Baking and some more Baking!

Now that the bunting, balloons and cards are down - life can return to it's normal (still rather fast) pace.

And after all of that sewing I returned to some baking. After receiving a dinner invitation from my good friend Glenda, I decided to take another shot at my Cinnamon Raisin Plait. The children are always so famished after school/kindy and I thought this would hit the spot for afternoon tea. I remembered to let it prove for only the recommended 30m (not 2 hours!) and got a much better result.

Although - there are a few more amendments I would make (less yeast, more fruit and cinnamon). So when I'm happy with this recipe, I will post it.


Notice Little S' small bun he made especially for Glenda's youngest daughter. Very sweet!

Es and I attended a Mother's Day Breakfast at her school yesterday. It was a mad dash at 7am and it was rather crazy with long queues for food and tea/coffee and too many tables, chairs and bodies in one hall. But it was lovely to do be with Es - just the two of us. I tried to block out the chaos of it all and enjoy being with her. The mother's received some gifts (hand cream pilates vouchers and flowers and I actually won something....lippy and some pop socks on the rather large size).

Look what I ate for breakfast this morning. I hate breakfast and always try and force something down as it's "good for you". But somehow, this slips down a treat with a lovely cup of tea. I made this yesterday. It is 'Chocolate Caramel Slice' from the same Foodtown Mag that the Plait came from. I've always been quite a fan of this magazine, the recipes are relatively simple and use ingredients you already have in the cupboard - bonus! 'Simple but delicious' is always a winner for me. I wouldn't change anything about this recipe it was totally divine! Little S is allergic to egg and nut, so it is nice to have a yummy recipe for a slice that doesn't have 'crushed biscuits' (which always have 'trace of nuts' warning).

150g butter, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 tsp baking powder

caramel:

395g tin condensed milk

2 tbsp golden syrup

1/4 cup brown sugar

75g butter

• oven temp 180 C - line 20cm x 20cm tin
• cream butter and sugar, stir in vanilla essence
• add sifted flour, cocoa and baking powder and mix together until combined
• press two-thirds of mixture in tin ( I needed to add 2 tbsp of water to make mixture more moist)
• place condensed milk, golden syrup, brown sugar and butter into a saucepan. Stir over a medium heat until combined and thickened. Pour caramel over the base
• sprinkle remaining mixture over the caramel. Bake for 20-25 m. Cool in tin before cutting.

The kids absolutely scoffed this down as did everyone I offered some to. But as always - I ate the most!

My sister visited 6 months ago (from UK) and left me her most favourite skirt. She had it made in Vietnam whilst she was back-packing and she describes it as the perfect shape/size etc. However, she had worn so much the zip had fallen out and the black had faded to a charcoal colour. So I offered to try and make another one. I unpicked it all completely so I could get the best measurements and use it as a pattern. Since photographing this I have actually nearly finished it - so I'll get a finished shot for you tomorrow!

Thanks for popping by.........go on make yourself some chocolate caramel slice....I bet you've got all the ingredients in your pantry already, if not put - condensed milk on your shopping list!

party bags, tablecloths, beads

My little girlie is 7....life whizzes by. But I can hardly remember life before she popped into our world. Well, I did manage to zip together some party bags. I actually started them at 9.30 the night before. Yes - how stupid can you get. I know, but I really didn't have time to do it before then - honestly. I number of cheeky friends of mine commented that they were disappointed I didn't embroider each child's name. Well if I start now, I may be able to complete bags for next year.....and include their middle and last names too! NOT!!!

I have to apologise for my photography, everything was so frantic that I didn't take proper photos of the bags. We had a Bead Party for Es, and it was wonderful! And in the bag, was some chocolate, the necklace and bracelet made by each child and one of these...

....little bunny biscuits with lemon icing. Es is getting a bunny for her birthday, it's currently four weeks old and with it's Mummy. There will be photos of the new member of our family real soon.

I made some afternoon tea for the party little guests - shortbread, chicken sandwiches, meringues (first time I've made these), marshmallows dipped in chocolate and a giant cupcake cake which didn't look like cupcake-ish at all....but it still looked like it had been transported from fairyland (so Gary says!). Note the tablecloth I made (stupidly made the morning of the party - as if I didn't have enough to do!). But I say - why miss out on all the fun things about being a Mum? It's the small things in life isn't it?

The bead party was a massive success! The bead lady turned up with 3 caseloads of colourful beads, she gave a demonstration and off the little girlies went to choose their selection. Brilliant! They were quiet as mice for nearly one and a half hours - RESULT! Some wonderful creations came into being and it was fascinating to watch each child's unique style. Some of the girls said they were making the bracelet for their Mum for Mother's Day, which is this Sunday here in NZ. How sweet is that - without any prompting at all!

This is Es threading her bracelet, she is already wearing the necklace she made. How cute does it look? She chose such gorgeous colours! She made the bracelet to match her dress - vibrant purples and blues!

I was so exhausted the following day and out of the blue our friends called us and invited us to spend the day out on their launch. Awesome - just what the doctor ordered!

Beautiful!

Birthday Bunting Bonanza!

