The Memorial.

My grandmother's request was to have her funeral and cremation up in Brisbane with the family, then have her ashes brought down here to Canberra and buried with her husband. It was such a lovely day, mum bought a bubble making machine and I bought some bright balloons for all the children to release.

Thank you Amanda for coming to share this special afternoon, I really appreciated the effort...I look forward to your party in 2 weeks time.

Here are some pics to share of our special time. I have some sneaky ones of you Amanda in the background and Nat looking like a yum mum LOL.

Poppy Does Vintage...

My mother kept a few of my baby clothes which I love. I have had fun dressing my dolls (girls) in them over the years. This particular orange pokadot dress would have been perfect for Maisie, only I discovered it too late on one of my many trips up to her place. Poppy wears it regularly I have had comments from various people each time. As the weather is cold here she has been wearing a simple jumpsuit underneath. Unfortunately I did not have the dress sitting that well on her, these photos really do it no justice....but she's a stunning model all the same :)

Another Day Another Cake....

I must confess, with all my good intentions on the weekend, I failed to live up to expectations...I didn't make that yummy looking chocolate cake from an earlier post. My sister reads this blog regularly, rang yesterday to check if I had made it LOL. I have the 12 eggs ready to go, I just need to be in the mood, it looks like it requires some love and effort to make.

It's just Poppy and I here today, so I have been busy rearranging this office. Nick set it up originally, now that he is never in here and I'm running the business on my own, I thought it needed the girl touch. The view to the girls room, which is straight of this is better. I also got rid of a set of shelves, which makes the room so much more open.

So to reward my hard efforts I got out a little recipe book that was put together by my work a few years ago. It's a little beauty!

I am yet to try this (it's in the oven as I type). I will take some pics when it is complete, I'm making a nice dinner for Nick and I tonight (chicken Kiev) so this will go down a treat for dessert!

Toffee-Butter-Honey Cake
2 Cups self raising flour
pinch salt
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup of milk (I used more)

Topping
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup margarine
125g honey
2 tablespoons water
125g coconut

Place flour, salt, sugar, eggs, margarine and milk in mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. Spread into a greased 28 x 18cm tin. Bake at 190 for 30 - 35 minutes.


Topping
Boil together sugar, margarine, honey and water until lightly coloured, add coconut. Spread over warm cake and place back in oven for 5 mins. Serve warm, cut into slices. You might like to make one more of the topping than the recipe says to - it is yummy!

Why that you to the person I work with who contributed this fine recipe. I think I will reheat the cake tonight in the microwave and make the sauce then.

Disco Night.

Tonight the girls had their school disco, parents and families were invited too. Nick decided to stay home with the little girls as Poppy is unwell. It was a nice evening, they served up pizza (no Pizza Arte) but it was OK LOL. There is one mother who I really enjoy talking to so we sat down together at the beginning. We didn't stay till the end as Jess was really tired, it has been a long week, and I don't think she overly enjoys these types of things. I don't think we'll ever have to worry about Jess sneaking out at night.

Here are a couple more pics, the one of the girls and I would have been an excellent shot if it was in focus, or the shutter speed was right *insert wacko face* I look like I have a few heads in the last one. I am really unhappy with the camera atm, well more with myself for fiddling with it! I will get the instructions out on the weekend and have a go at getting it right, yes I know I'm bloody hopeless!!!!!! The one of Jess with her face painted was taken at the actual dance. I was a little shy to get the camera out while there as I am unsure of the photo etiquette, I would hate to get told off for taking pics, it seems society is very sensitive with this these days, which is a shame.

Eve's Chocolate Cake....and a pizza brag.

I love to cook things from scratch, ever since we started eating organic food I seem to have found a new love of the kitchen and fresh food. A couple of weeks ago I made pizzas (base included), I was so excited with myself that I opened a good bottle of red, rang my mum and sat down and enjoyed LOL. I just remembered I took some pics so I will include them here :=)

So backt o the title....I am always searching for recipes, so when we were in the waiting room on Tuesday I found this great looking Chocolate Cake recipe. I copied it to make myself and share with everyone. I am going to have a crack at it over the weekend, more than likely Sunday as that is my homely cooking day. I will take some pics when it's done.

Eve's Chocolate Cake:

360g bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces

50g soft unsalted butter

12 eggs, separated

30g Castor sugar plus 20g extra

Pinch of salt

Cocoa or shaved chocolate (yuuuum)

Whipped Cream, to serve (of course)!

Pre-heat oven to 150C. Grease a 26 cm springform tin and line with baking paper. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of hot water and stir in butter. Beat egg yolks in a medium bowl with 30g Castor sugar until thick and pale. Stir into chocolate until smooth. Beat egg whites until frothy, add salt and beat until firm peaks form. Add extra sugar and beat until firm. Beat one quarter of the whites into the chocolate mixture then fold the mixture into the remaining whites and stir until smooth. Place one quarter of the mixture in a bowl, cover and refrigerate. Spoon the remaining mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 30 mins, then press a finger in the centre, an indentation should remain. Unmould the cake onto a serving plate and cool. Spread the chilled topping. Dust with cocoa powder or top with shaved chocolate and serve with whipped cream.

Serves 4.

Sounds divine! The picture in the mag was stunning.......

The brace is back and we have our first tooth!

We spent the long weekend up at my parents on the Central Coast. It was the first time in months that Nick has had time off, we didn't even get any calls which was wonderful. We went up to attend the Christenings for my niece Ruby and Nephew Harry. Ruby is the same age as Maisie but they hadn't gotten around to having her done. The church was stunning, I believe one of the oldest Catholic churches in Australia.

We had the party back at my parents because their home is huge! It was a really wonderful day, Nick and I both crashed out after lunch, we had both eaten far too much and we had plenty of helpers to watch the girls.

I went down to Newtown on Monday and met up with some EB friends, Nadia, Pen and Christine. I decided to go child free as my mum offered to look after all 4, it was a lazy day, eating and drinking coffee and hot chocolates. Nadia and I went for a browse around Newtown after, she is local and knows all the good shops. I had to fill in time as Nick was in the city with some of our friends.

Tuesday we went to Westmead Children's Hospital for Poppy's follow-up appointment with her hips. She has been brace free for almost 3 months now. I was expecting to go in and have the xray, be given the all clear and come on home. Unfortunately that was not to be, the Dr is still not happy with her left hip, so he wants her to wear the DBB for the next six months overnight. It could have been worse, it could have been full time wear, or worse still, an operation. That's not to say I wasn't a little disappointed. We had a rough night with her the first night, yesterday I discovered burn marks/blister behind her knee where she had obviously rubbed it on the brace the night before. She slept beautifully last night but has been a little unsettled tonight. I discovered her first tooth tonight (bottom font left) as I was putting her to bed, so I think that has been a factor in her unsettled behaviour.

I have taken a couple of pics of the new (custom made) brace (DBB). It's no where near as annoying as the pavlik and goes over her clothes, which is a bonus!

I have put an extra pic in because Tanya wanted to see her new Noddy PJs!!!

It's Art Man....

Well that's what I'm telling myself. I am the most incompetent (word of the day) photographer ever!!!!! I have this flash camera that I use to take product photos, yeah it gets me by for those, I sometimes get a nice shot of the girls pmsl. I really must do some lessons and actually learn to use it, same goes for photoshop LOL LOL LOL. The lighting was all wrong for these photos I took today, so I decided to play around with photoshop.......To me they look pretty cool, but I don't have the best eyes rofl!!!!!!

So here you go...ART!!!!!