I got this healthy(ish) dessert idea from my new Super Food Ideas app on the Ipad. It is actually in the ‘Kids Cook’ section of the app, with the sub-heading ‘Snacks for Active Kids’. So I thought…that’s me!
– SFI app for Ipad -
I was initially attracted to the combination of flavours; pear and raspberry, then I read further and discovered it was a lovely, healthy(ish) dessert consisting mainly of fruit and yoghurt. I didn’t end up following the recipe, as I got a bit lazy when it came to the food-processing of the crumble components and then the baking of the crumble components. So I ended up simply layering the pear (tinned, of course), the defrosted (frozen) raspberries and the vanilla yoghurt, with a little honey, and crumbled some Anzac biscuits on top (this is all I had in the cupboard).
Here’s how it looked…
– First layer of yoghurt was with the low fat natural-style, with a drizzle of honey to sweeten it -
– Evie helped -
– Helping by poking -
– Still helping -
– OOOhhhh….helping -
– Cheeky -
– Looks good enough to eat -
– Yum -
So, not technically a bake recipe, but very yummy – and there was a lot less guilt involved after ingesting it for dessert that evening!
The other day, I was walking back from the park with Evie and that morning, I had enjoyed a lot of water and a coffee, and I was beginning to feel the need to do a wee. I was still about 20 minutes from home and all I had between me and the comfort (and relief) of my own toilet, were other people’s houses (no public toilets). At this point, it occurred to me that this actually meant that there were probably about 300 toilets I was passing, just in the twenty-minute walk home. This lead me to this week’s question…
If you were really in need of a toilet stop, and only had residential houses around you, would you knock on a stranger’s door, asking, oh so politely, to use their toilet?
I love bird fabrics and designs. Any piece of fabric or hand-made item that has birds on it tends to catch my eye. Here are some that have inspired me…
It would be an understatement to say that I really love the band Keane. Ever since I heard their song, ‘Everybody’s Changing’ all those years ago from their first album, ‘Hopes and Fears’, I have been a huge fan. A few years ago, they toured Australia, for the first time since I have been a fan, and I was so excited to see them live at Melbourne’s Palace Theatre (the old Metro night club at the top of Bourke Street). They lived up to my dream, and ever since then, I have loved them more. The band consists of four british 30-something guys who formed in 1997 and I find rather attractive; Tom Chaplin (main vocals), Richard Hughes (drums), Tim Rice-Oxley (piano) and Jesse Quin (bass – and a much later addition to the band in 2007). There’s something really hot about them (and by hot, I mean HOT!), they seem have a really clever publicity crew who make sure their image is well-designed, with a really clever website, which has blog-style entries by the band members themselves (this is quite unusual). With each album, they have had a different theme; colours, typefaces, imagery and style.
– “Hopes and Fears‘, released in 2004 was their first album. Darker visuals and a simpler style -
– ‘Under the Iron Sea‘ released in 2006; had a fairy-tail-ish theme, lots of blues in the designs -
– ‘Perfect Symmetry‘ released in 2008; bold shapes and colours that match the bold sounds from the album (They toured Australia following this album) -
– ‘Night Train’ and EP released in 2010; a bit eclectic, with lots of ‘guest artists’ -
– ‘Strangeland’ released in 2012; a sea-side, vast, open-spaces style of visuals and a chilled-out, relaxed sound in the music -
I have owned this album for just over a week (I purchased the deluxe edition) and I am truly in love with its sound. Keane have once again impressed me and I really feel like their music style has evolved once again and even matured (as they are).
My favourite songs (so far) are ‘The Starting Line’, ‘Strangeland’ and ‘Watch How You Go’. I’ve always really loved the melodies of Keane’s music, but I especially love the lyrics. They’re like poetry and it feels like the words always hit me right at certain times in my life, when I need them to hit me…
Drag your heart up to the starting line,
forget the ghosts that make you old before your time.
It’s too easy to get left behind.
I know you’ve been kicked around,
but tie up your thoughts and lay them down on me.
From ‘The Starting Line’.
Or
You drove across the border, As the winter rains ran dry And, only fit for birdsong, filled the sky You threw your head back Screaming as we raced across wet sand And leapt into the waters of the Strangeland
From ‘Strangeland’.
I would also like to share their first music video clip released, from the album…
LOVE LOVE LOVE! This is my new favourite album and I’m hoping they tour again soon – I will be first in line to buy the tickets…who’s coming with me?
What are your thoughts on Keane? Have you heard this new album? If, what are your thoughts?
