Success

I am not a good cook. I get by for daily meals and the occasional baking, but generally I don't enjoy it. So I was quite pleased with this result. It really is very easy to make! Just make sure you have double the icing you think you will need! I used these instructions.

Jemima's rainbow birthday party was a lot of fun - it rained, and then the sun came out. Perfect really. Twas a great celebration of my little miss. And she is already planning her 5th.

Ah me.

There is nothing particularly wrong in my neck of the woods, but I am tired and feeling a bit sad.

The tired one stems from Chris' absence. 8 days down, 6 to go. This time around I have just not been able to sleep. Strange really as he has travelled a lot in the past, and I have never experienced insomnia to this degree before. On more than one occasion I have slept with a weapon (a club that a friend brought back from Africa!) because I freaked myself out...

... and we all know what the effects of sleep deprivation can be. Tempers (mine) fray more readily, leading to inevitably to guilt, and problems lead to disproportionate anxiety.

The sad one I can't really elaborate on in a public forum as it involves tragedy that effects someone else, but I am a bit caught up in it as it is just that sad.

One of the coping strategies I employ in such times is to make stuff.

Banana bread from this recipe which is delicious, but Caleb and Jemima took one bite and spat it out. The recipe said it takes an hour to cook, but my tin was different dimensions and it only took 35 minutes. I have had a number of baking failures recently as I am a bit of a novice, so I am pleased that this one is more than edible. For the people over 6 years old in this house anyway.

And some random granny goodness. No real purpose in mind, just using up some wool I have lying around. It had been so long that I had to re-teach myself, and I don't think I am doing the slip stitch properly to do my joining up, but I am enjoying the colours. And the comfort of repetition.

The way to a man's heart...

I like to give handmade as much as the next craft blogger, but sometimes it is quite a challenge. Particularly when it comes to young men I think. Am I right?

My brother turned 27 on the weekend. Last year I made him some mad skinny leg hipster punker PJ pants. I know he wears them quite a lot. There are witnesses. But this year he all but said outright that he would prefer money to handmade. Fair enough, I spose.

So money he got, but I also baked. I know. That's not like me. 

These "confetti cookies" as they are known are from Super Food Ideas (the last edition, not the current one). They turn out so pretty and round because you roll the dough into a sausage, wrap it in glad wrap, refrigerate it until solid, and then cut it into 1cm slices. I chose to do this one particularly because it didn't require the use of a rolling pin. I don't have one. They were completely delicious (185g of butter, they would want to be. Ouch)

I blame crafty blog land. You are a bad influence! 

I don't usually do this, but...

I totally baked a cake today. 

Caleb is at preschool today so Jemima got to help this time, and she enjoyed throwing in each ingredient, but I had to hold her (and got the most delicious cuddle) while I mixed it all together because loud noises scare her so.

I don't really like cooking that much, but when we have a bad banana, I pull out this recipe c/o my mum's "Nursing Mother's Cookbook" from way back when. It is the Simplicity Chocolate Cake recipe, but I do the banana cake variation more often than not. Actually that's all I do.

Here's the recipe.

Grease an 8" ring tin. Heat oven to 180 C. Melt 2T butter or margarine. Put 1 cup and 2T SR flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup milk, 2 eggs, 1/2 tsp vanilla, one mashed ripe banana and then melted butter into a mixing bowl. Mix for 3 minutes. Put in tin. Bake for 30 minutes.

I left out the bit about also being able to cook it on an asbestos mat in a fry pan. Did people really do that? 

Also I just realised as I was typing up this recipe that I forgot to add the extra 2T of SR flour when I baked this little number. Luckily it still tastes OK as it was all Jemima wanted to eat for lunch.