Es' Birthday Bunting.......DONE! (said in Gordon Ramsay style voice)

Well I've just tucked in a very excited, now not so little, birthday girl. I have just made a lovely cup of tea, cut a sneaky slice of birthday cake and finally put my feet up. Had a rather busy day, but had soooo much fun! I managed to get Es' birthday bunting done in time and A. and I spent yesterday evening wrapping presents, blowing balloons, curling ribbon and hanging the bunting. It was well worth the effort, when she entered the lounge this morning....her mouth dropped open.

I am overall really pleased with the end result, although I had a bit of problem with the bias binding. I thought I was being really economical buying the binding which wasn't pre-folded. However, after slipping around with my iron and making many unwanted creases I was rather gutted I didn't opt for pre-folded. Anyhoo, after my initial frustrations with it, I came back to it and it wasn't as bad as I first thought. We do like to punish ourselves for slight imperfections don't we? I completed 9 metres in all and it was just about right in our lounge. I decided not to hang it flat against the wall but across the room with a 3D effect. It was quite effective I thought. I still have 12 triangles left and I'm intending to make one for Es' room. A big thank you to Stacey for inspiring me to create bunting. It really is a great idea to make a birthday decoration which can come out every year, it is something that will become a family tradition and an heirloom.

I made Es our favourite chocolate cake recipe and decorated it with pink butter icing and made some pink sugar for the topping. This is an egg-free cake and it's so easy, it is all done in the saucepan! The cake is quite a moist cake, not too rich and is complimented scrummily with the butter icing. The topping is just plain granulated sugar dyed pink with a drop of colouring. This is the first time I've done this and I am surprised about how effective it is, it adds a different crunchy texture to the cake. I'll definitely do this again - particularly with cupcakes - you could make them in an array of colours!

One Pot Chocolate Cake

125g margarine/butter

2 dessertspoons golden syrup

1 1/2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 c sugar

1 c milk

2 tbsp cocoa

1 tsp vanilla

Melt marg/butter, sugar, golden syrup, 1/2 c milk. Add siften flour/cocoa. Stir well. Combine vanilla, baking soda and rest of milk, then add to mixture. Put in 8" tin and bake at 180 C for 40-50 mins.

I acually doubled the quanity and used a heart shaped tin. I do like a filling in my cakes - the more butter and sugar the better. Naughty but nice!

This afternoon we had close friends around for some birthday cake and then some spaghetti bolognaise for dinner. Es had such fun and the evening ended with some dancing to her favourite songs.....Newton Faulkner, Scissor Sisters and Mamma Mia - funny! It was great to see her amongst her friends dancing, whirling around and enjoying the moment. The day ended with the big reveal of her main birthday present. A rabbit hutch. No bunny as yet, little baby mini lop rabbit is only 3 weeks old and is with it's Mummy. She squealed with excitement! There will be photos to follow of our little bunny. We are going to meet it this week.

We still have Es' birthday party with her 10 school friends on Saturday, so they'll be more party pics too. Have to sew my table cloths and party bags before then. Busy, busy.....off to get some much needed shut eye....nightie night!

Cinnamon and Raisin Plait

Had a great weekend, took things pretty easy (as much as you can do with three kiddies). I took S to a birthday party at Lollipops Playland. I do enjoy being able to spend some one on one time with each of the children. Es and I often do a lot of 'girlie' things together, but it isn't often I get S to myself. He has come on leaps and bounds since he started morning Kindy. He's really found himself, grown in confidence, made some little friends and is just such a lovely little lad. Believe me, we've come along way....he was a very clingy, shy, timid toddler who enjoyed pulling things apart and never quite got the word 'No'. It was fun to see S enjoying himself with his friends and having a ball. I try to take a mental snapshot of these occasions, life rarely slows down enough to savour these moments.

A took all three cherubs off for most of Sunday which gave me some time to just 'be'. It's a full-on time in the school holidays and boy did I need a break! I decided to make the Cinnamon and Raisin Plait from 'The Foodtown Magazine'. I was quite excited by some of the recipes in the magazine as many were egg-free (S has a severe nut and egg allergy, so I'm always on a hunt for suitable yummy things to make).

I do enjoy making bread and since my bread machine went bust a couple of months ago I've been doing it by hand. I thought I'd find it laborious, but not at all! I find the kneading very therapeutic. I used my limited braiding skills and managed to form a rather good plait. All seemed good at this stage and yes, it did go a bit wrong. The recipe said to place a warm, damp tea towel over it and leave it for 30 mins. Well I waited and waited thinking it should double in size like my other dough recipes. Well the dough proved so much it went out of shape and my lovely plait disappeared. I thought, what the hell and baked it anyway.
And this was the result. Not horrendous, but not like the photo either. It actually tasted better than it looked. I replaced the dates with raisins as this is more agreeable to the Littlies. Note to self: 'prove' only for the time stated in recipe and make the icing thicker as a lot of it ended up drizzling off onto the board. Then I sat down with a cuppa and some plait and admired the triangles I cut out and pinned the night before. The next job is the bias binding, nearly there. Hope you all had a fab weekend too.