Dazzling Dancing Dresses

 

MaNy, many years ago I did Ballroom and Latin American Dancing.... MaNy, many years ago! I loved dancing and it was a passion that took me to place I never dreamt I would go. I saw my dancing hero's performing  live when we competed in the World Ballroom Dancing Championships  in Tokyo, Japan and  wept as the 'god' of ballroom dancing, Bill Irwin announced "Let battle begin..."  a bit dramatic I know, but he said it every year as the annual Blackpool Championships began - it was what every competitor waited to hear!

 

Sadly life moves on, I had my !5 minutes.... and one simply cannot dance forever.... I lost contact with the dancing world when I had my Little Madame, and a few years have passed by since I had seen or heard anything from the dancing world...... Yes.... Yes .... I am getting to the point!

 

A few weeks ago I bumped into a very old friend(Sorry Les, I don't mean old, old, just long time old... digging a deep grave here!) We chatted and she asked me if I was still making dancing costumes - "No Time" , I said, I was really busy - I said .... cooking, baking, crocheting, wifeing, and mothering! But my friend Les is persistent, very persistent, she needed dresses and so for the last few weeks I have been up to my eyeballs in leotards, sequins, fringing, rhinestones, frills and lots and lots of organza!!! And Boy-Oh-Boy am I enjoying myself!   

 

So here are the three B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L Dazzling Dance Dresses I have made for my dear friend AND might I add.... World Line Dance Champion!!! 

  

The first dress was supposed to just be a 'trail-run' dress but it turned out so well that she wore it at the very next competition. It is a Waltz dress, It took 15 meters of organza and literally thousands of rhinestones! She brought me little lace flowers and I stoned them... now stoning is a very time consuming thing, its not quick and you have to build up a kind of rhythm, you need a pointed object, a bottle of gloopy glue and patience. You dip the end of said pointy object in to the glue, a minute amount is needed and then you touch the tip to a  stone pick it up and place it onto the spot where you want it( that spot has been dotted with glue already) It is a frustrating job, if you don't get it just right you drop the stones, or it gets stuck and you end up with gloopy glue all over the place!  

 

 

A Fairy Dance Dress

Lacey Flowers

Shoulder Flowers

The Back

The Front and A Neck Piece

This dress is beautiful, almost magical( Actually all it needs is a pair of Fairy wings) and if you vaguely can hear the beautiful 1...2...3 beat... of waltz music in your head you will be able to picture the dress floating and twirling  beautifully, it also sparkles as the skirt fabric has a beautiful shimmer to it, it is as though a fairy landed on it and  sprinkled magical fairy dust all over it!

The Making

 Dress number two , is sexy and when it is on it looks like she is half naked!  A flesh coloured leotard was the base and then I literally draped the acid green  fabric around until it sort of fell perfectly into place, pinned it, and then sewed it onto the leotard!(Hope no one looks inside this costume... eeekkk)

The Front

 
The skirt is a circle and a half as this gives it really nice movement! Once again, lots and lots and LOTS of stones just scattered all over the bodice and heavily over the bust area and -WOW!!! it looks fabulloouuss!

The Back

 

 Dress number three just happens to be my Favourite! It is a sassy, cheeky dress and is being used for a jive number! The very apt music to which this dance is being performed is 'Proud Mary' -It is the perfect music! She decided to go with fringing which moves really well, and although this might look  like it was easy it is really very difficult to work with, it simply has a life all of its own.... 

 

 

Different Idea's

Beautiful Colours

 

 The colour are amazing and these picture do it no justice what so ever...... A very bright pink and orange and an acid yellow, now if you look at the picture above, you will see that this dress didn't just happen, I pinned, repined and started to pin all over again! The mix of colours although gorgeous, just wouldn't fit, until ...  yes, you guessed it, a midnight epiphany!.... I sewed them on top of one another so when she is standing still it looks like a plain pink fringe dress BUT when she moves .... a riot of pink, orange and yellow!

 

Fringing and Bling Bling

 I used  big stoned motives on the bodice to give the dress more texture! Then lines of stones for bling and shimmer! It weighs a ton, fringing is very heavy..... BUT It is such fun and looks really sexy on Les! (My two dress makers dummy's Dolores and Mavis - do it no justice what so ever!) 




Looks So Good

 

The Back

 

The Front

So this is what has  taken up all of my time over the last few weeks..... And what is more I have loved every single minute and am so thankful to my dear friend, she has brought dancing back into my life after a long time, so my lesson here is it is never too late to do or go back to doing what you really love! I am looking forward to many more Dazzling dancing Dresses.......But in the mean time ...... Back to that crocheted blanket that has been so very neglected ......... xxx

PS:: Just heard that Les won the South African Championships this past weekend - those dresses must have helped! Well Done my friend!!!!! 

Simple Pleasures

 

Some times little things in life make you smile - for no apparent  reason you suddenly have a great big smile on your face! Today was such a day for me..... Today I looked around  and realised I am truly blessed!

 

  

1:: Little Madame, outside in our gorgeous garden, planting flowers and making Fairy gardens....

