Dottie, Mollie and Granny Chic.

I know online shopping is not new to anyone, but I have only just got into it. I really love and prefer to go shopping on foot. I love walking through markets, love finding my way through crowded opshops! But sometimes, when you just want something that you probably won't find second hand, you look to the world of online shopping! I wanted to own a few more craft books. I knew the ones I wanted so bought them. Since buying them and recieving the package at the door(this part is terribly exciting), I can't seem to look away, and am finding myself browsing the online opshops and second hand finds! Anyway, I bought myself 3 books. All are perfect and cute and they've got me a little excited!

The first was Dotti Angel's book, The peachy crafty world of Tif Fussel. Ive had my eye on it for a while and this is why..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second book I bought is Mollie Makes Christmas by Mollie Makes Magazine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the third lovely book is written by Dottie Angel and Ted and Agnes, called Granny Chic.

 

 

Love this! Pages to write on!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed this snippet of some of the lovliest books i've bought! They would make lovely presents for a crafty friend or keep one to inspire yourself!

 

Taz

Strawberry and Balsamic Vinegar Ice Cream

Ice Cream time again! My hubby decided recently, to give me ice cream flavour challenges. He gave me the challenge of making strawberry(my favourite flavour) and balsamic vinegar(not such a favourite food) ice cream. I was unsure, but thought, why not! We've heard on all those cooking shows that those two are a match made in heaven! I did some internet searching for how much vinegar other people had used and came up with a very tasty strawberry icecream but with something else you couldn't put your finger on flavour but wanted to eat more and more. I think this was good, as vinegar is not my favourite thing to taste, but it made plain strawberries very interesting..in a good way!

 

 



I used my normal ice cream base recipe, frozen strawberries that I thawed. Had a bottle of locally made basamic vinegar and away I went. Here's the recipe!

You will need:
300 ml full cream milk
50 gm rapadura sugar or any sugar you like
1 egg, well beaten
225 ml full fat cream
260 gm strawberries, fresh or thawed and chopped into chuncks
25 ml balsamic vinegar

First make your custard. In a saucepan, over med/low heat, mix the milk, sugar and egg. Stir until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and let cool.

Place the strawberries and balsamic vinegar in a seperate bowl. Mix well and let it mingle for 30 minutes.

 

 

Once the strawberries have been sitting for 30 min, and the custard is cool, add the strawberries to the custard mixture and whiz up well, with a stick blender. You could leave it chunky by just stirring it by hand but I wanted a smooth ice cream.

 

 

 

Then stir in the cream with a spoon.

 

 

 

Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and churn for 20-30 minutes. Then scoop it into a large plastic container and freeze til you are ready to eat it. If you dont have a icecream maker, pour into your large plastic container and freeze. Stir well every hour until the ice crystles are gone and its a smooth creamy mixture.

 

 

 

 

We found this icecream even more delicious served with a piece of shortbread. I may do a strawberry shortcake icecream as biscuit and strawberries do go well!

 

If you like this iceream or would like to try another, i've got recipes for roasted almond and caramel icecream and vanilla and passionfruit icecream.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Taz







Ben Harper: The Will To Live

This saturday is the day hubby and I go out on a date to see Ben Harper play an acoustic show. This is exciting us quite alot. Percy will be with his lovely uncle and aunty while we (or just me) cry listening to Ben Harpers lovely songs. Todays song is from his 3rd album, The Will To live.

 

 

It's called Ashes, and its really lovely. Do take a few minutes to listen to it!

 



 

 

More of my favourite songs of his coming up this week!

 

Taz

Ben Harper: Fight for your mind.

This is the next installment of my 'Sharing the lovley music of Ben Harper with you' posts, as I get more and more excited about seeing him! It's next week infact! So, as I said, I would play you my favourite song off each album, and today, it's from his second album, Fight for your mind.

My favourite song off this album is called 'Give a man a home'.

I hope you enjoy!

Taz

Banana and Blueberry cake with cream cheese icing.

Each week, hubby and I like to have something baked in the house, ready to eat for afternoon tea or take to work. The past week, it's been a very delicious Banana and Blueberry cake.

 

I followed the recipe for my chocolate banana cake, but left out the cocoa and added 3/4 cup of blueberries. I also iced it using my homemade cream cheese, and it was oh so delicious!

 

 

You will need:

 

1 1/2-2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 egg

1 cup rapadura sugar

1 tbs honey

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup milk

3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

pinch salt

1 1/2 cups spelt flour (or normal flour)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

 

Throw everything in a large mixing bowl. Mix well. Pour into a greased cake tin, or patty pans, and bake for 30-35 min at 180C or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack before icing.

 

Honey Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing:

1/3-1/2 cup homemade cream cheese or store bought

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbs honey, or to taste

 

Mix the icing ingredients in a bowl until smooth and creamy and the flavour is to your liking.

 

 

Spread onto your cooled cake. Cut a generous slice for yourself and enjoy!

 

 

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Taz