I’ve been painting birds. I’ve been at home with Isaac for the last few days so I’ve been fiddling about with my paints again. Delphine at the Non Dairy Diary had a nice tutorial for creating some little birds with digital art. She’s a wonderful artist and I would encourage you to go and have a look at her blog.  I’m not proficient enough with drawing programmes but I thought I would grab my watercolours and play around with the basic idea a little. Thanks Delphine for giving me a wonderful starting point for these little birds.

Apologies for the image quality - I was in a bit of a hurry to take a picture before my camera battery died!

Made in the kitchen from your everyday staples - a luxurious treat for your body. Smoothing away all those rough bits and moisturising your skin. Leaving you smelling absolutely delicious! Sugar scrubs sell for lots of dollars! A quick search revealed some priced between $35.00 and $68.00. Most sell for around $15.00 This homemade version which smells delicious cost just a few cents to make and does a wonderful job.

It smells amazing with vanilla and coffee as the predominant scents. It smells good enough to eat - and no doubt you could.. but I would not recommend it.

More than likely you already have everything you need to make this scrub.

Kahlua Body Scrub

• 1 cup of soft brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of olive or almond oil
• 1/2 tspn vanilla
• 1 tspn of fresh ground coffee

Mix all your ingredients together and place in a jar with a lid.

To use grab a large tablespoonful of the scrub when you’ve almost finished your shower - rub on damp skin with circular motions and then rinse off.

In this photo you can see the oil has started to rise to the top, this is completely normal just give it a good stir before each use.
Your own special homemade beauty product for a fraction of the price.

Storage: It will be fine just in the bathroom for a couple of months - but if you don’t plan on using all you’ve made within that time; I suggest that you add 1/4 cup of salt into the scrub as a natural preservative.

Make sure you keep a lid on your scrub - if water gets into the scrub the sugar will melt and bacteria can grow.

If you are not sure if your scrub is still good - give it a sniff - if it smells bad - toss it.

I hope you enjoy this one , it takes literally a couple of minutes to make yourself this little treat.

Happy scrubbing!

Footnote: Apparently according to the 6 year old - it tastes amazing and he’s eaten several spoonfuls - makes his skin feel nice as well .. but that was definitely an aside to the taste. To answer Isaac’s question - neither the oil nor the sugar scrub is poisonous.

Rainbow Crayons. We’ve been snowed in for two days now and the snow keeps coming. Isaac and I decided to have a bit of a clean out of his old crayons and make some rainbow crayons. Easy to do and gives those icky looking old bits of crayons a new life.

Break up your old crayons into pieces and place in a silicone mould, (we used a brownie pop mould). You can use metal muffin pans if you like but the crayons may have a tendency to stick. They pop right out of the silicone moulds nicely.

Place in a 150C ( 250F) oven for a few minutes - maybe 10-15. It will depend on the type of crayons you used. Keep an eye on them and when they are evenly melted let them cool before popping them out.

We set them outside in the cold to firm up and voila! New crayons.

Strawberry bonbons from France. They sat on my computer desk for about twenty minutes. I ate them all. I did not share them and I am not sorry. They were good!

Aside from being a glutton and eating those delicious little morsels I thought I would share my semi-freddo with you all. Look at it in all it’s creamy, tasty glory.

Isaac and I made some this week and tossed handfuls of crumbled Cadbury Crunchie bars into it. It’s easier than ice cream and perfect if you don’t have an ice cream maker. Isaac was very impressed with himself even though he vanished to do something far more important ( read - watch cartoons) half way though.

Semi-freddo is lighter than ice cream in texture, that does not mean however that it has less fat. Make no mistake it’s not on the list of healthy foods to eat. It is simple, delicious and extremely impressive though. If you want to treat some guests and not put in a huge effort this is the thing to do it with. This is an adaptation of Jamie Olivers Recipe from the Naked Chef.

Crunchie Bar Semi-Freddo.

Serves 12 - easily halved.

• 4 free range eggs - separated
• 500/17fl oz mls heavy cream
• 1 vanilla pod or 1 1/2 tpsns vanilla extract
• 55 grams/2oz sugar
• pinch of salt
• 2 Cadbury Crunchie bars or other candy bar of your choice.

If you are using a vanilla pod - split the pod and scrape the seeds into the egg yolks and sugar, or just add the vanilla extract - whisk until pale and thick.

In a second bowl whip the cream until soft peaks form (don’t over whip it).

In a third bowl whisk the egg whites and salt to stiff peaks.
Add the candy bars either crumbled or chopped to the cream

Add the cream and egg whites to the yolks and sugar and fold together gently. Pour carefully into an 8 inch high sided cake pan and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the freezer overnight. It will keep a few days in the freezer.

Serve and use as you would ice cream.  This is able to be turned out of the container when frozen and sliced with a hot knife if you wish. Wonderful with berries or a berry puree.

This really is a very special dessert and so very easy.

Flavour possibilities are endless, think fig and honey, cherry and chocolate, apricot and caramel, peppermint patties chopped and scattered through. Treat yourself!

Addicted to Watercolour!

I’ve been painting up a storm - I can’t seem to help myself the paints just keep pulling me back. An idea pops into my head and I just want to get it on paper.

I seem to have a thing for circles.

I wonder if this reminds you of anything? There is no right answer - I’m just curious. Isaac thought it was a hill with a bendy top. Kit thought it was a Yurt and Leah saw a Santa Hat.

I also like drawing fat children with spikey fingers apparently. Isaac thought they were a hoot. My six year old  resident art critic told me that the children should have necks.. I suppose he’s right….

Tiny buildings seem to take my fancy also.

I promise this is the last time I will inflict my “art work” on you. I am going to finish off that braided rag rug that I started a long time back and bake you a Sour Cream Pear Cake with an Almond Crumble Topping.

xx Lisa