A pink cake for Miss Emily

Thursday was Miss Em's birthday and I believe you can't have a birthday without a cake. As Em and Mr M are new to our little town, like us, they too don't have the usual special people to spend days like birthdays with.  

SO....
I had a plan. A lovely BBQ dinner and a PINK (Em's favourite colour) birthday cake for dessert.

BUT .....
The BBQ was a little delayed to throw a spanner in the works, literally, thanks to the mechanic husband having to work late. Our house also has very poor air conditioning and I'm sure we managed to cook poor Mr M's brains while he had children climbing all over him and trying to entertaining him, as he was a man down; thanks to the stuck-at-work husband. Mr M ended up with a headache and looking rather pale.
In comes said delayed husband to save the BBQ day and Mr M from the crazed children who wanted to play with him like a new Christmas toy!!!

On to the BEST PARTS Miss Em came prepared with Plum pudding made by her super talented Nana. It was amazing! And custard.....
And THEN.....
The pink cake. I had a few helpers with the cake.

It is a Marble cake recipe by Women's Weekly {with a few extra special touches I have added}.

250g Butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups (275g) caster sugar
3 eggs
21/4 cups (335g) self-raising flour
3/4 cup (180ml) milk
pink food colouring
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons milk, extra

BUTTER FROSTING
90g butter, softened
1 cup (160g) icing sugar
1 tablespoon milk

1. Preheat oven to 180oC/160oC fan-assisted. Grease and line deep 22cm-round cake tin.
2. Beat butter, extract and sugar in medium bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in sifted flour and milk, in two batches.
3. Divide mixture among three bowls; tint one mixture pink. Blend cocoa and extra milk in cup; stir into second mixture.
4. Drop alternate spoonfuls of mixture into tin.

     5. Pull skewer backwards and forwards through cake mixture {I used a toothpick...}

   
     6. Bake the cake about 1 hour. Stand in tine 5 minute; turn top-side up, onto wire rack to cool
     7. Top with frosting once completely cool.
Butter Frosting
Beat butter in small bowl with electric beaters until light and fluffy; beat in sifted icing sugar and milk, in two batches. Tint pink with colouring.

Jess Tips:
1. Omit vanilla extract and add coconut essence to the WHITE bowl and Strawberry essence + pink food colouring to the PINK bowl.
2. When making the icing put all ingredients in bowl together and beat until light and fluffy BUT also add strawberry essence.

NB: Cake can be stored for two days at room temp, in air tight container {if you can resist this long...} or frozen for two months.

Cake was enjoyed by all with two sets of candle lighting so that Jaybug and Squeak could both assist Miss Emily in blowing out the candles. Of which the only candle in the house was a great big number 5. 

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY EM!!!

Thanks for sharing your special day with us Emily xxxx

Happy Anniversary Baby

Yesterday we celebrated twelve months since Bubba stepped off the plane in the this wonderful Country. He caught the train and arrived to Quirindi, NSW in a mix of heat, nerves, anxiety, frustration, wonder, bewilderment and excitement. Bubba blogged about his arrival here all those long twelve months ago here

So much we had planned and thought would happen has changed or fallen over but at the same time things we never dreamed of, or ever saw possible for our family, have become a reality. There have been lots of doors closed that we didn't see needed to be, and others that we knew needed to be weren't sure how to do it. There have been doors opened that we have been trying to open for years but couldn't quite reach and other doors that have only been able to open once others were finally nailed shut.

It has been a long road but we are thankful for EVERY minute of it, for EVERY person who has made it possible, for EVERY bit of help we have received NO matter how big or small it was it ALL helped. We are thankful for ALL the PRAYERS and THOUGHTS that everyone has given us over the last twelve months. For every new ADVENTURE and STRUGGLE we have been through.

What a twelve months it has been and here's just a few memories....

So here is a toast from Bubba's Facebook last night:

'Well i have survived 12 months in aussie today. Its been an awesome time one of the best jobs i've done seen my kids grow alot whilst here and of course my rock of a wife who has been so strong and has held this family up. Love to you Jess. And cant forget all the great friends we have met. Roll on another 12 months.'

When I asked for the champers I was told I hadn't been here twelve months yet and I had to wait my turn. Men. Huh! 

The Great Scone Bake Off

Today at the kids had a mini fete at school and there was a scone bake off competition. So the kids had to help Mum , or Dad, bake some scones and send them to school. I must say I'm not a fan of scones because they are usually dry and chewy. So my mission was to find a recipe, or actually two, of good tasting non-chewy scone variety.

