Hi baby

Babies are the best, so far ours is only the size of a spaghetti squash but we already love her and she is beginning to develop her own little personality, we can't wait to meet her! she also really likes to eat nutella and fries lately.

Mini cupcake heaven

Yesterday my 11 year old friend Poppy came over to do some baking, she had her heart set on cupcakes and had even bought her box of baking goodies with her. She also happens to be a major sweet tooth so her favourite part was making (and trying) the icing. We used a recipe from my 'Ladies, a plate' cookbook and had such a fun morning creating these delicious mouthfuls.

FOR THE CAKES

4 oz butter

3/4 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

FOR THE BUTTER CREAM ICING

2 cups icing sugar

4 oz butter

2 tbsn milk

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

GETTING READY

Preheat oven to 180C and put paper cases into 24 cupcake tins. Soften butter. Bring eggs to room temperature.

MIXING AND BAKING

1. Cream butter until smooth, add the sugar gradually and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for at least a minute after each addition.

3. Sift the flour and baking powder together and add to the mixture alternately with the milk and vanilla.

4. Spoon into the paper cases and bake for about 20 minutes. Cool on rack.

FINISHING

1. Make the icing by combining half the sifted icing sugar with the softened butter, milk and vanilla and beating until smooth.

2. Add the remaining icing sugar gradually, mixing until the icing is a good spreading consistency. Tint with food colourings and as the cookbook says "embelish your creations as your fancy takes you". (we divided the mixture in half and put natural pink food colouring in one half and lemon juice and zest in the other... the lemon were my favourite. We also used a piping bag to ice them.)

You can make regular size or mini, mini are a bit cuter X

Inspire me please

Sometimes i get so stuck in my own ideas and thoughts, i love it when i see things that inspire me and make me want to do something myself. My friend Eldrid has the most beautiful blog, it's so good when people share ideas, it gives me motivation. I especially love her pictures on her blog of frames in her house. We are moving soon (6 weeks to be exact!) and i am really excited about decorating our new house already. I think i am going to have a wall with beautiful frames, some with photos, words, mirrors, and just blank frames. I think i'll start working on them now...

Banana chocolate chunk muffins

Ingredients:

3 big or 4 small very ripe bananas, mashed

3 tbsn honey

100g butter, melted

1 egg

2 tbsp organic milk

1½ cups stoneground organic white flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup chocolate - broken up into chunks

What to do:

1. Heat oven to 190°C (170°C fan bake). Grease a 12-hole standard muffin pan or line with paper cases, mine only made enough for 10.

2. In a bowl, place mashed bananas, honey, melted butter, egg and milk and stir to combine.

3. Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda onto banana mixture and stir to just combine. Stir in chocolate bits.

4. Spoon mixture into muffin tins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they look perfect and delicious.

These are GOOOOD! x

Classic sponge sandwich - with cream and fresh plums

You know how sometimes you get given a present that you really wanted.. it's the best feeling, and it shows that the person who gave it to you really knows you. My beautiful friend Naomi and her family gave me a cook book for my birthday called 'Ladies, a plate'. I saw this book when i was on honeymoon on Waiheke Island and have desperately wanted it ever since. While we were staying with Naomi's family at their farm a couple of weeks ago i used it for the first time and made a plum and cream filled sponge cake. We picked the plums from the tree outside the house, i love using ingredients from home.

Here's the recipe:

FOR THE CAKE

3 large eggs

6 oz caster sugar

4 oz flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp butter

4 tbsp boiling water

FOR THE FILLING

1 cup cream

2-3 tbsp jam (we didn't have any, i used plums instead, but you could use both)

getting ready:

preheat oven to 190C. Grease two 20cm round sandwich tins and line bases with circles of baking paper. Bring eggs to room temperature. Sift together flour and baking powder.

mixing and baking:

1. Beat the eggs and caster sugar fro 10 mins with an electric beater. They should be very fluffy and pale yellow and the mixture should fall in ribbons from the beaters and remain on the surface for a few seconds before sinking.

