Sunday 23 September 2012

weekending...

Here's hoping you are having a great weekend.

tummy time...the drool comes free!

two little monkeys

smile...say cheese

over supply...organised by the little people

getting ready for road trip

Happy school holidays to all the hard working mamas out there xo.

Friday 21 September 2012

this moment

A ritual. A single photo or two - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. (From: soulemama)

Thursday 20 September 2012

everyday

Here are some everyday photos from our week, enjoy. 

baby flutterbug
enjoying lamingtons outside

making a box car

making home-made bread crumbs
baking in the kitchen

admiring

Wednesday 19 September 2012

playtime




This morning we dropped in to Daycare for class photos for miss flutterby and after waiting so patiently some time at the park was a sweet reward; blue sky, fresh air and space to just hang about.

Tuesday 18 September 2012

preparing for holidays

My apologies for the lack of posts over the last few days I have been busy doing just the usual, like every busy mama out there; chasing kids, driving kids, unpacking bags, re-packing bags, picking up toys, cleaning up baby spew, changing nappies,  baby sitting for a friend, catching up with friends, drinking way too much coffee, cooking, baking, shopping, cleaning, washing, folding, ironing and looking out at my very sad and neglected lawn and garden etc, etc, etc.  Phew! Thank goodness this is the last week before school holidays.  We are all looking forward to spending just a little bit more time together and doing things at a much slower pace... hopefully xo.

boy time


Lamb Curry

Lamb Madras
Read recipe carefully to allow enough preparation and cooking time.
Serves 6
1kg (2 lb 4 oz) boneless leg or shoulder of lamb, cut into 2.5 cm (1 inch) cubes
1½ teaspoons ground turmeric
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
10 dried chillies
12 curry leaves
10 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
5 cm (2 inch) piece of ginger, roughly chopped
1 teaspoons fennel seeds
1 tablespoons tamarind puree or tamarind paste
1 tablespoons oil or ghee
3 large onions, sliced
625ml (2½ cups) coconut milk
8 cm (3 inch) cinnamon stick
6 cardamom pods
Curry leaves

  1. Rub the cubed lamb with the ground turmeric.  Place a small frying pan over low heat and dry-roast the coriander seeds until aromatic.  Remove and dry-roast the cumin seeds, then repeat with the chillies.  Grind them all to a powder in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder.  Add six curry leaves, the garlic and ginger and grind to a paste.
  2. Dry-roast the fennel seeds in the pan until they brown and start to pop.  Dissolve the tamarind in 125 ml (½ cup) hot water.
  3. Heat the oil or ghee in a heavy based saucepan over low heat and fry the onion for 5-10 minutes until soft.  Add the chilli paste and cook for a few minutes or until aromatic.  Add the meat and toss well to mix with the paste.  Add 500 ml (2 cups) of the coconut milk and 60 ml (¼ cup) water.  Bring to the boil and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced. 
  4. When the liquid has reduced, add the remaining coconut milk, the cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and whole fennel seeds.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cover and cook, partially covered over medium heat, for 1 hour or until the meat is tender, stirring occasionally.  When the meat is tender, add the tamarind and check the seasoning.  Stir until the oil separates out from the meat, then spoon it off or blot with paper towels before removing the pan from the heat. 
  5. Stir well and add the remaining six curry leaves. 
  6. Garnish with more curry leaves. 
My kitchen notes:
Leave out chillies or use less according to your liking.
I added grated palm sugar and beef stock powder at the end to season curry and bring out a bit more of that salty-sweet flavour that we like.

Friday 14 September 2012

this moment

A ritual. A single photo or two - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. (From: soulemama)

Thursday 13 September 2012

tea anyone?

Inspired by the arrival of a cookbook and one retrieved from my bookshelf at home, I visited our local food emporium shop to gather ingredients.  I was assisted by the lovely local shop owner who shared her knowledge about spices and offered cooking tips.  Since then, I’ve been mixing, grinding, boiling, stirring, inhaling aromas and tasting flavours of the Far East; India, to be exact. 


I’ve enjoyed experimenting with an array of spices in the hope that it will bring warmth, nourishment and vitality to us as we welcome the early weeks of spring.  Over the next few days I will share some recipes I’ve tried. 


The first recipe is a beverage to have with a meal during lunch.  I chose this recipe for a number of reasons.  Firstly, it only has a few ingredients so that leaves little room for error (hopefully).  Secondly, the method is really simple and by lunch time with two toddlers and a baby I need things to be simple.  Lastly, I like hot drinks and this seemed perfect to have with lunch, something just for this mama to sit and savour. 

Lunch tea

tsp cumin seeds
tsp coriander seeds
tsp fennel seeds
1 cup water

Boil the water and add the spices.  Turn off the heat and cover.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Strain and sweeten according to your liking. 

