Thursday, September 4, 2014

For the man who has everything - Give Florentines

Florentine, Belgium biscuit
Well my father in law had his birthday and I am stuck with what to give him. He is really helpful here around the place. Most recently he has been chopping all the firewood that Aaron collects and he has fixed my front door (which was sticking badly - but is no more!!).

The other day when they popped over he eyed up the YoYo's that I had made and snaffled a couple. So a ha, I thought. Homemade biscuits. So I made some yoyo's, Belgium slice, Afghans and then tried a new recipe - Florentines. (I use the Edmonds recipe for Yoyo's and Afghans but do not cook them as long as they recommend - only 12 minutes in the oven is all you need)

The recipe for Florentines I got while watching a recent programme of the Australian House and Garden. Love that programme. It is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination but they are super yummy.


FLORENTINES
180g bran flakes (I used cornies from Kellogs)
150g pistachio nut (not salted)
150g flaked almonds
80g chopped almonds (I had some and added some unsalted cashews to bring up the weight)
100g glace cherries (I did not have any so did not use them but upped the quantity of the other fruit)
60g glace ginger
50g cranberries
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 a nutmeg ground (grated)
1 395g tin of sweetened condensed milk.

Stir all together. Put onto baking paper and bake at 180oC for 10 minutes (seriously that is all you need) Cool and then melt some dark chocolate and spread it on the bottoms of the florentines. 

I had a bit of a problem putting the mixture onto the baking paper. So I used a round cookie cutter on the tray. Put in two spoons of the mixture. Pushed it down with my spoon. Then removed the cutter and that worked really well.


Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Monday, September 1, 2014

Refashion a business man's shirt - sewing for me

From this
To this














I really liked the material that this shirt was made from. 100% organic cotton and it has a natural look and image to it. I should have taken a close up of it to really show. Anyway. There was enough material in it to make a little cap sleeve top for me. I actually used a pattern this time (very unlike me!). I have decided that the front looks OK but I do not like the back, it is all puffy and doesn't drape. So I am going to try putting the pattern on the bias and see how it goes as I think that will give it a lot more shape. As Gilli pointed out - it could do with being longer, but because it was a refashion I did not have enough material to do that.

Linking to these places.

Friday, August 29, 2014

Number 21


Patchwork, Quilting
Yes this is charity quilt number 21. Off to Hope Homes in the package. A real kids quilt. The centre Winnie the Pooh and the alphabet are a panel. The rest was some matching strips which I have added. But it all looks like it is one panel. I made this when I was on my quilting retreat recently. Started it, cut it, patched it together, sandwiched it, quilted it (some straight line quilting, some stipple and some outlining) and then bound it. All in about 4 hours. Yippeee!!! Was so intent on getting it finished that I forgot to take process photos.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Best Date ever

Well that is what he told me when I let him watch 20 minutes of the all blacks game while we were on our date night! I took a photo to prove it.

We had dinner out, then went for a walk in a nearby scenic reserve (very reminiscent of when we were dating), then went and had a cup of tea and viewed the Bledisloe Cup match for 20 minutes while waiting for the movie start time. Watched 100 step journey and came home. Great night out and I scored brownie points!!

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Wow a Christmas present completed already

patchwork and quilting
 Way back here my Mother in Law decided to try making a quilt. It was gorgeous but when she finished I think that was it!! So I was the receiver of scraps. I have been pondering for ages about what to do. In the end I made two cushion covers to go on the spare bed with the quilt she made.

I do hope that she likes them! I am trying to branch out and do different quilting. So am quite pleased with the result on these. It is so much easier to practice FMQ on small pieces! Will have to do more.
The centre of each block

cushions
Two cushions ready for Christmas
Linking to these places

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Amazing chocolate cake



At work the tradition is that on your birthday you bring in a cake. Everyone stands around the office, eats cake and has a bit of time out chatting about non work stuff.

I made this cake. I don't normally use this recipe as only Jakob and I really like it and I do not need to eat a whole cake myself!! Plus it uses two blocks of chocolate. This is a super dense, very nutty flavoured cake. The interesting thing is that the nutty flavour comes from putting fresh breadcrumbs in the mixture. Yes there are some almonds which enhance that. But when I first tried this cake I thought it must have been packed with almonds.

This is Kris recipe. I miss her. She is a great friend and when your great friend is on the other side of the world it is difficult to keep up to date. So thanks for making this cake and sharing the recipe Kris.

Kris's nutty chocolate cake.
250g butter
250g plain dark chocolate (over 60% cocoa solids)
250g Castor sugar (fine sugar NOT confectioners sugar)
250g ground almond
6 eggs
125g  fresh bread crumbs (which is about 4 slices of toast bread)

icing - 150g dark chocolate
           1 Tablespoon clear honey
           75g butter
180oC for 45min-1hr  in a 10 inch round cake tin

melt choc, cool. Cream butter and sugar and add eggs one at a time. It does curdle with that many eggs, but don't panic. Pour in chocolate and mix. Add almonds and breadcrumbs and fold in until coated.
Cook. If you want, when it is out of the oven you can prick holes in the top and pour over 2 tablespoons brandy.

I link to these places

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....