London Love

Funny. Just yesterday I was reading this post, then this morning a parcel was delivered, from my dear friend Chelsea in London, with this cute message on the back.


Inside were lots of lovely things for the children, and for me, a toast stamp. Because we can never have too much love in our lives. Love you Chels xx

A Merry Little Christmas

Hope everyone had a fabulous day too. Thanks to all those who have read my blog, left comments, emailed me, and inspired me with their own creativity. I've only been blogging for a few months, but already I've made some wonderful friends.

Here's to a wonderful 2009 xx

As safe as a lettuce leaf?

Our house is old. And I love it. It has all these quirky little charms about it. Like the original "chippie" woodchip burner by the back door.

The original Art Deco doorhandles. No keys though, although why you would need to lock every door in the house is a mystery to me...

Original bakelite power points. Notice the lack of a switch. Yeah, old.

And bits and pieces that I sometimes find. Treasures like this old fuse wire that I discovered on top of the fuse box. There was actually another one, with a price tag of one ha'penny, but Isla decided to wash it (sigh).

But today, I really struck gold. I was cleaning out the laundry cupboard, attempting to locate enough sheets, pillowcases, towels etc for the Christmas visitors, when this treasure dropped down from a tiny space in between the back of the cupboard and the shelf, where it has been stuck for a couple of decades at least I expect.

The directions read; "Lapol Full Strength Deoderant Tablets. 20 sugar coated chlorophyll tablets for sweetness and freshness of body and breath. The new prescription for eliminating body and breath odours. Taken internally.

There are two kinds of personal odours and both can be quickly removed with Lapol Chlorophyll Tablets.

Breath odours are associated with faulty metabolism, achohol or eating highly flavoured foods such as garlic or onions. These can be removed in ten minutes by disolving one or more Lapol Tablet in the mouth.

Systematic body odours are of various types- Perspiration odours of the underarm and foot-Odours associated with menstruation and General Body Odours. ALl the above can be quickly and easily removed by swallowing one or more Lapol Tablet, preferably after breakfast or before retiring at night.

It is as safe as a lettuce too. Always insist on Lapol Full Strength Chlorophyll Tablets

Try this little personal test. Next time you are about to engage in strenuous exercize or sport, take one Lapol Table half an hour beforehand and notice the distinct lack of perspiration odour."

Whatever next? Well, that certainly provided some humour for the afternoon. And I know they're clearly well past their use by date, but I still find it ironic that they smell awful.

For more photos of the house, check out my flickr.

Christmas Trifle

I've been given the responsibility of making the trifle this Christmas. I'm British and I love trifle, so I'm more than happy to do it!

This is the recipe I use, not sure of it's origin, it's just how I remember my Dad making trifle in my childhood, adapted to make use of the fabulous fresh berries we have available here in the Bay of Plenty.

I'll be making it on Wednesday evening, so will upload a photo of the results then!

Berry Trifle

1 double white sponge cake

2 cups boysenberries

1 x punnets of strawberries

2x cups raspberries

1 tin mandarins

1 box of berry flavoured jelly crystals.

1 large carton of custard

600ml cream, whipped to soft peaks

Method
Cut sponge into squares and place in a serving bowl. Prepare the jelly according to the packet instructions and drizzle the mixture over the cake pieces. Refrigerate for about two hours. Spoon over the custard. Rinse the berries and remove stems etc, mix them together and bruise them slightly with a fork, just enough to release the juices. Pour over the berries and the juice and top with whipped cream and sliced berries.
Trifle also looks lovely in little individual glasses.

Merry Christmas!

Things I'm pleased with today

Phew! How is everyone doing? I'm wondering when Christmas became so busy? When I became a Mother I suspect...

A couple of weeks ago, I (foolishly?) asked Isla if she would like me to make her anything special for Christmas. She requested a tutu. Ok. A lime green one. Okaaaay... With flowers on it. Right.

So I dutifully purchased some tulle and organza in the aforementioned shade of green and looked at it for ages and held it up this way and that and eventually attempted a tutu, which, literally, fell flat. Three attempts later I was beginning to worry. Until I read this lovely and well timed post, and the link within it, and I was happy again.

The flowers come from a lei which I bought from the $2 Shop, and carefully dismantled. I'm quite pleased with the results.

What do you think?

