Little Lilly

When LSO goes to the United Kingdom, I wait in anticipation for him to return, not you might think that it is because I miss him, and I absolutely do! However it is because he brings me back the latest issues of my favorite magazine, Simply Crochet! I have told you all before that I can get in here but we are about 3 issues behind and they cost enough to keep a small country in food for a week or two - ok that's a gross exaggeration but they are expensive!  I was waiting in anticipation for this one as I had seen the sweetest little crochet amiguri doll in it. I needed to crochet her......

 

 

It was only when I had the magazine in my grubby little hands that I realized that it was also the free gift for the month - Yahoo! I didn't even have to race to my favorite yarn store. So on a lovely warm morning  a few days later I began to make Lilly. I sat under a tree while LSO and Little Madame were fishing and began the rounds that would make up her little head. I love this form of crochet, I think it brings out a little OCD in me.  Amiguri is crocheting in the round you have to count constantly or you lose your place and end up with an mess. So the rhythm is relaxing to me. 

  

 

Soon I had the  head done. The great thing about this form of crochet is that  you also have to stuff as you go, so you see the item come together before your eyes. Once the head was crocheted and stuffed, the body was quick and simple.

 

 

I ran into a gentle snag at this point, the arms were tricky and I was not getting them right. I never give up , however I do know when to move on, or I become frustrated and start to behave badly toward my crochet and that is never a good thing. The hair on this tiny little dolly is made by making a type of wig. So you re crochet half the head and then add long strands for the actual hair, very clever indeed. 

Her hair was easy to style, I had made the strands long enough to twirl and then go around her head and make a pony tail at the back.

Braids?

Her little hoody was a repeat of her head and hair....... so easy, I love easy clever patterns. So as you can see from the picture above even her legs were on, simply a pipe cleaner, bent in two -gave you two legs that are placed through tiny little holes that you make while crocheting the body, and then you bend two feet.(I did glue them with some project glue, as I found them falling out all the time) Too sweet, however now I had to return to those pesky tiny teeny  arms.....

I will not tell a lie, they took me a while. they are really tiny as you can see, to keep count of 5 stitches as you are hooking is very tricky and I am not 100% that they are both perfect but because they are so tiny you would never notice.

 

Little Lilly in the magazine is sad, I think because it is raining! I however love the rain, here in deepest darkest Africa we know that rain is a gift and we are happy when the heaven open up and soak the land.  Often when it is bucketing down outside, Little Madame and I rush out and happily dance in the rain.  My little Lilly is a happy girl. She reminds me of my Little Madame who is an exceptionally happy little girl, and when she is happy, I too am happy......xxx

 

 

Somebunny loves Easter....

 

So let me start of by saying I know that this post is just a little late for Easter..... well by 1 day, but late never the less. As I have mentioned over and over and over again, I love..... no that doesn't seem right, I LURVE (that's better)Easter, well almost as much as I love Christmas ..... well ok, lets just say I love the holidays. This Easter however I realized that I might have a small problem... A small problem with two long ears and a fluffy tail, as I was decorating for Easter this year, I realized that all my bunnies were still out and about, AND to make matters worse, I had bought a few new fluffy tailed little cuties. Does one get such a thing as a bunnyholic? If you do , that's me.    

 

 

 

 

Now that I have confessed my undying love and fascination with bunnies, lets get down to the baking and making that went on this Easter. 

 

 

I am constantly being send biscuit recipes, I can honestly say that I get at least 2 a week. sometimes I gloss over them, the name of the biscuit, just doesn't make me want to rush to the kitchen and make them, sometime the actual recipe is long and laborious and complicated, not good for simple ole me! The recipe below however came from my friend Cat Forte and she shared it with me on FB. It came through quiet late one night so even though I was wildly excited and wanted to try it out there and then, I didn't think my family would be happy with me clattering around the kitchen at midnight! 

 



 

Easy and simple to make, with a few of my favorite ingredients, chocolate(of course) coconut and oats(yes I like oats)I didn't have pecans so walnuts were the order of the day AND I ran out of chocolate drops, so short crust tumble chocolate were chopped up and added-why not have a biscuit in a biscuit?

 

 

Coconut Walnut Chocolate Chunk(with a few bits added) Cookies!                

1¾ cups light brown sugar
1 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour        
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon  salt
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup pecans, roughly chopped(walnuts)
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1⅓ cups chocolate chunks(only had 3/4 cups, used Cadburys Tumbles chopped up)       


Preheat the oven to 160  degrees. Melt the butter in a  bowl Add the sugars and stir until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and stir to combine. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and oats; stir the flour mixture into the wet ingredients.

