they were done a little much, quite a common occurrence when you are busy with little ones and forget the baking! Doesn't look like anyone was complaining though!

The white container held chocolate and cinnamon butter which went on the fruit and nut loaf - as you can see someone wiped their finger around the dish - yes it was that nice!

Baking and memories ...

We had my sister-in-law and her children around for afternoon tea today which is always greeted with great excitement from Maia and lots of baking from me! I wouldn't usually condone writing in books but my recipe books are an exception. It's nice to make notes on how a recipe went or if you made any variations and also the date you made it and if it was something special.

The first thing I baked yesterday was from my trusty Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook - rock cakes. The note by the side reminded me that I had first made it for friends in Tauranga after their second child was born. Just seeing the few notations bought back the whole day and the celebration of the occasion.

The next recipe also bought back huge memories but of a very different kind. When we were in New Zealand last year overseeing the sale of our house I made a bacon and apple loaf to take for morning tea at Pop's - Craig's grandfather's. He lived in Waihi and always used to bake the most amazing things himslef but at 94 we thought we'd take the food! It was also the first time he would meet Cassia. I was always overwhelmed when I thought about it because I never knew any of my grandafathers and yet my girls had a great-grandfather. He loved the loaf which was a great compliment and he thought the girls were amazing! Sadly that was the last time we saw him. Shortly after we returned to UK he headed up to Auckland to a home and quickly deteriorated. He turned 95 on Boxing Day and slipped away the next day. And with him went a whole part of the pioneering spirit of NZ - but that's a story that could fill a whole blog in itself! My life was immeasurably enriched by knowing this man and I am in awe to think that his blood is running through my children - if they do a quarter of what he did in his long life they will have done well.

Pop (94!) and Cassia (6 months), Waihi, April 2007

Pop (93) and Maia (17 months), Waihi RSA, February 2006

Rest in peace Pop - we love you and miss you terribly. xxx

Party photos ...

Iced and ready to go - now I could have sworn there were two dozen last night!!!!!

Looking pretty on a stand - and they tasted pretty good too!

The birthday cake - yep that tasted quite good too! Along with the scones and tarte tartin that my mum made!

Vintage table cloth picked up at carboot for 10p

All laid up and ready for the guests

The birthday girl - in a dress that I had when I was little - she picked it as her 'party dress' -

of course I was very happy about that!

The birthday girl's little sister with felt all over her face - she must have been practising her moko whilst watching the All Blacks!

Birthday preparations

Tomorrow's the day! Thank goodness I changed my mind at the beginning of the week as to what we were going to do for Maia's birthday party. It is currently heaving it down so I think it'll all be inside tomorrow - unfortunately for Maia, because she loves to play cricket with all of her cuzzies! Can you believe for her 2nd birthday we were all outside and in a swimming pool?! We headed over to my mum and dad's this afternoon and got most of the things organised so that they'll be no mad panic tomorrow (and of course not forgetting the finale of the Bledisloe is at 10.30am our time!).

I have now made 52 cupcakes in 5 days - waaaay too many!

The actual birthday cake is the one pictured above - an old family favourite. My brother and I always used to ask for this (he's going to be 40 and I'm 36) and I made it for Maia last year. When we started talking about this year's birthday she said straight away that she wanted a clock cake - a tradition continues! The recipe book is a copy of an old Hamlyn one that my mum had and I learnt to cook things out of when I was growing up. One Easter I went to the Book-a-rama in Tauranga and found the exact same book for $2 - I think the ladies were somewhat nonplussed at how happy it made me but hey! I've since found out that my sister has found a copy too so it's a real family book.

Just put the cake in the oven so all that's left to do tomorrow is the icing and decorating the cupcakes - and the girl's are 'helping' with that! It's strange for me to feel so calm and to be ahead of the game - fingers crossed there's no big hiccups tomorrow!