The start of summer.

Judging by the weather you wouldn't think it was summertime here in the UK. Its been cold and rain for ages now and summer is not showing any signs of showing her sunny face. But nevertheless the garden is working its magic and the fruit and vegetables are coming along nicely. Lettuces, carrots, beans are all growing well and the strawberries and raspberries are wonderful. So once again its time to create some tasty treats.

Raspberry jam and blackcurrant cordial - little tastes of summer. Hopefully more to follow.

I have also been creating for the home too. I made these pretty photo inlays to brighten up Aimee's bedroom. She is very pleased with them.

Hopefully summer decides to join the party soon until then we will keep on creating.

Garden Tiger Moths ... The Grand Finale.

Finally after waiting and watching our moths have emerged from their cocoons.

They are quite "ugly" when they first emerge and the wings are very small.

Slowly the wings fill out and get bigger

Almost there.

A garden tiger moth in all its glory.

We then released then into the garden to be free and explore.

The empty chrysalis from inside the cocoon.

Quite a transformation from caterpillar to moth.

from      to   

Now we will have to wait till next year and find some new ones to watch.

My latest sewing adventures

I'm getting better and better each time.

A simple skirt

Double layer skirt

A t-shirt dress

Caterpillars - some news.

Well its almost another month since the last Caterpillar update and sadly we only have 4 remaining. We dont know if it was due to a rather hot spell of the weather ( even though they are inside where it is cool ) or if something else caused it but most of the caterpillars have died. We have just 4 left.

I can also report that those remaining 4 have now all made cocoons and are pupating which is rather exciting. 

This one wrapped himself in a leaf and a cocoon.

You can see the pupa inside the cocoon.

Now we have to wait and see how long they pupate for and what happens next.

Caterpillars update ..

Our new additions seem to have settled into their new home very well. Sadly one didn't survive, but the remaining nine are doing great. They are very amusing to watch and everytime we give them new food they act like children and rush around exploring the new foliage like it was a playground. We soon found out that they really like raspberry leaves luckily for them we have lots of raspberry plants in the garden. They also like to climb and are surprisingly fast. Here is a picture of them taken on 22 April 2012.

Now almost a month later look at how big they have grown.

April 2012

May 2012

Yesterday I found another caterpillar in the garden so we have added him to the collection and are waiting to see what he grows into.

Food Adventures

I have a lousy cold, so I am taking some time to slow things down a bit, but then I get bored and when I get bored I usually end up cooking. Here are 2 of my latest food adventures that I thought I would share with you.

Homemade mozarella cheese ( 30 minutes )

I have dabbled previously into making my own cheese - the soft cheese sort and thought I'd get a little bit more adventurous - following the steps http://www.cheesemaking.com/howtomakemozzarellacheese.html I soon had my own homemade mozarella cheese  - I was excited. What better way to enjoy the lovely creamy cheese but with tomato and basil of course.

We went out to lunch this weekend and I had the most delicious vegetarian tagine. It was so delicious I decided to try to recreate it and this is my version.

Butternut , tomato, spinach and chickpea tagine.


Ingredients:
butternut - cubed
onion
garlic
red pepper cut into chunks
tin of whole peeled plum tomatoes
chicken stock
chilli flakes
chickpeas - 1 tin drained
spinach chopped.

In a saucepan I lightly fried the onions and garlic then added the butternut, red pepper, tinned tomatoes and some chicken stock ( how much depends on how liquid you want your tagine - I used about 100ml). Add some seasoning ( salt, pepper and chilli flakes - again how much depends on how hot you want it ). Simmer for 20 minutes till the butternut is tender. Add the chickpeas and cook for a further 10-15 minutes. Stir in some spinach and then serve. Delicious. We had ours with pitta breads.

Building rainbows

Rain, rain and more rain.

Its raining again, its been raining for the past few weeks and still we are in a drought and have a hose-pipe ban, funny isnt it.

Its been a bit of a stressful and chaotic time at home too and I've been feeling like I have a huge black thunder cloud hanging over me. I feel heavy and cant breathe and then my body starts to take the strain. High blood pressure - never had it before and I am trying to get rid of it now. All down to that one word - STRESS.

Yet despite all the heaviness and headaches, I am trying to focus on something good and slowly its getting me through.

The prescription :

Take time each day - 5 minutes is all you need - to sit quietly and think of 3 things that you are grateful for. They don't have to be big things, just small glimmers of light and before long you'll have created a rainbow.
These are some of the things I am grateful for today -

• The first day of a new month - a new beginning.
• Waking up this morning feeling rested after a good nights sleep
• The lovely hot cup of tea my husband made for me this morning.
• Special friends who phone to chat and check up that you are ok.

So take some time to pause and think of all the special things in your life that often slip by unnoticed and go and build your own rainbow.

Meet Harry, Larry and Maude....

not to mention Fuzzy , Wally , Burt, Dozey, Nosey, Rosie and Tiny.

Our new project for the summer to raise moths or butterflies. The children thought this was a wonderful idea and its given Jason a chance to relive his childhood and teach his own children how to do it.  First he designed and made a cage to put the caterpillars in when they are big enough so we can watch and see what happens.

It has a removable back for easy access , a perspex viewing window at the front and mesh sides and top. All very exciting.

Next we had to decide what type of moth or butterfly we wanted. After much research to find a variety which would eat the food we had in the garden we settled on garden tiger moths. I think the name appeals more to the children at the moment as the caterpillars are called Woolly Bear caterpillars and then grow into garden tiger moths. So we purchased some larvae/caterpillars off the internet and waited.

Finally our caterpillars arrived all 10 of them surviving the journey.

Fresh leaves picked and we moved them into their new home.....

I shall keep you posted as to how they grow and what happens next .

Spring snapshots

Yes I am still alive, its been rather busy here lately and time seems to be flying by. I thought I would share a few photographs of the beautiful blossoms that are starting to show their faces in our garden. Spring is here and slowly everything is waking up. I hope they brighten your day.

Romany Creams.

I was talking to my children the other day about my childhood in South Africa and the subject turned to treats. Romany creams of course. Romany creams are  South African biscuits or cookies  made from cocoa and coconut and sandwiched together with melted chocolate. A melt in your mouth treat. Now my children have never really fancied dessicated coconut but I decide to satisfy my curiosity to have a go and make some myself and let the family try them out.

Well the end result was a BIG success - big on the size front I didn't realise how much they spread when the cook and also a big hit with the family who promptly devoured the plateful . If you want to have a go here's the recipe I used ( just remember to put teaspoon full drops on the baking sheets as they do spread out quite a bit.)

Homemade Romany Creams


1. Cream together 1/2 lb Butter and 1 cup Sugar .
2. Sift together 2 cups Flour, 1 teaspoon Baking Powder, 1/2 teaspoon Salt.
3. Add 1 1/2 cup dessicated Coconut to the dry ingredients.
4. Add to dry ingredients.
4. Dissolve 2 tablespoon Cocoa in 1/2 cup hot water.
5. Mix all together.
6. Drop teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350ºF.
7. Sandwich two back-to-back with melted chocolate when they have cooled.