Monday, October 17, 2011

In all my years of baking....

It suddenly struck me on Saturday that in all my years of baking I had never made a sponge cake. What?? I hear you cry, but it's true. So this was my very first attempt.



We have a slight oversupply of eggs right now, thanks to our 7 lovely laying ladies (well 6 - one is in retirement and we can't bear to do away with her) so anything that uses up eggs is on the menu.

I had no cream, and the youngest one can't have dairy anyway, so I made a mock cream filling but added some yummy fresh strawberries to get that summery feeling going.

 I really don't think I did too badly at all.





The garden is in full spring bloom - the Bees seem happy this year which is a great thing, somewhat helped with all the blossomy goodness around.


The vegetable garden is also growing nicely, if those chooks will stop escaping from the orchard!

It's school holidays so we took a quick day trip down the road to Auckland to soak up the fabulous Rugby World Cup atmosphere. And what a fabulous atmosphere it is. So many happy faces, so many nationalities. It's a really wonderful thing for the children to experience.
We did the touristy thing and headed up the Sky Tower as well. The girls loved it - and I don't think I was quite as queasy as I was last time I was up there (it is rather high and I am very afraid of heights). My girls have no fear and the eldest now wants to bungy jump. She is only seven though, so another eleven years and she may be able to ;) )
Oh I must share the wee remedy I made for my lovely husband. He had really cracked skin on his knees so I made a "Healing Salve" with Almond oil, beeswax, Calendula, St Johns Wort and Tea Tree. It's completely fixed the problem. I love making these remedies that really do work!

It's been a really busy few weeks. Crochet and watching the Rugby World Cup has occupied most of my evenings. Only a few more days and I should be able to do a big reveal of the Giant Granny Square blanket....


Have a lovely week  xxx Kylie

2 comments:

Karen said...

Your sponge looks lovely and i'm really envious of all your lovely spring flowers coming up when it's starting to get so cold here.

Leah said...

Oh wow that sponge looks amazing!! You inspired me so I just snuck out and bought some early strawberries too. Love the pic from Sky Tower - what a perfect day to visit Auckland. I'm so jealous!!