Pear and Orange cake

A little over two weeks ago my Mum (Nana Seaweed) and Grandma were visiting. My Grandmother, who will be 92 soon, likes to read the odd That's Life magazine . While she was here she showed me a recipe from one that looked both pretty and tantalising.
Here is the magazine pic

The recipe was pretty straight forward, but the end result was pretty eye-catching, and the taste was Mmmm!!! This one is a keeper. All those involved in the eating process said that it definitely needs to be done again. 

P.S. For those who want to attempt it, I used a vanilla cake mix instead of the butter cake that it called for, and then added the pears. Except for the quartering, this is approximately how they were prepared.
http://southernfood.about.com/od/pears/r/bl50822g.htm

Winter woolies for phones

The phone sock that I was working on for my sister-in-laws Iphone is finished. I made it for her birthday, and plan to stuff it with little treats.

If you are interested in getting your hands on a copy of the basic pattern, leave a comment.

A Plan...

Easy Housewifery Meal Plan

 I'm trying to be more organised. Honest. I have been trialing something that I found on someone else's blog, and so far it seems to be working!
A while ago I was reading Messyfish, and found this idea. I thought "That's great!". I have been sick of trying to think of something to cook each evening, and would often ask Mr. Kelp (who was still at work!) what he would like for dinner. The usual comment from him was "I'm easy!", so I'd scratch my head and rummage in the fridge/cupboard/recipe drawer till I found something that at the very least resembled a meal. Not satisfactory. So when I saw Mrs. Messyfish's Housewifery plan, I was set.

Then for the fun bit... drawing it all up and adding colour. I LOVE colour! I used to write in my day book at school (my plan of what to teach each day for the week that corresponded with my programs) using a different colour from my Staedtler triplus pen set each day, so this was a piece of cake! I have only been following it in earnest for about a two weeks (we had a few minor alterations) and I am loving it! Thought I'd share it with you. (If you see something that you would like the recipe to, leave me a comment and I will see what I can do :) )

Beanies and vintage finds

Well after all the rain we have had, what a relief it was to finally get out of the house!

Sunday saw us at the markets - the computer markets at North Rocks for Mr. Kelp (although Jellyfish said he wanted to have a look too, so after Mr. Kelp finished his purchases Jellyfish had a whirlwind tour of the venue), and then it was on to the North Rocks Rotary Markets, where we found this:

A vintage read: vintage book in bed with vintage cotton pillowcase from Nana Kelp.

A 1973 little golden book. I am so thrilled with it! It's a great story, and the illustrations are unreal. So far Jellyfish has demanded that we read it EVERY day - at least once a day - quite often more.

The wet weather was obviously good for something though. I finally finished Little Clam's beanie! I used this pattern, which I adapted to suit the yarn I was using - Cleckheaton Cocoon 4ply in colour 0005 (It's not on the site at the moment).(I will get a photo of this one too - promise!)
Little Clam took his new beanie for it's inaugural spin around the flea market, and was, well, happy as a clam! All that wet weather paid off and I got something from the list finished! Happy sigh.