Quack chose sundried tomato and feta scones with herb and garlic butter

These were super tasty and super easy. I can't wait to have an excuse to make these again. I found the recipe here and they are worth the visit. If you are looking for something extra special and different too this is the answer. They rose nicely and have a wonderful soft texture and subtle flavour.

Jaybug chose the traditional jam and cream scone

For these scones I used a never fail recipe from my stash of women's weekly books. Again they were simple, moist, tasty and everything you could wish a good scone to be. They reminded me of a scone loaf which a friend had brought around for lunch one day. I couldn't believe I had managed to recreate that taste in my kitchen! Dangerous.... 

So here's the recipe (from memory which is always a sure sign they are a winner) so I know everyone can enjoy simple and tasty scones this weekend.

BUTTERMILK SCONES (worth the trip for buttermilk)

375g self raising flour

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

60g butter

300ml buttermilk

Preheat oven to 220oC and line a tray with baking paper.

Sift flour and sugar together.

Rub in butter.

Add butter milk and cut in with a knife.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.

Roll dough out to 2cm thick and cut out rounds with a cookie cutter (use whatever shape you have or cut squares)

Re-rolling scraps to use all the dough.

Place scones on the tray just touching and bake for 15 minutes until golden

Serve with cream and jam

We also added fresh strawberries and sandwiched them with a sprinkle of icing sugar on top!

NB - we didn't win the bake off but we definitely have some winning recipes by my standards and I have no idea what was wrong with the judges!

Tuesday Tutorial - Crochet for beginners granny blanket part 1

I finally finished Jaybugs granny square blanket. I remember blogging about it here in February and saying that it would be finished in no time. But my problem is I get distracted. I tend to have about 10 projects that are either on the go or in my head begging me to make them....

With moving two weeks ago I made myself promise myself that I wouldn't touch or think (too much) about another project until the blanket was finished. And whatta know?? I did it!, I finished - finally!

For the blanket:
I used Moda Vera Marvel Plain 8ply yarn (from Spotlight). It comes in lots of great colours and I have used 6 colours in this blanket. I think I used between two and three balls of each colour in the end so roughly 15 balls of yarn.

The blanket size is 10x11 or 110 squares - this fits Jaybugs single bed which is what I wanted.

A 4mm crochet hook (or a 6 in USA and 8 in UK)

Please note I crochet in US terms as it seems to be mostly what I find online and it also seems to make sense with the stitches and stitch names.
Here is a crochet stitch conversion chart to make it a bit easier.

Abbrev	American	Abbrev	English
ch	chain	ch	chain
slip st	slip stitch	sl st	slip stitch
sc	single crochet	dc	double crochet
hdc	half double crochet	htr	half treble
dc	double crochet	tr	treble
tr trc	treble triple crochet	dtr	double treble
dtr dtrc	double treble double triple crochet	triptr	triple treble
trip tr tr trc	triple treble triple triple crochet	quadtr	quadruple treble

Before I start with my square pattern and then how I joined them using a border I will give you some good resources I use. Stitch instruction for complete beginners can be found in lots of place online or in crochet books.

Some good online rescources:

Crochet Australia here - they also have left handed instructions if you need them
Crochet for Dummies here
Crochet Dictionary here
Crochet How-to the basic stitches here
and there are plenty of others out there if you search for them.

There are heaps of great videos links on Youtube for beginners here

And a few good blogs I read

Meet me at Mikes - here, 

Paisleyjade - here and 

Crochet school - here

And many more....

A few good beginners books in my crochet library are:

Stitch and Bitch - the happy hooker by Debbie Stroller

200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton

Cute and Easy Crochet: Learn to crochet by Nicki Trench

Hooked on Crochet! Hats by Annis Attic

Crochet Bouquet: Quick and Easy by Cony Larsen

Little Crochet: Modern Designs for babies and toddlers by Linda Permann

Amigurumi World by Ana Paula Rimoli

Note: All the links are to the book depository as this is the site I personally use for my book purchases but you could find these titles any where you like.

And my favourite resource of all is Ravelry for crochet and knitting. Here there are patterns, ideas, forums, yarn suggestions, an online project library and so much more

So I will leave you will a whole lot of reading and searching but will be back with part 2 and part 3 soon.

Happy Red Nose Day - minus the noses...

In support for Red Nose Day the kids school, DPS, did an end of term red themed fun day. They do some really cool things to support charities and the community and this is just another example of Quack and Jaybugs lovely little school environment.

