What we've been up to lately

A school show was performed in - and plenty of backstage helping done

Getting Made up for Mulan Jr - photo by Matt Hopkins

Ensemble - Emma bottom right- photo by Keryn Christensen

A birthday was celebrated with the best vegan chocolate cake ever!!!!

Happy Birthday Hubster
we couldn't get enough candles on it coz they kept melting too fast....

My brother and his family came over from Australia for a few days

Me, my other nephew, Dan, Max the dog, my brother and his three Aussie kids

Cousins together for the first time in 4 years

PJ's Vs School Uniform craziness

 That's about it for now.

Barbs x.

Crazy Cake

After this weeks hiccup, I need to get back into both this blog and my baking.  Allergies really do rule the roost here, and this is our standby, make in a couple of minutes cake that we all love.  I got the recipe from the dietitians at Kids First way back when Emma was first diagnosed with multiple food allergies.  And it really is crazy that a cake made from these ingredients can be so good.

1 1/2 c plain flour
2 Tbsp cocoa
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 c sugar
1/2 cup oil (I use Rice Bran Oil)
3/4 c water
2 Tbsp Vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 190C
Sift dry ingredients together, then add wet ingredients
Mix well to a smooth batter
Pour into greased or lined tin (about 20 cm square or makes about 10 muffins)
Bake for about 30 minutes for cake or about 15  for muffins until cooked
Allow to cool int in before turning onto rack.
You can just serve as it is, or top with icing sugar, or ice - whatever you feel like for the occasion!

We use this recipe regularly and everyone loves it.  It is so quick you can whip it up for school lunches first thing in the morning.  It is such a moist and tasty cake and I have never had a failure.  I have made it gluten free and even though it was quite flat, it still tasted good and the kids all gobbled it up.  I have even made it sugar free (by accident) and it still tasted good.  It really is the bomb!

Happy Birthday Emma

Yesterday my darling allergy kid turned 9. 

Saturday mornings are busy here, usually Emma has a flute lesson but it was teacher only day so she finally got to come and watch her little sister play netball.  Emma loves netball and really enjoyed helping me coach the little kids.  She was a fantastic assistant coach, such enthusiasm, you could hear her encouraging the kids from the sideline.  A great start to her birthday.

Next it was home for present time.  (Not a huge selection this year as we just bought a puppy and earlier in the year they got lots of pressies from our 2nd honeymoon trip to London and Venice.)  But some nail polish and art, some smiggle, a music stand, a new tennis racket and lots of money from uncles, aunties and grand parents make for a happy nine year old.

Lunch was all her favourite foods - bacon, salami, chips, olives, carrot & celery sticks, homemade hummus, homemade bread, sundried tomatoes.

This year we finally caved in to her request and let her have a sleepover with 3 of her friends.  They arrived at 4 and there were more presents (more smiggle)  and more snacks (cheerios and tomato sauce and chips).  This was followed by some art, nail decorating, lots of whispering and secrets, then some fish and chips for dinner.  A movie, more girly chatter, a fashion show, some dances, cake and lollies, another movie and talk that went on to the wee small hours, a midnight feast (of more lollies) and finally some sleep (the birthday girl the first to go and the last to wake up!)

This morning some more chatter, some board games and a happy bunch of girls.

I hope you had a great birthday Ems.