Sunday Sweetness

My little one is just a bit under the weather today so I thought a few cheerful sweet things might cheer her up.

Marshmellow hearts - what could make a small child (or two) happier?

 

I think I know what could beat that - a Pink Delight Chocolate layer cake.

I have to use dairy free Buttercream as my little one has a milk allergy but it still turns out pretty yummy!

Colourful Modelling Clay helps to cheer up the mood as well

And a big Thunder and Lightening storm this morning resulted in a HUGE hail downpour - that is a sure fire to grab the attention of my girls.

Right off to wake up the night shift sleeping husband now, then we can crack into the cake.

Have a lovely Sunday everyone x K

An addition

We have a new member of our household.... a beautiful Tortie female cat. She's 2 years old called "Tootu" (pronounced Tut-tu - it's a Maori term for touching with everything or into everything). She is very aptly named so far as she is very mischievous. I think the correct spelling should be Tutu but we adopted her from the SPCA and they'd named her there. 

We lost our beautiful Burmese boy Jack back in December due to a massive infection that he couldn't recover from and we were hesitant to get another cat as we didn't want to "replace" him. BUT we live in the country and really need a cat to keep the mice at bay, and they are lovely company on these winter nights. We went into the SPCA and told them that we wanted a slightly older cat and it must be robust. A dear friend once told me that "You don't pick a cat, it picks you" and this is so true as Tootu jumped up and put her paws out to us. We knew we had to take her home right then and there.

My youngest girl is loving her already - the oldest is away at a sleepover so she hasn't seen her yet (except for in the car when I got her out of her class for a few minutes to take a sneak peak on our way home).

For anyone who has room in their homes (and hearts) for a new cat or dog the SPCA (we are in Whangarei, but all other branches as well) are desperate, as ever for homes for their temporary residents. They are full to the brim, and desperately need cat and dog food as well if you can spare any. The staff (mainly volunteers) do such an amazing job in sometimes very difficult situations.

Tootu is fast asleep at the moment, so I'll take this chance to get the crochet hook out as I can't get much done around her - she thinks its a great chasing game.

I took this shoot between rainshowers today - a stunning Koru (fern). Love them, NZ nature at it's best.

I just had to add a couple of photos of my girls - the little one on a daycare farm trip and the big one as an alien at school for "Space Day" yesterday. We had to provide a plate of space themed food for a shared lunch so I did green caramel popcorn in individual bags - "Alien Power Food". The kids seemed to love them!

When plans have to change

We had a sick child over the weekend, nothing major but enough to make us miss our weekend away. A real shame but at least we made the most of it and tried to be fairly productive.

My favourite slice currently - Caramel Oat Slice (based on a Jo Segar recipe). It's supposed to be made as a cake but it's just so rich that i prefer to make it as a slice and cut into smallish pieces. I also usually use white chocolate drizzled over the top but I'm all out of that until shopping day so dark chocolate was even better I think. Mmmmmm divine!

The girls were going it stir crazy stuck at home so I made them some playdough, but this time with a twist. Strawberry flavoured pink playdough and Peppermint flavoured green playdough. I use the cooked version of playdough and it always turns out perfectly.


Playdough recipe

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
1 1/2 cups of water
1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
1/2 Tablespoon Cream of Tarter
Food colouring (and essence if desired)

Mix all together in a saucepan, heat over a low/med heat stir occasionally. When ingredients start sticking together (about 5-8 mins) then remove from pan and lay out on floured board or wax paper. Knead until smooth. Have fun with it :)

Pizza

I've also been busy with some nice natural remedies. A cute little airfresher (baking soda and essential oil) in a stylised jar (found on pinterest - gosh I love that site!!!) and more liquid handwash - this time in Rosewater fragrance.

Have a great week  x  Kylie

And we went walking

We took the children walking on Sunday, before a promised lunch treat. You often miss the beauty of your own town and take it for granted all too often.  Granted the weather wasn't too clear but it still made for the most lovely family day in a long time.

I had fun shopping for a friend's birthday present the other day - I found exactly what I was looking for (see below) and filled it with chocolate. It was the last one in the shop, now I'm on a hunt for another one for me!
 

Vintage style glass jar

What's your favourite household product? Odd question I know, but I have been meaning to share mine. I love Soapnuts for the laundry. I have extremely sensitive skin and commercial washing powder really causes a reaction, so about 18 months ago I discovered Soapnuts and I was won over by how great they are. Completely natural, great for the our septic tank system (which can't cope with too many chemicals) and fab for our Skin. about 4 soapnuts in a calico bag in with the wash (which lasts about 8 washes) and a drop of essential oil (if desired) in the rinse cycle. A $20 bag of soapnuts lasts about 9 months for us, which is certainly cheaper than powders/liquids ever were.

