I Can't Make Cheese Scones!

 

I have been with LSO for many, many years.... Actually a life time! We hardly ever fight,  we are one of those jolly-hockey-sticks couples who have pet names for each other(No - I won't tell you what they are) we still hold hands, still do PDA's, still go to movies together, he makes me laugh, till I cry..... In short we are still totally and absolutely smitten with each other. 

 

BUT boy can he wind me up about one thing and one thing in particular...... CHEESE SCONES - Yes! You read it right. He says I can't make them....... I have tried very recipe, and I do mean every one from Nigella to Jamie to that -pretty-model-person, but still the same answer - mmmm They are OK! And Then he will announce in front of everyone over a dinner - "she cooks really well BUT (Wait For It......) She cannot bake cheese scones!!! Do you think I would get away with beating him????

 

So when I had heard it one too many times a few weeks back, I grabbed my ipad and just googled cheese scones - of course a trillion recipes came up and I literally closed my eyes, pointed my finger at the screen and chose one! Can't make cheese scones mutter mutter....... (insert VERY grumpy face here)  

 

My finger had found a BBC GoodFood recipe and to my dismay it was really simple, which as you all know is my 'thing'  it was done in to time at all and I even heard a shout from the study - "What smells so good???" - Like I was going to tell him, I was once again trying to make him cheese scones!..... If he hated these I was going to give up ...... Honestly, there is only so much a girl can take....

So here it is.....

Cheese Scones the BBC way :

2 cups of Flour
3 tsp Baking Powder
Large pinch of Salt
Sprinkle of Cayenne Pepper(I used Paprika)
250ml Cheddar Cheese
3 tsp Oil
125 ml Milk
1 egg

Sift all the dry ingredients together and add the cheese

Beat the milk, egg and oil(oil replaces the butter which you would rub in so it is much easier)

Add the wet bowl  to the dry bowl and mix with a fork, I found I needed a bit more milk as it was a bit dry!

Press the dough out on a floured surface until it is about 5mm then fold it over and flatten it again - DON'T  use a rolling pin as it flattens the scones and prevents them from rising( A REALLY GOOD TIP)

Cut them out, place on a baking tray and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about fifteen to twenty minutes......

Done!

I Love Cheese - Actually Added More!



Ooooo Those Look Good!

So they smelt really good, they looked really GOOD.... but would they be good enough for His Royal Fussiness.... I decided to go all five star on him, I served it with ham, pickles butter and tomato jam.... A bit over the top here but remember I was going for broke......

Five Star Plate!

Mine was yummy, no fancy plate for me just a mouth full of piping hot scrummy scone with lashings of butter. I think actually had 2! And why not they may well be the last cheese scones I ever make!


Yummy!





So what do you think the verdict was after the plate had been cleaned?  I waited with bated breath..... 'Mmmmm they are OK!!!!" WHATEVER! That was it! No more trying, never ever would cheese scones be mentioned in my home...... I was NeVeR ever, EVER going to bake for him again, ever, never, did I say NEVER EVER  AGAIN! (insert double grumpy face here!)

 

So it was to my big surprise when I wondered into the kitchen  that night and found no more cheese scones in the tin, and I got an even bigger surprise when later that night as we were tucked up in bed a very sleepy voice said "Don't make those cheese scones again... I ate too many they were really GOOD!"  Did I mention how much I love my LSO!!! xxx 

 





mosaic magic

 

At one time or another I have tried almost all types of crafting, I enjoy it, I like doing new things, I really enjoy creating things for my home! Beautiful things that I can look at and know that I enjoyed doing and spent hours making! Some I have continued to do and other have really just been too much  effort and some have just not endeared themselves to me so I have never done them again.

 

I have never tried to mosaic - I remember buying some bits and bobs to try many years ago but I never got round to making whatever it was I was going to make..... (you know me - I was probably onto the next thing I had seen...) It just never seemed to appeal to me, I have friends who love it and are mosaic mad but as I said - me not so much!

 

Yes , I am getting there.....

