Saturdays at the Salvos

On Saturdays I like to escape for a few minutes and head to the Salvation Army Depot (thrift store for any internationals) around the corner from my place. During my university days many, many moons ago I used to like going to thrift stores to find some cool, retro clothing. But through the years I had forgotten about them until some of my fave blogs reminded me of their jewel-worth.

My local thrift store has specials every Saturday – generally half price on any particular category. Today it was books and bric-a-brac which was perfect for me as I was on the hunt for a music book. I have a craft project in mind that requires some music sheets to be chopped up. I found some lovely sheets of music at Reverse Garbage the other day for $3 but I wouldn’t have the heart to cut it up. I needed something less precious. I found two books today plus a book about Renoir and a pattern for kids shirts (perfect!). So here are my finds at a total of $8 for the lot.

I love the “Italian Favourites” one, it has O Sole Mio and That’s Amore (love the Dean Martin version) – it’s so kitsch it’s cool.

 

This is my all-time favourite Renoir, Luncheon of the Boating Party.

And this is my Saturday (hubby made lunch – love him).

Husband's hairy hand, not mine.

Lunch and a show.

Have a happy Saturday.

DIY Lord Voldemort

So it’s book parade day at school. When the boys started kindy I was eagerly awaiting the dress up day but they didn’t have it. They didn’t have it in year 1 either. By now I was grateful of its absence (love dress ups…but amidst all the other daily chores I just couldn’t find the enthusiasm). But lo and behold now that they are in year 2 we have a book parade.

After some consultation we decided on Sky the Blue Fairy (refashioned out of an Alice in Wonderland dress we already had),

Harold from Captain Underpants (Master 8A is not too fussy on getting it right),

and my creative genius, Lord Voldemort. One academic gown (yes, I own one but you could use a big black jacket as well), one fake snake, one wand (or drumstick from younger brother’s drum set) and a white stocking over the head to make him look authentic.

Dodgy I know, but it worked. I got the idea for the stocking from Mrs Woog here. Overall a satisfactory result.

A bit of self advertising

Toffeeapple Kidswear is on sale until 1 September 2011. Most items have been reduced to $20.

Go on over and check it out. Or visit my Etsy store here.

Some of the clothing on sale:

Have a great Friday!

What Ashton Kutcher and I have in common

What a gorgeous almost spring day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing. Simply beautiful.

I ended up at the park with Master 3 after dropping the older three grommets at school. An impromptu park visit, so I had brought along no reading material and left my phone in the car. So sit in the sun I did and soaked up the glorious rays of sunshine. I heard a kookaburra singing somewhere, the low din of traffic in the distance and some incessant "mumming" until I realised it was Master 3 wanting a push on the swing.

Homeward bound to a gigantic pile of ironing which I managed to avoid by attacking the gardening. I don’t garden very well. This is an annual event. But anything to excuse me from the ironing. Master 3 decided it was warm enough to strip to his undies and pretended to help.

A quick shower (we’re talking micro seconds) and I discovered my toes. They have not been out for months. And given it was such an awesomely warm day and I had 2.5 minutes up my sleeve it was just enough time to get out the Revlon Vixen and do the ladies up a bit. Pretty, eh? Just don’t look too close as the photos reveal the hit and misses.

Here they are in my old faithfuls. I bought these in Germany in 1997. I’m hoping this won’t be their last summer. I thought I was so cool hopping off the plane back in Sydney wearing these. I wish I bought the green ones too.

And if you look very closely you will see in my right foot the link between me and Ashton Kutcher – webbed toes! That’s my party trick. It has caused me no issues except in the ‘80s when sock gloves were in for a while and then it hurt a bit. Otherwise ok.

I hope you all had a sunny day (whether real or in your head).

Some days ...

Some days I just want to crawl back into bed and have a cuddle.

