Cooking

Today I really wanted to get more painting done and make a start on a patchwork cushion for my big girl's birthday,  but today is Tuesday, my lunchbox cooking day.  So I thought after a visit to my friend's flower shop  and a bit of procrastinating I'd better get home and start baking.  Well I probably should have stuck with the painting and sewing because my cooking was a bit disastrous.




























The orange marmalade cake has been cleverly iced to cover the dip in the centre and the oat and sultana biscuits, burnt, and generally not tasty.  I needed something else to offer for a lunchbox treat so I thought I'd take the safe option and make a chocolate slice, with some very runny icing, oh well.  Next time I'll have to craft instead, there's always tomorrow though.  This is our all time favourite chocolate slice recipe.

1¼ cups self-raising flour
2 tablespoons cocoa
¾ cup coconut
½ cup caster sugar
125g butter
1 egg

Chocolate Icing
1 cup icing sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa
vanilla
hot water

1. Mix dry ingredients together.
2. Melt butter, beat egg well.  Add both to dry ingredients.
3. Mix well then press into a flat tin.
4. Bake 10-15 minutes in moderate oven.
5. Cut into squares.
6. When cool pour chocolate icing over top and leave to set.  Divide squares.

Chocolate Icing
1.Sift icing sugar into a bowl.
2.Blend cocoa with a little hot water.
3.Add to icing sugar with enough water to make a smooth paste.
4.Flavour with vanilla.


Enjoy♥

The weekend is already over and the new week has begun.

The blahs have gone with a lot of chocolate (thank you for all of your wonderful advice) and a good chat.

The sun has been shining so we soaked it in and did some walking, collecting and picking.

The big girl has her birthday this week, so let the painting begin.

Have a terrific Tuesday♥ 

This Week

I'm sorry I disappeared this week.  This week has been busy, a little too busy, with book week celebrations, sustainable house presentations, after school practice, trying to get my head around a birthday and father's day next week and a very busy husband gave me a feeling of blah all week. I've tried not to wallow but it just didn't work.  I know if I get some craft done sometime this weekend I'm sure I can turn the blah feeling around.  How do you get over that feeling?  I would love to hear any suggestions you might have.

I did manage to make one card this week though and a bit of baking too, quick mix slice with lemon icing and these tasty little shortbread.

Earlier in the week I got some happy mail from Veronica at Mama Jots, a Donna Hay Magazine and a cupcake mix, which I know the girls will enjoy making, thank you.

Have a happy weekend my friends.  I hope to stop by and say hi soon♥

Yesterday

we all went out together to drop me off at the hairdresser I had an appointment after all but when I arrived I was embarrassed to find out that my appointment wasn't today but last week, oops!!  I've been visiting my hairdresser for a while now luckily, so he forgave me and cut my hair anyway.

My poor family  had a bit of a wait so we took a little visit to Chinatown, had a bit of lunch and the girls happily drank their raspberry spiders.

Do you remember having these as a child?  I remember fondly a couple of old ladies that my Mum used to visit to cut their hair who would give my brother and I one, what a yummy treat that was.

While we were close by I couldn't resist a little trip to the Paddington Antique Centre for a little look,  I spied many beautiful treasures.

There's also a yummy chocolate shop beside the antique centre that makes a very delicious dark chocolate milkshake that I had to visit too.

Today it was a slower day spent gardening,

cuddling up with Molly

and working hard on a important project, a sustainable house, which will be on display at school tomorrow.

May you have a happy week♥

This weekend

 I've got more planting to do.  This time the moon calendar suggests that either today or tomorrow is a good time to plant vegetables that grow under the ground.  So the other day in preparation for the weekend I bought carrots, beetroot, onions and potatoes.

That's my Sunday already planned and maybe there might be a bit of baking done too. I really want to try Tammy's Date Loaf recipe and read some of the books I picked up at the library. But today I'm off to get a hair cut.

I hope you have an enjoyable weekend what ever you may do♥

Onions

You know how when you cut an onion, peel all the skin, cut the onion one way then cut the other to dice it and it ends up falling apart? Well when my hubby and I went to the cooking school for a date last month we learnt a little trick to cutting up onions finely without them falling apart. Here's the trick:

1. Cut your onion from top to bottom

2. Cut the tip of the onion, make sure you leave the end with the roots intact.

3. Peel the skin off the onion.
3a. I forgot to do this but my hubby reminded me that to make the onions very fine you need to cut the whole onion twice parallel to the board but leave the root intact.

4. Then cut your onion trying to follow the grain better than I did, but do not cut all the way to the end make sure the root stays intact.

5. Then cut the onion in the opposite direct so now you have diced the onion finely without it falling apart.
By keeping the root at the end of the onion you are holding the onion together making cutting the onion up finely much easier.  Give it a try.

