Russell and Cake

Monday, 18 June 2012

Sorry, it's late

I haven't posted since October! It was kind of fun to have a look over the old posts and, more specifically, the photos. Everyone has grown up so much in such a short time. Rory's been at school for almost two months! We've moved house. There are more of us to cook for. We have a new baby now - our puppy, Cody. But where has my baking buzz gone? I really don't know the answer to that one. There have been some baking episodes of course, but unfortunately they're very spaced out, and then not very exciting when i do get round to it. Usually my same old favourites...chocolate chip cookies, ginger cake, muffins. Tasty, but boring.

So I've just been looking over my photos from the past few months to see what's been going on. If anybody's actually reading this, then i'm about to treat you to a quick peek at what life has involved...or some of what was captured on camera, anyhow.

One of many pots of fudge for the school fair

Yummy apricot / malt biscuit slice given the Al Brown treatment

One of my picture nooks

These next few were from the summer holidays...6 months ago!

Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies! My favourite

My baby off to school......

Sweet stall stuff...

And all dolled up for the school disco!

Okay so it's not the most exciting return to the world of blogging but i'm going to make more of an effort now, although there might be some other projects thrown in there along with the baking. We've been doing a wee bit of crafting round here lately so i might share some of that with you (no laughing!) . Also, I just read Kate's blog and it turns out I decided the same thing as her...time to give composting a go. So far my effort has resulted in a week's worth of scraps sitting in a bucket starting to stink out the laundry - i haven't quite decided where the compost heap is going to be just yet. But hey, no hurry.

So, I'll be writing again soon. In the meantime, check out this song called 'Skip to the Good Part' which I totally love right now.

Sorry for the boring blog...a bit sleepy now

Harriet

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

A year ago today

we welcomed Juno to the world....

and over the course of the year this....

Has changed to this...

Happy birthday bug

Kate x

Monday, 6 February 2012

Hello February...

February is a big month in our household, cos sweet baby Juno will turn one! I can't really believe it was almost a year ago that Anton and I were heading off to hospital to welcome her into the world. It's hard to imagine our little family without her, she's such a ray of sunshine and spoilt rotten by the rest of us....

So, I guess Feb will be a month of party planning for me, which on the bright side means i get to plan a menu - Yay! I'm thinking of carrot cake as a birthday cake as it is essentially dairy free (don't count the icing...).

Below are some pics of other things we've been up to. I made a great Russian slice and then proceeded to eat 90% of it myself, went out for a bang-up meal with my mum and sister at 8.2 in Birkenhead, which was divine, stayed true to my resolution to see more live music and went to the Laneway festival with some friends, went to a friends beautiful wedding, and got into the family spirit of togetherness and went for a bush walk. you can see it all in the pics below....

Happy February everyone! Kate x

Thursday, 19 January 2012

12 for 2012

The last time i posted anything was over two months ago- scandalous. I'd promised to bake a cake and over the course of the last two months i have honestly done that, quite a few times in fact, but i failed to document it and subsequently never wrote about it.

Now i could go on about how slack i am, which is surely fairly obvious to all, but i figured instead i would talk about my plans for 2012 and the future of this blog. You see one of my aims this year is to get better at touching base through my blog. I don't think anyone really reads it but i know that family do and i guess its a pretty good way for them to keep up with what's going on in my corner of the world.

I hope that Harriet comes back to the blog too, because in all honestly she is the true talent in the kitchen and offers the most when it comes to talking about and creating delicious morsels, but ultimately that decision is up to her.

I will try and make most of my blogs about some of the baked goods i have a go at making, but occasionally it might just be a whinge, a moan or a spiel about what me, Anton and the kids have been up to- scintillating stuff.

Anyway, I digress. Plans for this year. Well they are grand, of course. I fully intend to win the lottery and then buy a house and go on a massive holiday with the family - preferably to Paris and Croatia, but I'm open to suggestions. I've also made some resolutions that don't focus so much on losing weight and becoming more attractive (which, lets face it if it hasn't happened by the time you're 32, it's probably not gonna happen). Instead, i'm just going to focus on being less critical about myself, and more sort of rational about how my body really looks.

I also plan on seeing more music live, getting out and doing more with the kids on the weekend, writing more and saving a little bit of cash (this is surely the hardest task for a gal like me...).

Good goals i reckon...

Now, a segue. Lets talk about the 12 awesome courgette and feta fritters i made for dinner earlier this week. A really simple batter from my new Annabel Langbein cookbook which was mainly just a bit of flour and eggs, plus a whole heap of grated courgette, feta, mint, lemon juice and chives. They were really, really good and the whole family liked them. Except for Mila, who got distracted by a new neighbour up the back and was allowed to leave the table early so she could go and blow recorders with her through a gap in the fence - sweet.

Kate x

Thursday, 10 November 2011

I'll bake a cake soon, promise...

It's been a long time, I'll admit it. Life in our household has been pretty hectic, but what's new!

We have had a house guest for a few weeks, Anton's sister the lovely Ema and we have been busy, busy, busy. There's been trips to the beach, the park, into town (RWC don't ya know), out to the burbs for coffee at the Kohu road factory (you should visit here- just not on a Sunday or a public holiday - we've tried both and it was closed!!!), numerous donuts from the bakery up the road, Kelly Tarltons, the zoo and more-PHEW! Is it any wonder i've been absent from the blogosphere and missing from the kitchen??

That being said, Christmas is around the corner and that can only mean lots and lots of baking. This year i'm going to hone my baking skills and get Harriet to help me with the decorative elements- she's so talented in that department. So don't give up on me, from now on i promise there'll be one baking post per week.

But not till next week. Till then, here's some photos to keep you entertained... (As if the photo at the top wasn't entertaining enough!)

Turns out Juno is a big fan of the beach, we couldn't keep her out of the sand...

Self portrait of the Birthday girl's foot, sporting a brand new sandal

Baby sister getting amongst the birthday balloons...

Working on my Kate Sylvester wishlist, with sartorial advice from the four year old...

Thursday, 13 October 2011

Return of the Mac

Actually, it's just me..It's school holidays...we're doing a lot of watching...Smurfs..Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...more Smurfs...and Season 4 of Gilmore Girls! Fantastic. I know I haven't posted in about a month and there's been a lot of stuff happening, although shamefully not anything very adventurous on the baking front. There has been lots of food though..and lots of birthdays, a prizegiving, an overseas holiday...so I'll just give you a few pictures to blend that month into a nice little montage.