Balkan Jam Rolls - Kiflice

The other day I wrote about the lack of cupcakes and chocolate crackles in my house whilst growing up. We did not, however, lack in sweets. We always had a daily supply of some sort of pastry in the house. My mother didn’t believe in buying biscuits or cakes (never a tim tam to be seen!) but she absolutely did not fail in the baking department.

One regular was this shortbread-y jam roll that looks like a mini croissant. We call it a “kiflice”. A standard Balkan delight.

Recipe

2 ½ cups plain flour

2 ½ cups self-raising flour

½ cup sugar

250g unsalted butter

300ml sour cream (1 carton)

Plum spread (not jam it must be a spread)

1 egg

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan forced). Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix by hand. It is messy at first but will combine fairly quickly. Once it comes away from the hand knead a bit more and then it is ready to roll out.

Flour a large clean surface and roll out the dough until it is about 2-3mm thick. Using a pizza cutter cut long strips in both directions to create rectangles that are about 10cm x 5cm (but really do any size you wish). Now cut the rectangles in a diagonal to create long triangles.

Picking up the triangle place the widest end on your finger tips and with a teaspoon take a small amount (less than half the teaspoon) of the spread and place on the wide part of the triangle. Start rolling from the wide end to the pointed end so it looks like a croissant.

Place on the baking tray and bake for about 20 minutes or until slightly browned. Allow to cool on a wire rack. For serving sprinkle with icing sugar or roll in caster sugar.

These are also ok to freeze prior to sprinkling with sugar.

Why a plum spread and not a jam? The reason why it must be a plum spread and not a jam is because of the sugar content. The spread is only about 20% sugar as opposed to the 50% in jam, the spread is less likely to leak out of the rolls whereas a jam will completely melt and pour out whilst baking. I use a plum spread made by “Podravka” that can be found in some grocery stores (such as Franklins) and most delis or fruit shops. If you can’t find it, I have mixed jam with bread crumbs (you could probably also usealmond or walnut meal). It works but isn’t half as nice as the plum spread. If using the jam and bread crumbs I use a 2:1 ratio.

 Master 8A caught in the act! Taking a jam roll just as I was taking a shot.

Forgive the photography please. It'll get better I promise.

And I am going through a "baking" phase so should soon head back some Toffeeapple Kidswear stuff. I swear.


This post has been linked to the wonderful blog "our creative spaces". Pop on over to see what other wonderful bloggers are creating.

Crochet a Beanie

I’m not much of a knitter. I always wanted to be. My mum is a spectacular knitter. When I was little I used to get a couple of her knitting needles and tap them together quickly emulating the noise she made when knitting, hoping to produce something. I never got far. As an adult each time I had a baby I had visions of knitting a beautiful white cardigan for them. There are a few that have been started, but alas none that have been finished!

However, crocheting is a different relationship. I enjoy crocheting. I think because I can get through it quite quickly and produce something over a shorter period than knitting that it has been able to sustain my interest. I like doilies (gasp!) but lately have been attracted to clothing I can crochet.

Retromummy has provided a great tutorial for these beanies. She has them in three different sizes. Here I have tried both the toddler size (the blue - though I added a few extra rows) and the child size (the white).

After a brush up of my crochet skills (hooray YouTube for reminding me how) these beanies have been quickly whipped up. They have been to soccer and judo, and on the lounge while hubby strums his guitar. A very portable hobby. I used wool I had in my stash but I think the next beanie will require a special purchase. Not sure what colour though. I better hurry as Spring has nearly Sprung.

 (And yes that is a fish shaped large doily done by my mum).

I also want to do make these from Mamachee on Etsy. But there is an absolute plethora of awesome crochet patterns to purchase on Etsy which I will probably spend the rest of the night perusing.

Photo of Oma House Slippers my Mamachee found here

Chocolate Crackles

When I was in primary school I was the only "wog" in most of the school. There was also an Indian girl and later a boy called Adrian who was second generation Polish. Anyway, my parents were the only ones with an accent. Now it wasn't all that bad, I did get farely regular sandwiches (yes, the vegemite was one centimetre thick - but she tried!). But it was on cupcake day I felt it the most. I loved the cupcakes, the toffees and the chocolate crackles. I never got these at home. We did have sweets (more along the baklava line) but never chocolate crackles.