2. Sift the flour and baking powder again onto the top of the egg mixture and fold carefully through, using a large shallow metal spoon. Cut through with the edge of the spoon, gently lifting the mixture and turning the bowl as you go.

3. Lastly add the butter, melted in the boiling water, and fold through gently and thoroughly.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tins. Bake the sponges for about 20 minutes. It's better not to try and rotate the tins as they might sink.

5. Remove from the oven and after a few minutes, turn the cakes onto a cooling rack.

FINISHING

Put one sponge upside down on a pretty plate, spread it with your best jam and then a generous layer of whipped cream, sweetened or not as you wish*. Put the other sponge on top, right side up, and sift over a little icing sugar. (You could sift the icing sugar through a stencil or paper doily if you like that idea.)

*I put the plums on here, you could use berries too.

Gingerbread men and ladies

I made these for Christmas and they were so much fun to decorate. Me and Georgie did all kinds of great outfits for these little guys, we almost felt mean eating them afterwards...

Here is the recipe i got from taste.com

Preparation Time

15 minutes

Cooking Time

10 minutes

Makes

20

Ingredients

• Melted butter, to grease
• 125g butter, at room temperature
• 100g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
• 125ml (1/2 cup) golden syrup
• 1 egg, separated
• 375g (2 1/2 cups) plain flour
• 1 tbs ground ginger
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Plain flour, to dust
• 150g (1 cup) pure icing sugar, sifted
• 8-10 drops red liquid food colouring
• 8-10 drops green liquid food colouring ( I just did mostly white icing, so left out the food colouring)
• Smarties, to decorate

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush 2 baking trays with melted butter to lightly grease.

2. Use an electric beater to beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the golden syrup and egg yolk and beat until combined. Stir in the flour, ginger, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Press dough into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

3. Meanwhile, place egg white in a clean, dry bowl. Use an electric beater to beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add icing sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Divide icing among 3 bowls. Cover 1 bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Add red colouring to 1 bowl and stir until combined. Add green colouring to remaining bowl and stir until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge.

4. Place the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper and roll out until about 4mm thick. Use a 9cm gingerbread man cutter to cut out shapes. Place on trays about 3cm apart. Repeat with any excess dough.

5. Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until brown. Remove from oven. Transfer to a rack to cool.

6. Place prepared icings in small plastic bags. Cut a small hole in a corner of each bag. Pipe icing over gingerbread men to decorate. Finish with Smarties.

God is not a white Man

This is really cute (slightly controversial but cute)

Sydney

On Tuesday i got back from such a lovely week away in Australia with my Dad! We got to see more family over there and i got to do some fun shopping and lots of eating out! I love holidays, and it made home even better when i arrived back. I have such a new appreciation for my wonderful husband and life here! Here are some pictures from my trip.

Japanesey Rice Paper Rolls

These are so great. I was inspired my the mini ones we get at our local sushi place Yohei in Wanaka. I guess you can really put whatever you like in them... these ones we made had in them:

Mayonaise (we used Kato, their one is pretty natural with no artificial stuff)

a little hot sauce (we used peri peri - a little more mexi than japanese but really delish)

Chicken cut into teeny strips cooked in Cajun spice

Bacon bits

Avocado

Lettuce

Soy sauce (for dipping)

Rice paper rolls (these you just soak in cold water for a couple of minutes until they're soft and then they're ready for wrapping)

Fresh ginger would also be great with these.

They are really fun to make and fun little parcels to eat! x

Wanaka Spring in Polaroid

What is better than family and home made pizza?

When we were in Cape Town last Spring one of my favourite things was to go to the Red Herring in Noordhoek and have their amazing chicken, bacon, banana, and avo pizza with lots of hot sauce on top. We have started making them here to bring back good memories! We make really thin bases out of Dan's Naan bread recipe and then cook them at max temperature in the oven (the closest we can get to a wood fired pizza oven!).

