Long time past

I have been meaning to post this for quite some weeks, as I last hosted back in September. Sorry 'bout that. In fact it's been so long that I can't remember the date...

In attendance were Princessi Eleri, Alana and Emily, and the Princessi Viv and Bek were off being fed by relatives for Jewish New Year. The home-made pizzas weren't quite ready when everyone arrived, so we started with a slice of cake... and then finished the meal with another slice. We were piggies! *oink*

The Lumberjack Cake was the only thing I remembered to get a photo of:


Here's the recipe, from The Essential Baking Cookbook, published by Murdoch Books:

Lumberjack Cake

• 200g fresh dates, pitted and chopped (or dried dates from the supermarket)
  
• 1 tsp bicarb soda
• 125g unsalted butter, softened (or vegan margarine)
  
• 1 cup (250g) caster sugar (or raw sugar)
  
• 1 egg (or egg replacer)
  
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, grated (or any sort of apple)
  
• 1 cup (125g) plain flour (or wholemeal flour)
  
• 1/2 cup (60g) self-raising flour (or plain/wholemeal flour with 1 tsp baking powder)
  
• icing sugar, optional, to dust

Topping

• 75g unsalted butter (or vegan margarine)
  
• 1/2 cup (95g) soft brown sugar
• 1/3 cup (80mL) milk (or soy milk)
  
• 1 cup (60g) shredded coconut

(As you can see, I don't tend to use exact recipes, I use them more as a guide and make lots of substitutions, which are in brackets)

1. Grease a 20cm round springform cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Preheat the oven to moderate 180C.
2. Put the dates in a small saucepan with 1 cup (250mL) water and bring to the boil. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda, then remove from the heat. Set aside until just warm.
3. Cream the butter and sugar in a small bowl with electric beaters until light and fluffy (I do this by hand). Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Stir in the date mixture and the apple, then fold in the sifted flours until just combined and almost smooth. Spoon into the tin and smooth the surface. Bake for 40 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, combine all the topping ingredients in a small saucepan and stir over low heat until the bitter is melted and the ingredients well combined. Remove the cake from the oven and carefully spread the topping over the cake. Return to the cake to the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the topping is golden and the cake is cooked through.
5. Remove the cake from the oven and leave the cake in the tin to cool completely (actually, loosen it before it's cooled completely, as the caramelled coconut topping will stick awfully to the tin), then turn out and place on a serving plate. The cake can be dusted with icing sugar just before serving.

Alas, it's been so long that I've also forgotten which projects we were all working on: I think Eleri did a star, Alana worked on the crochetted bumblebee, and Emily was knitting the neck of her not-mustard jumper. I was working on a quilt. But I forgot to take any photos, sorry!

Here are a few links I've been meaning to post - I don't know how to add them to the bottom of the page, so I'll let the clevererer Princessi fix that if they can...

Magic cast-on for toe up socks. It is easy (after a couple of practices) and it really is completely magic! http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring06/FEATmagiccaston.html

My bread photo diary is on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10875443@N06/sets/72157602094096047/

Power-house stitchery

Hello everybody - it's me, Princess Viv, bravely tackling my reluctance to blog - yay me.

On the 26th of September, Princessi Eleri, Alana, Kate attended Princess Viv's castle for stitchery, with Princess Emily coming later in the evening. Princess Bek was off somewhere being political.

Golden Austrian Cauliflower Soup was served with home made bread and raw butter, followed by steamed veggies, rice, and bourbon chicken for the non-vegan members.

Princess Alana started on another cool amigurumi animal - this time a pink elephant! We also got to see her bee, bunny, and monkey in person.
Zoe and Megan - junior Princessess got out of bed and were VERY impressed - as Zoe declared, "my have monkey now!".
Alana also got pestered by me to show me how to crotchet. After many attempts, and different colours of wool, I managed to crotchet a boob! Here are the instructions in case anyone is interested:
(from http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=177559.0)
Boobie keychain pattern:
Starting with nipple (pink yarn)
Row 1: Ch 2. 6 sc in second ch from hk. Sl st into first sc.
Row 2: Ch 1. Sc in each sc around (6 stitches). Sl st to join.
Row 3: Ch 1. Sc in each sc around (6 stitches). Sl st to join.
Row 4: Ch 1. 2 sc in each sc around (12 stitches). Sl st to join.

Now for the breast (cream yarn)
Row 5: Ch 1. 2 sc in next st. 1 sc in next stitch. Repeat this all the way around (18 stitches). Sl st to join.
Row 6: Ch 1. Sc in each stitch around (18 stitches). Sl st to join.
Row 7: Ch 1. 2 sc in next st. 1 sc in each of next 2 st. Repeat this around ( 24 stitches). Sl st to join.
Row 8: Ch 1. Sc in each stitch around (24 stitches). Sl st to join.
Row 9-10: Repeat row 8. Sl st to join.
Row 11-12: 2sctog for next st (back loops only for first row). Repeat this around (12 stitches). Sl st to join.

Adding O ring (keychain part)

Ch. 1. Holding the key ring next to your yarn, bring your hook under the ring and yarn over coming back under the ring to bring up a loop. Make one sc. Put hook through next stitch and going under the fing again, yo and make another sc. Do this 5 times. this will secure the ring to the boob. Ch. 1. Sl st through all 5 sc you just made. Fasten off. Weave in ends.



Eleri worked on the last star, Kate kept on with her pretty blue sock, Emmy "may" have been knitting - sorry Em, school holiday brain!

My camera was out of batteries, so I'm afraid there will be no photos. I'll master the photos for my next post.

Recipes:
Vegan cream of cauliflower soup:

1 cauliflower, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
2 leeks, chopped
2 teaspoons powdered veggie stock, or to taste
2 cups carrot juice
4 cups water
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup raw cashews
4-5 good handfuls of spinach

Cover and simmer all ingredients, except cashews and spinach, for 15 minutes or until just tender. Blend soup, put some in blender & whizz up the cashews. Add back to the soup & stir in the spinach.

Chicken
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1/3 cup brown sugar - actually I used only a couple of spoonsful
1/2 c chicken stock
1/4 c apple juice
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 minced garlic clove
1.2 tsp minced ginger
500g or so boneless chicken in bite sized pieces

Fry chicken in oil until brown, set aside. In the same pan add everything else, stir till sugar dissolved. Add chicken back & cook gently until sauce is thick enough.