Eli is a sports star

Yes Eli is in the local newspaper - Northern Outlook - again!! This time playing rugby on club day. They did a one page spread and he managed to get into two of the photos. The one in the top middle and then bottom right.

He loves his rugby and is in the Kaiapoi RFC under seven team. (well one of the teams!). It is a great club and they treat the kids really well. Eli is really wanting to get to tackle, which is what he will be doing next year.

On a winning streak

Wow - I just got an email from Sew Pretty - an online craft and fabric store - to say I won their competition and it is a Molly Makes magazine.
I am stoked.
Find the store by clicking on the name above or go to their facebook site.

I also follow Molly Makes on their site - here.

Spiced apple cake - dairy free

Yesterday I had my niece for the day and she loves cake. So I thought I would try to adapt a gorgeous cake by Alison Gofton into dairy free. What a fantastic success.

Please note that this is not fat free, gluten free or egg free (sorry Susannah and Kerryn)

Everyone I know loves the original recipe for this cake. It is good for dessert with some custard or cream while hot, lasts for about 4 days just in the cupboard and holds together well for lunch boxes. I have always liked it as it is great when you are a mum. All mixed in a pot and in the oven 5 minutes later, plus having grated apple makes it seem healthier somehow.

My adaption
Spiced apple cake - dairy free version
Into a bowl put - 100ml vegetable or canola oil,
2 grated apples (skin on),
1 cup sugar,
1 egg - mix it all well
Then add
1 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda (this is not a typo - only B Soda is used)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp alspice (do not substitute for other spices)
1 tsp salt
Mix all till lump free (apart from the grated apples). Put into a lined tin.

Make topping in same bowl, don't worry about any mixture on the side it all just blends in.
3 T vegetable or canola oil
1/2 C rolled oats
1/4 C brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon - mix it all well. It will be crumbly. Scatter on top of the cake batter.

Put in the oven at 180oC for 30-45 minutes (springs back to the touch). The time varies each time as it depends on the type of apple you use. Some apples have more juice or breakdown and make the batter more sloppy.

Breakfast in bed for the boys

I love being able to treat the boys when I can and this morning was meant to be a bit of a rush. Not the normal day to choose to give the boys breakfast in bed. But actually it worked. They ate breakfast and were quiet while I rushed around and sorted out our day.
So they had an Earl Grey Tea (always Dilmah) and toast. The lovely butlers tray that I got for $3 at the Op Shop has been constantly put to good use. We are a family that likes to breakfast in bed - I see it as a real treat.
So they relaxed while I did dishes, put on washing, folded washing, made diary free bread, got ready for a Health and Safety meeting with Fletchers EQR.
In spite of all this we got out the door at 8.30am with no screaming to hurry up, get on with it, or what are you doing????????

A cold winter picnic

the big steam engine

Yes it was a very cold day for a picnic. Only 6 degrees Celsius! But we had a great day.
Aaron has been working all weekend so after church I took the boys and Mikayla out to McLeans Island to go on the miniature railway at Steam Scene.
We took a flask of hot water and had Milo and hot apple cider to warm us up. Then we had lovely cheese toasted sandwiches on the camping stove. Gosh did we need it as it was COLD. But what a great day out.

The steam coming out of the engine

Then swamping us

A bit of larking around

Lovely hot lunch

Then more train rides

This weeks giveaway is...

Petunia the pig.

This is the complete pattern and instructions for the Melly and Me stuffed animal toy.

This is brand new. If you would like to have this either follow me publicly or leave a comment. All names into the draw on Wednesday night.
Good Luck

My Son has his picture in the local newspaper

Eli - Top left

Eli has been in three local newspapers recently. Wow is that a record?

After Queens Birthday weekend his photo was in the Northern Outlook and the Kaiapoi Advocate for his leading of the Junior Kapa Haka group during the unveiling of a new carving in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the School.

Then this week he is in the Northern Outlook again for reading with Gerald - the Life Education caravan giraffe.

As it looked in the newspaper

Eli - Top left

The perfect dinner for a cold winter's day

Tonight we are having a roast. This is a rare occasion in our household. A lot of this is thanks to Jess and Stephen, as we got a pile of leftover veges from their weekly vege pack.
So what you see is onion, home-grown garlic, butter-nut pumpkin, kumera (sweet potato for non NZers) and yams.

