Saturday, February 11, 2012

The Winner! and the Answer

I'm afraid nobody guessed right.....


the answer is Angelica from The Rugrats!
Those who commented went into a draw, and the winner is comment number 2, Stephanie V.! So Stephanie, if you'd like to email me your address, i will get "Pamper Me" oil in the post to you this week. Congrats Stephanie and thank you to everyone for trying.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Cookie Cutters Clearout and Giveaway!

I've been doing a bit of a clearout, and my cookie cutter tin got downsized too.
I had duplicates of some cutters, and some are just too babyish to use now, so they're off to the charity shop, for someone with kids younger than mine to pick them up.
I hope they have as much fun with them as we did.

It was a real trip down memory lane, looking at the different shapes, and thinking about how we used to love working with the dough. And there was always lots of eating dough during the cutting process!
We also used salt-dough with the same cutters, to make Christmas tree decorations.
None of ours survived, but my friend, whose kids made some here on a playdate, lovingly takes theirs out every year, and proudly hangs them on her tree.This last cutter puzzled me for ages. I think I can say what it is, but would you like to guess? Have a go, and I'll confirm on Saturday.
Edit note: Rudee's comment has inspired me to do a giveaway! Since i reached 100 followers, I've been planning on one, but just hadn't got round to it, but here it is:
Put in your guess, and a correct one will be picked on Saturday (if nobody guesses correctly, I'll just pull a random number). I will send the winner a "Pamper Me" burner oil. Anywhere in the world, so start guessing! As many entries as you like.

Monday, February 6, 2012

World Nutella Day and Orchestra Rehearsal

We had a brilliant orchestra rehearsal today. We broke into sections for the first hour and a half, which worked really well. Then the full orchestra came together for another hour and a half, to play James Bond Medley, Gladiator, Lord of the Rings, and a few others.
We've a concert coming up in April, and, you guessed, it features film music.

When I got home, at 7pm, I was too tired to make any elaborate cake for Nutella Day, but still I wanted to do something. This was a bit of an experiment, just whatever I had available to hand, and it worked out great!

Nutella Brownies
About half a jar of Nutella, softened (10 secs in microwave, medium power)
1 large bar of dark chocolate with hazelnuts, melted
a handful of walnuts, chopped, not too finely
2 eggs
3 tablespoons self-raising flour
1 tblespoon soft brown sugar

1. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl, then whisk in the remaining ingredients.
2. Bake in oven, about 200 degrees C, for about 15 minutes, until the sides are firm but the centre is still slightly soft.

Whenever I bake, if possible I like to make a little dairy-free treat for Eldest, who is vegan.

I had some chocolate ganache (made with dark chocolate and oat cream, yummy!) in the fridge, so I spooned out some and coated it in chopped walnuts. Instant chocolate truffles!