12.9.09

Cheese Bread

A little afternoon baking - just the thing when you're hankering for a quiet cup of tea and something to nibble and there just ain't a thing in the house...!
Cheese Bread (From Better Cooking; A year in the kitchen)
2 cups plain flour
1 tablespoon caster sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
60g (2 1/4 oz) butter, cut into cubes
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 cup milk
  1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, lightly grease a large loaf tin and line the base and sides with baking paper. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and pepper into a food processor. Add the cubes of butter to the dry ingredients and process until the mixture is like fine breadcrumbs. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, add the cheese and spring onion and stir until combined.
  2. Whisk together the egg and milk. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Add the combined milk and egg and mix with a table knife to form a soft dough. Do not over mix.
  3. Scoop the mixture evenly into the prepared loaf tin. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes or until the bread is golden and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from the oven and stand on a wire rack in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out. Cut into slices before serving.

What I did differently;

Tasty cheese instead of Cheddar, a handful of garlic tops (from the garlic growing in the garden - you could use garlic chives), chives & parsley instead of the spring onions & since I don't have a food processor I just mixed all the stuff in step 1 & mushed the butter into the flour with my fingers until it got all crumbly like breadcrumbs. Next time I think I might use Parmesan too - for some extra cheesy bite.

Punky and I had a slice each, not long from the oven, for afternoons'es.

Scrumptious.

11.9.09

A Very Happy Birthday... In Pictures.

...so this is what 28 looks like?


I love this place. It is AWESOME. I could live there quite happily for the rest of my life....



Gorgeous vintage kiddie pattern goodness.




Old School Tupperware Galore!


Happy Birthday to me!!! *Mwahahahahahaha....!!!*











Seriously, going to that place is like Disneyland for me - it has everything you could ever want to do with vintage greatness... one thing I particularly like is seeing things I already own & discovering that they are actual worth something, ie; not the $2 I paid at the oppy for them... ;)
The greatness continued - before we went to lunch I found somewhere that sold DR PEPPER! I spent a mega $3 on a can... crazy I know but it was my birthday & I haven't had Dr Pepper in sooooooooooo long.....





Flowers from my Mummy. xoxoxo


Not pictured: Many birthday cuddles from an adorable little Punk, an extended trip to Spotlight that yielded crafty necessities, a glorious swap package that was awaiting my return, Thai dinner yummyness, BEER, retro dessert memories in the form of a Streets Vienetta.... ;)

A VERY happy birthday.

10.9.09

Happy Birthday To Meeeeeeeeeeeee...........


....I look like a monkey, and I smell like one toooooooooooooooooooooooo.
*sigh* Another year older....!
The occasion shall be marked by my wheedling a trip to the city for sushi, craft supplies and a spree around one of the best vintage emporiums I've ever seen.
Marvelous.

8.9.09

I've been naughty....

...I gave Le Punk one of her birthday presents. For no good reason, her birthday isn't for another 5 months...
Well... there was sort of a good reason.... I wanted to play with it.

A few months ago, we got an adorable little wooden dolls house from Aldi for $25... bargain, no? I thought "I'll just put it away until she's ready for it....".

Or not.

So, I broke it out yesterday (it was calling to me I tell you!) & realised that we didn't have any dolls suitable for dollhouse play! No!!!


While Punky made do with an old Patty O'Green (from rainbow brite) figurine I found, I decided to make her some gnomies.

I am pretty happy with them - I fully intend to make her a couple more, and perhaps one for myself, as I accidentally discovered while making the second that they make quite cute & spiffy pin cushions... ;)

I wonder, would anyone like a little tute on how to make them....? (I've not put a tute together as yet... it will be a learning experience for all...)

Also, when I got home earlier after a brief spot of opshopping, I was thrilled to find my gorgeous skully tote waiting for me!