 

A few weeks ago I decided that I need a quiet spot in my garden to sit and well.... be quiet! so I got LSO to level out some ground under a tree for me! It was PERFECT! I added some pavers(well LSO did - the darling man!!) and then moved a very old Mexican fire pot to the spot and went out and bought some beautiful BeAuTiFuL bright blue pots, they matched the blue rim at the top of the Mexican fire pot! I then moved an old table an chairs onto it , but ALAS..... the wood on the table was rotten, it had been eaten by "turnbites" as Little Madame so eloquently put it! As I did REALLY, REALLY not want to spend a fortune on this small garden project I was very unhappy!! 

My Quiet Place

Over the next few day I had a look around at various shops and garden centres, but all the tables were very dear. In one garden centre I spotted a mosaic table and BAM!! Yes, you guessed it I thought why not mosaic the top of the old one!

We had some old wood  boarding lying around so I got our handy man Stephen to cut a circle out for me. I varnished it to protect it from the weather. Then the search was on for beautiful blue tiles, the amount of gorgeous tile you can find is astounding..... I was at a loss and as I didn't have a clue what pattern I was going to follow I just bought a whole pile of random tiles and a tile cutter.  I also had the idea of a willow type pattern and got Little Madame to break two old plates for me...... with much gusto she smashed them onto the slate next to our pool - I think she thought I had gone mad.....Asking "are you sure mama?"

 

A Box Of Beautiful Blue Tiles

Joy!

So one beautiful sunny morning I sat down with Little Madame and got started, I didn't want to follow any pattern I just want to be creative and see were it went, a BEAUTIFUL blue and white ceramic rose was glued into the centre and off we went!  I was pleasantly surprised because doing mosaic was really very quick and relatively easy! I drew a circle in the middle of the table and filled it in with the broken willow pattern plates, it looked good, Little Madame then circled around that with mirror tiles   and tiny squares came next! The outer edge of the table was next, I placed a greeny/bluey butterfly every 20 or so tiles...... it looked lovely! 

  

Willow Pattern Circle




See What I Mean

I really must say that I think what  really helped the creative juices to flow was the fact that we were working outside on our veranda. So much of our life is spent on our back veranda, we lounge there under blankets in the winter with piping hot coffee's and in the summer months we  love lying in the cool breeze after long swims in our pool. We eat outside often, watch the sun come peeking up over the trees in the morning and now it has become our make shift craft room!  And after a chilly winter, finally it looks like spring is on the way and working with all the beautiful aqua blue colours in the warm  sun  was food for the soul! (ohhhh I am waxing again - but I do so LOVE our home!)

Now the middle of the table proved to be a bit of a challenge for us....... Nothing looked quiet right. Maybe working with a pattern would have been better for novice 'mosaicers'(is that even a word?) We changed it a few times before we were totally happy with it! And then it really was a case of filling in the rest of the table!

I ran out of tiles at this stage, and went into a bit of a PANIC, but luckily found the exact tiles again! WHEW!!

And so, the top of the table was finally finished, and I was as pleased as punch!(I wonder where that saying comes from? - Anyone  know?)

 

The rim was tricky and I had to balance it every which way to get the tiles to stick and eventually tied them on with a piece of string, to be honest I just did not have the patience to wait for some to dry then turn it and wait again.... I wanted it to be done! The next day I made the grout and slopped it all onto the top of the table and got stuck in, it was messy but  such  fun! I also need to say that my hands got a bit cut, not badly but a few of those tiny little irritating cuts that are just achy - So what I am trying to you  here is make sure that your tiles are the same width, so that they don't poke up and  cut your little hands! I could tell you exactly how to mosaic but really it is simple cut tiles, glue them on and grout!



 

And so here it is my BIG FAT MOSAIC.... TA DAH!!!!!! And as you will see the Ta Dah is in shouty capitals so I think it is safe to say that I am very H-A-P-P-Y with it!

 



It looks like a different spot now! I also added some more pots and a few pretty little tea light lanterns (which look so gorgeous at night, butI couldn't get a good picture - Sorry!) I am thinking of painting a few old pallets blue and fixing them to the fence behind the tree, which would add some privacy. I also think some to fairy lights for the tree would add to the loveliness.  I think that my magical mosaic reading/relaxing/contemplating life spot is nearly complete. All that I need now is a warm fire in the Mexican fire pot,a good book and a really good cup of coffee and I will be all set(Oh and maybe a babysitter) - Anyone care to join me?......... xxx   

 

 

Two Vegetables and Nutella !

