Love My Boys.

Morning cuddles for my 3 boys!

Oh how sweet!

I've been home sick for awhile now and today the postman delivered this gorgeous card from a little boy in my class.

I'm glad to hear they are all working very hard in my absence! :)

Pound Cake

Fuzzy and the 'gigantor' bunt cake.

I got inspired after looking at this recipe, but I didn't have any Sprite or butter flavouring. So I went searching around and came up with this recipe which is a mix of several that took my fancy. Let me tell you it weighs a pound and you will def. put on pounds eating this little baby. Not diet friendly... no way!

Pound Cake

This would serve alot of people: 12-16 slices I'm thinking?

Ingredients:

480g butter (that's like nearly two sticks!!!)
600g sugar, caster is best (Not diabetic friendly either!)
6 large eggs
560g plain flour
1 cup of milk, full cream (I did mention it wasn't diet friendly, didn't I?)
1 teaspoon lemon essence
1 teaspoon almond essence
1 tablespoon vanilla essence

1. Preheat oven to 140d. Cream butter, you'll need a proper mixer to make this cake successfully. It is an awfully big cake!
2. Add the sugar and cream till light and fluffy.
3. Add each of the 6 eggs, one at a time, I did this by leaving my Kenwood Chef running while I added the eggs :-)
4. Sift the flour, I had to do it in two lots as there was so much, and mix with the milk.
5. Add the essences and use your spatula to scrape the sides at this point. Give it another good mix and pour into a LARGE prepared bundt pan. I prepared my pan the old fashioned way my Mumma showed me: by rubbing butter all over it and shaking flour all over it. Go Mum: this always works a treat.
6. Bake for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Mine needed an extra 20 minutes!
7. Allow this baby to cool for awhile in the pan. Don't tip it straight out or it will break.

Enjoy preferably with friends or you'll die of a diet induced heart attack hehehe. Lucky for me I have friends coming over tomorrow which will take care of this little baby for me ;-)

Fuzzy was so excited by this cake that he announced: "We are all going to get to eat some aren't we?" & "I'll have some in my lunch box tomorrow!"

Fun for Boys.

Fuzzy is doing so well at school and pretty much read now, pretty good going considering he's 6 months into Kindergarten!

Anyways because he can read and type so well, he's managed to find himself games that he enjoys playing online. Favourites include: Sonic and Enigmata. He also enjoys Reading Eggs, which he gets a free subscription to via his school.

He should have been completing his homework but all little boys need a break every once in awhile. I adore this photo. Such happiness (Fuzzy) and total concentration (Squealy)!

Scrapbooking 'Stillness'

"Stillness": created using a $3 scrap kit from the Reject Shop, scraps of cardstock & black ink.

...I actually completed two projects this weekend. Yay me. I helped String Bean make a sign for her classroom (homework task) and I made a gift tag for a friend's daughter (which I'll post once she's received the gift.)

I feel that perhaps this maybe a way to reinvent scrapbooking for me. Scrap with String Bean. She loved it and already had excellent design ideas. She is a natural.

My New Toy.

I was coveting one of these, but at $1800+, I just couldn't justify it.

So I was excited to see this new model of rice cooker in Super Food Ideas magazine in January. But given it was new I couldn't find it anywhere and when I did (at Big W) it was too expensive... $110 hahaha.

Now my motto with all things retail is to wait and eventually it will be on sale. So I was overjoyed to pick one up at the Big W sale this week for $48.

Breville write up:

"The Emporia Rice and Risotto Maker makes creamy risotto in minutes. Its dedicated saute and risotto functions allows you to saute and cook all in the same bowl."

I know, not as good as a Bimby. I do though, have all the other appliances under the sun that I won't part with. I only really want this so I can cook risotto and not have to stir it constantly.

Last night I made a '3 Cheeses' risotto and it was delicious.

Hobbies.