I also have beetroot cooking on the stove and that will be roasted with rock salt plus some potatoes par boiling. These will then be shaken in the pan to create a rough edge and then fan baked in a tiny bit of heated oil (this is Aaron's favourite potatoes and how I learnt to do them at the Cordon Bleu Cookery School).

All of this with a lovely leg of lamb. I might even make some home-made mint sauce.

Here is the meal on the table two hours later. Nope mint sauce was a step too far, but I did get gravy done.

Upcycling secondhand stools

My finished stools

Yesterday after work my sister and I had a couple of hours working hard recovering various stools. This is something I find really satisfying as they look so good when done.

My sister had never completed one before and was a bit nervous about doing it herself. Last year I had a lovely morning with Steff also doing this.
I was going to write a tutorial as we did this, but got so enthusiastic about getting stuck in and making the change that I forget to take photos of some major steps - so next time!

The material is oilcloth from Femme de Brocante, a Rangiora shop to die for. One of my favourites and always have amazing specials.

I would like your opinion though - Sometimes I think it is really neat to leave the industrial look of furniture to show it's heritage.
On the step stool do you think I should scrub it clean of paint etc to make it shiny and new or should I leave the smart top and the industrial look? Please do give me feedback on that.

Stool 1 - before

Stool 1 - finished. Note the matching material

Albie said he was the stool tester!

Stool 2 -start (finish in first photo)

My sisters stools - start

My sisters stools - first ever finished.

I have run out of compost

It has been a lovely winter day in Kaiapoi for a spot of gardening. I started setting the vegetable garden up for the winter about a month ago. As usual I have not finished. So I attempted to get it done today. BUT - I ran out of compost. So 2/3 of the garden has compost, sawdust, blood and bone and lime. The rest has some green crops growing and some just missed out completely.
Anyway, about a month ago I cleared out the glasshouse and let the chooks have a good rummage around for a couple of days. Then I composted, sawdusted, watered, etc. I thought it best to give it a bit of time to rest (read into that - I ran out of steam and got distracted by other things). So today I planted out the bok choy that I seeded a couple of months ago and some cauliflower and broccoli plants I had been nurturing for quite a while.

They should all be eaten by the time I need to think of spring and summer vege. Yummy. Last year the cauliflowers I grew in the glasshouse were enormous and the best I have ever had. So I have great expectations for this crop.

Recycling / Upcycling project - glamorous PJ's

When I was recently away at Hanmer Springs with friends they all had pretty PJ's. I was wearing some PJ's I had bought from the Op Shop for $4 a few years ago. Oh how I realised that I needed to upgrade my look. So when I got home I looked for flannel fabric online. Yes I could get some great stuff but at a great price, it would cost me more to make them than to buy a brand new pair at a normal store.

With that in the back of my mind when I was scavenging the Op Shop's I found a sort of nightshirt. It has birds and pink on a brown background. It was too split up the sides and too short to be decent to walk around the house in. But it was in exceptionally good condition and I could see that a few tweaks to it would make it look better. So for $4.50 I took it home.

But then I could not find material to match, until I was out in the garage looking at my material shop (that is what I call all my stash of fabric) and found a bit of leftover flannelette sheeting. I had used this sheet as the backing for one of my soft and cuddly kiddies quilts. Yes it was a perfect match for the pattern on my top and there was enough material left over.

So I chopped up an old pair of PJ bottoms (50 cents from the op shop) to use as a pattern. I cut it in half down the middle then leave one side sewn up so that I can use that as a guide to sew up my new bottoms and the other side I cut into pattern pieces. Cut them and sewed them. It only took about 1 1/2 hours in total to complete them. And I am so pleased with myself putting contrast piping around the bottom of the legs to make them look that they belong together. (Don't look too closely as one leg is definitely finished a whole lot better than the other leg). There I have it - a new set of PJ's to go to smart places in the winter in.


Total cost:
pj bottoms for pattern 0.50
pj top 4.50
piping 0.50 (remnant from Fabric Vision)
ribbon for waist 3.00 (from Blackwells in Kaiapoi)
elastic 0.10 ( I got a 20 metre roll at Stash Rehash this year)
$8.60