Inventing

It seems like I haven't posted in ages. I don't know if my life is a bit less interesting now or if I'm just getting good at forgetting to blog!

Last night I had a flash of inspiration. So off I go to the kitchen to create something for dessert (cue some grinding noises, electric whisk noises and the banging and crashing noises that indicate me trying to get to the back of my baking tin cupboard)
Does anyone else just love the '4 Ingredients' cookbooks? I adore them. Delicious recipes and they have (you guessed it!) no more than four ingredients in. Often I add little extras to posh the recipe up a bit, but the basic recipes are so simple.

Well my dessert was like one of those, because it only had 5 ingredients.
Ta da!

Sorry about the icky picture, my camera hates me. Flash on = too bright, flash off = blurred

It has a biscuit base, a whipped chocolate topping and chocolate drops on top. A chocolate feast. It was so sweet and delish that I think one would serve two people for sure.

Wifey brownie points earned- check
Kitchen a mess- check
Dirty dishes everywhere- check
Going to bed and leaving it all- check!!

Super easy sweet and sour

Hi everyone! It's been a pretty busy week so blogging has been bumped down my list a few times, but I just wanted to mention a few things from this past week.

Does anyone have a problem with their other halves using their towel in the bathroom? I personally don't mind too much if the IT guy pinches my towel, but this idea was too cute to resist! I used my new alphabet that I got for Christmas- vinyl-tastic!

In the kitchen, I've recently discovered homemade sweet and sour sauce- I had no idea how easy it was to make! It uses all items that you would generally have in your store cupboard and it takes less time than it does to cook the rice.
Tonight we had sweet and sour pork with rice and it was delish. I cooked a joint of meat on Sunday, so that's us eating pork in various forms for the rest of the week! This is a great meal for using leftover meat.

Sweet and Sour Sauce
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup ketchup
3tbsp soy sauce
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tbsp flour

Combine all ingredients except the flour in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir quickly to combine and avoid any lumps.
Bring back to the boil and let it simmer for five minutes or until it thickens.
Add your cooked meat and heat until piping hot.
Serve over rice and with a side of spring rolls for a treat.

What I loved about this recipe is that it looked just like it would from a Chinese takeaway and was just the right colour. It was super easy and the IT guy loved it.

Hope you're all having a great week. Is anyone else starting to think about Valentines Day? I've come across some great ideas that I'm hoping to share with you all soon.

The one about toilet roll

Has anyone ever seen these in the supermarket? They're little half sized rolls of toilet paper for carrying in your handbag for colds and emergencies.

I got a great tip from my favourite money saving website today, so on my lunch break I toddled off to a Tesco store and got (wait for it...) 15 of these for a 1p each. Just a penny!

What a bargain! Maybe I'll go to another local store to see if I can get some more.

'... and a happy new year'

Welcome to 2012 and I hope this year has in store for you all of the things you've dreamed of.

Firstly, let me show you something beautiful. We spend a few days at my Mum's house before (and including) Christmas day and this year I couldn't wait to get there and to see the lovely decorations that my Mum always has. Her tree is always a treat for the eyes, but this year surpassed anything I remember from my childhood.
Isn't it just magical?

Taking the Christmas decorations down is always a pain because it takes so long, but this year I invested in some lovely glass baubles for our tree and so it took me hours to wrap and pack them all away properly! But you have to admit, it feels like the rooms are so much bigger once the decorations are gone and you can enjoy clear, uncluttered spaces again!

For one reason or another, 2011 was challenging for me at times but I've got a feeling ('oooh hoooo') that 2012 is going to be better. Here's one reason why I have hope for the new year.
On Monday 2nd January the post-holiday blues were starting to set in. Tuesday meant back to work and back to real life. The cure? A trip to the Hobbycraft superstore of course!

The IT guy came with me of course and his comments of 'that's a cool idea, you should get one of those' and 'that's a good price, do you want one?' soothed my soul bit by bit. He carried my basket and was interested in each of the future projects that I bought supplies for and told him about. Later that day he told me that he'd enjoyed the two hour walk around the shop. I don't think husbands get much more special than that.

This brings me nicely to my goals for the new year. I think it's really important to set goals, and there's no better time than the start of each year. One of my goals for 2012 is to spend more time doing things that I enjoy. Usually I'm very jobs orientated and I create lots of jobs that 'need' to be done and take up my spare time. This year I want to have more of a balance, so I plan to read, sew and craft a bit more. At the store I bought crochet hooks, soap base (for soap making), a sewing pattern for retro kitchen aprons and a pack of promarkers for colouring stamped images. Amongst other projects that I have in my head, these are a few of the things I'd like to try out this year.

What goals have you set for 2012?