Shop Update

I have just updated Linden Grove Mercantile with some pretty lavender pillows.

I will be adding to the shop over the coming week as and when I have time to make things! Enjoy browsing!

Simone's Friday Cake Bake No. 7

Fresh from the oven. Blueberry Buttermilk Cake from Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros.

It is still steaming hot in the baking tin. When it is cool it will be cut and served in squares. I am looking forward to having some for breakfast tomorrow! Enjoy your weekend and thank you for the enthusiasm you have shown to my Friday cake bakes. x

Dragon Fruit Part 2

Following on from yesterdays post, here are my painted dragon fruits! They were such fun to paint and I am sure I will paint them again. If you want to see a little bit more then please go over to my 'arty' blog at Mutant Trees.

Dragon Fruit

Whilst walking around the supermarket today I was on the look out for some exotic looking fruit and vegetables. I then saw these delightful looking cerise pink and lime green dragon fruits and immediately put them in the basket.

When I reached the checkout the assistant informed me that she had to hurry up otherwise she might have an accident and end up sitting in a puddle of water! She then noticed the dragon fruit.

'What are they?' She asked.

'They are called dragon fruit' I replied. '

Hey Mary! have you seen these?' She shouted across to a supervisor several aisles away.

'Yes! What is she going to do with them?'

'What are you going to do with them?' the checkout lady asked me.

'I am going to paint them'.

There was stunned silence.

'She's going to paint them Mary'.

'What for?' said Mary.

'That's what I wanted to know' replied the checkout lady.

'What do you want to paint them for?' asked Mary.

'Because I want to. Because I paint.'


I felt such a fool because I couldn't find the words to explain to them or justify why I wanted to paint them.

This conversation went on for quite a while longer with them both interrogating me about how long had I been painting for, was I good at painting at school, how did I display my paintings, did I find painting relaxing etc etc.,

The conversation eventually dried up once I had paid the bill and informed the checkout lady that she had better hurry up in case she didn't make it to the toilet! Mary then came over, shut the aisle off with a chain across it and we went our separate ways.

Simone's Friday Cake Bake No. 6

Nothing fancy today. In fact I was feeling quite frugal and used up what I already had in the cupboards and fridge. Today I made rock buns. A good old fashioned stick to your ribs kind of cake!

I didn't have any raisins so I substituted extra sultanas. I also left out the zest of a lemon.

I wont be reporting back on my baking every Friday although I will still be baking. I think I will make this more of an occasional series so as not to bore everyone!

This delightful and simple recipe came from the book above. I have made these buns a few times now and they come out just right every time. For me, it has been a fail safe recipe.

Just look at the size of that bun! Have a lovely weekend, whether it be cooking or baking or indulging in other types of creative pursuits. If you do intend to make a cake I'd love to see what you make. x

Learning New Skills

As I was contemplating the sunset a few nights ago, I started to think back to the promises I had made for myself this year. It was to be a year of action and a year of learning new skills as well as applying some of the old ones in practising painting or drawing every day.

Today I learnt a new skill. Today I learned how to do clay pigeon shooting. For a beginner I didn't do too bad at all. In fact, as you can see from our score sheets, I beat the boys!!!

Simone's Friday Cake Bake No.5

This weekend's offering is a caramel banana cake.

I had no idea how this would turn out as I mixed measurements using American cup sizes and not the Australian cups in the recipe. I think Australian cup sizes are slightly larger. Nevertheless the cake came out wonderfully moist and moreish.

It is even slightly healthy as it contains three bananas!!! (I won't mention the sugar and fat content though)!

As most people have their favourite banana cake recipe and mine is a bit hit and miss. I thought you would like the recipe for the caramel topping to put on your own cakes.

Caramel Topping

60g/2 oz butter
half a cup soft brown sugar

2 tablespoons of soured cream

one and a half cups of icing sugar, sifted

Melt the butter and sugar in a saucepan, stirring constantly for 2 minutes without boiling the mixture. Add soured cream and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the icing sugar.

It is delicious. Very sweet and like a creamy fudge!

Pak Choi

In today's art class we were given a choice of items to paint. These ranged from plates of pink and white marshmallows to plates of jammy dodgers and custard creams. Now as much as I like to eat them I wasn't inspired to paint them as pictures.

Thank goodness for Pak Choi!

My art teacher could see that the plates of carbohydrates did nothing for me, so she got a couple of Pak Choi's out of her bag for me to paint instead.

They are such interesting vegetables with their curves and layers and varying shades of green.

I chose to paint this as a abstract just painting tiny portions and then highlighting the pencil with a fine liner pen.

I think I will buy some Pak Choi myself and paint a similar abstract again. I also hear that they are good in stir fries!

Simone's Friday Cake Bake No. 4

Today's offering is the classic Swiss roll. The whole thing was made from start to finish in 45 minutes including just 8 minutes baking time! Although the cake is fairly simple to make, preparation is the key to this recipe. You need to have a damp tea towel or sugar coated greaseproof paper ready spread out on the counter top. The flour needs to be warmed up and the jam needs to warm up in a basin over boiling water. Talk about multi-tasking!!!

Once the cake is cooked, it is turned out immediately, upside down onto the tea towel/paper and the paper that lined the tin is carefully peeled off. The sides are trimmed and warmed up jam is spread out evenly across the cake. Now for the fun bit: grabbing the end of the tea towel/paper you gradually lift it up with the sponge, curling the sponge over onto itself. Hold for a few seconds then roll another part of the cake and so on until it is completely rolled up. Trim the ends and dredge with sugar.

Eat all the trimmings with a cup of tea whilst you tidy up the mess!

I decided to delete yesterdays post. I am glad that I got the negativity off my chest and felt able to move on. Thank you so much to my bloggy friends who never fail to come up with useful tips and suggestions and generous comments. Your friendship and support means a lot to me.

I hope you all have a lovely inspiring weekend. I don't think the Swiss roll will last long so I think I may need to make cake bake number 5 this weekend! x

Welcome February

I woke up to a cold and frosty February 1st. The moon was a huge irregular looking orb this morning and I quickly captured it on camera just before the sun began to rise.