It is even better than I thought it would be, beautifully made, gorgeous fabric, bonus little bookmarks that you can write in (brilliant idea)... I am in love & it is now my favourite & my best. ;) Thanks again to Tara @ Tarabu!

Drawings - Week In Review...


1. Don't" Leave, 2. Pretty In Punk, 3. Maria, 4. Moon Grrrl, 5. Dot, 6. Brautigan

6.9.09

Father's Day is on hold....

...until The Boy gets home this afternoon. He works every weekend, so we knew he wouldn't be here today, but it's still kind of sad.


The upside is however, is that I have had ample time to get things done for his return as today's honoured guest.


His one (reasonable) request was for me to make him a Lemon Meringue Pie. I have never made said pie, or any dessert pie as far as I can remember. My most successful attempts at baking have all been in the vegan arena, not, for example, in baking requiring copious amounts of eggs. Having said that, and also being aware of the notorious reputation this pie has for it's difficulty... I was quietly confident.


I have a tendency to be blissfully unaware of things that can go wrong with undertakings I have never attempted. I have the odd problem of being more nervous about things I should know I can do or have done many times. Take labour, for instance. No matter how many times I was asked if I was nervous about giving birth, or even warned about it, I thought to myself; "Piffle! Birth is a natural part of life! As if it COULD hurt THAT much!". I went to calm birth classes where I learnt to visualise my happy place & breath deeply.


Needless to say, I was quite surprised by the actual event.


Lucky for me, making Lemon Meringue Pie & giving birth are not at all alike, and it seems my confidence this time was not unfounded... it looks damn good! I went just a *little* bit snap happy when I got it out of the oven, as proud as punch as I was, but here is just one of the photos....




Looking at the pie all nice & puffy like it is, I entertained the idea that I was a super wifey after all, and then I realised;

a) I'm not, officially, a 'wifey' at all and
b) Super-wifies are probably still not in their PJs (sorry FLYLady!) while whipping this & boiling that... (underwear on the outside of their clothes maybe, but not PJs...)


All that remains is the taste test, cross your fingers for me! It has to live up to that fabled childhood pie, you know the one, the dreaded pie that "Mum used to make..."!


Have also wrapped everything in Le Punk's gorgeous hand painted wrapping:




(See that big fat red package? Shhhhh.... don't tell anyone, but that is 'Drop Dead Beautiful' Jackie Collins' latest adventures of Lucky Santelago.... he LOVES those books! *guffaw*)



All that AND I managed to win a prize... ;)



I have been drooling over this book online & was super lucky & managed to win a copy! Thank you to Justine over here!

I actually feel quite blessed to have won this book, as I do to have won the purse & tote - I have only entered giveaways which I really, really, would like to win. I don't enter just because I can, or because I love the thrill of winning, but because someone is giving me the chance to own something I quietly, or not so quietly, covet, and, in all honesty, I wouldn't own otherwise.
The truth of the situation is I really couldn't afford to buy this gorgeous book, that stylish purse or original tote, but they are coming to me all the same... that is just amazing to me! I feel so incredibly lucky - and as I wrote in my email to Justine @ mixtape earlier, I have never thought myself a particularly lucky person. I am having to re-evaluate my luck status!



I hope everyone is having a gorgeous Fathers Day with the special Daddy in their lives.

xoxox

5.9.09

50 Cent Fathers Day Pressie....

...and it doesn't suck! Really it doesn't!
If it were Mother's Day, I would be thrilled to receive such a cute mug from Le Punk!
I got the mug for the princely sum of 50 cents on clearance, and had some porcelain paint in my crafty stash from god-knows-when, add some Punky art & you have an adorable yet functional Dads Day gift.

Annnnnnnnnd.... we're ALL about DIY hair around here - we were painting more 'wrapping paper' today, as the last lot is somewhere where I don't know where it is (I know, I know... I am a terrible mother, just as well it ISN'T mothers day tomorrow...), and somewhere along the way Punky ended up with some funky red & green highlights....


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