Last weekend I made this delicious pudding.  I love self saucing puddings and when they are melt and mix, even better.  The recipe came from this here.

Butterscotch pecan self-saucing pudding

Preparation Time

10 minutes

Cooking Time

50 minutes

Ingredients (serves 6)

• Melted butter, for greasing
• 65g (1/3 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
• 185g (1 1/4 cups) self-raising flour
• 125mls (1/2 cup) milk
• 1 egg
• 80g butter, melted, cooled
• 2 tbs golden syrup
• 75g pecan nuts, chopped
• Icing sugar, to serve
• Thickened cream or vanilla ice-cream, to serve

• sauce

• 100g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
• 1 tbs cornflour
• 60mls (1/4 cup) golden syrup
• 310mls (1 1/4 cups) boiling water

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Brush a 1-litre (4 cup) ovenproof dish with the melted butter to grease. Place the dish on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Place the brown sugar in a medium mixing bowl. Sift the flour over the brown sugar and stir to combine.
2. Use a fork or hand whisk to whisk together the milk, egg, butter and golden syrup in a bowl or jug until combined. Add to the dry ingredients and use a wooden spoon to beat until a smooth batter forms. Stir in the pecan nuts. Pour the pecan butter into the greased dish and use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface.
3. To make the sauce: combine the brown sugar and cornflour in a bowl and then sprinkle the mixture evenly over the pecan batter in the dish. Stir the golden syrup into the boiling water and then pour this evenly over the brown sugar and cornflour mixture.
4. Bake the pudding in preheated oven for 50-55 minutes or until a cake-like topping forms over a rich butterscotch sauce and a skewer inserted into the centre of the pudding comes out clean.
5. Remove from the oven and stand for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with cream or ice-cream.

Notes

Microwave tip: cook the pudding in a round 1.5-litre (6 cup) heat-resistant, microwave-safe dish, uncovered, for 14-16 minutes on Medium/500watts/50%. If the centre is a little undercooked, don't be tempted to continue cooking the pudding as it will continue to cook on standing due to the high sugar content. Cover pudding loosely with foil and stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

********

Absolutely delicious with cream.

 I recently purchased some cotton yarn online from Yarn Over to make some dish and wash cloths.  I used a simple crochet pattern from here.  The blue, green and white twist yarn is for dish cloths and the pink and brown yarns for wash cloths.  I've been using my Bamboozle yarn crocheted wash cloth for cleaning my face at night.  It's absolutely gorgeous for using on my face, so much softer than a tissue.  In combination with the homemade facial cleanser I made from olive oil, rosewater and rose hip and essential rose oils, I'm loving my bed time routine.

Thursday we had two trees chopped down in our front yard and two in the back yard pruned.  I really love trees and hated having to remove two.  However one was hanging over the driveway, the root system had got into the retaining wall, the other dropped fine leaf litter into the gutters and hubby was always up a ladder clearing them out.  Our tree removalist was excellent.  He removed all the wood, branches and leaves and raked up any rubbish on the ground.  There was no damage to any other plants or foliage, he did an excellent job.  The photos below show him working after two thirds of the big tree was already down.

Next weekend I'll be leaving to visit my parents in Western Australia for two weeks.  I usually visit twice a year and as my Dad's health is not as good as it was, I'm looking forward to seeing him and Mum.  Of course I get my farm/country fix, get to hang out with my big brother, see my nephews and some cousins.

Have a lovely weekend everyone,

Anne  xx

Cooking, Camellias and crochet

Hello, how are you today?  All is well down in the south, the sun has been shining for a few days which has been lovely. 

I am pleased to announce that Miss G. is finally learning to cook.  Sunday night is her designated night and after going through my cooking files which are basically recipes I've ripped out of magazines and put into folders, she chose to make pasties.  We decided to adapt the recipe and added some lean beef mince to change it from a vegetarian recipe.  We kept the vegetables in the recipe, just cut down the quantity.  The recipe called for curry powder and cumin which was a delightful addition to a normal pasty recipe.  We used bought puff pastry rather than a pastry made from scratch as the recipe called for.  They were absolutely delicious and we all agreed we'd love to have them again.

