Baking Fail

I find baking can be therapeutic sometimes. On Saturday I decided I wanted some scones for afternoon tea. I've made them before, never had any major issues. Sure, they weren't country show winners but my scones were ok. 

This time I even googled tips for light, fluffy scones. I read about the importance of cold butter, warnings against over handling the dough, making sure the rounds are touching on the baking tray  etc. I thought I had it. 

Except I didn't. After 20 mins in a hot oven they had hardly risen. I pulled them out to find then mostly hard on top and doughy almost-raw in the middle. 

And you know the worst part? I was so determined not to let all that time, effort and ingredients go to waste, we ate some of them anyway. Smothered in butter and honey of course. And regretted it later. 

Next time I'm trying the never-fail lemonade ones I think. 

Had any major baking fails lately? Got a good scone-making tip for me?

Sunday Summary - 1st December

This week I have been...

Reading - All Good Things by Sarah Turnbull. A memoir of the author's life when she moved to Tahiti. It's pretty cool.

Tidying - my patio and yard. A huge job, but one that is very satifying.

Loving - those moments when you stop and just breathe. Like when I saw this beautiful Moreton Bay Fig at the markets today. What a glorious elder of its kind.

Watching - a mish-mask of television including The Walking Dead, NCIS and Sleepy Hollow. I like to pretend that Ichabod from Sleepy Hollow is James Norrington from The Pirates of the Caribbean's long-lost brother. (Don't blame me, it was on tumblr).

Dreaming - of landscaping my pool area with terracotta pots and minimalist spiky plants.

Thinking - a lot about Christmas. I wrote a guide to a Happy Homemade Christmas last year, would like to do something similar this year, but I'm not going to be doing much homemade stuff! So I might just curate some great other blogs that are doing it.

Baking - my own pizza dough! For the first time, I was insanely pleased with it. I also made a banana loaf today, finally used up all those over-ripe bananas in my freezer.

Hanging - out at the farm. Went and saw mum and dad last weekend, did some deep-breathing and chilling out. Going up to the farm recharges my batteries. I took some photos, which I have the intention of blogging but are still on my camera...

Looking forward to - work winding down after we complete end-of-month accounts this week. More scrapbooking in two weeks. And then some time off!

How's your week been?

Frugal living

 [source: own photo]

I don’t like talk about it much but as a household, we are finding it tough to cover bills and put away any savings. This living from pay to pay thing is getting old, and though we have made some changes to our lifestyle, there are still some things that we have not been willing to cut back on or give up in order to curb our spending.

Last week when a trip to Coles for the “bare necessities” to get us through to payday cost me $45, I ranted a bit on Twitter and had to wonder – how in the hell are families getting along? We  just have the two of us and I cannot seem to budget so that we are comfortable on our current income.

Reading this blog recently on Rhonda’s Down to Earth  made me have a think about what more we can do to live more simply, more frugally, make our money stretch further.

So, what have we already done?

• Swapped to shopping at Aldi rather than The Big Two Supermarkets. I save at least $30 a week doing this, though the fruit and veg is not very good quality. Thinking about shopping separately for it at the local grocer but this necessitates an extra trip somewhere which is just beyond me sometimes
• Cut down to fast food once per week. We get pizza on Friday nights – but it is expensive pizza because we both believe that paying a bit more to get something nicer than the cardboard served by the franchises is worth it.
• No longer buy magazines in the quantities we used to. Now, we have subscriptions gifted to us or purchase as a special treat only
• I hardly ever buy new clothes. When I do, it’s usually from the op shop. I try to buy all my accessories there also
• I’ve stopped buying vintage homewares; it was getting to be a bad habit! I have far too much stuff already, need to sell some 

What more can we do?

• Make our own passata – we use a lot of it, and although Aldi sauces are only $1.80 a jar or something, I think we could make some cheaper
• Explore frugal recipes, making meals go further
• Make our own pizza instead of getting take away
• Grow some veges. This has been high on my list for a while but I don’t have a place to do it yet. Now we have some bricks left over from the old shed knockdown, I’m hoping that we can make a proper garden
• Grow our own herbs. Must do!
• Learn to sew. Repurposing old clothes looks fun and is a great way to reuse old things, something I am passionate about.
• Start making our own bread. I have a breadmaker that I never use!
• Make my own birthday/gift cards. I have so much scrapbooking stuff this should be a breeze. Saves at least $5 a pop! 

Things I still don’t think I/we’ll give up:

• Foxtel. We enjoy it too much and watch it all the time. But perhaps we can cut back on our subscription, get rid of the some channels to save a few bucks a month.
• Movies. We go at least once a fortnight and use a reward card to redeem a free ticket with points. But it can still be an expensive exercise when you factor in snacks and drinks. Alternative – go on cheap Tuesdays.
• Soft drink. Both hubby and I are addicted and spend quite a bit. Because the cost of Coke is astronomical at service stations and corner stores, I try to buy in bulk from Aldi each week.
• The occasional scrapbooking supply purchase. It’s my hobby dammit. But I commit to buying a lot less and to a “scrap your stash” mentality for the foreseeable future.

