Craftapalooza

homemade chai concentrate

As soon as I saw Amy's post about this I was all over it. I left out the cardamom as I'm not a fan and upped the cinnamon. It is delish. And it's super quick to make. If you're a lover of chai give this a go, I also used a lite condensed milk.

homemade vanilla extract

I can't remember where I initially saw this on the internets, but as soon as I did I knew I'd be giving it a crack. I followed a recipe over at Chocolate and Zucchini, but I did 500ml of white rum and about 6 beans. The one pictured on the left I made for us in December last year and it'll be ready mid February, the right hand one is a gift for a friend's birthday and it'll be ready to use in March.

To purchase the vanilla beans I sceptically went to ebay Australia and guess what, yep I got over 30 nice juicy fat beans for about $30 including postage, which in my books is excellent. 

The beauty of making the extract is that you can top it up over time with more alcohol and refresh the beans.

EDIT: The lovely graphic I've used on my label came from Twig and Thistle's Valentine goodie bag freebie.

 

granola

I've been craving granola recently and a little interwebs research led me to boogaj's recipe. My tweaks: cashews, almonds, pistachios, sunflower seeds and at the last 20 minutes of cooking  I added chopped dried apricots and cranberries. I also used organic oats and omitted the wheat germ oh and the cardamom, not a fan, I went overboard with the organic cinnamon instead. Can I say, DELISH. DEVINE. So yummy with natural yoghurt or just a handful as a snack.

I am (pioneer) woman hear me roar

Kath sent me a link for whipup, home made pasta. I was all "I'm going to do this". What I forget is during the week after work my brain is tired. Sondra had today off and I casually mentioned she could have a go if she wanted, following The Pioneer Woman's tutorial. We were totally lo-fi until it came to the final rolling and cutting stage. At that point I pulled out the pasta attachment for the Kitchenaid. What a little gem. It rolled the pasta and cut it beautifully. It helped that Son and I pummelled the crap out of the dough beforehand, next time we'll use the dough hook. So we're sorta pioneering but not quite. So Jess, look forward to some pioneering pasta tomorrow night.

new kitchens and friands

The past weekend I managed to sneak in some baking time in the kitchen. Awesome. The oven and I are still circling each other but we'll get there. More pictures soon. Tomorrow the floor is being put in! WOOT!!

The Son found this awesome recipe for strawberry friands. YUMMMM. I've added Milk and Cookies to my bloglines, nice that they're an Aussie and I don't have to translate their measurements. Great little blog too.

I also gave the strawberry and ricotta shortcakes a go. Nice recipe I'd try again, I overcooked mine a little, but still tasty.

Gearing up for Christmas around here. Planning baking and food and pressies. I have printed our Christmas cards on the gocco this year and a calendar, when I can photograph them in decent light I'll show. I'm loving the gocco.

We also have a new little buddy coming for Spud, well for us too! More details later next week. He's small, furry and will be named Teddy/Ted. I dunno it we'll be seeing Spud enjoying his box time as much in the near future :)

Happy crafting!

a bit of this and that

Howdy there. I know, it's been a while. There's been a little baking, a little crafting, a lot of unpacking and organising.

I actually don't have a lot to tell you at the moment without boring you with my domesticity. I'm loving it, but writing it here for you guys to read is another thing! It's the blog's birthday on 27th July, three years. I'm planning on doing something so come on back on the 27th. I'm impressed I've kept it going for that long, doesn't feel like three years.

I'll leave you with some pics, I seem to only be able to photograph at night at the moment, no flash, so they're still grainy, and a link to Jen's blog. Go on over and welcome her.

Homemade apple pie, sorry the pastry is out of a packet.

London Beanie, a little small, a Dublin Beanie will be next.

WIP, for the crafty space. Tutorial over at the Purl Bee and flickr group.


A present for The Son's birthday, a Wee Wonderful's kitty. Great pattern, fun and easy to follow.

Spud's tower of power has returned to the living room. He loves lording it over us up there.

*Sigh* a partly organised crafty space. Yes I sewed amongst this chaos. Maybe this week it'll be finished. For the voyeurs an annotated pic over here.

I can't promise I'll post again before the 27th, so until then, happy crafting!

channelling the inner goddess

Slowly getting back my domestic goddess groove. Still surrounded by unpacked cartons, waiting for the painter to come before we finish unpacking. Today there was oiling the outdoor setting, cooking and baking. Had a little time to play with the D80 today, slowly feeling my way around, you'll all be my guinea pigs so be patient with my over exposed, under exposed, out of focus shots!

Today's the first day that I've started yearning for my crafty space. I'm itching to sew and play in my new craft room. I love that I can stick stuff on walls and pretty much do what I want, no landlords to worry about.

So. Today. Mother's Day - out to breakfast with The Son and my parents, they're moving to Noosa next month which I have mixed feelings about. Then home for a mid morning nap and trashy magazine read. An afternoon filled with oiling furniture, cooking beef bourginon and baking banana cake using my new stand mixer, she's a beauty.

Living room - replacing the green, think orange is the winner, or a different pink.

Beautiful housewarming present from Al and Wes on the Noguchi reproduction coffee table.