Wednesday 12 September 2012

banana bread recipe

Basic Banana Bread
Serves: 6-8
125g butter, softened
1 cup (175g) brown sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 mashed bananas
1¾ cups (255g) plain (all purpose) flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder, sifted
1 tsp bicarbonate of (baking) soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
cup (115g) golden syrup
Butter, extra, to serve (optional)

1.   Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F).  Place the butter, sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes or until pale and creamy. 

2.   Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Gradually add the eggs and beat well to combine.

3.   Add the banana, flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and golden syrup and stir to combine.

4.   Spoon the mixture into a 26cmx11cm (2.5 litre-capacity) lightly greased loaf tin lined with baking paper.  Bake for 60-65 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.  Cool in the tin for 20minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.  Slice and serve with extra butter.


Divide mixture into little cake trays or a loaf tin.  Add seeds and or nuts to mixture for variety.
Watch cooking time depending on your oven - mine required less time about 40-45 minutes.
You can also layer slices with no-stick baking paper, wrap in plastic and freeze.



Monday 10 September 2012

home made...mixing it up


basic banana bread baked in little cake tray

remaining mixture of basic banana bread baked in small loaf tin with the addition of some seeds and nuts on top

home-made granola/muesli - initial stage of mixing
 I love baking from 'scratch' and when the opportunity arises that's where you'll find me, in the kitchen. 

Yesterday I made a basic banana bread.  I used a mini cake tray to make some cute individual portions suitable for both little and big people (of course).  There was also plenty of mixture left over to fill a small loaf tin.  To mix it up I sprinkled nuts and seeds on top.  Not too many seeds because my husband says... 'birds eat seeds' :-)

In the early hours this morning (before the sleeping babes woke), I combined two new recipes to make some home-made granola/muesli.  It's perfect as a topping on yoghurt (that is if you like a bit of crunch with your yoghurt).   It's full of yummy goodness, it is so good that I put some in a bottle for a friend and delivered it to her this morning while doing errands.

I will work on getting these recipes up on the blog to share in the next few days.

Friday 7 September 2012

weekending...inside outside


scraps from another quilt top ready to be unpicked and made into a new quilt for baby flutterbug

add in a few extra 'stash' fabrics

layout...trying not to change my mind one thousand times  

TV addict!

a favourite


water paint


drying
more drying
 
a monster grasshopper spotted in my garden!

I hope you are enjoying a grasshopper free weekend.  

this moment

A ritual. A single photo or two - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. (From: soulemama)


Thursday 6 September 2012

rediscovering...

Lately my head has been stuck in this lovely book that arrived in the post the other day.

One recommendation is to sort and organise your scraps. Initially this seemed like a daunting task to me. 

But I decided this was as good a time as any...so out came my scraps.  I discovered I had more 'stash' fabric then scrap fabric.  My taste in colour, shades, tones and type of fabric has change over the years as you can tell by the range of fabric above.

 I really enjoyed sorting through fabric that I liked many years ago. 
It reminded me of life in the country and when I first learnt to make quilts.
Once reserved for forgotton projects in the past, Sunday Morning Quilts inspired me to think of new possibilities. 

At this stage, rather than sorting fabric according to colour, I decided to sort according to style/type and 'value'.  I used a Value Finder kindly given to me by my beautiful girlfriend who is far more experienced at quilting than me. 

This is close to the end result (above).  I had a few more piles to sort and I labelled the bags according to their value.  Of course this was only the first box!  Amongst this fabric was brights etc that I have decided to leave and sort for another time. Upon rediscovering what I had hidden away my mind started to think of ohh... all the possibilties.

Tuesday 4 September 2012

Reading...

2012 is the National Year of Reading.  This morning I picked up the free 'get reading 50 books you can't put down guide' from our local library.  I enjoyed having time to read this little guide. Ahhh time to read a novel again from start to finish...how wonderful that would be.

Monday 3 September 2012

welcoming in spring

It's the first week of spring.  Here's wishing you a wonderful week ahead!




Sunday 2 September 2012

weekending...special days (2)

Happy Father’s Day
I love...

I love the way you help me blow bubbles

I love the way you watch me play
I love the way you hold us close and squeeze us tight
I love the way you guide us


Thanks for being the bestest Daddy. 
We love you all the way to the moon and back xo. 

weekending special days...

Happy Birthday Miss Charlie xo
home-made pre-party decorations
late night cake baking

early morning cake decorating

the princess castle cake!

in her party dress passed on from a friend; hair specially done by 'b'

with her favourite aunty

This is what I've been the last few days...preparing for a special birthday celebration.

Yesterday we gathered for afternoon tea with family and a few friends to celebrate little miss flutterby's 2nd birthday.  Her birthday is really today but as its father's day today we spread out the celebrations.  By the time we blew out the candles there was a change of clothes as it was pretty cold outside.  The boys loved helping little miss flutterby unwrap all her presents.  For some reason I didn't take a lot of photos; I found myself just stepping back, watching her and enjoying the moment remembering when I first held her to now.  She is growing so quickly right before my eyes... now a little girl.  Oh how lucky we are. 



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