And of course I'm reading a lot of simple living blogs. What are you doing lately to save money/simplify your life? Any tips?

Weekendness

Every time I think to myself I'm going to have a restful weekend, I end up doing so much more than I had planned. This weekend was no different.

Saturday I had two things planned: post office (to post another Etsy sale, yay! That's 3 in 4 weeks) and to do a little op shopping.

I found these delightful coffee mugs, but not much else. I think I need to venture further and check out some new stores. Note: the other items in this picture are from my mum - she's forever cleaning out her cupboards and donating things to the shop! I may be tempted to keep the cute purple tartan Thermos for myself though! It's practically mint!

My darling husband worked all Saturday night, so I curled up with the tv and watched The Help. What a great movie! So emotionally overwhelming and fascinating at the same time. I watched the entire thing without realising that it was Bryce Dallas Howard playing Hilly. Hee. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the story I don't recognise actors!

So at about midnight last night, eyes drooping, I decided to take a chance and put on my first loaf of bread to bake in the bread maker. The bread maker was a wedding registry gift and damn me if we haven't used it once since. So I read the little instruction book and the back of the bread mix box, poured everything in then pushed some buttons and went off to bed with my fingers crossed.

Well, if I didn't wake to the aroma of freshly baked bread! Amazing! That's not to say I was not woken by the machine beeping to itself early on at the crack of dawn when turning on, but hey presto! When I hauled my lazy buttocks out of bed, behold...

It kind of exploded at the top but I didn't mind. Hubby gave his seal of approval, and has expressed an unexpected level of interest in learning to use it, and also wants to learn how to bake bread from scratch. I suggested maybe we start with some bush bread or damper and work our way up.

I couldn't resist just one more op shop to top off my weekend so I hit my favourite down at Brendale. And boy did I hit the jackpot!

We've decided that this lovely Australian map isn't antique, or possibly even old enough to be vintage, but it's got rustic charm written all over it! And it was only $3. Winner.

I also picked up this lovely little jug, which I think might be Johnson of Australia, though I have never seen the pattern before.

I also baked this afternoon. Mum gifted me with some cupcake packet mix before going away (amongst other things, including a passion fruit and a continental cucumber. What am I going to do with a continental cucumber? WAIT. Don't answer that). So out came the Big Red Mixer (she really needs a name - any suggestions? Something 50s like Betty perhaps) and pretty soon I had 12 little chocolate cupcakes on my hands. It was a nice way to end the weekend.

How was your weekend? Any good shopping finds? Did you bake? Garden? Chill out?

Lazy Day

[image source]

Today has been so divine and relaxing. I've dubbed it our "lazy day". It rained, the sky was grey.

First, C arrived home early this morning from Sydney. We slept in, then I went to the shops and bought apples. I baked a tea cake, which I have never done in my life before, purely because C was banging on about how much he loves them last week. I also did two loads of washing.

Apart from that, we pretty much spent the entirety of the day on the couch. We watched some tv shows together, then a movie with popcorn. Then I cooked dinner and we ate at the breakfast bar together, chatting.

It wasn't until after this, and we were back relaxing on the couch, that I realised that I hadn't even asked C if he wanted to do something today, go somewhere. I said this to him, and he said he didn't want to go anywhere anyway.

If it wasn't Saturday, I'd say it was the perfect lazy Saturday.

The week in pictures

A week in pictures post...

Bought a lounge. It cost an insane amount of money but I am so, so happy about it. Our current lounge is a 15-year-old hand-me-down from C's parents. Ours new one is getting made in chocolate suede, they said it will be ready in a few weeks! Bought from Fantastic Furniture at Morayfield. Great customer service, and I feel virtuous knowing I have bought Australian Made.

I actually baked! Some say a packet mix doesn't count, I say if you mix something with something then put it in an oven, THAT'S BAKING!

Bought these lovely plastic bangles from a jumble sale at work for $2. I think they look like jade. Might give one to mum.

Symapthised with our local pizza place - do hope prices stop "going nuts" for them. They're charging $1 more on a family-sized pizza so I don't really mind the rise so much.

Went to Invitation House at The Emporium - got a few ideas for the wedding invites.

Of course C's favourite was the dearest thing in the shop...

Absolutely HAD to get photos of myself in this corner - it's outside the Alex Perry Apartments sales office in Ann Street. That's astroturf I'm standing on folks. What a cool little niche.

Some may remember a few weeks ago I bought two tubs of Peter's ice cream and got a 6-month mag subscription. Well, first issue arrived on Friday. Hurray for home magazines! I sat and read this one this afternoon while having a cuppa.

AND...

I played far too much Tiny Tower. This game is so addictive!