Monday again! Oops actually its now Tuesday!!

We had a real winter weekend! Saturday the 'horsey' one played netball at 8.30 am and even my coat and scarf didn't provide a lot of protection from the cold wind that was blowing. Took quite some time to thaw out the feet when I got home! Got a bit of my cooking mojo back on the weekend (yes about time!!). Made these hummingbird cupcakes on saturday morning , very easy and yummy. Next time I will pop some lemon cream cheese icing on and they will be perfect!

I actually got to my quilting group saturday afternoon as SH kindly made the trip out of town for the 'horsey' one to play hockey. There were only 3 of us there but it was good for the soul! I worked a little on this golf quilt which has been a few years in the making. Quite a long story behind it all which I will share one day. It is no longer being made for the intended recipient but I am looking forward to it being finished one day and I am sure SH will enjoy snuggling under it!! I am just trying to finish the blanket stitch applique then it will be time to sandwich it together.

Saturday I also made a soup in my slow cooker for the first time. Please remember I am not very adventuresome when it comes to cooking and generally don't tweak recipes or in fact 'make them up'!!! This was made from a chicken and barley base and I just added lots and lots of vegies. We ate it for dinner with crusty bread and it was so good! Think soup in the slow cooker may become a Saturday evening tradition!!!

Sunday Mum came for lunch. She arrived back from 7 weeks visiting my sister in the UK on Tuesday so it was so nice to catch up with all her news. It was lovely to see photos of my nieces and nephew, they are so cute! Daisy the oldest wrote Mum the sweetest love poem when she left, brought a tear to my eye! The other reason Mum came for lunch was to celebrate the 'horsey' one's 15th birthday.It was actually a fortnight ago but she was away at a horse competition at the time (which devastated me but didn't worry her!!). Hard to believe my baby is 15!!! Where does the time go? As we had recently bought her a new riding hat and a camera we bought her a CD and sea monkeys for her birthday.The sea monkeys is something she has always wanted, not sure how much success she'll have (hasn't got a good track record with goldfish she got a few years ago - think she gave up after 5 died!!). We had the best lunch, roast pork , roast pumpkin, potato and parsnip, sugarsnap peas, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce, gravy , apple sauce and by request of the birthday girl - yorkshire pudding!!!! ( I know it is meant to be served with beef but as she doesn't eat the meat she couldn't see why it couldn't go with pork!!). For dessert I made a double pavlova with cream, strawberries and chocolate flakes - also by request of the birthday girl!! Needless to say we didn't need any dinner! Our perfect weekend was finished off watching the final of Masterchef and yes it lived up to our expectations and we were very happy with the result. Hope Julies cookbook is out in time for Christmas!!Quite some time ago, maybe even in May - yes I know how bad I have been, I was lucky enough to win a wonderful giveaway from Indigo Blue and received this lovely parcel . What with the chaos of my life and no camera I haven't posted about it. It was such a wonderful and generous parcel. I received a little bag in cupcake fabric (quite apt as it was through a cupcake swap that we originally met), a Cath Kitson keyring, a pincushion (very needed) and a wonderful selection of ribbons and buttons which have been hidden from the 'horsey' one. Thank you so much Andrea, I feel very blessed to have your friendship.