2:: Afternoon sun on our back patio

 3:: A teeny Sylvanian Rabbit playing with some stones......

4:: New Magazines, waiting to be read....

5:: A birthday present to someone special......

 

 

6:: New Yarn and a three quarters finished blanket....

 



7:: A few new and tiny little cake stand on a shelf.....

8::A pretty pink Bird for Little Madame's Fairy garden.....

9:: The Fairy garden we made.....

10:: It deserved another picture....

So this post is about nothing much, just about looking around you and smiling at all the simple thing that make our lives so very special....... xxx

Paddington Pies





This post is for, and about my Long Suffering One, my husband my best friend and my leader into evil....... Well not so  much really evil just food! LSO loves pies!!! No! Wait he does not love pies he LOOOVVEESS PIES! Cornish Pasties, to be absolutely precise! Big fat oozing with filling, golden brown pastry that is as light as clouds melt in your mouth pies, that according to him you can only get from Paddington Station in London! He also maintains that said pie has to be eaten there and then while having a very long and intense conversation with a club footed pigeon, these pigeons are really fat and happy,   personally, I think they all feast on pies all the time! So,  every time we go to London, we detour through Paddington and he buys Cornish Pasties from a little pie shop! And yes you read it right not 'A'-as in one pie BUT 'Pies' plural-as in lots of...... Apparently one is for applying to mouth there and then and the others are for later eating. I swear if he could bring them home in a crate he would..... he has even forgone the airline meal in favour of a Paddington Pie.( Well actually  this may be a really good idea!)

 

So A few weeks ago as he was sitting staring into space, I made the fatal mistake of asking what he was thinking about..... Oh yes you guessed it ..... PIES! Why oh why did I ask? So I thought I should do my wifely duties and try and make him some pies!  I turned to my girl, Nigella, but her recipe seemed really complicated, next I tried my man, Jamie - Yikes even worse! Google was next - there are hundreds of recipes all claiming to be the "best" and "original" I was at a loss.......

 

 

I read over a few and then reverted to my original plan, my peeps, Nigella and Jamie, I simply combined the two recipes..... and added a few bits and pieces along the way.

 

  

 

 

The meaty filling was relatively simple! It would seem that Cornish pasties rely heavily on carbs.... lots and lots of carbs - potato's and swedes.... what ? (HELP = Google) turns out it is a sort of turnip, well honestly, who has swedes hanging about in their kitchen..... Left them out and  added pea's for a little colour and well.... because I like pea's!

 

Now I must tell you all that I normal cheat with pastry,(there is always store bought puff pasty in my freezer!) but all these recipes called for short crust pasty, and it is a long process lots of ice cold this and icier cold that.... then putting in the fridge to get colder still... not to mention the don't handle too much warning! I was nervous..... I had never made short crust pasty before.....

 

Short crust pasty is a lot of work and these pie's were truly becoming a Labour of LOVE! but with that said the pasty was in the fridge and resting and I was feeling right clever! It was all looking quiet good!  

 

 

Next came the rolling and cutting out of circles, filling and curling the edges over and painting with an egg wash - WHEW! It would seem that I had finally made it to the easy part of the pie process!

Into the oven they went and about 20 minutes later, little Madame came trotting in from the garden asking " Mama What smells so totally yummy!" and groans of "Mmmmmmmm that smells so good" were heard from LSO 's study! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!! 

They looked Fabooooolooouuss! There were large pies for Papa Bear, Medium pies for Mama Bear and of course teeny tiny pies for Little Madame Bear!!

Add to that a few veggies - yes that is broccoli you see on the plate,  I might also add, home grown by yours truely! And we were good to ........Apply to Mouth!

So were they up to Paddington Pie Standard? Well after dinner, all sitting there with tummy's bursting and feeling sleepy(like you should after all good comfort food!) They were declared to be yummy in her tummy by Little Madame  and LSO said that any self respecting club footed pigeon from Paddington Station would give a coo of approval! Paddington Pies were a Hit! And apparently I was very welcome to make them again......

Well now gorgeous peeps, I hear you ask - 'were they worth the time and effort'...... OH YES! And now for the burning question, would I make them again, considering that they took the better part of a day to make? Let me answer you like this ...(LSO - Take note....) If pretty sparkly things were on offer in exchange - then yes I just might ..... xxx

 

PS:: I really cannot bring myself to type up the recipe..... it is long and well, a coffee, home made biscuits are waiting for me, with my latest  little hooky project......

Ye Old Fashion Sweets

While making all the Pink Food for Little Madames  Fairy Tea Party recently, I made Coconut Ice. A very vintage type sweet, I can remember my mom and aunt making Coconut Ice for school fete's. And it always seem to be the first thing that sold out..... Coconut Ice is the sort of a sweet that everyone likes but no one ever seems to make. I would make it constantly as I love it( but then again I love anything sweet, I was not born with a sweet tooth but a set of very large sweet TEETH!) One can buy it in a shop but very often shop bought coconut ice is really dry and bland!

 

 

Pink and White Yumminess!

