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!!

Finally!!

Seeing as its a new year, and I have not blogged in a VERY long time, its probably time to change things a little.
As of now - I will post tutorials of almost everything I make - and if I didn't post a tut, you have full right to ask me for one - I may/may not have a good reason why there is not tut.
I am also going to start posting my cooking (mostly baking experiments). That was the original plan a - cooking and sewing blog.
And lastly I will try and give you a few blogs (every now and then) that inspire me. There are some AMAZING blogs out there!

So here are a few to start you off:
Cooking: http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/(my favourite blog at the moment - I should probably give you a week or two to chew on this one before giving you another one :)

Sewing: patchworkpotter.blogspot.com - I could hang out on this blog for days!!!!!

Thats all for now - but my baby booty tutorial will be on the blog SOOOON!!!!

Plunger cozy

Sorry/jammer/ 미안해요. I realise this is an old post (just reshuffeling on my blog abit :)

Coffee Plunger Cozy