It is 2 o'clock on Sunday afternoon and Little Madame and I are still in our pyjama's! We have been pottering around all morning, stopping every now and again to watch a bit of TV but to be honest just generally...... Mmmmm, I cannot even think of a suitable word..... So being two VEGETABLES it will have to be......

 

We have made cupcakes but have yet to ice them..... They are patiently waiting  on the stove..... We might get round to them later.... Maybe.....

 

 

 

 

We also made the easiest biscuits in the world, they have four ingredients, and took about 2 seconds to put together!

 

So I thought I would very quickly share them with you ......Very Quickly because I need to go back to being a vegetable

 

 

Only Four Things Needed

 Nutella Biscuits

70g Flour
1 Egg
1 slab of chocolate/ or chocolate chips(the recipe called for 70 g - but that means 30 g are waste - and we cant have that - so I just put the whole slab in......)
1 Jar of Nutella

Easy so far.....

Chocolate Stash

 

Mixed

 Mix everything together

Dropped

 Drop onto a grease baking sheet and bake at 180 Degrees Celsius for 10 minutes

Let them cool (if you can)....... And of course.... Apply to mouth.....

Nutella on Toast

They are very chocolaty and very delicious and very easy!  I had a few for lunch and my Little Madame had Nutella on toast! A couch, chocolate and your PJ's !What more does one need on a Sunday afternoon..... xxx 

 

Holiday Home

  

 Little Madame has everything that opens and shuts..... at last count she had 42 Barbie dolls, excessive I know, but for every new Barbie movie there is a new doll - and she just HAS-TO-HAVE -IT or she would apparently die - and we cant have that now can we...... She has a LaLaLoopsy House, a Barbie house and the latest fad was a Sylvanian Families House, so all in all you can see that I spoil her ROTTEN - Yes I do I am not ashamed to admit it,  I will step up to the plate...... I spoil her.

 

Now the funny thing about children is that no matter how many of the latest toys they have, the simplest thing keep them the happiest - Isn't that the truth! Think of your child's first Christmas, toys galore and what did they end up playing with? The BOXES and WRAPPING PAPER...... Well my Little Madame certainly did!

 

Where am I going with all this rambling .... Here it is.... During the recent school holidays, Little Madame brought me a book that we had bought a while back on a sale called The Rainy Day Book. with all sorts of crafts to do on rainy days of course, she want to make the little dolls house..... You have four dolls houses go play with those.... But I L-O-V-E this one Mama -  See what I mean!! 

  

 

 

It was actually a really ingenious idea, using any old box, and house hold bits and bobs, small boxes, match boxes, pipe cleaners, lids from various thing and some scrapbook paper. As a matter of fact we did not need to go out and buy anything at all.

 

So with everything we needed, assembled we set to work - I used an old storage box, but a shoe box would be perfect too. We cut and gloopy glued, scrap book paper to the walls and floors. Match boxes were emptied and made in to chest of drawers and a little arm chair, and Little Madame produced  the cutest little lamp, made from a cupcake liner, pipe cleaner and a cotton reel, it really is very sweet. Now the one thing that little peeps don't have is patience.... not even a little, so I had to distract her with other tasks while we waited for gloopy glue to dry. I got her making Perla bead flowers for the flower pot, which was a toothpaste top! (the beads did not work and in the end we used a little lace flower)

 

 

I used anything I could find, a tiny Estee Lauder sample box became a cupboard, the carpet is a knitted square and the table is a tablet lid glued onto a glue stick top. And the best thing about it all was that is was not fiddly work, little fingers could do it all(with the tiniest amount of supervision)!  

Now the book says to paint all the furniture but as attention spans are not so very long at this age, I cut out strips of scrapbook paper and helped her cover  all the furniture, a glue stick worked really well here as it glues instantly and there is less mess! The Chair was four match boxes stacked , and the chest of drawers was three match boxes stacked on top of one another(the drawers even open and close), so simple but so sweet!

 

We glued a tiny peg onto the wall for picture hanging and Little Madame made a window, to which she glued some lace as a curtain. A pompom served as a cushion and VOILA......

The house was ready for a sweet little Sylvanian bear to move in..... This little bear had apparently been tossed out of the Sylvanian house as she was "bery bery naughty!'

