wordless Wednesday

squashies

My lovely husband, as I've mentioned, is from South Africa. There are many things he misses, not just family and friends, but familiar tastes and smells and fruits and vegies and meats. So every now and then I make a trek across to the other side of town and buy him a few familiar things. The last time I did this, they had squashies in stock. I fell in love with gem squash when we've been visiting over there and my lovely husband loved that I bought him some. He cooked them up and we feasted on South African treats. We also cunningly saved the seeds, as I had a the grand idea of trying to grow some.

So few weeks or so ago I carefully filled an egg carton and gently planted the seeds. I lovingly watered them and left them outside on our table, under the cover of our little porch.

The next morning though, this:

It was one of those ridiculously windy nights, and the wind had blown them off the table. I sighed, scooped up the dirt and a few of the seeds, and tried again.

Check this out!

Yay for squashies!

wordless wednesday

cooking up big

I am a big fan of the cook-up. I always have been. Even when I was just cooking for myself it would seem I could never cook less than 4 serves. I love to cook, so once I am making something I figure I may as well make a lot of it! In the past this has worked out well for my hungry housemates and friends living nearby. In more recent times, it has worked well with little-miss-e. At least 2 nights a week we eat 'freezer food' cooked up and frozen some other night, ready for tired-after-work-need-to-eat-now kinda meals.

I have, however, been finding it harder to cook like this in recent weeks, mainly due to the adjustment of going back to work. So our freezer stocks have started to look a little depleted. But today, after a big pot of pumpkin soup (made by me) and some left-over beef stroganof (made by my lovely husband) I am starting to feel back on track.

So tell me - what is your favourite freezer meal? Do you like to cook up big?

my current project

So this is what I am quietly working on. I've not been posting about it, as it is not really going that well... I'd ask you to guess what it is, but I am afraid you'll say a snake.

See, it is supposed to be a frog. A frog puppet for little-miss-e's 1st birthday. She loves frogs, she finds them very funny. And she loves puppets, so I thought, what better than to crochet her a frog puppet for her birthday.

Well, the problems have been many (leaving aside the fact that her birthday has come and gone and I am still working on her present). I couldn't find a pattern I liked, so I started adapting this snake pattern (which is why everyone thinks it is a snake). But my adaptions have been frustrating and slow and I've lost confidence that there is going to be any froggy resemblance once I am done! The mouth is too long, not wide enough, the legs are too spindley and the crochet too loose. I'm finally nearly done, but not nearly happy.

Still, here's hoping that if I tell her it's a frog she'll simply believe me!

What about you? Do you have any birthday present/doesn't-resemble-what-it-is-supposed-to-be disasters? And, do you think it looks anything like a frog?

Playing along with Leonie at show and tell...

one

This is what has been keeping me busy. Well, not the cake exactly, but the little-one for whom I made the cake. Yep, it is little-miss-e's first birthday this weekend and that comes on top of a very very busy month. So busy that in fact the present I've been crocheting for her birthday is not yet finished... (opps). Still at least the cake is, and gosh did she enjoy it! I had planned on a complicated cake, something out of the Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book. Except I don't actually own the book as I am yet to convince my mum to pass on her copy. So we went for something much simpler (although the cake recipe is from an old Women's weekly cookbook), with my lovely husband suggesting the design.

We also have been having a bit of a chat about birthday traditions. Thinking about what kinds of birthday traditions we have grown up with and what traditions we want to have in our family. To be honest, we haven't really come up with much (other than cake and presents...). How about you? Do you have any interesting family birthday traditions?

Gluten free malva pudding recipe

My lovely-(gluten-free)-husband is not from 'round these parts. The other day I had to explain to him the entire story of 'The Man from Snowy River' (though at least he did already know about Banjo Patterson - as in: "didn't he write some poems or something?"). Anyway, I digress...

My lovely-(gluten-free)-husband is not from 'round these parts. And as such, we expected some cross-cultural issues to crop up from time to time (see above). But there have also have been unexpected cross-cultural delights. These include being introduced to a whole cuisine, and for me, especially a whole new range of baking and dessert delights. Rusks are one example, and Malva pudding is another, (oh and milk tart, but I'll talk about that another day)

Malva (pronounced mulf-fah) pudding is fantastic! It is also known as brown pudding, and is easy and delicious, just the perfect winter dessert. This recipe here is adapted from some close family friend's. I've made it gluten free and reduced the sugar a bit (as it is quite a sweet dessert). I made this the other day as we were taking dessert to a friends, and everyone had seconds, some even had thirds - so there was none left for a pic!

So without any further ado: Gluten free malva pudding

1 cup Gluten Free Plain Flour
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup raw sugar
1 Tbs butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 1/2 Tbs apricot jam
300 ml milk
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Sauce
375ml evaporated milk (Ideal Milk)
1/2 cup sugar
125g butter or margarine


Method
Oven at 180 °C
Mix Cake flour & salt together. Add Sugar and mix. Rub in butter.
Beat eggs and jam together and mix with milk.
Mix in flour mixture.
Mix bicarb and vinegar and mix into flour mix.
Put in pan and bake for 20-30 minutes.
Sauce
Heat up all ingredients for syrup, until sugar and butter is melted, but do not boil.
Pour over hot pudding and leave to stand for syrup to draw in cake.
(Eat with cream or ice cream or custard or all three!)

Enjoy!

wordless wednesday

   

my week...

So I've had a bit of a week.

