Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Friands


I had no idea how easy they were (well that is if you remember to put all the ingredients in!!).

Recently I went to see my Dad as he was recovering from an Operation. While there I noticed a friand tin in the cupboards. My mother had thought it was a muffin tin. So she handed it over on the promise of Friands when they next visit.

I finally plucked the courage to make them. I had put it off as the ingredients are not cheap. The first batch I was too busy and after they came out of the oven and looked right etc, but did not taste as delicious as I thought they should, I found the melted butter in the microwave!!!

So second attempt  - much more successful. A total hit in our house. Everyone had two and wanted more.

I went through heaps of recipes that are on the internet and in the end this was what I did:

Friand
160g butter - melt in microwave

into bowl sift
1 3/4 cup icing sugar
3/4 cup flour

add in 1 cup Almond meal and stir well.

Fork beat 6 eggwhites until just fluffy and add 1 teaspoon vanilla paste.

use a pastry brush and the melted butter to grease the friand tin (or use a muffin tin or silicon), then use a little flour to dust the tins. I used a friand tin and a tupperware silicon muffin tin and greased and floured them both.

Add all the remaining butter into the mixture and stir well. It will be the consistency of a thick batter. Half fill 12 tins. If the mixture has not all been used then put more into each container. Do not make more than 12.

Bake 180 20-23minutes.
cool in tin for 5 minutes after taking them out of the oven.

I link to these places.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Sausage making and a quilting frame
























On the weekend we stayed overnight at my sisters place. Essentially to watch the All Blacks thrash Great Britain in rugby - yeah.


Being a bit of a wine and food buff family we did not want to drink and drive. On Sunday morning Anna and Mark got out the sausage making machine and made lamb and beef sausages with herbs and red wine. Yummy . Lunch was said sausages, mash and crunchy salad.

I was thrilled as I managed to work out how to string sausages like a butcher. I was really proud of my efforts.

Though it was just a tiny bit of help as the sausage making actually took a bit of time. I was the lady of leisure in the spa while they did the hard work.


On Friday I spent the day with Anna helping her put her quilt onto her brand new quilting frame. Very exciting. By the time we came back on Saturday night she was well underway on the quilt for the campervan.

I link to these places.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Low Volume quilt - for charity

Yay another quilt completed. My attempt at low volume quilting is not as low as some. But compared to my normal choice of heaps of colour, this is muted! Finally getting to try one of the style of quilts from a blogger I follow - Crazy mum quilts
Hope Homes International
I have been following Amy's quilting adventures on how to free motion quilt. This is challenging me but I am also finding that new patterns and ideas are not as hard as they look. So this months challenge was grid quilting.
I drew all the lines on the quilt with taylors chalk at 60o angles.
It took me a wee while to work out how to continuously quilt the pattern, so I used a rough piece of paper to practice in pen before getting the quilt near the machine. I think next time I would do the pattern smaller. I love it though.

Super happy that this is another quilt for Hope Homes International.
continuous line quilting

Linking to these places
Amy's Free Motion Monday Quilting Adventures




Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Calm after the storm

Oh my goodness. Today everyone was home!!. We were waiting at the bus stop for school when we were advised it was closed due to flooding. Aaron worked from home and I had a day off interviews etc. But it took till about 1pm for our house to settle and then I had to pop over to work.
We jokingly called this Longsilver Lake - taken outside work. Thankfully none of the guys blew their motors this time. Last time two of the apprentices tried to drive through and bust their vehicles. 
This was Little Longsilver - the water in the actual shed area.
I walked the boys and Morris in the rain to the Library and we got the next lot of books. Boys dry and settled down to reading. 
Aaron working in the bedroom - had a bit of a laugh here as I had to take a second photo to give him time to suck his tummy in!! Great being an IT geek - means if you have Wifi you can work anywhere.
I managed to get my quilt onto the floor and started pining it all together.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Bad bad bad....but oh soooo good

I watch all the Rachel Allen cooking shows on T.V. When I saw her make this chocolate mousse cake it looked so easy. I love a good brownie etc so gave it a go.

Wow - simple, four ingredients, 20 minute cook time and the best chocolate slice or brownie you could ever want. Not too sweet - very little sugar compared to brownies. Amazing texture, rich but not wet.

So click on the link and make it yourself. 

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Quilt top and binding done

finished quilt
On Thursday i sewed together all the strips that I had blogged about doing. But when I did the quilt just was not quite big enough. So last night I put a cute little pop of colour border (only 1/2" finished) and then a bigger border on.

Being inspired and not yet too sleepy to turn the sewing machine off, I got stuck in and made the binding too. One of the bloggers I follow is Crazy mum quilts and she had a quilt very similar to this in her book.

Yay for a finish - linked to these places.

Today I finished coating the bathroom shelves, so they will be able to get put in and the bathroom will be done. Phew......

ps - this is another quilt for the Orphanage - Hope Homes International

Friday, June 6, 2014

Yum, I like that ...

declared the boys as they got stuck into chocolate from Finland. I tried to snap a photo of it in their hand but it got to the mouth too quickly. They were very disappointed when I only let them share one bar.
chocolate into mouth really quickly!!
A while ago I found a blog run by Tiina from Finland. She makes amazing zip pouches and her quilting is very different to mine and I love it. So I started to follow her blog. I was her 80th follower. To celebrate that she sent me this parcel full of bits of material and chocolate bars. WOW.
I know immediately what I will do with the Mickey Mouse. My niece and nephew are going to Disneyland in two weeks. So I am going to be inspired by Tiina and make them a zip pouch with things to do when they are driving their parent crazy on the plane. (trust me they will as they are 3 &1!!! - brave parents).
The red and black fabric is special to Finland. It is the signature print of the Finnish Quilting Association.

Thank you Tiina.

A gorgeous break in Rarotonga

Woo hoo, A holiday with no kids for 11 days. Bliss, relaxing and warm! BTW it was an early 20th wedding anniversary present to ourselves....