Enjoy your Friday my friends♥

Today we had a show holiday for the Ekka, it's so nice having a day off in the middle of the week I think it  gives you that burst of energy to get you through to the end of the week.  So with hubby at home I got a chance to tuck myself away in the craft room and sew, sew, sew.  It was so nice to get some craft done and even better, I finished the pyjamas for the girls.  It is a bit late to be sewing Winter pjs since there is only 2 weeks left of Winter but better late than never I suppose.

No you are not seeing double, this is possum number two, a female I think, that has been living in our house.  After releasing possum number one on Sunday all was quiet until last night when we heard more scratching in the big girl's room. So with some fresh fruit we caught the second possum tonight.  Hubby and Molly have gone for a drive to take possum number two to be with her friend, I do hope they find each other.  Now our only concern is, are there more possums up there or even babies!!!  I'll keep you posted.

I hope you had a good day.  Thanks for stopping by♥

Lovely Links

I really enjoy visiting new blogs and discovering new things to make, and with Christmas not too far away it's always good to get some inspiration.  I thought I would share with you a few tutorials that I've bookmarked recently.

●Some plant markers using oven bake clay.  I really like this idea and so much nicer than the plastic plant marker you get when you buy the plant.
●These food covers are not only pretty but practical and much more environmentally friendly than using plastic food wrap.
●If you have fabric scraps lying around, these patchwork coasters are a great way of using them up.
●I think these ribbon bangles are a great gift idea for girls.
●Stationery is favourite of mine and this handmade notebook would make a sweet gift for a teacher who always has notes to write.

I hope these links have inspired you or given you some handmade gift ideas♥

Double Chocolate Chip Muffins

Tonight after a busy day at her school and then after school activities, my big and very tired girl and I had do some baking for Cupcake Day for the RSPCA. She had already said she would make chocolate chip cupcakes so I did a google search for quick chocolate chip muffin recipes and found this yummy recipe.  We made them in no time, the only variation was that we made ours used organic dark chocolate and cut it into chunks and we didn't add choc chips on top because we ran out of chocolate.  Now lets hope that the girls enjoy rich chocolate muffins, if there is any left we will definitely enjoy eating them here in our house of chocoholics.

Happy Tuesday to you♥

This weekend

 there was fun to be had.

Eating lots of sugary foods.

Going on cool rides.

Playing games.

Watching the entertainment and enjoying the monster trucks.

But loving the fire works.

Catching the possum that has been living in the house and returning it to a new home.

Eating freshly baked, free form lemonade scones made by the big girl.

May your week ahead be a happy one♥

I've been busy having fun visiting some of our local op shops recently, some I've been to before and also a couple of new places.  At one of the new places the other day I spotted this mirror and just knew with a bit of paint it would be a great addition to the big girls room so today I went back to buy it, luckily it was still there.

And these lovely bits of fabric I picked up from my regular, go to op shop.  The brown fabric is an old curtain, the browns caught my eye and I thought it would be perfect for a bit of wall art for my craft room. Not sure what to do with the other fabrics yet, I really like the idea of a picnic rug using vintage fabrics. I'd also really like to find some of that bright vintage fabric I've seen in blog land but I haven't had any luck yet.

Have a wonderful weekend we're off to the Ekka.  Have you got any weekend plans?♥

These are the simple things around here that have been making me smile lately.

A bag of organic oranges for a few dollars.

Pretty new tea towels.

Some rainbow fabric waiting to be made into pjs for the girls.

The smell of cake baking in the oven.

Having my big girl home snuggling under her blanket.

And thoughtful birthday presents from friends who know me well.

What has been making you smile lately?♥

The right thing to do is not

always the easiest thing to do.

♥

My day

started off not as I had planned, a bit emotional you know when all of a sudden the built up tension results in an immediate headache.  I'm ok, I believe that things happen for us to learn as hard as that learning can be in that moment.  My plans for the day changed, but I really liked how my day turned out in the end.  I spent time in the kitchen with my big girl doing what the two of us enjoy the most, cooking.  Thanks to Tania's scrummy recipe links the other day I had something yummy to eat, it was just what I needed today. The brownies are really delicious, you should definitely try the recipe.

Last weekend I did the weeding in my garden and added some organic fertiliser to prepare for the veggie planting today.  I headed out to my local garden nursery and picked up some seedlings, in particular ones that produce above the ground according to my moon planting guide.  Because the nursery didn't have any lettuce seedlings, I sprinkled some seeds into prepared pots as well as some broccoletti seeds. In my garden today I planted:
*basil
*coriander
*silver beet
*capsicum
*bok choi
*zucchini
*tomatoes
Now I can't wait to see them grow and see if my experimental moon planting works.

Have a wonderful Monday my friends and thank you for always putting a smile on my face♥