Tag Archives: pink

man biscuits

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cityhippyfarmgirl Yesterday Mr Chocolate had a day that involved scaling 12 foot walls, crawling through electrical currents, jumping into iced water and moving through incredibly small muddy spaces- Twenty kilometres of that kind of fun.

While I certainly don’t think of this as a boys only event, (as I would like to give it a crack one day)  I do think the testosterone would have been running freely as he was teamed up with a group of four others who eat words like competition for breakfast.

To even out the manliness of the group, kilos of mud they were going to be carrying in the pockets, and the general ‘extreme-ness’ of the day. I made the girliest biscuits I could think of… jusssst in case they were hungry.

Man Biscuits

250g softened butter

220g (1 cup) caster sugar

4 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

450g (3 cups) plain flour

Beat softened butter and sugar together until creamy looking. Add vanilla and eggs, beat until mixed well. Add the flour and mix until a dough forms. Roll out mixture between two sheets of baking paper to about 1cm thickness with a rolling pin. Pop the dough sheets in to the fridge until hardens completely.

Once hardened, take the sheets out, remove baking paper and cut your shapes. Lay them on a lined baking tray. Bake at 180C for approximately 15-20 minutes.

Icinging sugar and beetroot juice for the top

smells like pink cupcakes

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I couldn’t get them out of my head.

Pink cupcakes.

Everywhere I turned. There they were in my thoughts. In all their pinkness… and cupcakey-ness.

Little Monkey was even beginning to smell like pink cupcakes.

…actually I always think he smells like a pink cupcake.

Monkey Boy doesn’t smell like a pink cupcake. But he likes to eat them. Both of them like to eat them.

Now I’ve made them I can turn my attention to more pressing matters at hand, (like reading.)

*****

Pink Cupcakes

150g softened butter

150g caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

3tbls natural yogurt

80mls milk (1/3 cup)

225g s/r flour (1 1/2 cups)

Cream butter and sugar, add vanilla, eggs, yogurt, milk. Fold through flour.

Bake at 180C for approximately 25 minutes.

Icing

2 dessert spoons natural yogurt

red colouring (I used a little beetroot juice)

icing sugar

patchwork, proteas and an iron

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Proteas

Odd beautiful flowers, that will always make me think of my grandfather, (he used to grow them, not because he was pink coloured and slightly furry.)

An Iron 

What is it?

The Monkeys whispered. First to each other with small frowns on their faces and then turning to me in a much louder tone.

WHAT IS IT?!

That my sweet children, is something I never thought you would see. Something I had sheltered you from in your first innocent years. A ‘thing’ that so very rarely darkens our doorstep, there had not been a need within their collective memories to have ever cast their eyes over such a contraption. That my children…

That, is an iron.

Oh… and off they went.

I’ll say it now and I’ll say it proud. I am not an ironer, (unless absolutely, positively necessary.) Ironing is up there with sifting. Usually I can find some way around not doing it. I think there may be an iron at the back of the under-the-sink cupboard….maybe. Definitely no ironing board though. One would take up far too much valuable space in a flat, and I’d probably feel inclined to decorate it with whimsical fairy lights.

Patchwork

So The Monkeys got their first sight of an iron, and why was it up? I was in the middle of my first bit of quilting. My first ever baby step in to the land of quilt. Easter long weekend and we were not home. Instead I had access to some really large floor space, (for laying out) a permanantly positioned sewing machine (and over locker) and distractions for the boys. This quilt was not something I had rushed into. Over quite a few months, pieces had been cut out, patterns played with, much fiddling of fabrics had been done, just not at home. No time, nor space at home so if I didn’t get it finished this time, it would probably be another 6 months.

Not one for patience, and with a bucket load of enthusiasm under my belt, the kids were banished and I set forth.

Now to be upfront, me and sewing haven’t always been friends. There is enthusiasm for it, especially since having kids. I’ve got a machine, but it doesn’t come naturally to me. It’s hard work for this brain to work out which piece I’m supposed to be sewing. I don’t do it that often as it’s a royal pain to set it all up, do 5 minutes before little people come and ‘help’, finally get in the zone of it all and then have to pack it all away.

So a long weekend of sewing was planned, and a quilt none the less. Well that’s what I had planned anyway. Time raced by, and in my greedy need for wanting to take something home to be used straight away, it ended up being a doona cover. Not an exciting title is it… doona cover. But it’s mine, it’s patch work, I did every little piece. Miraculously there are no gaping holes, and a whole lot of it was made out of sample fabrics. (Got to love the thriftyness of patchwork.) As The Monkeys hollered for dinner and I whirred away on with my little foot peddle, I even got some pillow cases made.

I was having so much fun with the sewing machine. The ball was finally rolling again and I so wanted to do more, but my time was up. Those matching sailor suits for The Monkeys made from retro curtain fabric?… maybe next time.