It's not so warm here today, so I'm off to think about winter warmers for dinner.

x Kylie

Groovy Baby

I posted a few days ago about the outfit for the 70's party we are going to shortly, well I decided a nice little Teal crochet headband will be just the ticket to compliment it.

Only one problem -  I had my hair cut shorter today and it now doesn't look quite right....... Oh well I'm sure I will wear it sometime.



The Chief finished making his Cider on Monday - it's now bottled and brewing nicely in the hot water cupboard. All 30 bottles of it. I can't wait to try it in a few months.

Right I have a few jobs to do then I think I'll get out the hook for a few hours, I'm making good progress on my Granny Squares now so hopefully not too long until I have almost enough for a blanket. I'm quite liking the colours - cute huh?

 Night all  - K xx

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

Harvests and Hearts

I made a wee surprise for my big girl last night - a row of hearts to wake up to under her name above her bed. That sure put a smile on her face.

We've had a busy day with Netball and then we decided to harvest this years Macadamia harvest. Well we got one tree half done, with a huge amount of nuts harvested with another tree still to do (we have two big trees). Wonder where we will store them all to dry?

I knew it would be a good harvest with the amount of blooms on there at the start of summer!

Nothing like a bit of child labour to help around the farm ;)

We've had a bit of fun op shopping (charity shopping) to find a couple of outfits for a 70's party in a few weeks - loving what I found for me! I think I'll crochet a headband to go with it.

I've taken the dress up to be a bit of a mini, and worn with knee high boots it'll be fabulous. The jacket is more Turquoise than it looks here, just gorgeous to wear for non dress-up too.

The Chief is making Cider with the last of our apples, lots of frothy mixture fermenting away in the laundry now. We'll bottle it next week and put it away for a few months. I'm not much of a cider drinker but I love it in cooking!

Loving the Orange Pokers (Torch Lillies) in front of the Barn

Have a happy weekend everyone xx K

(Almost) Winter warmers

It's the first slightly chillier weekend here, so I was really pleased to have finished my Cowl (based on crochet-lacy-scarf by Lion Brand Yarn) to wear while watching my eldest play Netball this morning. I wanted a looser Cowl style but a more vintage look to it so this scarf pattern was a pretty good fit and I just continued until it was the right length then joined at the back. Very happy with it, its so snuggly and soft in Harmony 100% Merino wool.

I've also crocheted a flower for this dress (Tikki Rainbow Dress) that I made last year. I knitted it for my youngest daughter but being the tomboy that she is she won't wear it - argh!!! So I thought a wee flower will jazz it up and then maybe I'll think about selling it (if I can bear to let it go as I LOVE it).... 

Anyway off to make some soup now. That's one real good part of colder weather.

Super harvest

I found these fabulous vintage crochet books in a secondhand shop and I had to get them. I have a 70's party to go to in a few weeks and there are a few goodies in there that will be perfect accessories. I love the slouch beanie on the front cover and the cushion would be perfect for the caravan!

I've been doing a few more hats too, I just can't get enough of this pattern (McKinleys Springtime Hat again as per previous posts)

My book group (really an excuse for a group of school Mums to get together for a glass - or two - of wine each month and look semi intelligent about books) is doing New Zealand Authors this month and I have to say it's been one of the best topics/styles/Authors we have done. I was already a fan of a few NZ authors (Nicky Pellegrino, Deborah Challinor etc) but I currently have 3 that I'm reading(see the photo above) and I'm loving each and every one of them in different ways

Now I have a new favourite vegetable - Jerusalem Artichokes. I planted three plants (replanted tubers from last years meagre harvest) and I harvested this years crop today (with the help of a amazed 3 1/2 year old). I can't believe the amount and the size of them. I'll cook up half of them and replant the other half - I think I will have to invest in a stall at the farmers market next May to sell some of them off as I will never get through as many as that will produce.

I made a beautful Spiced Jerusalem Artichoke Soup tonight from Choosy Beggars  - divine!!!  (my photo didn't turn out so you will have to check out the one from there as it did look pretty similar).

But the task of peeling the knobbly little suckers though - urgh!!!!

We have a bit of a glut of apples too, so we are having lots of apple sponges, apple cakes and I'm making plenty of applesauce to store away for winter.

Spiced Apple Cake

Well hope you all have a lovely start to the new week xxx K