This week’s photo was taken out of pure excitement and awe. A beautiful colleague (and friend) was so excited to share how wonderful her lunch was on Tuesday of this week, that I simply had to get a photo of it – I felt I had to capture the momentous occasion. When she spoke it up, I was skeptical, but when I actually saw the lunch she had prepared, I was also amazed and impressed with her school-day lunch efforts. The other great thing about this lunch, was that it was ONLY 300 calories – IMPRESSIVE!! I probably would have stolen some of it from her had I liked prawns….ewwww!!
A Melbourne winter requires a good set of gloves. The question is, how many pairs is too many? What colours are necessary? What colours will get you through the freezing, cold mornings??
I was trawling the internet a few weeks ago, looking for a simple, practical and modern patch work project. I came across a blog by a lady named Rachel Griffith called P.S. I Quilt . Rachel is a very clever lady and has many free sewing tutorials on her site – I especially like her Friendship Bag and so I followed the easy instructions, along with many photographs, so you can see where you should be at with each stage. I wasn’t sure exactly how big it would be, and as it turns out, it is quite small. This is a perfect size for Evie and it is great timing because she is at the age where she is loving girly things like jewellery, hair clips and handbags.
I love the fabric – which was actually from a quilting pack I had purchased and decided I’d never make the actual quilt, but that I loved the fabric and will make many other things out of it.
It has been well received.
Have you ever made anything from a pattern and it’s been a different size (or shape) from what you expected?
I am a control freak. I can hear you all gasping in shock at the idea that I could be aware of the fact that I am a control freak. Admittedly, I have become less of a control freak since having a child – many things are now well and truly out of my control. One thing I DO have control over, is my birthday cake. I didn’t want to make a fuss of my birthday this year – something about being nearly halfway to 70 seems to make it less celebrate-worthy. I also recently bought the Donna Hay app for my Ipad and I truly LOVE it, as the pictures are glossy and beautiful. I highly recommend it for those who have an Ipad and a love for cooking. I did have a few people tell me that it was sad to make your own cake (you know who you are!) but I wouldn’t have it any other way. In addition to that, there was no one else around who was going to do it.
– The Donna Hay app in ‘cook mode’. It takes you through the recipe step by step -
This is what the cake looks like on the beautiful Donna Hay app…
– It’s a little animation of the outside of the cake, then it has a slice taken out -
So, it’s a really simple chocolate cake recipe, but a LARGE batch, as you cook it in two cake tins. You start off by mixing cocoa and water, with sour cream.
– Sifting the cocoa -
– Cocoa, water and sour cream -
Then adding this to the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla.
– Butter and sugar beating away -
– Chocolatey-goodness -
– One of the two cakes, ready to be baked -
Then baked in a moderate oven for 50 minutes.
– Baked choccy-cakes -
So, I baked these one evening, then the next day I went about icing the cake. This was the ultra-fun bit! This required a shit-load of cream cheese, butter and icing sugar, all beaten together.
– Sifting the icing sugar into the whipped butter and cream cheese -
– Lots of beating -
– Layers of cake, ready to go -
– The nude cake -
– Another shot of the nude cake. I love how it looks -
– Evie was helping at this point -
– Helping by touching -
– Helping by tasting -
– An all-round big help -
I had planned to make it all-white, like the picture, but ran out of icing mixture when I was filling the layers, and so I decided to make a simple chocolate, butter icing to cover it with. It is now a brown version of Donna Hay’s cake.
– Looks good enough to eat -
– Yum! -
And then I sang ‘Happy Birthday To Me’, cut the cake and ate a massive slab of it….YUM!!
– The inside is revealed… -
– Happy Birthday to MEEEE!! -
– Decadence -
I’m really happy with the final result. It’s a great self-made birthday cake. I love it.
Have you ever made your own birthday cake? Do you have an opinion on me making my own cake?
I will endeavour to pose a question on a weekly basis – no set day, just on a random day.
The question will be one that doesn’t necessarily come up all that often, but is something that we may all have an opinion on, or an answer to. It may not be hard-hitting, but it will provoke thought.
- – -
After visiting my bathroom, my soul-sista, Brooke wanted to know…’Do I brush my teeth in the shower?’ My answer was, ‘yes, sometimes. It depends on the day and time of day – I have TWO toothbrushes.’ She was baffled, as was my other soul-sista, Holly (who was also there, sharing a bevvy and a discussion about brushing one’s teeth in the shower). They believed there were TOO many other things to get done in the shower (washing, conditioning, cleansing, shaving, exfoliations) and that it was quite simply, a waste of water.
– One of my toothbrushes…..in my shower -
What are your thoughts? Do you brush your teeth in the shower? Or do you have other thoughts and beliefs on this topic?