 I found a really good recipe that I thought I would share with you , I am making bucket loads at the moment as a very dear Friend is getting married soon and asked me if I would make literally bucket loads for her desert table!!

 

Idea's Magazine

I know that I always go on about how easy things are but this is throw every thing together divide in two and put into the fridge! No effort and no baking! Easy Peasy to say the least.....

Coconut Ice

280g Icing Sugar
1ml Cream of Tartar
1 can Condensed Milk
270g Desiccated Coconut
Pink Food Colouring

Sift the icing sugar and cream of tartar
Add the condensed milk and half the coconut - stir well
Add the remaining coconut and mix well
Divide the mixture add a few drop of pink food colouring to one half
Press the pink mixture into a grease baking dish
Followed by the white!
Put into the fridge and allow to set for about an hour

Cut into squares and you guessed it!  Apply to Mouth! Yummy!

The Pink

The White

Little Madame wanted in on the Act so I gave her a small bowl, and she made a tiny amount! You can see the lovely pink and white  colours of the Coconut Ice below!

 

Baby Coconut Ice

So all the Coconut ice is now made and in my Freezer, did I mention that it freezes really well?

 

So I think that trying out some more vintage type sweets is going to be my new "thing" My mother has promised me my great Aunt Edie's recipe book, maybe there will be vintage sweets in that! So marshmallows next or perhaps fudge - Ooooooo I just Lurve fudge!! ...... Now where is my recipe book......xxx

PS:: It would also seem that different coconut make differnt textured coconut ice. The top picture is really course and the bottom picture more refined - still all tastes really good!

So Easy.....

 

You know when something is so easy that it is hard to believe..... Well a  few weeks ago,  I was told about three recipes that  just seemed  too good to be true, simply because they were so ridiculously easy...... And by easy I mean Super Easy, like EaSy LeMoN SqUeAsY type of EASY..... So I decided to try them all out ..... And here are the results - they really are so easy and so quick - I just love them!

  

The first, is possibly the most difficult because it is jam(Don't PANIC!) BUT a jam like you have never ever tasted before...... It actually is a huge TA DAH all on its own and possibly deserves a post of its own but as I mentioned it is so easy... so here it is TA DAAAHHH  - Carrot Cake Jam!  my cheffy sister sent it to me and said to try it so I did. Now even LSO who is not the jammiest person in the world likes it ...... I really should keep this a secret recipe but I can't it's just too good!

  

Cindy's scrumpy CARROT CAKE JAM

 

1 1/2 cups finely grated Carrot(the only tedious part)

1 Tin crushed Pineapple

1 1/2 cups chopped Pear(peeled too)

3 Tbs Lemon Juice

1  tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

 1/2 tsp of Cloves

4 cups Sugar

 

So now put everything in a pot and  bring to the boil then let it simmer for an 20 min

Add the sugar - and let it dissolve while stirring

Bring to rolling boil for about 20 min - stir it every now and again

Pour into sterilised bottles - DONE!

It looks runny but when it cools it is perfect jam consistency

 

Of course I needed something to put it on before Applying to Mouth, so I made some Carrot and Cream Cheese muffins ...... Well I was grating mountains of carrots anyway... so why not..... 

My Best  Cook Books

Easy peasy no 2: My friend Kerry, who I have mentioned before told me about theses scones, and  I actually did not believe her, the ingredients were way to simple so I told my dear friend Jenna about them, well midway through the same afternoon I was getting text messages about how yummy these scones were so I tried them the next day ......

Kerry's  Yummy Scones(you are NEVER going to believe this)

500g Self raising Flour
1 can of Sprite (maybe 7up if you in the UK or USA)
250ml Cream
a pinch of Salt

Mix everything together
Put in to greased muffin tins
Bake at 200 degrees for about 13- 15 min

Take out , and while still warm put some Carrot Cake Jam on the top and Apply to Mouth!!

The Making

Light and Fluffy

So Yummy!

My Pride and Joy!

Last but not least - while watching some healthy cooking program on TV (what do you mean, you?  YES ME! I can be healthy - well if I  REALLY want too) I saw a cheffy type person making Banana, Honey and Peanut Butter Ice Cream!

The consistency looked amazing, just like ice cream and it was pretty healthy!
 

Banana,Peanut Butter and Honey Ice Cream

Banana's (as many as you want, I used 4)
1 Tbs Peanut Butter
1 Tbs Honey

Chop the banana's and lay them on a tray
Place them in the freezer and allow to freeze solid
Take them out and put into a food processor and whizzzzzzz
Add the Peanut Butter and Honey
Whizzzzzzzz

Put into a bowl grab a spoon and yes, you guessed it! - Apply to Mouth!

So what is the lesson in all this Easy Peasy Lemon Squeasy food ? You do not have to be Nigella, Gordon, Jamie or any of the Master Chefs in order to create yummy easy and non time consuming food, just bloomin adventurous! I mean really, sprite in scones and carrot cake jam ........ We can be the Bear Gryllis of our kitchens. Just take that  LEAP! xxx