BB's cake and a pretty box...

Good morning!  It's Sunday morning here in Greece and my husband has just gone off to the Irish pub with BB's husband to watch the World Cup Rugby Final (NZ vs France).  My husband is wearing his All Black's shirt and has taken the NZ flag with him.  I hope NZ wins!

I'm about to sit down with my crafting gear and have some 'me' time.

I thought I would just pop a picture in here of BB's birthday cake... sadly it is all gone now, but the memory lives on : )

Yum!  Mum's choklit cake recipe with a kind of chocolate buttercream filling (I say kind of because it is something I tend to make up as I go along and is never the same twice) and a chocolate ganache icing...  I'm glad it's all gone now... it was dangerous!

I made a wee box for BB's birthday present that I thought I would share here because I used a fantastic tutorial that I found on the web... You can see the tutorial here.  The box was super easy to make and has quite a professional feeling finish and the making of it is actually a bit therapeutic.  I have found myself since then just randomly making boxes when my mojo is low on batteries.

Here's the box I made:

It all folds in so there are no raw edges and the base and top are made in the same way.  The sides are all double thickness so it is quite sturdy and can be made with paper rather than card if you prefer.  Since I made the first box I have found that I prefer to make the size difference between the top and bottom 0.2 or 0.3cm difference rather than the recommended 0.5cm.  

I was inspired to make a box after reading this post by Rimna.  I really love her work... it has such a beautiful feel about it.

I hope you are having a lovely relaxing Sunday wherever you are!

Arabella Chickie in Glyfada, Greece

Time to make your Christmas Mince

This is Granny Sybil's recipe for Christmas Mince.  It's absolutely delicious and well worth the effort and time spent making it.

You're going to need spotlessly clean, sterilized, preferably glass bottles.  Get them ready first.

500g currants
500g seedless raisins (large)
500g sultanas
250g mixed peel
500g apples (weighed, peeled and cored)
500g castor sugar
250g butter
1/2 glass brandy

Method:
Wash and clean and dry fruit the day before making.
Mince all fruit together.
Add castor sugar.
Stir well.
Leave overnight.
Add melted butter and the brandy.
Mix well.
Bottle.  Don't forget to seal your tops well.
Make at least 3 weeks before needed.

Homemade Christmas Mince, beautifully labelled and 'capped' makes a fabulous Christmas present.

April Blackbird

Dining out

One thing I really love to do is eat out, (much to the dismay of my husband and his wallet).  I am still trying to analyse why I love to eat out so much... but I think it is the combination of several things:

- having someone else prepare a meal for you

- being able to enjoy an evening chatting with friends with no-one having the pressure of being host/hostess

- the opportunity to try some new flavour combinations that I haven't tried before

- the chance to try a new bottle of wine that you know should be reasonable good or it wouldn't be on the menu at all

- if it is just the two of us, the opportunity to really chat without being distracted at home by the TV or the computer or my crafts etc...

- and finally being able to walk away and know that someone else is going to take care of the mess in the kitchen tonight

Palma is such a great city and it really comes alive at night time.  There are so many restaurants and cafes and bars tucked away in little alleyways around here, and it is such a pleasure to explore and find some new little restaurant to try.  The other day I even found a vegetarian restaurant!  

At the moment we find ourselves eating out two or three times a week!  But I am sure that will change when we get back to Greece.  The area we live in in Greece is quite rural and doesn't have much in the way of restaurants, although we do have our favourite few... two Tavernas (similar to tapas style eating) and a great Italian restaurant that I really hope is still there when we get back to Greece.

Now I just need to work my way through my mental list of restaurants that I want to try before we leave Palma and I will be happy... it could take a while though!

Arabella Chickie in Palma de Mallorca

Picky eaters...

I have always lived in awe of mother's whose children 'eat everything'.  Always. Are there really children who eat everything, always?  Gosh, I had four and not one of them ate everything.  Ever.

We're not going to get into the allergy side of things.  That was another whole experience.  I'm talking only about my 'picky eaters' today. 

Gosh, they're all grown up today and having the family around to dinner is quite an experience.  Let me share a list of (some) of what they do not eat:

• potatoes (truly!)
• onions (understandable, they can cause a lot of discomfort)
• mushrooms 
• peas
• cauliflower, brocolli
• tomatoes - raw or cooked
• squash of any sort including zucchini and butter nut
• rice (allergy, so maybe shouldn't be on this list)
• butter, margarine
• white bread of any kind - so no sour dough
• soy and linseed bread, bread with too many 'bits' in it of any kind
• lamb shanks; lamb neck; kidneys, liver, tripe; fatty meat of any kind
• fish
• shellfish
• baked beans, canneloni beans, red beans, broad beans, lentils, chick peas
• feta cheese, blue cheese, brie, camembert
• eggs
• honey, jam, syrup
• raisins, currants, sultanas, oh heck... just about every dried fruit
• fruit cake
• fruit salad
• fruit, especially bananas
• cake with jam in the middle
• icecream
• cream
• yoghurt

Cooking for a family gathering has become an artform. The simplest way to please everyone is to make a BBQ or a roast. Chicken or turkey are my best choice. Red meat roasts pose a small problem too... everybody likes to have their meat cooked differently.  My husband's 'raw' is everyone elses 'medium'.

My green salad's have become a joke!  The best way to dish them up is to serve sliced/diced components on separate plates.  That way everyone can make up their own without 'contaminating' anything.  Nothing gets dressed.  I put a variety of oil/vinegar/lemon/bought dressing on the table.  Those that want add, those that like 'plain' salad are happy.

By the time I've taken all my families 'fimmies' into account I've quite lost interest in trying anything new.  Which is why it's always good to find out about new ways to 'hide' vegies.

I watched a great class on the latest Masterchef series here.  Gary talked about his 'picky' children and gave us a wonderful recipe for home made (obviously) sausage rolls with hidden vegies.  Follow this link and you'll be able to watch him make them and/or download the recipe.

If you have children that eat everything, always... let me know how you managed to get it right.  I'd love to hear. I'd also like to hear about those of you with husbands that eat everything.  Counts you out automatically Arabella :)

April Blackbird