There are a couple of other things I'm quite pleased with today. My 2009 Diary (2009 can you believe it?) from the lovely people at K.Kurtovich. I do like to support New Zealand Made, and I love the striking image of the Hei Tiki.There's something so refreshing to me about the blank pages of a new diary and a new Year. 2009 will see Liam and My 5th Wedding Anniversary, our baby Kyan turning 1, Isla turning 3, friends having new babies. 2 weddings (at least!), and who knows what else?

These people. Apologies for the blurry pic and the terrible light. I'm blogging after the children are in bed, exchanging peace and quiet for decent light! They look much more fabulous in real life, but you get the gist.

Wooden toys from the op shop, bought for a song.

And, this stuff, bless it, from these wonderful, wonderful people. Kyans' gums and I are eternally grateful.

I'll be back with a recipe tomorrow.

Ornaments

I just wanted to say a huge Speckled Egg Thank You to everyone in my group for these beautiful decorations. I really enjoyed the swap and look forward to the next! Check out the flickr group to see all the wonderful creations generated this year by creative Kiwis. Merry Christmas!

Lasagna

Oh it was a hard week. Exhausting, hot, nauseous... but I won't go on. It's all over now and everyone's feeling better in our house. My little family and I are like soldiers after battle. We're tired, a bit fragile, and some of us a little thinner than when we started, but we survived. We needed comfort food. And nothing goes down better in our house than a good old fashioned lasagna. There are heaps of different ways to make this including vegetarian versions but this is how I do mine. I've tried my best with measurements but this is a very forgiving recipe so feel free to adjust things according to your tastes.



1 packet fresh lasagna sheets
1 jar good quality bolognase sauce
approx 500grams ground prime beef mince
approx 25grams butter
approx 1/4 cup plain flour
cheese
milk
approx 500grams fresh spinach
salt and pepper
3 diced garlic cloves

Brown your mince in a large pan, add garlic and salt and pepper, then add the sauce and pop a lid on top, simmer, stirring occasionally.
In another saucepan, melt the butter, and add enough flour to make a roux. Add milk slowly, using a whisk to prevent lumps. Keep adding milk until mixture has thickened and you have approx 1/3 saucepan full of sauce.
In a third saucepan, lightly steam your spinach until it softens and reduces.
In an oven dish, assemble the lasagna starting with a layer of pasta, then meat, a thin layer of spinach, a layer of white sauce and pasta again, repeat, ending with a pasta layer, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake at 200degrees Celsius for about 20mins, then switch to grill until the cheese is golden on top.

Serve with steamed green beans, or salad, crusty bread and of course wine!

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!

Shop Update

The only positive of the hideous stomach virus currently residing at our house is that I managed to do a wee shop update. I thought I'd better secure some sort of livelihood, as my actual employers are probably growing quite tired of me, my children and the constant array of bugs we bring home from preschool...

Bring on that holiday everyone's talking about huh?

Quinoa and Tuna Salad

I've just met Quinoa and I think I'm in love. Being a breastfeeding Mum, I'm all about protein at the moment. Being Summer, I'm all about cold food, salads of every kind, and meals where you can throw in whatever fresh vegetables are in the fridge. This was what we had this evening, and it was pretty good if I do say so myself! Next time I will add some red capsicum I think...

Quinoa and Tuna Salad

2 cups of quinoa, rinsed

2 tuna steaks, or 1 tin of tuna

1/2 a cucumber, cubed

2 tomatoes, diced

12 sticks approx of fresh asparagus

1 bunch spring onions, chopped

half a lemon

Brush the tuna steaks with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and grill, put aside to cool.

Boil the quinoa until cooked, then place in a sieve and run cold water through it until cool.

Quickly poach the asparagus in salted water.

Flake the tuna, and combine all the ingredients together in a large bowl, add a squeeze of

lemon juice.

I think the colours look quite Christmassy, don't you?

Lost Weekend

Wow! That was one BUSY weekend, which seemed to fly by before it even started. In fact, I've felt like this whole YEAR has flown by! The 1st of December tomorrow, I can't believe it. I've made a Speckled Egg Christmas Mixtape which I've been waiting to put up. Once I hear that kind of music, I start to feel really Christmassy!

Of course, Isla and I had to get our toes looking shipshape, ready for our towns' anual Christmas Parade...

We had to be at the park early on Saturday morning. Too early for some, who decided to have a quick nap before Santa arrived.

Others were alert and on the lookout for Santa! Isla loved her Red Riding Hood costume, the children had such a lovely time, and the icing on the cake was that our centres' float won the category for "Best Kindergarten or Kohunga Reo". We've won a cupboard full of art resources so we're really excited (we're actually not a Kindergarten or a Kohunga Reo, we're an Early Childhood Centre, but that's ok!). You can see more of the parade here.