Here are a few pics I snapped before the kids hit the bus this morning.

Please note my goofy-ness is to prove to the children that a good cause must be supported!

Red Nose Day supports and raises funds for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and supports families and communities in the desperate time of need when SIDS occurs.

A new way of life - Buses

So its Saturday night and you've let the kids stay up late to watch Babe on 7. It's a great little movie, I remember it from my own childhood. And its over. BEDTIME.

Tucking in Miss Jaybug with a gentle reminded that tonight you have stayed up later than usual so it would be a brilliant idea to have a sleep in in the morning. I am met with a "Yep Mum, I will."

Next is Squeak. Okay so he is two but I still remind him and hope it sinks into his little growing mind. "No getting up early, you need some extra sleep". Hmmmm well hopefully he got it.

Quack is now sharing bunks in our new house (another post, another time) and goes to bed around 15 - 30 minutes after Squeak. So I get to be entertained with 17 Again. Its so wrong that Zac Efron's eyes are so mesmerizing.... Quack heads off to bed and receives the biggest encouragement of all. "ou have exceeded your bedtime by almost two hours. In the morning it would be a wonderful help to Mum if you would have some extra time in bed and not get up at the crack of dawn".

So its Sunday morning and it's 7am and..... the kids are all up fighting and screaming! Yep another failed lie in.

So roll around Monday morning. Bubba has to leave for work at 6am and that hideous 5.30am alarm goes off. Although I have been awake off and on for the last hour with the presence of a small person in the bed too. I drift in and out of sleep. I hear Bubba in his truck and hear the truck heading down the road.

Squeak rolls over and ARGGHHH!! "You're all wet!" "Did you wee my bed or your bed!"
Upon further inspection it turns out it is indeed my bed that is wet. Strip the bed, towel down for now - I'm not getting up at 6am when other children are sleeping. Duvet and sheets back on. Squeak striped and changed and back into bed.

All this activity must have invited the warmth of sleep again. Next thing I know Quack is racing down the hall and bursting into my room, ripping me from the comfort of soft, warm, pleasant sleep.
"Mum it's 8 O'clock!!!"
ARRRGGGHHH

The children now catch a 8.20am bus 2.8km from the house. So usually we would be up around 7am and all ready and chores done by 8am. But today it seems the sleep in advice of Saturday night has finally sunk in except it is now with consequence.
I am racing around throwing uniforms at children, cereal into bowls and lunch into lunchboxes. I look over at the mircowave and discover our dodgy clock from The Reject shop is once again losing time! Its 8.22am!! Not 8.12am as the big red clock shows. (Note to self BUY NEW CLOCK)

So everyone runs screaming to the car - whilst I attempt to run a brush through Jaybugs mop. We are fling down the driveway and along the road when I see the first of the cars. The ones that belong to the other bus kids. I had been trying to convince myself with this lovely morning frost and fog that the bus would be driving slower and therefore we would make it.

Then the second car - fudge.

We arrive at the bus stop and no children or bus. Its okay Mum can still save the day! We will make it to the next stop. Off down the road again and we find the bus pulled over and we wiz in front, jump out making huge gestures to the drive to wait. Thank God for a good humoured bus driver. He is laughing as the kids make it to the bus door. I begin on my journey back home waving thankfully to the bus driver only to pass a second car with a DPS student also heading towards the bus!

So what, I hear you all asking, does sleeping in on a Monday morning and missing our bus look like!

Please note in my defence there is a load of washing pegged to the line and another currently washing...

Things I'm loving

Lots of rain has meant having to find lots of inside things to do. So I was extremely happy when our consignment was delivered. Read more about this here.

Kids starting school again and their super cute uniforms. Read about Jaybugs first day of school here.

 

Spending one-on-one time with Mr Squeak - making triple choc muffins (sadly from a box as I don't have my baking supplies up to stock yet) and loving my kids Tupperware range

Very proud of himself

Picking up online bargains - Pumpkin Patch dresses that I would have never paid full price for as the prices are ridiculous but at $20 each I am happy to buy two! These are available on both NZ and AUS Pumpkin Patch online shopping sites

This is my Favourite!

Family outings again - when the rain stops we can do more of this....

Getting to catch up with good friends - Helen (from over at OneTrickPony) and her beautiful family which is about to have two new additions any week now.

So even with having the flu, lots of rain, everything is flooding, feeling homesick and Bubba having to work away from home. There is still plenty to be thankful for.

Linking in with PaisleyJade for Things I'm Loving Friday.