most secluded beach

oh can you believe this is in scotland. Don`t think I would like to go for a paddle brrrrrrrrr

in reference to: Sandwood Bay, north-west Scotland - Where to find the world's most secluded beaches (view on Google Sidewiki)

Whoohoo its the weekend, done the cleaning up and the washing. Its now me time. My plans involve a movie, plenty of tea and maybe a wee bit of chocolate.........

A wee something for you lovely people. These brownies are so moist and keep for about a week in a sealed container. Hope you enjoy mmmmmmmm


CHOCOLATE BROWNIES



Preheat oven to 180 c/ 350 f/ Gas 4

Grease a 8in-8in square tin.


6oz Butter
9oz soft brown sugar
5oz dark chocolate

Melt above ingredients. I do this in the microwave for just over a minute. Might need 1 more minute.

3 eggs beaten
2-3 ripe bananas (mashed)


Stir the eggs and mashed bananas into chocolate mixture.


4oz Self Raising flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder

Sift above ingredients into chocolate mix. Fold in well. Spoon into prepared tin.
Bake for 30 mins. Cool on a wire rack.

Topping

150gm milk chocolate
1 tbsp Margarine
1 tbsp icing sugar (sifted)
1 tsp golden syrup

Put all ingredients in microwave proof bowl. Melt for 1 minute, stir and put in micro for 1 minute more. If mixture has split put in the juice of 1 orange.

I cut the brownie in half and put some of the topping in the middle, very yummy but so rich.

flower bed throw

Finished at last.......been working on this throw for ages. Only 297 flowers crocheted and then joined together what took me so long......... I made the flowers from a pattern in Jan Eatons 200 blocks. Works lovely as a throw at the bottom of my bed.

Have so many ideas on what I want to do next.

charity shop bargains

I was lucky enough to find these great books. Lots of great inspiration for just £5.
Oldies but goodies. My British Heart Foundation has loads of fab books, the great thing is they always sort them into different categories.

Perfect Scones

I love to bake and have spent a long time looking for the perfect scone.......I have found this recipe. It works out everytime and they taste delicious.

12oz Self Raising flour
3oz butter

Rub butter into flour until you have fine crumbs.

3oz caster sugar
3oz sultanas


Add sugar and sultanas into flour mix.


Now this might seem a bit weird but please trust me on this it is the reason these scones work, not sure how but it is something to do with the lemon juice and the milk reacting together. Was never very good at science...........

1 tsp lemon juice

I add this straight into the flour and mix well


100ml milk (heat in microwave for 30 seconds

Make a well in the middle of flour.
Add milk to flour mixture and mix with a metal knife until well combined.

Press mixture out with your hands till it is about 2cm (approx I use my cutter as a guide the same height). Mixture should not be too dry or too wet. You will get 5 big scones or 8 medium scones out of this mixture.

Cook for 10-12 mins at 200 degrees

enjoy straight from the oven slathered (don`t know if this is a word) with loads of butter. Or let them cool and serve with cream and jam.

TIPS FOR PERFECT SCONES

1 Be gentle with the mixture (Do not over work the mixture this makes scones heavy)
2. When cutting mixture press cutter into dough and pull dough away from cutter. This will make them rise level.
3. Too much liquid will make them spread , too little liquid will make them very dry and crumbly. A wee bit of practice will let you find the perfect amount.

finished baby cover

I love Granny squares so made a cushion to go with my decor. Think it worked out well, teddy looks comfy...............


This has turned out more the size of a pram cover love it though. This was very quick and easy to do. The stitch came from Jan Eaton`s Compendium of Crochet Techniques. The stitch is called Treble Crochet Stitch.

crochet 018

crochet 018,
originally uploaded by bbabs1.

This is a cross-stitch cushion I designed a while ago. Very simple design with lovely colours.