Archives for "Books"
Various projects
Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks. We’ve finally started working on the outside of the house. The deck got scrubbed and painted, The exterior of the house is about 3/4 painted. New baby gifts were made and distributed, books have been read, etc. Now that Mr K is back at work, we have to relegate the painting to weekends only. In which case, I had time to finish a few projects that I had been working on.
1) The ice cream dress:
The Ice Cream Dress
Miss S had been bugging me to make this dress for her since the pattern arrived in October (see post). I’ve since found out the reason why. As soon as I put the dress on her, she said “Where’s my ice cream, Mummy? This is the ice cream dress, so I get an ice cream.” Anyway, she picked the fabrics from my stash – I was a bit dubious at first, but they seem to work well together. I love the pockets, it was the first time I’ve made pockets and will definitely make them again.
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BAKED brownies
Yep.. this is the 3rd recipe I’ve tried from the Baked book. And I have to admit, I really REALLY wanted to drizzle the tops of the little brownie cakes and the big pan with a LOT of chocolate ganache.
But I held back. After all, I’d already used 350 grams of good chocolate in the mixture (minus a couple of pieces – hey, I had to sample a few pieces) and the cream I had in the fridge had expired. Besides, chocolate ganache on top seemed to be over-kill – NOT.
Verdict? They are just about the bestest (if there’s such a word), moistest brownies that I’ve ever tasted.
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- Melt the butter and chocolate over a pan of simmering water
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- Get your tins ready while the choc + butter is melting
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- Stir in the sugar
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- Add the first 3 eggs and mix well
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- Add the last 2 eggs + vanilla extract
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- Add all the dry ingredients
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- Fold in the dry ingredients gently
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- One final stir
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- Look at that chocolatey mix!
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- Uncooked brownie cakes ready for the oven (12 are sprinkled with dk choc drops)
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- Ready to be baked in the oven
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- Warm brownie cakes
Here is the purple foodie’s adaptation of the recipe. Definitely a ‘must-try’ for people who love chocolate.
Cardboard House(s)
My little girl wanted to do some craft.
I was out of ideas, and the Usborne Books has been returned to the library.
Then, she told me she wanted to make a house.
A house? I thought about the options:
- We could build a house with blocks, but technically speaking, that is “play” not crafts.
- We could make a house with the cushions and the chairs, but that is “play”, too.
Hmmm… if I had a tissue box, but we seldom use tissues in this household.
Some rummaging around the house later, I emerged with a handful of colourful A4 sized corrugated card.
Corrugated Card
Surely one can fashion a house out of this.
Here are the steps I took:
Usborne Craft Books
I love craft. But when it comes to things to make with a two-year-old, my brain draws a blank.
Thankfully, our local library has books like these for loan.
Usborne Craft Books
Bit hard to see in the picture, the books are: