Tutu much?

What is a girl to do with several metres of tulle and a bit of elastic? The answer is pretty self explanatory; get making tutus! I made a pink tutu for my daughter, posted a picture on Facebook and within a few hours had requests from friends to make four more... Starting with the two green "tinkerbell" tutus pictured here

Perfect brownies

Usually I enjoy the process of baking even more than the result, however with my brownie recipe the results are so good I can't resist them... My husband loves them so much that I sometimes have to whip up a batch in the evening after a difficult day to cheer him up. I developed this recipe by tireless trial & error so this epitome of chocolate pudding is;

Natalie's Ultimate Chocolate Brownie Recipe

200g 70% cocoa chocolate
200g milk chocolate
250g butter
200g caster sugar
4 eggs, beaten
200g plain flour

Preheat oven to 160°C
Grease and line a suitable 8" square baking tin

• Melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave (in a microwavable bowl) for a minute at a time and stirring in between. It is ready when a tiny bit of the chocolate is left unmelted; stir the mixture until this last bit has disappeared to prevent burning the chocolate

• Add the caster sugar and egg to the bowl and beat until smooth

• Sift in the flour and mix until just combined (it's ok if there's a tiny bit of flour left)

• Add the batter to the tin and spread evenly

• Bake in the centre of the oven for 35-40 minutes until just set in the middle

Cool, slice & scoff!

(delicious served warm with ice-cream)

I'm thinking of adapting this for Christmas by adding a teaspoon of mixed spice or cinnamon & nutmeg to the flour but my husband really doesn't want me to do a single thing different!

The happy hooker...

One of the times that I am at my happiest is when I have a crochet hook in my hand, a large selection of yarn to freely dip into and the time to create something to the pattern that develops in my mind.... The "something" is usually of an amigurumi nature since the moments I have free are fleeting; I even have trouble enough fitting in the creation of these little toys!

My current work in progress is a set of dinosaurs for my son as a christmas present. T-rex is almost complete and Stegosaurus has been finished;


(sorry about the poor quality of this photo; taken on my phone)

Previous projects vary from the cute and fluffy like this baby bear;

and this rabbit;

to the slightly gruesome like Freddie the crochet zombie here;

in fact my first EVER crochet project was a zombie, who you can see in this blog post along with the farm animals that were Logan's Christmas present last year and the little doll that was one of Lyra's...

You see zombies could possibly be described as another "passion" for want of a better word... perhaps a slightly incongruous passion in my usually bright and colourful world! In fact I am planning on creating a miniature army of zombies, some of whom may make it to my Etsy Shop and, you never know, even go to new crochet-zombie loving homes!

until next time xxxxx

a few of my favourite things....

I LOVE baking and decorating cakes, there is something immensely satisfying about the process of creating a work of art that also tastes delicious....

Similarly I LOVE crochet, and by extention the sensory experience that is yarn - the colours and texture come in so many varieties there is always something new that I could choose...

This cake on the cakejournal blog is therefore the stuff that dreams are made of;

There are even instructions on how to make your very own; maybe I'll make myself a birthday cake this year! My own efforts in cake decorating haven't been half bad but aren't a patch on some of the gorgeous creations on that blog.

This is Lyra's birthday cake from this year.....

and this is Logan's....

see, not bad but I'm certainly not a pro!

Long time no type......

Well what do you think of the new-look blog? it's not changed that much and I'm hoping to make a few more changes shortly as I haven't got access to my photos at the moment... I've decided to just keep one blog running because I barely have time to post on either but am yet to decide which one to stick with!! I'm thinking this one as it has my recipes & patterns; I'll copy the bulk of the other into a document so I still have it as a diary of my babies if anything happens to it!

I'm now back at work, after almost 18 months off due to maternity leave & physical problems (acupuncture is MAGIC) and really happy to be back. Lyra and Logan are both growing and thriving (more on them later, they each deserve a post all of their own don't you think) and I'm shrinking and thriving... to date I have lost just 2lb shy of 4 stone since January of this year, mind boggling really!

Anyway ttfn; I will make more effort to post, though goodness knows when between everything I have going on and my evening exercising!!!!

5-4-3-2-1.. Bake off!!!

This is my version of cupcakes, which I have found to reliably produce perfect cupcakes every time through a tireless process of elimination. The things I do for you! I'm inspired to post it because I bought some rather disappointing fairy cakes this morning at a coffee morning raising preschool funds... Eating cake is a big thing for me so this was a calamity. There are too many disappointing cakes out there; together we CAN make a difference ;0)

Ingredients;
5oz softened butter or margarine
4oz self raising flour
3oz caster sugar
2 medium eggs at room temperature
1 level teaspoon baking powder
(see; 54321! Easy to remember)

You can replace 1/2oz of flour with cocoa powder for chocolate or add 1tsp of vanilla or almond extract to add extra flavour :0)

Preheat the oven to 150°C (yes I know it seems low, trust me I'm a proffessional)

Combine the butter/ margarine and sugar in a bowl until it looks light and creamy

Add the eggs, sift in the flour and baking powder and mix until just combined. It's better to have a little flour left than a stodgy, over mixed mixture.

Dollop the mixture into cake cases on a tray (I use silicone reusable ones) with a generous heaped teaspoonful of the batter in each so the case is half full; It should make 12-16 depending on case size. Bake in the middle of your oven for 20 minutes for SMALL cases (16 cakes) or 25 for larger cases (12 cakes : not muffin sized)

Cool on a cooling rack, add icing, melted chocolate or buttercream and TRY not to scoff the lot all at once :0)

A little mothers day brooch for my mum...