Consequently, chocolate crackles are now a staple. I recently tried Donna Hay's recipe from her latest Kids Annual. It uses golden syrup instead of copha which I find so much more easy to use, especially when the kids are involved.

Ingredients
200g dark chocolate, chopped
100g butter
1/3 cup golden syrup
4 cups rice bubbles

Method
Place the dark chocolate, golden syrup and butter in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring until melted. Place in a bowl together with the cereal and mix well together and all combined. Spoon into cupcake holders and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to set.

Yum Yum.

Please not today

When I got up this morning, this was what was waiting for me:

Miss Five desperately wanted to play dollies – I desperately did NOT. Not today. No Barbies…please. We compromised and made some paper dolls instead.

Fun on a Sunday!

Something I never thought my son’s would say

As I called my boys up for dinner I got the response “in a moment mum, we just have 8 more yoga poses to do.”

Master 8A bought himself Wii Fit Plus with his birthday money. Great choice.

Friday = Me day (sort of)

Well hello Friday! Three kiddos off to school and Master 3 at my folks for the morning. And me? Going for a diamond microdermabrasion. It has been ages (we’re talking about 10 years) since I last had a facial outside of my own bathroom. It has been on the books for a while.

Whilst taking Masters 8 to get their haircuts for their birthday the other day I passed a Spa place that had a special deal on which was calling my name, so I booked myself in. It was a glorious 30 minutes. The girl looking after me was so pleasant (no hidden agendas of trying to sell me more products), and though the actual microdermabrasion is a bit like getting your face sand-papered off, I walked out floating on clouds. I have booked myself in for next Friday.

Well that was half an hour of my day. The rest of the day I spent working on my tax online. That always drives me to insanity, or at least to a game of solitaire. But I got it done and am mighty proud of myself.

No photo of my taxes so for inspiration here’s a picture of my favourite tree when we go camping. It is a bit sick apparently so its chop is on the agenda. Hopefully it will still be there when we next visit for one final hug.

A date with the red leather gloves

Today I took my gloves out on a date. I did want to make it a more glamorous occasion – they’re worth it – but ho hum I’m not very good with first dates. First we went to pick up a latte

then off to the skate park. Romantic.

Ignore the runny nose please, it was a windy day.

Four types of chocolate cake and a Pokémon ball

Well the Masters 7 are today 8 (so officially now Master 8A and Master 8O). Can’t believe it has been 8 years since I was in hospital heaving out two of them. And I never thought I would like (let alone love) 8 year old boys. When I was an eight year old girl I was not impressed by eight year old boys. But as a 37 year old mother I quite adore them.

To celebrate I made cupcakes for school. Pokémon balls were the request. So I used this recipe for chocolate cupcakes and this recipe for the gluten free ones. I used Betty Crockers frosting in a can (first time I used it – so damn easy). I was worried how I was going to get a true red so went to a cake supplier and bought the real red food colouring that did the trick. I used black writing icing from the local Woolies and mini marshmallows cut in half for the centre. 60 cupcakes in all.

Glad this only happens once a year.

For home I made two different types of chocolate cake. I made a Nigella Lawson old-fashioned chocolate cake for when the grandparents came over and a beetroot chocolate cake for when the other guests rocked up (sounds extravagant I know but we didn't have an actual party and the cakes were small). I am telling you the beetroot cake was delicious. Master A couldn’t get enough of it and there were no leftovers. Will definitely make this one again. Go here for the recipe.

What’s your favourite cake to bake?

New Fabrics

Today I picked up some absolutely gorgeous fabrics for the new Toffeeapple range. I love them. They look and feel gorgeous and I can’t wait to get them to the maker along with the new designs.