Furoshiki!

Good Afternoon all,

I'd like to share with you my latest obsession:  The Japanese art of Furoshiki, or cloth folding.  This is usually used to wrap gifts or carry things such as books or even watermelons!

I've been using a (homemade) furoshiki wrap for my lunch this week, and I think it's super cute!  I made the furoshiki wrap by cutting up a square of fabric (that I made from the same fabric as my ironing board cover) and hemmed a simple edge onto it.  Then the fun started...

 Lay the cloth out in a diamond in front of you...

Pop your lunch in the centre of the cloth- I use a small clippy box for fruit and a medium clippy box for soup or leftovers or whatever.  There's usually a banana or a cereal bar balanced in there too...

 Take the left and right corners and bring them up over the lunch and tie in a double knot...

 Turn the whole thing round so the loose sides are on the left and right again and bring these up, a bit like wrapping a present.

 Both sides up...

 ...And tied in a double knot.  I tend to do this quite loosely, and not tie the knot too close to the lunch inside, so it acts like a carrying handle.

You can even slip your chopsticks through the 'under-knot'.  I really like the way this looks, and the way it holds your lunch together, especially if you're like me and end up with all sorts of random or loose items in your lunch!  The good thing about this is that it doesn't matter if your lunch is an awkward shape either, because you're not forcing your food into a square box! :)

Sugar Skull Facepaint!

Good Morning,

We went to a Halloween themed birthday party last night with the instructions to 'maybe, sort of, dress upp, y'know, if you feel like it'.  We went down the plain-clothes-sugar-skull-face route, and I think it worked quite well!  Enjoy!

Mini Apple and Blackberry Pie

Good Afternoon all,

As progress with the house has slowed a little, please indulge my frequent posts about baking. I've just bought two tiny, super cute pie dishes from Cargo Homestores, via Amazon. They arrived on Wednesday and I was amazingly keen to make a cute dessert for the Mr. Cue rummaging through the fruit bowl and freezer...In the end I used an apple and some blackberries that I picked and froze from our trip to Manor Farm Country Park. I also decided to try a lattice crust, which I've never really done before, and I think it worked rather well.

And here is a pic of the pie once baked and crispy...

To give some idea of size and scale of the cute mini pie dishes, here is how big they really are!

The pastry was ready roll shortcrust pastry (I know, I'm lazy) and the filling was made using one apple (I think it was a golden delicious or something, just what I had in the fruit bowl) peeled and cut into chunks. I popped this in a bowl with about a tablespoon of caster sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon and microwaved on high for 2 and a half minutes. Then I added in a handful of frozen rasberries and drained off the syrupy liquid. I lined the dish with pastry and filled it with the fruit. I cut the rest of the pastry into strips and put a lattice on top, brushing the edge with milk to make sure it stuck. Then I trimmed the edges, brushed the top with more milk and sprinkled a little lot more sugar and cinnamon on top.

Bake at about 180C for 15 to 20 minutes (perhaps longer if you're making more than one) then EAT!

Baby Shower!

Good Evening All!

I've just finish clearing away after a very successful baby shower.  Unfortunately this is going to be another cake-related post.  I will get back to the house at some point, I promise...

So,  Remember the chocolate ombre cake I made a few weeks back?  Well that was a practice cake for the baby shower.  I made a pink one this time and made the 'roses' a little smaller, and I'm pretty proud of how it turned out.  (I also made cake pops, sausage rolls, quiche and biscuits...)

Sorry the pictures aren't that great but the lighting kinda sucked and people were arriving whilst I was trying to put it together!  It was great fun though, and I think my Sis had a really ace time!