You know you do these hobbies, mostly in my case, to connect with people. Being a Gemini and all I don't really like doing anything on my own, least of all crafty pursuits, which I view as purely an excuse to socialise with a few layouts completed as a by product.

So it is quite disappointing really to realise that a UFO (unfinished object), in this case a layout I started the last time I scrapped with a 'friend' is still sitting in my lounge room.

It sits in a scrap frame, taunting me, a reminder. That particular layout has sat there for about a year now and every time I eat a meal or have a cuppa it is 'there', in that space... unfinished. I am going to finish it this weekend, probably on my own, reflect on whether this hobby still makes me happy and why I choose to spend time scrapbooking. Because realistically I haven't for a long time now.

It's Funny How Things Work Out.

I bought this panel of jungle print quilting blocks when Squealy was a newborn and tucked it away carefully into my stash. Well Squealy is now heading for his 4th birthday in October and it's time to make his very own telly quilt for the lounge room.

While looking through my local Op Shop I was lucky enough to find a stack of quilting magazines and I flicked through and found this pattern in Country Favourites by Natalie Bird.

The best bit is it requires 16 blocks to make the square in a square blocks of which there are in the original fabric purchased!

They also need to measure 3 1/2 inches, which they do!!

Doing the happy dance today. So I figure it is just meant to be. I have a really good feeling about this quilt.

Am now off to equilter to see what I can find in tonal prints to match the fabric I already have. I'll also have to come up with a jungle pattern for the applique in the centre.

Lisa's Pikelets

Lisa's Pikelets

3 cups self raising flour
3/4 cup sugar
3 cups milk
3 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder

1) Mix all ingredients together to form a smooth batter (add milk slowly!)
2) Heat frying pan and cook spoonfuls over a moderate-low heat until they form bubbles, then flip.
3) Serve.

SuzyBoo Notes:

This recipe makes a truck load of pikletes, far too many for our family, but they freeze really well.

Reduce the recipe as follows:
* 1 cup SR flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 cup milk, 1 egg, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder.
or
* 2 cups SR flour, 2/4 cup sugar, 2 cups milk, 2 eggs, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder.

We have been using this recipe for years now and have worked out some different toppings. Husband Deluxe loves his with corn kernels (I buy the little tins of the super sweet stuff). String Bean likes hers with a sprinkle of grated cheese (put onto the raw side, flip and cook till the cheese is crispy).

Someone was over Sydney!

hehehehe it was cold, wet, miserable and busy. True Sydney yesterday and String Bean really *really* had had enough by this point.

But we were stuck trying to avoid driving out in peak hour traffic in the rain.

So what's a girl to do? Set up a girl cave :-)

Huggle Time.

He is so hard to pin down for huggles. Still racing around like he's stuck his finger in a power socket most of the time... but oh so cute!!!

Can you build with bubblegum?

Is the question posed to Fuzzy's Kindergarten class in the Unit Of Inquiry they have been studying.

As you can clearly see the answer is YES!!!

What a superb model. Fuzzy has used pasta, marshmallows, m & m's, sugar cubes and other assorted food stuffs to create this.

He is so very proud of it.

Not sure how we are going to store this little gem once it comes home though? I suspect the ants will have a field day with this :-)

Zucchini & Walnut Cake

My zucchini loaf!

Zucchini and Walnut Cake

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarb
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup soft brown sugar
1 small zucchini, grated
1/2 cup pitted dates, chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
2/3 cup vegetable oil, I used canola
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 180d.
2. Line a loaf pan with baking paper.
3. Chuck in all the dry ingredients and mix.
4. Add all the wet ingredients and lightly mix with a wooden spoon.
5. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 55 minutes.

Serve in slices with butter. Serve warm from the oven with 'real' butter... delicious. The boys loved this. An easy and sneaky way to get veggies into the tots.

I've blogged this as Simon thought you couldn't make a 'zucchini cake'... umm yes you can & for Tim who thought it tasted like carrot cake! :-)