Sunday, December 11, 2011

Lazy Sundays and Messing With the Cat

Just a lazy Sunday here today. I'm grabbing onto them with both hands, as life is about to get a little bit crazy.
My Sunday mornings normally start with dropping Miss S off to ballet rehearsal (she is in the production of Nutcracker) or hubby does, then I come home, go for a brisk walk, make some eggs for brekkie, and laze around reading the Sunday mail and sipping a latte. That to me is ultimate bliss, knowing you have a carefree day ahead with the family...

The other day I saw a pic of a cat with it's head sticking out of a box, and a cartoon outline of a body. For some reason it was the funniest thing ever, maybe because we have two nutty cats of our own and love their antics.  We thought it would be great to up the ante and recreate it.
So hubby decided he would make his own version with miss Bambi, and they set about drawing a batman for our own Batman, who is a seal point siamese. Meet Kato, the most anti-social, nutty, bad tempered, ill-mannered cat that ever existed (but one who we love to bits )

The result was this; We were in STITCHES.


Happy Sunday!

Monday, December 5, 2011

Happy Monday.. well kind of



How are we feeling this Monday? Is it just me, or is Mondays at this time of year harder to get through? Count your lucky stars if you live in the States, it's still your Sunday night there ;)

My day started with a grocery shop after dropping the kids off. I'm not complaining here, shopping kid-free is a huge luxury for me.

Being this close to Christmas, I am winding down on the sculpting side of things, though the creating is still there, just in other areas. Today I will be starting a memorial sculpt for a special angel baby, and I am hoping to sew up some things as extra gifts as well. I'll share pics and tutorials once they are done, but for now, I can't risk those people peeking here ;)

On the baking side, I think I baked more in this past week than I have in the last six months. My cupboard is full of baking goodies and I have found so many recipes on pinterest.com that I still want to tackle. Seriously, go check that site out if you haven't yet, it is ADDICTIVE, I tell you.

I'll leave you with some pics of the girls getting into the baking mood last night. We made White Chocolate Ginger cookies, and they are to die for. Especially while still warm from the oven. You can find the recipe here.

 I love kids in the kitchen....





I hope you all have a great start to the week.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Quick and Easy Icecream in a Bag

Happy first of December! It's official, it really feels like Christmas now. I hit the shops this morning, and the Christmas songs were in full swing; last week I felt nothing with them, today I actually felt festive. I have to say though, I feel a bit like Cindy Lou from the Grinch.... there's gotta be more to Christmas. One thing I really don't like is the craziness at this time of year. People lose the plot.
I was in queue last week, and the lady in front of me had a baby bottle that wasn't scanning. The shop assistant needed to call someone out, and I heard the lady behind me mutter a mouthful of expletives. I turned to see a very classily dressed woman. I guess it gets to the best of us :)

Anyway, on a cheerier note, I found the most awesome activity that you can do with the kids these holidays, or even just for yourself if you need a quick icecream fix. It's icecream in a bag and it it so quick and easy. I can guarantee that you'll be sitting down to eat it within 20 minutes of pulling out your ingredients.

So if the festive season is making you sour, (I'm looking at YOU, classy, expletive-spewing lady ;)  put some of this sweet goodness in your gob!
It is the best tasting icecream, and while normally shop icecream makes me feel ill, this was really easy on my tum. If you're like me and are not into dairy, you can apparently do the same thing with coconut cream. (recipe originally found here)

Here's what you need;

1 cup thick or light cream
1 tspn vanilla essence
2 tbspn sugar (we used fine, organic raw)
1/2 cup coarse salt, or rock salt
Ice
1 sandwich ziplock bag
1 large ziplock bag

Optional; Food colouring, flavours.

Method: In the sandwich bag, mix the cream, vanilla essence and sugar.
Add a few drops of colouring and/or flavour if you wish.
Miss S used strawberry chocolate flavouring. Seal well.



In the large bag, fill with ice half way and add the salt on top. Place the sandwich bag inside the ice bag. Seal very well and shake, shake shake!!


You may need to double bag the large bag. We found the ice made a couple of holes. You can wrap it in a tea towel if it's easier too.
Shake like crazy for 5-8 minutes.
The results is a delicious, creamy icecream! You can eat it straight from the bag, or freeze if you wish.

For hubby and I, I added a teaspoon of good quality instant coffee (go for an expresso roast) with the vanilla essence, and I tell you, it was like the best gelati from your favourite gelateria. Add a short black on the side, and you have the best treat.

Enjoy!