What is everyone up to this weekend?

This weekend I am taking the chance to do some cooking. I have a few recipes to try and I thought  I would make a day of it.

 As we are not big Christmas cake or pudding fans. I am trying my hand at making a brioche with sultanas and a little mixed peel. (A little bit like the Italian cake) Something light and fruity.  Let say we are having a trial run as I am adjusting a recipe to achieve this cake.

It is really tasty with a little butter but I think it needs a little more fruit.

Next is the halloumi cheese experiment. I brought myself a cheese making kit a while ago and I have had a go at ricotta cheese, mascarpone cheese and quark cheese so far.  This is the hardest cheese so far, I am working my way through the book. It turns out it is easier then I thought it was going to be. It isn't the prettiest looking block of cheese but at least it worked.

With the left over whey from the cheese I couldn't resist making a loaf of soda bread I substitute the whey for the buttermilk in the recipe. It works a treat.The rest of the whey gets diluted and go out to the garden to give the strawberries a feed. Don't like to see it go down the drain if I can use it elsewhere. Yummy it only take 5 minutes to mix and 30 minutes in the oven and you have fresh bread.

Finally I am making gingerbread biscuits as Christmas treats. I have stars, trees and gingerbread man cutters. So I am giving them a go as something different. We had one each just to test them. I am looking forward to decorating them.

Until next time
Cynthia

Christmas Gift Ideas.

What are you making for Christmas? I started my projects a few weeks ago. Once I found some suitable Christmas fabrics, some Christmas ornaments and sewing presents for my friends and then I had to make some cards to go with the hand made presents.

Hexagons cut ready to be sewn into Christmas gifts.

Cards are nearly finished just need to be sealed in and a few Merry Christmas stickers from Blue Edge Crafts.

 A close up so you can see where I stitched using a multi coloured metallic thread.

 

 These are easy to make and there is still some of this fabric (Christmas Ornaments) available in our web shop www.cynthiasark.com.au

What else to make?  I would love to make a tree skirt for a full size tree but with our cats it would be a recipe for disaster. I can see them climbing the tree and knock it over, breaking the ornaments or using them for cat toys. I think that would be too stressful to handle. I do have a ceramic tree with lights that I made so that might be the way to go and make a mini tree skirt.
I love to bake so I'm thinking of having a go at making gingerbread trees and stars with icing for a change as I normally do a cake of some sort. This way I can make them a few days in advance instead of the night before Christmas. I hope they will last til Christmas day.
Who knows what else might take my fancy? We still have a few weeks to go to Christmas so there is time to come up with some more interesting projects.

Until next time keep stitching

Cynthia