Four Seasons Cushion - Autumn

I have just completed the third cushion in the Four Seasons Collection. I did not have any narrow ribbon to embellish it with like the other two. But rather than buy I used some wider ribbon from my stash. Not sure I like it though - I'm trying to resist going out and buying some!

Pili Palas

We took the family to a place called Pili Palas Nature World in Anglesy today. There is a Butterfly Jungle there and they were absolutely beautiful - and massive!! They were just flying around and landing on people. I couldn't believe it! As well as butterflies, they also had birds, reptiles, mini beasts (not my most favourite!) as well as a farmyard with pigs, ponies and peacocks. There is also an adventure playground which includes a huge bouncy castle, a cafe and gift shop. The prices were reasonable too, and so was the gift shop - not over priced like some you go too.

All in all a great day out - well recommended!

DANGER UXB!

My first lot of wine is now bottled and is maturing. It seems OK though and everything went to plan in the making of it. My next has proven a bit of a problem. I am making a type of mead - it contains honey, spices, apples, oranges and lemons. I had to boil everything for about 20 mins in 4pt of water, add another 4pt of water and then add the yeast.

The recipe said it would start fermenting in about 6 weeks. 6 weeks? More like 6 minutes! After about 2 hours I went to check it and it was frothing up through the airlock, down the side of the demijohn and onto the worktop! I had to separate it into 2 demijohns. But as you can see during the night they must have both frothed up to nearly the top of the jar!

Hopefully after about 10 days I will be able to transfer them back to the one demijohn - so long as there are no further happenings in the meantime!

My New Cupcake!

My hubby and my two daughters have been away for a couple of days. They went to Dolwyddelan in our caravan. I don't mind going but if I stay at home it gives me a chance to get round to doing all those horrible jobs in the house. This time I rearranged the living room and bedroom so I could make room for our computers. They looked unsightly downstairs so mine is now upstairs.

The other advantage to staying at home is that they always bring me back a present! This time they gave me this lovely little ceramic cupcake, which now sits on my kitchen window sill. I think it's lovely!

Banana Coconut Cake

I wanted to make a Chicken Korma last week and the recipe called for coconut milk. I couldn't get it in our local Tesco so I had to buy dried, which worked just as well. However there was a recipe on the back of the box and it was fantastic. If you can find Maggi Dried Coconut Milk this cake is delicious:

185g Butter

1 Cup Caster Sugar

4 Eggs

2 Cups Chopped Walnuts

3 Cups Self Raising Flour

1 Cup Maggi Dried Coconut Milk

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 Cup Orange Juice

CREAMY HONEY FROSTING:

125g Cream Cheese

30g Butter

1 tbsp Honey

2 Cups Icing Sugar, sifted.

Preheat oven to 180'C. Grease & line a 25cm round cake pan (I used 3 sandwich tins). Cream butter & sugar until light & fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in banana & walnuts. Fold in flour, Coconut milk and cinnamon with orange juice. Spoon into greased tins & bake for 1 - 1 1/4 hours (I baked mine for approx 35 mins as I used sandwich tins). Cool on wire rack. To make the frosting beat the cream cheese, butter and honey together until smooth. Gradually beat in the icing sugar. Use to cover cake (or also use as a filling & topping if using sandwich tins - there is plenty left for this)