The cushionless pin.

The tired pin wandered the streets looking for a home to rest its weary head... But it found none, instead it found my bare feet while lying on the floor and my bum while hiding in the sofa.

I must confess - I am one of those people that, up until recently, have thought of pin cushions as silly and definitely not on my list of 'things-I'm-dying-to-make'. But due to the fact that I have lost MANY pins over the last year, and that I've had too many cases of pins and needles - I quickly adjusted my list title to 'things-that-might-cause-me-to-die-if-I-don't-make-it' and so a pin cushion magically appeared on the top of my list.

At the end of this story the pin finds a home and I can walk fearlessly through my apartment again.

Inspirations :)

The past few mondays I have posted some websites that I like and look at for inspiration, so I figure I'll just keep doing it until I run out of amazing websites - it might take a long time.

Baking:
This past week my husband and I celebrated our '1 year in Korea' anniversary, SO naturally I wanted to bake a cake.  A friend told me about this fun website called bakeitinacake.com. The lady who started the website wanted to make something for http://www.thisiswhyyourefat.com/ and people just loved it.
So in honor of the fun and craziness that Korea has brought into my life I decided to "bake it into a cake"
I have to mention that we are moving in a week and I'm currently busy with a 'eat what we have' project to clean out the cupboards - so that is why my cake is so healthy :) (I already cleaned out the chocolates)

Custard, Pecan, Banana, Cinnamon Cake containing a Custard Tart

I have to admit the following photo looks less appetizing, seeing as it collapsed a little when I cut it, BUT that didn't stop it from being devoured.

Go check out the website. You won't be sorry!

Sewing:

This blog is by Kelly, a crafty mom. She has quite a few tutorials which you can check out here. AND this wednesday hex-along that she has joined in on, maybe I will too, I have a lot of fabric scraps. You can see it here at hearting hexies.

This is where the project originated - Wednesday hex-along.

Another story that might be TMI :)

I have only had two sewing classes in my life. One was in grade 4 and the other in grade 8. In grade 4 my teacher tried to teach me how to make hexies for a cushion - she ended up leaving the school , I have no proof but I am sure my hexagonal scrap heap influenced this decision/ possibe change in career choice.  The other lesson was in embroidery. I was convinced I had found my calling, but for some reason no one else shared my enthusiasm. And because I can't find any of these aforementioned art works, I will forever be convinced that they were LEGENDARY!!

So here's to looking forward (to my perfectly aligned hexagonal thingy majig) and forgetting what lies behind (wasted fabric scraps and missing masterpieces - somethings are better left in the past)!

Cookies and fudge ;)

My husband and I are coming to the end of our 1st year in South Korea and we are changing schools. So we thought it would be good to give some small thank you gifts to our teachers. AND what better gift to receive, other than cookies and fudge (Koreans have NO idea what fudge is.)

I found this really good cocoa fudge cookie recipe.
Here is what mine looked like:

The fudge recipe's origin is a bit of a mystery. I'd like to say I made it up - BUT I didn't. I might have found it in an Afrikaans recipe book or maybe my Home Economics teacher gave it to me (which she probably found in an Afrikaans recipe book;)
Although I don't really post recipes on this blog, I just link to them, I'm going to share this INCREDILICIOUS recipe with you. 
Here is its review, given by my favourite food connoisseur, with a refined palate:
         
"Best fudge I've ever eaten."
-Greg Boy (holder of the title : Most amazing husband in the universe)

Condensed Milk Fudge

800g (3 1/2 cups) white sugar

250g (1 cup) butter

1 cup milk

1 cup condensed milk

10ml vanilla essence

In a large pot: simmer the sugar, butter and milk until the sugar dissolves.

Stir in the cond. milk and boil for about 40minutes.

Stir continually.

Remove from stove and stir in vanilla.

Pour into a shallow baking tray (aprox. 30cm by 25cm)

Just a quick fudge story - when I was in grade 5 there was this girl called Amelda and she used to make fudge and sell it at school. It was the BEST fudge. At breaktime it would cause a stampede. Some other kids started selling stuff too and so the school brought the hawking to an abrupt stop - along with abolishing my fudge supplier. I was left with withdrawal symptoms and a fudge shaped hole in my heart. SOOO I have dreamt of that fudge often and I compare all fudge with Amelda's fudge.  I think the recipe above would make Amelda proud.
Enjoy!

Baby booties tutorial

Yes, can you believe it?  I finally did it. I would like to say that I have been super busy the last few months (since I promised this tut) but I haven't been - its my archnemesis' fault - but I overcame you, dreaded procrastination, and I will live to fight another day.

Ok so lets do this!

some more things to chew on...

So here are two more blogs to chew on in your I-need-inspiration-days.

Cooking:


www.smittenkitchen.com
I really like this website. Not only does she have good recipes and tutorials, her photos make me drool.

Sewing:

This one is a pearl!!! Anna Graham has quite a few good tutorials so go look NOW!!!
http://www.noodle-head.com/p/tutorials.html
I want to go home and make this NOW!!!


Have fun ^.^

in the spirit of valentines day...

So I am not a valentines day fanatic but I confess I LOVE hearts, SOOOOO I have a good excuse (not that I needed any;)  to spread the loooooove.

I recently acquired some cookie cutters (actually playdough cutters but why pay loads of money when you can pay 1000won (about 1 dollar/R7). Among them was a heart shape. So I decided to make some heart shaped sugar cookies with a twist.

Here is where I got my recipe for the cookies:
 http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Soft-Christmas-Cookies/Detail.aspx
(dont be put off by the word christmas - these are AMAZING sugar cookies.)

Armed with my heart shaped cookie cutter I let the dough have it. Then baked them.
Then after they cooled off I took out my chunky peanut butter and stuck the hearts together in pairs - because thats how valentines day works.

Then I melted some chocolate and paired them till death do they part. (which happened shortly after)

If you are not sure how to do the chocolate dunking thing - without getting super dirty and having fingerprints all over your cookies - go look at this "how to" video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvyI3i4nYLY

And then TA DA!!!!

Oh and lets give credit where credit is due. THANKS to my amazing husband for these photos. If you want to see more of his photos or read about our travels you can look at his blog: www.gregandgabi.wordpress.com

new finds!!

So this next cooking website is one that I have recently found thanks to a friend. Most of you might already know about it but it is a revelation to me.
Its called allrecipes.com . You type in whatever you feel like making and then it gives you tons of options. The great part is the review section. Each recipe is reviewed by lots of people so you can see which ones work and what needs to be changed - PERFECT for when you want to make something for people but don't have the time to test it out first!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pecan-Pie-Muffins/Detail.aspx
this was one of my golden finds. Pecan pie muffins - they were AMAZING!!






On the sewing front: here is a website that I found a while back that has a few nice sewing tutorials. http://www.verypurpleperson.com/  Novita is a stay-at-home mom in Tokyo and has some really good free tuts! Here are two of the projects I liked but there are more - even some dress tutorials for the more daring. The direct link to the tutorials are below the pics.
 
http://verypurpleperson.com/tutorials

ENJOY!!