Already?!

I can’t believe it’s the weekend again!  This week flew by - It seems like just a couple of days ago we were driving down to New Plymouth to see this little guy…

We had such a great weekend with him (and his mom and dad).  He is growing so quickly and he has changed so much compared since the last time we saw him.   

He was pretty stoked to see us.

He’s very clever; he can roll over all by himself.  If you give him your fingers, he can pull himself up to stand and if you hold your hand out, he gives you high-fives.  It’s official.  My nephew’s a genius.  And very cute.

It was so good spending time with Sarah.  It’s been far too long and talking on the phone just isn’t the same as hanging out in person.  We had a good catch up and I’m looking forward to the next visit already :)

It’s always hard to leave, but did much better this time (there were no tears in the driveway this time!).  Maybe because I know we’ll see them again next month.  And the month after that.  And the month after that for CHRISTMAS! 

93 sleeps and counting.

Twine Baubles

Today there are only 100 sleeps left until Christmas!  To celebrate, I’m posting one of my first Christmas projects for this year - twine baubles. 

You will need:

Water Bombs

PVA glue

Twine

Scissors

Plastic sheet

Blow up water bombs to the size you would like to make your decorations (I also used normal balloons to make some bigger baubles).

Squeeze some PVA into a plastic container – I used ones I could throw out afterwards to save on clean-up time.  Add water and mix until you have a consistency about the same as cream.

Cut a length of twine long enough to wrap around your balloon (I used about 50cm for the smaller ones) and put it into the glue mixture, making sure it is covered completely.  Leave it to soak for at least two minutes.

Fish out your length of twine and run your finger and thumb down either side to get rid of the excess glue and then begin to wrap it around your balloon, making sure that you tuck in each end of the twine in to stop your bauble from unravelling.

Place completed baubles on the plastic sheet and leave to dry for a few hours (I put mine in the hot water cupboard overnight). 

When they are dried completely, use scissors to pop the balloons and then carefully pull them out. 

And voila!  You have twine baubles for your Christmas tree! 

Happy weekend y'all :) 

Caramel Mudcake (At Last).

This cake is seriously yummy. 

So seriously yummy that I only make it if we are taking it somewhere or having people over.  It's just too dangerous to have in my pantry.  Last time I made one for my Mom, she made us take half the cake home with us and Mike and I managed to polish it off in two days.  Two days!  Not something that should be repeated often.

Ingredients

250g butter
150g white cooking chocolate
2 cups of brown sugar
1 cup of buttermilk
1 1/2 cups of plain flour
1/2 cup self raising flour
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3 eggs (at room temperature)


Method

Preheat oven to 150 degrees.  Grease a 20cm round cake tin and line with baking paper.

Combine butter, white chocolate, brown sugar and buttermilk in a saucepan and stir over low heat until smooth and melted.  Transfer to a large bowl and let it cool to room temperature – about 30 minutes.

 Using a whisk, add the sifted flour and self-raising flour, followed by vanilla essence and eggs (don’t over mix or your batter will become tough).

Pour mixture into your prepared tin and bake for one hour and 50 minutes.  After the one hour mark, turn your tin around and loosely cover it with tinfoil before baking for another 50 minutes.

Test with a knife/skewer to make sure it is baked through and then remove from the oven and leave to cool completely before icing (tip: covering your mudcake with a dense towel while it cools in the tin will help to keep the moisture in).

To make the caramel icing, melt 125grams of butter in a small saucepan.  Once melted, add 80mls of milk and ¾ cup brown sugar (firmly packed).  Mix, bring to the boil and simmer uncovered for three minutes.  Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes.  Gradually add icing sugar until the icing is thick.

 

Eat your heart out.

North Head.

Mike and I went on a date a couple of weeks ago.  It was a beautiful sunny Saturday, so we decided to catch the ferry over to Rangitoto Island and spend the day there. 

We got ready, packed our picnic and headed off, arriving at the ferry terminal just in time to see the ferry we were meant to be on pulling away from the wharf.  Oops.

The ferry only runs twice on Saturdays and the one we were aiming to catch was the second one, so there was no way we would be exploring Rangitoto as we'd planned.  Instead, we decided to go to North Head, one of the volcanic mountains close by. 

The view was amazing. 

  

We picknicked, chatted, admired the view and enjoyed each other's company. 

  

We even got to watch our ferry docking at Rangitoto! 

And before we knew it, half the day had passed.

 Sometimes the adventures that don’t turn out at all how you planned are the best adventures.

Spring has Sprung.

It happened overnight and right on schedule.  Look what we woke up to on the first of September?

Our plum tree is full of beautiful blossoms.

  

  

I love spring-time. 

The air is still crisp, but the sky is blue and the sun is shining... and summer is just around the corner. 

Life is good :)