Ripple & Recreation

I'm finally making progress on the Ripple Blanket. It's growing quickly now that I'm over halfway (I put it away over the summer and have just pulled it out again). My big girl is happy to see that she may actually get it on her bed this winter. I've just started getting a couple of requests for hats though, and since I get paid for them the Ripple will have to be put aside for a few days.

  A couple of weeks ago I went on a most gorgeous garden tour, ending in a Sculpture Display at the Whangarei Quarry Gardens. If you've never been to the gardens it's well worth a visit if you are ever in my neck of the woods - a tropical oasis hidden away at the side of town. The girls loved the sculptures too! Aren't the gardens amazing?

My girls loved this table!

Loved this one!

Coolest Poached Eggs and Salt & Pepper sculptures

 

We had a warning of a big storm coming just over a week ago, so I made a mad dash to collect loads of seeds, fruit and flowers from my garden before the bad weather destroyed them. The weather ended up being a bit of a non-event, but at least it go me motivated to collect flower seeds for next year.

Scabosia seed pods

Cleome Seeds

Pretty Dahlias

 I also picked Elderberries - as I only had a couple of bunches I made a small amount of Elderberry Tonic. This tonic, diluted with Hot Water, is an excellent winter tonic for colds and sore throats.

Elderberry Tonic

Pick fruit on a dry day, rinse well and drain. Pull fruit from stems and put in pan, adding just enough water to cover. Simmer for around 30 mins, strain and measure juice. Add 450g sugar to each pint of juice (you could also add 10 cloves for each pint). Heat gently stirring in sugar gradually until dissolved. Boil 10 mins and leave to cool. Pour into sterilised jars or freeze in small portions (ice cube trays would work). Dilute 2 Tablespoons to a cup of hot water (and a squeeze of lemon) for the sniffles.







 We spent this weekend away in our Caravan Towbee, and despite the little bit of rain, we had a wonderful time. Quality family time, just enjoying the moment.

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Towbee is in the distance, the campground was fairly empty so it was incredibly peaceful. Loved the 1967 Zephyr Caravan at the front of this pic - it was being towed by the teeniest car - adorable!

What else can you do on a wet afternoon in the caravan?

Well that's about all for now, busy week at work ahead so must get organised now.

Have a great week - Kylie xxx

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

Sunshine Sunday

After a few days of heavy rain we have had a lovely day today, the sun was shining when I got up this morning - just the ticket to motivate me. And get some of that pesky washing dried!

So I've been a busy little Bee.

Our lovely neighbours have a Kiwifruit orchard, so at this time of year we are given loads of Kiwifruit. The girls love them but we can only get through so many. I usually try chutney or jam, as well as giving some fruit away but I found a recipe for Kiwifruit sorbet the other day that I just had to try.

Easy to make too, just a few photos from the process.

I made our favourite Lemon Cordial  (recipe from NZ Gardener - can't find it online but you may be able to search for it) - really yummy.

Do you remember the Macadamia harvest from last week? Well we put the Husker into operation and husked the lot of them within minutes, a job that used to take us hours!!

41Kg of nuts, all we have to do now is to dry them before we can crack them.

We've made a few things with some that we cracked already, Sweet and Spicy nuts and Macadamia Cookies.

I've also made a couple of new things today - Natural Vanilla Extract (made from Vodka and Vanilla Beans). The longer they are left the better the flavour is. I've heard of it lasting years, you just keep topping up the Vodka and replace the Vanilla when it breaks down too much. I didn't have enough Vodka left (its not a drink I really like, but I did use it in a couple of Summer cocktails), so will have to top it up more when I pick some up next time I go to town.

And I also made some Witch Hazel Toner. My skin is a bit funny at the moment - I think it's from being stuck inside so much.... I hunted out a few of my natural remedies books and a good toner for skin prone to oily patches was made from Witch Hazel, water and Lavender. Mix together, store in a dark place and dab on cotton wool before using with the cleanse and tone routine.

It's a long weekend here thanks to Queen's Birthday so I have the girls home tomorrow as well. I have a few ideas of what we could do tomorrow so watch this space.

Bye for now - Kylie x

Good things

I thought I'd share a few of my vintage china pieces, just because I like them. I was dusting around them today and thought what a great chance to get them down and appreciate them for a few minutes. 

I've never discovered Quinces until a trip down the Island to my parents. They have a laden tree, and I had some yummy Quince Jelly and Quince paste that Mum made so I squirreled a few away and got preserving once we got home again. I chose to make mine in the slow cooker, mainly as with two smaller children around I can't spend all day stirring a pot on the stove and also because I can't stand the sugar splatter mess. This was was just so easy... Cook the quinces skin and all for about two hours, cool slightly then peel the skin off and cut out the cores (pretty mushy so it's more like extract the cores). Then measure the amount of fruit pulp and add an equal amount of sugar. Cook away in the slow cooker again until a deep change in colour (about 3-4 hours later). I then spooned into muffin tins and left to set. Serve with cheese and crackers. Amazing!!! I've frozen most of the portions. So so divine.

I've also been busy hooking a few more hats for my girls and one for a gift. Using the McKinleys Springtime Hat as I have used before, with a few tweaks to make it suit my style. http://mckinleyscloset.blogspot.com

Caramello Brownie

Easy to make, and awfully good, lovers of the chocolate caramel combo will go weak at the knees. Serve cold as a sweet treat or warmed with ice cream as an after dinner delight.


150 g butter
3 eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
150 g dark chocolate
¼ cup cocoa
¾ cup flour
1 tsp vanilla essence

For the caramel
55 g butter
3/4 cup condensed milk
1 tbsp golden syrup

Preheat oven to 180°
Line a sponge roll tin with non stick baking paper.
In a medium saucepan melt 150 g butter. Stir in the sugar then remove from the heat and add the chocolate and vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time then sift in the flour and cocoa mixing well after each addition.
In a small saucepan melt the 55 g butter with the condensed milk and syrup. When melted and combined remove from the heat and pour into a jug.
Pour some of the chocolate mixture into a greased sponge roll tin then alternately pour in some of the caramel mixture, so the two are randomly spread about the tin. Use a meat skewer to swirl the caramel into the chocolate mix.
Bake at 180° for around 30 minutes. A knife inserted into the cake should come out clean but the texture should still be slightly fudgey. Allow to cool before cutting.

My girls have little colds at the moment, and my throat started to scratch a bit today so I made a hot herbal tea of Basil, Sage and Lemon Balm. All those Anti bacterial/Antiseptic properties in those herbs should knock any germs out, plus it tasted yum too.

 Have a lovely evening xxxx