Gradually add the pecans, coconut, and chocolate chunks, stirring to mix everything throughout the dough. Spoon the dough on to a lied baking sheet - if you want BIG cookies use BIG balls I prefer small bite size cookies so I use a walnut size ball. Press down slightly.  Leave some space between each cookie       

Bake for 15-16 minutes. Remove from the oven before the edges of the cookies have browned. The cookies should be puffy and cracked across the top.  Let cool for 1-2 minutes on the baking sheet and then remove to cool When the cookies have completely cooled, store in an airtight container - if there are any left        

I liked the recipe because it was in cup measurement-easy! As usual I popped all the  ingredients in the mixer with the dough attachment and mixed -easy! The smell of the oats and chocolate was yummy to say the least and many, many were  applied to mouth by the family, but alas not by me! Sadly  I gave up chocolate AND wine for Lent -  REALLY -what was I thinking? I decided to  take the yummy little biscuits to my icing class/ therapy a few days later.... for approval, so to speak..... they were proclaimed really rather good and none were left on the plate so I took that as a  good sign, either that or they were being polite....

 

Onto Easter craft number 2.

 

Every Easter  for as long as I can remember I have crocheted a Easter Bunny for Little Madame..... This year try as I might I could not get round to doing it. I needed to get a bunny done, it has sort of become a family tradition.  Now although I don't like FB very much,  a video-bloggy-crafty-thingy has been doing the rounds. It about making a Sock Bunny. It was just what I needed, simple easy and I didn't have to rush out to get anything..... So THANK YOU to this lady who saved me......

 

You ready.......

 

This is what you will need-

socks (I used some of those odd ones that always seem to be floating around)

scissors,

lace, buttons and ribbon

a needle and matching thread

twine

rice and a jug

a big roll of tape

permanent marker pen/sharpie-

 

  

 

1. Place you sock through the roll of tape, then over it to create a funnel

 

2.Pour in the rice(how much depends on how chubby you want your bunny to be)



 3. Stand you sock up

 4. Use the twine to tie the top of his head up - I wound the twine around twice.

5. Lay him down, decide where you want his head to be and used the twine/string to tie him a neck

6. Hold up the top of the sock and cut it off, again how long depends on how long you want his ears

7.Cut down the center of the sock, you now have 2 ears......

 8. Cut a V shape out of the top of the ears creating a bunny ear shape.....

 

See........ Ta Dah... you have a bunny! 

 

9. Make eyes and ears with the marker pen or sew buttons on for eyes
 

 

Add some ribbon around your bunny's neck, maybe a flower button on the ear. Don't forget to add a fluffy white bunny tail(use a pom pom) which I simply glued on. A very quick and very easy Easter Craft. Little Madame made her own little blue bunny, with an Easter Bonnet! 

 

Our Easter Bunny Family

 

And so Easter has come and gone, Easter biscuits done,  crafty Easter bunny's made, the hot cross buns eaten, some of  the chocolate eggs are still lurking(wish they would get eaten) Today I thought about packing away my little bunny's....... but lets face it, that's NEVER going to happen, it was a good thought. Happy Belated Easter y'all....xxx

 

PS: Its  good to be back in blogland!  



Sea Treasure......

A lot of my teenage memories are wrapped up in a holiday home down the coast, a little way down from our fishing village. It is a holiday home that my parents have been going to for about 20 years. The house has two units in it, each unit sleeps about 10 people and is owned by a friend of my mom. So every year since I was about 15 we have all converged on this house over the hot  and humid summer in December. We all have many happy memories of Christmas dinners on the patio, loud and energetic games of cards and monopoly, sunbathing, cousins visiting and  food oh the delicious food we made there. My memories include...... telling my darling Stepmom Frieda about meeting LSO, we were  on the patio, I told her that I had met the man I would marry. My family all stayed at this house when said man and I got married, I laid on the patio and rubbed my very pregnant tummy a few weeks before Little Madame was born. There are so many wonderful memories invested in that house.

This year however, my parents went down a few month ago(not in December), my dad needed to recuperate after a gruelling back operation, so LSO, Little Madame, my cheffy sister Cindy and I joined them for a few days. It was during one of the above mentioned dinners that Frieda gently broke the news to us that the owners had sold the house and this was to be our last adventure there. We were heartbroken........     

  

   

The house is right on the beach. You literally walk across a road down some steps and you are on the beach. A small alcove type beach. The main beach is a little way down so it really is private and secluded. Often you have the entire beach and rock pools to yourself. When the tide is out the hidden rock pools are visible  and they become our playground and there are always many treasures to discovered

 

The rock pools hold beautiful sea life........

The sky is always bright blue, the crisp winds blow and the air is  humid......

 The sand is course, the shells are broken but earthy, and the sea glass is exotic.....

You find unusual bits and bobs, like a tiny little creature looking for a new home......

In the crystal clear pools there are star fish, crabs, beautiful corals and tiny fish.......

