Apple, Date, Pecan loaf

This is my Mum's Date loaf recipe - just one of the delicious treats you would find in her cake tins..

2 cups dates
2 level tspns baking soda
2 cups boiling water
2 tblspns butter
1 1/4 cups sugar

3 heaped cups flour
2 tspns baking powder

Chop the dates & pour over 2 cups boiling water, add baking soda, butter & sugar.

Mix well

Add flour & baking pwder (already mixed)

Bake 45 mins at 350 - Makes 2 loafs

This is best left a few days before eating if you can wait that long LOL I like it spread with a healthy butter substitute..

I changed the ingredients a little & I admit I have a dandy wee electric machine to chop my fruits & nuts but here's what I did..

I added dried apples & used about 1 - 1 1/2 cups of chopped apple - this was too soft to use in my nifty chopper so used a knife & the old fashioned chopping board method. I put them on the stove with a little water - enough so that the apple absorbed the water & became nice & plump & there was no water left.

I also added about a cup of finely chopped pecans.

I replaced the butter with olive oil

I only used 2/3 cup of sugar

I used whole wheat flour not white

What you get is a healthy treat loaded with MUFAs

I started making my own bread again earlier this year & found a recipe on line for making Sourdough & my 'bug' has been going for 7 or 8 months now - it took me a couple of trys to get it going right so don't be discouraged if your first attempt doesn't work, just roll up your sleeves & try again..

I use the basic white - for bread- flour but use 1/2 white & 1/2 rye flour for my bread & add NO sugar & only 1 tspn of salt & of course I use olive oil instead of butter. I also sprout about a half a cup of either wheat berries or rye berries to add at the same time I add the sourdough mix to the flour. I start the sprouts a couple of days before I do my bread making so that they are just at the soft stage where the leaves are forming & YUMMMMMM..

Joe snapped a pic the other day while I was kneading my bread so I'll share it with you.

Sunday update

Update on Nancydoll

She's getting there & still smiling thru all the poking she's getting in the process. I gave her a crystal (2mm) ear-ring to add a bit of BLING.

As I bead this doll, I have my sister much in my thoughts.. Nancy used to be a hair stylist & does Ballroom Dancing & she made her own costumes for that. She is a very accomplished Woman & always looks good. She power walks to keep fit & her dancing also helps to keep her slim & flexible

She is on extended holiday near Perth, in Western Australia, helping her DIL out with the children, while Phil (my nephew) gets settled in a new job out in a mining town a million miles from nowhere...

The Eyeball story for Denise

Well last year an online friend (who is also a beader, fancy that!) sent me a box of goodies for my birthday, just because.. So this year I repaid the compliment & now it's a snowball because she sent me another box this year as well & the eye ball is from that.

Kelly tells me that she felted it then realized it would fit perfectly in a walnut shell & volia, a pin cushion or a needle cushion in this case, because that's what I use it for...


Kelly has included carefully chosen beads in size 8, 11 & 15 so that I can bead the beanie bear, as well as several faces & other interesting bits & pieces. The beautiful purple button on Nancy is from this package too..

Denise don't you LOVE those orange leaves in the front of the picture, oh & isn't that green & white doll magnificent! She took my breath away when I first saw her...

Thank you Kelly, I hope we get to meet in person some day!!

Denise's Dare

Denise dared me to show my beading table, so here it is... I use a TV tray with vellux as my mat - mine is from 'Beading at the Beach' Denise, is yours?

So here is a pic taken today with Nancy smiling as she awaits more beads, did I tell you that purple has always been Nancy's favorite colour? Well it is..

As you can see the tray is upside down, I sit where Nancy's head points.. There are Ott-lites both sides of where I sit & my Bead Nest (as Joe calls it) is on my left & there is low table on my right both full of beads so once I am sitting down I don't have to move, it is all at my fingertips..

I can't explain the tiny 8 ball on my tray, it's something Joe put there, as is the map of New Zealand which he cut out to show me how it didn't fit into California twice as I'd told him.. I pointed out that the maps were 2 different sizes LOL so of course I went to Google to find out for sure & YES I was right.. Don't you love it when you're right!!!

September BJP

OK this is it, no really, I mean it...

My theme this year is 'The Women in my life' & starting out for September is my oldest sister Nancy, who turned 66 this month.. Happy Birthday Nancy dear!

Nancy is now the matriarch of our family as we lost our dear Mother last December



I used the freezer paper method to transfer Nancy to plain white fabric & treated it so that the ink would never smudge (at least I sure hope it won't) I learnt a few things in the process - don't we always - Like fiddling with the contrast to make the picture darker so that you can actually see it when it is printed out LOL

My pages are 'dolls' that are 6" tall & fit into a milk bottle lid, which will be weighted before the doll is glued into it. I plan to use the Women in my family, including my dear Mother & a few special friends to make my 12 doll pages

This is my progress so far....

I have to tell you that when I told Joe (dh) that I was going to paint the milk bottle lid black, he informed me that it is not possible as the paint wouldn't stick.. Well telling me that something won't work is like a dare, so I Mod Podged the edge of the lid & then painted it & guess what? It worked LOL

Take #1

Well my first idea for my pages failed miserably LOL & here I was thinking I had it all planned ha ha haaa

So it's kinda back to the drawing board for me & on with the thinking cap again

Wish me luck...

Take #1