makes me smile

A few things that have made me smile this week:

1. The snap above. Where's Fia gone??

2. These little sheepie boots. Too cute. The weather's warming up but a newborn always needs snuggly things eh? That's how I justify them anyway.

3. My little sous-chef/cupcake devourer.

An electric beater is just a little bit too much fun! As is giving gingerbread men currant 'gloves', 'hats' and 'shoes'. They might get cold otherwise. Oh, and they need 'tummy buttons' too. :)

We adapted a ginger loaf recipe from Taste Magazine. A few variations (according to what was in the pantry) and we had gingerbread cupcakes. Actually not bad. Grab our version of the recipe here. (Link coming soon...)

4. Ok, this one made me more than smile...

Dear little Coolpix, you have served me well but you are no longer needed...

...eeeeeeek!

Yes, my hot husband may have agreed with me that a new camera is a very worthy investment before the birth of a new baby. :) Our first SLR and wow doesn't cover it. I've stuck a bunch of the first experimental photos in this post. However, there are still a few here that were snapped by old Coolie-Coolpix. I'll send a free coffee to the first to guess which ones are not quite SLR quality.

[Top tip: If you're thinking it's these you're way off...]

5. The awesomeness of Katie and her dress up costumes. Sophia was obsessed with this firefighter getup. Hehe, kids are awesome.

6. The fact that this belly will soon no longer be.

7. Finally (perhaps I should have started with these as they have made me beam all week) Sophia's drawings. Every mother gets to brag about their child's brilliance right? Well, these 'dogs' are damn brilliant. :)

As are these 'trains'. Complete with track, steam and passengers.

Incase you hadn't guessed I am a rather proud mum. ;)

The two pics above are not amazing but a demonstration of how sharp our new camera is (with no flash) in the dimmest lighting ever. *contented sigh*

That's all for now. Hope your weeks have been full of smiles too.

x

baking (cooking) the book: part 2

I added an old favourite to the mix this week. My husband had been craving Taco Soup (a recipe given to me by my auntie) which I've enjoyed many times but never actually cooked myself.

Verdict: SO EASY (didn't realize quite how easy--a zillion cans of things mixed together an heated, really) and a bit of an all-round winter winner. Yum.

Husband's craving: satisfied.

I thought I'd combine it with a corn bread recipe I added to my scrap book a year or so ago. I'd been reading a book set in Georgia at the time, full of descriptions of southern food. The book made me hunt this recipe down. It's a bit of a winner also.

And as for the baking: Peanut Brownies. Another of my Nan's old recipes. I say old because A) it's another childhood favourite, and B) my grandmother used pounds and ounces and all those archaic measurements despite living in the 21st century, so I had to do a haphazard conversion (not sure whether it worked for me) and C) it includes shreddo. Does anyone bake with shreddo anymore? I'm such a baking novice I really have no clue.

Verdict: the RECIPE is amazing, we devoured these things as kids, however I think that winging the metric conversion was not the best idea. The texture was not what it should be, from memory. I'll stick the old measurements in here (easy for you Americans) and suggest that any Kiwi reading use an internet conversion site to get the recipe just right--it's worth it. I'll have to try again I think.

Extra baking tip: Spoon the mixture on to the tray in lumps and don't press them flat. I did. They all spread into one another and I had to break up chunks of biscuit like peanut brittle. They looked a little rustic compared to Nan's perfect cookie bundles. :)