 

 The sand is for kicking........

And sisters are forever, just like memories........

 

Eyes were brimming with tears as we left on the last day, I dared not look back for fear of dissolving into sobs!  I am certain that our holiday home will be torn down to make way for new exotic luxury apartments, where new families will come and new memories will be made. The enduring memories of our many happy family holidays at our home-from-home will never fade......xxx



Growing too Quickly

As a mother, I think that we all have to stop once in a while, take a long hard look and realise that children grow up.... It's not something that is easy and I have had to be dragged kicking and screaming toward this stage of my Little Madame's life. She is getting big, growing up, becoming a little lady. However it is happening way, WAY to quickly. I see it everyday, in the way she talks, walks and her general demeanour. She doesn't want me to chose her clothes anymore - apparently, I have no fashion sense! HA! To me, fashion sense is not , and I repeat  NOT booty shorts on an 8 year old - however she thinks they are perfect! But I digress......  

 

 

 

A few weeks ago she asked if she could bake? This was nothing new. We have always baked together, this is why she loves baking! Sure was my answer, however the reply was unexpected. "BUT.....Mama, I want to bake alone please" I was honestly not sure how to react, we have ALWAYS baked together-always! I had to suck it up! She wanted to make a cake, so I got out my ancient, and I do mean ancient baking file ( for those of you that were at Manor and read my blog.... it is the small file, the one  we used in Home Economics - remember?)

 

I helped her chose a simple 3 minute sponge cake, got out the ingredients and then left her too it..... Well I retreated a few steps, into our dining room which is in eye sight of  the kitchen ( to be fair and really honest... its all open plan)   

   

So Tall

As I watched her, one of the first things to strike me was how tall she had suddenly gotten, wasn't it only yesterday that she needed a small chair to see over the top of the kitchen island, now she was taller than the island. As she  began to make her own cake, I also realised that instead of her being all over the place, throwing random things into a bowl, she really was doing it all herself, she knew what a cup measure meant and exactly how to weight things on  the scale. She was following all the steps methodically and with the utmost concentration, it totally floored me, had she actually been listening to me all these years. I thought I had just been babbling on into thin air.....   

 

  

 

I asked a few times if she needed help but the answer was always the same "I am fine thanks Mama" And although it pains me to say this she was doing perfectly! So I left her in peace (well.... except for the odd picture) The batter looked great and very soon she asked for help on the one thing she was nervous of doing  - putting the cake tin into the oven.  

Yummy Batter

At this stage of her baking journey, it became clear that she was very serious about all this. She kept checking the cake, exactly like they do on Britain Next Great Baker..... It was really sweet! She set not one but 2 timers and kept asking if they had rung yet?

That was when I realized that she was really nervous about her cake, she really wanted it to go well, and she REALLY wanted this to be HER first proper-I-baked-this-without-mama-cake. I began to worry too, however I need not have, when the timer finally rang and then then next one rang, we both bolted for the oven. I was asked to take it out, and my heart swelled with pride(and more than a little relief )when it was PERFECT!!!! Perfect I tell you.....

 

A little brown.... but perfect! Little Madame was truly delighted, she kept checking on it as it cooled, I don't think she believed that she had actually made it all by herself. 

Cooling time on a cake must be very difficult for little ones but eventually it was cool enough to frost, and she wanted to use buttercream AND fondant (she really has been watching me) And of course lots and lots and LOTS of ediable glitter. she made an Olaf and a baby in a blanket, she used my texture matts, and I left her to create and play.........

The final cake was a work of art. She then made tea and we had tea and cake. Not only was the cake pretty, but it tasted really good too. We had not one slice of vanilla sponge but two thick slices each and then after dinner we had some more!

Little Madame was ridiculously proud of herself, and so was I. She had done the whole thing by herself. I am going to say it again, I was PROUD! Years of her standing next to me on a chair while I talked her through measuring, beating and creaming have paid off. A life skill has been taught, I mean a girl really does need to know how to make a good sponge cake doesn't she?

Although I never like to end my posts on a melancholy note, I need to just say. My baby is no longer a baby, she is growing up into a well manners, happy and confidant girl. I wish with all my heart and soul I could slow thing down just a little..... but as I watch, teach and try to guide I cannot help but remember the tiny baby I held in my arms and marvel at the beautiful person that she is becoming and praise the Good Lord for the blessing that is my Little Madame.......xxx

The Best Part-Licking The Spatula!

Another Heavenly Cookies

I think that by ,  you  must all know, I LOVE A GOOD COOKIE! Its a very odd thing, I cannot resist a little home made cookie. Shop bought cookies do not  interest me in the least. purchase shop made cookies, I can happily walk past my cookie jar and not touch one, however if I make a batch of tasty yummy fresh home made cookies they are consumed, no not consumed.... hoovered up in a few days. Not only my yours truly, LSO and Little Madame are not far behind.