Anyway, with all the costuming, decorating, walking, chatting, photos and fun, I completely forgot about my Saturday Speckled Egg Recipe Book post. To be honest, there's not really anything too exciting happening in my kitchen of late. Just a lot of the above, big pots of vegies to be pureed into mush for Kyan, who just started solids (where does the time go?). However, I decided to make some Anzac Biscuits today as well, as they are Liams' favourite, so I will contribute the recipe for this iconic New Zealand cookie this week.

Anzac Biscuits

1 cup of plain flour

1 cup of rolled oats

1 cup shredded coconut (you can use dessicated, but shredded is better)

1 cup of soft brown sugar

125grams of butter

2 tablespoons of Golden Syrup

1tsp baking soda

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Then in a saucepan, melt the butter and golden syrup, making sure it doesn't burn. Add the baking soda, this is the fun bit, it expands onto a lovely sort of foam. Mix the foam in with the dry ingredients and roll into little balls then place on a baking tray with approx 4cm between each cookie, as they expand quite a bit. Cook at 180 degrees celcius for about 15mins, or until golden. I like to squash each one with a fork about halfway through cooking, as they "puff" up a bit (something to do with the baking soda I presume!)

Book Tag

I've been busy. Busy, busy busy trying to get organised for the market I was talking about here
and I needed a break! So the invitation from Janelle to play a game of book tag was most welcome! This is how it works; Go to the closest book you have, not necessarily the book you have just read, or your favorite, but the closest. Turn to page 56 and copy out the 5th line, followed by the next 2 to 5 lines.

Well, my closest book was Tricia Guilds' 'Painted Country'. It was on the table because Isla was reading it while I sewed (bless her, her current reading material of choice is mainly Hairy McClary, her Dads' Fishing World magazine, or my interior design books, go figure).

Ok... Page 56...Rats, it's only a picture with no words (Murphys' Law!) So I'll have to do page 54. The 5th line onwards reads "this kitchen conveys all of that colour, energy, spontaneity and adventure, along with a certain reassuring familiarity on the use of the tiles, wood and stone. Although recently built and containing every modern convenience and labour-saving appliance hidden behind old farm gate fronts, it has the comfortable air of an old and settled place."

Sounds rather nice, doesn't it? My kitchen, by contrast has all the charms of an old and settled place, but none of the modern conveniences and labour saving devices! Maybe Santa would like to bring me a dishwasher... And an espresso machine?

I will invite some fellow bloggers to play too;

Sally-Anne, from Quite a Handful

Megan, from Pink Flower Buttons

and Louise, from Twenty Cent Mixture

It's Arrived!

A gorgeous bag, made from a page out of a vintage childrens' book... A pretty card with kind words inside...



A beautifully made tote bag just for me! I know, I know, we've all seen it here,
but this is what it looks like in my house. I think it likes it here. Thanks again Louise.

Caraway Crackers

Soft blocks for the shop. Love that Fantail fabric

And a wee apron too.

Now, on to the crackers

At first I couldn't believe it when I went to my Annas' house and realised she had actually made her own crackers. I mean, I knew she had the domestic goddess thing down pat, but this truly impressed me. Then she gave me the recipe and showed me it's actually not very tricky at all. I'd love her to start a food blog, but she's a BUSY law student and Mum, so we'll just have to be content with me plagiarizing from her. These are delicious with hummus. They might be nice for those vegans amongst us too? (I'm looking at you, Miss Twenty Cent Mixture)

Caraway Crackers

1 ½ cups Flour

Salt and Pepper

Caraway seeds (or fennel seeds, ground coriander, mixed herbs, or cumin also work)

2 tsp sesame seeds

60ml oil
100ml water

Mix all ingredients together and knead for one minute.

Wrap in cling-film and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll dough out very thinly. Cut into rough squares or diamonds. Prick all over with a fork.

Bake at 170⁰C for 10 minutes.

Cool on racks. Store in an airtight container.

Zakka Sewing

Yeeeay! Thank you Fishpond! This fabulous book is now part of my collection!


The squirrel tea cosy, made from felt. So simple yet so stylish. Love love love it.

Embroidered house shoes for grown ups.

Hot Air Balloon purses. I think these are my favourite project from the book.

Bunny pencil case. See a free pattern and tutorial for this here

Flower shaped felt coasters.

What to make first?