The 'spending time with friends' BROWNIE!

This is a new Brownie recipe that I made twice in one week, when I had Maree to visit and when we went to visit Karen and my goddaughters on the way to the airport a few weeks ago. Both Maree and Karen have asked for the recipe so here it is, very indulgent and very delicious, probably best kept for a special occasion, spending time with friends is one of these!!

125g butter
200g Nestle dark melts
1/2 cup castor sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1&1/4 cups plain flour
1 cup Nestle white choc bits
1 cup Nestle milk choc bits
1 large dollop of love

Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan forced). Lightly grease and line base and sides of 19cm square cake pan.
Melt butter, dark melts and sugar in large saucepan. Stir over low heat until melted. Cool for 10 minutes.
Mix in eggs and flour. Add white and milk choc bits and stir. Spoon mixture evenly into prepared pan and smooth out.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until mixture is firm to the touch. Cool in pan. Turn out and cut into squares to serve.

The other yummy in the photo is an easy favorite 'Snake Rocky Road'

200g packet lolly snakes
250g packet marshmallows
2 x 250g blocks milk eating chocolate chopped

Grease an 18 x 28cm slice pan. Line base and sides with baking paper.
Using kitchen scissors cut lolly snakes into 3cm lengths. Cut marshmallows in half.
Melt chocolate and add snakes and marshmallows. Stir to coat. Spoon into prepared pan, press over base.
Refrigerate until set.
Once set, serve rocky road cut into small squares.

I find this very kid friendly especially with my fussy eaters who don't like the cherries, nuts and coconut in my traditional rocky road! I did refuse to only use white marshmallows though which the 'horsey one' seriously asked me to do!!!

Quilt comfort..

There is something about a bed with quilts that screams comfort to me. This is the bed I prepared with love yesterday as we head off to Melbourne to the airport this morning to collect Sharron , the Chinese student from Hong Kong who will be living with us for the next 7 weeks. You may remember in the past her brother Sebastian lived with us for 18 months. and then 2 years ago she was here for a term. She is spending her school holidays attending school in Australia to improve her English. She is now 11, I wonder how much she has grown up since we've seen her. I have a bed prepared with love and a lot of cuddles for when it is all too overwhelming for her. A very different parenting style to mine.

A bloggy friend!

It is always fun to meet a blogger friend in 'real life' and I was lucky enough to have Maree from Farmyard Craft and her family visit yesterday. We shared a meal - I made chicken and corn soup and a delicious brownie, both new recipes - and we did not draw breath. It was like catching up with a long lost friend. Our families got along well and there was no need for SH and the 'horsey one' to use their 'safe' word in case Maree was actually not a quilting blogger at all!!! Thank you so much for taking time in your holiday to visit us, hope you had fun in Ballarat this afternoon, must say I was a little envious!!! Until next time...

Just have to share this...

In a magazine a few weeks ago I read about an Australian citrus grower who was taking direct orders online. Always looking for good quality produce and very happy to cut out the middle man and support our local producers SH and I decided to place an order to see what they were like.
The orchard is in Loxton SA. Orders are to be placed online by midnight Sunday. The fruit is picked Sunday then packed and posted (via Australia Post) Monday (they post to most places in Australia). It is $20.00 for a 5kg box and this includes postage. As a bonus you can choose the break up of that 5kg, it doesn't have to be all the one variety.
We placed our order Sunday night and waited for delivery. The parcel arrived Thursday, although I think maybe there was a day hold up at our end. It came in a styrofoam box, marked fragile and appeared not to have suffered a rough ride.



On opening the box we found the fruit still cool and packed well.



The fruit is just beautiful, the scent on opening the box is gorgeous and the color of the fruit is luscious. We ordered a combination of lemons, mandarins, oranges and cara cara. The taste is amazing.



We are very happy and will certainly be ordering regularly.
www.freshcitrusdirect.com.au

A letter to my Birthday girl....

A letter to my Birthday girl....
Today you turn 17. It is so hard to believe my baby is that old.
You are such a joy to have around. You are always smiling and happy and always always talking. It would be true to say you are 'noisy'! We have lovely times together, yes we clash a little now you are a teenager but only because we both like to have the last word! Our lunches or coffees out are special times that only we share. You are Daddy's little girl, you are so close and he would do anything for you. It is lovely to see the friendship you and your brother now share. You have always adored him and looked up to him. 'Pandy' can do no wrong! All of your family are important to you and you are always happy to come along to the many family events with no complaints. You liven them up, you have such a large personality.
You are beautiful - inside and out. You are so pretty, even with your braces and freckles, in fact you are stunning. We have so many beautiful photos of you and so many with funny faces as well. You love to act the clown and have a great sense of humor, you are very funny. You did not get this from me!
You have many names at home - Rosebud when you were tiny, your Great grandma named you this, you are our Princess, Baby girl and Mimi.
You love all animals but have been horse crazy since you were tiny. I don't think you could be happier than the day you finally got your very own horse 'Henry', you spend hours with him and love every minute. You also love Jimmy, our dog, you let him kiss you over and over and he often gets blamed for distracting you from your homework, you are often found together curled up on the couch. If you haven't got Jimmy you have one of the cats with you.
You have been having fashion tantrums since you were 2 so why did I think you would ever improve. If you don't want to wear something you won't! A trifle annoying when you 'have' to have something and then never wear it because you change your mind.
You love Justin Beiber.You have a lifesize poster on your bedroom wall. You were devastated that you didn't get to go to his concert. You have even asked for his perfume for your Birthday so you will smell like he would like you to! The thing I love about this is that you don't care that your friends don't like him ,you are happy to stand up and say that you do.
You are such a loyal, caring , generous and trusting friend. My heart swells with pride when these qualities are remarked on by your teachers and others. I just hope your friends realise how wonderful you are and return the same to you.
You don't need much sleep, you never have but oh you love a sleep in and a lazy day in bed with a book and your friend Jimmy. I have to be careful what you watch on tv or I end up with you in our bed after having nightmares. Not too many crime shows for you.
My wishes for you on your 17th Birthday are that you have a long, healthy and happy life. Aim for the stars, you are capable of doing anything you want, you have such a bright future ahead of you. Above all be happy and laugh a lot and remember always how much you are loved.
Mum xxxxxx

Delivered!

What a weekend!!!! Why oh why do I always put myself under pressure and leave things until the last moment??? I wanted to deliver the quilt to my sister in law Liz yesterday as her belated 50th Birthday present. I took it in to be quilted the Wednesday after our retreat and collected it the same Friday. It then took me 3 weeks to do anything about binding it!!! I spent a few hours on it Friday night and then about 6 hours Saturday. My hand cramped all Saturday night!!! I was happy with it except for my corners, I am going to have to do some serious practising!
I am delighted to say that Liz was thrilled with her quilt which is all a quilter needs.



We had made our way to Geelong yesterday to celebrate my father-in-law's 80th Birthday. All of the family went out to lunch. Afterwards we went back to one of my sister-in-laws for Birthday cake and coffee. We were in charge of the Birthday cake, white chocolate mud cake, wasn't the most impressive looking but tasted delicious, we used Donna Hay's recipe.