Now after watching Little Madame spend hours playing with this cute little box house, I got to thinking, what about stacking and glueing a few boxes on top of one another, you could make a big house with a few rooms.... A mansion in fact, and it would cost next to nothing, You could let your little ones design their very own homes..... Which also lead me to thinking about all the gorgeous toys that I always tell LSO she really, really wants.... Are the toys for Little Madame OR for me?...... Mmmm I wonder?....  And what ever you do, don't tell LSO xxx 

Tinkle Tinkle Little Star!



We have a new addition to our family...... and before you all get overly excited - NO, I have not had a baby.... perish the thought..... Are you insane....... NEVER!!

 

We decided a few months ago that the estate needed another hound, many heated discussions  ensued as to what hound we would get.... I wanted a Yorkie( but apparently they count as RATS not dogs) and LSO wanted a Labrador, we then thought that maybe another Spaniel was the way to go, since we had one already the debate was heated went on for weeks.... then the hound thoughts went quiet for a bit..... actually quiet a while..... and I thought we had gotten passed it all. I mean really 1 dog, 1 cat, 1 goldfish and 1 Siamese fighting fish (which had been a purchase by my sister for Little Madame - when I was not around....insert a frowny face here!!)  was enough!

 

But apparently I was wrong, as a few weeks ago, I was told that a new puppy had been found and was arriving that afternoon..... And so on a cold winters evening a sweet little puppy arrived at the Estate.... she was tiny and even I was enchanted, Little Madame promptly named her Star!

 



Star

 

 When she arrived she was quiet and reserved, sweet and fluffy and white, she slept well and seemed like a placid and angelic little dog...... 

 

Aw...... Little Baby

But as we all know looks can be deceiving...... Stop all the chuckling and guffawing!!! As her confidence grew so did her aptitude for being inquisitive. She is into everything, if it is not moving she is sniffing it, and boy can she sniff!  Star is the ultimate burrower and sniffer, she plants her little nose in the ground and heaves in great big sniffs of whatever it is that has got her attention! The first time I heard it I thought that we had also purchased a pig... Which I would not put passed LSO!

What is in there?

She can also make a meal of anything.... and I do mean anything, I know it certainly is not a good subject but, I water in the "business" and I have discovered, Lego, bits of doll, marbles, hair clips and plastic.... good thing it all comes out or we would be up to our eyeballs in vets bills! And as you can see she loves wood, and we often have to chase her as she makes off with a piece....

That Looks Tasty....



Yes It Most Certainly Is....

No Its Mine....

OK, I Am Out Of Here

She would get a gold Medal for eating at the Olympics if we entered her. She is a voracious eater! and you have to be quick or your hand will be supper. She eats all her food then moves in on Baron food.  and then the fight is on......

 

Supper Is Served

 

Speaking of fighting, it would seem that all a cute and cuddly puppy wants to do is fight - well play fight that is... Poor Baron, she attacks for anything... she hangs onto his floppy long spaniel ears and never lets go...He is always running for his life... I swear sometime he looks at me and asks 'WHY OH WHY did you usurp me like this??.... I was Happy...Once! But at least they are friends!

 



See What I Mean



One of my favourite things to do with Star is Puppy Class! Puppy classes are a treat, I sit on the bank of a field and giggle and laugh at the antics of the puppy's and the reaction of the owners.... It is priceless! The dogs clearly run the show with owner scrambling around trying to look like they are in charge!  Star is the smallest little puppy at puppy class, but is very clever and has worked out the good behaviour = FOOD! We thought that it would be an ideal way for Star and Little Madame to bond..... And for once we were right, as a matter of fact little miss Star will only listen to Little Madame now.... They adore each other! Star follows Little Madame everywhere, to the point of trying very hard to sneak onto the couch with her...... Well that's just not going to happen! 

Sit, Stay,Walk!

And so, we have our new dog, she is not only is she pretty, but she is clever too.....She has crept into our hearts as only a puppy can and we all love her dearly, some of us less than other (Yes! Baron, I do mean you) As I look down at my feet(she is lying under the computer table on my feet) And she looks up at me, with  those very expressive Labrador eyebrows and eyes! I can see that she is as in love with us as we are with her.... Now if she would only learn to STOP peeing in the kitchen. xxx

She Is So Pretty