If anyone wants the recipe, just let me know.

I made some blueberry muffins, always nice with a cuppa when the weather is cold.

Some of the Camellias in the garden have started to flower adding some much needed colour when the sun isn't shining.  I bought some inside to display on our dining table.

I started joining some of my granny squares together to give myself some encouragement.  I'm not a patient person and I want my blanket made and finished yesterday.  I can also get a better idea what I'm doing as I've not planned this blanket properly at all.

I've just received some cotton yarn form Yarn Over to make some dish and wash cloths.  Ordered Friday, received Tuesday....excellent service.  Next post I'll show you my new yarn and share a recipe for the self saucing pudding I made on Friday night for dessert.

Until then, take care everyone and thank you for stopping by,

Anne  xx

P.S.  I have decided to implement comment moderation again as the spammers have returned.  I would rather not have comment moderation on, but I hate spam.  Thanks for your understanding.

My Sephora experience in Aix-en-Provence

One of the things we did to sweeten the girls during our time away in Europe, was the promise of French perfume for their birthdays.  I decided to look for perfume in a French chain store called Sephora which sells cosmetics and skincare in addition to the most delicious French perfumes you've ever heard of and more.  For those who live in Australia, think of about when you walk into the fragrance/skincare/cosmetics department in either David Jones or Myer and try to imagine the smell being 100 times better.  This was just a small part of my Sephora experience.

Google images

It's glitzy and glamorous, with assistants waiting to help you and kindly give you a basket in which to place your intended purchases.  Not a bad idea really as you are inclined to buy more if you have somewhere to put them as you stroll about.

I was  buying perfume for myself as well so the first thing in my hand was a bottle of Chanel No. 5, my signature perfume.  I was first introduced to Chanel No. 5 when I was 18, my parents bought me a bottle while visiting Europe.  They and they alone are responsible for getting me hooked on this fragrance and I'm very grateful.  (Hubby found out it was my favourite perfume when we were first going out and bought me a bottle.  I knew by then he was a keeper.)

Google images

Next  on my list was Chanel Mademoiselle, Genevieve's perfume of choice.  She had taken herself of to do some smell tests before we went away.

Google images

Then it was choosing a perfume for Charlotte who had not a clue what she wanted.  There after followed one of the most interesting experiences I had in France and a first hand experience of the language barrier between an English speaking and a French speaking woman.

I had a couple of fragrances in mind for Charlotte, I'd done smell tests in Sephora and tried to match a perfume to her personality.  It was at this point the most delightful mature French lady came to my assistance with a basket.  I asked in my very poor French did she speak English which of course she did not so I proceeded to use the best sign language to explain what I wanted.  I showed her a photo of the girls, pointed to Genevieve and then pointed to the bottle of Chanel Mademoiselle.  I pointed to me then to the bottle of Chanel No. 5. and lastly pointed to Charlotte in the photo and shrugged my shoulders, palms facing up.  The French understood this gesture I was sure, I'd seen them do it often enough.

So then the real fun began.  My lovely French assistant had me sniffing all the perfumes she though would suit Charlotte and my poor nose in the end could hardly decipher one perfume from the next.  Everything she had me smell was heavy, sexy, sensual and earthy and was accompanied with hand gestures and body movements to suggest the same.  Earthy and heavy was not what I had in mind for Charlotte, but something more flirty, light and airy with a touch of floral perhaps.  Can you imagine two ladies using hand gestures, one lady doing sensual, the other light and airy.  My shopping experience was nothing at all like the photo below which suggests sensible, mature, elegant women going about the business of buying perfume.  By this stage we were both in fits of laughter with the assistant pretending to wipe her brow with exhaustion.  She was determined to help me at all costs, language barrier or not.

Google images

 After about 10 minutes, I finally asked hubby to venture inside to translate for me in his more than passable French.  The perfume I thought would suit Charlotte was Miss Dior.