Finding a new recipe is always a very happy moment for  me.  I like trying new recipes I get excited about new recipes , honestly I do.  I think that I have admitted this before.... I  am just a  little OCD about cookies!

 

I was trawling for a tasty treat ago, when I looked in my Hummingbird Bakery Book, not expecting to find a whole section on Cookies.... a small section but a good one. . I was trying to look for something a little healthy, vaguely healthy .... I try and tell myself that I have to at least try, not only for my rear end but for my family too.....

So.... was it to be double chocolate chip? Peanut butter? White chocolate and pecan nut? Sugar cookies? Well ...plain ole oat and raisin won! They are billed as a 'lovely, cinnamon cookie made with rolled oats, what could be nicer?

 

Out came the trusty Kenwood and I got baking. Soon the mixer going - eggs, sugar, oats and butter were beating and whizzing. As with most cookie recipes it was simple. Actually I find with most baking, as long as you don't deviate from the recipe too much, you are ok!

 

As with most of the recipes I post..... credit must go to Hummingbird Bakery(one of my favorite places to visit when in the UK)

 

Oat and Raisin Cookies 

 

270g Butter(room temp)

160g Castor Sugar

2 Eggs

1/4 tsp Vanilla Essence

380g Flour

1 tsp Salt

1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

110g Oats

220g Raisins

 

Cream the butter and sugar

Add eggs one at a time, beat in the vanilla essence

Mix the flour, bicarb, salt and cinnamon in a seperate bowl

Add to the butter mix-beat well

Stir in the oats and raisins

Place equal portions on a well greased baking tray - allow for spreading

Bake at 170degrees Celsius for 12 minutes

 

Soon the mouth watering smell of baking biscuits was wafting through our house, they certainly are cinnamony because that was the heady spicy smell that was permeating everything! 

 

 

As you can see they were being eaten as they came out the oven! They were light and sweet, the oats and raisins made them very homely, the cinnamon made them that little bit exotic. They were a winner with the entire family!I certainly will make them again.... and again and AGAIN......xxx

PS:: A few  cookies even made it into the cookie jar..... but not for long!

Tomaytoe....Tomatoe....

 

Since our renovations, I have had a total complete and all-out war to get my veggie garden back on track. It would seem that my garden took umbrage to the fact that we did not give it tender, gentle, loving care. During the renovations we were in and out, there was rubble everywhere. We also could not spray for nunu’s, the creepy crawly type that seemed to invade our, entire garden.

The garden became over grown. Everything took a beating, even with all the rain, the endless pouring rain, the garden seemed to think that we had abandoned it. Left it to fend for itself……..  

No matter what I did, organic fertilizer, spraying of garlic and chili for the insects. New sweet little seedlings, tomatoes, beans, spinach even the most hardy of things… onion and potato’s –NOTHING, not even one little pea.  I even resorted to chatting away to it, in soothing loving tones, begging, pleading, shouting, more pleading…….even a song or two (and that to be honest could make weeds cry!)

The very sad day came when I decided to tell LSO that I had to give up, I simply could not anymore…. Come with me he said…… Look at this he said…… I think we need to start a new garden he said……. There quietly growing in my compost heap was two brave little tomato plants….. Valiantly growing. Looking healthy and happy. My heart was so very happy!

I decided to let him replant it, after all I was not having too much luck with planting anything! I could not risk killing the only living vegetable in my garden. LSO planted it along our drive way in the full sun against a wall. It was left to hopefully flourish.

 

 

 

And FLOURISH it did. Within a few days it was reaching for the sky…… it grew and grew, it was like the plant in Jack and the beanstalk. Before long it was up the gutter I kid you not. Then perfectly pretty little yellow flowers began to make their appearance. LSO nurtured it, sprayed it, not with my ‘’rubbish organic stuff’ he went and bought some serious stuff, but whatever he was doing was working. Sweet plump little tomatoes were making there very welcome appearance. He was happy with himself. Very happy!

 

 

Soon I was picking ripe red juicy sun ripened little tomatoes’.  Loads of them, lots of them, more than we could keep up with….. So they went into everything. We made tomato everything…. Salads, pasta, pizza and roasted tomato, you name it…….it was tomato.  But boy were we enjoying the fact that we were growing our own vegetables again.  

 

 

 

 

 

Soon I was looking for a new and improved place to grow veggies. I decided on a potted veggie garden. It is working really well. It is in the full sun, and everything is flourishing.  I am once again an ‘urban farmer’…. As for the tomato plant, it is the gift that keeps giving. Tonight dinner is egg on toast with , yes you guessed it, yummy little fried tomatoes……..xxxx