For the past ten or so years I've been doing face painting at our church's annual fête and as soon as she could my sister joined in…this year we decided (read; my mom decided) we would also whip up some toffee apples…being that it has been ages since we tried and my mom's memory was sketchy at best, "sugar and something…" I googled and found this on http://www.picknpay.co.za we found that the recipe made pretty matt looking toffee apples which is pretty weird but once we cut down sugar by half a cup we were in business…I added the sprinkles because #1 it looks cute, #2 we had left over from making cupcakes… Here is recipe, have fun 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

15 red apples

4 cups white sugar

1 cup water

3 ml cream of tartar

10 ml red food colouring

HOW TO:

Place apples in a large bowl and cover with boiling water (you may have to do this in batches). 

This will remove the waxy coating and help the toffee to stick. 

Dry thoroughly and twist off stalks. 

Push a wooden skewer into the stalk end of each apple.

Line two trays with baking paper. 

Place sugar and water in a heavy-based saucepan over a low heat. 

Cook, stirring continuously, until sugar has dissolved. 

Bring to the boil and stir in cream of tartar and food colouring. 

Reduce heat to low.

Simmer toffee for 20 minutes or until it reaches hardcrack stage. 

Check by dropping a teaspoon of toffee into a glass of cold water. 

If the toffee solidifies and cracks easily, it's ready (it shouldn't feel sticky).

Remove from heat immediately.

Working quickly and carefully, dip and twist each apple in toffee until covered, let any excess drip away, then place on baking paper to harden. 

You may have to heat the toffee a little if the temperature drops and it starts to feel too thick. 

Leave toffee to cool before eating.

Can be made up to two days in advance and stored in a dry place.

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I decorated this hat a week before baby made his arrival so he could have something "personalised by mom" to wear and I would have a little keepsake once he outgrew it (think he is going to outgrow it pretty soon)

I chose a super easy "name and baloons theme" here is how I did it:

MATERIALS:

A basic blue beanie

Buttons (I love buttons)

Pencil

Needle and thread

HOW:

Write name on hat with pencil and arrange buttons in shape of bunch of balloons then using your favourite (easiest) stitch sew over the pencil marks…that's it! easy peasy

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The other morning (afternoon) I woke in the mood to bake something, but knowing I had limited time and limited ingredients I needed something quick&basic, so enter these super easy scones 🙂 yummy 🙂

INGREDIENTS:
plain flour, for dusting
3 cups self-raising flour
80g butter
1 cup milk
your favorite topping, to serve

HOW TO:
– Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly dust a flat baking tray with plain flour.
– Sift self-raising flour into a bowl.
– Using your fingertips, rub butter into flour until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
– Make a well in the centre. Add 1 cup of milk.
– Mix until mixture forms a soft dough, adding more milk if required.
– Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently until smooth (don't knead dough too much or scones will be tough).
– Pat dough into a 2cm-thick round. Using a 5cm (diameter) round cutter, cut rounds.
– Place scones onto prepared baking tray, 1cm apart.
– Sprinkle tops with a little plain flour.
– Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and well risen.
– cool and serve
NOM NOM NOM

I've been having problems with my laptop (biggest problem that it's an effort with a baby who wants your attention 24/7) but he spent some time hanging out with his aunt and uncle today giving me time to play catch up…which means I get to finally share some crafty fun courtesy of my ridiculously creative friend Cindy.

At Easter I had planned on crafting for friends and family, but then my aunt got sick and I just didn't have any spark of creativity left in me…luckily Cindy had more than enough 🙂

I asked her to share her Easter crafts and she did…the pictures are pretty self explanatory, but feel free to ask for clarity 🙂

Thanx again Cindy

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Whenever I'm looking for a yummy dip or something to make a sandwich extra special I whip up this crazy easy,low fat, mayo dip, it's especially good on tuna and chicken sandwiches or with homemade buffalo wings 😉

INGREDIENTS:

3 tablespoons – Light salad dressing

1 teaspoon – dried mixed herbs

1.5 teaspoons – grated onion

Salt and Pepper to taste

HOW TO:

Mix and enjoy 😉

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As you can see by picture it was an exhausting weekend…added to what has become our usual late nights, tense days and learning to cope in our nw roles we hung out with good friends on Saturday and Aidan slept through his very first play date with twins Blake and Riley (children of Robyn and Ryan) and Gia (daughter of Lyndall and Marvin)… Hehe yes he is still to young for play dates but I honestly can't wait for him to be able to join in with their adorable antics…

-It was mothers day yesterday and "aidan" gave me a MUCH NEEDED spa voucher, deluxe mani pedi here I come!

We went to cemetery aswell which has become a tradition with our family since my gran died in 2005 (she was the matriarch of the family), I also finally went to see my Godmothers grave (missed funeral because Aidan was born) it felt so stupid and wrong! Seeing her name on a grave just makes no sense! I was surprised to find that her grave is surrounded by those of little kids…apt as with almost 30 years of teaching experience she has always surrounded herself with kids.

We also visited Logan's grave and we found a strange and slightly upsetting thing. On Logan's birthday we went to his grave which is covered in grey stones and packed white stones in the shape of a heart and also placed a teddy on head stone (first thing I bought when we found out I was pregnant) …

For some reason someone removed all traces of the heart from his grave 🙁 they actually removed every individual stone which made up the heart but left the teddy – no idea why someone would do that 🙁

Anyway that was my weekend chat soon…

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