 My French lady was having none of this.   It was too light, it would fade away into nothing, it was too inconsequential for my daughter.  She was absolutely delightful in her descriptions, accompanied with yet more hand gestures and body movements.  Hubby was able to tell her that I wanted a perfume to suit my daughter's personality and finally she understood.  We finally decided to purchase the parfum rather then the eu de toilette I had picked up and she was all smiles.  Everything was good.  She even put a few little product and perfume samples in my basket.  I was delighted.  We went off to the register to pay and the young man made a show of wrapping each bottle of perfume beautifully in paper and ribbon, giving me more samples and the most delightful Sephora bag (a very usable tote like bag) in which to place them.  What an experience.  Would I do it again tomorrow?  YES, a thousand time yes. The sheer joy that was derived from such an experience on so many levels is not one I will forget for a long time.

As always, thank you for taking an interest and visiting.

Have a wonderful week,

Anne  xx

Gardening and crochet

Hello everyone, how are you?  Today was much warmer, a lovely 13C which meant it was the perfect day for some gardening.  With overcast skies, no wind and just a misty rain at times, I knew that rugged up in warm clothing and with gum boots (wellies) on my feet, those weeds were going to be history.

There is nothing quite as rewarding as seeing a garden bed minus weeds and it was choked.  And gardening is always the perfect time to have a good ponder on life, mull things over, release some stress and enjoy the sounds of nature.  The kookaburras were exceptionally noisy today.

Some plants were pruned, something that should have been done in autumn but I was off overseas enjoying the delights of Europe instead.  There is another long section of this border along the driveway yet to weed and I haven't even touched the garden beds in the back yard.

A bright blue wheelbarrow (very muddy) is just the thing to cheer up a dull day.

After working for a couple of hours, my back and knees were protesting so it was time to go inside for some lunch and a sit down.  How lovely it was to cosy up on the sofa with my wool and hook, have a rummage through some grannies already made and contemplate how many more I will need to make for the blanket in my mind to become a reality.  I've no plan whatsoever really, just merrily hooking away at large and small grannies in the hope one day I'll have enough.  I've joined some together to get a sense of what it might look like....hmmm, lots of green and pink in there.

I had Stripey keeping me company and later he kept my legs toasty warm.

He is such a beautiful boy.

So I've passed a rather wonderful day doing things I love like gardening and crocheting.  Now it's time to think about dinner which will be baked fish with dill, home made baked chips and salad.  There might just be a self saucing pudding tonight too with lashings of cream.  Just the thing for a cold winter's evening.

Have the most wonderful weekend everyone.  I look forward to finding out what you all get up to on your blogs.  Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Anne  xx

Letter writing and card set

While I was out and about yesterday I found this lovely letter writing and card set.  I don't write many letters these days as most of my correspondence is by email but as it was so pretty and inexpensive (only $7.00 in Kmart), I bought it.

It contained two sets of cards large and small with envelopes, two writing pads large and small, a memo note pad, pen and some pretty stickers.  Aren't they lovely!

While catching upon my blog reading list last night, I read a delightful post by Marigold Jam

about communication and the demise of the good old fashioned letter delivered to the mailbox.  After reading her post I was doubly glad I bought my pretty writing set and thought it would be nice to correspond with friends now and again by letter.  I must say I really enjoy receiving and sending Christmas cards in the mail, perhaps it's because you know someone has taken the time to hand write them that makes it so special.  Emailed Christmas cards aren't quite the same, you can't display them around the house adding to the Christmas cheer that's for sure.

 Think of all the times we send a card and imagine if it were an email, it just wouldn't be the same.  Get well soon, Happy Birthday, Happy Anniversary, Congratulations on the birth of your new baby, With Sympathy, Happy Fathers/Mothers Day (I have been guilty of sending one by email tch tch), Congratulations on your new job, new home, retirement, Bon Voyage etc.  