Spud loves the new backyard...

AND new cushions.

Happy crafting!

making it up as I go.

That's what I've been doing around these parts lately. Got my cooking mojo back. This was last night's dinner, made on the fly, a joy to cook for S who digs tasty stuff. There's enough of this baby left for lunch today and possibly dinner tonight. YUMMM.

Free range chicken cous cous salad with the "sink"

• Poach the chicken breasts with lemongrass and lemon.
• Whilst they're poaching, cut up a couple of handfuls of sugar peas, throw in some dried cranberries a julienned carrot, toast a handful of cashews chop them up and throw them in too together with a bunch of chopped celery and flat leaf parsley. Stir this up.
• When your chicken's almost done, throw in a cup of frozen peas into the water with the chicken. After a couple of minutes pull out the breasts and drain the peas.
• Grab a cup of uncooked cous cous and pour over a cup of boiling water, cover with a tea towel and leave for 5 mins. Then fluff with a fork and add a little seasoning, butter and olive oil.
• Slice the breasts which will be nice and juicy as you've poached them and throw them in the bowl with the other ingredients. Rinse the peas under cold water and throw them in too.
• Whilst all the above is happening make a dressing, using this which you bought months ago but haven't used. Put a clove of garlic, salt and some dried herbs, lemon juice and whole egg mayonnaise in the shaker and shake the bejesus out of it then pour over the salad and toss, toss, toss. Sit down with your favourite person and enjoy.

The blog meet up is only days away (well it's Saturday 17th) and I had a plan and then stuff wasn't working but I think I've resurrected and sorted it. Trying to put aside performance anxiety "will they like it" thoughts and just making and enjoying. LOVE this fabric which I bought from Superbuzzy last year.

For you Aussies did you know Toni Collette and the Finish are touring in March? I've just started listening to "Look Up" and "Beautiful Awkward Pictures", gorgeous songs.

Thanks for all your sweet comments. We take our eyebrow grooming very seriously ;)

covered, baked and loved...

I found some photo's taken at Christmas 2006. First an apron I made for a friend's birthday. Pattern created on the fly. I'm pretty happy with my curved corners and pocket. Using Amy Butler from the stash in Cherie's favourite colours.

Here's the baking I managed to do last Christmas. Apricot, cinnamon and clove jam (my own recipe), and cranberry, white chocolate and toasted almond slice (a variation on a Donna Hay recipe). Very simple packaging created using some royalty free photography. More pics at flickr.

I don't go into a huge amount of detail here about my personal life but I wanted to share a snippet. I met Sondra in December last year....let's just say some friends have been surprised at my giddiness since we met. Here's a peak at the reason why the blog's been a little quiet...

snapshots and flesh casserole

Above, snapshot of the work in progress for the blogger meetup next month in Melbourne. Finally made a decision and it's full steam ahead. It'll be great to meet up with bloggers I've met before and  all the other crafty bloggers, it'll be a crazy crafty fest. Yes, yes in the top left corner that is the yoyo WIP for the belated 40th, Gillian....it's nearly there! I know, don't hold your breath.

I'm looking forward to going back to Melbourne, though not looking forward to leaving S behind, she has to work, though it's lucky for Spud no vaccination or cattery for him. Visiting old haunts like Babka (french toast to DIE for), Brunetti, Flinders Lane, Degraves, Brunswick Street, Fed Square and Borders. Also going to give Amitie a visit (it's where the meetup's being held) and also Patchwork, Zakkaya, the button store (flinders lane?) and MagNation. Anyone got other crafty, foody, interesting ideas/places for me to visit? Last visit to Melbourne was over 2 years ago and it's over 6 years since I lived there.

The NEK as she's know around these parts was AWESOME. Her voice is stunning live, the band are tight and Kelly Hogan, backup vocals, is hilarious and obviously can sing. The only downer? It was about 39°C (about 102F) and the Fly isn't air conditioned. Nice....not, not when you're standing and you can feel sweat running down your legs. At one point Kelly Hogan commented we looked like a flesh casserole. Aside from the heat Neko and the band were troupers and I'm so glad I finally got to see her play live.

Lastly, "just for you Liana" are the words I emailed when she kindly tagged me, "just this once" :P .

Six things not yet mentioned here.....

1. Ummm I was a very shy, chubby child. Possibly from spending quite a lot of time from the age of birth until I was about 12 in and out of hospital with asthma.  I preferred books to people, you couldn't get my head out of a book.
   
2. I left high school at age 16, directionless, so I went to "secretary" school. I've been working fulltime since I was 18. For the past 10 year's I've worked as a production manager in various graphic design businesses, self taught.
3. I'm allergic to capsicum it gives me chronic indigestion.
4. This is hard. Aaaah. I'm left handed but when I play sports involving a bat, I bat right handed.
5. I played netball from the age of 12 until 20. Managed to play at competition level from the age 17 to 20. I'm no sporty woman, but I was a mean goal shooter.
6. I laugh easily, too easily sometimes. I have one of those laughs that people comment on. I also laugh when I'm nervous or in awkward situations, often at inappropriate times.

Tagging....noone - go for it if you wanna play.