Moving House....

Yes, I totally concur with anna that moving house is a pain in the arse! I'm moving this weekend and have been in total denial that this weekend is approaching....fast! I have a few boxes here and there and have disposed of lots of stuff! The opp shops have been heaving at the seams!! However, change is always good; that's what life is all about; adapting to new and exciting situations. I've decided that I love semi colons, you may have noticed. I do tend to use them inappropriately at times, I must admit. Sorry about that. I start back at work next week. Usually, one would equate more work=less craft. However, I am hoping I will be even more inspired in my spare time. I haven't been as productive as I would have liked these holidays; but I'm not going to beat myself up about it. I guess I'm going to take a step back this year and not place any unrealistic expectations on myself. False expectations lead to dissapointment. I plan on making a softie. I've sort of avoided it for a while, making clothes and other one dimensional items. I've never made one in my life. I did make a few bits and bobs of the kind in my youth; but not today's version of a wizz bang softie. And YOU people out there are so inspiring! I can't wait to get my new sewing room up and running. It's a sun-room with glass all around, so lot's of natural light will surround me while I work!

Doggie Bones!

HA! Finally, got to borrow a camera, thanks mum. As a blogger, life without a camera can be a little disheartening. Our camera has simply dissapeared! I am convinced that our house ate it. Either that, or our son accidently threw it in a box, which then may have been carted to the opp shop. Oh well.... Anyway, I have a myriad of projects and ideas but simply dont know where to start! I have however, managed to bash out a few doggie bones. I first made one of these for Rudi our retriever about 3 years ago. I make them out of old corduroy trousers. He still has the original one floating about my parents garden somewhere. They will take a bit of 'mild' chewing. However, they are mainly for dogs who simply like to carry stuff about!!

'Anything Goes' pancakes

Many moons ago, I worked in a childcare centre as the cookie. I produced a wee cookbook for the centre for parents to take home. This is one of my favourite recipies. The sauce part was purely my invention. In Japan, I used to buy 'okonomiyaki sauce'. God knows what's in it though.I used to go to this great Okonimiyaki place in a little town called Zeze, Japan in Shiga Prefecture. The guy/owner was an ex olympic swimmer(apparently) and smoked like a chimney whilst cooking our mouth watering pancakes before our hungry little eyes....Yummm. Personally, I haven't cooked these for a while. I also think it was one of the few recipies in my book that I didn't try out on the kiddies. So, let me know if your kiddies (or friends) enjoy these as much as I do! I will endevour to cook these this week!!

My camera is still missing. It has been swallowed up, devoured and digested by my house. Naughty house!!

Vegetable Pancakes

OKONOMIYAKI- JAPANESE STYLE VEGETABLE PANCAKES

These are so much fun! “Okonomi” in Japanese means “anything”. Therefore, you can use whatever vegetables you like, although cabbage is a definite good base. It is beneficial to have the vegetables cut as thinly as possible so that they work in nicely with the batter. If you are making a whole batch, you can keep them hot in the oven until they are all cooked. Also, if you don’t want to use milk in the batter, just use water.

Makes 10 small pancakes

The vegetables: The batter

½ a cup of bok choy leaves thinly sliced 1 cup of milk

½ a cup of cabbage leaves thinly sliced 1 cup of SR flour

½ a medium sized onion “ ” 1 egg

½ a cup of grated carrot salt and pepper

A handful of chopped parsley

1 tsp of chopped ginger

The Sauce Mayonnaise

¼ cup of soy sauce

¼ cup of honey

1 tsp of sugar

Cut up all the veggies and set them aside in a large bowl.

Meanwhile, in a small heavy based pot, get the sauce on the stove, bring to the boil and reduce, be careful that it doesn’t burn!

Make the batter:

Pour flour into a large bowl, make a well in the centre and add the egg and the milk bit by bit, slowly pulling the flour toward the centre of the bowl whilst continually whisking until a smooth and lump free mixture is formed.

Fold the vegetables through the batter until it is all mixed in. Heat oil to a medium heat and maintain at this temperature. Drop heaped tablespoons of the mix into the pan, flatten a bit if necessary.

Fry on each side till golden brown and cooked in the centre.

Spread on a thin layer of mayonnaise and drizzle over sweet sauce. Enjoy!

Flashback- My OLD wares

Well, considering my camera has been (hopefully temporarily) misplaced, I am unable to show my latest creations! However, I thought I'd include some of the stuff I was doing a few years back when I went through my cushion and bag craze.
I had been given a whole heap of tulip upholstery material and decided to embark upon the 'tulip collection'. Three of my friends still have this some of this collection on their couches!
I did the cushions until my son came along and then it was study,study,study for a couple of years.
Then came the 'tree bags' when he hit about 18th months. I made four of these. The fabric was found in a Warburton opp-shop. I particualrly liked this as it was Australian made. I try to by Aussie made where possible and at least 90% of the stuff I use is recycled or re-claimed in some way.
It's great to be apart of this blogging world and being constantly inspired by all the amazing craft out there. There are so many creative people doing their bit for making stuff with love and good intentions.

Pics from Mt Buffalo

A busy break...

Christmas day was spent at my house this year for the first time ever. My mother kindly untied the apron strings this year. The free range turkey and ham was enjoyed immensley along with mum's icecream christmas pudding (the most beautiful tasting concoction ever!). My dad scared us all at the dinner table momentarily( we thought he was having a heart attack!) He tucked into his turkey just a bit too quickly! Our friends came down from Sydney for the next five days and we enjoyed showing them and their little boy around the hills and alot of bumming around to match! The next five days were spent in Mt buffalo, camping and swimming in the river. More details soon...