Letter writing almost use to be a ritual in the olden days.  Doesn't that sound funny, the olden days, relative to one's age I suppose.  Sorry, I digress.  I've been doing a little research into how the old fashioned quill pens

were made and thankfully only the flight feathers discarded during a bird's moult were used.  Apparently goose feathers were most commonly used, swan feathers being somewhat more expensive.  Then there is the use of  ink.  It use to be a very complicated process to make ink, something I'm sure we wouldn't have the patience with today.  Can you imagine how long it must have taken to write a letter?  First acquiring a quill from a quill maker or perhaps make one yourself, a skill that probably took quite a while to master and then the continual dipping of the pen in the ink.  Then there was the problem of the ink smudging  and the need for blotting paper and before that, the blotting sand to help overcome this problem.  If it was sand you were using, a little box would sit on the desk.  Goodness only what happened if it got knocked on the floor. And let's not forget way back, there was sealing wax.
It seems such a romantic thing to seal a letter, envelope or document.  Apparently the Romans used bitumen for this purpose before sealing wax was available or invented. 

Of course no writing experience would have been complete without a writing desk perhaps something like these below might have been used.  How lovely to have a special place for writing and storing writing essentials.

Source:  http://www.housetohome.co.uk/home-office/picture/vintage-style-home-office

Source:    http://blog.builddirect.com/9-back-to-school-inspired-home-decor-ideas/

This is an old writing set that belonged to my Great Grandmother and sits on my dressing table.

 The illustration on the front of the writing pad is quite gorgeous. 

In the photo below you can see a label that would have been wrapped around the envelopes and below that,  a sample of my Great Grandmother's writing.  The word is graciously and I'm wondering if she was writing it out to see if it was spelt correctly or was perhaps sending me a message.  :) My name does mean grace.

 
It's lovely to have a sample of her handwriting.  I suspect she would have used a fountain pen rather than a quill though.  Here is a photo of some of her used blotting paper.

My Great Grandmother use to be a parlour maid in a Manor House in England before she came to Australia, something I can't begin to imagine how different and difficult it must have been for her.  Whether or not the writing set was something she brought with her from England, I don't know.  I do know her hand writing is lovely though.

Hubby and I find that we don't hand write as well as we use to because we type mostly for communicating now.  Have you found your handwriting skills have diminished with the use of computers?

Have a wonderful day everyone.  I hope the sun is shining wherever you are.

Anne  xx

P.S. Mum, if you can shed any light on the details of Great Grandma's writing set, could you add a comment.  Thanks. :)

Winter garden

Hello everyone, how are you?  The winter garden is really quite dismal at the moment with only a few pops of colour here and there.  However there is some which is lovely.  I planted Primula seedlings in March so they would be flowering by June.  Please ignore the weeds, it's on my to do list.

The Hellebores are flowering although their heads are very droopy from all the rain.

The Daphne is giving off the most beautiful perfume and I have placed sprigs of it throughout the house.

Some bug seems to like the leaves.

I found this Azalea hiding amongst some Pelargoniums.  I nice little splash of colour if I look hard.

These Jonquils were planted about 14 years ago and every year the grubs have eaten the flowers.  Not this year though.  It's very exciting to see some bright yellow in the garden.

This Chinese Lantern (Abutilon) flowers for most of the year.  I'm loathe to prune it back as sometimes it is the only thing flowering in the garden and the Wattle Birds love it.  Hubby pruned the side of it as it grows out into the driveway.  I've left the top branches so I can see these flowers everyday.

This Pandorea an Australian native climber, needs some serious attention.  I hoping to have lovely flowers come spring.  The sky looks lovely in this photo but it was oh so cold today.

When we have huge amounts of rain like we have this winter, the Land Crayfish also known as Land Crabs (although they are not a crab but a relative of the yabby) come up to the surface in our lawn (weeds) and make these mounds.  You can read all about them by going to the link above.

They don't do any harm, although we have to be careful not to slip on their muddy mounds.  If a yabby should venture from it's home in day light hours, our chook will gobble it up very quickly.

