This is... my favourite book

This is a hard one, I am a reader and always have at least one book on the go so picking my favourite is almost impossible. There are books I read when I was a kid that I still think are great.

But in the end I decided on Captain Corelli's Mandolin. I think this has to be the one because it is a great story but mainly because I had a fantastic time reading it. G and I read it together when we went back-packing in Europe together in 99. We were staying at a camp site near Florence and bought this book second hand and both started to read it at the same time, we both got so into it that we ended up having to read it together.. not being able to turn the page until we had both finished. Lots of fun :)


This book, although not fiction would have to be a close second, just because I think it is so pretty and being a Domestic Goddess sounds like fun to me.

Work in progress

I've started to hand sew my quilt. When I first made the decision to try hand sewing I didn't know that I'd make it but I thought I'd give it a go. I still haven't done that much but I am enjoying it more than I thought I would and so I'm thinking I'd like to finish it. 3 months until little bubbles arrives, hopefully I can make it.


It's been especially nice working on the quilt as the night's are getting colder up here so it's been quite cosy watching tv and working on the quilt while keeping warm underneath it.

Apart from that I haven't been doing too much of anything else lately. I did buy myself a pretty new address and birthday book from Kikki K in an attempt to get myself a little organised, I am hopeless when it comes to remembering birthdays and addresses.


And of course, making some Anzac biscuits for tomorrow.


And a tray of cinnamon scrolls to warm for breakfast.


These ones are from a Nigella Lawson recipe, but I added some ground hazlenuts to the paste with the cinnamon. I've also made cinnamon scrolls from a Donna Hay recipe and I'm having a hard time trying to decide which ones I like better.

It's my blogiversary :)

It's been a year today since I started this blog... I can't believe I've actually stuck at it for this long. When I started I thought it would maybe last a week or two and no one would ever read it and it would all just be a bit sad, but I've made it!

So we celebrated the event today with raspberry and white chocolate brioche dumplings.. mmm. Major sugar overload though.


The blogiversary wasn't really the sole reason for the dumplings. My friends gave me a night a the Emporium hotel in Brissie for my birthday last November and it has taken us this long to get around to using it. We thought we better make sure we had before little bubbles came along though so this is the weekend.



We've had a really nice relaxing time so far, eating lots of nice food and a little bit of shopping. We even took a little ride on the Brisbane River.


Tomorrow, the plans so far are for more of the same :)

PS Thanks everyone for reading my blog, it's been a fun year and I'm looking forward to the next one.

PPS I thought a new look was in order for the new year.

Up, up and away

My cousin and her family left yesterday for England for 12 months. She has 2 little girls, 2 years and 9 months old so it is quite a big move.

I made a Wee Wonderfuls' doll, which we called Ruby, late last year for her 2 years old second birthday. So for the big move to chilly England I had to make the little snow suit for her to take with her. I made it with some quilted material that my mum had bought to make me a jacket from when I was a bubba, but the jacket never eventuated. There is still a fair bit of fabric left so maybe I'll be able to make little bubbles something from it.


Sewing this was also the first time I've tried to use bias-binding and I liked it, it was kinda fun. Think I'll have to give that a go again.

PS My Dad saw this little suit when I had finished making it and he thought I had made it for little bubbles. Nice one.

Weekly baking part 2

Another little cooking frenzy...

Blondies with raspberries, white chocolate and macadamia nuts -


Mini toblerone cheesecakes, in just a nice little 2 or 3 bite size. We intended to make little toffee crisps for on top but never quite got around to it, would have finished them off nicely though -


And finally rich chocolate cake, yummo. This is my kind of chocolate cake.. dense but not mud cakey and very chocolately. I can't go past good chocolate cake -


And a couple of people asked for the recipe for the Baklava Muffins, so here it is. It's from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess. Sounds like fun to me, I think I'd be quite happy being a domestic goddess. Anyway here's the recipe:

Baklava Muffins

filling:
100g chopped walnuts
75g demerara sugar
1 1/2 teasp cinnamon
45g butter, melted

muffins:
210g plain flour
2 teasp baking powder
1/2 teasp bicarb soda
75g caster sugar
1 large egg
45g unsalted butter, melted
250ml buttermilk

topping:
125ml runny honey

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

Mix all filling ingredients together and put aside.

For the muffins, mix together the flour, baking powder, bicarb and sugar. In a jug, whisk the egg, melted butter and buttermilk. Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the liquid and mix lightly and gently, don't mix too much.. bumpy mix is ok. Fill muffin papers 1/3 full, add a teasp of filling then cover with more muffin mixture until 2/3 full. Sprinkle any remaining filling on top of the muffins.

Bake for 15 minutes, by which time they should be golden-brown and ready. Put the muffins onto a rack and drizzle with honey. It may be easier to warm the honey before pouring.

Makes 12.

Thanks :)

Wow, thanks for all your comments over the last couple of weeks. It's really great to hear from you all, I think I've answered any questions but let me know if I haven't :)

I did end up going with option 1 for my quilt and I've finished the top and put it all together. I was thinking about getting it machine quilted but I've been convinced to at least give hand quilting a go since I'm making it for little bubbles and all.


We've also started to get a bit more organised for when little bubbles comes along, even though it's still a few months away. We picked up our furniture off lay-buy and had to make sure it was all ok because we only had a limited time to return any of it so it all got put together and with the wardrobe we fixed up we've started to set up our 'baby corner' . Until our house is built we're staying in a studio type building so there's no baby room, just a corner for now. At least the little fella will get used to sleeping in whatever noise is going on .

Weekly baking

Some baking for the cafe tomorrow -

Chocolate cheesecake brownie...


Apricot upside-down cake...


And baklava muffins...


All ready for the week ahead

This is... my jewellery box

I don't really have one.. I have a little collection of things that my jewellery and bits and pieces live on.


A tree from Ikea for my necklaces, a canvas with ribbons on it for my earrings and a little dish for everything else.

Decisions, Decisions

I've been searching around for fabric options for the sashing and binding for my quilt for little bubbles. It's been harder than I thought it would be to find something I'm happy with but I've come up with 2 options, what do you think?

Option 1
Grey stripe sashing with a red polka-dot binding; or


Option 2
Red sashing with a black polka-dot binding


I'm leaning towards option 1, I think.

Also a little bit of baking, some pumpkin loaf with cinnamon and nutmeg. Perfect with a little bit of butter and a cup of tea.