Annabel Langbein - Domino Potatoes

This was my attempt at Annabel's Domino Potatoes. I have never had a flop from her recipes but these did not go brown and crispy at all. Was disappointed. I think because they did not brown up they tasted a bit buttery for me too.

Annabel Langbein - Rhubarb tart

Eli and I have been watching the latest series of Annabel Langbein - Free range through the Seasons.  She had made an amazingly easy pastry case and then just stood up fruit in it. If you wanted this could be sugar free but would be very tart. Just change the fruit.

She served it with Orange scented cream which was a mixture of yogurt and sour cream, but I just made it with normal cream. The pastry held together but had texture and then melted in your mouth.

Annabel Langbein Fruit Tart

Pastry  - into a kitchen whiz put 

1 3/4 cup plain flour

200g chilled diced butter 

whiz until it looks like bread crumb and then add

1/2 cup sour cream.

whiz until it combines. Put it on the bench and bring all the pastry together. Wrap in cling film and put in fridge for at least 20 minutes.

Cut pastry into 8 pieces. Roll each out on floured board and then turn it in all the way around to make an edge. Place your fruit in the middle and sprinkle on 1 tablespoon sugar per tart.

Bake at 180 for 20 minutes (I had to bake it about 30 minutes to get colour and make sure it was cooked)

Orange Cream

Whip 150ml of cream which has the fine zest of 1/2 orange and 3 tablespoons sugar.

Serve

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A bit of late night secret sewing

Last week Svetlana from s.o.t.a.k. advertised for pattern testers for her first ever pattern. I quickly put my hand up as I have been following her blog for a long time and love her aesthetics.

Last night I was busy cutting cutting and being very careful to follow the instructions and make sure that I did not race ahead as I normally do!!

I was very pedantic about pre cutting everything and within an hour I was whizzing along. It's looking gorgeous but can't show you anymore until Svetlana has published it all on her blog. Another 30 minutes will have it all done.

Drama in our house

getting loaded into the ambulance

Well we had loads of drama last friday night. Jakob came home from school having had an accident at the gymnasium. He had hurt his back (and was treated at the time) and travelling on the school bus had him in agony. I was concerned so took him to the Dr only to be told he needed to be treated as a spinal patient and the ambulance got called.

Goodness me. So off we went to A&E and had back xrays. Thankfully he only had severe bruising to his spine. So a quiet weekend. He is getting better.

Minky dressing gown for my son

Recently Eli and I had a mum and son day. When we were in one of the shops we spied the most amazing soft cuddly minky fabric. Eli had been wanting a soft dressing gown so we bought it home and whipped it up. It was really quick to make as I used satin bias binding that was premade to finish the edges and I did not line the collar area.

One of the many poses

I had an adult dressing gown pattern but it was far to large, so I used the general gist of the pattern and drafted my own. All things considering I am quite happy with it. The photos are not the best as Eli insisted on giving me all his modelling poses!!!

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The satin bias used for edging.

Birthday afternoon tea.

Oh yes, gorgeous fresh strawberries covered in glossy delicious dark chocolate. Tasted as good as they look.

How to deal with different food likes and dislikes.

When it comes to salads our family all like different things. So when I make a salad there is a lot of food swapping on plates when it is dished up at the table. So having a BBQ dinner I decided to make individual salads according to preference. Worked so well.

Pink Lamington cake made from Real Raspberries

Aaron's birthday today and I had bookmarked a cake to do. A while ago Lauren (who's blog I follow) made this for her husband's birthday and it looked amazing.

Let me tell you it tastes stunning, like summer in a mouthful. Using real raspberries makes this a very glamorous cake. I did not have quite enough raspberries so I used boysenberries too. I put jelly in with all the berries and let it set a bit, then mixed some of that through the cream. Click on the link for the recipe if you want to make this too.

Absolutely gorgeous and worth doing again. Thanks Lauren

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My Father in Law may rue the day!!

Well.... Have you seen the flowers on my tomato plants... some close up's included just in case you missed it.

That sentence is for my father in law. The family have a long standing tomato competition for the first tomato of the year and I am feeling confident!!!

For my birthday this year my Father and Mother in Law gave me a mini propagator. Love it. All the plants are looking good. I wonder if he bought one for himself too????

Eli and I spent time potting up some hanging baskets. This on with strawberries, two others with flowers that he chose.

I have even risked planting a tomato outside!!

Great family weekend away

Eli decided to carry the big 20kg pack

We took the Coastal Pacific train from Rangiora to Kaikoura, spent two nights and then took the train back home again. A great start to the school holidays. The train is such a smooth trip it is a shame NZ doesn't have more of a rail network.

Waiting at the train station

Aaron spent quite a big of time being sick in bed

If he wasn't in bed then he was here. Two lovely warm spa pools. The
boys spent time in the spa's but also the normal pool. Brrr 26 oC.

Rather than going walking with me the boys spent time putting
their bodies on the line

We had a gorgeous hot Saturday, rainy cold and snowy Sunday
 and cold but clear Monday

On Monday I found a walk in the Dunes by the beach.
Rugged up tight as the wind of the snow was freezing!!

Wow it has been two years since we could do this

The garage has been so chokka with stuff that we have not been able to play table tennis for at least two years!!

 It has had a house lot of second hand carpet, a little bit of reclaimed rimu from Aaron's parents demolished house, and just piles of junk.

One and half years ago Aaron told me to clear up all my stuff in the garage. I did a HUGE job and had a garage sale. Then slowly in the spare space people put stuff. Slowly I sell, junk or remove it.

We laid the carpet in the house, used the Rimu for shelving in the laundry and today the boys and I cleared out all the rest. A great productive school holiday day.

The boys really enjoyed rediscovering the table tennis table. Today more stuff is going on Trademe and I have yet to persuade Aaron to sell the gym. I talked to him two months ago about the possibility and he has not used it since!! (ok so he has been sick!)

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