I was inspired by  Gillian of Eclectic Me to make some wash/face cloths.  Here is my first attempt which   turned out much smaller than I expected so I'll be adding some more stitches to the foundation chain when I make the next one.  It's very wonky around the edges and there are a few threads where they ought not to be.  I used Bamboozle yarn from Lincraft and found it very slippery to use.  I've since found a yarn supplier in the U.K. who who will ship internationally.  They have the most gorgeous cotton yarn in pretty colours just perfect for making up some more of these for the bathroom and the kitchen.

I must apologise again for the poor quality of my photos.  The good camera has gone to the camera hospital and I'm using the little digital we first had.

I hope you are all well and happy and that those living in the U.K. are having some summer weather.  It didn't look to wonderful in Paris on Bastille Day as shown on the t.v. news.  People were dressed in coats.  Brrrr.

Well it is time to make dinner.  On the menu tonight is beef rissoles (patties), Moroccan seasoned potato wedges and a mixed salad.  Menu planning is going well.

 Thank you for taking the time to stop by.

Anne  xx

Snippets

Hi everyone, thanks for popping in to see me.  The menu planning is going well and I've been enjoying knowing what food will be on our dinner plates for the days that I cook.  Charlotte cooks two nights a week and hubby cooks Saturday nights.  Genevieve is resisting visiting the kitchen for cooking duties but I'm determined she will know how to cook before she leaves home.  She says she knows how to make a mean piece of toast...yes well, that's o.k. if there is bread in the house.  Moving right along.

I made cheese muffins to go with our pumpkin soup last night and this morning I put together this chicken curry in the slow cooker.  Delicious smells have been wafting through the kitchen all day and I can confirm that it tasted delicious and was a hit with the whole family.

Orange and Poppy seed muffins were also made and as they turned out a bit dry, I piped orange flavoured cream cheese icing on the top.  They made a lovely afternoon tea snack for my sister, nephew and neice who were visiting today.  I bought out the Gingernuts I made too.  Teenage boys have very hollow legs it seems.  :)

The cereal containers were empty so it was time to make muslie today.  I love adding seeds, pecans and dried fruits for variety and taste.  I can buy the most delicious dried paw paw in big long spears which I chop up and add to the mix.

During my busy morning this male King Parrot came calling.  He loves pumpkin and sunflowers seeds and I can't resist giving him a little handful.

Today seemed to be the perfect day for donning for the first time this colourful silk scarf I bought in Bellagio, Lake Como, Italy.  It is a lovely paisley design....I just love paisley.

While making cups of tea this afternoon, I showed my sister this wonderful used tea bag holder I found in a little gift shop in Shrewsbury.  Don't you love it with the Union Jack bunting and words 'Old Bag'? What a play on words.

My lovely sister very kindly bought me this posy of gorgeous pink daisies from her garden.  My garden is sadly lacking in colour let alone anything to pick to bring inside.  This little op. shop jug was the perfect place to display them.

I'm looking for a home for these little mementos from France.  They were purchased at the fair (trash 'n' treasure) in Normandy where I found the enamel jug.  The little tin is the most gorgeous blue colour and I'm wondering if I could seal it to stop further rusting.  The key is fabulous.  I know technology has it's place but I do love a good old fashioned key.   There is something rather romantic about using a big key like this one to open a door.

While we are on the subject of holiday momentos, I bought a rather kitch mini statue of David in Florence.  It's quite accurate in every way including anatomically, much to the horror of my nephew and neice of early teen years and they proclaimed it quite gross.  I whispered in Genevieve's ear and she came back from the garden with a little leaf to give him some modesty.  The sticky tape makes it look like he is wearing a see through skirt.  What do you think?  My sister, my girls and I were in fits of laughter.  I love being silly, it's seriously underated!!

So this has been a few snippets of my life from the past few days.  Nothing earth shattering, very pleasant days bumbling along and trying to get back into the rythym of life post holiday.

I'll be back soon, until then take care,

Anne xx