Thursday morning found me feeling a little bit squiffy. Thursday afternoon, quite unwell. Friday morning resulted in a trip to Emergency and by Friday afternoon I was in surgery for (and I quote) "a nasty appendix." Saturday found me back at home, but unable to lift, carry or hold 10 month old little-miss-e.

Whew... So since Thursday my lovely husband has been working hard, looking after me, looking after little-miss-e and trying to stay on top of food/cleaning/washing/dishes etc. I've been working hard at resting, recovering and doing nothing. (And that is strangely hard work too).

And making lists in my head of things I want to sew/crochet/cook/bake and create when I get better...

Things like this backpack, for little-miss-e as she heads to childcare soon:

from here (with a tutorial)

Wordless Wednesday

just hanging with little-miss-e

Wordless Wednesday

rusks (but not the baby kind)

The other morning as I was getting out of bed, I asked my lovely (but not a morning person) husband whether I could get him anything. 'Coffee...' was his mumbled reply, then after a pause he added '...and rusks.' 'Rusks!' I exclaimed - I knew we'd bought all that rice flour for a reason, but I'd completely forgotten that I could make rusks. I then got pretty excited, and my lovely husband rolled back over and listened to me bubble over with the idea of making rusks. I've made them before, and in more recent times discovered and then adapted a gluten free recipe, but I haven't made them since I was pregnant. Actually, I was planning on making them when I was about 38 weeks, I'd even bought the buttermilk - but then little-miss-e arrived a little early and bang went that idea.

But getting back to this week: I spent Wednesday making rusks - for those who've never experienced them, rusks are from South Africa (like my lovely husband). They are basically a biscuity-type thing that is very hard and very dry, and the only way to eat them is to dip them in your morning coffee. They are delicious and lots of fun to make, but do take a lot of time. And as I discovered, even more time when one factors a 7-month old into the mix.

So I'd love to say that on Thursday morning I was able to present my lovely husband with coffee and rusks in bed. However, he got up before me to go to the gym, so instead I enjoyed coffee and rusks myself whilst feeding little-miss-e her breakfast.

mmm, gluten free rusks... - I'll post the recipe soon!

(not quite) wordless wednesday

I'm not feeling so wordless today. In fact instead I've got lots to share. My this week has been fabulous so far, how 'bout yours?

Sunday night, while skyping my lovely husband's family I made pesto...

It was hot hot hot 'round Melbourne town, so my lovely husband and I took little-miss-e to the beach on Monday morning. It was so much fun! She loved the water, and for the first time sat on the sand in with the little waves rippling over her legs and splashed and splashed!



Then, Monday afternoon, my sister and my lovely husband had conspired to give my an afternoon off! My sister came round and whisked me away to an afternoon of cafes and op-shops, whilst my lovely husband stayed home and looked after little-miss-e.

Yesterday was full of jam making, finally. I'm not sure how many figs I ate, but I only ended up with 1.7kgs of figs to make into jam. Its a sweet sticky messy process, but the end result 'little bird burnt fig jam' (named in honour of a new little bird we know) should certainly be worth it!

As for today, well - there's great stuff going on, but I'll tell you all about that another time...

Hope your week so far has been just as great!

ahh, finally some time...

I can finally snatch a few moments this morning. The house is quiet, the bathroom clean, breakfast cleaned up and the teething little-miss-e is still sleeping. Teething is such a challenge, hey...  Still, she sleeps now and so lets just enjoy the silence.

Ahh...

In other news, I've been pottering along. See I thought I'd made enough squares for my current baby blanket project. But a few weeks ago I laid it out alongside little-miss-e's blanket and realised it was too small and I had to make another 25 squares. 25... So I've been trundling along making more squares, but I'm only up to 11 extras. And my friend is due in 4 weeks. I am getting the feeling this is one of those projects that will be a little late...

I'd love to chat some more, but I hear stirrings... I'll pop 'round and visit your blog, really I will, I miss hanging out with you. Maybe if these teeth ever arrive!

wordless wednesday

(sorry that I still don't have time for words, gosh we are so busy busy busy round here!)

wordless wednesday

I know it doesn't look like much yet...

...but I can't wait until I have time to finish it!

And this is just the prototype. I am making a gift for a friend's new baby, based on one of little-miss-e's favourite toys. It needs a few tweaks here and there, so I am glad I made a prototype rather than just running ahead and making all the mistakes on the real thing. And also, little-miss-e will get to have this one when it is done - so that is lovely for her too.

Oh, for some time to myself to finish this and start the real thing! The issue is that we have a small house and so my sewing machine lives in little-miss-e's room. So when she is asleep I can't sew and when she is awake I can only sew for a short time until she gets hungry/bored/wet/pooey etc...Oh well, slowly slowly it'll get there.

handmade love

hello 2013: one word

Maxabella invited us to give a one word focus for 2013.  I've been giving it a bit of thought and I realised that for me, 2013 will be all about

home

because after our three month away adventure, it's nice to be home

because I have a least another 6 months of maternity leave left and will be spending much time at home

because we want to focus on de-cluttering, cleaning up, unpacking, throwing out and making our home a more usable space for our life

because we want to spruce up our front garden

because home and family are intertwined

because I want to work on feeling content with our home

because home is where our family relationships are built and strengthened

and because ultimately my hope lies in a future home, a new home - one with no pain, no tears and no death 

What's your one word 2013 focus?

image from here