Here is the recipe:

Bases

1 t yeast

3 cups flour
2 T oil
4 T yoghurt
1 t honey
1 t salt
3/4 cup warm water

In a mixing bowl combine all ingredients, starting with flour and salt, then add oil, yoghurt and honey, lastly add yeast and warm water. Mix together and then knead into a dough on a floured bread board or bench. Leave for 15 mins to rise before rolling out.

Toppings

Tomato paste

Chilli paste

A little bit of cheese

Cooked chicken strips (sometimes we cook these in cajun seasoning first)

Cooked bacon pieces

Sliced tomato

Chopped banana

Cheese on top

Cook in oven at highest temp for about 5 mins, or until golden and ready looking, slice avocado on top of pizza and add hot sauce!

I'm sorry

I have been the slackest blogger lately, i guess it's been a busy time, and i've been a bit lazy... but it's spring now, and i am feeling more inspired, there are blossoms on the trees and it's soo green everywhere! We've been able to go outside for walks instead of being trapped indoors because of the cold, the thought of summer days makes me so happy, i am a summer person! So it with little sadness that i farewell winter, i won't miss your cold days, the layers of clothes i've had to pile on, i won't miss cabin fever from being inside a lot, and i especially won't miss my pale skin.

Xx

Joy in the mail!

So the new addition to our family arrived yesterday.... Brandon picked me up after school and told me that nothing had arrived in the post and i was a little bit disappointed, i got home and walked up our very long stairs to find flowers and a camera on the table! I love surprises like that! Today i took it to the lake to capture some of the spring beauty all around. X

Brooke you make me feel happy x

Brooke Frasers new album "Flags" comes out Next month, she is so fun. This song makes me want to dance around my house!

I officially love cookies

I am one of those people who goes through obsessive phases of things, mostly food, some phases are longer than others, years even. I also sometimes find it hard to stop once i've started, once or twice i have eaten an entire tray of these cookies by myself, before Brandon got home from work (then he doesn't have to know i made any in the first place). This recipe has evolved over the last few months and transformed into the healthiest version of a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie you can probably imagine, this in part is how i justify having so many. Here is my recipe:

1/2 cup brown sugar (i use organic raw sugar, the closer to the original form of sugar cane the better)

1 egg

180g butter

1 cup flour (i've been using buckwheat, millet, stoneground white, or a combination of these)

80g dark chocolate chopped up

1 tablespoon organic peanut butter

vanilla essence

pinch of salt

Mix brown sugar with butter well, add vanilla. Add flour and salt and continue to mix, add egg and peanut butter and then chocolate. Bake on baking paper on a tray for around 15 mins at 180 C.

This is such a super quick and easy recipe, and completely fail-proof (i like).

Let's go somewhere beautiful

We've had some big changes happening lately, our family here in Wanaka are leaving in a month to go an a huge travel adventure... Brandon and i are trying our best to be so happy for them and not think about how sad it is that they're not going to be around anymore! If i was to be selfish i would like them to stay and live here with us for ever...

So Taryn, Dan, and baby Oscar, we've been thinking... maybe we can come and have Christmas with you in Cape Town, we would love that. In fact i think our whole family should meet in Cape Town this summer, that would make our hearts so happy X

ps here are some pictures from my first time in South Africa last year... i miss you Cape Town.

Click click

I've been eyeing up a new camera lately, whilst learning how to use my Nikon digital SLR i have been missing being able to just snap away any old time and capture things as they happen, i know that sounds really impatient and silly but i guess i want a camera that is small enough and easy enough to use that i can pull it out and take a shot in the moment. I've been thinking about what Chase Jarvis said about the best camera being the one you have with you, i like that. My friend Alex gave me some great advice on what is the best around in the point and shoot department. So now i just have to choose!

Boerewors

Last night we made real South African Boerewors.... It was amazing.delicious.wow. We even skyped Andre, Brandon's Dad in Wales so he could be part of the fun. For those of you who don't know what Boerewors is (you are missing out) it's a traditional Dutch sausage that is popular in South Africa. The name comes from the Afrikaans word boer (farmer) and wors (sausage) and is pronounced 'burevors'. Here are screen snap shots of our dinner. and yes that is my gorgeous husband there with a face full of burger bun.